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If you work on a network, you then know the value of information. Solid information leads to a strong and worry-free network (or at least as worry-free as you can manage). In order to gather that information, you need the right tools. The tools I speak of are network analyzers. Once you start looking, you can find analyzers of every shape, size, and price. But for most network admins, the free tools do a solid-enough job to get you the…
There are times when a handy disk janitor utility can swoop in and save the day. One of the most frustrating jobs I come across is a hard drive filled to capacity. In many cases this is just a matter of migrating user data or temp files. Sometimes, however, the task isn’t so easy. This is especially true when you’re looking at a Windows server with a smallish C drive that is near capacity. You can dig around and find…
Tracking down the cause of a Blue Screen of Death can be tricky. Here are some steps that may help you zero in on the problem. Anyone who has ever experienced the notorious Windows Blue Screen of Death knows that finding a solution to the problem can be tricky. Fortunately, there are some relatively simple things you can do to help diagnose the problem. 1: Try to reproduce the error The first thing I recommend doing is to try to…
For most tasks, the disc burning functions built into Windows usually cover all of our basic needs. Personally though, I might want to really get access to under-the-hood settings and fine tune my output. For instance, when I want to burn an ISO for a disc that will go into a finicky drive, I want to be able to not only adjust the burning speed, but also choose additional settings for disc-at-once or session-at-once modes. With discs going out of…
If you’ve used Microsoft Outlook for a while, you know that it can slow down… way down. In fact, when not looked after, Outlook can become nearly useless. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to make Outlook not only usable, but significantly improved. And none of these techniques requires a single configuration change to your Exchange server (IMAP or POP3). Of course, some of these suggestions might seem to have a bit more “‘duh” factor than others. But…
Most of us probably have rather large hard disks or SSDs at our disposal. If you like to work with multiple operating systems or need a better way to segregate the storage of data, like separate partitions for media files and apps for instance, it’s important to use a tool that can perform the task of slicing up a disk easily and safely. Although all Windows versions since Vista come with a basic, built-in partition manager, it still might be…
By now, you’ve probably heard that Java has once again been the target of another 0-day exploit thanks to underlying weakness in the Java code. This is not the first time that Java has been in this position. Just last summer, a 0-day exploit was making the rounds thanks to a different coding issue. Some experts predict that it could take Oracle up to two years to fix all of the vulnerabilities in the Java code, so it’s more than…
With mixed-platform environments on the rise, you need tools that can handle whatever systems you’re supporting. Here are 10 invaluable cross-platform applications. These tools range from standard desktop tools to server-based applications. Being cross-platform is going to become a crucial component to software in the coming years. Alternate platforms, such as Linux and Mac, will be rising in popularity as Windows begins a slow, steady decline. If you aren’t already taking advantage of cross-platform applications. 1: FileZilla FileZilla is one…
Portable apps do one thing for the system and network administrator — make the job easier. The better (and more diverse) your portable apps, the more jobs are made easier. Security is one area where portable apps can make a big difference. But there are so many to choose from, it’s hard to piece together a collection of tools that best fit your needs. To that end, I want to introduce you to some portable security apps you might never…
Having all your tools in one place certainly makes your job easier. This is especially true when you need networking tools. These tools can be anything from simple monitoring tools to full-blown portable servers. Regardless of what you need and why you need it, there are plenty of networking tools that require zero installation and can fit on a USB flash drive. There are quite a lot of portable apps out there–even within the narrowed scope of networking tools. Here…