Some Notes on the Machines

Here:

https://appget.net/

Its silent install actually works well for Adobe Reader:

appget update adobe-reader --silent

These reportedly work for the EXE, MSI, and server-based push install settings:

https://help.eset.com/era/53/en-US/idh_ra_remoteinst_commandline.html

This command, run from one domain controller, replicates to all of the others set up for this:

repadmin /syncall /AdeP

1. Install the Azure Active Directory Module for Powershell.

2. Connect to Azure AD, and disable sync:

Set-MsolDirSyncEnabled –EnableDirSync $false

3. Check status, repeatedly, until it returns False. It can take 72 hours for sync to be fully deactivated.

(Get-MSOLCompanyInformation).DirectorySynchronizationEnabled 

These packages bundle configurations, even domain joins, and other items. Native to Windows 10:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/configuration/provisioning-packages/provisioning-create-package

This includes Exchange Online, Lync, and others:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-365-URLs-and-IP-address-ranges-8548a211-3fe7-47cb-abb1-355ea5aa88a2?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US#BKMK_Portal-identity

This has been updated recently, and many changes have occurred. Ports have been reduced considerably, and many more FQDNs added.

The amazing Joe Busby showed me a number of things today. First, we remove all sorts of gaming bits which eat resources, and we also remove the built-in Mail and Calendar and BingNews, in administrative Powershell:

Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxApp" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider"  | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay"  | Remove-AppxPackage 
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.WindowsCommunicationsApps" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingNews" | Remove-AppxPackage 
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingWeather" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingSports" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingFinance" | Remove-AppxPackage
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.Advertising.Xaml" | Remove-AppxPackage

There is an optional -allusers option for both Get-AppxPackage and Remove-AppxPackage, the following appears to do some good:

Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxApp" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider"  | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay"  | Remove-AppxPackage  -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.WindowsCommunicationsApps" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingNews" | Remove-AppxPackage  -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingWeather" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingSports" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingFinance" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingSports" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.BingFinance" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers
Get-AppxPackage "Microsoft.Advertising.Xaml" | Remove-AppxPackage -allusers

Another item. Search for “Background apps”. Open it up, and choose which apps run in your background !!!!! None is an option!

And a third. The Edge browser is reloaded by the operating system at boot and after it is closed. Turn it off with registry settings (this is in Powershell):

CD HKCU:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\
mkdir MicrosoftEdge
mkdir MicrosoftEdge\Main
CD MicrosoftEdge\Main
New-ItemProperty . -Name AllowPrelaunch -Value 0 -PropertyType "DWord" -Force

CD HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\
mkdir MicrosoftEdge
mkdir MicrosoftEdge\Main
CD MicrosoftEdge\Main
New-ItemProperty . -Name AllowPrelaunch -Value 0 -PropertyType "DWord" -Force

And a fourth. “Game Mode” is something which sits in the background eating resources. Its purpose is to semi-automatically record as a digital movie, everything that happens on your screen. It tries to detect and do this automatically, and it gets it wrong a lot, slowing things down, and sometimes, a lot. But Game Mode can be shut off globally. Turn it off with a registry setting here:

CD HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\
mkdir GameBar
New-ItemProperty . -Name AllowAutoGameMode -Value 0 -PropertyType "DWord" -Force

CD HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\
mkdir GameBar
New-ItemProperty . -Name AllowAutoGameMode -Value 0 -PropertyType "DWord" -Force

The following method is appearing to work always, at least it has not yet failed in many attempts on many platforms:

$UserCredential = Get-Credential
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $Session -DisableNameChecking

When you’re done, be sure to do the following afterwards, or you may have to wait for automatic session expiration.

Remove-PSSession $Session

There is a newer method, below, which recently we have sometimes seen fail. Visually it appears to use newer APIs. Requires Powershell 5.1:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force
Install-Module -Name AzureAD
Install-Module MSOnline
Import-Module AzureAD
Connect-MsolService

It can happen fairly easily, that one or more user’s Office 365 login is wrong, and AD Sync fails to correct it. Here is a manual override, courtesy of the excellent Joe Busby.

1. On a domain controller, verify the AD username and proxy addresses is set correctly.
2. Connect to O365 Powershell on any machine with Powershell 5.1, and run this command:

Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName "user@old.address" -NewUserPrincipalName "user@new.address"

3. On the user’s PC:
   1. Navigate to Settings > Accounts > Access work or school
   2. Disconnect from any accounts linked to the new or old username
   3. Hit the [ + ] Connect button and provide the credentials to sign in to Office 365
   4. If their password has been changed since their account was synced up with the wrong username, the password may need to be reset.
   5. Remove any credentials from windows credential manager that match the old username.
   6. Check Outlook, you may have to create a new profile.

Right here:

https://www.serversupply.com/NETWORKING/NETWORK%20INTERFACE%20CARD/4%20PORT/