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GFI LANguard N.S.S. is a leading security scanner that also offers patch management. Security scanning and patch management go hand in hand: Using one tool to do both makes the process more intuitive and more manageable for the administrator. GFI LANguard N.S.S. can use the Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS) tool to maintain a centralized…

GFI recently announced the latest version of their anti-spam solution called “version 14”. I have used MailEssentials for many years and I am excited about some of the new features. For example, version 14 offers improved anti-spam technology, “SpamRazer” – an additional anti-spam engine, improved performance, and a real-time dashboard. You can download a free…

Microsoft defines the Windows Experience Index as the following: “The Windows Experience Index is a new feature built into Windows Vista that is designed to help you better understand how well Windows Vista and other software will perform on your PC. Your computer, running Windows Vista, is assigned a rating number called a “base score”…

I was asked by Fujitsu/Siemens to get the word on on their innovations contest. I thought that the contest was very unique, open to just about anyone on the planet earth, and could generate some amazing results! Do you have good ideas for data centers of the future? Submit your ideas and you could win…

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is an old and venerable protocol, especially useful for Internet publishing. It may seem that Microsoft has not done much work on providing a robust, secure FTP. But that’s all about to change. Microsoft has just created and released a new FTP service that has been completely rewritten for Windows Server…

Want to get the most out of Windows XP? Daniel Petri shows you some of his favorite tweaking tools for Microsoft’s long-lived client OS.

Freeware Notepad Replacements Notepad is one of the few tools that have always been a part of Windows, but in the process of updating and improving the OS, were left behind and have not evolved at all. When talking to people from Microsoft I got the clear impression that Microsoft views Notepad as a final…

A packet sniffer is usually used to analyze network traffic. The reason for using a packet sniffer (or simply called “sniffer”) is to configure the NIC to work in a mode called “promiscuous” mode. Without going into that mode, Ethernet network interface cards normally work in a “filter” mode that ignores all traffic that doesn’t…

Forgot the Administrator password – Alternate Method – The LOGON.SCR trick This is another trick that will easily work in Windows NT 4.0 and some versions of Windows 2000. The principal is that you need to install a second instance of your OS to your HD, then manipulate the default screen saver (the one that’s…

Looking to retire a domain controller? Daniel Petri shows you how to remove Active Directory from a domain controller before you do.

How can I manually delete a server object from the Active Directory database in case of a bad DCPROMO procedure? MS KB 216498 has more info: The DCPROMO (Dcpromo.exe) utility is used for promoting a server to a domain controller and demoting a domain controller to a member server (or to a standalone server in…

Problem After adding a recipient to a new email message in OWA, pressing the space bar in the Compose Message window brings up the address book. Cause Microsoft Update Q911829 that was released in March and April of 2006 introduced a new OWA problem into some environments, where pressing the spacebar after addressing a message…