Download – ADMX Templates for Win 10 and Server 2016

Title: Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016
Published: 01/08/2017
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation 
Version: 2.0
File name: Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 ADMX.msi
File size: 8.1 MB
Download URL: Click here for download

DESCRIPTION

Group Policy tools use Administrative template files to populate policy settings in the user interface. This allows administrators to manage registry-based policy settings. This download includes the Administrative templates released for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, in the following languages:

  • cs-CZ – Czech
  • da-DK – Danish
  • de-DE – German
  • el-GR – Greek
  • en-US- English
  • es-ES – Spanish
  • fi-FI – Finnish
  • fr-FR – French
  • hu-HU – Hungarian
  • it-IT – Italian
  • ja-JP – Japanese
  • ko-KR – Korean
  • nb-NO – Norwegian
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Download – Group Policy Settings Reference

gpo1Title: Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows and Windows Server
Published: 01/03/2017
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation 
Version: October 2016
File name: Windows10andWindowsServer2016PolicySettings.xlsx
File size: 0.7 MB
Download URL: Click here for download

DESCRIPTION

These spreadsheets list the policy settings for computer and user configurations that are included in the Administrative template files delivered with the Windows operating systems specified. You can configure these policy settings when you edit Group Policy Objects.

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Tools of the Trade – #05 Notepad++

Title: #05 Notepad++
Published: 05/18/2016
Publisher: Don Ho
Version: 6.9.2
File size: 4.0 MB
Frequency of use: DAILY
Cost: Freeware
Donations are accepted (PayPal, Tibit & Bitcoin)

Works with PortableApps: Yes
Website: http://notepad-plus-plus.org
Download URL: Click here to download

DESCRIPTION

Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad.exe replacement that supports several languages.

KEY FEATURES

MY 2 CENTS

I use Notepad++ daily for quick and dirty editing of XML, HTML or CSV. The line numbering, tabbed pages and text highlighting are great, though I still use the ISE for PowerShell coding.

From Notepad to YouTube: The Power of Simple Tools and Buying Comment Likes

When it comes to technology, sometimes the simplest tools can be the most powerful. Take the humble notepad program, for example. This basic text editor has been around for decades, but it remains a valuable tool for many tasks. And believe it or not, there may be a connection between using notepad and buying comment likes on YouTube.

Let’s start with notepad. This program may seem basic, but it has many uses beyond simply typing up notes. For example, you can use it to create HTML and CSS files for building websites, write scripts for automation tasks, or even write code for programming projects. Its simplicity makes it an accessible tool for anyone, regardless of their technical expertise.

Now, let’s talk about buying comment likes on YouTube from https://themarketingheaven.com/buy-youtube-comment-likes/. As a YouTuber, you know that engagement is key to the success of your channel. The more likes and comments your videos have, the more likely they are to be recommended to new viewers. One way to boost engagement is to buy comment likes. This can increase the perceived popularity of your video, leading to more organic views and engagement.

So, what’s the connection between these two seemingly unrelated topics? Well, it turns out that using notepad can actually help you make more informed decisions when it comes to buying comment likes on YouTube. By using notepad to write out your goals and strategies for your channel, you can better track your progress and make sure you’re investing your money wisely in buying comment likes.

In addition, using notepad to write out your video descriptions and titles can help you incorporate important keywords and phrases that can increase the visibility of your videos to search engines and potential viewers. This can lead to more organic views and engagement, reducing the need for buying comment likes in the first place.

Of course, it’s important to note that buying comment likes on YouTube should be done responsibly and within the platform’s guidelines. It should not be used as a substitute for creating quality content and building genuine engagement with your audience.

In conclusion, the notepad program may seem like a relic of the past, but it remains a powerful tool for many tasks. By using it to write out your goals and strategies for your YouTube channel, you can make more informed decisions when it comes to buying comment likes. And who knows? With the right strategy and quality content, you may not need to buy comment likes at all. So, start using notepad and boost your YouTube engagement today!

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Tools of the Trade – #04 IrfanView

Title: #04 IrfanView
Published: 03/10/2016
Publisher: Irfan Skiljan
Version: 4.42
File size: 2.03 MB
Frequency of use: DAILY
Cost: Freeware for non-commercial use
Donations are accepted (PayPal)

Works with PortableApps: Yes
Website: http://irfanview.com
Download URL: Click here to download

DESCRIPTION

IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 , 2008, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10.

