One of the questions we consistently get asked is “Why is my version of Windows 10 not up to the latest feature release?”. The answer is simply that Microsoft doesn’t push these feature updates out via the traditional patch management process, so all your patches can be up to date, and you can still have an old version. So, the next question is always “Well then, how do I update them?”. The answer to this is a little more complicated, and I am hoping that this blog post will help you. I. First step is identifying the machines that are out of date. There are a few of ways to do this. 1. Look at the OS Version field The standard Kaseya audit records the OS Version, which contains a “Build” number. The problem is that build number is not what you commonly see mentioned out there. More commonly we…
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Using Kaseya to Audit for MS17-10 to prevent WannaCrypt infection
Our Service Board and email lit up this weekend with partners asking if they are protected against the WannaCrypt ransomware attack that has made national headlines. First of all, it is important to know that the patch for this (MS17-10) was released back in MARCH, so this is not exactly a NEW vulnerability, but it…
Setting up a Review Gate to create social proof and authority for your MSP.
If you were to look at MSPs (or just small businesses as a whole) you would probably find most lack refinement in terms of customer follow-up, collecting testimonials, and spotting and resolving unhappy clients. It is very easy to move on to the next thing on your agenda at the end of a customer…
When to (NOT) Outsource Your Helpdesk
For those of you who don’t know, we worked as a channel partner with Live Virtual Helpdesk for several years in the past. They are a good helpdesk solution and we still forward partners to them when they’re considering outsourcing or augmenting their internal helpdesk. I still get calls even though we stopped directly offering…
The First Employee Most MSPs Hire and Why it is the Wrong Choice
If you are running a small MSP and are feeling overwhelmed, you are not alone. Most of us get into Managed Services because at some point someone told us that we seemed pretty good at fixing computers and maybe we could make a living doing that. Fixing computers is fun…. Or at least it used…
Things to consider when getting your first PSA
One of the first major decisions every MSP must face is what to do with all the information they collect, and how to track and bill for the tasks that their clients need. Relying on email and calendar entries, or scribbling down phone numbers and IP addresses on various unlabeled sticky notes strewn around the…
Mailprotector – How to control Address-Discovery with on-premise Exchange
One of the challenges of mail filters is managing users. Mailprotector gives you 4 ways to create user accounts: Manual creation – Whenever you have a new email user, alias, or distribution group, you need to sign into the console and add the user. This is a 5 minute process, but you have to remember…
Slow/Inaccurate Kaseya Patch Scans with Windows 7 SP1
To avoid problems with patching Windows 7 SP1 machines, Virtual Administrator is recommending running both of these agent procedures on all Windows 7 SP1 machines that have older versions of the Windows Update Client. Those of you that are on VA’s on-prem KServers, can locate the scripts in the VA Scripts-> Patch Deployment folder. Everyone…
Managing firewalls with a GMS MySonicWALL sub-account
GMS Firewall Registration In order to fully manage your firewall through SonicWALL’s GMS the firewall needs to be registered in the GMS’ MySonicWALL account or an account associated with that account – i.e. a GMS MySonicWALL sub-account. (see our previous blog post: “4 Reasons you should register your SonicWall firewall with GMS” ) When a…
[Webinar Replay] How to run a successful Workspace as a Service (WaaS) program
Scott Bechtold from CloudJumper was willing to spend some time with our partners and do a Q&A style webinar where he answers all kinds of questions related to running a Workspace as a Service program. Learn Scott’s experience pricing the workspaces, finding new clients, selling the benefits of a service such as this, and more.…
Auditing GPO policies in Kaseya for “Authenticated Users” for patch KB3159398
In our last newsletter on Patch Friday, we talked about denying patch KB3159398 because of the problems it would generate for you if you have a GPO that maps drives or printers. (If you missed this, you can review this InfoWorld article. ) We were unsuccessful in coming up with a working script that would…