Fujikura (United States)

The Windows Firewall and Business Applications — Register Inbound Rules From the Installer (archived 2026-08-30)

"It works on the dev machine but the client can't connect" almost always traces back to the Windows Firewall. This article covers the default-block-inbound behaviour and profiles, why you cannot leave production to the security warning dialog, and how to register inbound rules fr...

Automating Excel and CSV Work with PowerShell — Practical Recipes for Aggregation, Reconciliation, and Report Output (archived 2026-08-30)

Practical recipes for automating CSV aggregation, reconciliation, and Excel report output with PowerShell. Covers the default encodings of Import-Csv/Export-Csv (how 5.1 and 7 differ), aggregation with Group-Object, reconciliation with Compare-Object and hash tables, and the cave...

The Depths of Windows I/O (Part 2) — Synchronous and Asynchronous I/O: What OVERLAPPED Really Means (archived 2026-08-30)

Part 2 of a series explaining Windows synchronous and asynchronous I/O (overlapped I/O) with diagrams. It covers what FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED means, the four ways completion is reported, the conditions under which supposedly-asynchronous I/O completes synchronously, how to cancel pr...

Calling COM and .NET from PowerShell — Widening What Your Scripts Can Reach (archived 2026-08-30)

A practical guide to calling .NET classes from PowerShell, embedding C# and Win32 APIs with Add-Type, driving COM, cleaning up leftover Excel processes, why unattended Office automation is unsupported, and the differences between 5.1 and 7. Archived version of https://comcomponen...

Should That Batch File Move to PowerShell? — Auditing cmd/bat Assets and Making the Migration Call (archived 2026-08-30)

A decision table for working out whether the batch files still running your business should move to PowerShell: how cmd and VBScript differ in status, bat's structural weaknesses such as not stopping on errors, how to write during the mixed period, a command rewrite reference tab...

Where Do Downcoding and Returned Claims Actually Happen? — Taking Apart Receipt Checking Logic Using ORCA's Source Code and Public Documents (archived 2026-08-30)

Where do downcoding and returned claims actually happen? From ORCA's data check function and its check masters, through the rece-den data check, to the computer checks, cross-matching review and longitudinal review performed by the claims review and payment bodies — this article...

Power Automate Licensing — How Far Microsoft 365 Gets You for Free, and When You Need Premium (archived 2026-08-30)

Within Microsoft 365 you can build and run cloud flows on standard connectors at no extra cost, but premium connectors such as HTTP, SQL Server, and Dataverse, along with RPA and AI Builder, require a paid license. This article covers how to choose between Premium and Process, an...

Hardening PowerShell — Logging, AMSI, Language Modes, and JEA (archived 2026-08-30)

A practical guide to using PowerShell safely instead of banning it. Covers enabling script block logging and transcription, AMSI and disabling the old engine, restricting execution with language modes, and delegating privileges with JEA. Archived version of https://comcomponent.c...

The Windows Certificate Store in Practice — User or Computer, Which Should You Use? (archived 2026-08-30)

Should a client certificate go in the user store or the computer store? This practical guide works systematically through the classic certificate mistakes — the difference between certmgr.msc and certlm.msc, granting private-key permissions, and taking an expiry inventory with Po...

How to Replace an exe or DLL That Is In Use — Restart Manager and the "File In Use" Problem in Auto-Update (archived 2026-08-30)

Why can't an exe or DLL that is in use be replaced? This article covers the locking of running files and the fact that renaming is still allowed, enumerating, shutting down and restarting the processes holding a file with Restart Manager, and rename-then-replace and MoveFileEx's...

Investigating Event Logs in Practice with Get-WinEvent — Filtering Speed Decides How Long the Investigation Takes (archived 2026-08-30)

How to make Windows event log investigation efficient with PowerShell. Covers why filtering with Where-Object is slow, when to use FilterHashtable versus XPath, recipes for investigating reboots, logons and application crashes, and collecting from multiple machines. Archived vers...

Calling COM and .NET from PowerShell — Widening What Your Scripts Can Reach (archived 2026-08-30)

A practical guide to calling .NET classes from PowerShell, embedding C# and Win32 APIs with Add-Type, driving COM, cleaning up leftover Excel processes, why unattended Office automation is unsupported, and the differences between 5.1 and 7. Archived version of https://comcomponen...

Investigating Event Logs in Practice with Get-WinEvent — Filtering Speed Decides How Long the Investigation Takes (archived 2026-08-30)

How to make Windows event log investigation efficient with PowerShell. Covers why filtering with Where-Object is slow, when to use FilterHashtable versus XPath, recipes for investigating reboots, logons and application crashes, and collecting from multiple machines. Archived vers...

Choosing a Windows Service Account — LocalSystem, Virtual Accounts, and gMSA (archived 2026-08-30)

Are you still running a Windows service as LocalSystem? This article compares the privileges and network identity of LocalService, NetworkService, virtual accounts, domain users, and gMSA in a decision table, and explains how to operate with least privilege. Archived version of h...

How Long Can You Go On Using MSMQ? — The Migration Decision for a Legacy Queue That Isn't Even "Deprecated" (archived 2026-08-30)

MSMQ does not appear on Microsoft's official deprecated-features lists, yet System.Messaging exists only in .NET Framework and blocks migration to .NET. This article sorts fact from rumour about MSMQ's status, then sets out the criteria for deciding whether to keep using it or mi...

Using WMI/CIM from C# and PowerShell — A Practical Guide to Hardware Info Retrieval, Process Monitoring, and Remote Queries (archived 2026-08-30)

WMI/CIM is the standard way to get a PC's serial number, monitor free disk space, and detect process launches. This article covers how to use CIM cmdlets such as Get-CimInstance, migration from the old Get-WmiObject, when to use System.Management versus the CIM API in C#, plus pr...

Packet Capture on Windows in Practice — Choosing Among pktmon, netsh trace, and Wireshark (archived 2026-08-30)

A communication failure that leaves only "timeout" in the app log can be investigated one layer deeper by looking at the packets that actually went over the wire. Even on servers where you cannot install Wireshark, you can capture with the inbox pktmon and netsh trace. This artic...

Preventing Key-Person Dependency in Power Automate — Keeping Flows Running After the Person Who Built Them Leaves (archived 2026-08-30)

An overview of how to counter the risk of Power Automate flows stopping when their creator resigns or transfers: what happens when the owner is deleted, setting co-owners, taking over orphaned flows, designing the execution account, and stocktaking with a flow register. Archived...

What Happens When You Tap a My Number Health Insurance Card — Reading Online Eligibility Verification and Its Integration with the Medical Billing System from ORCA's Source Code (archived 2026-08-30)

From tapping a My Number health insurance card to insurance eligibility landing in the medical billing system, explained through the end-to-end flow of online eligibility verification and the published source of ORCA (Nichi-Rece). Includes the 20 eligibility-verification APIs, th...

Should That Batch File Move to PowerShell? — Auditing cmd/bat Assets and Making the Migration Call (archived 2026-08-30)

A decision table for working out whether the batch files still running your business should move to PowerShell: how cmd and VBScript differ in status, bat's structural weaknesses such as not stopping on errors, how to write during the mixed period, a command rewrite reference tab...