Free Tools, Tips, Tutorials & More

A Tip

A helpful tip from digitaltransmutation on how to get a report that can help with troubleshooting when a Windows system is going to sleep unexpectedly: Use powercfg /sleepstudy and it will give you a reason for every sleep state transition both in and out.

An eBook

Microsoft 365: The Essential Companion Guide is a new, free eBook from Hornetsecurity designed to help IT admins who run an M365 environment as well as decision makers who want an overview of what to expect when migrating to the cloud. In addition to an in-depth rundown of everything M365 offers, you’ll also find links to additional resources for a deeper dive into the apps most relevant to business.

A Security List

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog is the home of CISA’s current list of critical system security holes that should be addressed within any organization. Suggests checking it to “make sure your vulnerability scanners are looking for systems you missed, and get them patched ASAP.”

A List

Microsoft Portals is a handy tool that can help a sysadmin find useful resources in the somewhat convoluted Microsoft ecosystem. This community-driven project conveniently lists addresses for the large constellation of MS admin sites in a single, organized location. Says, “I keep it as a pinned tab in firefox.”

Cybersecurity Webinar Library features the latest security-related live webinars and a variety of on-demand content from the experts at Hornetsecurity. This ever-evolving list includes the latest insights, plus in-depth discussion of strategies and best practices for defeating today’s constant barrage of email threats—from phishing scams to data breaches—so you can learn how best to protect your digital assets.

A Training Resource

Brent Ozar Unlimited is a YouTube channel that features videos on how to make Microsoft SQL Server faster. Brent is a MS Certified Master with decades of experience and an impressive list of conference teaching gigs. Our appreciation for this recommendation goes to Anlarb.

Art of Server is an educational channel dedicated, unsurprisingly, to server-related topics. Offers informative video content that addresses some of the common questions and concerns that arise in the server-building community. Kindly recommended by agStatic09.

PowerCert Animated Videos is a YouTube channel offering insightful, animated explanations on various foundational IT topics, including networking, computer components, and essential concepts. Also includes videos on CompTIA certification. baraa290 raves, “This channel helped me a lot when I first started. It’s like the best ever.”

BGP for All provides a nice collection of educational videos on the routing protocol that drives data transfer across the Internet and autonomous systems. Helps to explain BGP’s intricate path vector system, rules, filtering, weight, and community attributes. We appreciate this “good series of short videos.”

The Urban Penguin is a YouTube channel loaded with Linux software development guidance and training intended for professionals. It’s the work of Linux expert Andrew Mallett, who seeks to empower admins in order to foster the use of open-source solutions in the business environment.

Moore’s Law Is Dead is a YouTube channel providing insightful, unbiased commentary and analysis on what’s going on in the areas of technology, gaming, and computer hardware. We recommend it for, “Really in depth looks at hardware and the market itself.”

Hussein Nasser is a YouTube channel that offers fascinating discussions on a wide range of software engineering topics, along with lots of practical examples. Appreciates it “for analysis of recent outages for big companies, good breakdown of what went wrong, and an insight into the potential stack in use.”

Pinal Dave is a YouTube channel filled with in-depth videos on SQL servers and server performance tuning. The material is presented by a subject-matter expert with over 17 years of practical experience, an MS degree, and a collection of well-respected books and courses on the topic to his credit.

John Hammond’s YouTube Channel provides practical cybersecurity education, including the sort of real-world challenges, mistakes, and problem-solving that go with it. Adds, “Really recommend John Hammond. He has really helped me going down the cyber security rabbit hole.”

Level1Linux is a YouTube channel that offers a wealth of in-depth tutorials tailored to individuals exploring basic to intermediate level projects with open-source operating systems based around (but not limited to) Linux and FreeBSD. Our thanks for this one go to Maudib420.

ThePrimeagen is a YouTube channel focused on enhancing development workflow using Vim, Rust, and TypeScript to optimize project performance. Follow in the footsteps of this skilled Netflix engineer known for his dynamic tmux and Neovim-centered approach. Says “a lot of his content is comedy but his vim series finally got me to drop intellij and vscode for neovim. Now those bloated IDEs seem horrible after over a year of nothing but neovim.”

Level1Techs is an engaging YouTube channel that’s the work of a group of self-described nerds with a passion for technology who are eager to share their vast knowledge and insights. Videos explore innovations in tech, science, and design and their profound impact on our lives.

Craft Computing is an engaging YouTube channel dedicated to homelabs, gaming, tutorials, reviews, news, and other IT-related content. Jeff offers a unique and refreshing perspective on tech topics that brings a bit of fun along with a lot of solid, useful information.

Christian Lempa is an informative YouTube channel that delves into the world of Homelab and Tech Projects. Offers a wealth of educational tutorials focused on DevOps, Automation, Kubernetes, Linux, Docker, and WireGuard that are intended to help viewers deepen understanding of these technologies and their practical applications.

Jeremy’s IT Lab is an educational YouTube channel offering a wealth of knowledge and tutorials on Cisco networking as well as the broader realm of general networking. A comprehensive CCNP ENCOR 350-401 Course is his latest addition to the library, which joins a Complete CCNA 200-301 Course and the Complete CCNA Routing & Switching Packet Tracer Lab Series.

Mental Outlaw is a cool YouTube channel that features entertaining videos designed to “help people become more proficient with programming, scripting, and software in general.” Features in-depth tutorials plus interesting commentary on late-breaking news in the tech world.

Learn Linux TV is loaded with in-depth tutorials, reviews and other instructional content from a passionate Linux expert with decades of experience. We recommend this favorite, “If you are looking for Linux-focused content.”

Learn PowerShell Video & Blog Series features operationally focused training broken down by topic, with a corresponding blog post and training video covering the same material—so you can opt for whichever format you prefer. Also allows you to dig into the code and reference examples from the Learn-PowerShell-Code-Examples GitHub repository.

FOA Guide is the official Fiber Optic Association’s online guide to fiber optics, fiber broadband and premises cabling. You’ll find a large library of materials covering everything to do with fiber optics and premises cabling, from basic topics all the way to advanced. Also features links to “Fiber U,” an educational site full of free self-study programs and courses on the use of fiber in communication systems.

Oh Shit, Git!?! is designed to help you get out of the sort of messes that Git makes it easy to get into. Offers plain-language explanations of various problems and how they were resolved, which makes it possible to find answers without knowing the official name of whatever specific issue(s) you need to understand.

Under the Wire is a fun way to learn how to use Windows PowerShell in a variety of situations. This innovative training option was inspired by the Linux CLI wargame, Over the Wire, which owes its effectiveness as a training tool in no small part thanks to the game-style format.

