A question from a reader:

Hi Tony, This is totally random, but I stumbled onto an article you wrote for a Microsoft blog like six years ago about how to run multiple monitors off of a laptop. Are you aware of any easier solutions available since that article came out? I bought this thing below, but it only allows for two monitors to display the same thing, rather than spreading the desktop across three screens (which is what I’d like to do.)

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3521446

And my reply:

At the time I wrote my article, USB video cards only supported resolutions up to 1280×1024, which was too low for a decently-sized external monitor. They’ve gotten better since:

http://www.coolgear.com/usbgear/USB-Video-Card.html

Here’s a well reviewed adapter that supports 1600×1200, which is good for most non-widescreen monitors up to 21″:

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-100-U2-UV16-A1-Supporting-1600×1200-Resolution/dp/B00191GZ8U/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1279567417&sr=8-8

If you need a widescreen resolution, this might work better for you:

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Adapter-Multiple-Displays-2048×1152/dp/B0038P1TP4/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1279567600&sr=1-4

Well, check the resolution of your monitors, then shop around for “usb video adapter”, “usb video card”, or “usb display adapter” and let me know what you find. Good luck!

A reader dropped a comment onto another page with a question that I’ve asked myself many times…

I wonder if you can help with this perhaps related problem. Running Windows Vista, it reports the hard drive has only 58 MB of free space. Adding up the folder sizes as shown in the properties window for each folder in Windows Explorer (including hidden folders), indicates that there are hundreds of GB of unused space.
When the limit is reached and there is no space left, by Windows reporting, no files can be saved.
It seems obvious that Windows’ reporting is faulty, but as it stops the saving of files, it cannot be ignored.
Any solution / suggestions?

Unfortunately, it’s not likely that Windows is simply lieing to you. More likely is that your technique of evaluating the disk space used by each folder is flawed. However, just to make sure Windows isn’t lieing, you can run a checkdisk at an administrative command prompt by following these steps (after the jump):

1. Click Start and type cmd.
2. Right-click cmd.exe and then click Run As Administrator.
3. Type chkdsk C: /f /r and then press Enter. I’m assuming the free disk space problem is on your C:\ drive, but you can check any disk this way.
4. When prompted, type Y and press Enter.
5. Restart your computer and be patient while Windows scans your disk.

After you restart your computer, check your free disk space again. If your free disk space still isn’t where you expect it, then it really is being used by something. First, use the Windows Disk Cleanup Wizard to remove unnecessary files.

The trick is finding the files and folders that are using the space. Windows isn’t especially good at this, but there are many free tools that are good at it. My favorite is the free and tiny Scanner disk space usage analysis tool. Download and run the .exe file–no install necessary–and then examine the radial chart to find the folders using the most space. Hover your cursor over the bigger sections of the diagram to find the folders using up lots of space. If you don’t expect that folder to use that space, right-click the section and then click Open. Scanner opens an Explorer window to show you the contents. As you can see from this screenshot, my Shared Virtual Machines folder is using 17 GB–a surprise to me, since I don’t use that folder to store virtual machines anymore.

I managed to clear up about 40GB of unneeded files, postponing the purchase of more hard disks by another couple of months…

Tony do you know of a “Simple” program that will measure antenna signal
strength in dB while you are connected to your wireless link. I guess it could
be called a signal strength meter. The ones avaiable either show you in a
bar graff or some other rediculas manner that is good for Non Tech folks but
to most of us Geeks it would be nice to be able to see the readout in dB so
the antenna could be fine tunned for the best signal.

And my (less-than-perfect) answer:

Heya. This seems like something that would be exposed from the Network Interface object of the Performance Monitor snap-in, but I couldn’t find it. I did find the dB listed by network diagnostics, however. Do this (in Windows 7):

1. Right-click the wireless network icon in the notification area, and then click Open Network And Sharing Center. Or just open Network And Sharing Center some other way.
2. In Network And Sharing Center, click the wireless network.
3. In the Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box, click Diagnose.
4. Let Windows Network Diagnostics run. When it announces that it can’t find a problem, click the View detailed information link at the bottom of the page.
5. In the Detection Details section, scroll down to the “List of visible access point(s)”. It lists the dB of every access point. You can copy the whole thing to the clipboard so you can easily search it.

