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How to fix slow DNS lookup

January 30, 2026
You notice it as “the internet feels slow,” but it’s not throughput. It’s the pause before anything starts. A new website takes 8–15 seconds to begin loading. RDP connections hang at “configuring,” PowerShell modules time out on first call, and “it’s faster the second time” becomes the only consistent clue. In Windows environments—especially domain-joined endpoints and hybrid…
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory PoliciesUncategorized

Role-based access control (RBAC) in Azure

December 19, 2025
Azure RBAC is the authorization system used to control who can do what across Azure resources. It is designed to keep access granular, auditable, and aligned to real operational responsibilities—without turning permissions into a messy pile of one-off exceptions. In practice, Azure RBAC works best when it is treated as an operating model, not a one-time configuration task: define roles clearly…
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Active Directory PoliciesUncategorized

Disabling USB ports using Group Policy: An expert guide

October 17, 2025
Short version (for snippets): To block USB storage with Group Policy, open gpmc.msc, create a new GPO, then enable Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > System > Removable Storage Access > All Removable Storage Classes: Deny all access, and link the GPO to your target OU. Run gpupdate /force on clients to apply. This denies read/write/execute for removable…
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Handling expansion and consolidation of OUs during M&A

October 17, 2025
Handling expansion and consolidation of OUs during M&A Mergers and acquisitions are where “good enough” Active Directory design gets stress-tested. Organizational Units (OUs) sit right at the fault line: they encode administration boundaries, policy application, onboarding/offboarding workflows, and sometimes a company’s entire way of thinking about…
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Active Directory PoliciesUncategorized

Recovering deleted groups from Recycle Bin

October 3, 2025
Recovering deleted groups from Recycle Bin Deleting the wrong group in Active Directory is one of those mistakes that feels small until everything attached to it (file shares, application roles, GPO filtering, nested memberships, Azure AD sync) starts failing. The good news: if the Active Directory Recycle Bin is enabled, a deleted group is…
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