IT Pro Tuesday #64

Mega List of Tips, Tools, Books, Blogs & More... 

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Hello IT Pro, 

This marks 6 months since we launched the full list on our website here. We decided to take this opportunity to celebrate with a mega list for our subscribers including all the items we've featured since then, broken down into categories. I hope you enjoy it!

First just a quick note about a problem we're working hard on at EveryCloud. Clever cybercriminals are constantly devising new ways to trick employees into sabotaging their own organizations. We read countless stories of the damage it creates—like these recently posted by frustrated sysadmins:

  • "We had someone spoofing our HR dept using the .co domain. They were sending out fake job offers and asking people to send them money. Offering a 100% remote position and you just had to send in money for expenses then you would get reimbursed. Several people fell for it, one of them was really bad." —Darkace911
  • "Had a user call our CEO today as she was standing in CVS ready to purchase $400 in Steam and Google Play gift cards to meet 'his' request....guess whose entire department is getting full phishing training at 9am tomorrow...." —superfoodadmin
  • "My best story is simply a faculty member that ignored his first two colleagues that emailed him and said 'THIS IS A SCAM! Stop replying to him!' ... it took the third colleague to say 'Seriously? Dude. Read it.' before he thought to call.................... his secretary, to have HER call I.T. for him, to ask us if he should buy some Target gift cards just in case, because, ya know, he's already at the store so if we need them to pay our server bill this month then he could just buy them while he's there and save us some work. I facepalmed so hard that day." —r_u_dinkleberg
  • "390K here to a fake bank account out of Inglewood CA. Got an e-mail about routing number updates and the woman in charge of transfers didn't even bother to verify via phone, e-mail, person, etc." —TrustyChords

 

Would your users will fall for such tactics? 

Click here to find out your phish risk % for free!

 

Now on with this week's tools... 

Free Tools

Pageant is an SSH authentication agent that makes it easier to connect to Unix or Linux machines via PuTTY. Appreciated by plazman30 who says, "It took me WAY TOO LONG to discover this one. Pageant is a component of Putty. It sits in your system tray and will let you load SSH keys into it and pass them through to putty, WinSCP, and number of other apps that support it."

NCurses Disk Usage is a disk usage analyzer with an ncurses interface. It is fast, simple and easy and should run in any minimal POSIX-like environment with ncurses installed. Recommended by durgadas as "something I install on all my Linuxes... Makes finding out sizes semi-graphical, [with] super easy nav. Good for places without monitoring—lightweight and fast; works on nearly all flavors of Unix I've needed."

AutoHotkey is an open-source scripting language for Windows that helps you easily create small to complex scripts for all sorts of tasks (form fillers, auto-clicking, macros, etc.) Automate any desktop task with this small, fast tool that runs out-of-the-box. Recommended by plazman30 as a "pretty robust Windows scripting language. I use it mostly for on-the-fly pattern substitution. It's nice to be able to type 'bl1' and have it auto-replace it my bridge line phone number."

PingInfoView lets you easily ping multiple host names and IP addresses, with the results compiled in a single table. Automatically pings all hosts at the interval you specify, and displays the number of successful and failed pings, as well as average ping time. Results can be saved as a text/html/xml file or copied to the clipboard. Thanks go to sliced_BR3AD for this one.

DriveDroid simulates a USB thumbdrive or CD-drive via the mass storage capabilities in the Android/Linux kernel. Any ISO/IMG files on the phone can be exposed to a PC, as well as any other USB thumbdrive capabilities, including booting from the drive. Can be a quick and easy option for OS installations, rescues or occasions when it helps to have a portable OS handy. Suggested by codywarmbo, who likes it because of the ability to "Boot a PC using ISO files stored on your Android phone... Having a 256GB SD full of any OS you want is super handy!"

FreeIPA is an integrated identity and authentication solution for Linux/UNIX networked environments. It combines Linux (Fedora), 389 Directory Server, MIT Kerberos, NTP, DNS and Dogtag (Certificate System). Provides centralized authentication, authorization and account information by storing data about user, groups, hosts and other objects necessary to manage the security of a network. Thanks to skarsol, who recommends it as an open-source solution for cross-system, cross-platform, multi-user authentication.

PCmover Profile Migrator migrates applications, files and settings between any two user profiles on the same computer to help set up PCs with O365 Business. User profile apps, data and settings are quickly and easily transferred from the old local AD users to new Azure AD users. Can be good for migrating data from a user profile associated with a former domain to a new profile on a new domain. Suggested by a_pojke, who found it useful "to help migrate profiles to 0365/AAD; it's been a life saver with some recent onboards." 

GNU Guix is a Linux package manager that is based on the Nix package manager, with Guile Scheme APIs. It is an advanced distribution of the GNU OS that specializes in providing exclusively free software. Supports transactional upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package management and more. When used as a standalone distribution, Guix supports declarative system configuration for transparent and reproducible operating systems. Comes with thousands of packages, which include applications, system tools, documentation, fonts and more. Recommended by necrophcodr.

Attack Surface Analyzer 2.0 is the latest version of the MS tool for taking a snapshot of your system state before and after installation of software. It displays changes to key elements of the system attack surface so you can view changes resulting from the introduction of the new code. This updated version is a rewrite of the classic 1.0 version from 2012, which covered older versions of Windows. It is available for download or as source code on Github. Credit for alerting us to this one goes to Kent Chen.

Process Hacker is an open-source process viewer that can help with debugging, malware detection, analyzing software and system monitoring. Features include: a clear overview of running processes and resource usage, detailed system information and graphs, viewing and editing services and more. Recommended by k3nnyfr, who likes it as a "ProcessExplorer alternative, good for debugging SRP and AppLocker issues."

Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer) provides quick, simple access to hard disks, network folders, USB-sticks, floppy disks and other storage devices. Includes both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and the correct one is used automatically. This tool has found a fan in user_none, who raves, "Q-Dir is awesome! I searched high and low for a good, multi-pane Explorer replacement that didn't have a whole bunch of junk, and Q-Dir is it. Fantastic bit of software."

iftop is a command-line system monitor tool that lets you display bandwidth usage on an interface. It produces a frequently updated list of network connections, ordered according to bandwidth usage—which can help in identifying the cause of some network slowdowns. Appreciated by zorinlynx, who likes that it "[l]ets you watch a network interface and see the largest flows. Good way to find out what's using up all your bandwidth."

Delprof2 is a command-line-based application for deleting user profiles in a local or remote Windows computer according to the criteria you set. Designed to be easy to use with even very basic command-line skills. This one is thanks to Evelen1, who says, "I use this when computers have problems due to profiles taking up all the hard drive space."

