OpenDNS set up and testing

How to setup and secure your home network using OpenDNS - Video 2020
https://youtu.be/6S-87vV0Ezc

For Google Nest Wifi

Once you have the Nest configured then you can just switch to the OpenDNS servers.

 

How do I change my DNS server address?

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Wifi Settings. Advanced Networking.
3. Tap DNS.
4. Choose your desired public DNS server. If you choose a custom DNS server, enter a primary and secondary server address.
5. Tap Save .

Note: the OpenDNS servers are:

• 208.67.222.222
• 208.67.220.220

Ambient Display Message on Android

 On my OnePlus 6T Android phone, there is a setting that allows you to provide a message to display when you tap the screen. Find it at Settings->Display->Ambient Display->Display Message. 

This will help me find this if I need to later. 

How to Logoff/Kill Remote Desktop Sessions?

From https://www.virtualgyanis.com/post/how-to-logoff-kill-remote-desktop-sessions

Start a command prompt with admin permissions. 

qwinsta /server:[ServerIP/Hostname] 

Example: 

qwinsta /server:192.168.40.1

qwinsta /server:myServer.Contoso.com or myserver.contoso.local

Output of Command

C:>qwinsta /server:myServer.contoso.com

SESSIONNAME       USERNAME                 ID  STATE   TYPE        DEVICE

                                                                         0  Disc    rdpwd

ica-tcp                                                     65536  Listen  wdica

rdp-tcp                                                    65537  Listen  rdpwd

console                                                         16  Conn    wdcon

ica-tcp#966       avijitd                                  10  Active  wdica

ica-tcp#969       deepakk                               1  Active  wdica

rwinsta [Session ID] /server:[Server IP] 

Example: We will kill/logoff the remote session of user "avijitd" whose session ID is "10"

rwinsta 10 /server:192.168.40.1

rwinsta 10 /server:myServer.Contoso.com or myserver.contoso.local

View Two Sheets Side-by-Side in the Same Excel File

 From "View Two Sheets Side-by-Side in the Same Excel File"

https://youtu.be/Hx6aFo7okCc

Connecting or Ending another RDP session in Windows 2012

From "Connecting or Ending another RDP session in Windows 2012"

https://justworks.ca/blog/connecting-or-ending-another-rdp-session-in-windows-2012#:~:text=Simply%20bring%20up%20Task%20Manager,to%20or%20end%20the%20session.&text=Simple%2C%20but%20non%2Dobvious. 

"Simply bring up Task Manager, click More Details to switch to the "Actually Useful" mode, and then click the Users Tab.  All current sessions will be displayed, along with a list of their processes.  Right click on any session to connect to or end the session."

How to Pin Any Folder to the Start Menu in Windows 10

 Thanks to https://winaero.com/blog/pin-folder-taskbar-windows-10/ for showing me how to pin a folder to the Windows 10 start menu. 

The picture below shows "Pin to taskbar". In my case, it showed "Pin to Start". It will let me open this directory in Windows Explorer quickly. 

Daylight Savings, Outlook Recurring Meetings, and Arizona

I do not remember creating recurring Outlook meeting across time zones. I have colleagues that invite me to meetings that are not in my time zone. The interesting thing is that when daylight savings changes, all the meetings created by those in time zones that observe daylight savings shift one hour for me. 

It got me thinking that if I create a recurring meeting using the Arizona time zone, the meeting will shift for those that are in time zones that do observe daylight savings. 

When I went to make my meeting recurring, I saw this dialog. 

It defaulted to the Arizona time zone since that is where I am. Here are two rules:

   1) If I create a recurring meeting when daylight savings is off, I need to use the the Mountain Time (US & Canada) time zone so that the meeting will shift to a new time (relative to AZ) when daylight savings starts. 

2) If I create a recurring meeting when daylight savings is on, I need to use the the Pacific Time (US & Canada) time zone so that the meeting will shift to a new time (relative to AZ) when daylight savings stops. 

Following these rules should make it so the meeting does not shift for my work mates that are in time zones that do observe daylight savings. The rule can also be stated as: Use the time zone that matches the AZ time zone at the time you create the recurring meeting. 

I tried looking this issue up on the Internet, and did not find this strategy. I have found that this strategy does work for those sane state of Arizona who do not shift their time. 

Creating Entity Relationship Diagrams

Here is what I did to create an Entity Relationship diagram for a project at work.

Prepare for the solution at this Stack Overflow article

- Download SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) for Visual Studio

- Modify Visual Studio by adding or removing workloads and components

Follow the steps listed in the answer at the SO article. 

- Open Visual Studio

- Create a project or open an existing project (must be Visual Basic, Visual C# project, or Console Application)

- Right-click the project and choose Add -> New Item…

- Under Visual C# Items select “Data”

- Select the template “ADO.NET Entity Data Model”

- Give it a name and click “Add”

- Select “Generate from database” or “Empty model”

- If “Generate from database” selected enter connection info, choose the database objects and done!

The model is stored as a “.edmx” file. 

- In the visual representation of the edmx file in Visual Studio, arrange the entities so that the relationships are easy to follow.

