Mike's Mostly Tech blog

Office 365 installation tips and scripts

Hi all, if your like my self and many of my customers you’ve had issues moving from on premises Office installations – that use a MAK or KMS keys.

Seems when you think you’ve removed previous Office versions, and then login to Office365 and download then install the O365 installation you run into errors stating you still have previous versions of Office installed.

The solution is to FIRST completely remove ANY previous Office installations.

If you just use the ‘Program and Features’ control panel applet you are likely to still have remnants left.

To resolve this you can run the appropriate script s below and choose ‘ALL’ or whatever you feel is good enough.

[note: I have added the extension ‘.txt’ to these vbscript files. You need to remove that and leave the extension just ‘.vbs’ to run]

Here is a 7zip archive with all the scripts from Office 2007 to Office 365

Microsoft takes Antivirus/Protection to a new level

I no longer use any ‘always on’ third party Antivirus software on any of my Operating systems, and I haven’t for some time. I rely heavily on my expertise, current systems, and applications setups and experience to keep my self as protected as possible.

I realize that most users do not have the extensive training and skills that I do. So I recommend most Windows users use Microsoft’s built-in Windows Defender AV – it is surprisingly good. AND doesn’t jack up as many systems as do nearly all paid solutions.

Microsoft is now REALLY stepping up the game in system protection.

The HowToGeek has a superb article on this. Check it out.

Facebook Scraping SMS and Call logs

In case you haven’t heard or know about this Facebook scraped (grabbed/uploaded and stored!) call, text message data for years from Android phones! [Read about it here – https://goo.gl/acrfJW]

[Many are saying that this didn’t/couldn’t happen on iPhones, but I believe that as much as I believe that Facebook when they say

“.. that the company keeps the data secure and does not sell it to third parties”.]

For years now, I have never used Facebook Messenger on any phones, ever; I tested the app security a couple times and during install it requested accesses to all kinds of stuff including sms and phone logs, contact information access to phone storage etc.. (I have a security extension (X Privacy – requires root) that lets you see EVERY process an application requests access to. I saw the permissions the application asked for and knew it would be bad. Looks like, I was right.

To access messenger messages I use a computer Browser or a web session on my phone set to use the ‘desktop agent’. I’ll explain that at the bottom of this post.

So what to do now if you’re one of those who have been snared:

On phone app:

How to manage contact uploading with the Facebook App.

Facebook will upload your contacts from your device if you have continuous uploading turned on. To turn off continuous uploading in the Facebook app:

Tap .
Tap App Settings.
Tap Continuous Contacts Upload to turn this setting on or off.

You can also tap Sync Your Call and Text History to turn this setting on or off. Syncing your call and text history makes it easier to connect you to your friends.

How do I delete contacts I uploaded to Facebook?

To delete contacts you’ve uploaded to Facebook:

Go to the Manage Invites and Imported Contacts page.
Tap the box next to the contacts you want to delete.
Tap Delete Selected.

You can view or remove your uploaded contacts on the Manage Invites and Imported Contacts page.

Now if you wish to view messages on your phone without the FB messenger you can login to your Facebook account with a browser (for that I use Opera) and set the ‘user agent’ option to desktop – this will tell the FB servers that you are connecting from a computer and not a phone. [Just make sure the address you type in the address bar is https://facebook.com and NOT m.facebook.com – the ‘m’ sets it to mobile.

Open Opera Mobile Browser:

Tap on Opera Menu and you’ll see Settings option, tap Settings

In the settings scroll down to the Content section and you’ll find the Default user Agent setting.

Tap that and you can set the agent to Desktop

Now when you open that Browser and go to a website you’ll see the ‘desktop’ version and not the mobile version. Like I said I use this for Facebook to check/send messages and also see differences in how FB presents things on my timeline based on the agent.

Block a phone number or contact iPhone

There are a few ways that you can block a phone number or contact.

Phone

If you’re in the Phone app under Recents, tap next to the phone number or contact that you want to block. Scroll to the bottom of your screen, then tap Block this Caller.