FEATURES

  • Over 140 supported file formats (click here the list of formats)
  • Support for Adobe Photoshop Filters
  • Batch conversion (with advanced image processing)
  • Multimedia player
  • Change color depth, cut, crop, resample
  • Add overlay text/image (watermark)
  • Effects (Sharpen, Blur, Adobe 8BF, Filter Factory, Filters Unlimited, etc.)
  • Extract icons from EXE/DLL/ICLs
  • Many command line options
  • Much, much more…

MY 2 CENTS

I constantly have to resize images for blog posts, crop, resample, and adjust colors on image files. IrfanView is my go-to product, hands down. It also has powerful command line support. I once used IrfanView from the command line to create JPG thumbnails of over 200 PDF files in a batch process.

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Tools of the Trade – #03 WinDirStat

Title: #03 WinDirStat
Published: 10/20/2014
Publisher: Open Source
Version: 1.1.2
File size: 0.6 MB
Frequency of use: WEEKLY
Cost: Free but donations are accepted
(PayPal)

Works with PortableApps: Yes
Website: https://windirstat.info
Download URL: Click here to download

DESCRIPTION

WinDirStat (Windows Directory Statistics) is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Windows. On start up, WinDirStat reads the whole directory tree once and then presents it in three useful views:

  • The directory list, which resembles the tree view of the Windows Explorer but is sorted by file/subtree size.
  • The treemap, which shows the whole contents of the directory tree straight away.
  • The extension list, which serves as a legend and shows statistics about the file types.

MY 2 CENTS

WinDirStat can be pretty slow sometimes, but it’s great for finding out why your hard drive is full. I especially like using WinDirStat to delete contents in the Windows Recycle Bin or desktops of other user accounts on a server or PC (like when another admin downloads ISO files to the desktop).

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Tools of the Trade – #02 KeePass

Title: #02 KeePass
Published: 06/11/2016
Publisher: Open Source
Version: 2.3.4
File size: 2.9 MB
Frequency of use: DAILY
Cost: Free but donations are accepted
(PayPal, wire transfer & Flattr)

Works with PortableApps: Yes
Website: http://keepass.info
Download URL: Click here to download

DESCRIPTION

KeePass is a free open source password manager which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish).

MY 2 CENTS

I use separate KeePass databases for personal and professional information. Being able to carry the KeePass program and your database on an encrypted (BitLocker To Go) flash drive is great!

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Tools of the Trade – #01 PortableApps

The blog post starts a new series called “Tools of the Trade” (TotT) where I post information regarding software tools I use in IT on a daily or weekly basis.

Note: TotT is not a series of in-depth reviews, but one of those ‘I wish I had known about that’ or information on ‘what tools are other folks using’.

My goals for TotT:

  • Keep the posts short
  • Include the download URL
  • Recommend products that save me time and effort
  • Use low-cost or free software where possible

With that said, let’s get started with one of my all-time favorites…

Title: #01 PortableApps
Published: 05/13/2016
Publisher: Open Source
Version: 14.1
File size: 9.0 MB
Frequency of use: DAILY
Cost: Free but donations are accepted
(BTC, LTC & PayPal)

Website: http://portableapps.com
Download URL: Click here to download

DESCRIPTION

A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device or cloud drive and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive, portable hard drive, iPod or other portable device is plugged in or your cloud drive is synced, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.

  • No Special Hardware
    Use any USB flash drive, portable hard drive, etc.
  • No Additional Software
    Just download, run the portable installer and go
  • No Kidding
    It’s that easy

MY 2 CENTS

PortableApps is great for running other software on PCs that are locked down (no local admin rights / no software install rights).

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Microsoft Rights Management Services (RMS) Whitepapers

Networks today are no longer a simple group of laptops, PCs and on-premise servers controlled by the IT department. Now we have to contend with cloud services, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scenarios, the Consumerization of IT (CoIT), telecommuters, and hybrid networks.

Simply put, networks aren’t simple anymore, especially when it comes to protecting company data.

Fortunately, Microsoft has a series of eight whitepapers on Rights Management Services (RMS) that can help you wrap your head around the options available for protecting sensitive information.

Title: Microsoft Rights Management services (RMS) whitepapers
Published: 07/22/2016
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation 
Version: 1.52
File size: 30.7 MB
Download URL: Click here to download

CONTENTS

  • Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) with Azure Rights Management
    By following the steps outlined in this document you should be able to successfully prepare your environment to leverage this BYOK capability, enable it and manage your key over the time.
    Bring-Your-Own-Key-with-Azure-RMS.docx (3.7 MB)
     
  • Configuring Azure RMS with federation on-premises for Office client applications
    This document provides step-by-step information on how to configure and use Azure RMS to perform content protection on your corporate Office document in conjunction with federation on-premises.
    Configure-Azure-RMS-with-federation-for-Office.docx (7.3 MB)
     
