Tag: users

Windows 10: Opening Program management tools and features from command prompt

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Microsoft, windows

Sometimes you may want to run open Programs and Features without searching for it in the Control Panel. Another reason to require these commands is to run them with administrative privileges.

You can open the Run using [Windows KEY] + [R] or the cmd or even in PowerShell ISE

appwiz.cpl – open the Programs and Features window.

appwiz

devmgmt.msc – open the device manager

devmgmt

compmgmt.msc – open the computer management

compmgmt

diskmgmt.msc – opens the disk management

diskmgmt

lusrmgr.msc – opens the local users and groups management

lusrmgr

I will update this article with more useful commands as I identify them.

 

CCNP Route 300-101 – SNMP

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Cisco, Routing & Switching

SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol which is uses to manage your network devices by a management host.

There are three versions of SNMP:

  • SNMPv1
  • SNMPv2c
  • SNMPv3

SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c uses community-string as password which is sent in clear text.

On the other hand, SNMPv3 is able to provide both authentication and encryption to secure the communication. SNMPv3 uses users and groups to grant access which is applied using one of the three security levels.

The SNMPv3 Security Levels:

  • noAuthPriv (noauth)- provides no Authentication or Privacy (encryption)
  • AuthNoPriv (auth) – provides Authentication but no Privacy (encryption)
  • AuthPriv (priv) – provides Authentication and Privacy (encryption)

The authentication supports two algorithms: MD5 and SHA1, while encryption supports algorithms DES, 3DES and AES.

 Configuring SNMPv3

1. Configure the View

snmp-server view [VIEWNAME] iso included

2. Configure the Group

snmp-server group [GROUPNAME] v3 [noauth|auth|priv] [read RName] [write WName] [context CName] [notify NName] [access ACL]

3. Configure the User

snmp-server user [Username] [GroupName] v3 [encrypt] auth [md5|sha] [AuthPWD] priv [des|3des|aes] [PrivPassword] [access ACL]

4. Configure Traps

snmp-server host [IP] traps version [1|2|3] [noauth|auth|priv] [USER] [other_snmp_options]

Verify SNMPv3

show snmp user

snmpuser

show snmp group

snmpgroup

This article covers some of the SNMP options and configuration of which I am covering in my CCNP studies. For further details, you can visit the Cisco documentations here.

PowerShell: Get a List of AD Groups a specific user is a member of

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Microsoft, windows, Windows server

Powershell is very versatile and with this wonderful tool, I will share how to get the subject result.

There are two ways of doing this:

  1. Using the cmdlet

Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership [username] | Format-Table Name -AutoSize

I used the cmdlet with Format-table to output property Name in a table format

2. Using the cmdlet

Get-ADUser [username] -Properties memberof | Select -ExpandProperty memberof | Get-ADGroup | Format-Table Name -AutoSize

I used the additional parameter -Properties to get the variable MemberOf then use the Select cmdlet to expand the array then pipe it to the Get-ADGroup to get the name of group to list it in a table format.

Simple Computer Security Tips

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Security

As a computer user, we sometimes take for granted the numerous threats that are out on the internet that can steal and even take over our computers without our permission. It is important that we are aware of the threats that can affects us by just browsing the internet.

I would like to share a few simple tips that will help any person to protect themselves from the various treats on the internet.

  1. Install an Anti-virus software on your computer – this is one of the most important task that any person can do to protect their computer from viruses or malware that can cause our computer to behave abnormal or render it unusable. There are a few paid anti-virus software I can recommend such as Norton Security, Kaspersky Anivirus, ESET Security and McAfee Antivirus. If you dont want to spend money on this then there are also good free antivirus software such as Avast, AVG and Microsoft Security Essential.
  2. Remove the admin privileges from your default user account – This is a very important task because a lot of persons don’t realize that when you have administrator right on your user account that you use daily any changes can be made to the compute without restriction. It is not good because if your computer does get infected then the malicious software can make unwanted changes and you will not have control over it. I recommend that you create a different account with admin rights, then change the user account you use daily to a standard user. See instructions here on how to do this on Windows 10.
  3. Ensure that windows firewall is enabled – This is especially important for person who connect to any and every open WiFi that comes there way. Having the firewall enabled can reduce the likelihood of a unauthorized person from connecting or access your computer from these free open networks. for steps on how to check or enable to windows firewall on your computer, go here. Note: that the latest windows come with the Windows firewall turned on by default.
  4. Backup documents to a secure cloud space – This tip might seem trivial but it is one of the most important task to do. This task does not only protect you from hackers wiping out your data but also protects the important information from devices fail or a computer crash. To accomplish this task you can use one of the free large cloud space such as Google Drive and OneDrive. Note that they also have a desktop sync tool that allows you to sync local folders to the cloud once you are connected to the internet.
  5. Don’t visit any websites that are labelled as unsecure or unsafe – Whether browsing the internet or searching for information to assist in doing a task, we will sometimes get a message from our browser warning us that this site is unsecure. It is best that we don’t continue unless we are absolutely sure that it is legitimate or safe. Current reputable browser such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer (or Edge) or Firefox has built in Certification Authority that checks a website’s certificate for its authenticity. This is important because we can be visiting a website that is developed by a hacker to get access to our computer or retrieve information from it.

These are the tips in a nutshell but if there are any more, I will update this list. I just want remind you to keep safe and do as much as you can to protect your personal data.