Category: Help Desk

Celebrating 3 Years of Serving Grants Pass

It is official – the month of September marks three years in business for Farmhouse Networking. We have been truly blessed by God to have been able to serve the Grants Pass and surrounding business communities by providing exceptional IT managed services. We look forward to many more years of giving you the highest level of support possible so that you can focus on getting business done. With this anniversary we plan on rolling out some enhancements to our monthly service offerings:

Enhanced Monthly Maintenance

Standard Maintenance: For those who are not current managed clients, these basics have always been a part of our service offering:

5-year Technology Plan & Budget
Full Network Inventory
Hard Disk Checkups (Bi-Monthly)
Hard Disk Defragmentation (Monthly)
Temporary File Cleaning (Weekly)
Anti-Virus Software (Constant Monitoring)
Operating System Updates (Weekly)
Error Log Monitoring (Constant Monitoring)
Power Settings Management (Constant Monitoring)
Windows Services (Constant Monitoring)

Continued Improvements: Over the past 3 years we have also added the following features to our service at no additional costs:

Ticketing System Portal
Email Support to Create Tickets
Security Incident Response Plan
Vendor Information Tracking
Third-Party Software Updates (Monthly on Firefox, Chrome, Acrobat Reader, ….)
Email Blacklist Checking (Daily)
Warranty Checking (Monthly on All Major Brands)
Operating System Intrusion Detection (Constant Monitoring)
Support for MacOS & Linux (Constant Monitoring)
Server Applications (Constant Monitoring)
Hardware Events (Constant Monitoring)

Enhancements to Come: In September, we will be adding these new exciting features to our service:

DNS filtering – this will further protect your network from external threats by stopping accidental surfing to malicious sites. It also can increase productivity and network speeds by limiting wasteful frivolous surfing during company time.
Dark Web Scan – Each monthly client will have the “Dark Web” scanned to see if any email addresses connected to the company have been involved in a previous password breach.
Weekly Security Newsletter – Farmhouse Networking is partnering with a national security non-profit to deliver up-to-date news and information about how to stay safe online. These weekly newsletters will be packed with valuable information and delivered to everyone in your organization.

As our service offering has expanded, we have deepened our ability to monitor our customers networks to proactively respond to alerts before they become problems. We have continued to add levels of protection to make sure that our clients systems are safe from the ever-expanding list of threats. All this has been done at no additional cost, despite inflation, up to this point. To continue offering this high level of service, Farmhouse Networking is making a couple small changes to its prices that will be effective September 1^st, 2018.

Monthly Maintenance Clients – our services are based on a per device basis and the cost per workstation will be $25 per month for remote maintenance and $50 per month for full service maintenance. All other prices will remain the same for every other device on the network. This will only effect clients whose contracts are renewing after September 1^st, 2018 – any renewed before that will keep their prices the same for the next 12-month term.
Small Business Clients – those who do not have a server and have less than 5 workstations, our hourly rate will be $80 per hour for on-site service and $40 per hour for remote service (billed in 15-minute increments). That is only $10 more for on-site support and $5 more for remote support.
Standard to Medium Clients – those with a server or more than 5 workstations, our hourly rate will be $120 per hour for on-site service and $60 per hour for remote service (billed in 15-minute increments). That is only $10 more for on-site support and $5 more for remote support.
Tier-3 Clients – those technology companies that utilize our advanced expertise to better serve their clients, our hourly rate will be $40 per hour for remote service (billed in 15-minute increments). That is only $5 more for remote support.
Charity Clients – those non-profits that pay for support, our hourly rate will remain at $70 per hour for on-site service and $35 per hour for remote service (billed in 15-minute increments).

For all our monthly maintenance clients, we will be calling to schedule our semi-annual meeting to check-in with you during the month of September. At that time we will be performing another network inventory to insure that all network assets are covered properly under your current contract. We cannot thank all our clients enough for your continued use of our IT services. We look forward to continuing to serve you.

