Anything about IT

As written in my previous post, I have just finished installing a Server 2008 R2 to conduct a proof of concept. I have also some PDF documents that I will use for reference. So I was just about to install some PDF reader software, but then I thought, hey why “install” software, there must be something small out there that allows me reading a PDF file without having to install anything on my fresh installed server.

I’ve come across various portable applications, but at the end I found a really cool one called Cool PDF Reader, well neat would actually be the better word, as the executable only uses 651KB and does not require an install.

Cool PDF Reader is FREE and can be downloaded from here.

Refreshing my knowledge a bit on Time Synchronization, NTP etc. and came across this utility. It’s FREE and doesn’t require installation.

The Domain Time LMCheck test tool lets you assess the current time of all the Windows machines on your network quickly and easily. It uses the built-in LAN Manager NetRemote TOD (Time of Day) function to check the time on all the machines in the browse list.

LMCheck can be downloaded from here

Issues with installing Windows Updates? Then have a look at the following Microsoft Support Articles:

KB971058 How do I reset Windows Update components?

KB947821 Description of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista, for Windows Server 2008, for Windows 7, and for Windows Server 2008 R2

Here’s another nice utility I found today called Hard Link Scanner. Hard Link scanner is a command line tool that scans directories for hard linked files.

Download Hard Link Scanner from here

Earlier this week I wrote about using Hard Links. By doing my research on this subject I came across the Link Shell Extension utility. As the name says the utility extends the shell with additional options to create hard and symbolic links. So if you don’t want to type commands at the command prompt to create a hard link, this utility is just right for you.

Additional very detailed documentation and utility download links can be found here. Also look at the History of the utility, the first version was released in 1999 but the most recent version dates from February 2010.

if you found the previous post Windows 7 Service Triggers interesting, then you will like this utility too. The Service Trigger Editor provided by Core Technologies Consulting LLC is a FREE utility providing a UI to list and edit Service Triggers.

The Tool can be downloaded from here and is ready to run (no installation required)

During an Application Compatibility webcast I attended recently the presenter mentioned the Fiddler Tool. There are many network traffic monitoring Tools out there, but if you are just after capturing HTTP traffic, this one should get your attention.

Fiddler is a Web Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP(S) traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP(S) traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data

Fiddler is FREE and can be downloaded from here and some demonstration videos here

Most Windows Operating System and Application settings are stored within the Windows Registry, so if you want to create a script that automates customized settings, but don’t know the exact registry key location or value, you usually end up creating a so-called registry snapshot that records the changes made to the Windows registry when applying a system or application change.

Creating registry snapshots can be done with almost every application packaging software like InstallShield, or Wise Package Studio, but requires that you have that software available and installed, which may not be always the case. Furthermore when creating an entire system snapshot you usually still end up with searching through the recorded changes to identify the changed registry key.

I actually wanted to find out where Windows7 stores the “use small icons” configuration for the Windows Taskbar.

After some web searches, I came across a utility called RegFromApp from NirSoft. This utility does not require an installation process and is FREE.

Like the tool name says it allows you to track changes made to the windows registry per running process. Since we know that Windows Start Menu and Taskbar runs within the explorer process, we select the explorer.exe and start manually applying the system changes.

As we make the configuration change, the RegFromApp utility starts capturing the changes made to the Windows Registry. To keep the content of tracked changes as short as possible, we stop recording right after having applied the configuration change.

Finally after browsing through the tracked changes, we identify the registry key that handles the “use small icons” setting.

When trying out the Beta AIK for Windows 7 I got into a situation where some files got locked by the system, probably due to a not properly unmounted WIM file. A tool that has become most handy to unlock files is UNLOCKER.  Unlocker integrates itself into the context menu, so that you can easily select a folder or file that you want to unlock.

Unlocker can be downloaded directly from the developers website.

Just surfing a bit on the Internet, i get a Skype call from our friends who live in Perth Australia and asking me how to reduce the size of pictures before sending them via e-mail.

If you have Microsoft Office 2007 installed, images can be easily resized using the build-in export function.

An easy to read step by step guide for Microsoft Office Picture Manager can be found on the Towson University site.

Another option is to use the Windows Photo Gallery application that ships with windows Vista.

When having selected a picture and then push on the email button you can define the size of the picture before it gets attached to a new email.

In case nothing happens after you select the Attach button, check your default e-mail program settings as described here: http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/241/1/E-mail-button-in-Windows-Photo-Gallery-does-nothing.html

And finally, if you aren’t happy with all the build-in options Windows Vista provides you with, there is 3rd party software that can help as well in reducing picture file size. An easy to use utility i found is VSO Image Resizer. The software is free for non commercial use and comes with a very easy to use user interface.

with just a few clicks the original picture that has 709 KB file size was reduced to 172 KB.

Note that all I wrote here was based on using Windows Vista, Windows XP users want to have a look at the Windows Power Toys for Windows XP that contains a image resizer as well.

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

And guess what, instead of several hundred megabytes installation sources, CDBurnerXP is only 3.05 MB.

This week i found a nice little tool called ShadowExplorer.

ShadowExplorer allows you to browse the shadow copies created by the Windows® Vista^TM Volume Shadow Copy Service. It’s especially thought for users of the home editions, who don’t have access to the shadow copies by default, but it’s also useful for users of the other editions.

Download from: http://www.shadowexplorer.com/downloads.html

As always, give it a try.

Remember this one ? Yes it’s the famous Norton Commander. I’ve been using it until we moved to Windows NT. A newer version was released that worked for Win96 and NT, but it looked a bit like they’ve had just dumped the NC in a “Window”

In the mid 90′s I was working with an external application developer, who always carried a tool called the Windows Commander with him on a floppy. The Windows Commander was a kind of a clone of the Norton Commander, but fully Window-mized. it ran perfectly on Windows 3.11.

He once had left the Windows Commander on my machine, i gave it a try, and since then, it’s probably my most used application ever. In fact i do never use Windows Explorer, I rarely use WinZIP or WinRAR and I don’t need an FTP Client as well. Because…….. it’s all embedded in total commander.

Total commander is the 1st application i start in the morning and the last to be closed.

Since November 2002, Windows Commander was renamed in Total Commander.

You can run Total Commander in unregistered Mode, but you get annoying startup messages, so better you purchase a license. i have purchased Total commander somewhere in the late 90′s, and guess what, I never paid anything more and still get regular updates for free. you can find the tool here: http://www.ghisler.com/

Enjoy!

For those that need quick access to the famous sysinternals tools, direct access to the executables is now available through:
http://live.sysinternals.com/

On Microsoft Technet, the tools can be found here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx