Sometimes it is convenient to cleanup some disk space by deleting unneeded files like service pack files, the temporary folder an so on. On Windows 7 workstation, you have the Disk Cleanup Utility to do this:
By default, this tool is not enabled on Windows Server 2008 R2. To enable it, there are two possibilities:
(Not recommended) Install the Desktop Experience feature. I don’t recommend this as installing the Desktop Experience feature will not only install Disk Cleanup, but Read more [...]
When I updated my Windows 2008 R2 Servers to SP1 via Remote Desktop I lost my RDP session when the machines reboot (which is normal). But after they are up and running again, when I try to connect via Remote Desktop, they cancel my connection.
After some research I found that this happens if you install the Security Hotfix 2667402 before SP1. From the KB, under the “Known Issues” section:
After you install security update 2667402 on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 Read more [...]
Many people prefer Google over Bing. But Internet Explorer just comes with Bing by default. You used to be able to add Google easily by choosing “Find more search providers …” within the Add-on page in Internet Explorer. But due to a recent change from Microsoft, you will now be presented with a page that contains all sorts of providers, but not Google: To solve this issue, just add the following keys to your registry, and Google will be there, including search suggestions and everything: Read more [...]
You can find many instructions on the Web on how to install WordPress on your own web server, but it might still be a complicated task. So I did my own instructions as per below:
Make sure you have MySQL installed on your server
Make sure, IIS 7 is installed
Make sure PHP is installed and php.ini is configured correctly
Download the latest WordPress version (2.9.2 as of this writing) from wordpress.org
Unzip the downloaded file into a newly created Inetpub sub-folder
The newly Read more [...]
If you have got Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise Edition, you can use BitLocker to encrypt your drives. Here is how to enable it for the system drive (c: drive):
Click on Start and type bitlocker, press Enter
Before you Start the encryption, you should enable TPM (Trusted Platform Module), which is used to store the BitLocker encryption key. To go there, click TPM Administration
Let the computer restart
Follow the instructions to enable IMS, and then choose Automatically create the Read more [...]
In enterprise environments, documents and other file types are often located on central file server and users open their documents directly from there. Sometimes, server administrators need to update such files, but can’t because at least one user is using it and locking the file. You could of course just reboot the server and the file would be unlocked, but that might be overkill as you are throwing everybody out. Luckily, there is a tool on the server, that lets you selectively unlock files, Read more [...]
For Enterprises, Microsoft has created a central licensing system to avoid the need of every company PC to connect to Microsoft Servers on the Internet to activate the software. One or more KMS Servers can be used inside the company to activate all clients.
You cannot only activate Operating Systems such as Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2, but also other applications from Microsoft such as Office 2010 with a Volume License.
The KMS server is the only server that needs to connect to Microsoft Read more [...]
To be able to create an image for Windows 7 mass deployment, you need a boot media (a CD in my case) to be able to create and restore the image. In earlier days, you created a DOS bootable disk, nowadays the OS of choice is WinPE. Here is how to create such a disk:
Download the "Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) for Windows 7" (English). It is freely available on the Microsoft web page.
Burn the downloaded WAIK ISO file to a DVD.
On a Windows 7 PC, start "StartCD.exe"
Choose "Window Read more [...]
