Microsoft Webcast: SMS Topaz Advanced Security (02/05/02 @ 10am PST) Thursday, January 10 2002 @ 07:49 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy SMS Topaz is around the corner and many things are changing - including security. If SMS 2.0 security didn't have you baffled, Topaz will give you a run for your money. read more Microsoft Webcast: SMS Topaz and Active Directory Integration (Archive) Friday, December 21 2001 @ 09:46 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy One of the biggest features of the new release of SMS will be tighter integration with Active Directory. In this webcast the new features are discussed. read more Boot Disks for XP Thursday, December 20 2001 @ 10:26 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Most computers can boot from the CD drive, making boot disks unnecessary for installing Windows XP. However, on a computer that does not support CDROM booting, you may discover the hard way that the XP disk does not contain any type of boot disks. read more FREE: Qcheck for Network Throughput Testing Wednesday, December 19 2001 @ 10:22 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy This handy tool allows network throughput testing on TCP (UDP & TCP) as well as IPX/SPX. This is very handy if you need to test the throughput between distribution servers and any network segment that they service. read more Microsoft Webcast: SMS Topaz Mobile Client (01/08 @ 10am PST) Thursday, December 13 2001 @ 06:11 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Explanation and discussion of the new mobile client in SMS Topaz. Includes comparision with the desktop client and will be delivery by Wally Mead. read more FREE: Active Ports - Port Tuesday, December 4 2001 @ 08:31 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Port scanners generally scan a remote system and determine what ports are exposed. This one reverses the approach by scanning the system it runs on - this also allows it to identify any remote programs that may be attached to a Trojan running on your system. read more Milestek: Small Scale Structured Wiring Wednesday, November 28 2001 @ 05:52 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy For small sites (or your home lab) structured wiring can be expensive. Milestek will have everything you need and you can buy it in the exact quantities you need. read more Virtual PC: Virtual Machines to Go Friday, November 23 2001 @ 10:47 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Connectix has created a virtual machine technology that is very similar to VMWare. One distinct difference is that is will run any Windows OS on MacOS as well as Windows. read more RegClean - Fall Cleaning for Your Registry Friday, November 23 2001 @ 06:09 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy The registry is read thousands of times a second on a Windows computer (Just download regmon from http://www.sysinternals.com to prove that's no exageration). When too many useless entries are in the registry it can affect performance and reliability of the registry. read more TreePad - Great Information Organization Tool Wednesday, November 21 2001 @ 08:45 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Do you have information scattered about text files, Outlook notes, word documents and the like? Treepad is a great little utility for organizing information the familiar tree structure used in so many electronic information sources today. read more Windows XP PowerToys Tuesday, November 20 2001 @ 07:21 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Each release of Windows has seen a new release of Microsoft's "PowerToys" and XP is no exception. I guess you could call this release the web/imaging/desktop release. read more FREE: VBScript Code for Managing SMS (SMS) Thursday, November 15 2001 @ 09:37 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Steve Collins has created a nice set of VBScripts for managing various aspects of SMS 2.0. Listing and adding objects to collections, monitoring CAPs and listing packages are among the scripts provided. read more FREE: StarOffice 6.0 in Beta Wednesday, November 14 2001 @ 07:55 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy StarOffice is Sun's free competitor to Microsoft Office. They have gotten rid of the unified interface and of course it is much lighter on it's feet than Microsoft Office. read more Software Upgrades / Updates Tracking Site Tuesday, November 6 2001 @ 09:32 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Ever wonder if there are upgrades available for any of your software packages? How about security and other fixes? VersionTracker takes care of it all - automatically. read more VMWare Workstation 3.0 Ships Monday, November 5 2001 @ 04:49 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy VMWare Workstation 3.0 build 1455 is now shipping version! Improvements include USB support, virtual disks larger than 2 GB (up to 256 GB) and XP support - just for starters. read more FREE: setacl utility for configuring security on everything... Tuesday, October 30 2001 @ 04:19 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy This handy utility allows configuration of security on files and registry keys - but also on printers, service and active directory. read more FREE: Visual Basic 5.0 Custom Control Edition Friday, October 26 2001 @ 01:56 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Custom Control Edition is a free download from Microsoft. If you are a scripter looking to create