Play with Docker Classroom is a playground for learning how to work with Docker. Provides a free, cloud version of an Alpine Linux VM on which to build and run Docker containers as well as an opportunity for playing with more-advanced features like cluster creation via Swarm Mode.

OverTheWire is an entertaining option for learning about cybersecurity principles and the methods hackers employ to exploit weaknesses. Offers a series Linux command-line games—each focused on a different exploit—so you can truly understand what you need to harden your systems against.

Learn Git Branching is an interactive, visual option for improving your Git skills from beginner through advanced. A set of increasingly difficult levels walks you through step-by-step feature demos and challenges designed to teach how to make the most of this powerful tool. The online sandbox gives you a safe place to practice new concepts.

A Tip

A quick hint for Windows admins: “You can set a program or window to a specific size & position by first placing it where and how you want it—then, hold shift and click the X button to close the window. The next time you open it, it’ll be in the same position. This works for Windows Explorer windows, programs, and even things like ‘new messages’ in Outlook.”

A handy shortcut shared by Oliver: “In Windows, you can run anything as a specific user by shift + rightclick and choosing ‘run as another user’

There are some caveats, such as the user you’re running as may not have a local user profile, and that may cause issues. When running a program as a different user, things are done in that context—so if you go to save something to the desktop, it will save it to the desktop of the user you’re running as. A great method for running RSAT tools on a non-priviledged computer and account.”

We share a method for replacing an older Windows File Server with new, while keeping all shares and DNS intact:

• “Export [HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Shares] key from the registry. You want this key and everything under it.
• Detach the data disk (if a VM) and reattach it to the new server and assign the same drive letter, or robocopy the data from the legacy server to the new server into the same drive letter and folder path as the legacy server.
• Remove the legacy server from the domain and ensure the DNS record for it is gone. You’ll want this DNS record pointing at the new server, and this will be done automagically in the next steps.
• Import the key, then run the netdom alias commands in an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt.

It registers the DNS A record for the alias (legacy server name in this case), registers the additional SPNs, and adds the OptionalNames registry key. No more CNAMEs or manually modified SPNs.

netdom computername <COMPUTER> /add:<ALIAS>
Netdom computername NewFile01 /add:oldfile01.domainname.tld

You can repeat this command as many times as you need to for additional records.

Total downtime in a VMWare environment is less than five minutes, barring any DNS server replication in play.”

Shares news about an underused Office feature: “If you go to this link and turn this on, the portal will be populated (over time) with all of your Office versions, additionally showing workstations that are behind on security updates.

You don’t need Intune for this either, I guess it works based on the UPNs logging into your tenant to the O365 Apps.

You can then also go into ‘Servicing’ > ‘Monthly Enterprise’ > and roll out the latest version to a set amount of PCs (or all) and set a deadline of, say, 1 day to get updated. You probably would not want to do that every month, but there is flexibility.

This may be old news, but I logged onto a dozen different clients and they did not have it turned on, so I guess not a lot of people know about it.”

We shares a suggestion for organizing your documentation:

“Use OneNote as a Knowledge Base! It has so many features that make using it as a KB so much easier than other forms like Word and PDF documents:

• Integrated graphs for excel spreadsheets or stat tracking—Copy/Paste from Excel and it will automatically paste the entire spreadsheet correctly into OneNote
• Built-in OCR for images posted anywhere in OneNote— OCR is native to OneNote, so take a screenshot, and all the words on that screenshot will be searchable!
• Freeform formatting—You can type, draw, insert pictures or shapes, or almost anything anywhere on any page in the entire OneNote.
• Collaboration—No need to share word documents anymore, you can give your team access to the OneNote and everyone can edit it all at the same time!
• Organization—You can organize the KB by topic, section, or any other way you can think of.
• Edit auditing—You can view the most-recent edits, who made them, and when they were made. No more trying to figure out who wrote the wrong thing in a KB!
• Microsoft Teams Integration—You can add it to a Teams chat and access the KB on your phone, tablet, or anywhere else that you have access to Teams.
• And more—Embedded files, links between pages/sections, notifications in each section for new content, the list goes on!

Every company I’ve been with so far had random KB folders full of documents or PDF’s, and I’ve always consolidated it into a OneNote. My coworkers and supervisors have always been impressed with the functionality that the OneNote KB provides, and loved the simplicity of putting everything in one place.”

A Script

PowerShell HTML based Live Ping Monitor creates a live dashboard report for ping on an HTML web page. When you hover on any of the servers in the server list, it will show more information, such as IP address.

Merge-MailboxFolders.ps1 is a PowerShell script to merge folders within a mailbox (or potentially even move folders and items between mailboxes). Works for multiple folders and can be automated for multiple mailboxes. Handles throttling so it works even with large O365 mailboxes. Appreciates this solution to “the manual folder shuffle in Exchange,” “I think this is the single most powerful and complete script I’ve ever found via ze google lifeline.”

Free Tutorials

Automate Microsoft 365 User Offboarding with PowerShell explains how to streamline the user offboarding process using a convenient script that adheres to recommended sysadmin best practices. This approach offers both enhanced security and greater efficiency by eliminating the possibility that anything will fall through the cracks when an employee departs. Kindly suggested by The_Lemmings.

Fireship is a YouTube channel that offers a large library of concise and entertaining coding tutorials that can help round out an admin skillset, along with perspectives on the latest technology news. New content covering assorted programming topics is added each week, so there’s always something new to see. We consider it “a fun channel with quick video introductions to different programming languages and tech stacks.”

Misha Sv is a YouTube channel featuring some terrific Python programming tutorials that have been shared by a senior data scientist with additional expertise in Python programming and machine learning. Appreciated, who explains, “You don’t have to program to be a Sysadmin, but all the best Sysadmins I’ve seen can do some programming.”

Disabling NTLM Authentication Guide is a blog series on how to navigate the complexities of moving from NTLM authentication to Kerberos—something strongly recommended by both security experts and Microsoft. Provides technical details on how to audit the use of NTLM as well as strategies for how to work with a team to get the job done. Explains, “I just finished leading a 15 month project to disable NTLM authentication (almost entirely) in our AD domain… Some of the issues I encountered almost made us give up and took a long time to figure out. I think the tactics and techniques I learned along the way could benefit others…”

Techworld with Nana features an impressive library of informative tutorials on various useful DevOps topics, with a new video added every other week. We explain, “[it] has alot of great tutorials on important devops tools explaining what they are and how to use them.”