List of visible access point(s): 1 item(s) total, 1 item(s) displayed
BSSID        BSS Type PHY    Signal(dB)    Chnl/freq    SSID
————————————————————————-
00-13-46-86-01-FC    Infra     g    -66        2     myhomeap

It’s not quite as easy as I’d like, but the raw information is there. If you find a prettier tool, do let me know.

Tony

Tony,

I saw you as one of the authors of the Microsoft Self-Paced Training for MCITP Enterprise Administrator series from Microsoft Press.  I visited your personal website and really liked your photography as well… Very impressive.

Anyhow, I digress… I’m not really writing to talk about photography, though I could.  My question is about MCITP training and certification.  You have a substantial history and experience in training/writing about Microsoft certifications.  I’m moving up in my employer’s organization and I’m tasked with getting my certification.  I had my MCSE 2000, but it’s time to upgrade my skills.

As someone new to Win2008 (specifically R2) do you have any hints, tips, suggestions for getting GOOD training, but also receiving certification.  I’m purchasing the Microsoft Press self-paced series that you’re one of the authors of, but I’m looking for more as well… By no means am I suggesting your books aren’t great… they are!  But I’m one who looks for help from many angles (even emailing the author, as you can see).  Any guidance you may have is much appreciated.

Regards,

And my answer:

Of course, real-world experience is the best teacher. Sounds like you have quite a bit of that already. If there’s some area where you don’t have enough real-world experience, setup different scenarios with virtual machines, and make it actually work (without following step-by-step instructions like those in the Training Kits).

I like to read the TechNet blogs. They’re written by the guys writing the software, so you tend to get a deeper understanding of how the technologies work. I also like to check out different IT forums to see where people are running into problems in the real-world.

The #1 resource for MCITP certifications, though, is TechNet. Not only is it one of the best technical resources, but it seems to be the place where the people writing the questions get their inspiration. Note that I don’t have any inside knowledge on how they write the questions–I’m saying this based on my own experiences taking the certification tests.

Hope that helps! And thanks for the compliment on my other passion. :D

Tony

I bought a $700 64GB WiFi iPad, and it arrived a bit more than a week ago. Yet, I still feel like I’m waiting for my iPad to arrive.

I was promised an iPad that would revolutionize how I read magazines and books. It would bring the amazing Apple App Store experience to a bigger screen. It would serve my Web browsing needs at home and be my portable media player/game system on the road.

The iPad doesn’t do any of these things well, at least right now. Some examples:

• I needed directions to the Bronx Zoo from my house. I Googled Bronx Zoo, found the address, and pressed Google Maps to open it in Google Maps. With another press, the iPad routed from my current location to the zoo. Perfect. Now, I needed to print the directions. My $700 iPad can’t print. So, I had to repeat the process from a real computer.
• I know everyone complains about it, but the iPad doesn’t support Flash. Two of my websites use Flash extensively (northrupphotography.com and northrup.org). Flash is everywhere, and while I can get by without it when I need to look up something quick, you definitely need Flash if you want to casually browse and enjoy the Web.
• At least there are the apps, right? I immediately opened the App Store to download the dozens of Apps I have on my iPhone. They’re just not there. Very few designed-for-iPad apps are available now, and they cost far too much. Plants vs. Zombies for the iPhone is fun and costs $3. It’s exactly the same on the iPad (but bigger) and it costs $10. Turns out, I’m willing to blow $3 on a dumb game, but $10 seems like way too much. Plus, when I’m stuck waiting in line, I can grab my iPhone and keep myself occupied, or toss it to the kid to keep her busy. The iPad is too big to carry everywhere, and why would I play a game on it at home when I have a real computer and an XBox, attached to much better screens?
• eBooks and magazines just aren’t ready yet. The formatting is terrible (in one book, literally unreadable because spaces and linebreaks were lost). Where are the gorgeous interactive magazines I saw in the previews? Zinio seems to be the only real option now, and all they do is show you scans of magazines, which means no searching, formatting not designed for the iPad (you have to pinch and drag individual pages around to see them full-size), and very little interactivity. USA Today and the Wall Street Journal have apps designed for the iPad, but they’re less functional and dynamic than their websites.
• The tablet format is clumsy. If I try and hold it like a book to read, my arms get tired after a few minutes because it’s too heavy. I can’t rest it on my lap like a laptop because the screen lays flat. If I want to use it as a media player on an airplane, I’d have to bring a stand to hold it up, which brings me to my next point…
• Media is a pain to copy over, because the iPad supports a very limited number of formats. So, I can’t simply copy them over. I tried converting some videos to a supported format, and it took a long time–and then iTunes refused to copy them to the iPad, because I guess I got the format wrong. iTunes could help out here by doing the conversion for me, but I suspect they want me to buy from their limited number of content suppliers.
• I use Google Reader to keep up with about a dozen different websites. Open the page on the iPad, though, and I get the mobile version of the page which doesn’t show any pictures until you click the individual items. Many of the sites I read are photography related, so this ruins them.

