My Cyberpunk 2077 Mod Loadout
I bounced off Cyberpunk once because the guns felt stiff. Here's the mod list I'm running on the 2.3x Steam version now, and what all those frameworks actually do.
Thread: Games and gear ↗5 min readRead note
Tagged · 52 notes
#Windows.
Everything tagged Windows, wherever it's filed, newest first.
Linux Mint on a ThinkPad T14 Gen 3
My everyday laptop is a ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 running Linux Mint. Why that pairing, how Dropbox fits in, and the few things worth setting up on day one.
Thread: Games and gear ↗4 min readRead note
Adding Domain Groups to Local Administrators on Remote PCs with PowerShell
Put a domain group into the local Administrators group on a list of computers (or take one out) over PowerShell remoting, with a result for every machine and -WhatIf first.
Thread: Local admin, done right ↗2 min readRead note
Deploy the Most-Needed Updates in MECM with PowerShell
Find the updates the most machines are actually missing, bundle them into a group, and deploy them to a pilot collection, with a WhatIf preview first.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗2 min readRead note
Upgrade a Windows Edition with a MAK Key from PowerShell
Install a product key, activate it and confirm the edition actually changed, without the key ever landing in a script file or a log.
Thread: Packaging with ConfigMgr ↗2 min readRead note
Create an MECM Package and Program from PowerShell
Turn "wrap this script in a package and push it to the DPs" into one command, with a dry run before anything gets created.
Thread: Packaging with ConfigMgr ↗2 min readRead note
Exporting Active Directory Computer Objects to CSV
A computer inventory straight out of AD, with OS build, last logon, password age and OU in one tidy CSV, ready for audits or a stale-machine cleanup.
Thread: Keeping Active Directory tidy ↗1 min readRead note
Organizing Vintage Mac Software: How I Name and File a Classic Mac Archive
The folder layout and naming rules I use for a pile of old Mac software, and the small PowerShell script that does the renaming without losing the original names.
Thread: The retro workbench ↗5 min readRead note
Making a Mac OS Extended (HFS+) USB Drive on Windows with TransMac
How I format and load HFS+ USB drives for old Macs from a Windows PC, plus the retro-specific catches that trip you up on the Mac side.
Thread: The retro workbench ↗4 min readRead note
Convert 7z Archives to ZIP So Anyone Can Open Them
Repack .7z files as plain Deflate ZIPs with UTF-8 file names, including password-protected ones, and test every result before the original goes anywhere.
Thread: Archive conversion workshop ↗2 min readRead note
List Installed Software on Windows with PowerShell
A quick, safe software inventory from the registry, local or remote, that returns objects you can filter and export instead of a wall of colored text.
Thread: PowerShell craft ↗2 min readRead note
Removing Stale Windows User Profiles the Right Way
Clean old user profiles off shared PCs and servers through Win32_UserProfile, so the folder and the registry entry go together and nobody gets a TEMP profile.
Thread: Spring cleaning for Windows PCs ↗2 min readRead note
Cleaning Up Abandoned Outlook OST Files
Find the old Outlook .ost files nobody is using any more and reclaim the space, without touching the ones Outlook has open.
Thread: Spring cleaning for Windows PCs ↗2 min readRead note
A Safer Windows Disk Cleanup Script
Clear old temp files from the usual suspects and run Disk Cleanup unattended, with an age threshold and a -WhatIf that shows how much you'd get back.
Thread: Spring cleaning for Windows PCs ↗2 min readRead note
Re-Enable Windows Update with PowerShell: Find Every Registry Block, Not Just One
When Windows Update is greyed out or just won't run, check all the policy values and services that can block it, and put them back the way Windows shipped.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗2 min readRead note
Move a List of Folders to a New Drive with PowerShell and Robocopy
Hand a list of folders from several drives to robocopy in one go, keep their structure on the new drive, catch name collisions before anything moves, and get a log per folder.
Thread: File wrangling ↗2 min readRead note
Find Out Why a Windows Machine Rebooted with PowerShell
Pull shutdown, startup and crash events from the System log so you can tell a planned restart from a power cut, and see who or what asked for it.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗2 min readRead note
Create a Local Administrator Account with PowerShell
A one-off local admin account done properly, with a hidden password prompt, a language-proof group lookup, and an expiry date for the temporary ones.
