It was time to update my house with some additional security features.
I researched several companies and settled on the Ring Video Doorbell Pro.
Below is my complete video review (unboxing, installation, configuration and sample videos from my doorbell).
As you will see in the video – the installation was not complicated and I especially like being able to answer my door using my phone no matter where I am if someone comes to my house!
If you decide you want to have this for your own house – here’s a link to the one I bought and used in the above video review Ring Video Doorbell Pro.
In my next post, I’ll be reviewing the IP Security cameras that I’m currently in progress installing on the outside of my house.
Recently Adobe installed an update and when I went into my After Effects project – the display timeline had changed to frames. I was working on a new intro that was only 7-10 seconds long and it was easier to add/remove parts by using second markers. As I’m somewhat new to After Effects, I did what most techies do – I googled how to change this back. I found several people were asking the same question and I looked at many posts about how to fix this and none of them worked for me.
Here’s a video I made on how I fixed this for my scenario. The short intro in this video was actually the original project I was trying to create when this frames to seconds problem happened.
How to recover space on your SCCM DPM 2012 server system C drive.
Open file explorer and browse to
C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2\DPM\DPM\Temp
Here you might see many .errlog files.
You can safely delete these .errlog files but first you need to investigate the most recent ones and take the appropriate actions. If you need to recover space immediately then copy the most recent few logs to an alternate location and then you delete all of them on the DPM server.
If you want to have a password reset website for your users but don’t want to purchase a 3rd party solution – you can still do this using Microsoft 2012 Server.
How to setup a password reset website using Server 2012 RD Web
Choose a server to install this role. For my environment, I chose to use the print server.
1. Install RD Web Access from the Remote Desktop Services. Remote desktop to your server (I’m installing this on my print server) and open Server Manager. Add Roles and Features – Next – Remote Desktop Services installation – Next.
2. Choose Standard deployment – Next.
Choose Session-based desktop deployment – Next.
On Role Services – Choose Next.
3. On Specify RD Connection Broker server – select your server – add it and choose Next.
4. On Specify RD Web Access server – Place a checkmark in the Install the RD Web Access role service and click Next.
5. On Specify RD Session Host servers – select your server – add it and choose Next.
6. Confirm your selections – place check mark in Restart the server and click Deploy.
7. When the server finishes restarting – Launch Server Manager and wait for it to complete. Once it completes, you will see a pop up regarding licensing mode.
In my experience, as long as you do not install the RD Licensing then the RD password reset website that we are going to configure next will continue to work after the 119 days.
Setting up the website and related configurations for domain password reset
8. Launch Server Manager – Tools – IIS Manager
Expand Sites – Default Website – RDWeb – Pages – then in the middle pane – open Application Settings.
9. Double click PasswordChangeEnabled and switch the value to true and click OK.
10. Now your Password reset website is enabled and you can test it by going to this address on your server: https://yourservername.domain.com/RDWeb/Pages/en-US/password.aspx
When someone needs to change their password I now send them this link and they can do it remotely.
Open a web browser and go to http://connect.tamu.edu
Under Group – click the drop down box and choose “tunnel_tamu_traffic” and then enter your NetID and password and click Login
On the next page, click the Download button or the AnyConnect VPN blue hyperlink:
Once the AnyConnect file downloads – open the location and double click to install:
Click Next to continue with the install:
Accept the license agreement and click Next:
Click Install and when completed click Finish:
Part 2 – Configuring the VPN Connection for TAMU
Now that VPN has been installed – click the start windows and scroll to “C” and find Cisco – Right click “Cisco Anyconnect” and choose “More” and “pin to taskbar” and this will place it on the taskbar for easier access in the future:
Now click the Cisco Client in the taskbar to open VPN:
In the box that pops up on the right, enter “connect.tamu.edu” into the white space area:
Click connect. In the next box that pops up enter your NetID and Password and click OK. Wait for it to authenticate and if successful you will see a pad lock:
You can also check by clicking the up arrow in the bottom right and hovering over the Cisco circle icon:
Part 3 – Connecting to your remote computer using remote desktop:
Click start – scroll down to Windows Accessories – click Remote Desktop:
Type in the IP address of your remote computer in the white space box and click Connect:
In the box that pops up enter your credentials and click OK:
In the identity box that pops up – check the name in the middle section for Certificate name = it should be something familiar to your remote connection name. Example OfficeComputer or HomePC:
Open your mail settings and go to Accounts and click Add Account.
Select Exchange.
In the Email field, enter your department email address: username@stat.tamu.edu or username@science.tamu.edu.
In the Description field – enter whatever you like for example –
Stat email or Science email and then click Next.
If it asks for your password put in your NetID password and then
it will bring you to the full settings page. Enter your departmental
email address in the Email field, in Server enter exchange.tamu.edu
and leave the Domain field blank. For Username enter your NetID@tamu.edu. For Password enter your NetID password and then click next.
Leave the Mail button green for turned on. Make your choice for Contacts, Calendars, Reminders and Notes and then click Save.
Step 1 – From Outlook – click the 3 horizontal dots on the bottom left of your email client: Step 2 – Select Folders from your navigation options: Step 3 – Under public folders, click the arrow/triangle to expand drill
down to Office of the Dean (or wherever your groups are stored). Step 4 – Right click the group you want to add (in this example Address Book-COS) and then choose Properties. Step 5 – in the property box that pops up:
A) Click the Outlook Address Book tab.
B) Put a check mark in the box to show in Address Book.
C) Click Apply and then OK. Step 6 – Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for any other groups you want to add
(In this example Groups, COS). Step 7 – Repeat Step 5 and place the check mark in the box. Step 8 – In the bottom left of your outlook client click the mail icon
to return to your regular mail view. Step 9 – Open a new email and click the To field. Step 10 – Click the Address Book area and scroll up to see
your newly added groups.
From Server Manager – click Manage – Add Roles and Features.
Click Next and Next on Select installation type for Role-based installation.
Select the server you want to install your first domain controller – click next. Place a check in Active Directory Domain Services.
Click Add Features on the box that pops up for ADDS.
Click Next – Next on Features page.
Click Next on AD DS.
Review the settings on the Confirmation Page and place a check mark in the Restart automatically box and then click Install.
Wait for installation to complete and then click close. Return to Server Manager and click the yellow triangle with the exclamation mark.
In Post-deployment Configuration – click Promote this server to a domain controller.
Make your choice in deployment operation, type your desired root domain (example.com) and click Next.
Domain Controller Options – choose your forest and domain functional level. In this example, I am going with Windows Server 2016 because I don’t need to add any older DCs. Specify domain controller capabilities – Select DNS and GC is already added if this is your first DC. Choose and enter a DSRM password and click Next.
Additional Options – Leave default or change the NetBIOS name if necessary and click Next.
Verify and click Next on the Paths page. Review your options and click Next. Prerequisites Check – review the results and click Install.