Create an Inactive M365 User Report with Microsoft Graph PowerShell explains how you can assess the accuracy of your M365 user list so you can identify dormant accounts that might expose your tenant to unnecessary risks. Covers how to extract a comprehensive list, including the LastSignInDateTime property and the LastNonInteractiveSignInDateTime property. Author notapplemaxwindows explains, it “will create a report of users with these 2 values including any licenses they have assigned. Simply sort the columns in Excel once you have the report to achieve your desired result!”

Stone Cold Professor is a YouTube channel that can help you learn more about some foundational programming concepts. These screencasts delve into database programming with a focus on MySQL; web programming for PHP, JS, CSS, and HTML; and discrete math/structures. Appreciates this “Math n Data Man.”

Fast-Terraform is a repository with a hands-on exploration of Terraform, focusing on IoC techniques in the context of AWS. A series of practical LABs and AWS sample projects covers concepts such as resources, variables, meta arguments, provisioners, dynamic blocks, and modules. It not only simplifies Terraform understanding but also showcases real-world AWS application scenarios. Author explains, “I want to share the Terraform tutorial (Infrastructure As Code for Cloud), cheat sheet, and usage scenarios that I created as a notebook for myself.”

Tech Pub, hosted by Professor Robert McMillen, offers concise and insightful solutions for tech enthusiasts seeking quick resolutions. This Microsoft Certified Trainer, with extensive credentials including an MBA and over 50 technical certifications, delivers efficient tutorials that effectively address complex problems in a few minutes.

Traversy Media Youtube Channel offers a nice collection of web development and programming tutorials on the latest technologies. Their insightful videos cover classics like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript; advanced frontend frameworks such as React and Vue; and even backend technologies like Node.js, Python, and PHP.

PowerShell.org Youtube Channel is the place to find some insightful talks and presentations for those interested in learning more about PowerShell. You’ll find TechSession webinars, PowerShell Summit session recordings, and other educational content to enhance your understanding and help you improve your skills.

Calculating Optical Fiber Latency explains the method by which you can precisely determine the time delay in any fiber optic waveguide. Also includes a handy downloadable “Optical Fiber Latency Calculator.”

BTNHD YouTube Channel is loaded with how-tos on almost every subject related to Microsoft, VMware and Apple. You’ll also find info on other interesting tech topics, smartphones updates, product reviews and details on configuration and installation of enterprise software.

Windows Powershell Video Series provides the essentials for getting started with scripting in Powershell. Takes you through fundamentals and then works up to intermediate and advanced topics, so there’s a little something to be found regardless of skill level. Shares, “I used [these videos] to learn from the ground up.”

Elevate Teams Meeting Privacy with Explicit Recording Consent explains how you can address privacy concerns using a new Teams policy that ensures all participants are willing to be recorded before recording begins. Explains, “When this policy is in effect, the Teams meeting window will explicitly ask for everyone’s permission to record meetings. Your voice, video and screen share won’t get recorded unless your consent is given.”

DeploymentResearch YouTube Channel provides lots of helpful videos on OSD, ConfigMgr (SCCM), MDT, Windows 10 and more—as well as videos related to the popular ‘Deployment Fundamentals’ book series.

Everything you always wanted to know about optical is an updated version of the popular tutorial aimed at network engineers. Covers all the basics of how fiber works, plus details on how to select, install and maintain it.

A Free Service

Project TON is a BGP-speaking black hole service that provides a real-time list of internet bad actors for the world. Can be used to block unwanted, malicious or invalid traffic at the perimeter of your networks and offload some of the burden from firewalls and other security systems. Explains, “Peer for free, ad-hoc, and you get real data. Right now they have country-coded prefixes in communities and SSH brute force attackers in a different community.”

A Cheatsheet

SQL CheatSheet is a handy, downloadable 3-page quick reference of the most-commonly used SQL statements. We recommends this “handy reference tool for programmers of all levels, whether you are a beginner just starting out or an experienced developer looking to brush up on your skills.”

Linux System Administration Command Cheat Sheet is a quick resource to leverage a variety of OS functionalities, including starting/stopping system services; software installations; and configuring disk partitions, user accounts, and directory permissions.

Cheat.sh provides unified access to the world’s best community-driven documentation repositories. Its simple interface gives access to an impressive range of 56 programming languages, several DBMSes, and over 1000 essential UNIX/Linux commands. Offering StackOverflow-level cheat sheets, it requires no installation and boasts lightning-fast response times. The optional CLI client seamlessly integrates with code editors to eliminate the need for a browser, and the unique ‘stealth mode’ allows for entirely invisible and silent use.

All in One Cheat Sheet is a single-stop reference loaded with helpful information for Linux sysadmins, devops, developers and networkers. You’ll find 156 quick-references, nicely organized with clarifying popups. Generously shared by the author, Linkology, who explains, “I wanted to have things in one place, so I created this mega cheat sheet. Hope it helps you too.”

Linux Cheat Sheets offers a large selection of concise cheat sheets nicely organized to cover all the various categories of Linux commands, so you can give your Google-fu a rest in finding what slips from your memory.

A Free Tool

Libre Hardware Monitor is a utility that reports on a computer’s temperature sensors, fan speeds, voltages, load, and clock speeds. Thanks to Vallamost for noting last week’s hardware monitoring tool (Open Hardware Monitor) appears to have been abandoned by the devs. Fortunately this fork is actively maintained.

Bufferbloat Test checks for a software issue with networking equipment that causes spikes in Internet latency during uploads or downloads. The latency of your internet connection is compared with results of latency tests taken while running a download test and an upload test to detect the issue. Kindly suggested by spiffiness.

Open Hardware Monitor tracks critical system metrics, including temperature sensors, fan speeds, voltages, load, and clock speeds. Monitored data can be displayed in the primary application window, a customizable desktop gadget, or the system tray. -SPOF recommends it for “real-time monitoring of CPU, GPU, and hard drive temperatures, as well as fan speeds and voltages.”

WifiInfoView is a utility that scans for nearby wireless networks and displays key information. Listed data includes network name, MAC address, PHY type, router info, signal quality, and more. Appreciation for recommending this tool goes to bbqwatermelon.

SignTool allows you to securely sign, verify, and timestamp files. It comes bundled with the Windows Software Development Kit to address file integrity and security needs. ThioJoe explains, “It’s command line only but gives you a lot more control [vs. DigiCert]. Also easier to integrate into scripts and stuff.”

gping is a souped-up version of the traditional ping utility that graphs network latency for multiple hosts as well as execution time for commands, with the option of custom colors. Our thanks for the suggestion go to fudgecakekistan.