MSYS2 is a Windows software distribution and building platform. This independent rewrite of MSYS, based on modern Cygwin (POSIX compatibility layer) and MinGW-w64, aims for better interoperability with native Windows software. It includes a bash shell, Autotools, revision control systems and more for building native Windows applications using MinGW-w64 toolchains. The package management system provides easy installation. Thanks for this one go to Anonymouspock, who says, "It's a mingw environment with the Arch Linux pacman package manager. I use it for ssh'ing into things, which it does very well since it has a proper VT220 compatible terminal with an excellent developer."

FastCopy is the fastest copy/backup software for Windows. Supports UNICODE and over MAX_PATH (260 characters) file pathnames. Uses multi-threads to bring out the best speed of devices and doesn't hog resources, because MFC is not used. Recommended by DoTheEvolution as the "fastest, comfiest copy I ever used. [I]t behaves just like I want, won't shit itself on trying to read damaged hdd, long paths are no problem, logs stuff, can shutdown after done, got it integrated into portable totalcommander."

 

Baby Web Server is an alternative for Microsoft's IIS. This simple web server offers support for ASP, with extremely simple setup. The server is multi threaded, features a real-time server log and allows you to configure a directory for webpages and default HTML page. Offers support for GET, POST and HEAD methods (form processing); sends directory listing if default HTML is not found in directory; native ASP, cookie and SSI support; and statistics on total connections, successful and failed requests and more. Limited to 5 simultaneous connections. FatherPrax tells us it's "[g]reat for when you're having to update esoteric firmware at client sites."

Bping is a Windows ping alternative that beeps whenever a reply comes in. Can allow you to keep track of your pings without having to watch the monitor. According to the recommendation from bcahill, "you can set it to beep on ping reply or on ping failure (default). I love it because if I'm wanting to monitor when a server goes up or down, I can leave it running in the background and I'll know the instant the status changes."

LDAPExplorerTool is a multi-platform graphical LDAP browser and tool for browsing, modifying and managing LDAP servers. Tested for Windows and Linux (Debian, Red Hat, Mandriva). Features SSL/TLS & full UNICODE support, the ability to create/edit/remove LDAP objects and multivalue support (including edition). Endorsed by TotallyNotIT... "Holy hell, that thing is useful."

MxToolbox is a tool that lists the MX records for a domain in priority order. Changes to MX Records show up instantly because the MX lookup is done directly against the domain's authoritative name server. Diagnostics connects to the mail server, verifies reverse DNS records, performs a simple Open Relay check and measures response time performance. Also lets you check each MX record (IP Address) against 105 blacklists. Razorray21 tells us it's an "excellent site for troubleshooting public DNS issues."

Proxmox Virtual Environment is a Debian-based Linux distribution with a modified Ubuntu LTS kernel that allows deployment and management of virtual machines and containers. Suggested by -quakeguy-, who says, "Proxmox is totally killer, particularly if you don't want to spend a ton of money and like ZFS."

Multi Commander is a multi-tabbed file manager that is an alternative to Windows Explorer. It has all the standard features of a file manager plus more-advanced features, like auto-unpacking; auto-sorting; editing the Windows Registry and accessing FTP; searching for and viewing files and pictures. Includes built-in scripting support. Reverent tells us "What I love about Multicommander is that it basically acts as a launcher for all my tools. Documents automatically open up in my preferred editor (vscode), compressed files automatically open up in 7-zip, I have a ton of custom shortcuts bound to hotkeys, and it has a bunch of built-in tools. I can even do cool things like open up consolez in the focused directory and choose to open CMD, Powershell, or Powershell 6 (portable) and whether it runs as admin or not. Oh yeah, and it's all portable. It and all the tool dependencies run off the USB."

Apache Guacamole is a remote desktop gateway that supports standard protocols like VNC, RDP and SSH. The client is an HTML5 web app that requires no plugins or client software. Once installed on a server, desktops are accessible from anywhere via web browser. Both the Guacamole server and a desktop OS can be hosted in the cloud, so desktops can be virtual. Built on its own stack of core APIs, Guacamole can be tightly integrated into other applications. "Fir3start3r likes it because it "will allow you to RDP/VNC/TELNET/SSH to any device that it can reach via a web browser....you can set up folders/subfolders for groups of devices to keep things organized - love it!!"

ShowKeyPlus is a simple Windows product key finder and validation checker for Windows 7, 8 and 10. Displays the key and its associated edition of Windows. Thanks to k3nnyfr for the recommendation.

Netdisco is a web-based network management tool that collects IP and MAC address data in a PostgreSQL database using SNMP, CLI or device APIs. It is easy to install and works on any Linux or Unix system (docker images also available). Includes a lightweight web server interface, a backend daemon to gather network data and a command-line interface for troubleshooting. Lets you turn off a switch port or change the VLAN or PoE status of a port and inventory your network by model, vendor, and software. Suggested by TheDraimen, who loves "being able to punch in a MAC and find what port it is plugged into or run an inventory on a range of IPs to find unused in static range..."

NetBox is an open-source web application that helps manage and document networks. Addresses IP address management (IPAM); organizing equipment racks by group and site; tracking types of devices and where they are installed; network, console, and power connections among devices; virtual machines and clusters; long-haul communications circuits and providers; and encrypted storage of sensitive credentials. Thanks to ollybee for the suggestion.

Elasticsearch Security. The core security features of the Elastic Stack are now available for free, including encrypting network traffic, creating and managing users, defining roles that protect index and cluster level access, and fully secure Kibana with Spaces (see the linked blog post for more info). Thanks to almathden for bringing this great news to our attention.

BornToBeRoot NETworkManager is a tool for managing and troubleshooting networks. Features include a dashboard, network interface, IP scanner, port scanner, ping, traceroute, DNS lookup, remote desktop, PowerShell (requires Windows 10), PuTTY (requires PuTTY), TigerVNC (requires TigerVNC), SNMP - Get, Walk, Set (v1, v2c, v3), wake on LAN, HTTP headers, whois, subnet calculator, OUI/port lookup, connections, listeners and ARP table. Suggested by TheZNerd, who finds it "nice [for] when I calculate subnet up ranges for building SCCM implementations for my clients."

Awesome Selfhosted is a list of free software network services and web applications that can be self hosted—instead of renting from SaaS providers. Example list categories include: Analytics, Archiving and Digital Preservation, Automation, Blogging Platforms ...and that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Rclone is a command-line program for syncing files and directories to/from many platforms. Features include MD5/SHA1 hash checking for file integrity; file timestamp preservation; partial-sync support on a whole-file basis; ability to copy only new/changed files; one-way sync; check mode; network sync; backend encryption, cache and union; and optional FUSE mount. Recommended by wombat-twist because it supports "many cloud/traditional storage platforms."

