Desktop Backup made Easy

How many times have you had to tell teachers that is is the own tough luck that they haven’t backed up their My Documents on the Schools Laptops for Teachers Laptop.  Sure the machine has a CD-Writer and can take a USB stick, but let face it, remembering to copy files or burn a CD…

Remove all profiles on startup

Occasionally Windows XP manages to stuff up its roaming profile, when this happens, resolving profile related problems can be difficult.  Schools running Community Connect 3 will benefit from the “Reset Profile” option in the System Management Console, however, profile problems may quickly return, as they often remain on several workstations. To help cure this problem…

Find and deal with Duplicate Files

With in any one system, there may be hundreds of files that are essentially taking up space.  These files range from JPG images, MP3 down to program files and the occasional folder backup.   However finding these files can be quite time consuming.

Internet Explorer Proxy Control

Do you have teachers complaining that they can’t access the Internet on their laptops when they are at home?  The chances are they are trying to use their own broadband and Internet Explorer has been enabled for the schools filtered internet service.  Proxy Control can help.

Robocopy GUI

If you like using the Microsoft Robocopy tool from the Server Resource kit to copy files across networks and disks, then you might be interested to know that there is a user friendly GUI.

Active Directory Bulk Editor

Ever need to change a single property of a whole set of user accounts.  I had to change the Home Drive letter assigned to over a 2000 accounts on a Windows 2003 Active Directory Domain recently.

FEAD Optimizer Extract Tool

It has finally arrived.  Introducing the FEAD Optimizer Extraction tool. This tool is designed to allow the quick extraction of a FEAD Optimized installer application such as Acrobat Reader.  I am surprised that NetOpSystems who make FEAD have not developed an application for network administrators that will allow easy extraction of the proprietary compressed files. …

What is Radius

Radius is a method of authenticating users and computers that are connected to a host system or network remotely or using wireless networking.  It can be used to control authentication and data encryption protocols on a wireless network system. 

What is a MAC address

A MAC address is a unique identifying number that works in a similar way to a TCP/IP address, however this magic number is usually assigned to a network device when it is manufactured.  If your network uses TCP/IP, IPX or even NetBeui then all of these protocols will rely on the MAC address. 

Survey your site

When installing a wireless network that is going to be used all around your school, it is important to survey the buildings and map out where each wireless access point will be placed.  It will also allow you to find the best positions to place new cabling and to help stretch your budget a little…

Script to delete files after x days

Have you ever needed to automate the cleaning of a folder that say is used as part of a backup or just as a dumping ground.  Using this script will help you to speed up the cleaning process by deleting files from any folder or UNC path that are older than the specified (x) days.

Defragmenting Tools

The more senior computer administrator will remember the old black screen days of DOS and will remember the first Defragmentation tools that became available. Of course back then Defragging a hard drive was quite a novel idea.

Wireless Standards what are they

Anyone looking into installing a wireless system will eventually ask the question "Which protocol do I go for?"  The answer to this question can be worked out by assessing the equipment that you already have in the school and the type of equipment you will be getting.  You will also need to know about your…

Windows Update or Microsoft Update

Those of you who regularly use the Windows Update feature of Windows XP may have noticed that Microsoft have now created an enhanced version of the automated update tool. Microsoft Update has the ability to update any Microsoft application and not just Windows.

What is WPSK

WPSK or WPA-PSK uses a pre-shared Key for authentication on a wireless system, so you don’t need a Radius Server. In order to access a WPA/WPA2 protected network all Wireless devices such as laptops, tables and smartphones would use the same pre-shared Key (PSK) to access a particular SSID. Data on a wireless network is usually…

What is WEP, and how to use it

WEP is an acronym for Wired Equivalent Privacy.  This basically means that all data that is to be transmitted over a wireless local area network (WLAN) is encrypted using a 64bit or 128bit encryption key.

GPOGUY.com – Group Policy Stuff

Whilst surfing the net looking for information on using Group Policy to set workstations power options so that they would not go into standby. I came across a website that had programs, links and valuable resources for Group Policy.

Getting a list of users that belong to a Windows Security Group

Some times it is not always easy to see the name that you are looking for in a GUI list of users that Active Directory Users and Computers displays.  Using VB Scripting you can obtain a list of users from a Security group and output this to screen or to text file.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

You can never be to careful when it comes to protecting your file servers and important workstations.  Windows Update doesn’t always provide all the current updates and security patches to protect your systems. Microsoft has a free solution that will help to identify security problems in your network.  It is called the Microsoft Baseline Security…

Free Windows .net Programming Development Tool

Does your school have a requirement to teach a programming language, if so you will most likely choose Visual Basic as the development tool of choice.  This is because it is easy to learn and easy to get results quickly.  However, it isn’t free and can eat quite a bit of your budget just satisfy…