I really didn’t approach the iPad as a cynic–I bought into their vision of the future of publishing. The future just isn’t here, yet. I’ll check back with you in six months, but right now, I urge you not to buy an iPad. Instead, grab a Windows-based netbook, or hold out for one of the upcoming Windows-based touchscreen tablets. At least you’ll be able to use Flash.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve published many books for Microsoft Press, and I’m quite sure that Microsoft wants to compete with the iPad. I’m not being compensated in any way for slamming the iPad, though. I laid out $700 because I believed in it.

BTW, a few positive points:

• The battery life on the iPad really is great.
• The screen is awesome. I don’t buy into the idea that only eInk is suitable for reading. After all, so many of us stare at LCD screens all day, anyway. I have a Kindle, too, and I’d rather read something on the color iPad.
• My kid loves the iPad, even though she can’t play her games at the PBS Kids or Nickelodeon websites because they need Flash. I did download a couple of games for her, and they kept her occupied during a road trip. BTW, she’s six, and the first thing she said when she saw it was, “It’s a big iPod!” She’s right, too–it’s a big, heavy, non-portable iPod.

I bought your MS Press 70-642 Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure and would like to know how to set up the lab using Virtual PC 2007…

I have two Dell Latitude laptops running XP Pro SP3 with enough hard drive space that I should be able to install both Virtual PC 2007 and Windows Server 2008 on…they will be connected to each other via a 4-port Netgear switch…

Where can I get a free copy of Windows Server 2008 to use for the lab?…and do you have any suggestions on ensuring that the lab software don’t mess up these two laptops (I use both of them for business purposes)?

And later in an e-mail followed up with:

Actually, I was able to download WS2008 (and VPC 2007 SP1) from a MS download website yesterday (WS2008 was 1.9 GB and it downloaded as an iso file)…

I just have a few (dumb) questions about setting up the lab (please confirm the correctness and the sequence of the following steps):

1. I’m assuming that I need 3 actual computers physically connected to each other by a switch…true?

2. Next, install default? VPC 2007 on each computer.

3. Next, install default WS2008 on each computer (I am assuming I will install WS2008 while inside the VPC environment , or should WS2008 be installed outside of the VPC environment as you suggest?…if outside of the VPC environment, do I have to wipe the hard drive clean before installing WS2008, or can I keep the existing XP Pro SP3 OS and all of my apps and data files intact and install WS2008 in a separate partition?).

4. Next, do I rename the computers from inside or outside the VPC environment (however, I cannot change the real existing computer names on these computers because they are domain machines in my company’s environment…if I change their names, I will not be able to connect to my work network!).

Are there any other steps that I am missing?

Really appreciate any clarification you can provide!

My replies after the jump.

Hiya, John. Here’s a link to download a trial of WS08R2:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/trial-software.aspx

I know you found regular Windows Server 2008, but R2 is newer and better, and will be fine for the labs and such. Of course, it’s 64-bit only, so you’ll need to use Sun VirtualBox (which, if you watched this video, you know that I prefer anyway).