Know the state of your flocks,
and put your heart into caring for your herds,
for riches don’t last forever,
and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.
After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears
and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
your sheep will provide wool for clothing,
and your goats will provide the price of a field.
And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself,
your family, and your servant girls.
Proverbs 27:23-27

Are You in Need of Technical Help?

We have a bench of Tier 3 engineers ready that have been trained in industry best practices, compliance and are comfortable supporting your network and computers.

Put an End to Stressful Computer Support

By utilizing one of our industry trained Helpdesk Specialists, you can free your employees from wasting time on computer support tasks.

Our Helpdesk Specialists are capable – but not limited to – the following tasks:

Desktop operating system maintenance, troubleshooting, and diagnosis
Desktop connectivity troubleshooting
Network systems maintenance, troubleshooting, and diagnosis
Network connectivity troubleshooting
Server operating system maintenance, troubleshooting, and diagnosis
Server connectivity troubleshooting
Application installation and support
Client VPN installation and support
Microsoft Office Suite & Google G-Suite support
Security & access management
Anti-malware administration and resolution

Learn more about the benefits of our Dedicated Remote Support Solutions here.

New Phishing Email Variant

Thought that I would share a recently received new phishing email variant that could easily be overlooked and possibly cause damage to your network. The email appears to have come from Dropbox as a user sharing a folder with me, but a closer look shows many obvious signs that the email is a fake.

Starting from the Top

Look closely at the From portion of the email:

The lettering is actually another language where the font makes it look like English lettering. There is also the fact that the email is form someone that I don’t do business with. Always fight the urge to look at things that are not yours.

Stick to the Subject

Now to take a look at the Subject line of the email:

This has different lettering but it is again a different language used to look like English lettering.

And now the rest…

The final thing that caught my eye was the “button” in the middle of the email:

It actually looked fuzzy. It turns out the entire body of the email is a single image that is a link to their malicious site. Clicking anywhere in the body of the email would send you on your way to infection or account compromise. Hope this little tutorial helps you detect other phishing attempts in the future.

If your company is having trouble with SPAM or phishing, then contact us for assistance.

Network Drives Disconnect

Had a client that repeatedly had troubles with network drives disconnect happening randomly. I did explain that this would happen normally if they kept their workstations logged into the server, but they did not want to change their habits. I performed the usual registry fixes on the workstations and the server, but these did not seem to work. Finally I got to look at the error and figured out the Group Policy Object that was causing the problem.

Usual Registry Fix:

The default method for this is to edit the registry as follows on both and run a command on the server to lengthen the disconnect time on the workstations and disable disconnect on the server.

Workstations:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation\parameters
In the right pane, click the KeepConn value, and then on the Edit menu, click Modify. If the KeepConn value does not exist, follow these steps:
1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click REG_DWORD.
2. Type KeepConn, and then press ENTER.
On the Edit menu, click Modify.
Click Hexadecimal.
In the Value data box, type ffff, and then click OK.

Server:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
In the right pane, click the autodisconnect value, and then on the Edit menu, click Modify. If the autodisconnect value does not exist, follow these steps:
1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click REG_DWORD.
2. Type autodisconnect, and then press ENTER.
On the Edit menu, click Modify.
Click Decimal.
In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

Finally the following command should also be run:

net config server /autodisconnect:-1

Group Policy Object Fix:

Even though I changed the systems as above, it still disconnected regularly. The clients were getting this message when disconnected -“The system has detected a possible attempt to compromise security. Please ensure that you can contact the server that authenticated you.” Some research found that Windows Small Business Server created a Group Policy Object that by default times out authentication to the server after 10 hours. Here is how I changed it:

Open Group Policy Management
Look for Default Domain Policy
Click on the Settings tab and then Show All
Under Account Policies/Kerberos Policy look for Maximum lifetime for user ticket which by default was 10 hours.
Right click on the policy and choose Edit
Dig down to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Kerberos Policy
Change the Maximum lifetime for user ticket to 100 hours (>4 days)
Change the Maximum lifetime for user ticket renewal to 4 days

This combination will keep the ticket lifetime timeout longer than the time for renewal which will cause the renewal to happen before the timeout. Problem solved.