FaceTime

If you’re in the FaceTime app, tap next to the phone number or contact that you want to block. Scroll to the bottom of your screen, then tap Block this Caller.

Messages

If you’re in Messages, open the conversation, tap , then tap the name or phone number. Scroll to the bottom of the Info screen, then tap Block this Caller.

When you block a phone number or contact, they can still leave a voicemail, but you won’t get a notification. Messages that are sent or received won’t be delivered. Also, the contact won’t get a notification that the call or message was blocked.

Manage your blocked phone numbers and contacts

To see the phone numbers and contacts that you’ve blocked from Phone, FaceTime, or Messages:

Phone

Go to Settings > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification.

FaceTime

Go to Settings > FaceTime > Blocked.

Messages

Go to Settings > Messages > Blocked.

From these screens, you can add or unblock contacts or unblock phone numbers.

To add a contact from Phone, go to Settings > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification > Block Contact. Then tap the contact that you want to block. To add a contact from Messages or FaceTime, go to Settings > Messages or Settings > FaceTime, scroll down and tap Blocked, tap Add New, then select the contact that you want to block. To unblock a contact or phone number, swipe left over the number, then tap Unblock.

Filter iMessages from unknown senders

You can filter iMessages from people who aren’t saved in your Contacts.

To filter iMessages, go to Settings > Messages and turn on Filter Unknown Senders.

In Messages, you’ll see a new tab for Unknown Senders but you won’t get notifications for these iMessages.

Report spam or junk in the Messages app

You can report iMessages that look like spam or junk from the Messages app. If you get an iMessage from someone who’s not saved in your Contacts, you’ll see a Report Junk link under the message. Tap the link to forward the sender’s information and the message to Apple.

To report SMS and MMS messages, contact your carrier.

Un-F@#k Facebook

I was logged into Facebook recently to search for and show someone something I saw posted. The person that was with started to freak! They said, “How come your Facebook looks so much different? Where’s all the other shtuff on the pages?”

I explained I use the F.B Purity extension (Available on Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers too) Formally called Facebook Flufbuster. It has been my go to extension to un-f@#k Facebook for some time now. I recommend it to many but they often don’t take the time to read the guides/how to’s on their site or just can’t get it to work as well I they saw on my browser(s).

So for those that are interested or care here you go.

Here’s a view from my timeline:

Simple easy to read posts and no extemporaneous crap or distractions. Below are my current exact settings:

Meltdown And Spectre info

I’m sure many have heard of the recent MASSIVE security holes found in computer processors.

The threat is real so you should take notice. Here is a good description form Stu Sjourwerman of what it is and what to do.:

"Computer researchers have recently found out that the main chip in most modern computers—the CPU—has a hardware bug. It’s really a design flaw in the hardware that has been there for years. This is a big deal because it affects almost every computer on our network, including your workstation and all our servers.

This hardware bug allows malicious programs to steal data that is being processed in your computer memory. Normally, applications are not able to do that because they are isolated from each other and the operating system. This hardware bug breaks that isolation.

So, if the bad guys are able to get malicious software running on your computer, they can get access to your passwords stored in a password manager or browser, your emails, instant messages and even business-critical documents. Not good.”

So, What Can We Doing About This?

You need to update and patch all machines on your network. This could to take some time, some of the patches are not even available yet.

In the meantime, we need you to be extra vigilant, with security top of mind and Think Before You Click.

Here is a good site with an FAQ and videos about this SNAFU, that you can refer people to if they want to know more. For instance, antivirus does not protect against this vulnerability.

Improving iPhone Battery Life

First thing to do is make sure there are no iOS updates awaiting installation.

If there are, run those.

Make sure you have more than 35% battery (Preferable to plug your phone into charger).

Tap Settings > General > Software Update.

Tap Download and Install. If a message asks to temporarily remove apps because iOS needs more space for the update, tap Continue or Cancel. Later, iOS will reinstall apps that it removed.

Next:..

Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and take a look at the list. Do you really need all those apps updating themselves in the background and draining your battery life? Be ruthless and turn off all the apps you don’t need to update automatically. Remember, they’ll still update and work as normal when you fire them up, they just won’t keep running when you’re not using them. If you find that you don’t like the change, you can always head back into this section and toggle the apps back on again.

Some apps will send you notifications that you don’t really need. Go to Settings > Notification Center and look under Include. Tap on any apps that you don’t need notifications from and choose None under the Alert Style, and then toggle Show in Navigation Center to off and Show on Lock Screen to off.

You can have your iPhone update Music, Apps, and iOS automatically, but it will eat a lot of battery life. Your iPhone might also choose an inopportune moment to update everything. You can save power and battery life by going into Settings > iTunes & App Store and sliding Use Cellular Data to off, so it only updates on Wi-Fi. You’ll save even more if you just turn the automatic downloads off altogether and update on your own schedule.

You don’t need AirDrop turned on all the time either, so swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the Control Center and turn it off until you actually need it.

Get along without iPad/iPhone Home Button

Home Button not Working on iPhone or iPad?

Here’s how to get along without it.

Extensive usage or actual damage can cause the home button can become unresponsive.

Using your iPod touch, iPhone or iPad without the Home Button CAN still be done via the touch screen.

You may have to restart you device and login freshly to get basic ‘home/start page’

Here’s how:

1. Open Settings.

2. Go to General > Accessibility

3. Scroll down to the section labeled INTERACTION and tap on AssistiveTouch.

4. On the next screen, toggle AssistiveTouch to the green On position.

5. A white circle with a grey box will appear on screen. Tap this circle to expand it to a big box on screen. The square Home button at the bottom of the box functions exactly like the physical home button – you can use it to single tap, double tap, or long press the home button even if there is a hardware problem. The grey box remains visible and usable in all apps.

This will put a little ‘Circle’ on your screen that when tapped will bring up this menu:

You will now have a ‘home button’ you can use.

Fix Microsoft Outlook – Exchange Is Unavailable, Outlook Must Be Online Or Connected

While setting up a few new users I was getting an error while trying to add a new email account.
While walking through the default setup – simply launching Outlook on a new users profile (who, of course, has and email account associated with his AD account) Outlook gave an error message that said, "The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action."

Now, I know that I’m online on the domain – the new user authenticated. AND I could ping the Exchange server via name too. Also since there are other users on this device and it’s fairly new I was pretty sure that it’s not a system error.

It finally seemed that the user (PC) was not able to see our domain controller as the global catalog server and hence was not able to find our mail server via Active Directory. [Why this was happening on only this user will have to be further investigated ]

Per MS – This behavior occurs when the Exchange Server computer (where the Outlook client is homed) and the global catalog server are both located in a site that is remote from the Outlook client location. (article here).

The fix:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit.exe, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\Exchange Provider
Note You may have to create the registry path.
On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
Value name: DS Server
Data type: REG_SZ (string)
Value data: FQDN of the global catalog server ( ourDC.domain.local )

Restart the PC and you should be able to reopen Microsoft Outlook and run through your profile set up. If finding the global catalog server was the issue, the problem should now be resolved and the email account should now properly add properly.

Another LastPass vulnerability

Because I have so very many usernames and passwords, I must use some sort of password database manager.
For sometime now I have been using KeePass – an open source password manager.
Though it using it ‘can’ be slightly more onerous than a completely ‘online’ password manager like LastPass, 1Password, Dashlane or the like, it provides for WAY more security by enabling you to ‘own’ the database AND a seed file. And being an IT security guy here is no way I’d put my passwords in the cloud.

KeePass is technically an offline password manager, but its database can be synced between computers with a service like Dropbox, Google Drive or the like. Of course, at that point, you’re putting your passwords back in the cloud. BUT if you have created a KeyFile and don’t place that in the cloud and use something that is not obvious. You eliminate the ability for someone to just steal your password database and start brute forcing it.

Okay so now some more bad news. LastPass, probably the most widely used online password keeper, is once again in the news for some VERY serious security flaws.

You might want to rethink your password manager solutions or go back to pen and paper.