WinDirStat: Analyze your Windows directories…Visually!
Some of the tools we come upon in IT are not always the most complex and loaded with hundreds of features. That is simply because not every function in IT demands a hundred features in an application. Nevertheless, many times we are left wondering with certain tools, what exactly is going on in my system? Where are things living in that endless amount of disk space? And how efficient are my disks running.
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There are not many occasions when you need to send a very large file. But just try it and you will be surprised at the results. Your Exchange Server administrator may want to have a word with you also. Sometimes the time frame of a project does not allow you the luxury of burning the item to CD/DVD. And many organizations would rather not open up FTP file transfer to outside vendors, clients or whoever!
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While managing IIS has gotten easier over the years, as the versions have progressed and become more intuitive, one area that most IT pros overlook is load testing. I found this is especially true when it comes to an intranet site. Most times we look at the intranet as a place to find out when the company events were taking place and where we could find vacation request forms. The simplicity of the intranet never strikes us as having a need for load testing. However, the intranet at my former company grew in size and complexity very quickly.
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Well the http://rare-tech.net saga continues. In an attempt to deal with my Web site being in disarray, I opted to try a tool I had heard about from my agent. Actually, I was supposed to write a book about this product but I ended up being swamped with TechMentor NYC so I had to pass it up.
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I remember and I am still suffering somewhat from PEST (Proper Endpoint Security Trauma). It exists, it really does. You may call it something else in your organization. Perhaps you use a more familiar term like “end-user trying to plug in a USB device on my network and completely supersede our security policy”. I think PEST explains it a bit better since it more accurately describes the endless hours wasted both explaining that such things are not allowed.
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If anyone has seen my Web site http://rare-tech.net the last few days this post title makes a lot of sense. I have finished off some projects recently and had some time to turn my attention to my Web site.
When I set up the Web site I used Microsoft Office Live Small Business. It made sense I needed a presence for my business. At the same time I do not have any product I sell only myself. So I saw no need to go and host a Web site and spend thousands of dollars on design.
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Back in August, I reviewed 12 cross-platform tools and because that post has continued to get such an overwhelmingly great response, I thought it was time to look at a few more cross-platform tools for the enterprise. So here are two more tools to help you bridge the gap in your heterogeneous environment, dotReader and DAVE.
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Here's another great product that I learned about in TechMentor NYC. I wish I had it available to me at my last corporate position. Say you have a legacy piece of software that you would love to be rid of and never see again. But you can't because a client of yours is still running the software and so you need to find a way to keep it running in your environment.
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Well once again we have a Library update and we have thus far brought you news, reviews and tips for 78 tools. I am looking to speak to my editors at Network World to see if we can do something special for my 100th tool post. We will see what I can arrange, for now thanks for all the support and I hope these tools can help make your world... A Better Windows World!
Tool Names: A-Z
In times like these it becomes increasingly difficult to ask management to spend money on the extra manpower we would like to make our job easier. In lieu of a warm blooded carbon unit (sorry a little too much Sci-Fi this weekend), having a tool that can do the work of one, two or even three people really does make life easier. Trouble is that most times these solutions call for a lot of work in setting up scripts or configuring batch files to create this kind of automation. Many times these are slow and error prone as well.
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I recently worked on a series of articles relating to fast recovery for Exchange Server 2007. In working on the paper and looking at what it takes to design this kind of environment, I came across a cool tool.
That tool is the Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server Role Storage Requirements Calculator or the E2K7 MBX storage calculator. The second variation is actually the file name for the tool. You see, the calculator is actually an Excel spreadsheet.
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Sorry I have been scarce this week on A Better Windows World. I have been sick with the flu. This week’s articles (had I been able to write them) would've been titled "A Very Congested Windows World", "A drowsy Windows World", A.. Oh you get the idea. I will leave it at that for now.
During my infirmed state I watched a show called Prototype This on the Discovery Channel. I know what you’re thinking (typical nerd) watch it!
Don't forget I'm an Italian kid from Brooklyn...Capicia!
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Anyone who has had to work with repackaging applications to simplify deployment can appreciate that it can be an arduous task. Perhaps it is something as Admins we would love to avoid.
Yet at times it is necessary to repackage applications for installation, specifically when we talk about updating disk images, customizing installations and working with legacy applications that do not use the MSI installer.
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One of the unpleasant truths of being a network administrator is that when the time comes for a password to be reset, the little pop up reminder in Windows is not enough.
Most users ignore the warnings until…well until you drag yourself in one morning ( and without fail it will happen on a morning you have to drag yourself in) and find that 30- 40% of the firm is locked out of the network.
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One of the things I have always dreaded about server monitoring was all the labor of setting up the monitors. It was always a very laborious task and many times, it called for several tweaks before I got what I actually wanted from the package.
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Many IT administrators in the Windows world are familiar with WSUS, Microsoft’s server based software update system. While this is a great tool for addressing Windows and Office software, it does not mange updates for the rest of the applications in your enterprise. There are many solutions to help with this problem of software updates. One solution I have found to be both relatively easy to use and inexpensive is called Secunia NSI (Network Software Inspector).