So, to answer your questions… You need either one of these setups:

• One physical computer with 3 GB or more of RAM. Install virtualization software (Sun VirtualBox, Virtual PC, Virtual Server 2005 R2, VMWare, whatever). You will then create two virtual machines, and install Windows Server 2008 (or R2) on both virtual machines. They’ll be automatically connected to the same virtual network.

- OR -

• Two physical computers with 1GB or more of RAM each. Install Windows Server 2008 (or R2) on both computers. Connect them to a network. You can plug them both into a switch, connect them to a wireless network, or even just run a crossover Ethernet cable between them and manually assign them IP addresses on the same network.

BTW, if you don’t mind blowing away XP, you’ll get way better performance out of those older laptops by installing WS08R2 on the computer directly. WAY better performance, because they probably don’t support hardware virtualization… You can install WS08 on a second partition, if you still want to be able to boot to XP.

It sounds like you can’t blow away your XP computers, though. If they don’t have 3GB of RAM, but they have 1.5GB-2GB of RAM, install Virtual PC or VirtualBox on both computers, and then install one WS08 virtual machine on each computer–the virtual machines will require 1GB each, at least.

When you rename the computers (which you don’t really need to do, the names in the book are arbitrary), do it within Windows Server 2008–in other words, within the virtual machine. If you use a single computer with virtualization software, you’ll do everything within the virtual machines. Other than installing the virtualization software, you won’t have to make any changes to the “host” computer.

After the jump, more CD and DVD burning tools, including Movie Maker and ways to burn ISOs.

Microsoft offers a variety of free applications at Windows Live including Movie Maker. Movie Maker is a simple tool for creating movies and slideshows. You can combine video clips, photos, and audio files; Movie Maker includes a variety of transition effects, the ability to overlay text, and to adjust the lighting and contrast of videos. You can also burn completed movies to disc from within the program. You can click on the DVD icon on the ribbon or select Burn a DVD from the Save movie menu, as shown below.

Those are basic tasks though, what if you want to do more sophisticated things when burning discs like creating a bootable DVD or editing an ISO image that you downloaded? Winzip is able to open ISO image, you can use it to copy files from within an ISO image but it does not include features for creating or modifying them. UltraISO is designed to do exactly that. UltraISO is designed for creating, editing, and converting both bootable and non-bootable ISO images. One feature that I find particularly useful is the ability to burn and an ISO image to a USB drive, its very convenient to have a bootable USB drive with antimalware and troubleshooting tools. For example, you might want to burn the ISO image I describe in Creating a Custom DVD or CD for Eliminating Viruses and Spyware to a thumb drive that you carry around in case one of your less computer proficient relatives asks for help when you’re visiting. In Explorer, Right-click the ISO image and select Open with UltraISO. In the Local: pane in the lower right select the thumb drive, then open the Bootable menu and select Write Disk Image, as shown below. The Write Disk Image dialog box will appear, click Write to write the ISO image to the USB drive.

Tony, I don’t have 10,000 photographs but sometimes it seems like it. I would appreciate your opinion for the best program for organizing my files on the computer. I can’t seem to find something that will permit captioning, date recording and tagging. I often wonder how the NGS organizes their collection which must numer in the millions. Thanks

My answer after the jump…

Hiya. First, I don’t have 10,000 photographs either–Lightroom shows I have 29,089. Of course, I delete most of the pictures I take, so I’ve probably taken 100k+.

On to the question–how to organize pictures. I use Adobe Lightroom, which is fantastic. It actually makes you a better photographer by helping to find your best pictures and quickly do basic editing on your pictures. It’s also perfect for stock photographers like myself, because it supports tagging, titles, and captions, which different stock agencies use to help buyers find pictures. Here’s the rub: Lightroom costs $300. Here’s a video introduction of Lightroom:

If you’re not blown away by the $300 price tag, download the free Lightroom trial and see if it’s worth it.

If you’d like something free, but not quiet as powerful, check out Google Picasa. It’ll let you set captions, tags, etc. Date Recording is generally done by your camera, assuming you have the clock set correctly. Here’s a video demonstration of Picasa:

I also discuss managing pictures (including naming and tagging and such) using the tools built-in to Windows 7 in my video tutorial.

