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The report archive

Every problem, written down.

36 real incidents from East Tennessee businesses — the symptom, the fix, and what it would have cost. No hypotheticals, no stock scenarios.

01Software

WebView2 Runtime Won't Install? The Admin MSI Fix That Actually Works

A user's app wouldn't launch because WebView2 Runtime silently failed to install. The fix was to grab the MSI directly from Microsoft and install it elevated.Corey Watson Updated Apr 2026 4 min
02Security

Getting Verification Codes You Didn't Request? How to Tell Spam From Account Compromise

A title company user started receiving back-to-back OTP codes she never asked for. Here's the triage playbook — attacker on a signup form vs. actual account compromise.Corey Watson Updated Mar 2026 5 min
03Security

Finding Your BitLocker Recovery Key After a Windows Update Breaks Boot

A nonprofit's four-month-old HP laptop hit the BitLocker recovery screen after a botched Windows update. Here's how the key lookup saved the day — and why having it escrowed ahead of time is non-negotiable.Corey Watson Updated Feb 2026 5 min
04Software

QuickBooks Desktop Hangs on Intuit ID Login: The Send Forms Workaround

QuickBooks Desktop couldn't email invoices — the Intuit ID login window hung forever. The fix wasn't a password.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2025 5 min
05Security

BEC Wire Fraud at a Title Company: How We Stopped a High-Six-Figure Loss

An attacker got into a closer's inbox and sent fraudulent wire instructions to the other side of a real estate deal. We contained it in under three hours.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2025 6 min
06Automation

Automating CrushFTP Upgrades and In-Place Updates

Shell scripts for major version upgrades and minor updates. Transform a complex manual process into a single, reliable command.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2025 7 min
07Software

Front App Keeps Sending Emails to Spam: Why Whitelisting in Front Doesn't Work

A title company's wire confirmations from a specific bank kept landing in Front's Spam folder. Every Front-side fix failed — because the filter was in Gmail the whole time.Corey Watson Updated Oct 2025 6 min
08Infrastructure

AT&T Fiber Keeps Dropping? How We Proved the ISP Was the Problem

An insurance agency's remote desktop kept reconnecting all day. AT&T blamed our equipment. External ping monitors proved them wrong.Corey Watson Updated Oct 2025 6 min
09Infrastructure

Automated Proxmox Host Configuration Backups to SMB Share

Deployed automated monthly backup solution for Proxmox VE host configurations using bash script and cron.monthly.Corey Watson Updated Jan 2025 5 min
10Infrastructure

Automating Wildcard SSL Certificates on Synology NAS with acme.sh

Deployed automated wildcard SSL certificate management for Synology NAS using acme.sh, Let's Encrypt, and Cloudflare DNS validation.Corey Watson Updated Jan 2025 6 min
11Infrastructure

Lenovo ThinkBook Camera Stuck in DFU Mode After Update

Remote firmware recovery for cameras stuck in bootloader mode. Recovered from 20,000 miles away without proprietary firmware files.Corey Watson Updated Jan 2025 8 min
12Automation

PC Replacement: Zero Data Loss User Profile Migration

CFO's laptop dying, needed everything moved to new machine. 47GB of documents, app settings, and browser data migrated in 90 minutes with USMT.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2024 6 min
13Infrastructure

Mac Running Slow: Disk Errors Causing Performance Issues

Designer's MacBook Pro crawling during large file operations. Disk Utility showed nothing. Deep scan found filesystem inconsistencies across 3 volumes.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2024 5 min
14Software

Print to PDF Not Working in Citrix: Remote Application Printing Fix

PDF wouldn't save from Citrix app. PDF24 solved it in 5 minutes.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2024 4 min
15Automation

Winget for RMM: Silent Software Deployment at Scale

85 machines needed 15 applications each. Manual install: 64 hours. With winget automation: 3 hours. Plus weekly auto-updates.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2024 8 min
16Automation

Mass BIOS & Driver Updates: Dell Fleet Vulnerability Patching

Critical BIOS vulnerability affecting 127 Dell machines. Manual updates would take weeks. Dell Command Update via RMM: 2 weeks, zero site visits.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2024 6 min
17Security

Laptop Stolen at Airport: Emergency Remote Wipe via RMM

Friday 4:47 PM. Sales rep's laptop stolen with customer data. Device online on a different network. We had minutes to act.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2024 5 min
18Security

OneStart Browser Hijacker: Complete Removal from 30 Infected Machines

PUP that hijacks browsers, injects ads, and reinstalls itself via scheduled tasks. Standard uninstall fails. Complete removal automation.Corey Watson Updated Dec 2024 7 min
19Automation

