Oct 13 2021 12:46 AM - edited Oct 13 2021 12:50 AM
Starting today, we are hosting a sweepstakes to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sysinternals! To enter, all you have to do is post a video or text-based story on Twitter or LinkedIn with the hashtag #SysinternalsStorySweepstakes--or as a reply below--talking about your favorite Sysinternals tool.
One lucky winner will receive a 30-minute mentoring session with Microsoft Azure CTO and Sysinternals Creator Mark Russinovich!
Full rules for the sweepstakes are below. And, don't forget to join us on October 14, 2021 for Sysinternals @ 25--a live event for those who love (or are just learning about Sysinternals). We'll have a 1:1 chat with Mark, deep dives from the experts, live Q&A, and surprise giveaways.
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COMMON TERMS USED IN THESE RULES:
These are the official rules that govern how the Microsoft Sysinternals Story Sweepstakes will operate (“Sweepstakes”).
In these rules, “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to Microsoft Corporation, the sponsor of this Sweepstakes. “You” refers to an eligible Sweepstakes entrant.
SWEEPSTAKES DESCRIPTION:
For purposes of this Sweepstakes, each submission you post to Twitter or LinkedIn (together “Social Media”) containing the Sweepstakes hashtag #SysinternalsStorySweepstakes will be called an “Entry.” A winner will be selected by random drawing among all eligible entries received during the Entry Period.
WHAT ARE THE START AND END DATES?
This Sweepstakes starts at 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time (PT) on October 13, 2021, and ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on October 29, 2021 (“Entry Period”).
CAN I ENTER?
You are eligible to enter this Sweepstakes if you meet the following requirements at time entry:
This Sweepstakes is void outside the geographic area described above and wherever else prohibited by law.
HOW DO I ENTER?
There are three ways to create an eligible Entry:
Entries must be posted to Social Media or as a reply to this post on the Microsoft Tech Community within the Entry Period and must remain posted until October 29, 2021 to be eligible.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
Limit one video Entry or one text-based Entry per person. We are not responsible for entries that we do not receive for any reason, or for entries that we receive but are not decipherable for any reason.
We will automatically disqualify:
WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ELIGIBLE ENTRY?
To be eligible for judging an entry must meet the following content / technical requirements:
Entries may NOT contain, as determined by us, in our sole and absolute discretion, any content that:
We reserve the right to reject any entry, in our sole and absolute discretion, that we determine does not meet the above criteria.
HOW WILL MY ENTRY BE POTENTIALLY USED?
Other than what is set forth below, we are not claiming any ownership rights to your entry. However, by submitting your entry, you:
Please note that following the end of this Sweepstakes, your entry may be posted on a website selected by us for viewing by visitors to that website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website. While we reserve these rights, we are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry.
If you do not want to grant us these rights to your entry, please do not enter this Sweepstakes.
WINNER DETERMINATION AND PRIZES
On November 1, 2021 winner, one (1) Grand Prize winner will be drawn from among all entries.
Sweepstakes Prizes
One (1) Grand Prize. A 30-minute mentoring session with Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich. Approximate Retail Value (ARV) USD $0
If you are a potential winner, we will notify you by sending a message to the e-mail address, the phone number, or mailing address (if any) provided at time of entry within seven (7) days following completion of judging. If the notification that we send is returned as undeliverable, or you are otherwise unreachable for any reason, we may award to a runner-up.
If there is a dispute as to who is the potential winner, we will consider the potential winner to be the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter the Sweepstakes. If you are a potential winner, we may require you to sign an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability/Publicity Release and a W-9 tax form or W-8 BEN tax form within 10 days of notification. If you are a potential winner and you are 18 or older, but are considered a minor in your place of legal residence, we may require your parent or legal guardian to sign all required forms on your behalf. If you do not complete the required forms as instructed and/or return the required forms within the time period listed on the winner notification message, we may disqualify you and select a runner-up.
If you are confirmed as a winner of this Sweepstakes:
We will only award one (1) prize per person.
WHAT ARE YOUR ODDS OF WINNING?
Your odds of winning this Sweepstakes depend on the number of eligible entries we receive.
WHAT OTHER CONDITIONS AM I AGREEING TO BY ENTERING?
By entering this Sweepstakes you agree:
WHAT LAWS GOVERN THE WAY THIS SWEEPSTAKES IS EXECUTED AND ADMINISTRATED?
This Sweepstakes will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of Washington for any disputes arising out of this Sweepstakes.
WHAT IF SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS AND THE SWEEPSTAKES CAN’T RUN AS PLANNED?
If someone cheats, or a virus, bug, catastrophic event, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, (also referred to as force majeure) affects the fairness and / or integrity of this Sweepstakes, we reserve the right to cancel, change or suspend this Sweepstakes. This right is reserved whether the event is due to human or technical error. If a solution cannot be found to restore the integrity of the Sweepstakes, we reserve the right to select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the Sweepstakes.
If you attempt to compromise the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Sweepstakes by hacking or by cheating or committing fraud in ANY way, we may seek damages from you to the fullest extent permitted by law. Further, we may ban you from participating in any of our future Sweepstakes, so please play fairly.
HOW CAN I FIND OUT WHO WON?
If you send an email to SysinternalsSweepstakes@outlook.com within 30 days of winner selection, we will provide you with the name of the winner.
WHO IS SPONSORING THIS CONTEST?
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
Oct 13 2021 09:19 AM
Oct 14 2021 09:47 AM
@Heather Poulsen I have too many stories to count about using Procmon to solve problems. One of my favorite PsExec stories comes from the Nachi worm around 2003. I was at a company with many slow WAN connections and Nachi was using up all the available bandwidth. I used PsExec together with some VBScript automation to execute patching and rebooting from one system in each VLAN. The network team was very excited, and relieved, to watch as WAN link utilization dropped from 100% to 0% or normal as the process made it through each VLAN.
Oct 14 2021 01:24 PM
@Heather Poulsen My favorite is tool is procdump. Actually I am an even bigger fan of ETW (Event Tracing for Windows) to catch hard performance issues (see https://aloiskraus.wordpress.com/).
This combines the best of both worlds. Memory dumps capture everything at one instant of time while ETW captures the evolution over time but you do not know the internal state. This enables analysis like the case where an application was loosing data received over the network. After ruling out networking issues I was taking memory dumps when the issue did appear and also ETW Tracing at the same time. The ETW Tracing showed a 90s hang where nothing happened followed by a SQLLite Database lock exception. The memory dump showed that the SQL connection (netext by the way is the best managed debugging Windbg extension) has a 30s connect timeout with 3 retries. Combining both information sources showed that a deadlock in the database handling was the actual culprit. Without having both it would have been nearly impossible to come to the same conclusion. Traversing source control for recent changes in the database locking code showed that there was a change made which did cause the deadlock. Problem solved. Thanks not only to SysInternals but also to the Windows Kernel guys adding more and more observability gems into Windows!
PS: I am not at LinkedIn nor Twitter. I find the price drawing rules not very inclusive.
Oct 14 2021 01:50 PM