What are /r/InformationTechnology's favorite Products & Services?

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You can test your passwords at https://howsecureismypassword.net/

For sgodevolI33 , it would take 41 years.

You'd be surprised how little time it takes to crack a l337 password.

Hey buddy - you are looking for the Microsoft Deployment toolkit. This is a server-based imaging system that works very well. A lot of techs I know swear by the Microsoft tools. You build a baseline image for each department, and the PXE-boot the system. It will find your broadcasting server and deploy the appropriate image. Please note that licensing is tricky, and should be done under open license.

I would read up about it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff721826.aspx

Also, check out this free course. It's a basic computer networking course offered by Udacity. It could either confirm or deny your passion for networking.

Im one of those networking and cyber security professionals as well as a data center engineer and I do not agree with you. The level of improper grammar and misspelling in your post is probably a tell tale sign I shouldnt even respond, but here it is anyway.

There are different levels of VPN services, many of which are a waste of time. However, there are also a handful of VPN services that are worth their salt. VPN services running outside of the 14 eyes that keep no logs.

Modern day VPN services like Nord, Mullvad, and a few others do not slow any network down even with end to end encryption on. Couple the fact that they dont keep logs any longer than necessary to deliver the proper DNS look up, means there is nothing to trace or find.

2.w3 schools sql has exercises. Nice outline of sql and the basics of it. leetcode.com > databases problems are nothing but sql problems you can practice.

1. Good idea if you can't make notes fast enough

2. Get a nice comfortable workstation and probably a webcam if not have one already. Work hard.

I'm going to agree with it's probably the router that's logging the traffic if anything. If you're really concerned, get a VPN like Private Internet Access and put it on all your devices. The only traffic that would show up is to and from the VPN server. It's like 7 dollars a month, but well worth it for more than just hiding your traffic from your parents. It's also a great thing for using public WiFi without getting any personal information stolen.

Packet Tracer is the Cisco proprietary software. You could also use GNS3 which is free, but requires a more extensive setup process.

I generate and manage passwords with Bitwarden. Bitwarden is linked to a Protonmail email account I opened solely for Bitwarden and never log into it except to change the master password every 3 months. My master password is usually a quote, or 4 different words seperated a special character or numbers.

Edit: I also work in IT (for a university) and agree that the number of password reset requests is absurdly... high... but I'd rather someone come do a password reset than have it written on a sticky note on their laptops tbh.

Since we have SSO, I only use 1 password at work, which is not stored in Bitwarden (just another quote or 4 random words I come up with every 3-4 months, kept by memory).

It's so much easier remembering 2 complex passwords vs. remembering 10+ weak passwords.

Mike Meyers book is what I used. Here is the the link to Amazon.

Ok, so the ICND book I read was back in 2005, here is the updated version (or latest) on Amazon: ICND 1 100-105

Mind you, there are two books to ICND 1 & 2

Hard to tell, it could be wired up any number of ways according to your school's network requirements.

Recommend you buy an unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet switch like the one one below to share the connection. Connect one cable from the switch to E1, E2, or E3, then you'll have 7 additional ports available to plug in all of your devices, plus the other 2 EX ports that aren't connected to the switch.

https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Splitter-Optimization-Unmanaged-TL-SG108/dp/B00A121WN6/

If you’re using a VPN traffic is encrypted between you and the VPN server, so someone inside the local network cannot see any details about the traffic, other than the fact that a VPN connection is open. I recommend NordVPN if you frequently use public WiFi. Corporate networks typically block third party VPN severs to prevent employees from circumventing content filtering.

I think these are the defacto study guides:

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Certification-Guide-220-901-220-902/dp/125958951X/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=10L7KBKS2GPZE&keywords=comptia+a%2B&qid=1551813188&s=gateway&sprefix=CompTIA+&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Network-Certification-Seventh-N10-007/dp/1260122387/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=3QXWXH8UKKPJM&keywords=comptia+network%2B&qid=1551815573&s=gateway&sprefix=comptia+netwoek&sr=8-3

All internet requests go through DNS. By default your ISP is your public internet DNS provider.

There are a few ways you can alter what your ISP sees. You can use a VPN service that doesnt store logs to encrypt traffic from your machine such as NordVPN or Mulvad. You can also change the DNS servers that you use to something like OpenDNS instead of using your ISP.

I use PrivateInternetAccess, they're well reviewed and it was like $33 for a year. Stay away from free services if possible, they're pretty much useless.

I've heard ExpressVPN are supposed to be the best on the market, pricey though.

