THWACK Monthly Mission - February 2019

[SolarWinds_Worldwide_LLC]

Rise of the Undead User Accounts!

They rise from the grave with a single intent: to bite you in the neck. The users are long gone, but the accounts are lingering in your infrastructure—hiding below the placid landscape, just sitting, biding their time. They are waiting to rise like the undead, clawing, infiltrating your world. Don’t let them catch you off your guard—like everyone else during an undead invasion.

ARM yourself with the necessary tools to lock down your home and secure your environment.  Barricades will only get you so far. It’s time to take some action!

FEBRUARY MONTHLY MISSION

Use the mission’s resources to complete the tasks and answer the questions for a chance to win!

Correctly answer each question during the week and you'll be entered for a chance to win the weekly prize.

Correctly answer all 20 questions over the course of the month and you'll be entered for a chance to win the grand prize.

150 points are being awarded for each correctly answered question. There are 20 questions, which means you can earn a maximum of 3,000 points for this mission.

Want to join the mission, but not a member? Sign up FREE now!

PRIZES

Weekly Prizes & Drawing Dates:
February 11th 2019: The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead & The Art of Eating through the Zombie Apocalypse: A Cookbook and Culinary Survival Guide

February 18th 2019: Blackest Night Comic

February 25th 2019: Ash vs. Evil Funko Pop Figure

March 4th 2019: Plants vs Zombies Package Set

Grand Prize:
March 4th 2019: Emergency Zone Bundle & Save 2 Person Urban Survival Bug Out Bag + Basic Dog Emergency Kit

MISSION RULES

A new question will open every day (Monday - Friday) starting on February 4th, 2019. Once a question has opened, it will remain open until March 3rd, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. CT. Check the schedule below for exact open/close times.

MISSION SHORTCUTS

Complete the mission shortcut between February 4, 2019 and March 3, 2019 to earn an additional 1,000 THWACK® points & enter to win Last Night on Earth: 10th Anniversary Edition

The shortcut is simple:

1. Download a free trial for Access Rights Manager
2. Connect ARM to your Active Directory
3. Take a screenshot of the Dashboard (Top Nav)
4. Submit screenshot here

DOWNLOAD FREE TRIAL  SUBMIT SCREENSHOT

Weekly Prizes	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Winners
Week 1: Complete questions 1-5 by February 10th, 2019 to be entered to win: The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead & The Art of Eating through the Zombie Apocalypse: A Cookbook and Culinary Survival Guide
Week 2: Complete questions 6-10 by February 17th, 2019 to be entered to win: Blackest Night Comic
Week 3: Complete questions 11-15 by February 24th, 2019 to be entered to win: Ash vs. Evil Funko Pop Figure
Week 4: Complete questions 16-20 by March 3rd, 2019 to be entered to win: Plants vs Zombies Package Set
Correctly answer all 20 questions by March 3rd, 2019 and get entered to win the Grand Prize! Emergency Zone Bundle & Save 2 Person Urban Survival Bug Out Bag + Basic Dog Emergency Kit

Monthly Mission Terms and Conditions: US, UK, and Canada | Germany | Australia

Mission Shortcut Terms and Conditions: US, UK, and Canada | Germany | Australia

[karoswong]

collecter requirement only

Collector Requirements

• Hard Drive: 5GB
• CPU: Dual-core processor or better
• Memory: 4GB
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP1 (32-bit and 64-bit), 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2 and 2016.
• .NET Framework: .NET 3.5 SP1 and .NET 4.5.2 (or higher) is required.

how come server 2008r2 and 2016 is incorrect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[erichale]

I agree! The page says:

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP1 (32-bit and 64-bit), 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2 and 2016.

It does not say 2019.....

[rschroeder]

Today's Mission Question Hint Link opens this page:

Mark, you're right, the hint page for yesterday's question doesn't show the info that this question's Hint Page shows.  It seems if we use an other resource beside the one provided in the hint, our mileage may vary.

It would be best if SW had info properly updated & in sync with all pages, but barring that, one's best practice seems to be to only use the data provided at the current day's Hint link.  It'll be interesting to see how Marcos handles this.  You've clearly got a page that doesn't show the same info as today's hint link does, and it should.  But using the hint link for today's question also clearly shows the right answer.  How will he handle this?  I bet he gets you a retry . . .

[rschroeder]

You are correct--a different page than the one provided as today's Hint shows different information.

My takeaway is to use the hint for the question of the day--which "should" provide the required answer for today's question.

It's unfortunate the two resources aren't in sync with each other, but today's Hint is the one to use for today's question.

I bet Marcos gives you another shot at it.

[petergwilson]

Yes, I stupidly used today's hint to answer today's question and got it right.   D'Oh. 

[dgsmith80]

More importantly, I see either a typo or a sneaky craft trick in the pool of answers - And now I'm doubting myself as to what I should choose!

[mark.healey]

I completely agree with you, I'm just grumbling as I didn't see the point in opening another page when I had one in front of me with the information I thought I needed, I'll know better in future!

