Some Notes on the Machines

There are now multiple alternatives to the bundled Windows update system. First of all, the original, AutoPatcher, appears to be in the midst of a well-deserved renaissance:

http://www.autopatcher.net/

And we also have WSUSOffline:

http://www.wsusoffline.net/

And there are quite a few more too, not tested by this writer as of yet!

FreeFileSync is a great piece of work, it synchronizes files and folders between local drives, over SSH, and to mobile devices via MTP over USB.

If it’s not working or not working well for you, try this:

1. In the Dashboard, Disable Office 365 integration and Azure integration. It’s two separate steps. If you disable just Office 365 integration you won’t be able to continue.
2. Set up Office 365 integration.
3. See lots of interesting information come up quite quicly, in the Office 365 tab after you restart the Dashboard, to confirm that your integration is working very nicely.
4. If it didn’t work well, open your firewall per Microsoft, and test again.

It can be very helpful to distribute a power plan in Group Policy, especially if there are laptops needing wifi SQL connections which must not ever cut off. The best way I have found, is to use this location in GP:

User Configuration / Control Panel Settings / Power Options

and create a new one there, with a new name, set as default. It may be helpful to do the same under Computer Configuration just in case there are hidden overrides out there.

There is another set of settings using the power plan GUID, but I have not found any way to automatically distribute power plans via group policy and keep the GUID consistent in all machines, even import/export does not do this.

Just make sure that no processes are using the file, make a backup of it for safekeeping, and then:

sqlite3 *.db "VACUUM;"

Compare sizes and you’ll see how much you have done!

Very useful to optimize database tables in MyBB with SQLite, among many other purposes :-)

For detecting devices on your LAN:

http://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/

Try DavMail:

http://davmail.sourceforge.net

It runs in the background on server, desktop, or laptop (Windows, Linux, or Mac), and it translates native Exchange protocols into that which Thunderbird and appropriate add-ins handle very well. In other words, it acts as a live bridge between Exchange protocols and Thunderbird with Lightning, for contacts and calendar. The instructions are thorough and functional.

This is an error common on SBS 2011. A simple fix which sometimes works, on the bottom of this page:

http://blog.mpecsinc.ca/2010/12/sbs-2011-error-wbcommandletinbuilttraci.html

The summary:

DEL C:\Windows\Logs\WindowsServerBackup\WBC*

You may see error “-6175, 0”; connectivity or security errors may pop up; but definitively you will notice that the “Quickbooks database service” will not start.

The solution given by a QuickBooks tech just now, is to change the user under which the database service runs, from the special QuickBooksDBxx service user, to the Local System. I asked if there was any reason not to do this under any circumstances, and he said there is not. This seems to make QuickBooks as a whole run better. It is needful to give “SYSTEM” full rights to any folder containing QuickBooks files.

This one works very well:

https://www.acrylicwifi.com/en/acrylic-wifi-free/