That's great to you hear that you're going into software development. There are many things you can do to get ahead of your class; but let's start with the basics.

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1. You should have basic competency of how computers work. There are plenty of books and free/low cost courses online that can teach you what you need to know on this topic.
2. You should know how to navigate your windows PC and how to perform routine maintenance and basic system administration tasks.
3. Learn how to use Linux. You can run it in a VM or install it on your laptop and then just dual boot into Windows or Linux on startup.
4. Learn coding fundamentals. Check out https://www.freecodecamp.org/

Keep in mind that adobe software is getting outrageously expensive. To buy 1 permanent license in 2016 is breaking $1000 per computer just for acrobat pro.. If its a small company, i would attempt to find an alternative solution in case they have no machines with adobe pro installed. It's true you can probably torrent it for free, but as an IT, you never suggest this, it falls on you legally if anything goes wrong. So to recap:

1. Adobe Pro will let you open a pdf and save to a word doc
   
2. If it's a shoestring budget company not interested in paying 1 grand for adobe pro, research an alternative method. There's always another way, and probably a better way to do it in entire batches, whole folders at a time. Check out this solution for option 2

i dont think twitter and fb really allow you to change or add code of any kind of your own.

if you had your own website, you could use the twitter api to do so.

you can use a third party program to track your retweet/favorite count but i think it would still only be visible to you and nobody else unless they were using that third party program too.

other than that, i found this https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-track-the-number-of-retweets-on-a-specific-Twitter-account

At a minimum, you would need to determine if the onboard video works when you have an add-in card. Generally, it does not.

I would probably start with something like 2 - NVS-510 assuming your motherboard supports it.

You can check what devices are on networks through the router’s interface. Sometimes it will have a name, sometimes it will just have a MAC address. Either way, yes they can see what devices are on the network. Will they know it’s yours? Not necessarily.

As for internet usage, are you referring to browsing history or how much data you’re using? Both are possible, but wanting to monitor what websites you’re going to is a hassle that isn’t worth it unless they are seriously intrusive and wanting to know every detail about your browsing history. Even then they’d have to sort through everyone on the network and determine what address belongs to each person. If you’re concerned about that, you can use a VPN. Don’t use a free one though, get a paid service. Mullvad is one of the best vpn platforms out there I think.

There are rubber strips designed to cover floor wires and prevent tripping. They're usually called "anti-slip (or trip) tape".

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SK6891P/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_2Q8GCFFDKB2XYZK9B7RZ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Or

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-19967/Anti-Slip-Tape/LavaGrip-6-x-48?pricode=WB2281&gadtype=pla&id=S-19967&gclid=Cj0KCQjw37iTBhCWARIsACBt1IwU5oB-iUl-tr8txmzEmFntIbMBL7uVUPU6W4P9jRi8ZpFSm8ESZMsaAtobEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you don’t already have good Ethernet cables, you can buy cheap, Flat CAT8 cables of any length on Amazon. You can even get white colored cables to blend in with a white wall. These are way more aesthetically pleasing for going around corners, and are a lot harder to break. A product I use: Cat 8 Ethernet Cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F5BY4SJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SDD4BWWBPHXWS7FKF0V7

I use these small command clips to run my Ethernet to the loft. Been sticking fine for years.

Command Clear Cord Clips, 13 Clips, 16 Strips - Easy to Open Packaging, Organize Damage-Free https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076ZT3FVN/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_PH58EVM0MDZ9AMGVDR0C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Depends on if security is important, if so something outside the 9 eyes and preferably outside the 14 eyes, something that can be paid for anonymously, and keeps 0 logs. Mullvad almost checks all of those boxes except the 14 eyes.

tiktok.com is registered in the UK, so I’m not sure they could do that. Same reason they can’t seize thepiratebay.org, which is currently registered in Canada.

Domain registry is international. The US would need to work with ISPs to block access with a Chinese-style national firewall. Even then it would be possible to access tiktok through a VPN to another country or through Tor.

Degree > any certifications. For me, certifications are a complement to a degree. They are not a substitute. At least get an associate or higher.

Also, Go to coursera and get certifications in there. Freecodecamp.org also offers free certifications ranging from HTML coding, to machine learning.

^^ Great advice here. If you're relatively new to networking, perhaps consider CompTia Network+ to bring you up to speed. Learn as much about Windows and AD as you can stomach! And if you want to enter the dark arts... shudder... then http://www.codecademy.com/ can help show you how their black magics work

Hey OP Skullcandy Riff Wireless On-Ear Headphone - Grey/Teal Gray/Speckle/Miami https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HBD45MP/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_V3159YJHTSZVSZWY09AX?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Try these, very nice and comfortable. Also are fairly cheap.

