Windows 7 + RemProf = Windows XP + Delprof

It has been a while since I have been looking for a remote profile deletion utility for Windows 7. Microsoft provided Delprof for Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 but it doesn’t work on any OS beginning with Vista. We are in the process of transitioning to Windows 7, out user support guys make heavy use of Delprof as we use Roaming Profiles which get corrupted or have other issues at time or we simply need to clean a workstation. So in the absence of Delprof our user support needs to login to the workstation to clear profiles on a workstation or login to a XP virtual machine and use the command prompt for remote profile deletion.

While  looking for a solution I found the following freeware utility

RemProf download and look at the help file for more info.

Using it with PsExec one can achieve what Delprof does and more. It makes a better Delprof alternative.

for example if you need to delete only one users profile from a workstation, you can user the following command

psexec \\computername \\uncpath\remprof /L username

there are many more options, following is from the help file that comes with it.

Usage:
REMPROF [/LIST|username|/A|/D:days|/AD:days] [/EXCLUDE:usernames] [/?]

  /LIST    - List all user profiles currently not in use (Default).
  username - Delete user profile based on username.
  /A       - Delete all user profiles that have no username association
             including abandoned profile folders.
             i.e. The username has been deleted in Active Directory but
             a profile still exists in form of a SID or the profile did
             not unload correctly and a residue profile folder exists.
  /D:days  - Delete all user profiles equal to or older than the number of
             days specified. NB: /D: without a number is equal to /D:0.
             /D:0 will remove CURRENT user profiles not in use.
  /AD:days - Delete all user profiles that have no username association
             and are equal to or older than the number of days specified.
             NB: /AD: without a number is equal to /AD:0.
  /EXCLUDE:username/s - Exclude particular users from being deleted.
                        Can accept multiple entries, seperated by comma.
                        Must be last command line argument.
                        Unassociated profiles cannot be excluded.
                        Do not include the Domain Name.
  /?       - show this help file

REMPROF without parameters will execute the /LIST switch by default.

I find it a very useful tool, hope it helps you too.

MSI Manager–Redeploy Software Assigned by GPO

MSI Manager is a simple and great tool that allows you to reinstall a software assigned by group policy. This is very useful when applications were not installed correctly due to timeout or some other issue. If the install gets interrupted in the middle it will not try to reinstall the software again.

To force a reinstall one can manually do the following

in the registry editor navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\AppMgmt.  There will be a key for each software that has been assigned.  To force a reinstall, simply delete the associated key and then run gpupdate/force on the target computer.

To achieve this quicker user MSI Manager – click her to download and read more details

Office 2010 Web App on SkyDrive

Microsoft has slowly caught up with the web and have been offering great features to boost up the use of live ID or hotmail.

25GB free space in SkyDrive

and now Office 2010 Web Apps, the interface is flawless, much better than Google Docs. I have nothing against Google Docs I use it quite often but when I tried the Microsoft Office Web Apps I realized what Google Docs has been missing.

I have to say, I am impressed with this initiative of Microsoft and thank God now I can use Office on some of my Dinosaurs at home ;-)

List of Top Free Windows Administration Tools

This is a comprehensive list of Windows Administration Tools available for free. There are some great detailed reviews about tools, all of these review are written by Michael Pietroforte.  I like his reviews as they are informative and honest.

Windows Administration Tools 

Above is a precious collection of any Systems Administrator.

So-called GodMode in Window 7 !!! I call it AdminMode.

I don't like the idea of calling a cool shortcut or trick “GodMode”. However as you might have guessed, I like the trick itself. I would call it “AdminMode” because that's what it is.

In Windows 7 you can create a new folder anywhere with the following name

AdminMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

You can change “AdminMode” to whatever you want to name the folder. After the folder creation is complete you will see it listed as following.

When you double click it, you will see a list of commands which are either well hidden or require a few clicks to get to. With the help of AdminMode you get easily access all of these cool features at one place. What's even more great is that you can create a shortcut by right clicking any option and choosing create a shortcut, it will place a shortcut on your desktop.

Enjoy Windows 7 !!!!

Freeware to Backup and Restore Device Drivers

Double Driver is a great freeware to backup and restore device drivers. It is a stand alone application that you can run from a USB drive or any storage location without needing an install.

it works fine with windows 7. Its a great tool!! no need to worry about keeping track of recovery CDs for old laptops and desktops.

Freeware to Backup and Restore Device Drivers

Double Driver is a great freeware to backup and restore device drivers. It is a stand alone application that you can run from a USB drive or any storage location without needing an install.

it works fine with windows 7. Its a great tool!! no need to worry about keeping track of recovery CDs for old laptops and desktops.

Reset Mailbox Permissions

if a mailbox is being shared between multiple users and for some reason not all folders are visible to all the users. First thing you might want to do is to consider resetting the permissions of the mailbox.

The tool you would use for this purpose is PFDAVAdmin.

• Instead of connecting to public folder on a given exchange server, connect to all mailboxes of the server where the concerned mailbox is.
• Right click the mailbox name and select Propagate folder ACEs
• Check “NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON” and click on OK

even though the level of permission is none “Anonymous Logon” has to be listed in the ACL in order for the folder to be visible to everyone who has permission to the mailbox.

Great freeware for Windows Administrators – ManagePC

ManagePC is a freeware that can be used by administrators and/or helpdesk in an Active Directory domain to manage remote windows 2000/xp/2003 machines. Following is the features list.

