technical solutions and commentary

Microsoft Utilities

• ExMerge 5.5 (from Microsoft)
  This older version is difficult to find and is valuable for those instances you run into where the new versions do not work for some reason.
  

• MSConfig 2.0 (from Microsoft)
  This is the updated version of the built-in msconfig utility.
  

• WSUS Client Diagnostic Tool (from Microsoft)
  This is valuable in troubleshooting why WSUS clients are not updating their status to the server or pulling updates.
  

• Cluster Diagnostics (from Microsoft)
  Useful for running on newly created, and existing Microsoft Clusters to determine in the configuration is stable.
  

• AD Modify.NET 2.1 (from GotDotNet / Microsoft)
  You can use this to bulk edit attributes in the Active Directory. This version requires the .NET Framework. This is a must have Windows Administrator tool.
  

• AD Modify 1.5 (from GotDotNet / Microsoft)
  The older non-.NET version AD Modify.NET 2.1. This version has does not require the .NET framework, but is more limited in what it can bulk edit in AD.
  

• UPH Clean 1.6d (from Microsoft)
  User Profile Hive Cleanup service ensures user terminal service sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off the server.
  

• Remote Control AD (from Microsoft)
  This add-in to the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC, allows you to launch an RDP session to a machine by a right-click on the computer object in AD.
  

• Office Communicator ADM (from Microsoft)
  This is the ADM file for Office Communicator to use with the Active Directory Policy Editor. This file is packaged as part of the Office Communicator client download. It typically cannot be downloaded separately, but I included it here for convienence.
  

• Terminal Services License Server Viewer (LSView.exe) (from Microsoft)
  

• Account Lockout Status (LockoutStatus.exe) (from Microsoft)
  

• Account Lockout and Management Tools (from Microsoft)
  

• User Profile Deletion Utility (Delprof.exe) (from Microsoft)
  

• TS Client License Remove
  A batch file and registry file that removes the MSLicensing key to clear the TS CAL from a client. This is handy when a client is being removed from the network, or is no longer going to be used to access Terminal Service.

• Microsoft Software Trips & Tricks Guides

• Windows Group Policy Settings Reference (XLS)

• Free Microoft Security Tools

Installation Utilities

• Install Watch Pro 2.5 (Freeware from Epsilon Squared)
  Takes a snap-shot of you server before and after an application install and provides a detailed report on all system modifications from the installation. Very valuable, especially when testing application on Terminal Server.
  

• Install Rite Pro 2.5 (Freeware from Epsilon Squared)
  Works with Install Watch Pro and installs software to client machines based upon the snap-shot information taken on the master machine.
  

• NewSid (from SysInternals)
  Generates a new SID on Windows machines. Simple to use and needed for Windows deployed using disk cloning or imaging technologies.
  

• RichProfile (see the readme.txt for licensing info)
  Assists with the automatic Outlook Profile creation. Included with this zip package is the utility, the readme, and a VBScript that can be modified and used as a login script that run RichProfile at login.
  

• Beyond Compare - Shareware (from Scooter Software)
  Allows file copies between systems and then compares any changes made to the source and the destination. While I typically do not list shareware on this page, Beyond Compare really handy tool for data migrations. Using this tool you can perform a “pre-live migration” copy of all the source files to the destination, reset the security permissions and file shares on the target machine. During the live migration you can then compare the source and destination files and copy the smaller subset of modified or added files to the target potentially saving hours of time.

Other Utilities

• TSCMD (from SystemTools Software)
  A command-line utility to set terminal server user settings. All eighteen (18) terminal server settings can be set.
  

• ChangeRes
  Easily change your screen resolution from the command line.
  

• WinInfo
  Provides basic information about the Windows install on the local or remote computer.
  

• Belarc Advisor Free Personal PC Audit 7.0t (from Belarc Software)
  Provides detailed hardware and software information about the local Windows computer.
  

• Uptime
  Command line displays how long since the machine was last rebooted.
  

• VNC Viewer 4.1.1
  It is what it says.
  

• SNARE Mirco Server
  Provides central collection for log file sources and has agents for monitoring Windows, Solaris, AIX, Irix, ISA Server, IIS Server, Lotus Notes, and any other device that can send data to a syslog server.

Free Applications

• PowerToys for OneNote 2007
  Grab free PowerToys to extend the capabilties and integration of OneNote 2007.

• Free PDF Previewer for Office 2007 / Vista
  This allows you to quickly preview PDF documents in Outlook 2007, the same way you can Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Using Adobe Reader alone does not give you this ability. From Tim Heuer and Foxit Software.

• Best CD/DVD Burning Freeware
  This blog post examines several free alternatives to Nero Burning ROM. 

• FileZilla FTP Client (a Sourceforge project)
  This is my favorite free FTP client I have found. I’ve evaluated at least 30 FTP free/shareware clients and recommend FileZilla by far.
  

• RSS Bandit (from RSS Bandit)
  The best free RSS Reader I found.
  

• FreeMind (from SourceForge)
  Free mind mapping software similar to Mindjet’s MindMap. If you don’t know what mind mapping is, check out the SourceForge FreeMind project page.
  

• SSL Explorer (from 3SP)
  A free SSL Based VPN solution that is extremely simple to setup using the provided quick-start guide. I have installed and had this VPN solution up and running in less than 30 minutes.
  

• Burn4Free (from Burn4Free.com)
  Free CD, DVD Burning software that has an installation of under 3 MB. The install does install a Burn4Free Search Toolbar in IE which can be easily removed using Add/Remove Programs after installation of the Burn4Free program.

• AVG Free (Grisoft)
  “AVG Anti-virus Free” software is free for non-commercial use. This highly rated Anti-virus software package provides automatic web updates and real-time AV protection. “AVG Anti-spyware Free” software is free for non-commerical use. This is one of the most powerful Anti-spyware scanners I have used, and has daily downloadable updates. The commerical versions of these products are also reasonably priced and provide powerful features not available in the free versions.
  

• OpenFiler – A Storage Management Operating System which allows you to build a NAS and/or SAN appliance, using standard hardware in less than 10 minutes. OpenFiler combines Open Source applications such as Apache, Samba, LVM2, ext3, Linux NFS and iSCSI Enterprise Target into a small, easy to manage solution fronted by a powerful web-based management interface. 

• FreeNAS - free NAS software supporting CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, RSYNC protocols, local user authentication, software RAID (0,1,5) with a Full WEB configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 32MB once installed.

Free Software Download Sites

• Source Forge (The ultimate source for open source projects of all kinds for all kinds of platforms.)