> Is there an OS out there other than windows where the context menu can be entirely disabled?

Yes, for this I would suggest Porteus Kiosk

The computer boots fine when you have the stick unplugged, right? How about when you plug in a different stick? Or a different USB port on the tower? http://superuser.com/questions/659710/a-computer-that-fails-to-boot-if-certain-usb-devices-are-plugged-in

To be honest all IDEs are the same, it’s just the minor differences. I personally like how it uses auto fill.

Say I have instantiated int foo, later on in development when I want to reference foo I just type “f” and a drop down menu will autofill and I just have to hit enter and it will auto complete the variable name. It’s good for projects that have long or hard to spell variables.

Do you want cool features that make it look “cool” to program or do you want functionality?

If you want cool/fun, try Atom with the “power mode” plugin. It’s like a scoreboard for how much code you write.

https://atom.io/packages/activate-power-mode

Using an MDM to manage personal devices will not let the employer see the app data on the device. Nevertheless, the devices that are not managed by an MDM under a formal BYOD policy but still accessing the company email will have their corporate email, and data, as well as their make, model and carrier visible. But the admin can do a corporate wipe that will leave the personal data untouched.

We have been using Hexnode MDM to secure the corporate data in employee's personal devices. The company cannot track your location unless you give consent and they cannot see personal emails, web activity, messages, videos, and photos. Hexnode has a tiered pricing plan that can suit your needs.

Jira has its own share of problems. For a small to mid-size business, I would suggest the ProProfs Help Desk. We have a small customer service team of 8 members and their ticketing system ensures everyone is on the same page. There are some valuable integration capabilities too that you will find useful. Good luck!

If you're trying to extract data from it and you can't get into the OS you could probably just plugin an OS loaded onto a flash drive and backup the files and wipe and reload. Might need to change BIOS boot order for that.

Hiren's boot CD is one way to do that https://www.hirensbootcd.org/usb-booting/

Or you could remove the drive and plug it into a "harddrive toaster" i.e. external drive enclosure. Should be an option to read the data like a flashdrive if it isn't encrypted. If it is encrypted and you don't have the key you're pretty screwed if you don't know the password.

"Cannot log you in because your device is not connected to the domain"

Well, if it can't talk to the Domain Controller, you can only log in with an account which has cached credentials. If his password expired and there's no other local admin you're probably going to have to recover data with above method and wipe/reload "Windows 10" (I put that in quotes because thin clients are going to be running some Windows 10 Core or whatever lightweight OS they have).

I would try plugging it in elsewhere (to the network) just to make sure it's not a network error, a known good location. If it's easiest you may just want to grab a long Ethernet cable and plug it into a neighbor's slot temporarily.

If you get bored, check out Cisco's Packet Tracer - it's a great resource to simulate the flow of network traffic. Might give you some insight into the process the devices go through, and if you've any intention of pursuing a Cisco cert it's the program to know.

I'm not sure if I'm understanding the question, but most certification programs don't have any prerequisites including CompTIA, AWS, Azure, etc. Best best is to check out some material on Udemy.com and self-study. Start with the basic IT certs from CompTIA (ITF+, A+, Net+, etc.) then work your way from there.

If you can get community college payed for, and the program will walk you through getting your certs, go for it.

If you're risking debt, don't go to community college. The certs will get you in for the interview at the help desk job. Plus, you already have a connection, which is the best way to get a job in this industry. The "all-in-one" CompTIA books by Mike Myers and some other dude are great, and go for something like $25-$50 on Amazon. Also get on Udemy.com and check out Mike Myers' video series for CompTIA certs. There's also Professor Messer, who produces low-production, but excellent and FREE CompTIA courses. He has his own website and uploads to Youtube.

Build a computer if you haven't already. That's a super common way for people to see if they like computers on a basic functional level. Many of us got into IT from PC gaming as teens.

Well, if you're coming out with a bachelor's and an MBA with no work experience, you won't be well compensated (6 figures) right away unless you're well connected and/or come from a prestigious school. BUT don't be discouraged because you have so many options in front of you with those credentials.

Try looking at Udemy.com (variety of IT) and/or CodeAcademy.com (web/app development) to see what you'd like to do in terms of expanding your skill set. Whichever route you go, I'd start creating a lab to test on. Download Virtual Lab/VMware Workstation to start up virtual machines. This can help you get going in terms of experience as well. Whichever route you take, try to take on side/freelance jobs if you can so you can gain some experience coming out of the MBA program and you can look forward to being fairly compensated while establishing yourself to get into management (if that's the way you're going) while you work and gain real world experience.