ManagePC features

• Retrieves important WMI data from machine
• Remote control (via Remote Desktop, Remote Assistance or VNC)
• Remotely manage machine (via MMC)
• Reboot machine
• Remotely edit registry
• Stop/start services
• Monitor and terminate processes
• View local users and groups
• Remotely uninstall software
• Export data to Excel, HTML and RTF format
• All retrieved data stored in XML files for history purposes
• WMI Query Builder
• No extra software required on client machines

It does work with Vista and Windows7 machines but there are a few permission issues that need to be fixed, hopefully in next versions. This open source software provides a comprehensive suite of remote management tools with no client or agent installed on the target machine. But make sure that the PSTools are installed on the administrator’s machine for the uninstalls to work, specifically PsExec is required for that task.

Installation is very simple, once the software is installed read the help file its very brief. Happy Managing PCs!!!

http://managepc.net/

Map Windows Live SkyDrive (25GB Free Online space) As Local Drive and Much More

Having 10GB free space from 4shared is great but it has its own limitations. What if there was more space that you already have like 25GB from SkyDrive!! Hotmail users will know what I am talking about.

Gladinet is a tool that allows you to map SkyDrive, Google Docs and others as a Network/Local Drive to your computer. Which mean you can have a drive letter that allows you to automate backing up your data and/or you can just drag an drop files.

I have been using the free version and my experience with it has been great!! It works great with Windows7. Speed and performance is relative to what machine and connection you are using. I use a DSL line and have not seen any issue with the speed..

Gladinet has made life easy when it comes to storing data online!! Enjoy using it.

http://www.gladinet.com/

Another amazing freeware - Gizmo Central

Most of us use virtual cd/dvd mount software and the most complete solution that I have found so far is Gizmo Central.
Following are some details as described on the official site. But this freeware does much more than the following. 
Gizmo Central 2.7 (Features)

• New Advanced Themes  
• New Full VHD mounting (Dynamic, fixed, & differencing)
• ISO, BIN, CUE, NRG, CCD, MDS, MDF image mounting
• Hex Editor and Syntax Text Editor
• Mouse & Keyboard Automation
• Database tools, Query Analyzer, with IntelliSense

I have been using it for a while and have found it very useful, specially the ability to burn any of the mountable files. (not vhd of course) and the txt editor is very handy.
Give it a try and see how useful it can be.

4Shared giving 10Gb Free space for Sharing or Storing data online!!!!

I have been using 4shared for a few years and have found it to be one of the best data storage and file sharing sites. User interface is very intuitive and easy to use and 5Gb space + 100Mb size file download was already great! Now free 4shared users have 10Gb space and the maximum file size that can be uploaded is now 200Mb.

following is the message sent from 4shared to the free users.

Great presents from 4shared!
Progress indicates generally forward moving and always brings innovations for something better. This time enhancement will be much appreciated by our Free users because we prepared a significant present for them. Basic feature set for Free accounts was altered and these changes are as always in your favor! Storage space of Free accounts was increased to 10Gb, maximal upload file size was doubled – from now on it has become possible to upload files up to 200Mb. The number of your favorite subdomains was also increased to unlimited. You can have as many subdomains like myfolder.4shared.com as you wish! Thank you for being a part of 4shared community – community of progressive and forward-looking people! Hope you will like our present. Let’s advance together!

Enable Wake On LAN (WOL) on all Dell PCs in your domain

Wake on LAN can be very useful for all Systems Administrators and Helpdesk. Do you remember last time when all your users were asked to logged off and none of them left their computers OFF? …….. No! thought so.

Well that can be solved, in my case I just have to deal with Dell computers so it was easy enough. I used the following method.

1. Download and install the following utility from Dell on one of the computers
   Dell Client Configuration Utility
   
2. Use the following instructions to prepare an exe file that can be deployed to all the Dell computers to modify BIOS settings to enable Wake on LAN.
   Create BIOS Settings Package
   
3. Once you have the BIOS settings file, use GPO or PSexec to deploy it to all computers.
   
4. And finally you can use a command line utility like WOL.EXE to wake up a computer (MAC address required)

To get the MAC address use following commandline
getmac /S computernam

the above was the most basic that can get anyone started with WOL, like Dell there are other manufactures that provide similar utilities to deploy BIOS settings or in some cases it might already be enabled. If you have Lansweeper or Configuration Manager in your domain then you can use these to wake up computers as well.

Mouse gestures in Google Chrome?

I have always been a great fan of developing Human ability to interact naturally with machines and Using Gestures is one of the basic methods I incorporate and appreciate in my daily computer usage. Its great feeling to not to have to use buttons and menus to interact with a program or OS itself.

I had not been able to use Google Chrome for a while because I am used to using gestures while browsing  and with some third party tools I was able to make it work but didn’t have much choices when it came to customizing the tools to create my own gestures and with some it was just not compatible.

Not until I found gMote, I was fully able to move to using Chrome. I have been a loyal user of FireFox and IE, but due to some recent concerns expressed about the increasing vulnerabilities of FireFox, I had to make some choices and I think for now I will chose Chrome. IE will still be in picture for many reasons.

gMote also works great with Windows 7, Microsoft should really think about incorporating gestures in the OS!! It makes a great difference.

Unable to send emails to a mail enabled Public Folder

When trying to send emails to a mail enabled Public Folder your users receive the following NDR

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

emailaddress@domain.com
There's a problem with the recipient's mailbox. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please try resending this message, or provide the following diagnostic text to your system administrator.
_____

Sent by Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
Diagnostic information for administrators:

Generating server: htserver.domain.com

emailaddress@domain.com
#550 5.2.0 STOREDRV.Deliver: The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service reported an error. The following information should help identify the cause of this error: "MapiExceptionNotAuthorized:16.18969:E70F0000……

Error: MapiExceptionNotAuthorized makes it apparent that the issue is with permissions.

Check the public folder permissions, use PFDAVAdmin or Microsoft Outlook for it. Make sure that Anonymous has Contributor permission level.