Keep Windows 7 from installing drivers updates

I found these steps for keeping Windows 7 from installing driver updates.  This is particularly important for Toshiba Portege laptops that can become unstable with non-Toshiba approved drivers (particularly video, WLAN, and audio).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967

I follow the steps above on all Toshiba laptops.

Pros and cons of on-site phone system vs cloud based phone system

In 2015 and beyond, most small businesses choose between an on-premise and cloud based phone systems.  The big difference between the two is where the brain of the phones live.  Do you have physical equipment in your office or is the brain of the phone system in the cloud?  Often people use the term VOIP for phone systems with a brain in the cloud, which is technically inaccurate but almost always the case.

On Premise Systems

Pros:

• Long term costs are lower
• Voice quality is highest

Cons:

• Initial investment can be relatively high (prices would start at $7k for a small system for eight employees, add another $2k or so for each eight employees so 32 employees would be ~ $13k)
• Equipment may need maintenance (perhaps done by your IT guy, perhaps phone vendor)
• Hardware can fail or become obsolete and need to be replaced (typical life - 5 to 8 years)

Cloud Based Systems

Pros:

• Larger featureset than on-premise systems in most cases
• Allows for users outside of the office to have an office phone and participate fully as if they are in the office
• Upgrades of backend software are automatic - no hardware that becomes obsolete

Cons:

• Even in best case possible setups, can have some voice quality issues (not often but frequency can vary)

Let's use some numbers from recent systems I have put in place and use them as examples.  In this case, I'm assuming a small business with approximately 15 employees.

Client 1: NEC SV8100 with fifteen 24 button phones, PRI module, voicemail to email licenses - $9k, PRI at $400 per month from Windstream
Client 2: Telesphere (now Vonage Business) at $518 per month for 15 phones/licenses, $350 for dedicated ethernet over copper voice circuit at 5x5, add $500 for POE switch on day of implementation

Based on the numbers above, total cost of ownership for six years as follows (graph based on these numbers further below):

	Start	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
On Premise	$9,000	$13,800	$18,600	$23,400	$28,200	$33,000	$37,800
Cloud	$500	$10,916	$21,332	$31,748	$42,164	$52,580	$62,996

Disabling banner sheet on Xerox Workcentre machines

The options in the Xerox Global PCL 6 driver don't seem to provide an option for disabling the banner sheet.  Instead, the easiest option is to disable the banner sheet in the copier properties.

Go to the IP address for the copier, click Login and enter the credentials (default is admin/1111).

Click Properties across the top
Click Services up the left hand side
Click the Printing dropdown
Click Print Mode
Choose No for Print Banner Sheets

Setting up Automator to back up Mac on startup to Google Drive

I've written about using Automator to back up a Mac here.  I've had trouble getting that to work, so I now do this.

Open Automator
Create a new Application

In your Google Drive, create a folder called Backup
In the Backup folder, create a folder Desktop, Documents, etc for each folder you want to back up.

Create these processes:

Get Specified Finder Items
(choose all the folders in the Backup folder - not the Backup folder itself)
Move Folder Items to Trash
Get Specified Finder Items

(choose Documents)

Get Folder Contents

Copy Finder Items

(copy to the Documents backup folder location and choose replace existing files)

Get Specified Finder Items

(choose Desktop and click options and choose Ignore this action's input)

Get Folder Contents

Copy Finder Items

(copy to the Desktop backup folder location and choose replace existing files)

Repeat these steps for each folder you want to back up

Get Specified Finder Items

(choose FolderToBackup and click options and choose Ignore this action's input)

Get Folder Contents

Copy Finder Items

(copy to the FolderToBackup backup folder location and choose replace existing files)

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Save the Automator application to the Applications folder

Go to System Preferences -> Users & Groups

Click Login Items

Add the application you created in Login Items

removing Windows 10 notification

Option 1:
I created a file that will adjust four registry entries to disable the Windows 10 Upgrades here:
http://www.t-solve.com/software/Disable-Win10.reg

Save that file and run it.

Option 2:
Manually make the adjustments below (credit to the resources comes from here):

1. Type regedit in RUN or Start search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

3. Create a new key under Windows key and set its name as GWX

So the final key path would be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\GWX

4. Now select GWX key and in right-side pane create a new DWORD DisableGWX and set its value to 1

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1. Again in Registry Editor, go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

2. Create a new key under Windows key and set its name as WindowsUpdate

So the final key path would be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

3. Now select WindowsUpdate key and in right-side pane create a new DWORD DisableOSUpgrade and set its value to 1

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1. Again in Registry Editor, go to following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade

2. In right-side pane, look for two DWORDs AllowOSUpgrade and ReservationsAllowed and change their values to 0

Configuring Fortigate for VOIP phones behind it

These are the general steps for allowing VOIP phones behind a Fortigate to work properly.  Please also note these steps to put QoS on voice traffic for better performance.

1. Open the Fortigate CLI from the dashboard.
2. Enter the following commands in FortiGate’s CLI:
   1. config system settings
   2. set sip-helper disable
   3. set sip-nat-trace disable
   4. reboot the device
3. Reopen CLI and enter the following commands – do not enter the text after //:
   1. config system session-helper
   2. show    //locate the SIP entry, usually 12, but can vary.
   3. delete 12     //or the number that you identified from the previous command.
4. Disable RTP processing as follows:
   1. config voip profile
   2. edit default
   3. config sip
   4. set rtp disable

There might be other settings that you need to configure depending on the FortiOS version that you are using. If you continue encountering issues related to SIP ALG, please contact Fortinet Support.

Setup of Dell branded Aruba wireless access points

These are the basic steps for setting up Dell branded Ariba wireless access points:

1. connect to WLAN named "instant"
2. open non HTTPS page
3. will be redirected to https://instant.dell-pcw.com:4343/#home
4. log in as admin/admin
5. in the top middle, click on edit next to the MAC address and give the WAP a new name
6. in the top left under networks, click on New to create a new SSID
7. Click on system in the upper right hand corner
1. - change name to more descriptive name
2. - Change time zone
3. - Change preferred band to 5 Ghz
8. Clicki on the admin tab and change the admin password
9. Click on RF in the upper right hand corner
10. - in band steering, change value to Force 5 Ghz
11. in upper left hand corner under networks, delete the SSID of instant