Adventures of a CTO Disabling MSBuild Node Reuse to Avoid File Locking Issues Intermittent .NET host processes locking your build outputs? MSBuild's node reuse feature causes file locking in complex build systems. Learn how MSBUILDDISABLENODEREUSE fixes years of sporadic build failures, why this optimization backfires, and when you should disable it. November 20, 2025
News PowerShell Universal joins Devolutions: a new chapter in IT automation PowerShell Universal joins Devolutions, marking a new chapter in automation, innovation, and collaboration with creator Adam Driscoll. October 16, 2025
Adventures of a CTO MSBuild Binary Logs Reveal What Visual Studio Hides Visual Studio build logs are noisy and useless for real insight. MSBuild binary logs reveal what the IDE hides: where time is spent, which analyzers drag, and why projects rebuild. Learn how to capture .binlog files and finally see the truth behind your .NET builds. September 26, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Deleting Hidden Proxy Settings that Break Windows Apps Windows leaves behind hidden proxy configurations in the ProxyMgr registry that break apps even after disabling proxy settings. Learn how to identify and completely eliminate these phantom settings that affect system services like Kerberos authentication. August 1, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Vibe Coding a Rust MCP proxy in VSCode with GitHub Copilot A hands-off experiment building a Rust-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) proxy tool using only GitHub Copilot agent mode. Covers setup, multi-transport support, and lessons learned from letting Copilot do all the coding. July 28, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Saving Microsoft Remote Desktop (MSRDC) before it's gone Microsoft’s Remote Desktop client (MSRDC) is being deprecated, and recent updates have broken MsRdpEx support. Learn how to download and pin a stable version, disable auto-updates, and preserve access before MSRDC goes away for good. July 18, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Disabling the Windows 11 Taskbar Search Box for All Users Learn how to disable the Windows 11 taskbar search box for all users by default using PowerShell and registry edits. Includes a deep dive into why the setting gets reset and how to prevent it with a reliable fix. June 6, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Automating Hyper-V Network Adapter Cleanup and IP Migration Learn how to automate the cleanup of ghost Hyper-V network adapters and migrate static IP configurations using PowerShell. This post walks through detecting stale adapters, reassigning IP settings, and setting up a scheduled task to keep your lab environments self-healing on boot. May 17, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Pinning Apps to the Windows 11 Taskbar with PowerShell Learn how to automate taskbar app pinning in Windows 11 using PowerShell by generating a LayoutModification.xml file and forcing the shell to reinitialize the layout without creating new user profiles. May 14, 2025
Adventures of a CTO RD Gateway Without KDC Proxy Causes NTLM Downgrade Learn why mstsc requires the RD Gateway to act as a KDC proxy for Kerberos authentication, how this undocumented behavior causes silent NTLM downgrades, and how to fix it by enabling the KDC proxy service. April 26, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Fix CRL Not Published When Revocation Server Is Offline Learn why AD CS may silently skip CRL publishing when the server is turned off or running with constrained resources, leading to revocation errors like CRYPT_E_REVOCATION_OFFLINE. This post breaks down the root cause, highlights overlooked pitfalls in default AD CS configurations, and provides practical fixes using PowerShell, HTTP CRL distribution, and scheduled tasks. April 19, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Disable Bing Search in Start Menu for Faster Results Discover how to disable Bing search in the Windows Start Menu for faster, more responsive local search results. This step-by-step guide shows how to modify the registry with PowerShell or a .reg file, apply the setting for all users, and optionally use Group Policy or Intune to deploy the change across an organization. Improve Start Menu performance and streamline your Windows experience. April 13, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Isolating a Windows Service Process for Easier Debugging Learn how to isolate a Windows system service into its own process for easier debugging. This guide walks you through identifying service process IDs, listing service group members, and using PowerShell to move a service into a new, dedicated service group. April 6, 2025
News Using RDP without leaving traces: the MSTSC public mode Learn how MSTSC’s /public mode works! It blocks credential caching, session details, and bitmap storage, enhancing security. Discover its impact and how to reset MSTSC for a clean slate. March 6, 2025
Adventures of a CTO Windows Virtual Network using Wintun and tun2socks Learn how to set up a TUN-based virtual network interface in Windows using WinTun and tun2socks, route traffic through a SOCKS proxy, and build your own custom VPN solution from scratch January 21, 2025
Adventures of a CTO PowerShell Host IPC for any .NET application Explore how PowerShell enables interprocess communication (IPC) using named pipes in .NET applications, allowing seamless remote control and API access. This hands-on guide walks through creating custom named pipes, using Enter-PSHostProcess for connection, and integrating PowerShell with your .NET projects to enhance flexibility and streamline automation workflows with real-world examples. September 25, 2024
Adventures of a CTO Mac RDP Client: Kerberos and Protected Users Guide Explore the essential steps to secure Mac RDP connections using Kerberos authentication with a focus on troubleshooting Protected Users and NTLM issues. This guide provides practical solutions for configuring Kerberos in an Active Directory environment, ensuring robust security for remote desktop access. June 13, 2024
Adventures of a CTO Enable PowerShell WinRM Remoting in PowerShell 7 Enable PowerShell 7 WinRM remoting for efficient server management without relying on SSH. This post provides a straightforward method to incorporate PowerShell 7 into Windows environments, ensuring compatibility and simplifying remoting tasks with practical code snippets and configuration advice. February 7, 2024
Adventures of a CTO Decompiling Hyper-V Manager to rebuild it from source This post guides through decompiling Hyper-V Manager to rebuild it from source, aiming to assess its value for potential open-sourcing. It explores manual and automated decompilation processes, including troubleshooting and enhancing the tool, advocating for community-led improvements to this widely-used but neglected software. January 2, 2024
Adventures of a CTO Debugging PowerShell Binary Modules in Visual Studio Learn to create and debug PowerShell binary modules in Visual Studio, covering both local and remote debugging. This guide simplifies the development process for PowerShell modules, enhancing productivity with practical examples and troubleshooting tips for common issues. October 21, 2023