Thread: Local admin, done right ↗1 min readRead note
Create a Dedicated Local Admin Account for Windows LAPS to Manage
Roll out a named local admin account with a random password nobody knows, ready for Windows LAPS to take over, and optionally retire the built-in Administrator.
Thread: Local admin, done right ↗2 min readRead note
Emptying the Recycle Bin from PowerShell, Quietly
Empty the Recycle Bin with no prompt, for one user or everyone on the machine, and optionally keep anything deleted recently.
Thread: Spring cleaning for Windows PCs ↗2 min readRead note
Collecting Windows Update Logs with an SCCM Package
On Windows 10 and 11 there's no Windows Update logging to switch on. The trick is collecting it, and this script does that in one zip per machine.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗2 min readRead note
Checking WinRM Before You Patch Remotely (Packaged for SCCM)
A read-first WinRM check that tells you why remote PowerShell won't connect, fixes it only when you ask, and doubles as a ConfigMgr compliance script.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗2 min readRead note
Flushing the DNS Cache on One PC or Fifty
Clear the Windows DNS client cache locally or across a list of machines, and know when a flush will actually fix anything.
Thread: Spring cleaning for Windows PCs ↗2 min readRead note
Past IT Projects
A decade-plus of Windows migrations, endpoint security, and infrastructure work, boiled down to what I did and how big it was.
4 min readRead note
Trigger Intune Automatic Enrollment on a Windows Device with PowerShell
For the Entra-joined PC that never showed up in Intune. Check it's ready, kick off enrollment, and see why it failed if it does.
Thread: Getting devices into Intune ↗2 min readRead note
Pushing DNS Servers to Clients with RADIUS Vendor-Specific Attributes
How RADIUS VSAs work, how to add one in Windows NPS or FreeRADIUS to hand out DNS servers, and how to prove your VPN or NAS is actually using it.
4 min readRead note
Microsoft Intune, Before You Enroll Anything: What It Does and What to Plan
A plain-spoken tour of what Intune actually handles, where it stops, and the identity decisions you want settled before the first device shows up.
Thread: Getting devices into Intune ↗4 min readRead note
How to Enroll a Windows Device in Intune by Hand
The Settings app route into Intune, which of its three options to pick, and why the device might show up as personal when you didn't want it to.
Thread: Getting devices into Intune ↗4 min readRead note
Checklist: Moving a Device from MDE Security Settings Management to Intune
A practical checklist for taking a device that gets its security policy through Defender for Endpoint and enrolling it in Intune without leaving a gap.
Thread: Getting devices into Intune ↗4 min readRead note
Setting DNS Client Settings on Domain Controllers with PowerShell (and Why Loopback Goes Last)
Point each domain controller at a partner DC first and itself (127.0.0.1) last, the way Microsoft recommends, across all your DCs in one pass.
Thread: Keeping Active Directory tidy ↗2 min readRead note
Finding and Disabling SMBv1 Without Breaking the Scanner
Audit who still talks SMBv1 to your machines, then switch it off for good, with one script and three modes.
Thread: PowerShell craft ↗2 min readRead note
Patching Without Fear: Rings, Risk and a Way Back
How I think about patch risk now. Sort updates by blast radius, roll them out in rings, decide what "bad" looks like up front, and know your way back before you need it.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗4 min readRead note
Take Control of Explorer's Preview Pane with PowerShell
List the preview handlers installed on a PC, see which one each file type uses, and point extensions like .log, .ps1 or .json at the handler you want.
Thread: File wrangling ↗2 min readRead note
Building a Tier 2 OU Structure and Admin Group with PowerShell
Create the Tier 2 OU, its sub-OUs and the group that manages them, and delegate just enough rights for workstation and user admin work.
Thread: Keeping Active Directory tidy ↗2 min readRead note
Exporting Active Directory OUs to CSV (With Paths You Can Actually Read)
Dump every OU in the domain to a spreadsheet, with a readable path, depth, GPO link count and, if you want, how many objects live in each one.
Thread: Keeping Active Directory tidy ↗2 min readRead note
Getting the Console Width in PowerShell (Even When There Isn't One)
A width check that works in a real console, in VS Code, and in scheduled tasks and CI runners where there's no window to measure.
