ACAS \ Nessus Causes Systems to Crash, Reboot, or BSOD upon Credentialed Scans

Issue:
ACAS \ Nessus Causes Systems to Crash, Reboot, or BSOD upon Credentialed Scans
Environment:
Windows 7 workstations
Symptoms:
The moment an ACAS \ Nessus Credentialed scan begins, the target system crashes, reboots, or BSODs.
Solution:
Tracked this down to Microsoft Patch 3161531.
Appears to be happening when Tenable accesses C$ (almost immediately upon scan).
A related discussion on BSOD's when accessing C$ is here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/4b1e0e7b-3b26-41f3-8979-0cd7a25d9209/kb3161561-crashing-server-when-remotly-accessed-with-smb?forum=winservergen
It appears that Microsoft has put out a related hotfix to this issue. Not because of Nessus specifically, but due to general problems when accessing C$, which I believe is ultimately why Nessus is failing.
For details, see both:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161561
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3179573

Updates not working on new install of Windows 7

Issue:
Updates not working on new install of Windows 7
Environment:
Windows 7 x64 Fresh Install
Symptoms:
Going to Windows Updates results in a window which states 'Checking for updates', but that check never ends.
Solution:
I did see this solution after much looking on answers.microsoft.com , but wanted to put it here as it specifically worked for me:
Install Windows 7.
Don't connect to internet.
Install Windows6.1-KB3083710-x64.msu.
Reboot.
Install Windows6.1-KB3102810-x64.msu
Reboot.
Use the Windows Update tool as normal. The initial check for updates may still take some time, but should eventually work.

If you want to have a task deleted automatically after it runs, you must add at least one trigger that has an expiration date.

Issue:
When attempting to use Task Scheduler with the "/sc onstart" and "/z" switches, the task does not get deleted. The error "If you want to have a task deleted automatically after it runs, you must add at least one trigger that has an expiration date." may occur. This occurs when trying to run a scheduled task on startup (onstart) and have it deleted upon completion (/z). Although a deletion of the task could be performed via the GUI, the point is to have the task removed automatically.
Environment:
Windows. The goal is to kickoff a task when a computer is rebooted, have the task complete and then be deleted so that it doesn't run a second time.
Symptoms:
Task runs, however does not get deleted upon completion.
Solution:
It appears that to use the "/sc once" switch, a time MUST be entered. Without knowing the time that the system will be rebooted, this isn't easy or practical to do. Using the "/sc onstart" option with "/z" doesn't produce the desired results either (as mentioned above). The solution was to have the task delete itself.
The first task can be created such as:
SCHTASKS /create /sc onstart /tn "myTask" /tr "C:\temp\test.bat" /ru SYSTEM
The test.bat file would accomplish whichever tasks were desired, and then delete the task:
test.bat:
****
...Actions to take...
SCHTASKS /delete /tn "myTask" /f
****

Please note that this issue is different from the error "The task XML is missing a required element or attribute" which occurs if not using the /v1 switch, as described here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2004151

The uploaded content exceeded the maximum size allowed

Issue:
When attempting to upload a software package into the an ePO master repository, an error occurs: "The uploaded content exceeded the maximum size allowed"
Environment:
Web Interface of McAfee ePolicyOrchestrator (ePO)
Symptoms:
Hard disk space is not lacking, and yet, shortly after trying to upload the ZIP file package, the error occurs.
Solution:
Although this could very well be traced to a corrupt zip file, the problem was that the ZIP file I was using contained a tar.gz file inside. I had to extract the zip file, then extract the tar.gz (use a program such as 7zip). Once that was extracted, there was another ZIP file which was the appropriate one to use.

Error untaring Plugins (rc = 2)

Issue:
When attempting to update plugins (such as Active plugins) into Tenable SecurityCenter, an error is received such as: "Error untaring Plugins (rc = 2)"
Environment:
Web Interface of Tenable SecurityCenter hosted on RedHat
Symptoms:
Plugins may or may not appear to be working for a moment, however they quickly fail. An error message indicates: "Error untaring Plugins (rc = 2)".
Solution:
Although this could very well be traced to a corrupt tar.gz file (in which case, re-download and try again), the solution in this case was to free up some hard disk space. Logging into the Redhat SecurityCenter installation, I noted that although the plugins are roughly 150MB, when untarred and gz'ed, they expand to a size requiring up to 900MB. If there is anything less than 1GB free on the root (/) partition, some of it should be moved or removed.

Because of a security error, the client could not connect to the remote computer. Verify that you are logged onto the network and then try connecting again.

Issue: 
Connecting to another system with RDP fails. This system may successfully be able to handle RDP requests from other devices. This occured in a Windows RDP Client connecting to a Redhat XRDP Service.
Environment:
Windows workstation connecting to Redhat via XRDP.
Symptoms:
Connection appears to begin, but error message "Because of a security error, the client could not connect to the remote computer. Verify that you are logged onto the network and then try connecting again." appears.
Solution:
Although the following article may be helpful:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/329896
The solution in this case was to disable the enforcement of FIPS. One method is to set the following value to 0:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\FipsAlgorithmPolicy

Recording Tab Missing on DVD CD RW Properties

Issue: 
When attempting to burn a CD or DVD with Windows built-in burning features, the option is not available.
Environment:
Windows 7 Non-Domain System. Although solution could be applied to a domain environment. This occurred on a Dell laptop.
Symptoms:
The tell-tale sign that Windows will not be able to record to disk is a missing recording tab of the DVD RW properties.
Solution:
For many people, this issue issue is caused by a local security policy found here:
User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer
"Remove CD Burning Features" set to Enabled will remove CD Burning.
However, this was not the case for my system;
In my policy editor:
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Removable Storage Access\
"CD and DVD: Deny write Access" set to Enabled will remove CD Burning.
Change the setting from Enabled to Disabled. This setting can be editied by double-clicking on the item.
Click the "OK" button at the bottom of the window.
Close the window titled "Local Group Policy Editor"

Check if CD burning is working. If yes, great! Mine was not. No, I had to also uninstall and reinstall the driver for this to work!

Click on "Start" button
Type in "Device Manager"
Click on Device Manager in search results.
If prompted to allow "Microsoft Management Console" to make changes to your computer, Click "Yes".
Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives
Double-Click on drive (ex: Matshita DVD+RW)
Click on "Driver" tab
Click "Uninstall" button
Accept the warning that the device is about to be uninstalled by Clicking "OK"
While still in device manager, Click on the "Action" menu from the top bar.
Select "Scan for Hardware Changes"
The DVD+RW will automatically reinstall.

Check if CD burning is working. If not, Reboot.

Note: To open policy editor:

Click on "Start\Windows" button
Enter gpedit.msc and Press Enter
If prompted to allow "Microsoft Management Console" to make changes to your computer, Click "Yes".