- Right click in the edmx file and choose Diagram -> Export as image. Save the image. 

Pets vs Cattle

This refers to the pets versus cattle analogy for IT
https://youtu.be/Ox_Wm6XQnxI

The analogy concisely describes a major paradigm shift in our industry that we have been implementing with BAM2.
http://cloudscaling.com/blog/cloud-computing/the-history-of-pets-vs-cattle/

An elevator pitch for “Pets vs Cattle” from “The History of Pets vs Cattle and How to Use the Analogy Properly”

In the old way of doing things, we treat our servers like pets, for example Bob the mail server. If Bob goes down, it’s all hands on deck. The CEO can’t get his email and it’s the end of the world. In the new way, servers are numbered, like cattle in a herd. For example, www001 to www100. When one server goes down, it’s taken out back, shot, and replaced on the line.

-

More articles on Pets vs Cattle

"4 Reasons Why “Pets Versus Cattle” Still Matters in Cloud Security" https://nightfall.ai/resources/pets-vs-cattle/

This slide is taken from a presentation given by Gavin McCance at CERN in 2012. Though, The Register identifies Microsoft’s Bill Baker as the original source of this analogy.

"Pets Vs. Cattle" https://blog.engineyard.com/pets-vs-cattle

Setting Beyond Compare as the default diff tool in Sourcetree

When you right click on a file that has changed in the Unstaged file panel of Sourcetree, you have an "External Diff" option. This post indicates that Sourcetree uses "whatever you have configured in your .gitconfig already as your default diff tool"

You can set Beyond Compare as your default diff tool by following the instructions posted here.

Diff
At a Windows command prompt, enter the commands:
  git config --global diff.tool bc
  git config --global difftool.bc.path "c:/Program Files (x86)/Beyond Compare 4/bcomp.exe"

Note: For Git versions older than 2.2 (git --version) replace "bc" with "bc3" in the above instructions.

3-way Merge 

At a Windows command prompt, enter the commands:
  git config --global merge.tool bc
  git config --global mergetool.bc.path "c:/Program Files (x86)/Beyond Compare 4/bcomp.exe"

Note: For Git versions older than 2.2.0 (git --version) replace "bc" with "bc3" in the above instructions.

Launching Diffs and Merges

File Diff:
  git difftool filename.ext

Folder Diff:
  git difftool --dir-diff

3-way Merge:
  git mergetool filename.txt

Advanced Settings

To disable the "Launch 'bc3' [Y/n]?" prompt, run the command:
  git config --global difftool.prompt false

Git's default settings retain merge files with *.orig extensions after a successful merge.  To disable this safety feature and automatically delete *.orig files after a merge, run the command:
  git config --global mergetool.keepBackup false

Running the following command will open your .gitconfig file in an editor.
git config --edit --global

You will be able to see what the command did to edit your .gitconfig file.

How to schedule Windows Update installations in Windows 10 Pro

From https://www.windowscentral.com/how-schedule-windows-updates-windows-10


How to schedule Windows Updates
1. Launch Local Group Policy Editor
Type (or copy/paste) gpedit.msc into the Cortana/search bar or use Win + R and paste in gpedit.msc into the Run entry box

2. Navigate
Using the Local Group Policy Editor navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update

3. Double-Click
Double-Click Configure Automatic Updates to open the configuration window

4. Choose your destiny
The console is quite clear on what are your choices. These were detailed above in the prelude section. First you need to choose Enabled in the upper left corner as it is Not Configured by default. Once Enabled the Options section becomes active. You can now choose which policy you want to enable.

5. Date Time
If you are using option #4, you can also select the day and exact time you want the updates installed. Note that the time and day options are only applicable to option #4 as the other options are just notifications for installations. Once completed you can hit Apply to make sure the setting takes and then hit OK to exit the window.

Chromecast devices no longer discoverable after adding Mesh wifi point

This fixed my issue: "Google Nest WiFi Router 2 Pack (2nd Generation) – 4x4 AC2200 Mesh Wi-Fi Routers with 4400 sq ft Coverage"

Following is what I posted in the Chromecast support forum

I just bought a "NIGHTHAWK® MESH WIFI 6 SYSTEM (MK62)" 

When I am near the satellite, I cannot cast my screen to the Chromecast that is also near the satellite.  

If I walk to the front of the house, I get connected to the router base. I can always connect to the Chromecast at the back of the house. I can leave my phone at the front of the house and walk back and see my screen being mirrored.  

For the Chromecast we have upstairs in the front of the house, it always connects. I have not had an instance where I could not mirror my screen or cast from an app.  

I switched the two Chromecasts a few days ago. I experienced the same results based on the location they are at in the house. It has nothing to do with the Chromecast units. It is being caused by being connected to the satellite NightHawk unit.  

I went to https://support.google.com/chromecast/table/3477832 and searched for NetGear. I disabled UPnP and enabled IPv6. My configuration does not seem to allow me to disable the 5GHz WiFi.  

I am beginning to think that this router will soon be listed as not compatible with Chromecast.  

Will a Nest Mesh WiFi work? Has anyone had a similar setup and gotten Chromecast to work when connected to a Nest satellite access point?

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