Freeware Utilities for Windows can be found in this rather long list. Tools are organized by category: password recovery, network monitoring, web browser, video/audio related, internet related, desktop, Outlook/Office, programmer, disk, system and other. Appreciation to Adolfrian for the recommendation.

Checkmk is a comprehensive solution for monitoring of applications, servers, and networks that leverages more than 1700 integrated plug-ins. Features include hardware & software inventory; an event console; analysis of SysLog, SNMP traps and log files; business intelligence; and a simple, graphical visualization of time-series metrics data. Comes in both a 100% open-source edition and an Enterprise Edition with a high-performance core and additional features and support. Kindly suggested by Kryp2nitE.

restic is a backup program focused on simplicity—so it's more likely those planned backups actually happen. Easy to both configure and use, fast and verifiable. Uses cryptography to guarantee confidentiality and integrity of the data. Assumes backup data is stored in an untrusted environment, so it encrypts your data with AES-256 in counter mode and authenticates using Poly1305-AES. Additional snapshots only take the storage of the actual increment and duplicate data is de-duplicated before it is written to the storage backend to save space. Recommended by shiitakeshitblaster who says, "I'm loving it! Wonderful cli interface and easy to configure and script."

DPC Latency Checker is a Windows tool for analyzing a computer system's ability to correctly handle real-time data streams. It can help identify the cause of drop-outs—the interruptions in real-time audio and video streams. Supports Windows 7, Windows 7 x64, Windows Vista, Windows Vista x64, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 x64, Windows XP, Windows XP x64, Windows 2000. DoTheEvolution recommends it as a preferable way to check system latency, because otherwise you usually "just start to disconnect shit while checking it."

TLDR (too long; didn’t read) pages is a community-driven repository for simplifying man pages with practical examples. This growing collection includes examples for all the most-common commands in UNIX, Linux, macOS, SunOS and Windows. Our appreciation goes to thblckjkr for the suggestion.

Network Analyzer Pro helps diagnose problems in your wifi network setup or internet connection and detects issues on remote servers. Its high-performance wifi device discovery tool provides all LAN device addresses, manufacturers and names along with the Bonjour/DLNA services they provide. Shows neighboring wi-fi networks and signal strength, encryption and router manufacturer that can help with finding the best channel for a wireless router. Everything works with IPv4 and IPv6. Caleo recommends it because it "does everything Advanced IP scanner does and more—including detailed network information, speed testing, upnp/bonjour service scans, port scans, whois, dns record lookup, tracert, etc."

SmokePing is an open-source tool for monitoring network latency. Features best-of-breed latency visualization, an interactive graph explorer, a wide range of latency measurement plugins, a master/slave system for distributed measurement, a highly configurable alerting system and live latency charts. Kindly suggested by freealans.

Prometheus is an open source tool for event monitoring and alerting. It features a multi-dimensional data model with time series data identified by metric name and key/value pairs, a flexible query language, no reliance on distributed storage (single server nodes are autonomous), time series collection via a pull model over HTTP, pushing time series supported via an intermediary gateway, targets discovered via service discovery or static configuration, and multiple modes of graphing and dashboarding support. Recommended by therealskoopy as a "more advanced open source monitoring system" than Zabbix.

MediCat is bootable troubleshooting environment that continues where Hiren's Boot CD/DVD left off. It provides a simplified menu system full of useful PC tools that is easy to navigate. It comes in four versions: 

  • MediCat DVD—PortableApps Suite, Linux boot environments and a full mini Windows 10 WinPE Boot Environment

  • MediaCat DVD Naked—Linux boot environments and a full mini Windows 10 WinPE Boot Environment

  • Mini Windows 10 x64—Windows 10 WinPE Boot Environment and PortableApps Suite

  • Mini Windows 10 x64 Naked—Windows 10 WinPE Boot Environment

Recommended by reloadz400, who adds that it has a "large footprint (18GB), but who doesn't have 32GB and larger USB sticks laying everywhere?"

PRTG monitors all the systems, devices, traffic and applications in your IT infrastructure—traffic, packets, applications, bandwidth, cloud services, databases, virtual environments, uptime, ports, IPs, hardware, security, web services, disk usage, physical environments and IoT devices. Supports SNMP (all versions), Flow technologies (NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow), SSH, WMI, Ping, and SQL. Powerful API (Python, EXE, DLL, PowerShell, VB, Batch Scripting, REST) to integrate everything else. While the unlimited version is free for 30 days, stillchangingtapes tells us it remains "free for up to 100 sensors."

NetworkMiner is a popular open-source network forensic analysis tool with an intuitive user interface. It can be used as a passive network sniffer/packet capturing tool for detecting operating systems, sessions, hostnames, open ports and the like without putting traffic on the network. It can also parse PCAP files for off-line analysis and to regenerate/reassemble transmitted files and certificates from PCAP files. Credit for this one goes to Quazmoz.

PingCastle is a Windows tool for auditing the risk level of your AD infrastructure and identifying vulnerable practices. The free version provides the following reports: Health Check, Map, Overview and Management. Recommended by L3T, who cheerfully adds, "Be prepared for the best free tool ever."

Jenkins is an open-source automation server, with hundreds of plugins to support project building, deployment and automation. This extensible automation server can be used as a simple CI server or turned into a continuous delivery hub. Can distribute work across multiple machines, with easy setup and configuration via web interface. Integrates with virtually any tool in the continuous integration/delivery toolchain. It is self-contained, Java-based and ready to run out-of-the-box. Includes packages for Windows, Mac OS X and other Unix-like operating systems. A shout out to wtfpwndd for the recommendation.

iPerf3 provides active measurements of the maximum achievable bandwidth on IP networks. Reports the bandwidth, loss and other parameters. Lets you tune various parameters related to timing, buffers and protocols (TCP, UDP, SCTP with IPv4 and IPv6). Be aware this newer implementation shares no code with the original iPerf and is not backwards compatible. Credit for this one goes to Moubai.

LatencyMon analyzes the possible causes of buffer underruns by measuring kernel timer latencies and reporting DPC/ISR excecution times and hard pagefaults. It provides a comprehensible report and identifies the kernel modules and processes behind audio latencies that result in drop outs. It also provides the functionality of an ISR monitor, DPC monitor and a hard pagefault monitor. Requires Windows Vista or later. Appreciation to aberugg who tells us, "LatencyMon will check all sorts of info down to what driver/process might be the culprit. It will help you narrow it down even more. This tool helped me realize that Windows 10's kernel is terrible in terms of device latency when compared to previous versions."

