ConnectWise Automate: Using Advanced Search for Quick Audits

Using Advanced searches is an awesome way to pull up a quick dataset to export to Excel. This allows you to easily manipulate the query that is run to pull out some incredibly easy and quick data points.

Step by Step:

1. Going over quick ways to pull data using searches inside of Automate let’s get into it.
2. So, as you open up Automate here one thing that you may or may not need to do is if you get told or maybe you’re just looking for something an easy way to pull a quick search without having to make a full dataview is just using the advanced searches.
3. So, if I come over to automation searches and then into advanced searches here, you get a window that looks something like this sometimes it’s larger or smaller depending on whatever you get.
4. Something that you’ll want to do is if you actually click this little plus box this will actually add a new select statement basically, we’re selecting all from computers and then we’re basically doing joins and things like that on the back into SQL this is the nice way to actually build out a query to find data in your system.
5. One of the things that I get asked a lot as an MSP Consultant is where are or why is my antivirus showing this versus that and usually it’s because of virus definitions and IDs and the way the database was built, however something that is interesting is being able to basically find where your AV is installed but showing something else.
6. So, what I can do is if I actually come up to computer here there is an antivirus category and what I want to say is antivirus name and this is what’s displaying so if I just grab you know McAfee for example and it would say in my actual computer management window you know my Windows 10 Dev machine is going to be supported by McAfee right now.
7. However, I know that I have Sentinel one installed and so what I’m looking for is then where it’s displaying McAfee but if I go to application install so application is basically detected I can say contains and do something like Sentinel one and so I like to just do sentinel and that way it will catch your MAC machines as well.
8. If I hit search I don’t think I’m going to get anything because I don’t think we have anything that’s labeled McAfee but basically what I’m saying here is give me all the information where it’s displaying and so if I just click a Dev machine here just so I can show you what I’m looking at and I need to add the tile back so that we can see that correctly and if you don’t have this all you have to do is come into here make sure that antivirus is checked and click close. (Still not going to work for me)
9. One thing to note if this ever happens to you is your workspace is just a combination of other tiles so if I left-click on Automation and device, it will just bring me up all the tiles that are from my workspace there.
10. In this case antivirus (this tile yours is likely on your workspace the default one) in this case it would say McAfee you know version eight whatever you have in this top search here that’s what is displaying.
11. Then what we’re looking for is where services or application you’re basically finding a different check to see whether your antivirus is installed, application name works fine, and then basically you just hit search, and whatever data comes back you can then select all or you can export all to excel.
12. That will give you basically a quick dataview audit of all the places where a different AV is labeled, but your software is installed and it then in that case you would likely need to go into SQL and update the IDS to make sure they’re kind of in a proper order.