| Configuration Management, Security Management & Compliance Management |
| Password Reset Solution: Account Reset Console |
| Transparent Automatic User Password Synchronization between Servers/Domains |
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Customer Name: Wescom Credit Union
Products Used: User Manager Pro and Service Account Manager
Problem Definition
Linnie Gooch manages a network of almost one thousand workstations and one hundred servers spread out over twenty-five locations in five counties. With a network of this size and complexity, simple tasks such as updating service account and local administrator account passwords become so time consuming that at times they are simply are not done. In addition, Linnie found that many of his users were downloading unauthorized programs that had the potential to create havoc in his environment. Linnie looked to Lieberman Software's User Manager Pro and Service Account Manager to solve these problems.
Problem resolution
Initially Linnie was impressed with User Manager Pro’s ability to change the local administrator password on all of his machines in one operation. In addition, he was able to change all of his service account passwords with Service Account Manager with the same ease. These features were especially handy whenever an employee who knew the passwords left the company. As he played with the tool he found another useful feature – finding and disabling unauthorized programs on his client workstations.
"With User Manager Pro I am able to do an audit of all registry activity on all of my machines," Linnie said. "By looking at the run key I can see what programs launch at start-up and can modify the entry so that the program will no longer run."
With the program disabled he can then delete the file when it is convenient - either on-site or through a screen sharing utility. Further, he can export the data into an Excel spread sheet to give to a user or their manager. By sharing this information the user becomes more aware of what programs they should not download as well as avoid links that could lead to the inadvertent downloading of spyware or scumware.
"What I love about this tool is how fast it can make these complex changes," Linnie continued. "Plus with the deferred processing feature, I can do the operation once and know that machines that are offline at the time of the change will get hit as they come online.
Additionally, Linnie has a group of users that need to have their local administrator accounts updated on a more frequent basis than the rest of the employees. Linnie used User Manager Pro to put these users in a different domain and can then make the required changes to the all of the accounts with just a few mouse clicks.
"I just love these tools," Linnie concluded. "They have not only saved me time and valuable IT resources, they have enabled me to complete tasks that could not get done before."
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