If your company is having issues with Network Drive Disconnect, then contact us for assistance.

ScreenConnect Remote Access Tool

I have had the privilege of using a new remote support tool called ScreenConnect which was recently acquired. This tool has all the major features of other remote support tools including a built in screen annotation feature and OCR capability that feeds into the built in research tool. Looking forward to training and trying all the features of this wonderful new software.

Fab-ulous New Software Experience

Big thanks go out to the fellows at the PodNutz Podcast for the recommendation of Fab’s AutoBackup Pro as this has been one of the best investments I have made in automating my business in recent years. I was hesistant at its expansive claims to basically grab everything from every profile on an old computer or even removed hard drive and automatically put it into the associated new profiles on a target computer. The claims are all true and really have to be experienced to be believed, so don’t do this kind of thing manually anymore as Fab’s will take care of all the heavy lifting. It will move the following:

Fab moves Personal folders:

Windows desktop’s content
Windows desktop’s wallpaper
Quick Launch toolbar’s shortcuts (for Windows XP and Vista : this tool bar has been removed from Windows since Windows 7)
Windows Start screen/menu Modern UI layout (only shortcuts, not applications)
My Documents
My Pictures
My Music
My Videos
Downloads folder (Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10)

Fab moves Web browsers:

Windows Internet Explorer favorites
Windows Internet Explorer main start page
Windows Internet Explorer settings (proxy, security zones…)
Microsoft Edge favorites
Google Chrome profile
Chromium browser profile
Apple Safari profile
Opera profile
Firefox settings : bookmarks, extensions…

Fab moves Mail:

Outlook Express messages and settings (mail accounts, rules…)
Microsoft Office Outlook PST/OST files and email accounts (messages, address book and calendar are stored in)
Outlook signatures files
Microsoft Office Outlook typed email addresses history
Windows Mail messages and settings
Windows Live Mail messages and settings
Windows Address book, used by outlook Express or Windows Mail
Mozilla Thunderbird messages and settings
PostBox messages and settings
IncrediMail messages and settings
Opera Mail

Fab moves Misc :

Windows Vista’s calendar
Sticky Notes
Screen saver settings (enabled or not, password protected or not, delay before activation)
Documents templates
Skype data and settings
Trillian data ad settings
ICQ data and settings
Windows Gadgets (installed by user)
Network drives connections
Network places
Picasa (albums and database)
BlackBerry Desktop settings
BlackBerry devices backups
Logitech SetPoint settings
Microsoft IntelliType Pro settings
Microsoft IntelliPoint settings
Apple IOS devices iTunes backups (iPhone, iPod, iPad)

Fab moves Common items:

Common documents
Common desktop
Common pictures
Common music
Common videos
Public Downloads folder (Windows Vista/7/8/8.1/10)
Fonts (useful if you have installed some by yourself or bundled with software)
Microsoft Office XP, 2003, 2007 and 2010 activation files (Microsoft Office 2013 is not handled)
Modem settings file (fichier rasphone.pbk), except credentials
Intuit QuickBooks data (experimental)
NCH ExpressInvoice data
Steam (downloads)
Installed printers list

Fab moves User defined:

Additional files (manual selection or using wildcards search on selected operating system partition)
Additional folders

I cannot say enough good things about this software. Buy it and tell everyone you know about it too.

