Click on Start, then Run. In the run dialogue box type cmd and click OK.
This will open a DOS prompt usually pointing to your users My Documents folder in Documents and Settings.
If you wanted to get to a folder called Movies on your E drive then you would type:
E: and then “cd Movies“. This is demonstrated in the image below.
To create the list then type “dir > movielist.txt” naming the text file anything you want. If you want to only export the file names without the file size details then use “dir /b > movielist.txt“. The movielist.txt file will be within the directory it has listed.
Often at work I need to use another PC or log onto a server. Windows systems don’t have remote desktop working by default so rather than have to walk somewhere I’d rather just do it remotely. Here’s how…
Firstly click on Start and then Run. In the box type in “regedit” and hit Enter.
Then click on File and Connect Network Registry as shown in the image below.
This will allow you to connect to another computers registry settings and make the needed changes.
In the next box you can enter the name of the remote computer or browse for it. This will work if you’re on either a Windows workgroup or on a domain. See the image below.
Once you’ve selected the computer click OK and the computer should now be listed in your Registry Editor at the bottom on the left. You need to navigate your way through the hierarchy and go to the following directory: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server.
Clicking on the Terminal Server folder you should see the window on the right populate with about 20 files. Look for fDenyTSConnections. Right click it and click Modify. A box similar to the one below should appear. Simply change the Value Data from 1 (Remote Desktop enabled) to 0 (Remote Desktop enabled).
Once this is changed then click OK to save the change. Remote Desktop will only be enabled once the machine is rebooted; this can also be done remotely. Open up a command prompt (Start > Run > “cmd“) and type: “shutdown -m \\WORKGROUP\PROMETHEUS -r” changing the computer name to the one you connected to.
This is the scenario: You have VPN access to a LAN running on a Windows domain. Once you connect through the VPN you don’t want to remote desktop to a machine but you still need access to the shared network drives that you would get via active directory.
So the easiest solution is to create a batch file that will map to to where the shared drive is using proper Windows authentication across the domain. This is what you need in the batch file.
NET USE Z: \\targetIP\drivename password /USER:domain\username /SAVECRED /PERSISENT:YES
So for How To Solutions it could be something like…
NET USE Z: \\192.168.0.1\solutions$ passw0rd /USER:HowToSolutions\admin /SAVECRED /PERSISENT:YES
This assume that…
- 192.168.0.1 - This is the local IP address of the target machine sharing the drive.
- solutions$ - Is the name of the folder on the target machine.
- passw0rd - Is the password used for your username.
- HowToSolutions - This is the Windows domain you’ve VPN’d to.
- admin - Is the username of the Windows account
- SAVECRED - To use credentials previously saved by the user
- PERSISTENT:YES - This will connect the share the next time you logon.
Put the single line in Notepad or something similar and save it as connect.bat. Now whenever you connect remotely to a network you can access the shared drives. It will use your Windows credentials so make sure you have sharing permissions on any folder/subfolders you try and access.
Background
By default Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) includes header and footer text onto web pages that are printed out. This is fine for most users as be default it lists the date & time and the URL. But you may want a clean page when printing or customised text for the date time etc. Here’s the How To Solutions guide.
Removing the Header Footer Text
In Internet Explorer go to File > Page Setup. You’ll see a box like the one below. In the Headers and Footers section you can remove the default text (&w&bPage &p of &P and &u&b&d). Just delete those bits and press OK.
Creating Custom Header Footer Text
You can also create custom header footer text to print out only the information you want to appear on every page. Use the set of functions below to create your own header footer text.
- &w - Window Title
- &u - Page URL
- &d - Date in short format
- &D - Date in long format
- &t - Time in regular format as shown on the clock
- &T - Time in 24-hour format
- &p - Current page number
- &P - Total number of pages
- &b - right align the next text. (You can see it in the default header, where &b is placed before the Page text)
- &b[TEXT]&b - If you surround the text in &b on either side, it will center the text.
- && - A single ampersand (&)
And that’s how to delete or edit the header footer text that appears when printing from Internet Explorer 7.
One of the things that is always present in an IT admin’s mind is the need for security across computer systems. Hardly a week goes by that a household name either loses their customer’s credit card details or have their systems compromised. What’s more worrying is the many more companies that no doubt choose not to report their own security shortcomings.
Many systems administrators would argue that Linux provides a real alternative to Windows based networks and gives you better security and protection. This may be true, but the fact most home users and enterprises use Windows based network then those users need to be as secure as possible. So with this in mind I thought I’d share with you what I think to be the best peices of free software out there that will help you boost your security.
Antivirus
Antivirus should be the very very least you have installed on any personal computer. Most anti virus packages now run in real time so they can detect viruses as soon as the virus tries to run. They can also be incorporated into popular email clients to scan incoming and outgoing messages. Best of all they are often updated daily with new virus definitions meaning they’re giving you up to the minute protection.
Download AVG Free Antivirus
Download Avast Antivirus
Firewall
A firewall sits between your computer and the Internet analyzing the traffic to decide whether it poses a risk or not. While using routers and switches are examples of physical firewalls that offer some protection, software ones are more easily configured and managed. I would recommend Zonelab’s ZoneAlarm software. It has varying levels of protection but even the most basic is better than nothing!
Download Free ZoneAlarm Firewall
Spyware Adware Malware
Perhaps the most common problems Internet users face is having software on their PC that isn’t a virus but at the same time is harmful. Spyware is software that is usually installed without the users consent and records information about the users computer and transmits it over the Internet. Adware is linked to adverts, usually pop ups that appear on your PC without your consent. The most common form I’ve found these to be in are toolbars in Internet Explorer that appear at random. Malware is the more malicious software out there including viruses as well as rootkits, worms and trojans.
So for peace of mind that your PC is secure from damaging software that could compromise your safe use of the Internet I recommend Spybots, Adaware and HijackThis. They overlap somewhat on what they do but having all three free pieces of software will give you total protection.
Download Spybots
Download Adaware
Download HijackThis
Vulnerability Testing
This is a subject which I’ve only recently touched on but if you’re running a network then this software is for you. The thing about networks is that the devices on them are rarely the same meaning differences in hardware, software, operating systems and importance. Software like MS Baseline Analyzer and Nessus will scan all devices on a given network or IP range for security flaws that could be exploited. They will list the vulnerabilities by importance and provide solutions allowing fixes and the the security you need to have important systems running on the Internet.
Download Nessus 3
Download Microsoft Baseline Analyzer
Further Steps
If you want to go a step further then a logical approach may be to use a proxy server such as Squid. As a proxy each user on the network goes though Squid to access the Internet. This means that certain websites can be blocked, files can be stopped from downloading and as this software runs as a cache it can speed up web access.
Download Squid for Windows
I hope you find these free peices of software suitable for your Windows security needs. If you want to suggest any more then please feel free to comment.