Month: April 2016

Should You Switch to Windows 10?

Posted on by John D

“Should I switch to Windows 10?” is a question a get a lot. Here’s how to find out.

“Should I switch to Windows 10?” For a lot of people who ask this question, they are really asking whether or not they should upgrade their current computer running Windows 7, take the time to learn a new user interface (that frankly is often half-baked) and take a chance that the programs they currently are now using will either no longer work at all or will need an upgrade.

Usually, the answer is, “No,” which Microsoft themselves are making more and more difficult to resist, even sneaking Windows 10 advertisements into “security patches”! However, the answer to whether or not to switch to Windows 10 is not always that easy. Continue reading “Should You Switch to Windows 10?” →

Office and Windows Microsoft License Activation on the Enterprise

Posted on by John D

I’ve actually had dreams (nightmares?) lately about Microsoft license activation, believe it or not, as it is such a pain in the ***. Both Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office can get to the point where they cannot or will not talk to the KMS server and grab a license for one reason or the other. So, this is how to force the issue when you have enterprise versions of this software.

One scenario is where Windows quits talking to the KMS server, goes beyond the grace period and then declares that this copy of windows is not genuine. You can try to activate it, but it will refuse because it is out of the grace period. Of course, it is outside of the grace period because it did not activate, so this causes a bit of a catch-22.

The way to break out of the cycle is to extend the grace period. You do this via the “rearm” command. For example, open a command prompt with elevated privileges and type:

slmgr.vbs /rearm
slmgr.vbs /ato

That will rearm activation, thus extending the grace period, and then activate windows (it assumes KMS is online).

Malware News: Hospital, Petya and Mac Ransomware

Posted on by John D

The nastiness just keeps getting worse.

Macs have joined the ransomware party, Petya gives us a new twist on an old attack, and now ransomware targets hospitals. On top of that, the US and Canadian authorities have issued a joint cyber alert that things are only going to get worse. Continue reading “Malware News: Hospital, Petya and Mac Ransomware” →