News Articles

Articles posted here are for the use of our clients to get quick self help answers to questions and simple solutions to problems. News reports are not necessarily the opion of our company but for reference only. We don't provide any guarantee that solutions posted or referenced will work for your situation and that you should use them at your own risk. None of the information posted should be used for illegal practices.

USB for RDP and Terminal Sessions

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.

Continue reading
0
4239 Hits
0 Comments

Enabling Active Directory on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.x fails with a FQDN error

When attempting to connect a vCenter server to Active Directory I got an error that I had to enter a fully qualified domain name in the Domain field, which I had done. So why the error. I started checking the following areas.

Domain Resolution - does the domain resolve back to one of the domain controllers. In my case I could ping and perform an nslookup on the domain and it resolved fine.

Continue reading
0
4235 Hits
0 Comments

Fix Outlook connection problem to Office 365

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.

Continue reading
1
4194 Hits
0 Comments

How to uninstall an application in Windows 7

Picture of the Start button
Administrator permission required

We seem to have a great need for training our clients on removing garbageware or other unwanted applications. So in order to provide that training and have it as a future reference for when they forget how they performed the task at a previous time, we are making this How To training public for reference.

This process, although written with Windows 7 in mind, will basically work as well with the other versions of Windows with some minor changes.

Continue reading
0
4145 Hits
0 Comments

Dell HDMI Video has no audio

Right Click Speaker icon
Sound Playback dialog box

Many of the new Dell professional displays don't have the audio feature but when connected to a computer using the HDMI cable the computer will attempt to default the audio playback through the HDMI connection anyway. This is why you may not have audio on your computer, even if you have built-in audio on your laptop or desktop computer.

To resolve this issue you will need to change your default audio device to one that does have audio functionality. Here are some steps that might help.

Continue reading
0
4144 Hits
0 Comments

How to test an outgoing TCP port

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/

Continue reading
0
4000 Hits
0 Comments

Microsoft Administration Tools

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.

Continue reading
0
3932 Hits
0 Comments

Symantec BE.clound ends - Alternative options to Backup Exec cloud

Symantec has officially pulled the plug on their Backup Exec.cloud solution, and support will end in January 2015, leaving organizations in search of a solution to safeguard their data easily and affordably.   Firestone Technical Resources, Inc. has partnered with several industry leading backup providers giving our clients just the product and service they need. We’ve already put in service with clients these cloud backup options and know that they work. We hope this comprehensive replacement guide will help you determine the right product solution and value that fits your organization.

You probably also know that Symantec’s Backup Exec.Cloud was competitively priced, but was little more than a simple file backup solution. It lacked many business-grade features such as agentless environment backups, business continuity, and full servers, workstations,  Exchange, SharePoint, SQL, VMware, and Hyper V support.

Continue reading
0
3926 Hits
0 Comments

MacBook Pro Mid 2009 OS X Fails Reinstallation – Item Temporarily Unavailable

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."

0
3889 Hits
0 Comments

How to clean up malware that cause issues with Internet Explorer

One of the first signs that you have malware on your computer is that Internet Explorer begins to have performance issues or stops working all together. We highly recommend to our clients to only use Internet Explorer, although the version may vary depending on how they are using it. For most, the latest version should be used as this will provide the best security.

If you suspect your computer is infected with malware, open your Control Panel and select the Uninstall a Program option. Review the applications that are installed and see if any of them are on our Garbageware list. This is the low hanging fruit of normal computer clean up that will help with your computer stability and performance.

Continue reading
0
3877 Hits
0 Comments

Outlook 2016 fails to complete autodiscover with Exchange 2013

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.

Continue reading
0
3682 Hits
0 Comments

Microsoft Updates KB4481480, KB4480970, KB890830, Issues with Remote Desktop and Remote Access to shared folders

If your computer updated in January 2019 with updates KB4481480, KB4480970 and KB890830 then your remote access to file shares on other systems may be restricted. When attempting to connect you may get one of the following error: An authentication error has occurred.The Local Security Authority cannot be contactedRemote computer xxx.xxx.xx.xxx...

Continue reading
1
3532 Hits
0 Comments

Enterprise Security Blunders

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.

Continue reading
0
3390 Hits
0 Comments

How to Install Windows 10 from a Dell Windows 10 recovery DVD

With many computers needing to be upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, the need for clear consistent instructions are needed. The instructions listed are for Dell computers but could be easily adapted for other makes. Install Windows 10 from Dell Recovery DVD  Download the Dell Windows 10 Recovery ISO image for your system at this Dell ...

Continue reading
0
3356 Hits
0 Comments

Reporting Cyber Security Incidents

It is not a matter of if you will be a victim or target of a cyber attack but a matter of when. In some cases your information may be gathered to be used against someone else, which may give the appearance that you were the victim when you are not. If you suspect that your email, website, identity or any other personal aspect of who you are or the ...

Continue reading
0
3289 Hits
0 Comments

How to fix Windows 10 L2TP/IPsec Connection Failure

Older versions of Windows 10 have issues with connecting to a L2TP or IPsec VPN connection. If you are unable to update your computer to the latest version 1909 or later, you may want to try this registry fix. To add a necessary registry setting:1. Press the Windows Key and R at the same time to bring up the Run box.2. Type in: regedit and click OK...

Continue reading
0
3219 Hits
0 Comments

Server or workstation does not appear under network

On occasions a client's network is missing the server or one or more workstations when browsing the network. Typically this is noticed when our tech company takes over support from another MSP. This is frustrating to both an IT tech that is not familiar enough with the environment and the end users that may need to access the server directly. The l...

Continue reading
0
3053 Hits
0 Comments

How to resolve email messages not showing in an IMAP PST exported file in Outlook?

After exporting an old IMAP account for a client to a PST file so that the client could continue to view the messages the email messages would not appear, just a message indicating that the was nothing to display. This has never been an issue in the past however in this case, and after some research, appears that it may be related to newer versions...

Continue reading
1
2921 Hits
0 Comments

Windows 10 device joined to Azure AD crash after reboot

After joining a Dell Latitude 5520 Windows 10 system to Azure AD and then rebooting the system, the boot process fails to complete. Every attempt made to resolve the issue failed. We were unable to boot the system in to Safe mode. The Azure AD information indicated that the system was successfully joined. The system would not complete the boot proc...

Continue reading
0
2720 Hits
0 Comments

How to change the manufacturer support logo in Computer Properties

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

Continue reading
0
2594 Hits
0 Comments

Are you in need of computer repair?

Start Here

Locations Serviced:

Firestone

Frederick

Dacono

Longmont

Fort Lupton

Erie

Mead

Berthod

Loveland

Windsor

Brighton

Denver

Boulder

Thornton

Westminster

Aurora

Arvada

Parker

Highland Ranch

Centenial

 

Have I been pwned?
Check if you have an account that has been compromised in a data breach.