TechDiY.net

Install Microsoft updates offline

Everyone knows the importance of keeping your software up-to-date.  Especially your Windows Operating System and Microsoft Office products.  For the geek-on-the-go, downloading updates are not always an option.  Or perhaps the client has a slow internet connection.  You need to maximize the time spent troublehsooting the issue and minimize the time spent doing regular maintentance work such as patching the system or updating the anti-virus.

Thanks to CTUpdate (WSUS offline), you can now download all (or just a select few) Microsoft updates and put them on a CD or DVD for easy installation (I have not tested USB drives, but I have reports that it does work).

Another beautiful thing about this software is that I can have updates ready for any supported Microsoft operating system and Microsoft Office product.  It does not matter if the computer has Windows 2000 with Office 2003 installed, or Windows Server 2003 with Office 2000 installed.  I can be ready for any situation I step into!

I tried this for myself on a freshly installed copy of Windows XP and it worked great!  All updates were installed within 25 minutes and I only had to reboot a couple times!

NOTE:Windows 2000 systems need to copy the reg.exe file from a Windows 2000 installation CD under \support\tools in the support.cab into the client\bin subdirectory. Windows 2003 system need to copy the reg.exe file from Windows\system32 directory of an existing copy of XP.

Version 5 features include:

• Support added for Microsoft Windows Server 2008
• Optional download and installation of .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and DirectX End-User Runtimes
• Download of Operating Systems’ updates may preferentially be redirected to a local WSUS server
• Number of updates to download and to install will be displayed and logged
• Integrity of updates may be verified on subsequent download runs
• DVD ISO images will be split into x86- and x64-products since ISO file sizes exceeded 4.7 GB
• Windows Installer 4.5 integrated for Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003/2008 systems

The process of getting the updates will take some time, but it is worth it!

1. Download the software from here:  Vulnerability Assessment.co.uk




2. Extract the files and run the UpdateGenerator utility




3. Select the options like shown below:


CTUpdate main screen

I downloaded everything because I work on a variety of different computers and I wanted to be prepared for almost any scenario. I also unchecked the option to verify, but you might want to do this if you have some extra time. I did not chose to clean up download directories because I did not want to download the entire list of updates again when I refresh the software come patch Tuesday. Feel free to play around with these settings until they are tweaked to your needs.

4. Be prepared to wait for a long time when you click the Start button.  There are a lot of updates to download and it does take a while (even on a high speed connection).  I just let my computer run overnight and it was ready for my in the morning.




5. Once the ISO images were complete, I burned them off to DVD to give them a shot.
   WARNING:  These ISO files are HUGE!  Mine were about 6.5GB.  I had to use a DL DVD to burn them.  Since I don’t like to waste a lot of CD or DVD’s, I will probably purchase an 8 GB (or larger) USB drive to copy this onto.




6. Once the DVD was ready, I popped it into my Windows XP machine to give it a shot.  It will autorun to the setup screen, or you can run the UpdateInstaller utility manually from the media.
   

   Update installer

   It’s probably a good idea to take the options:  “Back up existing system files” and “Automatic reboot and recall”

A couple reboots later, my system was completely up-to-date!  I cannot recommend this tool enough.  If you are work on computers, this will save you time.  And we all know that time equals money!

Jason Free software, Tutorials cd, dvd, easy, free, microsoft, mobile, office, offline, updates, windows

Is your password secure?

Passwords are the most common forms of data access control that we have.  They are very easy to implement, but they are also very easy to crack if you don’t take the proper precautions.

Most users don’t know or don’t want to make complex passwords.  “They are too difficult to remember” or “they have too many passwords to manage” are the common excuses.

Here are some tips to help you create and manage better passwords:

1. You can have all your online passwords the same IF they are complex and you change them regularly
2. Passwords should change every 60 days at least.  Set a reminder in Outlook to change your passwords regularly.
3. Take the complexity out of complex passwords with phrases.  Use a quote from a favorite movie, television show, or book.  An example would be:
   “I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the wookiee win.” could be turned into “IsAns,R2. LtWW!“  Make sure to use the spaces and punctuation if at all possible.  That will increase the strength of your password.
4. Make them ridiculous… they are easier to remember that way.
5. Never write down your passwords! Use a password took like KeePass (it’s FREE!) There are also portable versions of this software for Windows Mobile devices.
6. Make sure your password is not on this list:  Passwords you should NEVER use
7. Check your password strength with this tool:  Microsoft password strength checker

Jason IT Best Practices complex, easy, free, passwords, safe

Times are tough. Budgets are getting cut and everyone is being pushed to do more for less. As an I.T. Administrator, I needed a simple system to monitor my network and servers. When someone said the network is slow, I don’t have the luxury of spending half a day to troubleshoot it anymore.

Even if you do have all the resources in the world, a monitoring solution is really something you need to have on your network. Baselines and historical data are very hard to argue against when you are begging for money for network upgrades.

Read more…

Jason Networking easy, monitoring, open source, simple, zabbix