GNU parallel is a shell tool for executing jobs—like a single command or a small script that has to be run for each of the lines in the input—in parallel on one or more computers. Typical input is a list of files, hosts, users, URLs or tables. A job can also be a command that reads from a pipe, which can then be split and piped into commands in parallel. Velenux finds it "handy to split jobs when you have many cores to use."

Kanboard is open-source project management software that features a simple, intuitive user interface, a clear overview of your tasks—with search and filtering, drag and drop, automatic actions and subtasks, attachments and comments. Thanks go to sgcdialler for this one!

Monosnap is a cross-platform screenshot utility with some nice features. Suggested by durgadas, who likes it because it "has a built-in editor for arrows and blurring and text and can save to custom locations—like Dropbox or multiple cloud services, including it's own service, Amazon S3, FTP, SFTP, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Yandex, Evernote... Video and gaming screen capture also, shrink Retina screenshot preference, etc, etc... Every feature I've ever wanted in a screenshot utility is there."

Advanced Port Scanner is a network scanner with a user-friendly interface and some nice features. Helps you quickly find open ports on network computers and retrieve versions of programs running on those ports. Recommended by DarkAlman, who sees it as the "same as [Advanced IP Scanner], but for active ports."

Spiceworks Network Monitor and Helpdesk allows you to launch a fully-loaded help desk in minutes. This all-in-one solution includes inventory, network monitor and helpdesk.

Microsoft Safety Scanner helps you find and remove malware from computers running Windows 10, Windows 10 Tech Preview, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server Tech Preview, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008. Only scans when manually triggered, and it is recommended you download a new version prior to each scan to make sure it is updated for the latest threats. 

CLCL is a free, clipboard caching utility that supports all clipboard formats. Features a customizable menu. According to JediMasterSeamus, this clipboard manager "saves so much time. And you can save templates for quick responses or frequently typed stuff."

Desktop Info displays system information on your desktop, like wallpaper, but stays in memory and updates in real time. Can be great for walk-by monitoring. Recommended by w1llynilly, who says, "It has 2 pages by default for metrics about the OS and the network/hardware. It is very lightweight and was recommended to me when I was looking for BGInfo alternatives."

True Ping is exactly the same as the standard ping program of Windows 9x, NT and 2000—except that it does a better job calculating the timing. It uses a random buffer (that changes at every ping) to improve performance. Thanks to bcahill for this one, who says, it "... can send pings very fast (hundreds per second). This is very helpful when trying to diagnose packet loss. It very quickly shows if packet loss is occurring, so I can make changes and quickly see the effect."

Parted Magic is a hard disk management solution that includes tools for disk partitioning and cloning, data rescue, disk erasing and benchmarking with Bonnie++, IOzone, Hard Info, System Stability Tester, mprime and stress. This standalone Linux operating system runs from a CD or USB drive, so nothing need be installed on the target machine. Recommended by Aggietallboy

mbuffer is a tool for buffering data streams that offers direct support for TCP-based network targets (IPv4 and IPv6), the ability to send to multiple targets in parallel and support for multiple volumes. It features I/O rate limitation, high-/low-watermark-based restart criteria, configurable buffer size and on-the-fly MD5 hash calculation in an efficient, multi-threaded implementation. Can help extend drive motor life by avoiding buffer underruns when writing to fast tape drives or libraries (those drives tend to stop and rewind in such cases). Thanks to zorinlynx, who adds, "If you move large streams from place to place, for example with "tar" or "zfs send" or use tape, mbuffer is awesome. You can send a stream over the network with a large memory buffer at each end so that momentary stalls on either end of the transfer don't reduce performance. This especially helps out when writing to tapes, as the tape drive can change directions without stopping the flow of data."

TeraCopy is a tool for copying files faster and more securely while preserving data integrity. Gives you the ability to pause/resume file transfers, verify files after copy, preserve date timestamps, copy locked files, run a shell script on completion, generate and verify checksum files and delete files securely. Integrates with Windows Explorer. Suggested by DarkAlman to "replace the integrated Windows file copy utility. Much more stable, quicker transfers, crash tolerant and adds features like 'No-to-all' and 'yes-to-all' for comparing folders."

MultiDesk & MultiDeskEnforcer are a combination of a tabbed remote desktop client (terminal services client) and a service that limits connections to only those that provide the correct shared secret (keeps hackers from accessing your server via RDP even if they have the correct password). Suggested by plazman30 as being "[s]imilar to Microsoft's RDP Manager, [b]ut doesn't need to be installed and has tabs across the top, instead of the side."

The PsTools suite includes command-line utilities for listing the processes running on local or remote computers, running processes remotely, rebooting computers, dumping event logs, and more. FYI: Some anti-virus scanners report that one or more of the tools are infected with a "remote admin" virus. None of the PsTools contain viruses, but they have been used by viruses, which is why they trigger virus notifications.

Mosh is a remote terminal application that allows roaming, supports intermittent connectivity, and provides intelligent local echo and line editing of user keystrokes. It can be a more robust and responsive replacement for interactive SSH terminals. Available for GNU/Linux, BSD, macOS, Solaris, Android, Chrome and iOS. Suggested by kshade_hyaena, who likes it "for sshing while your connection is awful."

HTTPie is a command-line HTTP client designed for easy debugging and interaction with HTTP servers, RESTful APIs and web services. Offers an intuitive interface, JSON support, syntax highlighting, wget-like downloads, plugins, and more—Linux, macOS, and Windows support. Suggested by phils_lab as "like curl, but for humans."

LibreNMS is a full-featured network monitoring system. Supports a range of operating systems including Linux, FreeBSD, as well as network devices including Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, Foundry, HP and others. Provides automatic discovery of your entire network using CDP, FDP, LLDP, OSPF, BGP, SNMP and ARP; a flexible alerting system; a full API to manage, graph and retrieve data from your install and more. TheDraimen recommends it "if you cant afford a monitoring suite."

Tftpd64 is an open-source, IPv6-ready application that includes DHCP, TFTP, DNS, SNTP and Syslog servers and a TFTP client. Both client and server are fully compatible with TFTP option support (tsize, blocksize, timeout) to allow maximum performance when transferring data. Features include directory facility, security tuning and interface filtering. The included DHCP server offers unlimited IP address assignment. Suggested by Arkiteck: "Instead of Solarwinds TFTP Server, give Tftpd64 a try (it's FOSS)."