Thread: PowerShell craft ↗1 min readRead note
WSUS, WUfB or Windows Update? Check (and Reset) Where a PC Gets Its Updates
One script that reads the WSUS, scan-source and Windows Update for Business settings on a device and tells you where it's really getting updates from, with a safe reset for leftovers.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗2 min readRead note
Pushing Configuration Profiles to Devices That Are Already Deployed
How to build a configuration profile in Intune, roll it out to machines that are already in people's hands, and confirm it actually landed.
Thread: Getting devices into Intune ↗4 min readRead note
Opting Devices In to Microsoft Update with an SCCM Package
Register the Microsoft Update service through the Windows Update Agent's own COM API, so devices pick up Office and other Microsoft product updates, not just Windows.
Thread: Windows Update, untangled ↗2 min readRead note
Auditing Active Directory Service Accounts with PowerShell (gMSAs Included)
One report for every kind of service account, gMSAs and old-school user accounts alike, showing password age, SPNs, delegation and who can read the gMSA password.
Thread: Keeping Active Directory tidy ↗2 min readRead note
Delegating Your Tier 0 OU to a Dedicated Admin Group with PowerShell
Create a Tier 0 admin group, keep it where only Tier 0 can touch it, and give it full control of the Tier 0 OU. Preview the whole thing with -WhatIf first.
Thread: Keeping Active Directory tidy ↗2 min readRead note
Zip Up Folders Nobody Has Touched in Months
Find project folders that haven't changed in N days, zip each one to an archive location with the date of its last change, verify it, and optionally clear out the original.
Thread: File wrangling ↗2 min readRead note
Setting a High Performance Power Plan with an SCCM Package
Switch workstations to High Performance (or Ultimate Performance) by GUID, restore the plan if the image hid it, and don't end up with five copies of it.
Thread: Packaging with ConfigMgr ↗2 min readRead note
Silently Uninstall Any App by Name with a ConfigMgr Package
One uninstall script for every retired app. Give it a display name and it finds the right uninstall command, MSI or not, and runs it quietly.
Thread: Packaging with ConfigMgr ↗2 min readRead note
Checking (and Nudging) Google Chrome Updates with PowerShell
Find out which Chrome version a machine is really running, whether an update is stuck waiting on a restart, and kick Google's updater into checking now.
Thread: Spring cleaning for Windows PCs ↗2 min readRead note
Clearing a Stuck Print Spooler with PowerShell
Stop the spooler, clear out the wedged job files, and bring it back up, with -WhatIf and an option to leave recent jobs alone.
Thread: Spring cleaning for Windows PCs ↗2 min readRead note
Defender for Endpoint vs. Intune: Who Actually Manages the Device?
Onboarding to Defender for Endpoint and enrolling in Intune are two different things, and you almost never have to offboard one to get the other.
Thread: Getting devices into Intune ↗3 min readRead note
Rotate Local Admin Passwords Across the Fleet with Windows LAPS and ConfigMgr
Force an immediate local admin password rotation on every machine in a collection, with Windows LAPS doing the password part so no script ever sees one.
Thread: Local admin, done right ↗2 min readRead note
Forcing a Group Policy Refresh with PowerShell and SCCM
A gpupdate wrapper that checks the domain trust first, never bounces anyone's session, and reports a real success or failure back to ConfigMgr.
Thread: Packaging with ConfigMgr ↗2 min readRead note
Deleting Stale Computer Accounts from Active Directory, Safely, with a CSV Log
Feed it a list or an OU, and it deletes (or disables) only the computers that are genuinely stale, logs every decision to CSV, and shows you the plan first with -WhatIf.
Thread: Keeping Active Directory tidy ↗2 min readRead note
Audit a Windows Service Across Many Computers with PowerShell
Feed it a list of computers and a service name, get back one row per machine saying whether it's installed, running, and how it starts.
Thread: PowerShell craft ↗2 min readRead note
What Get-WindowsAutopilotInfo Actually Does (and How to Use It Today)
The hardware hash script behind Windows Autopilot, explained. Upload straight to Intune with -Online, or export a CSV when the device can't reach the tenant.
Thread: Getting devices into Intune ↗4 min readRead note