Blog - Network Midlands

Windows 10 login with two factor authentication using a YubiKey

Feb 5, 2019trevorwood1 CommentCybersecurity, Tips and tricks, Windows 10

I needed to enable two factor authentication on a Windows account. Natively, this can’t yet be done (Windows Hello is not 2FS, but that’s another story). I decided to try and set this up using Yubico’s YubiKey 5. If it worked, this would mean that, unless the YubiKey is inserted into one of the USB slots on the computer, logging in to the admin account will fail, even if the correct username and password is used.

I followed the Yubico instructions and there was a gotcha – so I decided to do my own.

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Microsoft Office Professional 365 fails to activate

May 8, 2018trevorwoodIT problems, Office 365, Windows 10

One of my computers has just installed the latest “Windows Feature Update version 1083”. Upon reboot, every time I tried to use one of the Office 365 applications, the activation wizard popped up – why I don’t know. Clicking on next bought up an error – “We couldn’t contact the server. Please try again in a few minutes.” So I tried again, and again, and again…

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Google Chrome to mark HTTP websites as “not secure”

Feb 13, 2018trevorwoodSecurity problems

Google have recently announced that all HTTP websites will be marked as insecure by Google Chrome. Google have been pushing HTTPS (Secure HTTP) for a few years now by, amongst other things, penalising HTTP websites in search results. They are now taking this one step further by actively warning users of Chrome when they try to visit insecure websites.

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Restore the Control Panel link in Windows 10’s Win+X menu

May 18, 2017trevorwoodTips and tricks, Windows 10

Win X Menu with Settings rather than Control Panel

After I allowed the “Feature update to Windows 10 version 1703” to run, I found that the “Control Panel” option from the “Right Click/Start” had been replaced with “Settings”.

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How to avoid ransomware attacks: 10 tips

Aug 10, 2016trevorwood1 CommentBackup, Business continuity planning, Security problems

Nigerian princes are no longer the only menaces lurking in an employee’s Inbox. Ransomware attacks – an especially sinister type of malware delivered through spear phishing emails that locks up valuable data assets and demands a ransom to release them – are a rapidly-growing security threat.

To prevent a ransomware attack

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Windows 10 won’t shut down properly

Apr 5, 2016trevorwoodIT problems, Tips and tricks, Windows 10

Recently, my Lenovo laptop (running Windows 10) has started failing to shut down properly. When I click on “Power/Shut down” the laptop shuts down and then reboots back to the login screen. I tried shutting it down just using the power button, but exactly the same happened.

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OneDive stops synchronising after Windows 10 upgrade

Aug 20, 2015trevorwood1 CommentIT problems, Tips and tricks, Windows 10

I’ve recently allowed 2 of my Windows 7 computers to upgrade to Windows 10

After a few days, I realised that files I was creating and modifying in my OneDrive folder were not synchronising with any of my other Windows computers (a mixture of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1)

After hunting around the ‘net for a while, the only things I could find assumed that OneDrive was running but that Sync had stopped – however, in my case, OneDrive wasn’t even running

OneDrive is supposed to be integrated with Windows 10 – yes there have been some changes and not all for the better from Windows 8 but I would assume that it would at least work

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