Archive for May, 2008

Sysinternals Live is now Um Live? Microsoft makes tools easily accessible!

Windows+Opens+SysInternals+Site Sysinternals Live is now Um Live? Microsoft makes tools easily accessible!We just got a hot tip that Sysinternals (now owned by The Microsoft) has released a new ftp type site that will give you free quick access to sysinternal tools. Browse on over to

http://live.sysinternals.com

And you will be greeted by a screen that looks like this:

SysInternals Sysinternals Live is now Um Live? Microsoft makes tools easily accessible!And that is just a quarter of the applications that are available for immediate download and execution. I LOVE sysinternal tools and have been using them since way back when. When you visit the live site the first file on the server is a txt file that says the following:

What is this? This is a file share allowing access to all Sysinternalsutilities. We have developed this to test an alternatedistribution mechanism for our utilities. This will allow you to run these tools from any computerconnected to the Internet without having to navigate toa webpage, download and extract the zip file. If you are unfamiliar with Microsoft Windows Sysinternals,it is highly recommended that you visit the website at http://technet.microsoft.com/sysinternals before using these tools. If you have any questions or comments on this file share, please email syssite@microsoft.com Regards,The Microsoft Windows Sysinternals Tea

_TheGoodLookingOutAdmiN_

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My Vista Machine is slow! What can I do? What services can I stop??

VistaLogo My Vista Machine is slow! What can I do? What services can I stop??We covered what services can be disabled or stopped for Windows XP here and now here is your quick guide to speeding up your Vista machine the same way.

Don’t expect to have Vista flying on the same Pentium III machine – there are still system requirements. BUT these steps can significantly speed up your existing install.

First disable Aero as it is a huge memory hog. Then move on to the services below.

This article assumes that you do know how to start/stop/disable services on your machine. (If you don’t just shout at me in the comments or via email)

How to disable a service in Vista:

  • Click on the Start Orb
  • Type services.msc in the search box
  • You might be prompted by a UAC box.
  • Click continue, or learn how to disable UAC here.
  • Right click a service, and choose Stop to stop it immediately
  • For services you are unable to stop it until after reboot. Right click and choose properties. Then select disable from the drop-down menu.

snail My Vista Machine is slow! What can I do? What services can I stop??The services printed in black can safely be disabled.
The ones in red are only to be disabled if you are in a single client environment – not sharing files.
The ones in blue are conditional – meaning read the statement and make sure you don’t use it!

ServicesVista My Vista Machine is slow! What can I do? What services can I stop??

Remember to disable the service if you do not want it to ever run again. You can also stop a service and set it to manual so if another service needs it – it can run it.

  • Cryptographic Services – Vista’s built in service for checking that a driver is signed.
  • Diagnostic Policy Service – Watches Windows system files and try to reload them on any error. I get a lot of false positives so I disabled this.
  • Distributed Link Tracking Client – Allows for accessing Network Files. Don’t share files? Don’t need it!
  • IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules – Security protocols for file sharing/remote log on. Again if your are not using them disable it.
  • IP Helper – Support for IPv6 (No one uses this pseudo standard yet!)
  • IPsec Policy Agent – Required for some ISP’s and VPN’s
  • Messenger Sharing Folders USN Journal – Required by V8 or earlier of MSN for file xfers.
  • Network List Service – Keeps a list of networks you are connected to and watches your Internet connection.
  • Network Location Awareness – Shares network information with your system. Disabling kills printer and file sharing.
  • Offline Files – Breaks Offline files. Big boost if you don’t use them.
  • Print Spooler – Only Disable if you don’t print to a printer. This will slow down printing!
  • Program Compatibility Assistant – Kills the Previous OS Compatibility. You can still run older programs but the compatibility tab in the shortcut properties will not work.
  • Readyboost – If you are not using a ReadyBoost Drive Kill it!
  • Server – Allows you to share files and printers through your LAN. Not sharing? Kill it!
  • Shell Hardware Detection – Kills the auto play features for CDs, DVDs and USB drives.
  • Tablet PC Input Service – Are you using a tablet? This one is a no-brainer!
  • Windows Error Reporting Service – Does what it says no more windows error reports…
  • Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) – Allows for pictures to be grabbed from a scanner or camera that does not install its own browser. Disable this if you don’t use a camera/scanner or use proprietary software to download your pics.
  • Windows Time – Syncs up your windows time to a time server on the web. Do you need it in a home environment? Probably not! But on a network it should be running.
  • Do you have more ways to speed up Vista? Put us on in the comments!

    _TheHaveToRunVistaAdmiN_

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    Windows XP little know shortcut key makes for a good afternoon prank!

    prankAtA Windows XP little know shortcut key makes for a good afternoon prank!
    AskTheAdmin loves covering helpful, useful shortcuts to help you do tedious tasks more efficiently. BUT today on this gloriously beautiful Friday morning we have a quick Windows XP key-combo that will flip your screen upside down.

    Actually we were thinking more along the lines of flipping someone else’s screen upside down…

    upsideDownAtA Windows XP little know shortcut key makes for a good afternoon prank!
    It is as easy as holding down Control + Alt + The Down Arrow… Hey wait before you hit it and get all screwey don’t you want to know how to un-do it? Hey… I’m talking to you…

    Fine when you come back looking for the answer it is simply Control + Alt + The Up Arrow to undo it.

    As always AskTheAdmin staff asks you to be responsible in playing pranks on co-workers, friends or loved ones as people get frustrated they get angry. So if someone winds up causing bodily harm to you and or a computer we take no responsibility for it…

    But we do want to see pictures! :)

    What do you think?

    _TheFlippingAdmiN_

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    (POLL) Should we keep or dump Intense Debate for our comments?

    ID ATA HATE (POLL) Should we keep or dump Intense Debate for our comments?

    It has been a while since I wrote about Intense Debate (ID). We used ID for a short while and LOVED it. We loved it so much we wanted our existing comments imported into the system. I was informed by Josh that we could help beta test the process. You know we jumped on board!

    It has now been about 4 months since we did our import from blogger to ID and replaced ALL of our comments with ID’s. There were issues immediately. The names of the commenter’s DID NOT come over. So all the comments look like they are from the same person… I was told by the good people over at ID that they would find a solution and get back to me. Their solution was to replace their importer and create one that actually imports the commenter’s names and stats.

    So I figured GREAT! Let’s do this!

    Then I was told very politely that the new process won’t work for me because I was already imported. Even though I specifically requested a DB backup at several points. WAIT THERE IS MORE! They WERE able to go into my DB and MANUALLY fix the comments for 3 posts while I waited patiently. I have not had any update on this in months. Now that our impending migration to Wordpress is being held up by…

    Drum roll please.

    You guessed it Intense Flucking Debate. Don’t get me wrong I love what they want to do and how their service works but me losing ALL my ID comments when moving to WP is UNACCEPTABLE! I have spoken to the Jon, Josh and their new addition Michael to no avail. They are very polite but, polite ain’t getting me my comments back.

    Granted we have A LOT of comments and know that for them to do this manually would take a LONG ASS time. But we offered to help script it. See the problem is post id’s. Wordpress does not import post ids and starts from scratch. If we can replace the postid’s in ID’s database with the newly created WP one’s (Via SQL Script) that should fix the problem. But they don’t want to exert themselves. Shouldn’t a company that is trying to win over the public be a little more apt to help us out?

    So what do you think I should do? Be heard in the comments and the poll below:

    Maybe we should have went with Disqus!

    _ThePissedOffAdmiN_

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