Let me know what you decide!

I created a Windows 7 video training course for InfiniteSkills.com to help people get started with Windows 7. Here’s the course outline–click the links to view the beginning (and most basic) subjects for free. Buy the course online and you’ll get access to the subjects covering the more advanced material.

Introduction

• What You Will Learn
• What’s New In Windows 7

Upgrading to Windows 7

• Is My Computer Ready
• Using the Easy Transfer Wizard in XP
• Installing Windows 7 Over XP Part 1
• Installing Windows 7 Over XP Part 2
• Upgrading Vista to Windows 7 Part 1
• Upgrading Vista to Windows 7 Part 2

The Windows 7 Taskbar and User Interface

• Taskbar
• Start Menu
• Notification Area
• Desktop
• Gadgets
• Working With Windows
• Using Aero

Windows Explorer

• Navigating Folders
• Creating Folders
• Changing Views
• Opening Files
• Creating Files
• Selecting Files, Deleting Files, and Using the Recycle Bin
• Moving and Copying Files
• Adding Shortcuts
• Searching
• Using Libraries

Using Media

• Windows Media Player Part 1
• Windows Media Player Part 2
• Windows Media Center Part 1
• Windows Media Center Part 2
• Copying Pictures From Your Camera
• Browsing Photos With Windows Explorer

Built-in Applications

• Wordpad
• Paint
• Calculator
• Sticky Note
• Games

System Settings

• Volume
• Uninstalling Programs
• Accessibility Options
• Startup Programs
• Logging On Automatically
• ReadyBoost

Networking

• Connecting to a Wired Network
• Connecting to a Wireless Network
• Sharing Files With HomeGroups

Security

• Windows Update
• Windows Defender
• Managing Users
• Family Safety
• Sharing Folders on a Computer
• Encrypting Files Part 1
• Encrypting Files Part 2
• Encrypting Files Part 3
• Encrypting Files Part 4
• Encrypting Files Part 5
• Encrypting Files Part 6

Printing

• Printing
• Sharing and Network Printers

Backing Up and Restoring Your Important Files

• Scheduling Backups
• Restoring Files Part 1
• Restoring Files Part 2
• Burning CDs and DVDs
• Online Backups

Browsing the Web

• What’s New in Internet Explorer 8
• Searching
• Using Favorites
• Using the History
• Using RSS
• Using InPrivate Browsing and Filtering
• Managing Add-ons
• Internet Explorer Tips and Tricks

Troubleshooting

• Low Disk Space
• Fixing a Computer That Won’t Start
• Recovering From Malware
• Troubleshooting Performance Problems
• Task Manager
• Hardware That Doesn’t Work
• Recording Problems
• Other Troubleshooting Tools Part 1
• Other Troubleshooting Tools Part 2

Systems Administration

• Configuring a New Hard Disk
• Customizing the Appearance of Windows
• Configuring Your Mouse
• Power Settings
• Setting Time, Date, and Time Zone
• Configuring the Language
• Customizing the Explorer Interface
• Customizing the User Interface
• Enabling and Using Remote Desktop

Summary

• About the Author
• Goodbye

Today my friend Jeff hit me up with an interesting question. His quad-core HP DL585 is supposed to operate at 3.4 GHz, but Performance Monitor was showing it running at 82% of the maximum frequency–2.8 GHz.

My first thought was that the difference was the metric AMD uses to make it easier to compare their processors to Intels higher-frequency chips–and I was really wrong. When I investigated the Performance Monitor counters Jeff was looking at, I discovered a counter I hadn’t used before: Processor Performance\% of Maximum Frequency, as shown above.

This counter shows the current frequency of the processor. Modern processors can slow themselves down a bit to save power when they’re not doing anything high-priority. A few years back, it was just mobile processors that did this. Today, it’s pervasive–mobile computers, desktops, and servers scale back frequency when they’re not busy.

As shown here, you can configure the minimum and maximum processor states from the Power Options dialog box (Control Panel\Hardware And Sound\Power Options\Change Plan Settings):

You might also be able to configure settings from your computer’s BIOS/CMOS.

