The PS Tools suite that Microsoft offers allows for some powerful command line level interaction across the network. You can do a great variety of tasks. Some that you could accomplish other ways like VNC, remote desktop, or other command line tools, but this just adds more tools to the toolbox. The PS Tools might be faster than your previous manner or it might offer an … [Read more...]
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
Microsoft offers a free application to host virtual machines. It's a very simple interface and allows a lot of flexibility. After a quick download and quick install, you can fire up a "machine" and install either a Windows machine to test or a Linux live CD by just mounting an ISO file. You should be able to install any PC configuration with this and come up with a great test … [Read more...]
NMAP – Your open ports
Interested in seeing what ports are open on your machine? Use NMAP to scan your machine or other machines on your network and figure out if there are any holes in your firewall or malicious software setting up camp. Particularly if you are moving a machine from a secure firewall to a less secure (required by a particular application for example), you could run NMAP and try to … [Read more...]
Secunia PSI – finding programs with security flaws
Install the Personal Software Inspector to keep on top of security flaws with programs on your computer. This application, free for personal use, can analyze your system with a quick scan and see if there are any 'insecure,' 'end of life,' or 'patched' programs. With an easy interface, you can find out which applications on your machine are considered up to date and which are … [Read more...]
VLC – VideoLan media player
VLC is one of the first steps I recommend when somebody tells me they have an issue with video playback. Just install the small file and try opening the video in VLC. VLC by and large removes the need for external codecs through natively supporting many different file types and encodings. Supporting DivX, XviD, avi, mkv, DVDs, and many others, VLC is a powerful tool without … [Read more...]