Friday, August 14, 2015

Sysadmin Linkfest: Rnd edition

Here is a seemingly random (Rnd) collection of linkage for the syadmins in the RSS crowd.

Enjoy.

20683743 (Tools)

FileIOTest is a command line tool that tests the speed of local or remote (SMB) storage by performing some common file IO operations repeatedly and measuring the duration.

These are the main facts:

  • Performs four different types of file IO: write, custom read, read with the GetPrivateProfileString API, create/delete
  • The number of iterations can be specified
  • Each generated file name is unique to prevent caching
  • Works with local and UNC paths
  • FileIOTest does not require any software to be installed
  • FileIOTest works on any version of Windows from Vista / Server 2008 onwards
  • FileIOTest is freeware

Couple this utility with some Windows performance monitoring traces (Win 10 WPT via the Win ADK here) and who knows what fun you could have?!  See also PerfView.

44468807 (Surface Pro)

I’ve been seeing some strange trends with a few of our Surface Pro 3 devices. For some of them, they seem to be loosing functionality (drivers?) with the Microsoft Dock hardware. Cases in point; one Surface Pro 3 tablet (Win 8.1) has lost the ability to connect to the network via the Dock Ethernet port. If I take another SP# unit and place it in the same Dock, it connects fine to the network with no issues…so it doesn’t seem to be an issue with the dock itself…just this particular tablet picking up and using the driver. I’m going to see if any of the Ethernet drivers in this pack (or the driver pack MSI itself) resolves the issue before doing reimaging the unit.  Likewise, a different SP3 user reported their external monitor connected via the display port through the Dock stopped working. Take another SP3 unit and place in the same dock and it drives the same external monitor just fine. Again, I’m going to try the driver pack first before doing a reimage on the unit. Thoughts?

59479408 (Mobile Ads/Malware)

I’ve seen a few of these “pop-up” fake alert windows in iOS, but not many. Lavie has seen more than a good many on her iOS devices. So far we have been able to get out of them with a bit of work but no harm done, yet. Regardless we are now more sensitive to these “exploit” methods.

I’m looking forward to the potential capability of ad-blocking modules (for security not revenue drain) in iOS 9. Here are some links

48734052 (Anti-Virus)

71414462 (Network Tools)

35251748 (SSD’s)

60014312 (Windows Server 2012 Essentials)

4537758 (Folder Redirection Considerations)

78434592 (Windows 8/8.1/10 and Windows Photo Viewer)

One of the most common requests for help from our Surface Pro 3 tablet users is how to get the photos embedded in emails to open up in Windows Picture Viewer rather than the Windows 10 “app”. It’s easy enough to show them how to save the attachment to disk, then right click and “open with” Windows Photo Viewer.  However that’s not convenient. Here are some tips on how to set it as the default application.

Randomness courtesy of the random number generator at RandomNumberGenerator.com

Carry on!

Claus Valca

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