Archive for the 'Administration' Category
How to Enable Vista hidden administrator
Thursday, February 14th, 2008You probably know about the "hidden" administrator account in Windows XP. It’s the only account on XP systems on which no other accounts have been created. Until you add a new account, you zip right to the desktop when you boot the OS, with no stop at the Welcome screen.
How to Change or Stop Password Expiration
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007This applies to the Vista Business and Vista Ultimate versions. By default, Vista is set up with passwords which will expire after 42 days. 14 days in advance, Vista will start warning you of this fact. NOTE: You must do this from within a Administrator account or use Run as administrator.
Vista SP1: Create a recovery disc
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007One of the new administrative tools Windows Vista Service Pack 1 provides is the ability to create a recovery disc. At first, the name might fool you into thinking the type of discs system manufacturers provide to you when you purchase a new computer to restore your computer to a factory state, but this is [...]
How to make yourself a real administrator in Vista
Friday, February 16th, 2007One of the new things which were introduced by Windows Vista is brand new user accounts management, which allows system administrators to create various user accounts with strictly limited permissions. This may be handy for someone in net cafe or parents who want to protect the computer from their children, but it may cause also [...]
Windows Tip: Troubleshooting group policy in Windows Vista
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007Group Policy is a key technology for managing computers on Windows-based networks where Active Directory is deployed. But Group Policy has been considerably enhanced in Windows Vista, and also in the soon-to-come Windows Server Code-Name “Longhorn.” And of course, changes mean more learning for those who are going to administer these platforms, so this tip [...]
Inside the Windows Vista Kernel: Part 1
Sunday, January 21st, 2007This is the first part of a series on what’s new in the Windows Vista kernel. In this issue, I’ll look at changes in the areas of processes and threads, and in I/O. Future installments will cover memory management, startup and shutdown, reliability and recovery, and security. The scope of this article comprises changes to [...]
How To: App, Data Migration To Vista Made Easy
Saturday, January 6th, 2007The big migration to Windows Vista has officially begun. For system builders, this will mean lots of work ordering, installing and upgrading Microsoft’s new OS on both new and old systems. For most customers, moving to Vista will mean moving to entirely new systems. Many if not most PCs now installed lack the processing power [...]
More Powerful Group Policy in Windows Vista
Friday, January 5th, 2007Windows Vista delivers a substantial update to the Group Policy infrastructure. Yet as organizations around the world deploy Windows Vista, many administrators probably won’t notice much of a difference in how they work because the numerous changes in Group Policy functions all take place under the hood. What administrators will find, however, is that Windows [...]
Vista security: A close look
Saturday, December 30th, 2006Will users who are frustrated with viruses and other malware be willing to trust Microsoft one more time with a significant investment in another version of Windows? It’s a case of Microsoft saying, "Trust us, really, we got it right this time. Honest." As I wrote last week, even the best protections can’t protect users [...]
HOW TO: deploy Windows Vista out to desktops from a central server using WDS
Saturday, December 23rd, 2006With Vista Business and Enterprise editions out and about, tools and infrastructure utilities which support Windows are getting an overhaul. One extremely useful tool for desktop admins wanting to centrally deploy Windows is Microsoft’s Remote Installation Services (RIS). It ties in to Active Directory and NTFS security, and lets individual workstations connect to a central [...]