My Computer Shows Network Drive Red Xs

Kept getting calls from clients about their network drives “disappearing” or disconnecting throughout the day at “random” intervals, so after much troubleshooting found these steps to take on the workstations and file server to help alleviate the issue:

Network Drive Red Xs On the Workstation:

1. Click on Start button then choose Control Panel
2. In Control Panel open the Device Manager
3. Expand the Network Adapters and open each one used on that workstation
4. Look in the Power Management tab and Advanced tabs to look for any power settings that would disable the device then uncheck them. Click OK button and close all other windows.
5. Open the Registry Editor.
6. Expand the tree to the following key:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Service\lanmanworkstation\parameters

7. If it doesn’t exist then create a REG_DWORD named KeepConn with the Decimal value of 86400 (aka 24 hours)
8. Reboot the workstation for changes to take effect.

Network Drive Red Xs On the Server:

1. Login as administrator
2. Open Command Prompt as administrator
3. Type in the following to disable Auto Disconnect of network drives:

net config server /autodisconnect:-1

4. Reboot the server for changes to take effect.

ShadowCopy Quickly Saves Your Bacon

In my opinion this feature is simply a must for all servers and stand alone workstations – ShadowCopy otherwise known as previous versions. As per Microsoft:

Previous versions are automatically saved as part of a restore point. If system protection is turned on, Windows automatically creates previous versions of files and folders that have been modified since the last restore point was made. Typically, restore points are made once a day. If your disk is partitioned or if you have more than one hard disk on your computer, you need to turn on system protection for the other partitions or disks.

To enable and configure ShadowCopy of Shared Folders:

1. Go to Administrative Tools and then click Computer Management .
2. In the console tree, right-click Shared Folders, click All Tasks, and then click Configure Shadow Copies.
3. In Select a volume, click the volume that you want to enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders for, and then click Enable.
4. You will see an alert that Windows will create a shadow copy now with the current settings and that the settings might not be appropriate for servers with high I/O loads. Click Yes if you want to continue or No if you want to select a different volume or settings.
5. To make changes to the default schedule and storage area, click Settings.
If your company has important files shared on a network and would like to prepare in advance of a disaster to protect them, then contact us for assistance.

Sage 50 Data File Database Corruption Detected

This was a strange one for a client that uses Sage 50 Accounting and was trying to print a W-2 for an employee who “lost” theirs in the mail. Whenever they tried to create this the Aatrix form software crashed stating Sage 50 Data File Database Corruption Detected. (More precisely “Codebase Error #: -200 or Codebase Error #: 83805″ File is not a data file database corruption detected in Dat.bdf” when processing Aatrix tax forms.) The troubleshooting for this went on for some time until this Sage Support article was found. The first option worked like a charm.

Fixing Sage 50 Data File Database Corruption Detected

Section I: Replace Histories folder

1. Locate a valid backup taken prior to the last processing of the tax forms.
2. Rename the backup file to add .zip to the extension.
3. Rename the Histories folder in your individual company to Old-Histories
4. Open the newly renamed .zip file and copy the Histories directory to the individual company folder.
5. Start the tax form selector and process your forms.

If your company is using Sage 50 Accounting or has experienced any sort of database corruption issues, then contact us for assistance.

Quickbooks Install Tool Fixes Common Installation Errors

Found the amazingly easy to use Quickbooks Install Tool that fixed common installation errors after I ran into this issue with a client on two of their new workstations, same model, when trying to install Quickbooks 2014 Premier. The client had previously contacted Quickbooks for remote installation support but the technician was unable to fix it. I tried the installation from scratch using administrative credentials and got an:

Error 1904. Module “C:\Program files\Intuit\Quickbooks 2010\ICWrapper.dll” failed to register.

Which led me to the Quickbooks Support Forums that revealed a new tool in the Quickbooks support arsenal – the Quickbooks Install Tool. This handy tool does a repair of several key components for installing software, reboots the computer, and then restarts the installation before Windows finishes booting completely to avoid any conflicts. It works like a charm.
If your company is using Quickbooks for your accounting or customer database and need help getting Quickbooks Install Tool to fix your installation issues, then contact us for assistance.