Can I add extra pixels in a picture saved im my computer by Photoshop or something else for enlarge or resize it??

Lauro

Brasil

Answer:

Yes, but there’s hardly ever any reason to. When you print the picture, your printer or the printing service you use will automatically scale the picture as necessary. Nonetheless, I have run into printing services that insisted on having the picture at 300dpi (or 250 dpi or 200 dpi).

I use Photoshop Elements, but I think the steps are the same in Photoshop:

1. Open your picture.
2. Click Image, click Resize, and then click Image Size.
3. Select the Resample Image check box (if it’s not already selected). You can select Bicubic from the list. Also make sure that the Constrain Proportions check box is selected.
4. Change the Width and Height in the Pixel Dimensions group to the desired resolution. If you need to achieve a specific DPI, change the Width, Height, and Resolution settings in the Document Size group.
   
5. Click OK.

Photoshop will think for a second and then show your bigger picture. Of course, this doesn’t make your picture any sharper or add any detail–it just makes it bigger and a little blurrier. Photoshop can’t add information where their wasn’t any previously.

Tony,

I was reading your 70-536 MCTS training book, when I saw that that you were a photographer. I find that to be strange, considering the fact that I too am a programmer who is also a photographer. At first, I found what must be your old website (http://www.northrup.org/). Upon seeing that site, I said that this guy must be joking when he says that he is a photographer. However, fortunately there is a link to what must be your new website (http://www.northrupphotography.com). The pictures on that site are incredible. Not to mention the fact that the layout is very appealing to the eye. However, as a writer of many windows books, what are you doing with a PHP website? That’s like going over to the dark side. After I finish the 70-536, it is my plan to update my site in a manner like yours, however I will utilize Microsoft Silverlight. Well, thanks for the inspiration. Take care.

My (wordy) answer after the jump.

This is an interesting study between presentation and function. Both northrup.org and northrupphotography.com are current, and all the pictures you see at northrupphotography.com are also shown at northrup.org. Northrup.org has about 15,000 additional pictures–I only show my “prettiest” work at NorthrupPhotography.com. If you’re looking for a picture of a baby ostrich (and plenty of people are, surprisingly), Google will send you to northrup.org.

NorthrupPhotography.com gets like 20 visitors a day, while northrup.org gets thousands and thousands. NorthrupPhotography.com costs me a couple of hundred dollars per year to run, while northrup.org makes a very healthy profit from selling pictures and advertising.

I also sell my pictures as stock at all the big stock photo agencies. Everyone other than stock photographers would consider them quite boring, however, because they’re meant for business use.

Re: Silverlight vs. Flash–I’ve dabbled in both, but the Flash I use on both northrup.org and NorthrupPhotography.com was written by other developers. In fact, NorthrupPhotography.com (including the PHP and Apache hosting) is a site I bought from BluDomain.com. I know my strengths and weaknesses, and creating pretty user interfaces is a weakness. So, I bought Flash components for both websites and just plug my pictures in (though everything but the slideshow interface on northrup.org uses a .NET Framework back-end that I wrote and Microsoft server software).

About 95% of my visitors have Flash installed (the rest are probably on an iPhone). I don’t even know how many visitors have Silverlight installed, because my analytics don’t track it. This site does, though, and it seems to be about half:

http://www.riastats.com/

I simply can’t use Silverlight right now because it would leave half of my users without an important component of the user interface. The SilverLight people have already made amazing progress getting it installed on half the browsers out there, and in a couple of years I’ll be able to migrate from Flash to Silverlight.

In summary, I use the .NET Framework for all my own programming, and all my client and server computers run Windows 7/Windows Server 2003/Windows Server 2008. I’m not trying to re-invent the wheel, though, and I’m happy to use pre-programmed Linux/PHP/MySQL/Flash components–as long as someone else is managing them :).

Tony

1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Manage.

2. Expand Storage, and then click Disk Management.

3. Click the Action menu, and then click Attach VHD.

4. Click the Browse button, select your VHD file, and then click OK twice.

5. Open Explorer and access the VHD like a newly created hard disk. It’ll show up as a blue disk in the Disk Management snap-in. For example, mine appeared as the H: drive.