Snipaste is a straightforward snipping tool that conveniently allows you to pin screenshots back onto your screen. Offers a nice array of features, like converting clipboard text or color information into floating image windows, zooming, rotation, flipping, translucency, and click-through functionality. unamused443 explains, “I used Snipaste on Windows for years, and when I switched to MacOS I kept using it (yes, it is beta but works great). Also, I do not pay for any Pro functionality, and it does exactly what I need it to do (selection screenshots, annotation, highlight, arrows, blur, save, etc.)”

WindTerm is a versatile, cross-platform client solution for SSH, Telnet, Serial, Shell, and SFTP connections. Features include color-coding, text folding, outlining, auto-completion, lightning-fast performance, and extensive scrollback history. Also supports cursor control with mouse input and easy text selection. SprinklesFair6055 says, “in my opinion it’s better than MobaXterm and you can do pretty much everything you need.”

Komorebi is a tiling window manager designed as an extension for Windows 10+ that seamlessly integrates with Microsoft’s Desktop Window Manager. Allows users to efficiently manage application windows, virtual workspaces, and display monitors via a CLI that can be used with third-party software like AutoHotKey. It prioritizes non-intrusive modifications to the OS and desktop environment by default, while giving users the freedom to implement any desired changes through their own configuration files. Our thanks for the recommendation go to serverhorror.

Group Policy Attribute Search is a Microsoft website that allows you to run full-text searches through all existing Group Policies. Offers filters that can search for the policies that are supported by certain platforms, so you can check to see what is properly supported by all the platforms in your network. You can also limit the search by the Microsoft Office Group Policy and User Policy Settings.

OpenBMP is a monitoring system designed to work with any compliant BMP sender. Uses PostgreSQL for primary data storage, with RIBs state maintained plus full history for every changed BGP update. Features include centralized BMP collection, real-time topology monitoring, BGP and route security, looking glasses, route analytics, traffic engineering analytics, BGP pre-policy What-Ifs, IGP topology analysis, and more.

Hexinator is a versatile hex editor designed to handle files of any size. Features extensive customization options and advanced search capabilities. Simplifies the identification of strings within binary files, considering length and text encoding, and provides a Data Panel for decoding common data types.

Intune Device Details GUI is a Windows PowerShell-based tool that enables Intune administrators to efficiently access and visualize device data in a single interface. Displays the utilization of Azure AD Groups and Intune filters in Application and Configuration Assignments to help admins understand device targeting and potential assignment issues. We like this tool “for Intune device details, which is incredibly handy since the Microsoft UI doesn’t give sh*t for information.”

Ping Tracer is a network diagnostic tool that systematically pings all network hosts along the route to a specified destination, to help troubleshoot network problems. We consider it “a really nice way to visualize pings, and can send out pings pretty quickly to catch some more intermittent issues.”

Containerlab is a CLI tool to simplify working with container-based networking labs. Allows you to initiate containers, establish virtual connections between them to configure customizable lab topologies, and manage the lab lifecycle. Offers support for a wide range of network OSes, accommodating various node scales, TLS certificate management, lab orchestration, and deployment functionalities. We consider it “the next-gen equivalent of EVE-NG or GNS3. It runs many of the virtualized NOSes as containers and some of the network OSes as VMs. You can quickly build a network by textually representing the links you want connected.”

Weathermap is an extension for LibreNMS that enables users to easily construct network maps that provide a clear visualization of network traffic flow rates in order to help admins optimize performance and troubleshoot. We add, “It’s very good and easy to setup. Pretty painless IMHO—way better than Zabbix.”

PDF Tool provides an easy way to edit pdf files directly on your device—so you can be sure to keep the data secure. Sees it as “a privacy-first tool that lets you modify pdfs offline in your browser, no upload to server or cloud, no limits on editing, entirely for free.”

Visual Syslog Server is an open-source Windows application for receiving and displaying syslog messages that can be helpful when configuring routers and Unix/Linux-based systems. Offers a live message view that features message switching, color highlighting, filtering, and customizable notification and action settings. Says it “works a charm on Windows for anyone looking for a free easy-to-install syslog.”

GNU Emacs is a versatile, open-source text editor that offers extensibility and customization—a sort of self-documenting real-time display editor.

Quicktype is a speedy way to transform JSON data into well-structured, type-safe code in any programming language. Can help simplify the process of generating models and serializers from JSON, schema, or GraphQL—for secure, efficient data handling. We find it a “Godsend to convert JSON into data structures in any language.”

MAC Vendor Lookup offers accurate, up-to-date vendor information from the IEEE Standards Association database. Allows you to submit up to 1000 requests per day through HTTP GET/POST requests, without the need for registration or API keys.

Bpytop is a resource monitoring tool designed for Linux, OSX, and FreeBSD systems. Offers a convenient window on CPU usage, memory consumption, disk and network activity, and running processes.

ChatGPT Prompt Generator is a clever tool for simplifying the prompt-creation process. Just describe the desired prompt in basic terms and the role you want ChatGPT to simulate, and it will quickly create a well-written prompt to achieve your stated aim. Author codewithbernard explains, “[it] generates complex prompts based on your simple inputs.… the prompt generation is actually handled by ChatGPT API.”

AstroGrep is an open-source, high-speed search utility for Windows that locates files or text using regular expressions. Features include concurrent searches across various file types, recursive directory exploration, contextual line selection, and the ability to customize results. I like it “for searching through log files from SecureCRT.”

LUMU Free provides real-time detection, analysis, and response capabilities to identify hidden threats that may have slipped past your defenses. Features include network-level visibility, 45-day data retention, and up to 5 metadata collectors. Timely-Lychee-5204 explains, “if you’re looking for something related to threat intelligence and network visibility, Lumu Free offers continuous network monitoring to identify and alert you to potential cyber threats. It’s a great addition to any tech stack for an extra layer of security.”

Pinkie is a collection of network troubleshooting tools with an intuitive user interface. Offers pinging of multiple hosts, automated forward/reverse DNS lookups, and traceroute functionalities. Results can be conveniently saved to disk or copied to the clipboard, and traceroute supports both overall and per-hop copying, with right-click access to the last hop. Also includes a subnet calculator, ping sweep, port scanner, and TFTP server with support for RFC 1783 and 1784. Likes to “throw a bunch of IP’s into it and continuously ping all of them at once in one window … It’s mildly annoying that it seems to want you to register every time you launch it even if you already have, but other than that I dig it and it’s free.”

Vector is an open-source, high-speed solution for constructing observability pipelines. This featherweight tool seamlessly gathers, reshapes, and directs logs and metrics to allow effortless collection, transformation, and forwarding to your vendors. Delivers speeds up to tenfold greater than any comparable alternative. Appreciates that it “runs on windows and can receive syslog.”