Tree Style Tab is a Firefox add-on that allows you to open tabs in a tree-style hierarchy. New tabs open automatically as "children" of the tab from which they originated. Child branches can be collapsed to reduce the number of visible tabs. Recommended by Erasus, who says, "being a tab hoarder, having tabs on the left side of my screen is amazing + can group tabs."

AutoIt v3 is a BASIC-like scripting language for automating the Windows GUI and general scripting. It automates tasks through a combination of simulated keystrokes, mouse movement and window/control manipulation. Appreciated by gj80, who says, "I've built up 4700 lines of code with various functions revolving around global hotkeys to automate countless things for me, including a lot of custom GUI stuff. It dramatically improves my quality of life in IT."

MTPuTTY (Multi-Tabbed PuTTY) is a small utility that lets you wrap an unlimited number of PuTTY applications in a single, tabbed interface. Lets you continue using your favorite SSH client—but without the trouble of having separate windows open for each instance. XeroPoints recommends it "if you have a lot of ssh sessions."

ElastiFlow is a network flow data collection and visualization tool that uses the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana). Offers support for Netflow v5/v9, sFlow and IPFIX flow types (1.x versions support only Netflow v5/v9). Kindly recommended by slacker87.

SpaceSniffer is a portable tool for understanding how folders and files are structured on your disks. It uses a Treemap visualization layout to show where large folders and files are stored. It doesn't display everything at once, so data can be easier to interpret, and you can drill down and perform folder actions. Reveals things normally hidden by the OS and won't lock up when scanning a network share.

Graylog provides an open-source Linux tool for log management. Seamlessly collects, enhances, stores, and analyzes log data in a central dashboard. Features multi-threaded search and built-in fault tolerance that ensures distributed, load-balanced operation. Enterprise version is free for under 5GB per day.

Ultimate Boot CD boots from any Intel-compatible machine, regardless of whether any OS is installed on the machine. Allows you to run floppy-based diagnostic tools on machines without floppy drives by using a CDROM or USB memory stick. Saves time and enables you to consolidate many tools in one location. Thanks to stick-down for the suggestion.

MFCMAPI is designed for expert users and developers to access MAPI stores, which is helpful for investigation of Exchange and Outlook issues and providing developers with a sample for MAPI development. Appreciated by icemerc because it can "display all the folders and the subfolders that are in any message store. It can also display any address book that is loaded in a profile."

USBDeview lists all USB devices currently or previously connected to a computer. Displays details for each device—including name/description, type, serial number (for mass storage devices), date/time it was added, VendorID, ProductID, and more. Allows you to disable/enable USB devices, uninstall those that were previously used and disconnect the devices currently connected. Works on a remote computer when logged in as an admin. Thanks to DoTheEvolution for the suggestion.

WSCC - Windows System Control Center will install, update, execute and organize utilities from suites such as Microsoft Sysinternals and Nirsoft Utilities. Get all the tools you want in one convenient download!

Launchy is a cross-platform utility that indexes the programs in your start menu so you can launch documents, project files, folders and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes. Suggested by Patrick Langendoen, who tells us, "Launchy saves me clicks in the Win10 start menu. Once you get used to it, you begin wondering why this is not included by default."

Terminals is a secure, multi-tab terminal services/remote desktop client that's a complete replacement for the mstsc.exe (Terminal Services) client. Uses Terminal Services ActiveX Client (mstscax.dll). Recommended by vermyx, who likes it because "the saved connections can use saved credential profiles, so you only have to have your credentials in one place."

Captura is a flexible tool for capturing your screen, audio, cursor, mouse clicks and keystrokes. Features include mixing audio recorded from microphone and speaker output, command-line interface, and configurable hotkeys. Thanks to jantari for the recommedation.

Unlocker is a tool to help delete those irritating locked files that give you an error message like "cannot delete file" or "access is denied." It helps with killing processes, unloading DLLs, deleting index.dat files, as well as unlocking, deleting, renaming, and moving locked files—typically without requiring a reboot.

IIS Crypto's newest version adds advanced settings; registry backup; new, simpler templates; support for Windows Server 2019 and more. This tool lets you enable or disable protocols, ciphers, hashes and key exchange algorithms on Windows and reorder SSL/TLS cipher suites from IIS, change advanced settings, implement best practices with a single click, create custom templates and test your website. Available in both command line and GUI versions.

RocketDock is an application launcher with a clean interface that lets you drag/drop shortcuts for easy access and minimize windows to the dock. Features running application indicators, multi-monitor support, alpha-blended PNG and ICO icons, auto-hide and popup on mouse over, positioning and layering options. Fully customizable, portable, and compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher and Y'z Dock skins. Works even on slower computers and is Unicode compliant. Suggested by lieutenantcigarette: "If you like the dock on MacOS but prefer to use Windows, RocketDock has you covered. A superb and highly customisable dock that you can add your favourites to for easy and elegant access."

Baby FTP Server offers only the basics, but with the power to serve as a foundation for a more-complex server. Features include multi-threading, a real-time server log, support for PASV and non-PASV mode, ability to set permissions for download/upload/rename/delete/create directory. Only allows anonymous connections. Our thanks to FatherPrax for suggesting this one.

Strace is a Linux diagnostic, debugging and instructional userspace tool with a traditional command-line interface. Uses the ptrace kernel feature to monitor and tamper with interactions between processes and the kernel, including system calls, signal deliveries and changes of process state.

exa is a small, fast replacement for ls with more features and better defaults. It uses colors to distinguish file types and metadata, and it recognizes symlinks, extended attributes and Git. All in one single binary. phils_lab describes it as "'ls' on steroids, written in Rust."

rsync is a faster file transfer program for Unix to bring remote files into sync. It sends just the differences in the files across the link, without requiring both sets of files to be present at one of the ends. Suggested by zorinlynx, who adds that "rsync is GODLY for moving data around efficiently. And if an rsync is interrupted, just run it again."

Matter Wiki is a simple WYSIWYG wiki that can help teams store and collaborate. Every article gets filed under a topic, transparently, so you can tell who made what changes to which document and when. Thanks to bciar-iwdc for the recommendation.

LockHunter is a file unlocking tool that enables you to delete files that are being blocked for unknown reasons. Can be useful for fighting malware and other programs that are causing trouble. Deletes files into the recycle bin so you can restore them if necessary. Chucky2401 finds it preferable to Unlocker, "since I am on Windows 7. There are no new updates since July 2017, but the last beta was in June of this year."

aria2 is a lightweight multi-source command-line download utility that supports HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, BitTorrent and Metalink. It can be manipulated via built-in JSON-RPC and XML-RPC interfaces. Recommended by jftuga, who appreciates it as a "cross-platform command line downloader (similar to wget or curl), but with the -x option can run a segmented download of a single file to increase throughput."

