Daniel Petri

Uncontrolled use of iPods, USB sticks, PDAs and other devices on your network can lead to data theft, introduction of viruses, legal liability issues and more. In a society where the use of portable storage devices is commonplace, the threat that these devices pose to corporations and organizations is often ignored. GFI EndPointSecurity is one…

In Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008, when a removable drive (USB flash drive, flash card reader, portable hard drive, etc.) is attached for the first time, Windows mounts it to the first available local drive letter. So far so good. But if there is a network share on this letter, Windows will use it anyway for the new…

I have seen this question several times at different message boards, so I’ve decided to write something on it. The built-in GPO settings do not provide a method for controlling the size of the “Temporary Internet Files”, hence the users (if no restriction on the user profile size exist) can quickly fill up the disk…

In W2K, XP and Windows Server 2003, if you attempt to convert a File Allocation Table (FAT or FAT16) partition to the FAT32 file system using the “drive:’convert drive: /fs:fat32” command-line switch, where drive is the drive from which you are running the convert utility and the drive you are trying to convert to FAT32,…

How do I copy a user profile in Windows XP? Why is the COPY TO button grayed out? UPDATE: This method is no longer supported. You need to create an additional account and copy it over that account (and not over the default user profile). To copy a user profile in XP do the following:…

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the Active Directory locator in Windows 2000. Active Directory clients and client tools use DNS to locate domain controllers for administration and logon. You must have a DNS server installed and configured for Active Directory and the associated client software to function correctly. This article guides you through the…

Neither Windows 2000 nor Windows (yuck) ME has the ability to create a simple, basic, DOS- based boot floppy (a “startup disk”). In Windows XP however, the floppy format option in My Computer an offer to “Create MS-DOS Startup Disk” is present. If you try to boot your computer with this floppy you will be…

You can turn scripts into redistributable executable files with existing software in Windows Vista and Windows XP.  Windows Vista and Windows XP both have a rarely used tool known as IExpress.  The tool allows you to wrap an executable file around your scripts so that you can distribute any script as an .exe rather than…

How can I create Local users in Windows XP? How can I open the Local Users applet (from Control Panel) in Windows XP? To control local users and some of their settings from a Windows XP Pro machine you can use the LUSRMGR.MSC MMC Snap-in (run lusrmgr.msc from the Run command).  Alternatively, you can use…

Windows Vista automatically assigns shortcuts to the quick launch toolbar. You can quickly create shortcuts to shutdown, restart, and lock the screen, and add them to the quick launch toolbar to have instant access to them. For example, the first shortcut in your quick launch toolbar is automatically assigned to WINDOWS + 1, and the…

How can I create the Setup Boot floppies for Windows XP Pro/Home? Windows XP Setup boot disks are available only by download from Microsoft. The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run Setup on computers that do not support a bootable CD-ROM.  If your computer does support booting from a CD-ROM, or…

How can I easily perform management operations in AD from a customized Taskpad? As your AD infrastructure grows, and the number of objects within it constantly changes, you might find that managing the growing number of users, groups and computers is becoming more than a headache. Fortunately for us, one of Active Directory’s best features…