If your organization works on an image-based model, meaning a generation of machines is cloned from a master image, to implement a 'best practice' of System Administration you want the master image to be perfect. One important thing to help with that is going to be a consistent workflow. I have established the following workflow centered around Secunia PSI and Microsoft … [Read more...]
IT Goes Green, by the numbers
Out of curiosity's sake and putting some real numbers to the "green" movement, I bought an electricity usage meter. I chose the P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor. It's pretty simple to use and just tells you how many KWH consumed over a certain time period and if you input a rate of cost (off of your electric bill, for example) it will then … [Read more...]
Adobe’s Customization Wizard for creating transforms
If you're deploying Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader through Group Policy, there is one tool you need to know about. Adobe's Customization Wizard allows you to create a transform (modifies the installation of software when it is deployed) that will configure many elements of the Acrobat and Reader products. This 4.5 MB download allows you to enter the serial number, … [Read more...]
User Profile Hive Cleanup Service – Fixing log off problems
If you're frequently seeing a lot of warnings in your Application event log with this error message: "Windows saved user [user name] registry while an application or service was still using the registry during log off. The memory used by the user's registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded when it is no longer in use. This is often caused by services running as … [Read more...]
Advanced Batch Scripting
I'd like to share four utilities that can improve your batch (DOS) scripting by making them more user-friendly, more versatile, and more dynamic. With these tools, you'll gain a variety of abilities that allows you to do more with batch scripting and make your utilities more polished/enjoyable to the end users. The four utilities are: Sleep, BATtoEXE, CHP (Create Hidden … [Read more...]