I've used this simple method for close to 20 years via whatever scripting language was hot at the time. Here is today's version in Powershell:

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")

while ($true)
{
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{NUMLOCK}{NUMLOCK}")
Start-Sleep -Seconds 240
}

Does nothing more than pop your NumLock key twice so fast you could be typing the next great American novel and you won't even notice. The only negative drawback is it can drain a wireless keyboards battery a little more quickly, but playing with the sleep delay (set it to just below your screensaver timeout) will minimize it.

kmoorevs wrote:

They've probably never needed to open a support ticket for sql server anyway, and not many are concerned with security issues in older versions of a product that still gets the job done.

That reasoning is precisely why I have a job. Running old, out-of-support software puts an organization at a high level of risk, period, end of story. Especially when we're talking about something like SQL with a laundry list of vulnerabilities over the years ... hopefully they're at least at a patch level that supports TLS 1.2. I'm guessing their endpoint security is also incredibly weak, which increases the risk of keeping old server software on the network. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into an organization recovering from a horrific intrusion because someone felt it wasn't worth the money or effort to get things to a proper level. "Support" means more than just "a need to open a support ticket", and dealing with the aftermath of an attack is almost always more expensive -- if not in real dollars, than in company reputation. I'm not so lost in la-la land that I don't appreciate what I'm saying just doesn't compute for a lot of orgs. I get it. Doesn't mean it doesn't still amaze me beyond belief at times. ;P

Why not adhere to Microsoft's support lifecycle for SQL Server, encouraging your customers to stay secure by running a version that's still supported and receiving security updates? In that case, the oldest version that should be allowed is SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1, and even then only until extended support ends in July of this year. Why support a version of your own product that uses underlying technologies no longer supported by the vendor and with (possibly, depending on version) known security vulnerabilities? I'm not a developer, I ask as a MSFT field engineer supporting other technologies what the challenges are for you to consider taking such a position with your customers. I'm fascinated when I run across conversations like this and wish to learn the thinking behind it in the hopes I can better support the developers I work with. Thanks! Jon

Just make sure you're not looking at MFA in a vacuum. If you don't also implement MDM policies to enforce security on your mobile devices, you're missing the point. Any MFA solution is worthless if anyone can just pick up the mobile device and get at the code. I'm partial to Microsoft's first-party MFA solution (based in Azure) because I work for them and help companies implement it, but no matter who you go with, make sure mobile/endpoint security is given equal attention. Security is a puzzle and no single piece is a panacea. Good luck! Jon (aka. Sir Buzz Killington :laugh: )

MS employee here. I unfortunately have no connection to the VS team and am not an avid developer myself, but if you'd like a code for a free support case please let me know, I'd be happy to help get you rolling forward. -- Jon

I'm at a loss to explain why this is happening based only on what you describe -- clever approach though. :-D All of that aside … have you considered using a Windows Hello PIN to log in instead of a big fat password every time? That's even a bit more secure, since PINs are local to your machine and wouldn't work anywhere else even if they were compromised (unless, of course, it's your machine itself that gets compromised.) Why a PIN is better than a password[^]

That COM error definitely doesn't have anything to do with it, those can often be ignored unless you're having an app-specific problem associated with that Class ID. If you'd like, feel free to shoot me an email jonmbutler at outlook dot com and I'll see what I can do to assist. Worst case, if we can't figure it out, I'll hook you up with a free support case (I work for MSFT.) Jon

Richard MacCutchan wrote:

But I think you should be safe with "Ms".

This is correct, as I was taught in far too many English Composition courses over the eons. Alternatively, you can skip the salutation entirely and instead simply state her full name, e.g. "Dear Susan Jones." These days you'll find more and more official correspondence (bills, etc.) use this approach.

I think it just took me a few hours to adjust, it wasn't too bad. I switch several times a week back to a traditional keyboard when I'm visiting customers with my Surface Book, and don't seem to find much issue -- I guess my brain has just finally adjusted and wired accordingly. The only gripe I have with the ergonomic keyboard is the overall size. I'm in a tiny Manhattan apartment with a small desk and desktop space is at a premium. I've got the non-ergonomic keyboard w/ fingerprint arriving next week and will see how that goes. Jon

Too early for me to know for certain and the folks in my family that have one are all extremely light users. Reviews I've seen out there look pretty solid, though. It's likely not a workhorse but for the common human I believe it'll serve very well for quite some time. Jon