As the name suggests Secunia NSI is a software inspector that checks your network for systems for vulnerabilities such as applications that are unpatched, reached their end of life, or software versions that have known vulnerabilities running in your organization. The software runs a scan of all hosts and checks for applications (including Windows and Office) and reports back on the release date of the application, its last update. It also provides information on its rating, impact, a description and solutions. Along with providing updates, Secunia NSI has the ability to export results to XML and CSV formats, allowing you to create reports for management. Secunia NSI has a free personal computer version called Secunia PSI, as well as the OSI (Online Software Inspector). Secunia has a 30-day free trial , but for less than $30 per host, Secunia is a nice solution to make sure that all your software in your organization is up to par.
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It is very rare that you find a tool for your network that is as bold in explaining its function as this tool. So what is a PCDecrapifier?
Simply put this software examines your PC and removes all the pre-loaded “crapplications” that are added to your PC’s when you first purchase them.
Crapplications (I love this term almost as much as the product name), as pre-loaded pieces of software that are not necessary for your PC to run in fact in many cases they are some auxiliary programs that come along with the real software that we want.
Such as those applications that load icons into your task tray for quick access, or the ones that load update managers at startup even though they only produce updates for their product every three or four months.
Another one I love is the ones who add music management program to the download when all you wanted was the media player they provide. And let’s not forget the toolbar guys who add those browser toolbars to software you download or even purchase and hope that you just click next…next…next and install their crapplication onto your systems.
I won’t name names you know who you are, and so do we!
Now everyone’s version of what would be considered a crapplication is different. So what PCDecrapifier does is first ask you to create a restore point (just in case), next it examines the system. Shows you what is found and then allows you to choose what to remove.
The personal version is free and the commercial version is only $20 per technician. You can find the personal version here.
The site also provides instructions for downloading the commercial version. The commercial version adds the ability to automate itself and provides additional command line parameters for administrators.
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The Internet abounds with Web sites that offer volumes of information for Windows administrators. We all know of the popular ones 
like TechNet, IT World and trade publications like Network World. But the sites I'm about to reveal in this list of nine are smaller gems that tend to fly under the radar. I like to call them the "supporting players” in that they may not be the superstars on the team but you could never win a game without them. Each of these IT Web sites have saved my backside more times than I can count and I'm confident they will do the same for you. To see this whole list quickly, check out the slideshow.
This Web site is single handedly responsible for getting me out of the office on time and home to my family more days that I can count. EventID.net is a great resource for finding the answers to event ID‘s in the Event Viewer. The site has a database of over 9,000 events and contains links to knowledgebase articles and comments on fixes. The site is so valuable because these fixes are submitted by IT admins like you, me and people in the trenches who have tried and succeeded using the methods described.
The site allows you to search by event ID and source, so you can hone in on the issue even if you can't remember the source (or you don't feel like typing it all out). The site lists all the events and sources in alphabetical order.
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I know I have talked a bit about helpdesk products for the Windows Administrator. HelpdeskVNC (another product I heard about in small talk at TechMentor NYC) is a nice tool whether you have a full helpdesk staff or you have an environment where you are shorthanded and need to wear many hats.
This remote control desktop tool, easily installs and has a ton of great features (which I will talk about shortly), one of the things I liked most about it is the ability to use a repeater to pass through firewalls and connect to clients even when you are on the road.
I know there are other products that allow you to do the same thing, I have used most of them, what I like about this one is it has all the features they offer and more and it doesn’t kill your budget.
Some of the great features the newest version includes (they are currently up to Version 3) are:
- Reboot & reconnect to clients in Normal mode or Safe Mode
- Track session times to know how much time you have spent on fixing the remote system
- 128 bit RC4 encryption & compression for non-encrypted data to ensure security.
- Unlimited number of supportable hosts (licenses are based on support person)
- Server/Client file transfers
- Remote screen blanking/mouse blocking
- Ctrl-Alt-Del functionality (even works with Vista UAC enabled)
- HTTP links to download and launch files from a Web server
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The Toolbar supports launching of regedit, msconfig, and even supports launching of your antivirus software and spyware software on the remote client with a single click. HelpdeskVNC also supports every version of Windows from Windows 9.x up to Vista. Although I do not know why you would have a Windows 98 machine in your environment.
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At TechMentor, last week one of the sessions I presented was called Unified Messaging in Exchange 2007: You Need this Technology.
For those of you who are planning to move or have already moved to Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging (UM) is a great feature in Exchange 2007. UM is not a new technology it has been around for years. The idea of rolling it up into a server role in Exchange rather than using third-party applications that “plug-in” to Exchange makes good sense.
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Ron Barrett is president of RARE-TECH, an IT Training and consulting company. He has been a technology professional for over a decade, working for several major financial firms and dotcoms. Barrett is a specialist in network infrastructure, security and IT management.
He is a co-author of The Administrator's Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 Servers, How to Cheat at Administering Office Communications Server 2007, and the Real MCTS/MCITP Exam 620 Preparation Kit and has been a contributor to Windows 2000 Enterprise Storage Solutions and Exam Cram 70-244-Supporting & Maintaining NT Server 4.
He has also contributed to several industry magazines and was featured in the book Tricks of the Windows Vista Masters. He has worked for Microsoft writing research and analysis documents for Windows Server 2008, Windows HPC, and PerformancePoint Server 2007. He has also created screencasts on Windows Server 2008 Administration for Linux Admins.
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