a few interface dialogs - here's the perfect tool for free! read more New Windows XP Shell Features Tuesday, October 23 2001 @ 09:13 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Windows XP has a lot of subtle improvements that aren't always that easy to find. This handy article details some of the great new features of the shell. read more Installation Monitor Now Downloadable (9x/NT/2000/XP) Tuesday, October 16 2001 @ 09:24 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy This handy tool uses APIs to actually track what an installation does as it executes. This is very different from the snapshoting approach used for repackaging and may be helpful in finding those sticky install problems. read more Wake on Lan ActiveX Control Wednesday, October 10 2001 @ 08:14 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Wake On LAN (WOL) is that great feature in new PCs that allows you to turn the PC on by sending special ethernet frames to the network card of the PC. This handy little control allows you to script the wakeup in any language that can use an ActiveX control. read more PowerDefrag Adds Boot Time Degfragmentation (9x/ME) Friday, October 5 2001 @ 11:48 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Ever tried to use the defragmentation utility in Windows 9x and ME. Every few seconds it starts the whole process over again because the disk was written to. This slick utility does the defragmentation on a reboot, before Windows completely loads. read more BOOK: .NET Framework Essentials Tuesday, September 25 2001 @ 08:35 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy This book is a good start for administrator's who are curious about .NET. It is not filled with C# code examples - but does have enough code to communicate some of the technical essentials. read more NTFS Dos for Innoculating Nimda Friday, September 21 2001 @ 08:25 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Winternals dropped me a note that folks are successfully using NTFSDOS Pro to remove Nimda. What a great idea. read more Is .NET the Death of Simple Scripting for Administrators? Thursday, September 20 2001 @ 07:01 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy The feature article of August Windows Scripting Solutions talked about how .NET was here to stay and that we should all rejoice in the new capabilities. The latest MSDN Scripting Clinic shows how to build a configurable web service. As we move to .NET and VB and VBS are merged, it would appear that "scripting" now means "application programming." I think Microsoft is losing perspective on the needs of the administrator community. read more Windows XP Application Compatibility Toolkit Updated! Wednesday, September 19 2001 @ 04:52 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft has put some serious efforts into application compatibility in Windows XP. In large part this is to ensure that it can supplant Windows 9x variants in the home market - but it is a big plus for corporate environments where legacy programs cannot be retired. read more New IIS Security Tool: URL Scan Friday, September 14 2001 @ 08:03 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft has an excellent new security tool for IIS. This utility is predictive for future attacks because it analyzes URL requests for odd attributes. read more FREE: TNG Unicenter Desktop Edition Thursday, September 13 2001 @ 09:03 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy To whet your whistle, Computer Associates has come up with a free edition of their desktop software. This allows a single PC to use several helpful utilities. read more BOOK: Great .NET Book for non-programmers Thursday, September 6 2001 @ 08:59 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Have you been struggling with what .NET is and what it will mean to you? Join the crowd! This book provides a great view of .NET - explaining not only some of the how - but much of the why. read more .NET Beta 2 Script Engine Fix Available Wednesday, August 22 2001 @ 03:06 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy If you are working with the VisualStudio.Net, Beta 2 - there is a script engine fix available already. read more Microsoft Publishes Network Security Hotfix Tool Thursday, August 16 2001 @ 07:31 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Had enough Code Red yet? While you're waiting for the next Code, you might want to check out Microsoft's new tool for determining what hotfixes and patches are on your computers. It checks many server OSes, applications and desktop OSes against a list of fixes Microsoft will keep continually updated. read more .NET Assemblies Save You From DLL Hell (Seminar Online) Wednesday, August 15 2001 @ 09:20 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Keep wondering what's in .NET for administrators? How about some DLL conflict relief? read more OpenAFS - Windows DFS Alternative for Windows Installer Friday, August 10 2001 @ 06:04 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy OpenAFS is a file abstraction system similar to Windows DFS (by the way the term "Distributed File System" was general industry term until it become lingo-MS). I have wondered whether OpenAFS could be a reasonable alternative for the file abstraction and load balancing required by Windows Installer. read more Perl Editor Monday, August 6 2001 @ 02:25 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft has been embracing Perl as a core scripting languaged - partially evidenced by