You may even find that you don't want to stick to the technical world and go into project management (this will boost you to management since you will be in charge of a team that consists of technical resources as well as non-technical resources).

If the technical route is not something you want to go as you start watching videos and testing in your lab, you tried and you'll find that the MBA will still hold value in the business world without actually wasting some years in the IT field and go straight into finding a job in a different career.

If you want help creating the lab, just PM me and I can send you some resources to help get you started.

You can buy the Mike Myers A+ certification training course at Udemy.com . It's dirt cheap and easy to understand. It's not a all-in-one stop or anything you'll still have to read, but he breaks down the basics like a champ.

What is on the server? is it windows or Linux? my experience setting up an openvpn server was relatively easy, some router's actually have built in vpn functionality, this will really depend on your comfort level.
I have used (years ago now) log me in it was fairly painless back in the day.
Team viewer is alright.
Google even has a remote desktop chrome extension (you do have to have chrome installed etc) I havent used this one is a long time as well but i do remember once I got it set up it was fairly simple and If i remember right it got around needing vpn https://remotedesktop.google.com/?pli=1).
I would say it really depends on what you are comfortable with/how fast and easy you are looking to get set up.

I use color, animal, number, and it's always a color that animal would not be. I also check howsecureismypassword.net to make sure it'll take at least a few years to crack in case they don't change it like I instruct them to.

first thing, make a nice fat google docs spreadsheet.

ipconfig /all and document every pc, see if you have any statics that are odd man out. also notate each and every computer name / mac address

then run some fucking IPscans. nmap. advanced ip scanner, i dont give a shit just write it down.

then start working on circuit information. any identifying markings dhec numbers / phone numbers / account numbers WHATEVER. DOCUMENT IT ALL!

after you do all that shit, you should have a pretty good idea of what the fuck is going on, network wise anyway.

the passwords? well is this a windows domain or workgroup ? if its a workgroup, fuck those passwords, use NTPASSWD to reset that shit http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/ there are a 100 livecd's that have this function built in, google that shit next.

if its a domain, ok, what services are running on the domain, can you promote yourself to admin? does any of the local users have admin accounts on domain ? can you steal domain admin somewhere! if its a last resort, call the old IT guy. (this is the LAST resort).

This sounds like the laptop is generating a lot of traffic on the network. I've seen something similar caused by a bad network card in a machine. Not sure if that is the specific problem here but it could be. There are also loads of other possibilities.

The first thing I would do is run wireshark for a bit (to get a general idea of the traffic patterns if you dont have heavy usage then 30 minutes to an hour should be fine) on a different machine, then attach the machine to the network and compare. This will at least tell you what is happening and you can diagnose further from there.

Maybe its a bad switch/router (this is super easy to check as if you are hard wired just change to a different computer if you are wireless then see if a different laptop has the same behavior)?

If it is a hardware issue then hopefully it is under warranty.

Other possibilities include but not limited to
Malware (try a scan here is a list of AVs compared i use bitdefender personally but under the free account https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/summary-report-2018/),
Some program trying to make lots of outbound requests (this can probably be tested if he is using windows by launching safe mode or single user mode if linux, if mac then there is something i just dont know what it is called.)

I'm sure there are others they are just outside of my experience.

Good luck!

You can check this site to see if maybe one of your passwords was in a data breach. As /u/OverworkedFather said, this just looks like a large dictionary of leaked passwords that someone is probably using to try bruteforce stuff. It's not very likely that you're being targeted at all.

Hey, I moved from social work to "IT" sort of work. I want to say that when I have time I will compile online resources but I don't want to lie. Firstly, look around at Noexcuselist. You'll find anything and everything you need. Also, Professor Messer has tons of free videos on his site and on youtube. Otherwise, AMA and I'll do my best to respond.

1. Wikipedia does a good job explaining RAID levels
2. There's several methods you could use, such as a VPN, or OwnCloud, or if you go with an off-the-shelf NAS manufacturer like Synology they have their own remote access/sync software. I'm probably missing lots of other options, those are just what come to mind right now.

Get Gparted Live and boot it off a USB to see the partition and format it/delete it there.

Also, what the fuck. That's extremely uncool and showing huge signs of distrusts.

Not sure if you got an answer, but I highly recommend this product:

https://www.dbvis.com/

You can run queries and set timers as well as visualize the output, whether in a table or a graph.