Roboshadow stands as a comprehensive cyber platform, seamlessly integrating essential components from cyber audits and penetration testing into a user-friendly, well-supported environment. With its free tier, organizations of all sizes can access a daily cyber governance report, to effortlessly foster heightened cyber awareness. Raves, “Literally the only free vulnerability management system out there. The free version of roboshadow does more than the premium service tier from Galactic Advisors.”

ChatPDF allows you to seamlessly converse with your PDFs, receiving answers that directly cite the source location within the document. Accommodates various languages for both input and output. A free account includes 50 daily questions and the capability to upload up to three 120-page/10MB file uploads. Explains, “Put simply, ChatPDF lets you upload any PDF and interact with it like ChatGPT.”

SSHFS offers a solution for connecting to SSH servers through a network filesystem client. Enables users to seamlessly mount remote filesystems, without any server-side requirements. Appreciates it “for mounting remote machines.”

foobar2000 is an advanced Windows audio player that offers compatibility with an impressive list of formats. Features include gapless playback, flexible interface customization, advanced tagging, and conversion among various audio formats. Suggests it “as a replacement for Winamp.”

MISP is an open-source solution to streamline the acquisition, retention, distribution, and collaborative exchange of critical cybersecurity indicators and threats. Considers it “a threat intelligence platform for gathering, sharing, storing, and correlating indicators of compromise.”

WinCDP is a helpful utility that leverages Cisco’s CDP to provide an elegant solution to the perennial dilemma, “Where does this cable, uplink, or port lead?” CDP operates at the Data Link Layer to expose crucial insights about directly linked Cisco devices, such as IP addresses, OS versions, which switch you’re connected to, and the specific port in use.

ThrottleStop is a compact solution for identifying and resolving the CPU throttling techniques some laptop models use—like clock modulation and multiplier reductions—to manage power consumption, maintain lower temperatures, or accommodate power limitations posed by the adapter. Offers a range of options designed to counter throttling, plus a monitoring panel that provides real-time insights into the operational status of individual CPU threads. Recommends it “to tweak and downvolt your Intel CPU.”

klogg is an open source multi-platform GUI application to search through all kinds of text log files using regular expressions. It’s a fork of the no-longer-maintained glogg project designed for speed and to provide a clear view even in huge, cluttered files. Author adds, “It is generally faster [than glogg] for both opening a file and performing searches. Current dev builds that use hyperscan regular expression engine can open a file and do a search while glogg would still be indexing that file.”

TheHive is a versatile open-source solution for streamlining the investigation and prompt handling of security incidents. Seamlessly integrates with MISP to facilitate the transition from event analysis to investigation initiation, enabling efficient synchronization and export for collaborative threat detection and response. Moreover, coupling TheHive with Cortex empowers security professionals to efficiently analyze up to hundreds of observables. Describes it as, “an open-source and scalable Security Incident Response Platform designed for handling incidents efficiently.”

KNOPPIX is a bootable Live system, offering an extensive range of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and broad support for various peripherals like graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI, and USB devices. Can serve as a reliable Linux desktop, an educational CD, a rescue system, or even a platform for commercial software demos. Operates without the need for hard disk installation and its on-the-fly decompression enables the CD to accommodate an impressive 2 GB of executable software (or over 9 GB on the DVD “Maxi” edition).

qBittorrent is a reliable, open-source alternative to µTorrent with a similar user interface. Features an extensible search engine for simultaneous searches across multiple Torrent search sites with category-specific requests. Supports Bittorrent extensions, such as Magnet links, DHT, PEX, and encrypted connections, while also providing advanced control over torrents, bandwidth, and IP filtering. Available on all major platforms and presented in almost 70 languages. Adds, “very lightweight, nice user interface, with the added bonus of not bombarding you with ads or using your CPU/GPU resources to mine cryptocurrencies in the background without your knowledge.”

NirCmd offers a convenient, efficient means of performing a collection of tasks without the need for a user interface. This small, command-line Windows utility enables seamless Registry manipulation, INI file editing, internet account dialing, VPN network connections, system restarts, and computer shutdowns, as well as other functionalities for streamlining operations.

Charles is a powerful web proxy and monitor designed to run on your local computer. Once the web browser or other applications are configured to access the web through Charles, you can record and view all incoming and outgoing data. The enhanced visibility simplifies the process of debugging and provides advanced features such as SSL proxying, bandwidth throttling, AJAX debugging, AMF support, request repetition and editing, breakpoints for intercepting and modifying requests or responses, and even validation of HTML, CSS, and RSS/atom responses using the W3C validator.

Mail PassView is a compact, straightforward password-recovery tool designed to unveil essential account information from most major email clients. The user-friendly interface displays the following fields for each account: Account Name, Application, Email, Server, Server Type (POP3/IMAP/SMTP), User Name, and Password. Says, “Mailpv is great to get people off imap into Exchange, as you can script and scoop passwords.”

wallabag is a versatile self-hosted application designed to effortlessly save and organize web pages, keeping online content organized and readily accessible. With its intuitive GUI, users can conveniently store and categorize articles, allowing for easy retrieval whenever you’re ready to read later on. Recommends it “for managing links/content that goes into your knowledge base.”

Sergei Strelec’s WinPE is a great WinPE build with a truly enormous list of software that covers all areas. Includes tools for diagnostics, backup and recovery, drive utilities, DOS programs, networking, Win installation and more. Adds, “if you think HBCD and UBCD are good, wait until you see how much is packed in Strelec. Been using it since 2017; never looked back.”

Invoke is a versatile Python library that streamlines the management of shell processes and facilitates the organization of executable Python code into easily invokable tasks via a CLI interface. Offers a robust feature set while maintaining a straightforward and elegant API. Features include namespacing, task aliasing, hooks, and parallel execution.

Scoop is a streamlined command-line installer for Windows that aims to provide a hassle-free installation experience by eliminating permission popups, GUI wizard-style installers, and excessive clutter caused by multiple program installations. Automatically handles dependencies and performs additional setup steps as needed.

CodeGPT is a Visual Studio Code extension that seamlessly integrates the OpenAI API to provide AI-driven coding capabilities. Effortlessly generate code snippets and get natural language responses directly in your editor—to help write new code, seek clarifications, debug, and refactor. We find it “helps with documentation and complex regexs etc.”