most of the sample scripts in Supplement 2 of the Windows 2000 Resource Kit. If you do a significant amount Perl scripting - this editor may be for you. read more Bochs (box) - Free Virtual Machine Emulator Wednesday, August 1 2001 @ 07:17 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Ever wish you could test that web application offline - or do a demo with one less machine? Bochs will allow you to emulate Linux, DOS, Windows 95 and Windows NT - for free. read more Edit Forgotten NT Passwords Tuesday, July 31 2001 @ 08:39 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Figuring out that a key administrative or service user password has been forgotten is a frightening experience. This piece of freeware comes with all the standard "use at your own risk" disclaimers - but if you're looking at an OS reload - some of those disclaimers don't look so impending. read more Application Compatibility Toolkit Update for W2K SP2 Thursday, July 26 2001 @ 08:21 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy The Windows 2000 Application compatibility toolkit has been updated for Service Pack 2. If you are unfamiliar with this utility set, it helps adapt Windows 2000 to be compatible with many more applications than it was originally tested with. read more Remote Control Through an ASP! Wednesday, July 25 2001 @ 11:44 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy This new service allows you to remote control a computer using only a web browser. Yes, it is secure. read more Complete Windows 2000 Resource Kits Available Online! Wednesday, July 18 2001 @ 08:49 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft has published the complete reference books and tools of the Windows 2000 resource kits online! read more FREE: Active Directory Diagnostic Tool Friday, July 13 2001 @ 08:11 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy NetIQ has created a free tool for doing some basic Active Directory diagnostics and replication checks. read more InstallShield AdminStudio in Beta Tuesday, July 10 2001 @ 02:33 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy InstallShield has a new product in beta called "AdminStudio" It is a suite of tools intended to target the Administrator tasked with repackaging. It's easy for anyone to get on the beta. read more Microsoft Webcast: SMS Installer and Installer Step-up (ISU) (7/19 @ 10am PST) Monday, June 25 2001 @ 08:09 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy The SMS Installer Step-Up Utility is a program that converts SMS Installer scripts in Windows Installer Scripts. The latest version has ISU integrated into the SMS Installer interface. read more SMS Knowledge Base Articles Updated in May (SMS) Monday, June 18 2001 @ 08:13 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Here is a summary list of SMS knowledge base articles that have been changed and updated in May. read more FREE: GPO Administration Power Tool Friday, June 8 2001 @ 01:31 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Administering and troubleshooting Windows 2000 Group Policy Objects is hellish in a large Active Directory! Microsoft has made a limited function version of FAZAM available for free. read more Enhanced Asset Information in SMS Wednesday, June 6 2001 @ 08:45 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy By making a few changes to SMS you can collect standard asset information such as serial number and asset tag from APCI compliant computers. Sure you can run the vendors DMI agents and import 200 K of limited use data into SMS to get this information too, but why? read more FREE: One Cranking Startup Disk (BOOTDISK) Friday, June 1 2001 @ 08:10 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy This handy bootdisk crams many utilities into a very small space. Configuration restores, bios flashing, virus scans, installing Windows... read more Installer Step-Up Utility Beta Refresh (SMS) Wednesday, May 30 2001 @ 10:40 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy The Installer Step-up Utilty (ISU) beta has a refreshed build available. This build integrates ISU into the SMS Installer interface. read more Hotfix Haven - Tool for Batching Hotfix Installations Tuesday, May 29 2001 @ 08:29 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy It's great that Microsoft is being so aggressive in keeping up with fixes to their operating systems. A blessing can become a curse as you are looking at 25 reboots for every server in your environment. read more .NET Management Framework (WMI) Thursday, May 24 2001 @ 09:08 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft's stated approach to managing the .NET platform gives WMI a big endorsement. This document outlines Microsoft's vision of the future. read more Microsoft Webcast: SMS Reporting Using Web Reports (5/17 @ 10am PST) Wednesday, May 9 2001 @ 07:39 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy In March Microsoft released "Web Reports" for SMS 2.0 as a free download from their web site. (see this article) Web reports allows users to view, print and extract data using reports generated from the SMS database without installing the SMS console or any special software. read more FREE: Windows ME Bootdisk Maker (ME) Wednesday, May 2 2001 @ 09:05 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy For some reason Microsoft decided to remove the option to create a bootdisk from Windows ME. My guess would be that the automatic recovery of previous configurations is deemed good enough. read more