Leave for Change in Botswana

My brother and sister-in-law had their second child last night. A baby girl, 9 pounds! Just a few weeks after April’s brother and sister-in-law had their first daughter. Exciting times!

Yesterday was the first pleasant day in Africa (well, since I’ve been here)! Lots of sun and cool wind. A much needed change from the previous four days.

So, first full day at TOCaDI. It’s been busy, there is a lot more work to do than I originally anticipated (more on that below). Here are a few pictures of the TOCaDI compound.

TOCaDI Offices

Drive in from the main gate

TOCaDI Offices (across from the first picture)

Technical Stuff
I’m trying to keep track of some of the work that I’m doing. I’m used to a standardized workstation platform, imaging tools, centralized anti-virus software and much faster internet access. So, this is definitely a bit of a change (and welcome at that).

I originally planned on re-building a lot of the workstations rather than trying to fix the myriad of issues that they might be victim too. Unfortunately, there is software required on the workstations and no media present for re-installation.

So, I’ll have to make do. They’ve purchased licenses for AVG Internet Security so I’m following the following steps:

- Ensure the workstation is not online
- Use utilities on thumbdrive to do initial virus scan (using ClamWinPortable)
- Then run Malwarebytes to remove any of the malware on the workstations
- Bring the workstation online and immediately update Windows
- Uninstall whatever virus scan software is on the workstation (BitDefender, Norton — In this case, run the Norton Removal Tool to ensure it is all gone)
- Install AVG and run a full scan

Per machine, it is a lot of steps. While the internet speeds are much better than dial-up, it is satellite and is subject to drop and slowdown significantly in inclement weather or during certain hours of the day.

In any event, this process appears to be working so far.