 

Free Services

Temp-Mail allows you to receive email at a temporary address that self-destructs after a certain period of time. Outwit all the forums, Wi-Fi owners, websites and blogs that insist you register to use them. Petti-The-Yeti says, "I don't give any company my direct email anymore. If I want to trial something but they ask for an email signup, I just grab a temporary email from here, sign up with it, and wait for the trial link or license info to come through. Then, you just download the file and close the website."

Duck DNS will point a DNS (sub domains of duckdns.org) to an IP of your choice. DDNS is a handy way for you to refer to a server/router with an easily rememberable name for situations when the server's ip address will likely change. Suggested by xgnarf, who finds it "so much better for the free tier of noip—no 30-day nag to keep your host up."

Joe Sandbox detects and analyzes potential malicious files and URLs on Windows, Android, Mac OS, Linux and iOS for suspicious activities. It performs deep malware analysis and generates comprehensive and detailed reports. The Community Edition of Joe Sandbox Cloud allows you to run a maximum of 6 analyses per month, 3 per day on Windows, Linux and Android with limited analysis output. This one is from dangibbons94, who wanted to "share this cool service ... for malware analysis. I usually use Virus total for URL scanning, but this goes a lot more in depth. I just used basic analysis, which is free and enough for my needs."

Hybrid Analysis is a malware analysis service that detects and analyzes unknown threats for the community. This one was suggested by compupheonix, who adds that it  "gets you super detailed reports... it's about the most fleshed out and detailed one I can find."

JustBeamIt is a file-transfer service that allows you to send files of any size via a peer-to-peer streaming model. Simply drag and drop your file and specify the recipient's email address. They will then receive a link that will trigger the download directly from your computer, so the file does not have to be uploaded to the service itself. The link is good for one download and expires after 10 minutes. Thanks to cooljacob204sfw for the recommendation!

ShieldsUP is a quick but powerful internet security checkup and information service. It was created by security researcher Steve Gibson to scan ports and let you know which ones have been opened through your firewalls or NAT routers.

Firefox Send is an encrypted file transfer service that allows you to share files up to 2.5GB from any browser or an Android app. Uses end-to-end encryption to keep data secure and offers security controls you can set. You can determine when your file link expires, the number of downloads, and whether to add a password. Your recipient receives a link to download the file, and they don’t need a Firefox account. This one comes from DePingus, who appreciates the focus on privacy. "They have E2E, expiring links, and a clear privacy policy."

Free DNS is a service where programmers share domain names with one another at no cost. Offers free hosting as well as dynamic DNS, static DNS, subdomain and domain hosting. They can host your domain's DNS as well as allowing you to register hostnames from domains they're hosting already. If you don't have a domain, you can sign up for a free account and create up to 5 subdomains off the domains others have contributed and point these hosts anywhere on the Internet. Thanks to 0x000000000000004C (yes, that's a username) for the suggestion!

ANY.RUN is an interactive malware analysis service for dynamic and static research of the majority of threats in any environment. It can provide a convenient in-depth analysis of new, unidentified malicious objects and help with the investigation of incidents. ImAshtonTurner appreciates it as "a great sandbox tool for viewing malware, etc."

Plik is a scalable, temporary file upload system similar to wetransfer that is written in golang. Thanks go to I_eat_Narwhals for this one!

Free My IP offers free, dynamic DNS. This service comes with no login, no ads, no newsletters, no links to click and no hassle. Kindly suggested by Jack of All Trades.

Mailinator provides free, temporary email inboxes on a receive-only, attachment-free system that requires no sign-up. All @mailinator.com addresses are public, readable and discoverable by anyone at any time—but are automatically deleted after a few hours. Can be a nice option for times when you to give out an address that won't be accessible longterm. Recommended by nachomountain, who's been using it "for years."

Magic Wormhole is a service for sending files directly with no intermediate upload, no web interface and no login. When both parties are online you with the minimal software installed, the wormhole is invoked via command line identifying the file you want to send. The server then provides a speakable, one-time-use password that you give the recipient. When they enter that password in their wormhole console, key exchange occurs and the download begins directly between your computers. rjohnson99 explains, "Magic Wormhole is sort of like JustBeamIt but is open-source and is built on Python. I use it a lot on Linux servers."

EveryCloud's Free Phish is our own, new Phishing Simulator. Once you've filled in the form and logged in, you can choose from lots of email templates (many of which we've coped from what we see in our Email Security business) and landing pages. Run a one-off free phish, then see who clicked or submitted data so you can understand where your organization is vulnerable and act accordingly.

 

Hardening Guides

CIS Hardening Guides contain the system security benchmarks developed by a global community of cybersecurity experts. Over 140 configuration guidelines are provided to help safeguard systems against threats. Recommended by cyanghost109 "to get a start on looking at hardening your own systems."

 

Podcasts

Daily Tech News is Tom Merrit's show covering the latest tech issues with some of the top experts in the field. With the focus on daily tech news and analysis, it's a great way to stay current. Thanks to EmoPolarbear for drawing it to our attention.

This Week in Enterprise Tech is a podcast that features IT experts explaining the complicated details of cutting-edge enterprise technology. Join host Lou Maresca on this informative exploration of enterprise solutions, with new episodes recorded every Friday afternoon. 

Security Weekly is a podcast where a "bunch of security nerds" get together and talk shop. Topics are greatly varied, and the atmosphere is relaxed and conversational. The show typically tops out at 2 hours, which is perfect for those with a long commute. If you’re fascinated by discussion of deep technical and security-related topics, this may be a nice addition to your podcast repertoire.

Grumpy Old Geeks—What Went Wrong on the Internet and Who's To Blame is a podcast about the internet, technology and geek culture—among other things. The hosts bring their grumpy brand of humor to the "state of the world as they see it" in these roughly hour-long weekly episodes. Recommended by mkaxsnyder, who enjoys it because, "They are a good team that talk about recent and relevant topics from an IT perspective."

The Social-Engineer Podcast is a monthly discussion among the hosts—a group of security experts from SEORG—and a diverse assortment of guests. Topics focus around human behavior and how it affects information security, with new episodes released on the second Monday of every month. Thanks to MrAshRhodes for the suggestion.

