Windows has a handy little pie graph in the Properties window of a hard drive that tells you how much free space is left. That seems to be relatively useless information. It tells you the percent of the drive that is free but that's it. It doesn't tell you what is really chomping away at your free space. Alternatively, there are a handful of software utilities out there that … [Read more...]
Installing phpBB mods
Modifying a phpBB forum from its base installation can add new features or change behavior to get a final product that works how you want it to do. In order to do this, you download and install a mod. This typically comes in the form of a zip file containing instructions and some new php/html files. Installations consist of copying files to your web server and changing the code … [Read more...]
Scripting Windows Firewall Exceptions
Windows XP SP2 and beyond use Windows Firewall to prevent from outside attack. If you have a legitimate program that needs access you can add an exception to the computer for that program. You can do this through the Control Panel on each machine, the Group Policy for multiple machines (more info from Microsoft), or through a script for maximum flexibility. The scripting … [Read more...]
PowerMenu
PowerMenu adds some handy functionality to all programs, even if the original developers didn't design it to include them. PowerMenu adds four functionalities to all programs at the low, low cost of a 5 MB process sitting in memory. The added functions include: Changing the Process Priority Changing Transparency Always On Top Minimize to Tray The names of … [Read more...]
10 Signs of an IT Noob
Let's say the vendor sent out a technician to install some software or you're conducting interviews for an IT position, what are some of the things you notice that lets you resolutely label this individual as an IT noob? This seems like it could make a decent Goofus and Galant parody. The IT Noob: When installing software from a CD, to initiate the process of installing the … [Read more...]