Raycast is an incredibly fast launcher designed exclusively for MacOS. Seamlessly accomplish tasks, perform calculations, and share frequently used links—with its included calculator, quicklinks, snippets, advanced window management, as well as an extensive library of over 1000 customizable extensions and developer tools. It’s like Spotlight on steroids, as it can be used as a starting point for practically anything.

Raindrop is a highly capable, all-in-one bookmark manager. Oliver explains, “installs as a browser extension, desktop app, and phone app. Anything which has the option to share, you can share to raindrop… has a ton of cool features such as:

• Making an offline, indexed copy of whatever you’ve sent it. Not everything allows offline copy. BUT, if you search a raindrop for a keyword or phrase contained in the body of something you’ve saved, it will return that bookmark in the results.
• Gives you the option to embed specific raindrop collections (folders containing things you’ve saved). Illustrating: You save an article to the appropriate collection. That new article shows up on a landing page you’ve created for clients. Consider this for exploits, outage alerts, etc.
• Tagging things you’ve saved—these are similar but different than collections. Tags are easy to add to whatever, as when you put a comma it automatically makes a new tag.
• API and other extensibility. ‘Save every youtube video I like,’ ‘save every tweet I like’
• The offline & indexed version Raindrop makes can also, somehow, get around (most?) paywalls. You can share these offline copies using a perm link generated by raindrop.”

SyncML Viewer presents the SyncML protocol stream between the Win10 client and the management system and adds some extra parsing to extract details that can aid your analysis. Uses ETW to trace the MDM Sync session, tracing what the client actually sends and receives. Can be very handy to troubleshoot policy issues, verify OMA-URIs and data field definitions, or get confirmation about queried or applied settings.

Alfred is a macOS app that offers hotkeys, keywords, text expansion, search, and other custom actions to control your Mac. We like this “launcher/search tool. Extendable. Instead of clippy i just use an extension for Alfred, saves another program running and does the same thing.”

Mattermost offers a secure, open-source solution for seamless collaboration throughout the software development lifecycle. Tailored to cater to technical and operational needs, it easily integrates with a wide range of third-party developer tools—to streamline development and engineering workflows. With self-hosted and private cloud deployment options, coupled with access to the source code, you have complete control over the data via a shared, adaptable, and extensible platform designed specifically for your team.

Redo Rescue offers bare-metal backup and restore in just a few clicks. Can restore an identical version to a blank new drive in minutes or preserve drive layout and restore data to a different area of the target drive. Describes it as “a graphical version of clone zilla :-) it’s a little bit easier for the noobs like myself.”

PoshCode is a “jacked up” version of Lee Holmes’ PowerShellCookbook module on Show-Object that displays a tree view of any piped-in object in a GUI just like showwindow. From the GUI display, you can click through all the properties of the object to see details.

HFS is a fast and easy way to access or share files directly from your disk across the internet, without imposed restrictions on space or bandwidth. Transfer begins immediately without first uploading to a server, and you can see all activities in real-time. Automatically tries to detect any problems and suggest solutions. Describes it as “a small lightweight web server that starts from a shell extension in windows.”

SnakeTail is a tail utility for Windows log files capable of monitoring “large” text logs and event logs (without the need for admin rights). Features support for MDI, tabbed, and floating window modes; saving and loading entire window session; highlighting based on keywords; jump to bookmarks; service stop/start from the tail window; search; display simple process stats in the window title bar; and more.

Karabiner-Elements is a keyboard customizer for MacOS that allows you to adjust things to your liking, plus includes cool features for creating device-specific modifications that alter the behavior of function keys and setting up complex modification rules. We preciate that it can “map keyboard shortcuts, including remapping existing ones.”

poudriere is a powerful port/package build and test system with a focus on package production and bulk building for FreeBSD. This easy-to-use, parallelized solution relies solely on the base system and can build the entire portstree. Supports building packages for different FreeBSD versions, and ensures compatibility with any package management tool by organizing packages in an identical layout to official mirrors.

Microsoft IAS/NPS Log Viewer/Interpreter streamlines the analysis and interpretation of log files generated by the Internet Authentication Service and Network Policy Server, which can be helpful when investigating authentication and authorization issues in infrastructure.

Cosmos is a secure all-in-one, self-hosting solution that incorporates reverse-Proxy, authentication server, container manager, identity provisioning and SmartShield security technology.

Loss Budget Calculator is a Fiber Optic Association system design tool that calculates the sum of the average losses of all components, including fiber optic attenuation, connector loss, and splice loss. Explains, “I use this calculator for the basic planning and cross-checking.”

UnnaturalScrollWheels is a MacOS app that allows you to invert the scroll direction for physical scroll wheels while maintaining the normal function for trackpads. We recommend it “for those like me who go between dock and laptop and prefer my mouse to have a different scroll direction to the trackpad.”

Locust is an open-source load testing tool that allows you to define whatever user behavior you like, and then swarm your system with millions of those users simultaneously. We suggest, “If you want to test an actual application and how it handles network latency, potential buffering, QoS etc, then you could use Locust to stress-test REST-based applications and their APIs.”

winevdm enables you to keep old Windows programs on life support by running 16-bit Windows (1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on a 64-bit Windows system. We explain, “Had a special case of a user who clung to their Windows 7 PC because their work was reliant on a 16-bit program from 1997 (and even on 7 it didn’t run properly). Used the program above to make it run reliably on 10.”

LocalAI is a self-hosted, OpenAI-compatible API that allows you to run language learning models locally or on-prem using consumer-grade hardware without the need for GPUs. This RESTful API supports multiple model families that are compatible with ggml format.

ShredOS Disk Eraser provides a way to securely wipe disks for all Intel 64-bit processors as well as other vendors with compatible 64-bit chips. Adds, “number of options including a USB boot drive (supports UEFI). It’s nwipe, which is the linux open source of DBAN. Works great with external USB docks too if you’re using a 1-4 bay one to mass wipe. You can also use ShredOS on headless systems or systems with faulty display hardware as it includes a user-enabled telnet server.”

Hidden Bar is a simple tool that lets you tidy your MacOS screen. It divides the menu bar into two parts: Hidden and Shown, so you can organize what you see based on what you frequently access. Found it helped make MacOS usable after switching from Windows by hiding “all the stupid icons in the bar at the top.”

TableTalk is a cutting-edge tool that uses AI to map out a database in a way that allows queries to be entered using natural language. Enables users to generate SQL queries, perform table operations, and pull information without an understanding of syntax. Currently in beta and available for free.

PasswordSolution enables you to assess password quality of AD users and create password-expiration notifications via customizable rules that allow you to define who gets which email and when. According to its author, MadBoyEvo, “analyze active directory passwords utilizes the DSInternals PowerShell module and [will] provide HTML-based reports around its output, making it nice and pretty, ready for management.”

