Personal IT Experiences » Weekend Warrior

Prevent Malware Use a Hosts File

Scott — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:47:34 +0000

Extensive list of blocked websites in a single text file.

http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/default.aspx

Microsoft Safety Scanner

Scott — Thu, 26 May 2011 23:46:28 +0000

A new (to me) virus/malware scanning utility from Microsoft for 32 or 64-bit Windows workstations if you think your’s has been contaminated and your anti-virus software wasn’t up to date. No registration required and the download works for 10 days.

How To: Windows 2008 R2 on a Laptop As a Mobile Hyper-V Server

Scott — Tue, 24 May 2011 00:18:07 +0000

Step by step instructions on how (including pictures) to establish a portable Virtual Server platform hosting AD, DNS, clustered file servers and a SQL backend. Great instructions. Put the software in that Microsoft Technet Subscription to good use!

Link: Jose Barreto’s Blog

Join Two Text Files Together From A Command Prompt

Scott — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:00:50 +0000

No third party utilities required.

Merge two file names ( may.csv and may1.csv ) into a new file called may2.csv, use the following from a command window:

copy/b may.csv +may1.csv may2.csv

How do I merge or join files from the command line?

Mount A Stored DVD Image From Your Hard Drive

Scott — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:59:32 +0000

Alcohol 52 is emulation software allowing users to play CDs DVDs without the need for the physical disc. Notebook users and PC Game players would benefit the most from Alcohol 52%. It supports 25 plus languages and can handle up to 6 virtual CD DVD-ROM drives, all at once. The reading speed of a virtual CD-ROM is 200X.

Example use: Trying to install the Windows Vista Automated Installation Kit to access the Windows PE utilities. This WAIK download saved to a hard disk is stored as vista_6000.16386.061101-2205-LRMAIK_EN.img (note the .img file extension). Mount the WAIK image via the Alcohol 52 interface.

Alcohol 52% Free Edition

Windows XP – Fat32 Windows Partition Size

Scott — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:38:21 +0000

Have a 40GB external USB drive you’re trying to use with Ghost? If you format the external drive with the XP formatting tool, the maximum size XP will format it to is 32 GB. To format the drive to a full 40 GB, use Windows 98 or ME formatting tools — yes that means booting into one of those operating systems.

From a XP command prompt type:

format X:/fs:fat32

Windows XP Retrieve Accidentally Deleted Files

Scott — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 17:13:27 +0000

Undelete Plus is a quick and effective way to retrieve accidentally deleted files, NTFS files, files removed from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from a network drive, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. Free utility software that does not have to be “installed” before using.
Undelete Plus. Free file recovery software. Retrieve accidentally deleted files

What Group Policies Have Been Applied?

Scott — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:57:47 +0000

In Windows XP or Windows 2003, open an entire command window and type -> GPUpdate . All of the current policy settings affecting your computer (or server) and your account are displayed.

You can also see a history of the application of group policies by inspecting the registry.

To inspect the group policies applied to your local computer, use Regedt32 to navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\History

To inspect the group policies applied to your account, navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\History

Each sub-key represents an installed Group Policy Extension and each Group Policy Object is a subkey numbered from 0, the first GPO applied.

JSI Tip 2487. What group policies have been applied?

Add Or Remove An Administrative Template

Scott — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:14:23 +0000

Simple Microsoft how-to to install an .adm file in your GPO.

Add or remove an Administrative Template (.adm file)

Free Online Training From Microsoft

Scott — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:51:27 +0000

Many of the courses listed here are for up and coming Microsoft products.

English Catalog, Free Products

TestDisk – Hard Drive Data Recovery Utility

Scott — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:48:00 +0000

TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting your Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy.

TestDisk can

Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
Fix FAT tables
Rebuild NTFS boot sector
Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup
Fix MFT using MFT mirror
Locate ext2/ext3 Backup SuperBlock

TestDisk has features for both novices and experts. For those who know little or nothing about data recovery techniques, TestDisk can be used to collect detailed information about a non-booting drive which can then be sent to a tech for further analysis. Those more familiar with such procedures should find TestDisk a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.

TestDisk Download