In the business realm there is often a need to run applications from a remote system or through a terminal services connection on a remote server. This works great in most cases except when you are attempting to use a local USB device with that remote session. There are several products available that can be used to help make the use of remote devices that use the local USB port and one of them is from RDS Tools.

We have not tested this product but are currently posting this article for notification purposes in the event others may be looking for this type of product. At some point we will likely implement this with one or more of our clients and then write a review. If you are reading this post and have used the USB for RDP tool from RDS Tools, feel free to leave a comment on your experience.

This article is currently in progress in relation to a problem we have seen with configuring Outlook 2016 with Exchange 2013. This issue has a number of posts in general on the various support forums on the Internet but no definitive solution. As we find the solution to this we will post it here.

If you want to test the autodiscover for your Exchange server, use Microsoft Connectivity Analysis tool.

With such a large number of connection issues with Outlook 2016 connecting to Office 365 you would think someone would have the definitive answer to these persistent issues. It is unfortunate that the issues that plague Outlook 2016 are not all related. Hopefully after you have read this technical note you too will be able to resolve your issue. Although this is not the fix that will fix all Outlook connectivity issues, but then again it might fix yours.

I guess starting with the obvious is always a good place to begin.

Have you had the need to test an outgoing port through a firewall to verify that the port was open for outbound traffic? There is a great tool called Outgoing Port Tester that will test any TCP port using a variety of methods. You can use your browser to test most ports using the following URL.

http://portquiz.net/

After reading a recent TechRepublic article about security mistakes that often made in enterprise organizations, I thought I would share some of my own. So this will be an ongoing post.

But before I get started, I would like to lead with the one from TechRepublic that started this.

After spending years supporting the Microsoft platform you find those special tools that help you overcome specific situations that seem monumental at first because you have to manually work your way through it. If you are lucky you will find some administration tool that eases that pain because someone before you had it to and had the skill to develop a tool to make it easier.

The purpose of this page is to help point others to some great web sites that offer free tools for administrating a Microsoft environment. Since we are unaffiliated with any of these sites, use these tools with caution. We don't advocate piracy so if there is a licensing fee, please pay up. The only things free are viruses and malware - and eventually you will pay the cost for that too.

A client gave us a MacBook Pro Mid 2009 that had some issues booting. The MacBook had El Capitan installed but it would not reinstall. After backing up the user files we then attempted to perform a recovery which attempted to restore the system to Yosemite, but that failed as well. Out of a last resort we had a copy of Snow Leopard v10.6.0 that we were able to use to reformat the drive and then install the OS. Here are the remaining steps we took to get the system retored to El Capitan.
It is important to remember that when installing any Mac OS that you don’t have any non-Apple peripherals connected such as a mouse or keyboard as these will often cause the install to fail.

1. Upgrade from v10.6.0 to v10.6.8 this is the base version needed prior to installing El Capitan.
2. Update the v10.6.8 which will then install the App Store tool.
3. Go to the Apple web site to “Get El Capitan from the App Store”
   https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
4. Scroll down the page to find the link “Get OS X El Capitan”. You can try this direct link.
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-el-capitan/
5. Click the Get button in the upper left of the page.
6. You will now need to enter your Apple ID and password to continue.
7. The install will begin, it is about 6.21 GB and may take an hour or more to complete depending on your Internet connection speed.
8. Once the install completes and the computer reboots, the system should now have El Capitan.

 We hope that this information is helpful. Please let us know how this has helped you or if you have additional questions. As always Firestone Technical Resources, Inc. is here to help with your computer support issues - "Providing personal service for your impersonal technology."

Occasionally we get a computer that needs a reinstallation, but they don't have the original media because they didn't create it before the computer crashed. If you have a computer with pre-installed Windows 7 or Vista, most likely you’ll notice the manufacturer’s support information when you look in the system properties window. However once the computer has been restored to working condition with OEM media, there is no logo. We often want to change the OEM logo in the computer properties dialog box so that it reflects the original installation and makes the customer feel like they got there computer back just like they bought it.

How to Customize the OEM Logo