Yes, there are four members of my family with one and I've got a the Surface ergonomic desktop keyboard with the same alcantara material on the wrist rest. It holds up extremely well over time (my keyboard gets 14+ hours of use a day for the past year, looks brand new.) I've only had to wipe it down once because of me spilling soup all over it, the process on this page does this trick. Alcantara is crazy durable and the Surface Laptops are (IMO) a solid contender. The i5 has no cooling fan so it's completely silent, they're blazing fast, light and thin. The one thing you need to be cautious of is that they're shipped with Windows 10 S, meaning you can't install any win32 apps outside of the Windows Store ... but it's a free upgrade to Pro so it's pretty moot. Full disclosure: I'm a MS employee. I try to keep my opinion unjaded though, I really do think these are strong machines for the price. :-D Jon [edit: fixed this link, oops]

Here is how I view them: Some people prefer a traditional laptop form factor, but still want the beautiful Surface screen and may not be as interested in using a pen (the Surface Laptop supports the pen, but doesn't come with it included.) If you haven't seen one in person, they're (IMO) pretty stinking sexy. Also, for what it's worth: The wife approval rating has been a solid "holy crap I love this thing." ;P

Mycroft Holmes wrote:

what benefit is there to UWP

The "U" in UWP to me says it all: Universal. One codebase that runs on desktops, mobile (or at least used to :laugh: ), tablets, Xbox, SurfaceHub, HoloLens, and IoT devices. That may not be attractive to all developers or for all use cases, but from my admittedly narrow understanding it opens up some pretty slick possibilities without the effort it takes to get other approaches working on multiple platforms. Full disclosure: I'm not a developer but I am a Microsoft employee. Flame on. ;P

It's a shame this is being framed as slow filler news, because this is a pretty immense f'n deal. The DOJ has been swinging their stick with reckless abandon for too long, and this is a big win for consumers driven by industry leaders. Hopefully the momentum will continue and the ECPA will get updated ... oh wait, that requires Congress to do something useful. At least celebrate this one victory, then.

I'm a Premier Field Engineer supporting our enterprise customers running Exchange and Office 365. If anyone needs help in that space, let me know. :cool:

I'm a 'softie. I joined the company after Nadella took the helm, but it was also after I had been in the industry (as a field or systems engineer, not developer) for a long time. While we undoubtedly still have some areas where we can be better, I can say without a moment's hesitation that this is the most positive, supportive, incredibly awesome place to work I've ever run across. It took me 20 years to find it, but I finally feel like I have a career, not just a job. When we succeed, we all share in the success. When we do less than our best, no one hesitates to step up and see how we can help out. We're of course encouraged to constantly improve our own personal success, but it's always measured through the lens of how we encouraged or built upon the success of others. Without that teamwork context, your own growth is literally counted less. It's refreshing and has forced me to rethink some long-ingrained habits. I spent the bulk of my career reading about the previous culture here, MiniMSFT, the Justice Department cases, all of it. I walked in here with eyes open. Kool-Aid or not, this does NOT feel like that to me. For me, it's a great place to be. Jon

dandy72 wrote:

In the end, all suggestions are valid. We're here to exchange ideas, which is what the original poster what soliciting. I'm just pointing out what I think are the pros and cons of your response, which I assume is fair game.

Fair enough -- and my apologies for coming across as a jerk. Definitely wasn't my intention! I should drink more coffee before jumping on here :doh:

justahack wrote:

I use BackBlaze and they are cheap, fast and just plain work. Backs up my Windows and Mac machines and is only $5 per month per computer. Can't beat it.

CrashPlan did beat it, though. For $150/year I'm backing up 5 computers (I think the Home plan was 10 max?) with unlimited storage and unlimited file versions -- it's that last bit that was the real winner, and the only reason I put up with their otherwise horrible software and speeds. I'm hoping to do more comparisons in the next few days and will post with what I find.

To each his own, but I wholeheartedly disagree with this advice. Drives easily fail, are lost, or get stolen, and few people take the necessary steps to ensure those scenarios aren't disastrous through proper security and encryption practices. It's also, frankly, horribly inefficient and pretty easy to screw yourself over ... as I believe someone described here in the past few days. Companies come and go (always have, always will) and I don't consider it a reason to live like a luddite. I'm currently in this boat as well; I've been relying on CrashPlan for many years to back up multiple machines here and for members of my family. I've also been wanting to switch from CrashPlan for a while anyway thanks to their horrific speeds and bad UI. From the limited research I've done so far, we're pretty screwed. Most of the better cloud backup providers all offer good encryption and unlimited storage, but they box you into a single PC (or, worse, a single drive!) without having to pay through the teeth for a small business plan. Tom's updated their comparison yesterday thanks to CrashPlan's announcement here[^]. I'm intending to take a more serious look at Backblaze this week. I'm starting to resign myself to the likely fact that I'm going to end up paying more money than I would prefer. I'm hoping others can share their own experiences with these providers ... Jon

Dude. Read = text, not graphics. I'm guessing you've never used or seen lynx. It's a text-based browser, the TEXT gets output to the console. No mouse, no clicking, no images, no GUI. Behold: http://bit.ly/1dZiqXE[^]