Aigur is a generative-AI building assistant that makes it easy to create multi-user applications to manage pipelines, user plans and security. Choose among predefined pipelines or define the backend logic with a visual pipeline editor, and then each node in the pipeline will generate customizable code. Provides a simple API for managing users’ flows, offers predefined integrations for popular generative AI engines, a choice of security strategies and analytics. Currently free while in beta and will remain free for personal use thereafter.

TRex Stateless GUI is a graphical user interface for TRex. Allows you to connect and manage TRex instances up to TRex v2.87—with the ability to preview all ports along with their status and statistics; assign traffic to a specific port and start the traffic; update the bandwidth and multiplier options on the fly; a dashboard to view the port details, stream details, latency details, global statistics and charts; logger view to preview server messages and advanced logger view to see all the JSON requests sent to the server and its responses.

Excel Formula Bot is an AI-powered tool that enables you to create complex Excel formulas using everyday language. Can both generate a formula from your description as well as explain what a given formula does—including VBA, SQL and regex, apps scripts and more. Free version includes 5 formula requests per month.

WANulator is a testing tool that simulates different user access line speeds and assorted internet issues such as delay or packet loss. Allows you to easily test and optimize the performance of your network applications in different scenarios and for any protocols.

Nautobot is an open-source, extensible, flexible network source of truth and automation platform with lots of nice features that can integrate with network automation solutions. Offers GraphQL and native Git integration, REST APIs, webhooks and a plugin system that can be used to create network automation apps. We explains, “It’s a Netbox fork focused on Infrastructure as Code.”

Double Commander is a cross-platform file manager that takes what’s nice about Total Commander and builds in some new features. Offers two panels side-by-side with a tabbed interface, configurable button bar and custom columns; support for Unicode as well as Total Commander WCX, WDX and WLX plug-ins; multi-rename tool; extended search function with full text search in any files; built-in viewer for hex, binary or text; internal text editor with syntax highlighting; and more. We describe it as “…an open source multi-platform clone of Total Commander.”

Git Extensions is a more-intuitive way to manage your Git repositories in Windows. Its standalone interface serves as an effective, CLI-free means to control Git. Preferred by us, because “SourceTree hides and shortcuts too much git functionality.”

FreeScout is an open-source, self-hosted version of HelpScout that offers complete privacy and control through a PHP/MySQL application that’s easy to deploy. This powerful-yet-lightweight help desk and shared inbox can serve as a nice free alternative to Zendesk/HelpScout for providing efficient customer support. We recommends it “for ticketing.”

Far Manager is a text mode tool that helps you manage files and archives in Windows, with color highlighting and sort groups. Provides a simple, intuitive interface for viewing files and directories; editing, copying and renaming files; color highlighting and sort groups and more. Multi-language, easily configurable and extensible via a library of plugins.

NAV (Network Administration Visualized) is a device/vendor-agnostic monitoring program that features a customizable dashboard, extensive statistical overviews, on-the-fly configuration as well as full traceability of users and equipment.

TrueNAS allows you to build a professional-grade storage system for data-intensive applications. Features user-friendly access to the self-healing OpenZFS filesystem—with built-in RAID, powerful data management tools and the ability to automatically detect and repair silent data corruption and bit rot.

Night Eye is a tool that can enable dark mode on any website. Analyzes the colors on each page and converts them intelligently to provide a smooth and consistent dark mode, with no bright spots or flashes.

Ásbrú Connection Manager helps to organize your remote terminal sessions and automate repetitive tasks. Offers a simple GUI for managing remote connections, scripting possibilities; configurable pre/post connection local command execution, list of commands for local execution, and list of conditional executions on the connected machine; KeePassX integration; ability to connect via Proxy server; cluster connections; tabbed/windowed terminals and more.

Sydi is an open-source tool that assists with documenting your network. It collects data from servers and network equipment and then generates a report that is intended to serve as a foundation to more-easily create good documentation. Adds, “It’s an older tool, but it’s always been a favorite of mine.”

NTFS Permissions Reporter is a user-friendly way to generate reports on the permissions for Windows file servers that can go all the way down to the directory tree—so you can view which groups and users have access to certain directories. Results can be filtered by your specific criteria, and reports can be exported to file.

Open-Shell-Menu is a collection of utilities that can return some of your favorite features to newer versions of Windows. Revel in the glory of classic-style features like a Start menu for Win 7, 8 & 10; tool and status bars for Windows Explorer; title and status bars for Internet Explorer. Says, “I honestly have a hard time to navigate any Windows version > W2K without it.”

Curl Converter enables you to easily convert curl commands for use in Ansible, C, C#, ColdFusion ML, Clojure, Dart, Elixir, Go, HAR, HTTP, HTTPie, Java, JavaScript, JSON, Kotlin, MATLAB, Node.js, Objective-C, OCaml, PHP, PowerShell, Python, R, Ruby, Rust, Swift or Wget.

RustDesk is an open-source remote desktop solution that offers full control of data. This TeamViewer alternative works out-of-the-box, with no configuration necessary. Can use the public rendezvous/relay server or self host on your own equipment for maximum privacy. Likes it “for on demand remote support.”

LunaPic is a simple, straightforward online photo editor with a surprisingly good collection of fonts, filters and truly handy effects like transparent background. Requires no signup, login, or install.

HedgeDoc is a web-based, self-hosted, collaborative markdown editor. This open-source option allows a team to easily share ideas on notes, graphs and presentations in real-time. Finds it a good option “for knowledgebase.”

domain.Glass is a web-based lookup tool with transparent domain info “from AAAA to WHOIS.” Includes the DNS record, IP address hostname, and WHOIS lookup.

Akvorado is a flow collector for Netflow/IPFIX and sFlow that enriches the data with interface names and geo information, and then exports the results or lets you browse them via a web interface.

Kimai is a pro-grade, web-based time tracker that can handle hundreds of users, generate reports, create invoices and more. This open-source tool includes a long list of useful advanced features like 2FA, customizable roles and permissions, multiple timezones and budgeting.

Watchtower is a tool for automating Docker container-based image updates that allows you to update the running version of a containerized app through the Docker Hub or your image registry. You just push a new image to the hub/registry, and that image is pulled down automatically. Then your existing container is properly shut down and restarted, preserving whatever options were selected during initial deployment.

ChoEazyCopy is an intuitive GUI for Microsoft’s RoboCopy tool that enables you to easily create full mirror duplicates of file structures—including subdirectories and files, if desired—while preserving all the associated file info like date and time stamps, ACLs and more.

