Categories
Operating Systems Vista

Fixing Windows Exporer and other Vista problems

Windows Explorer in Vista is enough to drive one to drink, not least for its constant inability to remember folder preferences.

windowsannoyances.org has a great solution at www.annoyances.org/exec/show/choosetemplate.

PCMag also has a link to that solution and some other good advice here.

Categories
Networking Operating Systems

Setting up a DNS Round Robin in Windows

A round robin lets you load balance by pointing the same host name to multiple servers in DNS.  As long as round robin service is enabled in the DNS server, incoming requests will be spread among the servers.

Following is the short version of how to do this.  For a more comprehensive look at this, see Rodney Buikes excellent article on the subject.

  • In the DNS Mgmt application on your DNS server, right click the server name in the tree in the left pane, select Properties, select the Advanced tab, ensure that ‘Enable round robin’ is selected.
  • Add HOST(A) records in the appropriate forward lookup zone, pointing to the servers to be covered.
  • If you want a little poor-man's fault tolerance, ensure that the TTL of each record is set to a short period of time, i.e. 15 seconds.  This ensures that if one of the servers fails, repeated attempts to connect will soon hit another server.
Categories
Operating Systems

Using Remote Desktop Connection

Jake Ludington has written a great article on using Remote Desktop at this URL.  This Windows utility allows you to connect to your desktop from anywhere on the Internet.  Configured properly, it is quite secure.

http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20051122_how_to_use_remote_desktop_connection_rdc.html

Categories
Operating Systems

Just-In-Time debugger errors after uninstalling Visual Studio

Uninstalling Visual Studio can leave your system struggling with  Just-In-Time debugger errors that can prevent applications from starting.

To resolve it, try deleting the following registry keys.

The usual warnings about editing the registry apply; if you don't understand the risks, don't do it.

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug\Debugger
  •  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\DbgManagedDebugger
Categories
Operating Systems

Find out when Windows was installed on a machine

To tell when the operating was installed on your Windows XP/2003 system, go to a command prompt (Start – Run – "cmd" – OK), then enter the following command;

[sourcecode language='php']

systeminfo | find /i "install date"

[/sourcecode]