[simonprice]

A worthwhile investment by SW: they give away a few Thwack points and, in exchange, get an army of Picky, OCD proofreaders who will spot inconsistencies in their documentation, web site, etc. 🙂

[Jfrazier]

Pretty simple, use the provided resource to start with.  The info for correct answer was provided there..

[df112]

Actually if you open the PDF it's right there in the Collector Requirments.

[nope]

Two different links for two different questions.

Exchange Auditing Software – Exchange Server Audit | SolarWinds

[nope]

Thanks!

[Jfrazier]

there was more to the answer than just two....you missed one.

[rschroeder]

Spot ON!

[mbecken86]

This made me laugh......the nicest way of saying maybe instead of using hints from other questions use what is given.

[ecklerwr1]

LOL just goes to show... I'm still trying to even get rid of the last windows 2008R2 and we have 2019 now!  o.O

[jemertz]

Used the hint link, answered correctly. All 15 days so far this month (except a couple that were so obvious I didn't bother with the link.)

[petergwilson]

Lucky you.  At my last job (a few months ago) I got rid of the last Windows 2000 server and some of the remaining Windows 2003 servers.  Glad I'm not there any more.  Got lots of 2008R2 servers here as well as 2012 and 2016.  No 2019 yet.

[varaprasad143]

so far so good!

[ebradford]

I was a bit confused why when I searched for marcos in today's hint, there was nothing in there about it. While then browsing the 60+ page document, I realized I misspelled macro. Searching again found a good resource.

marcoswithanoh​, sorry buddy, you were not mentioned in the document of today's hint.

[marcoswithanoh]

Aw man. I had really hoped to sneak my way into some documents this way. I'll keep my fingers crossed that someone typos me in.

[renek]

is that really the right answer?

[mbecken86]

New Question Text.
A) Correct Answer

This may have been a mistake lol

Question day 25

[mbecken86]

Hey same question free points cant go wrong lol

[roy.dickel]

Todays question seems a bit less challenging than usual

[janobi]

Shhhhh! Dont tell them, i've got that one right

[earle.kelley]

I am afraid to click the correct answer...

[alexpf]

I am going to wait until later in the day on this one. Haha!

[jhandberg]

This is unexpected.  But, if they are just giving us the "Correct Answer", what are you going to do?

[asheppard970]

As we have seen in the past, someone had a severe case of improper caffeination prior to hitting the "Save" button.  I'm guessing a reset for everyone is pending so I'm holding off until that is done.  Easier than having them take points away from me, IMO...

[mtgilmore1]

True is False and False is True... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[petergwilson]

Possibly but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

[zhymmer]

This is a tricky question, watch out

[laurin.beckhusen]

that ended up being the right answer for me and I got points.....

[isquish]

zhymmer Did you read the whole hint?  Can't give up half way through reading!

[zhymmer]

I did read it. I really don't get it. When i click your hint, i can clearly see the answer...

Well i guess "reading" isn't for me.

[asheppard970]

Wow! Didn't know "Rick Roll"ing was still a thing...that's been around since before Al Gore invented the intarwebs, for Pete's sake!  Sad part is that I remember when that song first came out waaaaaayyyyyyy back in 1987 when I was in college.

[petergwilson]

I was half way through university.

[alexch]

Double Windows Server 2016 to everybody!

[jasonstak2079]

Didn't we have that same question last week? The options were different as 2016 wasn't repeated, but still. I'll take the 'freebie' though. I like easy points.

[sosborne99]

Looked like server 2016 was there twice.  I took it to mean server 2016 and 2019 for the second Windows server 2016.

[rschroeder]

Don't give us up--don't let us down!

[Amanda.Hamilton]

I would like a question to answer... lol

[asheppard970]

"Never gonna...", Señor Rick!!

[tech2734]

Weird

[asheppard970]

We did, jasonstak2079​...methinks there might be another "Reset/New Question" in our future (which will make folks happy, I know 😉 but we'll see what marcoswithanoh​ has to say.  Like you said, I'm always happy for "gimme" shots but as the old adage goes, "There ain't no such thing as a 'free lunch'!".  But maybe there is...<he says only mildy skeptically>

[bobmarley00111]

Maybe marcoswithanoh is off today?

[graeme.brown]

THIS IS NOT THE CORECT ANSWER!!!!!

so I logged in this morning ans saw the freebie - "correct answer". Being the "honest joe" that I am, I immediately clicked on the answer and submitted for a free 150 point.  now I check and there's a legitimate question there, I have if right but somehows this doesn';t look right:

is there any way I can get things reset so I can correct this? I got it right and I got the points but this is definitely not right.  BTW this IS the same question as Week 3 Question 14.

[asheppard970]

I applaud you, graeme.brown​, for your honesty and forthrightness...definitely some

running amok! 

And, bobmarley00111​, you might be correct...Marcos might be AFK for sure.  I just hope he's in a warmer climate than here (US).

[shawndiaz]

Well, if Server 2016 is right, then it has to be right twice...right? (ahem, yes I know the word is repetitive)