The CyberWire podcasts discuss what's happening in cyberspace, providing news and commentary from industry experts. This cyber security-focused news service delivers concise, accessible, and relevant content without the gossip, sensationalism, and the marketing buzz that often distract from the stories that really matter. Appreciation to supermicromainboard for the suggestion.

Malicious Life is a podcast that tells the fascinating—and often unknown—stories of the wildest hacks you can ever imagine. Host Ran Levi, a cybersecurity expert and author, talks with the people who were actually involved to reveal the history of each event in depth. Our appreciation goes to peraphon for the recommendation.

The Broadcast Storm is a podcast for Cisco networking professionals. BluePieceOfPaper suggests it "for people studying for their CCNA/NP. Kevin Wallace is a CCIE Collaboration so he knows his *ishk. Good format for learning too. Most podcasts are about 8-15 mins long and its 'usually' an exam topic. It will be something like "HSPR" but instead of just explaining it super boring like Ben Stein reading a powerpoint, he usually goes into a story about how (insert time in his career) HSPR would have been super useful..."

Software Engineering Radio is a podcast for developers who are looking for an educational resource with original content that isn't recycled from other venues. Consists of conversations on relevant topics with experts from the software engineering world, with new episodes released three to four times per month. a9JDvXLWHumjaC tells us this is "a solid podcast for devs."

 

Books

System Center 2012 Configuration Manager is a comprehensive technical guide designed to help you optimize Microsoft's Configuration Manager 2012 according to your requirements and then to deploy and use it successfully. This methodical, step-by-step reference covers: the intentions behind the product and its role in the broader System Center product suite; planning, design, and implementation; and details on each of the most-important feature sets. Learn how to leverage the user-centric capabilities to provide anytime/anywhere services & software, while strengthening control and improving compliance. 

Network Warrior: Everything You Need to Know That Wasn’t on the CCNA Exam is a practical guide to network infrastructure. Provides an in-depth view of routers and routing, switching (with Cisco Catalyst and Nexus switches as examples), SOHO VoIP and SOHO wireless access point design and configuration, introduction to IPv6 with configuration examples, telecom technologies in the data-networking world (including T1, DS3, frame relay, and MPLS), security, firewall theory and configuration, ACL and authentication, Quality of Service (QoS), with an emphasis on low-latency queuing (LLQ), IP address allocation, Network Time Protocol (NTP) and device failures.

Beginning the Linux Command Line is your ally in mastering Linux from the keyboard. It is intended for system administrators, software developers, and enthusiastic users who want a guide that will be useful for most distributions—i.e., all items have been checked against Ubuntu, Red Hat and SUSE. Addresses administering users and security and deploying firewalls. Updated to the latest versions of Linux to cover files and directories, including the Btrfs file system and its management and systemd boot procedure and firewall management with firewalld.

Modern Operating Systems, 4th Ed. is written for students taking intro courses on Operating Systems and for those who want an OS reference guide for work. The author, an OS researcher, includes both the latest materials on relevant operating systems as well as current research. The previous edition of Modern Operating Systems received the 2010 McGuffey Longevity Award that recognizes textbooks for excellence over time.

Time Management for System Administrators is a guide for organizing your approach to this challenging role in a way that improves your results. Bestselling author Thomas Limoncelli offers a collection of tips and techniques for navigating the competing goals and concurrent responsibilities that go along with working on large projects while also taking care of individual user's needs. The book focuses on strategies to help with daily tasks that will also allow you to handle the critical situations that inevitably require your attention. You'll learn how to manage interruptions, eliminate time wasters, keep an effective calendar, develop routines and prioritize, stay focused on the task at hand and document/automate to speed processes.

The Practice of System and Network Administration, 3rd Edition introduces beginners to advanced frameworks while serving as a guide to best practices in system administration that is helpful for even the most advanced experts. Organized into four major sections that build from the foundational elements of system administration through improved techniques for upgrades and change management to exploring assorted management topics. Covers the basics and then moves onto the advanced things that can be built on top of those basics to wield real power and execute difficult projects.

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches, Third Edition is designed to teach you PowerShell in a month's worth of 1-hour lessons. This updated edition covers PowerShell features that run on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and later, PowerShell v3 and later, and it includes v5 features like PowerShellGet. For PowerShell v3 and up, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and later.

Troubleshooting with the Windows Sysinternals Tools is a guide to the powerful Sysinternals tools for diagnosing and troubleshooting issues. Sysinternals creator Mark Russinovich and Windows expert Aaron Margosis provide a deep understanding of Windows core concepts that aren’t well-documented elsewhere along with details on how to use Sysinternals tools to optimize any Windows system’s reliability, efficiency, performance and security. Includes an explanation of Sysinternals capabilities, details on each major tool, and examples of how the tools can be used to solve real-world cases involving error messages, hangs, sluggishness, malware infections and more. 

 

DNS and BIND, 5th Ed. explains how to work with the Internet's distributed host information database—which is responsible for translating names into addresses, routing mail to its proper destination, and listing phone numbers according to the ENUM standard. Covers BIND 9.3.2 & 8.4.7, the what/how/why of DNS, name servers, MX records, subdividing domains (parenting), DNSSEC, TSIG, troubleshooting and more. PEPCK tells us this is "generally considered the DNS reference book (aside from the RFCs of course!)"

Windows PowerShell in Action, 3rd Ed. is a comprehensive guide to PowerShell. Written by language designer Bruce Payette and MVP Richard Siddaway, this volume gives a great introduction to Powershell, including everyday use cases and detailed examples for more-advanced topics like performance and module architecture. Covers workflows and classes, writing modules and scripts, desired state configuration and programming APIs/pipelines.This edition has been updated for PowerShell v6.

Zero Trust Networks: Building Secure Systems in Untrusted Networks explains the principles behind zero trust architecture, along with what's needed to implement it. Covers the evolution of perimeter-based defenses and how they evolved into the current broken model, case studies of zero trust in production networks on both the client and server side, example configurations for open-source tools that are useful for building a zero trust network and how to migrate from a perimeter-based network to a zero trust network in production. Kindly recommended by jaginfosec.

 

Tips

Here are a couple handy Windows shortcuts:

  • Win + Shift + S: Captures a user-selectable area of the screen to the clipboard (on Windows 10 Ver 1703+)

  • WIN + CTRL + F4: Close a virtual desktop

Here's a shortcut for a 4-pane explorer in Windows without installing 3rd-party software:

  • Win + E, win + left, up

  • Win + E, win + right, up

  • Win + E, win + left, down

  • Win + E, win + right, down

(Keep the win key down for the arrows, and no pauses.) Appreciation goes to ZAFJB for this one.