Cryptgeon is an open-source, self-destructing note sharing service. Ensures security by storing data only in memory rather than writing to the disk and keeping the encryption key away from the server so it cannot be used to decrypt your notes.

KeeWeb is an open-source password manager that’s compatible with KeePass. This cross-platform tool is available for browser and desktop and doesn’t require any server or additional resources.

privacy.sexy is a cross-platform, open-source tool for enforcing privacy and security best practices. Features hundreds of scripts, transparency, reversibility, extensibility, portability and more. Says to “ignore the stupid name.… Don’t even need O&O anymore honestly – This has been my goto for a year or so. Just gives you powershell code, no installation needed. Works like a champ.”

Sysinternals Live allows you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the web without needing to find and manually download anything. You just enter the tool’s Sysinternals Live path into either Windows Explorer or a command prompt using live.sysinternals.com/<toolname> or \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<toolname>. Considers this a can’t-live-without-it tool: net use <driver letter> \\live.sysinternals.com\tools

Ultimate Windows Utility is a tool for debloating and tweaking a Windows install. Features four main sections: install, debloat, features & old panels, and windows updates.

Excalidraw is an open-source virtual whiteboard that allows you to sketch diagrams that seem hand drawn. Offers a collaborative mode, export of diagrams to PNG and SVG formats, and saving locally in JSON.

Unstoppable Copier enables you to recover files from disks with physical damage like bad sectors, scratches or errors when reading data. Attempts to recover every readable piece and reassemble the file, which for most file types, can make it useable despite some parts being unrecoverable.

zoxide is a replacement for the common cd command that is designed to offer more-efficient navigation. It tracks which directories you use most frequently, so you can switch to them in just a few keystrokes. Works on all major shells.

Aquasnap is a Windows tiling window manager with a few cool features not found in other window-management tools. Explains, “AquaSnap is so good. Being able to pin a window on top and make it translucent while interacting with the window beneath it comes in handy so much more often than it sounds like it would.”

Yori is an open-source “DOS but not DOS” prompt that runs .cmd files and batch files for those that prefer CMD over bash shell commands. Offers the following enhancements: live autocomplete suggestions, Ctrl+to select values, improved tab completion, file matching, beyond MAX_PATH support for “DOS,” rich text copy, backquote support, background jobs, alias, which command, hexdump, lines, touch and more.

nsnotifyd monitors a set of DNS zones and will run a command when any of them change. Unlike cron, the script will run as soon as the zone changes instead of only at fixed intervals. We find it useful to “save the changes to subversion [when the DNS zone file changes].”

A Podcast

Dissecting Popular IT Nerds is a podcast intended for visionary leaders who seek to leverage IT as a “business force multiplier.” Learn how IT executives are navigating the corporate landscape, propelling career growth, shaping user experiences, and building a nice work/life balance along the way. Adds, “Phil (the host) goes off into various tangents and it’s quite fun.”

A Website

ESnet Fasterdata Knowledge Base offers detailed solutions for improving network performance and troubleshooting. Includes sections on network architecture, host tuning, network tuning, data transfer tools, network performance testing, and wireless and 5G networking for science. Thanks for directing us to this one go to Digi_Rad.

Notionplates is a website offering a large collection of both free and paid Notion templates that can help jumpstart the setup process, so you can streamline your workflow without wasting time reinventing the wheel. We say, “I’ve personally used this site to find some great free Notion templates.”

Dark Reading features comprehensive discussion on the latest cyberthreats and the technologies used to fight back. Offers current and in-depth information on cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, technology and trends, events and resources—all nicely organized into topical categories.

All Infosec News gathers all the latest news, blogs, podcasts and other pertinent information on cybersecurity, infosec, cryptography, privacy and threats to create an ever-current overview for IT pros. Appreciates it for keeping up with the latest vulnerabilities and security threats.

9to5Linux is a comprehensive online resource that covers the latest news, reviews, and tutorials in the world of Linux and related open-source software. Provides up-to-date information on the most-recent Linux distributions, software updates, security patches, and more.

LinuxToday offers the latest news and loads of helpful technical information for the Linux admin, with an international community of contributors focused on solving problems that range from personal computing all the way to enterprise-level IT operations.

Server World is simply described as a “nice website with a lot of procedures documented… a goldmine of information.” And appreciates, “Just bare bones, minimal, raw information, not making you login, accept tracking cookies, throwing overlays up about your ad block, begging you, showing you the top, splitting pages up by the paragraph so you have to next through a million ads.”

The Record brings you the latest cybersecurity news and exclusive interviews with cyber-focused leaders, policymakers and researchers as well as some experts who typically operate in the shadows.

The Brutalist Report is a stripped-down, to-the-point news site that brings you the latest tech stories without a hint of the graphical clutter or annoying popups that typically assault the sensibilities of those who preferred simpler times. Appreciates this source for “The day’s headlines delivered to you without bullshit.”

Network World offers serious domain expertise on the enterprise data center, including the latest networking, storage, servers and virtualization technologies. Provides insights intended to help data center managers with decisions related to building out agile infrastructure and extending networks for the IoT.

Silent Install HQ provides a nice library of info on silent installs and unattended command line switches. The site is the work of a 17-year veteran of application packaging, software deployment and desktop automation in the enterprise world. Includes detailed knowledge on best practices as well as practical how-to guides. Describes it as a “wonderful resource for getting apps pushed out silently.”

A Blog

WinRAR flaw lets hackers run programs when you open RAR archives explains a significant security concern within this widely employed file archiver utility for Windows. This vulnerability can enable remote assailants to execute arbitrary commands on a system, and it hasn’t gotten as much attention as it probably should.

Mike Galvin’s blog shares a growing archive of interesting technical solutions and documentation on the author’s original scripts and utilities. Mike is a longtime tech veteran with expertise in server and desktop OS deployment, group policy, AD and scripting.

MSP Automator is a technical blog focused on helping MSPs to do their work more efficiently. Posts are in-depth and detailed, with a good number of screenshots to help you follow along. You’ll also find scripts, tutorials and some nice reviews.

imab.dk shares the tech musings of one Martin Bengtsson, a 17-year veteran of the Microsoft product world. You’ll find relevant thoughts, ideas and real-world scenarios in the areas of Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Configuration Manager, Intune, Office 365, Azure, Windows and more.

A Book

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python teaches you how to quickly write Python programs that do in minutes what would take hours by hand—with no programming experience required. Covers Python basics, its library of task-specific modules, input validation, tutorials on automating Gmail and Google Sheets, tips on automatically updating CSV files.