Dexops' "
" use cases
Real-world use cases
Learn more about the specific challenges and real-world use cases our customers face, and how our DEXOps service can help.
Take control of Firefox add-ons
- Project Description:
The customer was using Mozilla Firefox alongside Microsoft Edge, but without centralized management of add-ons. This meant that any extensions could be installed and used, some without undergoing security checks. - Challenge:
Without regulation, there is a risk of security vulnerabilities, incompatibilities, or the unintended use of unauthorized add-ins. - Analysis and Solution:
Using Nexthink, a whitelist of approved add-ins was created and deployed to the devices via the registry. A supplementary remote action automatically identifies and removes all add-ins that do not match this whitelist, thereby ensuring consistent standards and greater security when using the browser.
Jira & Confluence Cloud Migration
- Task:
Following the migration of the Atlassian solutions Jira and Confluence from an on-premises environment to the cloud, the affected users at a client’s organization should be surveyed specifically regarding their use and perception of the new environment in order to identify areas for improvement.
- Challenge:
Without targeted feedback, there was no basis for evaluating the quality of the migration from the user's perspective or for identifying areas for improvement.
- Analysis and Solution:
With the help of Nexthink, the user experience was monitored via Application Experience, and software metering was used to analyze the intensity of cloud solution usage. Based on this data, approximately one month after the project was completed, two targeted survey campaigns were rolled out to active users and evaluated.
System crashes caused by faulty graphics drivers
- Problem description:
A customer was experiencing regular blue screens on a specific computer model running Windows 24H2 in combination with design software—that is, severe system crashes that required a reboot every time. - Challenge:
The cause of the crashes was unclear, which initially made it impossible to find a targeted solution. - Analysis and Solution:
Nexthink was used to analyze the behavior of the affected devices. This revealed that the issue was related to a faulty graphics driver. Additionally, we investigated whether different BIOS versions might be a factor. Based on these findings, we were able to isolate the issue and resolve it effectively.
Windows 11 Migration
- Task:
Following the end of support for Windows 10, the customer should determine which devices can be migrated immediately and which systems are temporarily blocked due to technical limitations. - Challenge:
On many devices, there was insufficient free disk space to successfully upgrade to Windows 11. - Analysis and Solution:
With the help of Nexthink, a comprehensive overview of the affected Windows 10 systems was created. Common memory-intensive processes were identified and automatically resolved through targeted remote actions. For the remaining devices, a campaign was launched prompting users to move additional data to an alternative partition. This significantly reduced the manual workload for the IT team.
Identification of clients eligible for continued use after the warranty expires
- Project Description:
The customer wanted to identify which of its devices, more than three years old, were no longer under warranty but were still technically sound enough for continued use—particularly with regard to Windows 11 compatibility and the Digital Employee Experience Score (DEX). - Challenge:
Without a clear overview, there is a risk of making unnecessary replacements or continuing to operate outdated, inefficient equipment. - Analysis and Solution:
A custom dashboard was created in Nexthink that lists all devices still suitable for use, along with potential savings—organized by price and performance categories. An additional KPI shows the total savings achieved by avoiding new purchases. At the same time, a second list was created of devices that no longer meet the requirements and should be replaced.
Faulty connections in an XDR solution
- Problem Statement:
During the daily data review, it was noticed that a program was causing an unusually high number of connection errors. Analysis revealed that the program was an agent for an XDR solution attempting to communicate with the vendor. - Challenge:
The connection issues did not occur across all locations, but only at individual branches. At first, no single cause for the errors could be identified. - Analysis and Solution:
An analysis of #Nexthink revealed that the firewall rules had not been configured correctly at the affected locations. As a result, communication from the XDR solution was blocked, and the data was incomplete. After adjusting the configuration, the connection worked properly again.
Automated uninstallation of unauthorized software
- Task:
Unauthorized software was discovered on some devices. The affected users should be notified of the upcoming uninstallation and given the option to postpone it up to three times, each time by one hour. After that, the software should be automatically removed. - Challenge:
The implementation had to work for both traditional MSI installations and EXE files—including targeted user communication. - Analysis and Solution:
Using Nexthink, a workflow was designed that links a phased campaign communication strategy with the technical implementation: First, users are given the option to postpone the process, followed by an announcement of the final uninstallation. A flexible remote action handles the deletion process—controlled via product code, EXE path, and custom parameters.
Delayed software installations following the Windows 11 rollout
- Problem Statement:
As part of the Windows 11 rollout, users at a customer site received new devices. However, software installation via Intune failed or was interrupted for some programs. A new installation attempt took up to 72 hours to occur. - Challenge:
The long delays meant that users were unable to work immediately after upgrading to Windows 11. - Analysis and Solution:
To speed up the process, a script was developed to identify and remove failed installation attempts from the registry. The Intune service is then automatically restarted, which triggers a new installation attempt immediately.
Display software crashing on terminal PCs
- Problem Statement:
Software crashes occurred regularly on specialized terminal PCs used to display information on monitors or televisions. As a result, the affected devices became inoperable—often for days at a time, since no one reported the outage immediately. - Challenge:
Manual restarts often occurred far too late, leading to information gaps and frustration among employees. - Analysis and Solution:
Using Nexthink, all affected devices were first identified and monitored centrally via a dashboard. As soon as the display software stopped running, the terminal was flagged, and it could be restarted immediately. In the future, the entire process is expected to run fully automatically without the need for an IT ticket.