Our recent tip for a shortcut to get a 4-pane explorer in Windows, triggered this suggestion from SevaraB: "You can do that for an even larger grid of Windows by right-clicking the clock in the taskbar, and clicking 'Show windows side by side' to arrange them neatly. Did this for 4 rows of 6 windows when I had to have a quick 'n' dirty "video wall" of windows monitoring servers at our branches." ZAFJB adds that it actually works when you right-click "anywhere on the taskbar, except application icons or start button."

This tip comes courtesy of shipsass:
"When I need to use Windows Explorer but I don't want to take my hands off the keyboard, I press Windows-E to launch Explorer and then Ctrl-L to jump to the address line and type my path. The Ctrl-L trick also works with any web browser, and it's an efficient way of talking less-technical people through instructions when 'browse to [location]' stumps them."

Clear browser history/cookies by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-DELETE on most major browsers.
Thanks go to synapticpanda, who adds that this "saves me so much time when troubleshooting web apps where I am playing with the cache and such."

To rename a file with F2, while still editing the name of that file: Hit TAB to tab into the renaming of the next file.
Thanks to abeeftaco for this one!

Alt-D is a reliable alternative to Ctrl-L for jumping to the address line in a browser.
Thanks for this one go to fencepost_ajm, who explains: "Ctrl-L comes from the browser side as a shortcut for Location, Alt-D from the Windows Explorer side for Directory."

Browser shortcut: When typing a URL that ends with dot com, Ctrl + Enter will place the ".com" and take you to the page.
Thanks to wpierre for this one!

This tip comes from anynonus, as something that daily that saves a few clicks:
"Running a program with ctrl + shift + enter from start menu will start it as administrator
(alt + y will select YES to run as admin)
 ... my user account is local admin [so] I don't feel like that is unsafe"

Building on our PowerShell resources, we received the following suggestion from halbaradkenafin:
aka.ms/pskoans is "a way to learn PowerShell using PowerShell (and Pester). It's really cool and a bunch of folks have high praise for it (including a few teams within MSFT)."

Keyboard shortcut: If you already have an application open, hold ctrl + shift and middle click on the application in your task bar to open another instance as admin.
Thanks go to Polymira for this one.

Remote Server Tip: "Critical advice. When testing out network configuration changes, prior to restarting the networking service or rebooting, always create a cron job that will restore your original network configuration and then reboot/restart networking on the machine after 5 minutes. If your config worked, you have enough time to remove it. If it didn't, it will fix itself.
This is a beautifully simple solution that I learned from my old mentor at my very first job. I've held on to it for a long time."
Thanks go to FrigidNox for the tip!

 

Websites

Deployment Research is the website of Johan Arwidmark, MS MVP in System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management. It is dedicated to sharing information and guidance around System Center, OS deployment, migration and more. The author shares tips and tricks to help improve the quality of IT Pros’ daily work.

Next of Windows is a website on (mostly) Microsoft-related technology. It's the place where Kent Chen—a computer veteran with many years of field experience—and Jonathan Hu—a web/mobile app developer and self-described "cool geek"—share what they know, what they learn and what they find in the hope of helping others learn and benefit.

High Scalability brings together all the relevant information about building scalable websites in one place. Because building a website with confidence requires a body of knowledge that can be slow to develop, the site focuses on moving visitors along the learning curve at a faster pace.

Information Technology Research Library is a great resource for IT-related research, white papers, reports, case studies, magazines, and eBooks. This library is provided at no charge by TradePub.com. GullibleDetective tells us it offers "free PDF files from a WIIIIIIDE variety of topics, not even just IT. Only caveat: as its a vendor-supported publishing company, you will have to give them a bit of information such as name, email address and possibly a company name. You undoubtedly have the ability to create fake information on this, mind you. The articles range from Excel templates, learning python, powershell, nosql etc. to converged architecture."

SS64 is a web-based reference guide for syntax and examples of the most-common database and OS computing commands. Recommended by Petti-The-Yeti, who adds, "I use this site all the time to look up commands and find examples while I'm building CMD and PS1 scripts."

Phishing and Malware Reporting. This website helps you put a stop to scams by getting fraudulent pages blocked. Easily report phishing webpages so they can be added to blacklists in as little as 15 minutes of your report. "Player024 tells us, "I highly recommend anyone in the industry to bookmark this page...With an average of about 10 minutes of work, I'm usually able to take down the phishing pages we receive thanks to the links posted on that website."

 

A Slack Channel

Windows Admin Slack is a great drive-by resource for the Windows sysadmin. This team has 33 public channels in total that cover different areas of helpful content on Windows administration.

Blogs

KC's Blog is the place where Microsoft MVP and web developer Kent Chen shares his IT insights and discoveries. The rather large library of posts offer helpful hints, how-tos, resources and news of interest to those in the Windows world. 

The Windows Server Daily is the ever-current blog of technologist Katherine Moss, VP of open source & community engagement for StormlightTech. Offers brief daily posts on topics related to Windows server, Windows 10 and Administration.

 

An Infosec Slideshow

This security training slideshow was created for use during a quarterly infosec class. The content is offered generously by shalafi71, who adds, "Take this as a skeleton and flesh it out on your own. Take an hour or two and research the things I talk about. Tailor this to your own environment and users. Make it relevant to your people. Include corporate stories, include your audience, exclude yourself. This ain't about how smart you are at infosec, and I can't stress this enough, talk about how people can defend themselves. Give them things to look for and action they can take. No one gives a shit about your firewall rules."

 

Tech Tutorials

Tutorialspoint Library. This large collection of tech tutorials is a great resource for online learning. You'll find nearly 150 high-quality tutorials covering a wide array of languages and topics—from fundamentals to cutting-edge technologies. For example, this Powershell tutorial is designed for those with practical experience handling Windows-based Servers who want to learn how to install and use Windows Server 2012.

The Python Tutorial is a nice introduction to many of Python’s best features, enabling you to read and write Python modules and programs. It offers an understanding of the language's style and prepares you to learn more about the various Python library modules described in 'The Python Standard Library.' Kindly suggested by sharjeelsayed.

 

A List

Awesome SysAdmin is an incredible list of resources that was originally referred a while back by ReallyLongUserName01. We know this is a re post, but it's so good we wanted to make sure all our newer subscribers are aware of it!

 

SysAdmin Humor

Day in the Life of a SysAdmin Episode 5: Lunch Break is an amusing look at a SysAdmin's attempt to take a brief lunch break. We imagine many of you can relate!

 

IT Pro title: 
Mega List of Tips, Tools, Books, Blogs & More