Using PushVNC for easy network remote control.
Aug 5th
I absolutely hate walking over to an end users desk only to realize they did not click on a button or left a window opened. So being able to remotely view or remotely control their machines while they are able to see what I am doing is a big plus. A little free application has made my whole IT department lives a lot easier. I grabbed the PushVNC download from here via Cnet.
I extracted the files and ran saved them to a shared folder on the network. I then ran PushVNC.exe
Simply type in your target IP address, a username, and a password. You can leave everything else as is or you can select to leave the service installed or to set the service to automatic. You can also choose your color options. After that hit the push button and you will be connected to the workstation or server. When you disconnect the files and service will be removed unless you opted to leave them.
I use SingleClickVNC for my remote off network support – what do you use? We would love to hear from you in the comments!
Create Active Directory Topology Diagrams Automagically
Jul 23rd
I just got a new boss at work the day before yesterday, and like a lot of small companies there is a serious lack of documentation. We have had a lot of turnover in the IT department, and things are constantly changing. I have only been at my job for just under a year, and I am already on my third boss. With each new manager or director comes a new way of running a network, so you can imagine the hodge-podge of systems on the network. Like many of the new bosses coming in, I had my own ideas on how things should be run, but ultimately it is up to the person sitting in the manager seat right? Therefore not much has changed… Until now.
One of the first things my boss has asked me to do is to create a map of our network topology so he can get an idea of how things are setup in the various domains we manage. That got me thinking of ways to automate the process, and lucky for me I found a nice little tool that does the trick. The tool is called the Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer, or ADDT for short.
What this tool does is, using either Visio 2003, 2007 or 2010, it scours Active Directory and spits out a fairly detailed topology of your domain, sites, trusts, Exchange, etc. All in a pretty, easy to understand Visio diagram.
Here is an Overview from Microsoft:
With the Active Directory Topology Diagrammer tool, you can read your Active Directory structure through Microsoft ActiveX® Data Objects (ADO). The Active Directory Topology Diagrammer tool automates Microft Office Visio to draw a diagram of the Active Directory Domain topology, your Active Directory Site topology, your OU structure or your current Exchange 200X Server Organization. With the Active Directory Topology Diagrammer tool, you can also draw partial Information from your Active Directory, like only one Domain or one site. The objects are linked together, and arranged in a reasonable layout that you can later interactively work with the objects in Microsoft Office Visio.
Pretty cool right? Know of any other free tools that can easily, and automatically create detailed network maps of your environment? Let us know your favorite tools in the comments!
This post was written by El Di Pablo of the wildly famous Bauer-Power.Net Website!
The Best Laptop for the Money
Jul 19th
A commonly asked question among many laptop buyers is “what laptop will be the best one for my money?” This question, however generic or simple it may sound is actually a question one needs to take seriously. Another question that is just as important in the laptop buying decision is, “what will I be using my laptop for?” This question is so important because the last thing you want to do is overpay for features you don’t need or underpay and miss out on necessary components that will hurt you in the long run. Due to the fact that there are so many laptops on the market as well as so many different uses for them, I’m going to break down the components of the “best laptop for the money” for the average user.
First things first, we need to address some of the hardware components that make up a laptop such as the screen size, hard drive space, the RAM, and battery followed by the basic software that come with the computer. When building a laptop online or buying it in a store, they both tend to stress that bigger is better. I respectfully disagree and feel that bigger (unless you have the use for it such as a gamer or programmer) is costly and unnecessary. Let’s get started!
I can say from experience that a screen somewhere in the realms of a 15 inch widescreen display is plenty big (and that’s coming from a guy with terrible eye site) and it also cuts down on space when traveling too. When it comes to hard drive, I say anywhere between 150 GB and 250 GB is plenty when it comes to every day computing but DON’T go above 250 GB if you are using this laptop for everyday use, it will be a waste of money! RAM is important because this allows you to have multiple windows open and operating at once without freezing occurring but you still do not need to go crazy. Around 2 to 3 GB of RAM is plenty. Next we have the battery, the gasoline of your laptop hardware and software components. If you are going to splurge anywhere, this is where to do it. Definitely go with a larger battery if you are going to be on the go because the last thing you want is to be on the road realizing your computer is dying and there is no outlet in sight. Save yourself the hassle!
Lastly we need to discuss software. Go with the standard operating system offered, it is the cheapest and comes with good features for the average user as well. Taking the specifications I have listed above and plugging them into some of the major laptop manufacturers such as Toshiba, Dell, HP and Acer, I have come to the consensus that it is a tossup between the best laptops for the money. The two computers I found to be the best deals for the money are the Dell Inspiron 15 and the Toshiba Satellite L500D-ST2543 laptop; both with slightly modified features come to $469.00 before tax. While both of these computers for the most part have identical features, each one varies slightly from the other. The dell does offer 90 GB more of hard drive space at 250 GB as opposed to the 160 GB offered by the Toshiba. Toshiba however makes up for this shortcoming with a massive 12-cell battery which does offer a longer charge than the 9-cell offered by Dell. All in all both of these computers would be a great value for the everyday computer user and definitely the best laptop for the money.
Michael Blumreich is a contributor for the aptly named laptop review site, LaptopReviews.com. He’s currently a university student and lover of all things tech.
Cant open the task manager on your Windows machine? I can help!
Jul 9th
I was dealing with some nasty infections over the last few days and the malware authors are getting better and sneakier on a daily basis. I was unable to reverse their shenanigans that blocked me from using task manager to kill the bad tasks. I was working crippled from the command line using taskkill /IM but once I found this little application that gave me back my task manager I was back in business.
It is called RRT and can be downloaded from here. Once you run it you will see a screen that looks like this:
Simply check Task Manager and hit Remove. That’s it! Happy Hunting Guys!
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