  • Get Usage Logs from Azure Rights Management
    By following the steps outlined in this document you should be able to successfully prepare your environment to enable and monitor the usage of your Azure Rights Management service’s tenant.
    Get-Usage-Logs-from-Azure-RMS.docx (0.6 MB)
     
  • Information Protection and Control (IPC) in Microsoft Exchange Online with AD RMS
    This document is intended to provide a better understanding of how to use an on-premises AD RMS infrastructure for the Exchange Online services of the organization’s Office 365 tenant in the Cloud.
    IPC-in-Exchange-Online-with-AD-RMS.docx (1.8 MB)
     
  • Information Protection and Control (IPC) in Office 365 with Azure Rights Management
    This document is intended to help you preview and evaluate the Azure Rights Management service technology. It contains a brief information on IPC and the Azure Rights Management service that helps you understand what it is, and how it differs from on-premises Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS). It provides step-by-step information on how to configure and use the Azure Rights Management service to perform rights protection on your corporate content.
    IPC-in-Office-365-with-Azure-RMS.docx (5.2 MB)
     
  • Leverage the Mobile Device Extension for AD RMS
    This document provides information about the Mobile Device Extension for AD RMS, and how it can be deployed on top of existing Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2-based AD RMS clusters to support the important devices with mobile RMS-enlightened applications. By following the steps outlined in this document you should be able to successfully prepare your environment to deploy the Mobile Device Extension, and start using it within your organization to create and consume protected content on all the important devices.
    Leverage-the-Mobile-Device-Extension-for-AD-RMS-on-your-premises-(PS-Scripts).zip (10 KB)
    Leverage-the-Mobile-Device-Extension-for-AD-RMS-on-your-premises.docx (3.9 MB)
     
  • Leverage the Rights Management Connector for your premises
    By following the steps outlined in this document you should be able to successfully prepare your environment to deploy the Azure Rights Management service (Azure RMS), install and configure the Rights Management connector, and start using it within your organization to create and consume protected content.
    Leverage-the-RMS-Connector-for-your-premises.docx (5.2 MB)
     
  • Share protected content with Azure Rights Management
    This document provides information about the Rights Management sharing applications to share protected content on all important devices and the Rights Management for individuals to enable anyone to share protected content.
    Share-protected-content-with-Azure-RMS.docx (2.9 MB)
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OneNote 15.24 for Mac OS X Finally Offers Pen Support

Title: Microsoft OneNote
Published: 07/21/2016
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation 
Version: 15.24
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later
File size: 449 MB
Cost: FREE from the Mac App Store
Download URL: Click here for download

DESCRIPTION
This month (July 2016) OneNote on the Mac is finally catching up to some of the features long-enjoyed by Windows users of OneNote: 

  • OneNote Web Clipper
  • Preview
  • YouTube and Vimeo Support
  • Highlight text
  • Clip multiple regions in one go
  • Use your own title
  • Articles your way
  • Grid or Lined Page Backgrounds
  • Sharing Notifications Email service
    …and the big one…
  • Inking in OneNote for Mac (finally)!

INSTALLATION
The odd thing I noticed is that even though I’ve got OneNote already installed on my MacBook, the 15.24 update didn’t show up automatically under Updates in the App Store; I had to search for it.

Once I clicked the Get button in the App Store and verified my Apple ID credentials, the upgrade was smooth and flawless. Now, if we could only get OneTastic for OneNote on the Mac.
😉

PRO-TIP
After you install OneNote 15.24 for Mac, enable the web clipping extension:
Open Safari | click the Share icon | click More | scroll down in the Share Menu and enable the OneNote extension.

Source: Microsoft Office Blog

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Download – Microsoft Visio 2016 Viewer

Title: Microsoft Visio 2016 Viewer
Published: 02/22/2016
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation 
Version: 2016
32-bit: visioviewer_4339-1001_x86_en-us.exe (12.1 MB)
64-bit: visioviewer_4339-1001_x64_en-us.exe (22.9 MB)
File size: 2.1 MB
Download URL: Click here for download

DESCRIPTION

By using Microsoft Visio 2016 Viewer, Visio users can freely distribute Visio drawings (files with a .vsdx, .vsdm, .vsd, .vdx, .vdw, .vstx, .vstm, .vst, or .vtx extension) to team members, partners, customers, or others, even if the recipients do not have Visio installed on their computers. Internet Explorer (versions 8-11) also allows for printing, although this is limited to the portion of the drawing displayed.

NOTE
Visio Viewer is implemented as an ActiveX control that loads and renders Visio drawings inside Internet Explorer; sorry Chrome and Opera users.
🙁

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