How dare you.

Here’s an easy way to stop Windows 7 from nagging you: stop the Windows Update service. It’ll automatically restart the next time you start your computer. Just follow these steps:

1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Manage.

2. In the Details pane, expand Services and Applications, and then click Services.

3. Scroll down to Windows Update. Right-click Windows Update, and then click Stop.

No more nagging!

You can also stop the Windows Update service from a script or command prompt, provided you have administrative privileges. Just run this command:

net stop wuauserv

How to create a bootable disc? You could do it with Linux, but then you’d have to learn another OS, I prefer to stick with Windows. Besides, there are a lot of useful tools already available for Windows. You may have heard of the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE or simply PE) that has been available to computer vendors for years. Microsoft made it available to everyone a few years ago, and I’ve found it to be extremely useful. There are several ways to create a customized Windows PE disc, the simplest approach is to use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) that some colleagues of mine in the Solutions Accelerators Team (SAT) at Microsoft created. You’ll need several gigs of storage space to download and use everything described below, make sure you have enough room before you start!

1. Download and install MDT 2010, you can use the default values for the installation.
2. Download Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7 and burn the disc image to a DVD. Run StartCD.exe from the DVD to install the AIK on your computer. Once again, you can use the default values for the installation. This is a big file, if you have an MSDN subscription I suggest that you download it from there because the MSDN downloader can resume interrupted downloads from where they left off.
3. Download malware scanning tools and other utilities designed for offline use. There are a lot of free antimalware tools available, but for this troubleshooting disc you need those that will work in offline mode, I’ve been able to use Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool, Alwil Software’s avast! Virus Cleaner, and McAfee AVERT Stinger with ease.
4. To create a Deployment Share in MDT
   1. Open Deployment Workbench from the Start Menu.
   2. In the console tree expand Deployment Workbench and right-click Deployment Shares.
   3. Select New Deployment Shares and specify a location for the deployment share such as C:\Deploymentshare.
   4. Accept the default values for the rest of the options and complete the wizard.
5. You’re ready to create the troubleshooting disc, to do so
   1. In the console tree expand Deployment Workbench and right-click Deployment Shares.
   2. Right-click the deployment share you created in the details pane and select Properties.
   3. Select the Windows PE x86 Settings tab and click Generate a Generic Windows PE WIM File.
   4. Enter an Image Description such as Offline Troubleshooting.
   5. Select Generate a generic bootable ISO image.
   6. Enter an ISO file name such as Troubleshooting_Disc.iso.
   7. Next to Extra Directory to Add enter the path to the folder where you saved the malware and troubleshooting tools in task 3.
   8. Set the scratch space size to: 128.
   9. Click on OK.
   10. Right click on the Deployment Share and choose Update Deployment Share.
   11. Click on Next two times, and then click Finish.
   12. Burn the iso image file to a CD-ROM or DVD, it will be located in a directory called Boot folder in the deployment share folder, e.g. c:\Deploymentshare\Boot folder\Troubleshooting_Disc.iso.

Your troubleshooting disc is ready to go, when you boot the stricken system the system drive is X:, and you’ll find your troubleshooting tools in the root of that drive.

This brief article has only brushed the surface of what’s available in MDT, if you have to manage more than a few PCs or if you have to install Windows frequently then you should look at what else it has to offer. MDT greatly simplifies the tasks involved in creating and maintaining installation images and deploying those images to different computers.

Kurt Dillard

kurtdillard.com

Facebook LinkedIn

1. Change the way Control Panel applets are displayed by clicking the Category button just to the right the View by: label and select either Small icons or Large icons. This is how I prefer to see Control Panel, but it can be tough to find what you want amongst the 50 or more icons.
2. Another way is to launch Windows Defender directly, click Start; in the search box, type Defender; click Windows Defender to open the program; and then click Scan.

There are some others I usually just access with the search box like Credential Manager, Configuration Manager, Autoplay, and Desktop Gadgets.