Frequent Excel crashes caused by a faulty graphics driver
- Problem statement:
During daily checks, it was noticed that Excel was crashing more frequently—a pattern that suggested an underlying cause. - Challenge:
Without a specific trigger, support requests and system analyses were time-consuming and did not provide a reliable path to resolving the issue. - Analysis and Solution:
Analysis of the crash data revealed a link to a specific graphics driver. Only devices running a specific driver version—which had been updated shortly before—were affected. Armed with this information, the customer was able to perform targeted rollbacks and use Nexthink to test future driver updates in advance for potential issues.
Increasing login duration (time spent logged in on the device)
- Challenge:
Since September 13, 2024, the average normal Windows logon duration has increased from 17.5 seconds to about 1 minute, and the extended logon duration has risen from just under 2 minutes to approximately 2 minutes and 35 seconds. - Negative impact:
Longer wait times for users, which can lead to a loss of productivity. - Analysis and Resolution:
After a thorough investigation, we discovered that the customer had made a change to their Zscaler configuration (a cloud-based security platform that protects internet traffic). Once this change was reversed on September 17, logins returned to normal.
Restoring device security with BitLocker
- Challenge:
At one of our clients' sites, all devices are protected by BitLocker encryption software. During certain updates, this protection is temporarily disabled and the device is put into "suspend mode" to improve user experience. This, in turn, leaves the devices unprotected if they are not restarted regularly. - Negative impact:
Devices remain unprotected for longer if they do not restart, which poses a security risk. - Analysis and Solution:
A daily remote action is now performed at the customer’s site to identify which devices are in suspend mode. A specially developed dashboard informs the IT team how long a device has been unprotected. Users are then actively prompted to restart the device to reactivate protection. If the user does not restart the device, the security settings are automatically restored after a specified time period has elapsed.
Faulty connections in a new printing solution
- Challenge:
While implementing a new printing solution for a customer, numerous connection errors occurred. Most of the failed attempts were attributable to a specific port, which reported a “no host” status in 95.5% of cases. - Negative impact:
The faulty connections caused delays in response times and, in the worst-case scenario, could have compromised the application's stability. In addition, millions of faulty connections placed an unnecessary strain on the network. - Analysis and Solution:
It turned out that the relevant port had been overlooked when configuring the firewall. After correcting this setting, the error messages disappeared, and the printing solution worked as intended.
Dashboard for Microsoft Defender
- Challenge:
An IT team at our client’s company that manages Microsoft Defender needed a way to monitor the status of Defender on devices. Specifically, they wanted to know whether Defender was running properly and whether the antivirus signatures were up to date. - Negative impact:
Without detailed information about the status of Defender on the devices, there is a lack of clarity regarding device security, which means that some devices may only be partially protected. - Analysis and Solution:
We configured Remote Actions to read the four critical metrics from Microsoft Defender on a daily basis. A newly created dashboard now displays the number of devices with Defender issues, as well as devices with outdated antivirus signatures. This enables the team to proactively address security risks and improve protection.
BitLocker protection status: “Unprotected”
- Challenge:
On most devices, the BitLocker protection status is "Unprotected"—meaning that data is stored unencrypted on the hard drives. - Negative impact:
Adequate protection is not guaranteed. If the device is stolen or lost, it is very easy for someone to access the data. - Analysis and Solution:
The hard drive should be encrypted. This setting should have already been configured via Microsoft Intune, but it had not taken effect everywhere. The issue was discussed in detail with the customer, a list of relevant devices was created, and the "Enable BitLocker" remote action was then triggered using Nexthink. This ensures that the respective devices encrypt the data using BitLocker at the desired time.
Devices with less than 15 GB of free hard drive space
- Challenge:
It has been determined that some devices have less than 15 GB of available storage space. - Negative impact:
To ensure smooth operation and good performance of the devices, you should make sure there is sufficient free disk space available. - Analysis and Solution:
After consulting with the client, a 15 GB threshold is acceptable, but users should still be made aware of the issue. Idea: Use an Engage campaign (a feature for targeted user information and surveys) to highlight the negative consequences of insufficient storage space and encourage users to take action.
Faulty connection
- Challenge:
On a relatively large number of devices, an .exe file attempted to establish a connection via a port to a specific IP address. All of these attempts resulted in the status "no service." Over the previous 7 days, there were a total of approximately 1.3 million connection attempts. Over the entire available period (35 days), there were no successful connections. The target itself was generally accessible via the network. - Negative impact:
A software program that appeared to be no longer in use unsuccessfully attempted to retrieve data from a service that still existed but had been decommissioned. Depending on the circumstances, the software may still have been subject to licensing fees due to its installation, resulting in unnecessary costs. - Analysis and Solution:
The problem was efficiently resolved by automatically and selectively uninstalling the software via a remote action.
Upgrade to Teams 2.0 is not possible
- Challenge:
Microsoft plans to make Teams 2.0 the default client in the near future. To achieve this, the new client should be downloaded and updated automatically. However, this process could not be successfully completed for the customer, so users had to continue using Teams Classic. - Negative impact:
Users will no longer be able to use Teams as collaboration software once Microsoft enforces the switch to Teams 2.0. - Analysis and Solution:
The issue was caused by a specific internet setting. As a result, a remote action was implemented that allows all devices with this setting and active Teams usage to be displayed in a live dashboard. This enables administrators to update the configuration on the affected devices before Teams 2.0 is forced to activate.
Matthias Hellwig
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