Find vulnerable WordPress plugin versions fast using PowerShell
2020-05-08
Find vulnerable WordPress plugins fast using PowerShell on Windows Server and IIS
Jan Reilink
Disallow direct access to PHP files in wp-content/uploads/
2020-03-16
Securing the WordPress uploads folder is important. In many hacked WordPress sites, a PHP backdoor is found within the WP_CONTENT_DIR/uploads directory. Often because this is the location where uploads are placed automatically. From the backdoor within wp-content/uploads other backdoors are uploaded to various locations, and scripts are injected with malware.
Managing KVM VMs with virt-manager on Windows
2020-02-26
In this post, I will show you how to connect to your KVM VMs (virtual machines) in Windows 10 via SSH using virt-manager (Virtual Machine Manager) and qemu+ssh://. This allows you to manage your virtual machines from Windows.
Bash function to generate a secure random alphanumeric string
2020-02-21
You can use this Bash function in your .bashrc file to generate a random alphanumeric string easily. This comes in handy when you need to generate a long, secure password for example. Adjust to your needs.
WMI Filters for Group Policy to manage Windows Server versions
2020-01-27
This post contains some example WMI filters for you to use in Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to target and manage specific Windows Server versions like 2012R2, 2016 and Windows Server 2022 / 2019.
IIS 10.0 FTP IP Security allow list
2020-01-21
In this post I'll show you how to configure an IP allow list for IIS FTP Server using PowerShell, iisadministration and webadministration modules.
Removing phantom application folders from website configuration in IIS
2019-12-18
Remove application folders from the website configuration in IIS whose physical path on the filesystem was removed, using PowerShell
Delete spam comments after three (3) days
2019-12-09
How to change Akismet interval to three days instead of 15 days for deleting spam comments using the akismet_delete_comment_interval filter.
IIS backup and restore
2019-11-04
Learn how to back up and restore IIS 10 webserver configuration with appcmd.exe and PowerShell
How to fix System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException “The given key was not present in the dictionary” Exception with MySQL Connector/NET and utf8mb4 character set
2019-10-18
MySQL Connector/NET and utf8mb4 character set can cause an exception System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException "The given key was not present in the dictionary".
Use -SearchBase with Get-ADComputer for faster results
2019-08-15
Using -SeachBase with PowerShell's Get-ADComputer gives me faster results with AD DS queries.
Install Windows Server Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) using PowerShell
2019-06-12
Install Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) for Windows Server 2012R2, 2016 and Windows Server 2019 using PowerShell, without downtime.
Setting up Monit monitoring in Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL
2019-03-10
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog article about setting up Monit monitoring on an Ubuntu VM on Hyper-V. Now it’s time to do the same, but then in Windows Subsystem for Linux, or WSL. So, without further ado, here is how to install and configure Monit monitoring in Windows 10 WSL.
Converting an Access 2003 database to 2007 and higher online
2019-01-04
Learn how to programmatically convert legacy Microsoft Access 2003 (.mdb) databases to the modern .accdb format using Classic ASP and the ACE engine. This guide provides essential scripts for performing online conversions and database maintenance directly on your IIS web server. It is an ideal solution for sysadmins managing legacy environments who need to upgrade data storage without local access to Microsoft Office.
Import .reg file in Windows Registry silently
2018-12-01
Learn how to silently import a .reg file into your Windows Registry. This neat regedit trick comes in handy quite often. The regedit command is valid for Windows 11, 10, Windows Server 2022, 2019 and older.
11+ Tips to optimize Umbraco 7 CMS
2018-11-07
Umbraco 7 is a popular, ASP.NET powered, content management system (CMS). Out of the box Umbraco performs pretty well, but there are still some areas you need to tweak and tune for a more performant Umbraco website. Here are 11+ tips.
.htaccess security best practices in Apache 2.4.6+
2018-11-05
Since Apache 2.4.6, a new module is used to configure and set up access control for websites: mod_authz_core. This means you have to use a different syntax for allowing or blocking hosts and IP addresses to your website. Apache Access Controle done right in WordPress .htaccess.
How to set SVN_EDITOR environment variable in Windows Server
2018-10-29
Set SVN_EDITOR environment variable in Windows Server to resolve the svn error "None of the environment variables SVN_EDITOR, VISUAL or EDITOR is set, and no ‘editor-cmd' run-time configuration option was found."
Manually failover all databases in an SQL Server Database Mirroring configuration
2018-10-25
A manual SQL Server failover can only be initiated from the principal server, and the mirrored database must be synchronized (that is, when the database is in the SYNCHRONIZED state). In this article I will show you how to manual failover mirrored SQL Server databases using Transact-SQL (T-SQL) in SQL Server 2017 and up.
ASP and ASP.NET connectionstring examples for Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL
2018-10-17
Modern connection string examples for ASP.NET Core, Legacy ASP.NET, and Classic ASP. Learn how to use MSOLEDBSQL, ODBC 18, and fix MySQL UTF-8/Emoji support.