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How can I force an OEM version of Windows XP to install as an upgrade installation? First, find your setupp.ini file in the i386 directory on your Windows XP CD. Open it up, it’ll look something like this: ExtraData=707A667567736F696F697911AE7E05 Pid=55034000 The Pid value is what we’re in this for. What’s there now looks like a…

I want to download Internet Explorer 6 SP1 from Microsoft but I don’t want to install it right away. Can I do that? Yes! First, download the IE6 SP1 setup program from HERE (481kb basic setup program. The full IE package might go as high as ~44mb depending upon your selection). This tip will let…

One of the most time consuming administrative tasks is the password reset issue. Research shows that help desk calls may consist of up to 40% of password reset related issues. When I’ve learned about a new tool that was designed to help mitigate these issues I wanted to test it out. The tool is called…

Perhaps one of the biggest problems with e-mail (besides the spam issue) is the fact that not many people know how to properly format their e-mail messages. Properly writing your e-mail is generally known as “e-mail netiquette”. The rules of e-mail Netiquette are not “rules” that are written or governed by any authority, but are considered…

Description This command line utility enables you to import .REG files even if the Group Policy is set to restrict the registry editing tools. If you use this policy setting, just use regpol.zip to import .REG files instead of the traditional ‘Regedit –s’ and ‘Reg import’. Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Current version: 1.2.8 Version highlights: Minor…

Keyboard shortcuts in Windows Vista In Windows Vista, as in other Windows Operating Systems (also see Keyboard Shortcuts), you can use many shortcut keys as an alternative to the mouse. You can open, close, and navigate the Start menu, desktop, menus, dialog boxes, and Web pages using keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts may also make it…

Description If you ever needed to rename an NT 4.0 group, you probably found that there is no way to do it through User Manager or User Manager for Domains! This tool does it. Requirements: Windows NT 4.0 Current version: 1.0 Download Download [this_link_has_been_removed] (6kb) You need to extract the tool/script found in the downloaded…

While it is normal to login as “administrator” when you are testing VMware ESX Virtual Center and normal to login as root while you are testing VMware ESX Server, as soon as your Virtual Infrastructure moves into production, you will want system administrators login as themselves. In fact, best practices dictate this. Besides providing accountability,…

If you like this site, if you like the style, if you like the contents – why not add a link to it? You can choose any of the following link examples (or create your own of course): 151×74 button and description ​<a title=”Petri.co.il by Daniel Petri is one of the most comprehensive IT and…

Note: In order to successfully use this trick you must first use one of the password resetting tools available on the Forgot the Administrator’s Password? page. The reason for that is that you need to have the local administrator’s password in order to perform the following tip, and if you don’t have it, then the…

Here is Daniel’s List of Recommended Web links: (Sorted in some freestyle alphabetical order) Great Microsoft-related Knowledge Bases These are the ones I’m currently using. Note that a very short description doesn’t imply that the featured site is less useful than one with a long description: Link Description Brian Madden Great resource for Citrix, Terminal…

Microsoft has made some awesome graphical additions to Windows Vista, namely, the Aero theme (read more about it on my “Enable Windows Vista Aero Graphics” and “Aero Theme is Bad, Disable It” articles).   The Aero theme is not available in all the Vista editions. You can read “Windows Vista Editions” for more info, but…