Beware of the Invisible Installs!!!

Does your internet toolbar look like this? :

Many times advertising companies will seek out software companies to promote their product using software companies many people are familiar with.

Ever end up with a program you don’t use and are not sure how it was installed? Each time you go to install a program you need to use, pay attention to the terms and agreements. Some software downloads include extra additions you may not even be aware of, need or want. Some of these options will even be hidden throughout the install. For example, when going to install Adobe Reader you will see this:

           

If you would like to use Google Chrome, then you can leave the option checked. If not, make sure to uncheck the option.  Some installs can even change your settings:

So next time you need to install a program, please pay attention to each and every step so that you ensure you get just what you need.

Getting online when the only DNS server is not

Although best practice is to have redundant DNS servers, not every small business has the luxury of being able to afford a second server. There are however cases when the server is down but users need to get online and work (or look up ways to solve the server’s issues). Fortunately Google has provided a solution in the form of a pair of publicly accessible DNS servers. While these servers will NOT provide address resolution for local LAN devices such as file shares, printers or local e-mail systems, they do allow for name resolution for any public site on the Internet.

The process is as simple as opening the IP setting for a system’s LAN card and entering the IP address of one of the public DNS server, 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4.

For more details look at Google’s instruction page at https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using

Microsoft Office 365 – Configure a User Password to Never Expire

This article will show you how to configure a user password to never expire on the Office 365 platform.

Install the PowerShell cmdlets for Office 365

First you will need the PowerShell cmdlets installed onto your computer. To install them, please follow the instructions here:
http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/2b09b6a8-ad7e-446f-b7f0-273856beed70#BKMK_install

Set Windows Powershell Credentials

To connect Windows Powershell to Office 365, run the following cmdlet from the Powershell window (which you installed in the above step).

$cred=Get-Credential
After running that command, you will get a login window. Type in an “admin” level user for Office 365 (in the format of username@domain.com) and select “Ok”.

Connect Windows Powershell to Office 365

Next, run the following cmdlet:
connect-MSOLService -credential $cred
If it connects successfully, no messages will be should be shown, just a new line as shown in the above screenshot.

If You Get an Error . . .

If the credentials you’ve provided are incorrect, you will get a screen like the one above. If this happens, check your credentials and re-run the cmdlets above.

Find Out Whether a Password is Set to Never Expire

To see whether a single user’s password is set to never expire, run the following cmdlet by using the user ID (in the format of username@domain.com) of the user you want to check:
Get-MSOLUser -UserPrincipalName <user ID> | Select PasswordNeverExpires

The result of the cmdlet will show if this flag has been set or not for this user. An example of this can be seen in the above screenshot. For this particular user, it has not been set.

Optional — To see the “Password never expires” setting for all users, run the following cmdlet:
Get-MSOLUser | Select UserPrincipalName, PasswordNeverExpires

Set a Password to Never Expire

To set the password of one user to never expire, run the following cmdlet by using the user ID of the user (in the format of username@domain.com):
Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName <user ID> -PasswordNeverExpires $true

Optional — To set the passwords of all the users in an organization to never expire, run the following cmdlet:
Get-MSOLUser | Set-MsolUser -PasswordNeverExpires $true

Set a Password to Expire (To Undo Above)

To set the password of one user so that the password does expire, run the following cmdlet by using the user ID of the user:
Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName <user ID> -PasswordNeverExpires $false

To set the passwords of all users in the organization so that they do expire, use the following cmdlet:
Get-MSOLUser | Set-MsolUser -PasswordNeverExpires $false

Cloud Storage is Getting Crowded – Google Drive vs. Dropbox, SkyDrive, SugarSync, and others: a cloud sync storage face-off

Google Drive has been released over the last couple of days, so it has prompted many sites to do comparisons of the different online storage cloud providers. A very good comparison that I have found is over at theverge.com. It’s over at: http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/24/2954960/google-drive-dropbox-skydrive-sugarsync-cloud-storage-competition

Note– if you are a Microsoft SkyDrive user, they are changing the “free” account from 25GB down to 7GB. However if you already have a SkyDrive account, you can “claim” your full 25GB by heading to your SkyDrive “Manage Storage” page (conveniently linked from the client’s menu bar icon). There is a link on that page to claim your full 25GB.

The article above basically mentions that they feel SugarSync is the overall best solution. I would agree with that, I used SugarSync for quite awhile, however one thing that I didn’t like about SugarSync, is some of the sharing capabilities of folders. To share a folder with someone, you choose the folder, click on “get share link” and you send the link out to the person you want to share it with. What you might not know/see, is the person you’ve shared the folder with cannot access your link until they sign-up for a SugarSync account themselves- something that I didn’t want the people I share links with to have to do.

Here’s an example of the above so you can see what I mean:

For the above, I made a test folder with a test file inside the folder. I then shared the folder with a link. When you click on that link however, you’ll see the above page- SugarSync wants them to signup for an account before they can get access to the files you’ve shared with them.

Personally I’ve switched over to Dropbox, as their sharing capabilities are quick, easy and I can share files or folders through links– and they don’t require the person I’m sharing the link with to signup for an account in order to access the files.

Microsoft Slashes Prices for Office 365

According to The Register, Microsoft is slashing their prices for Office 365, which in my opinion was already very competitively priced. For full details, check out the article here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/15/microsoft_office_365_price_cut/ 

Here’s the table in the article outlining the old and new prices for each Office 365 package.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Lewan is a Microsoft Gold Partner and offers Office 365 to our clients at the same prices listed above. Feel free to talk with your account representative for additional details or for a demonstration.

Microsoft – Official PST to Exchange Import Tool

Microsoft has just announced they have released a tool that allow admins to automatically crawl users computers and import PST files into Exchange Online or Exchange 2010.

Download http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=28767

Thanks to the following blog for the info:
http://www.grouppolicy.biz/2012/01/out-now-official-pst-to-exchange-import-tool/

 

Microsoft Office 365 – How-to Reset All User Passwords

Obviously this isn’t something that you would do a lot, but in case you need to know how, here’s how you can reset all user passwords in a Microsoft Office 365 environment:

Help on accessing Office 365 powershell:
http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/Office365-enterprises/hh124998.aspx

Once your connected run the following commands:
Import-Module msonline

Connect-MsolService -cred $cred

Get-Command -Module msonline

Get-msoluser |set-msoluserpassword -newpassword “password” -forcechangepassword $false

That’s it! 🙂

What does $5 bucks get you these days?

How about a really big mailbox?

http://www.mspmentor.net/2010/08/17/cloud-email-has-the-market-stabilized-at-5-mailboxes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MspMentor+%28MSP+Mentor%29

Microsoft Online Service BPOS deployment guide

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=f5bca9c4-36a3-4589-b9e3-9593a8435022

Google apps is out, Microsoft is in

OK so it’s also written by Microsoft but it is interesting to see some of Google’s vocal supporters now making the move to Microsoft.

http://blogs.technet.com/cloudservicesexperts/archive/2010/05/17/why-businesses-are-leaving-google-apps.aspx