IT Knowledgebase Articles

Do I need the Guest account in Windows 2000? Can I disable it? The ‘Guest’ account allows anonymous access to a machine. Making sure that this account is disabled will prevent “others” from using services you may have left open by mistake. Note: You might also be interested in Disable the Guest account in Windows…

How can I disable the built-in Firewall in the Alcatel SpeedTouch ADSL modem? The Alcatel SpeedTouch ADSL modem has a built-in firewall that protects your internal network from outside infiltration. You might want to disable this firewall for various reasons. For example: Some program needs direct incoming Internet connection in random and dynamic ports (ports…

How can I turn off the System Restore feature in XP? System Restore is an incredible space hog (read more about it in What’s System Restore in Windows XP?). It might be worth it, if System Restore were a truly complete and foolproof form of backup, but it’s not. At best, System Restore can and…

OWA 2003 comes with a built-in spell checker that can help you spell check your outgoing mail in various languages: English French German Italian Korean Spanish Service Pack 1 for Exchange Server 2003 adds even more language support, including the long-awaited Hebrew spell checking. I’m not sure why you’d want to, but there is a…

How can I disable the Shutdown Event Tracker on a Windows Server 2003 machine? Shutdown Event Tracker provides a way for IT professionals to consistently track why users restart or shut down their computers. It does not document why users choose other options, such as Log off and Hibernate. It gathers the reasons users give…

What is the Shared Documents folder used for? Can I remove this option from Windows XP? Shared folders are counterparts to your personal folders: My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music. Shared Documents, Shared Pictures, and Shared Music provide a place for you to store files, pictures, and music that everyone on your computer can…

Can I disable the RunAs command? You sure can! The RunAs command was first introduced in Windows 2000 (in NT 4.0 you could use a tool called SU.EXE from the Resource Kit), and enables administrators to use alternate logons, also known as secondary logons. As a security best practice, it is recommended that you do…

How can I disable the highlighting of newly installed programs in Windows XP? When you install a new program in Windows XP its entry on the Start menu is highlighted. You can tweak XP and disable that feature so that new programs are not highlighted after you install them: Right-click the Start menu and choose…

How can I disable the password requirement for a user in a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain? Windows Server 2003 provides security policies that ensure that all users select strong passwords. Creating a password policy involves setting the following options in the Default Domain Group Policy object. These policies, with the exception of those…

NetBIOS is an ancient session-level interface and transport protocol developed by IBM to network together PCs. It is a broadcast-based, non-routable and insecure protocol, and it scales poorly mostly because it was designed with a flat namespace. Since the late 1980s Microsoft has adopted NetBIOS for their LAN Manager product, and from there it found…