Have you done and scripting at all? Have you ever heard or tried out a Jupyter Notebook? The reason I ask is Jupyter Notebooks are a good way to teach, IMHO, sockets and ports are a thing for me, and I am supposed to be writing some instruction materials for junior coworkers who want to get into networking from other parts of IT.

We use O365 w/Sharepoint for work but basically its just email on the phones. Like I suppose they could download the rest of the O365 apps on their phone, but no one really does since we use laptops for that stuff (we're super small <20 people). The only other app we use is Workplace, and Workplace Chat, which is just used for company announcements.

So in my eyes, the only data on the personal owned phone would be their emails, and if they quit or are fired, I can just change their PW to prevent them from continuing to send them.

We are currently testing out snipe. We sync users via ldap but i do believe it does tie into AD as well, as far as hardware we used CSV imports to get all the assets in as previously we were using google sheets and it was easy to export/import. You can self host or host through them, its open source as well.
https://snipeitapp.com/

We tried SAManage (they have a free trial) but it was just too much for our needs, it also didn't allow us to do one or two specific things that our executives wanted.

I don't think there's a program that you can download for that, but you could write a script to run the process for you.

Look into Autohotkey. It lets you create hotkey and automation scripts. See this forum post

I use a multi-meter but you can probably just get by with this: https://www.amazon.com/Computer-PC-Tester-Connectors-Enclosure/dp/B076CLNPPK

Also note that many systems (especially DELL) will have a PSU BIST button to help isolate no power issues to the PSU.

Thanks for the reply.

For the cabling part of your answer, would these be okay do you think? Patch panel, and kit.

The current SSD (Hitachi) is an M.2 SSD with a SATA connection.

The desired SSD (Samsung 970 EVO) is an M.2 SSD with a PCIe connection.

So the problem here is that you need an SSD SATA connection, which you might find here: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-860-SATA-Internal-MZ-N6E1T0BW/dp/B07822Z77M

Get a second opinion/someone else to confirm, since I'm not 100% familiar with these modern SSD connections, but I think I've got it figured out here.

CCNA and Security+ are the ones to go for first. Here's a great study guide:

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Get-Certified-Ahead/dp/1939136059/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1604068113&amp;sr=8-3

Just curious, what monitors are you using that doesn't have HDMI input? Every monitor I've purchased in the last few years has had that as an option.

I've been using the cables to go from Displayport on a dock to a monitor with HDMI, so I guess that's why I didn't notice. But seriously, just look around Amazon. Adapters are cheap. You said DVI is an option, right? https://www.amazon.com/CableCreation-Bi-Directional-Female-Adapter-Conveter/dp/B01FM51R6S

You shouldn't need to pay anything for "wifi". Don't fall for that bullshit. The only thing you need to pay your ISP for is the internet connection. The wifi part is just how you connect the stuff inside your house to the modem/router that connects you out to the world. ISPs have gotten cute about charging people extra to use wifi that is built into their modem/router.

Just buy a decent Wifi router and plug it into the modem them give you for your internet service. This is a good one.

That being said...yes a 100mbps internet connection is plenty for 2 people to split. We only have a 60mbps connection and have no problem streaming 4k while our kid is streaming stuff in the other room as well.

My how times have changed...I used one book to study for the 2 A+ exams some time ago.

It was this exact series and about half the size. I was already pretty proficient in computers prior to thinking about getting A+ certified. Still, the book was useful because there's information that needed to be regurgitated for the exam.

I studied the first half of the book which covered the first exam for 2 weeks. Took the exam and passed. I then studied the second half of the book for a little over a week, took the exam and passed.

Help Desk in general if you have no experience will help - I would assume Geek Squad (not the sales floor but the guys who repair and/or set up stuff) at Best Buy could be a good start too.

Part-Time, Rotating, Full-Time, whatever, if you have no experience, any of those will be good for you.

You could try using the component audio from the cable box. Pick up a "Y" cable and plug that into some cheap computer speakers.

Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Stereo-Female-Y-Cable-6-Inch/dp/B000I23TTE/ref=pd_bxgy_23_img_2?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=0A197KZNZA59YMPF2JSF

Honestly the A+ is super easy.

Something like this would probably work pretty well. You really just need to know exactly what is going to be on the test then look into it yourself. Google would probably be good to teach you anything the book doesn't have.

I would very much recommend this book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449332315/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

I read it front to back right when I purchased my first mac. It's pretty basic unix stuff but helped me understand not just OS X (Mac OS) but also terminal which would be relatable to windows command prompt.