Server at 99% Disk: Recovering 47GB Windows Couldn't Clean

Application server at 0.7% free space. Standard Disk Cleanup found 400MB. We found 47GB hiding in WinSxS and SoftwareDistribution.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 7 min
20Security

Locked Out of Client PC: Emergency Local Admin via RMM

IT director quit and changed every admin password on the way out. Domain locked, DSRM locked, 85 users dead in the water. RMM saved the day.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 7 min
21Automation

Fixing Windows Update Stuck in Reboot Loop: Nuclear Reset

HR laptop cycling 'Undoing changes' for 6 hours. 24H2 update failing at 47%. Benefits deadline in 3 hours. Standard fixes failed.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 8 min
22Automation

Fixing Windows Time Sync: Clock Wrong, Can't Log In

Law firm paralegal locked out Monday morning. Clock showing March 2019. Kerberos won't authenticate with 5+ minute time drift.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 6 min
23Automation

After-Hours Patching Failed: Machines Asleep During Maintenance

Scheduled overnight patches couldn't run - 60% of workstations were powered off or sleeping. Enabled Wake-on-LAN across Dell, HP, and Lenovo fleet.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 7 min
24Automation

BitLocker Encryption at Scale: Compliance in 72 Hours

Cyber insurance audit required full-disk encryption on 127 endpoints. Manual BitLocker: 15 min per machine. Automated: zero-touch with recovery keys synced to RMM.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 6 min
25Automation

Server Going to Sleep: Critical Operations Interrupted

Digital signage kiosk kept going dark during business hours. Windows power settings were reverting after every reboot. Fixed with enforced always-on profile.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 5 min
26Security

Security Audit: Passwords Found in Spreadsheets and Documents

Compliance audit required proving no plaintext passwords on endpoints. Scan found 23 files with 'password' in the name containing actual credentials.Corey Watson Updated Nov 2024 6 min
27Automation

Fixing Windows Corruption After Malware: DISM and SFC Repair

Malware removed but laptop still broken. Settings won't open, search returns nothing, Explorer crashing. 847 corrupted components.Corey Watson Updated Oct 2024 7 min
28Automation

Computer Running Slow? Finding What's Using Your Disk Space

'My computer is slow' ticket. 2GB free on 256GB drive. We found 90GB of recoverable space in 43 seconds without interrupting the user.Corey Watson Updated Oct 2024 6 min
29Automation

App Can't Connect: Firewall Blocking Production Software

New accounting software couldn't reach its license server. Quick firewall toggle isolated the issue in 30 seconds instead of hours of port hunting.Corey Watson Updated Oct 2024 5 min
30Automation

ISP Blaming User Equipment: Automated Speedtest Evidence

Client's ISP claimed 'your equipment is the problem' during intermittent slowdowns. We deployed automated speedtests across 47 endpoints - data proved ISP was throttling.Corey Watson Updated Oct 2024 6 min
31Automation

Shared PC Out of Disk: Stale User Profiles Eating Storage

Training room PC down to 2GB free. Windows Disk Cleanup found nothing. 47 old user profiles from past employees consuming 180GB.Corey Watson Updated Oct 2024 6 min
32Automation

Lost Wi-Fi Passwords: Bulk Recovery from Existing Devices

Office move, IT person quit, no documentation. 23 SSIDs saved on machines but nobody knew the passwords. Extracted all credentials in 12 minutes.Corey Watson Updated Sep 2024 6 min
33Automation

Patch Compliance Failing: 90+ Day Uptime, Missing Updates

Audit flagged 49% of endpoints missing critical patches. Updates were installed - just waiting for reboots that never came.Corey Watson Updated Sep 2024 6 min
34Automation

Insurance Audit Hardware Inventory: 312 Assets in 47 Minutes

Cyber insurance required complete hardware inventory: serial numbers, specs, encryption status. Manual audit quoted at 2 weeks. Automated collection delivered same day.Corey Watson Updated Aug 2024 6 min
35Automation

Print Spooler Stuck: Clearing Hundreds of Jammed Print Jobs

Accounting firm, April 14th. Every printer offline, 847 jobs stuck. They'd tried everything for 2 days. We fixed it in 90 seconds.Corey Watson Updated Apr 2024 5 min
36Automation

Fixing KB5034441 Error 0x80070643: WinRE Partition Resize

312 machines failing the same update after Patch Tuesday. Microsoft's fix was 15 manual steps per machine. We automated it.Corey Watson Updated Jan 2024 8 min
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