Kurt Dillard

kurtdillard.com

Facebook LinkedIn

Greetings, Tony

It is nice to be communicating with you. The question for which I’m in need of you help is probably a tough one: I’ve asked it in different places and never got an answer for it. So brace yourself:

I use Windows Media Player to watch movies, especially DVDs, and occasionally, Video CDs. I have no problem playing DVDs, be it a Hollywood one or personal one. Sound and picture is always great. However, Windows Media Player loves to call my beloved movies “Unknown DVD”. (I have included two screenshots.) But why? What’s wrong? How can I make Windows Media Player recognize my movies with their proper names? Is it something related to disc format or Windows Media Player itself?

Curiosity is killing me. Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Regards,

John

Hi, John. For songs, Windows Media Player can lookup songs in Internet directories using the actual content of the song. So, even if the song isn’t labeled, Windwos Media Player can figure out what it is.

Unfortunately, it’s not as smart with DVDs. To find the name of the DVD, Windows Media Player simply looks at the DVD volume label. If whoever burned the DVD doesn’t specify a volume label, Windows Media Player will display “Unknown DVD”.

If you’re burning a DVD, follow these steps to view or specify a label:

1. Insert the DVD.

2. Click Start, and then click Computer.

3. Right-click the DVD and then click Properties.

The Properties dialog box displays the name of the DVD at the top of the General tab.

4. Type a new name (if it’s a writeable DVD) and then click OK.

So, most DVDs you’re playing are read-only, including all commercial DVDs, which means you can’t change the label. Your only option would be to copy the DVD and specify the label when burning the new media.

I read your article about 10 tips for improving your wireless connection and I have a question for you.

I have an apple mac book pro computer and my husband has an ibm thinkpad. We moved into a new house in July and ever since we moved into our new house my wireless connection has not been working well at all – it is extremely slow but my husbands computer works great and has a very strong wireless connection. The strange thing is it worked fine at our last home with the same set up except that instead of using our apple airport we are now using a linksys router that is connected to our dsl modem. If I take my computer outside of the house and get on another wireless network the internet works fine. The other thing we have tested is actually hardwiring my computer into the router directly and it still didn’t work quickly at all so I am wondering if there is a problem with my computer (being an apple) with a linkys router?

Any ideas? I have been working on this issue off and on for a while now. We have even had our tech guy come out and take a look and he can’t seem to figure it out.

Thanks for you any ideas you may have.

First, let’s find a way to test the performance so we can see how bad it really is, and whether our changes fix the problem.

If you share files between computers on your network, find a big file (like a video) and copy it to another computer. Time how long it takes. Then, repeat that test after each change to determine if the problem is solved.

If you only use your computer to access the Internet, visit this Web performance test, and make note of the upload and download speeds. You could test this from both your Mac and the Thinkpad, and see how much performance differs.

Now, let’s start making some changes. Test performance after each step, and stop when things seem good:

1. Visit your router’s configuration page and install any firmware updates available.

2. Make sure your Mac has all updates installed, especially those related to network performance.

3. Visit your router’s wireless network configuration page. Set it to 802.11G, and disable any performance-boosting capabilities. Restart your Mac (or disconnect from the wireless network and reconnect).

4. Run network diagnostics on your Mac (which you can do from Safari).

5. On your Mac, delete the new network location, and then re-create it. Read this for more information about network locations (remember, I’m not a Mac guy).

6. Sell that Linksys and go back to your Airport router! I know, it’s tough to give up, but searching the Internet I found dozens of people complaining about Mac-Linksys connection problems and most of the never found a solution. Most wireless networks are highly compatible thanks to networking standards, but it’s still possible for a client and a wireless access point to suffer from performance problems because of the software implementations.

Let me know how it turns out!

TIME MACHINE 5200 .

Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.

Locate and then click the following entry in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\NoDriveTypeAutorun

Right-click NoDriveTypeAutoRun, and then click Modify.

In the Value data box, type 0xFF to disable all types of drives. Or, to selectively disable specific drives, use a different value as described in the “How to selectively disable specific Autorun features” section.

Click OK, and then exit Registry Editor.

Restart the computer.