Use textverified.com to receive text messages

Great for expats.  Allows you to temporarily rent a US phone number -- an actual one, not a VoIP one, so you can receive sms - a txt message for verification.  Great pricing too.

https://www.textverified.com/

Omnicalculator

Your life in 3648 free calculators.

https://www.omnicalculator.com

We knew the height of the tower. The WiFi Antenna spec showed it had a 35 degree coverage angle. So on the ground, how far out would the coverage extend?  Omnicalculator to the rescue.

 

Why color printers use color toner, even when just printing black

Because black toner alone isn’t the blackest black.  I think most people (myself included) assumed it would be, but no.

https://inkablelabel.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Black-Swatches.webp

Enable remote connections to SQL Express

These guys have a comprehensive guide for enabling remote connections to your SQL Express (SQLExpress) Server.

https://www.apesoftware.com/calibration-control/help/sql-remote-connections

OpnSense VPN with 2FA

This guide from Zenarmor made setting up VPN on OpnSense with 2FA really easy.

Uninstall Bitdefender with forgotten password remotely

Saw this on /r/bitdefender.

Especially if you are remotely administrating the PC, .

Create a folder on C Drive called "itfolder"

Download and ensure the latest BEST_REmoval_Tool.exe is in the folder.

Run the PS script. It will create a user and reboot into safe mode, then remove the password key entry from the registry, and then reboot again.

# Create Admin User

$adminUsername = "RunOnceAdmin"

$adminPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "abcd123!@-CHANGEME" -AsPlainText -Force

$adminUser = New-LocalUser -Name $adminUsername -Password $adminPassword -AccountNeverExpires -UserMayNotChangePassword -Verbose

$AdminUSerAdminGRoup = Add-LocalGroupMember -Group Administrators -Member $adminUsername -Verbose

# Enable Auto Logon

$autoLogonUsername = "RunOnceAdmin"

$autoLogonPassword = "abcd123!@-CHANGEME"

$regPath = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"

$regValueName1 = "AutoAdminLogon"

$regValueName2 = "DefaultUserName"

$regValueName3 = "DefaultPassword"

Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name $regValueName1 -Value "1" -Verbose

Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name $regValueName2 -Value $autoLogonUsername -Verbose

Set-ItemProperty -Path $regPath -Name $regValueName3 -Value $autoLogonPassword -Verbose

# Output success message

Write-Host "Admin user '$adminUsername' has been created and auto logon enabled."

​

New-Item c:\itfolder\runoncescript.cmd -Force

$test=@"

REG add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Endpoint Security" /v Key /d "" /f

REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v AutoAdminLogon /f

REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v DefaultUserName /f

REG DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v DefaultPassword /f

bcdedit /deletevalue "{default}" safeboot

shutdown.exe /r /t 00

"@

Set-Content c:\itfolder\runoncescript.cmd -value $test

​

​

Set-ItemProperty "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce" -Name '*RunOnceScript' -Value "c:\directit\runoncescript.cmd"

​

bcdedit /set "{current}" safeboot network

Start-Sleep -Seconds 10

shutdown.exe -r -t 0

​

​

Once it's come back online, run these two.

c:\itfolder\BEST_Uninstall_tool.exe /bdparams /bruteForce /noWait
net user RunOnceAdmin /delete

​

Job done!

Hide what country you're in from Google

Sometimes a VPN alone doesn't do it.  You need to disable all kinds of other location detecting things.

https://surfshark.com/blog/google-location-vpn