Launch Windows Sysinternals Tools Directly from the Web

Most all techs who work on PC’s are quite familiar with the Sysinternals Utilities that are available for download (for FREE) through Microsoft TechNet.

The tool categories that are available are:

File and Disk Utilities
Networking Utilities
Process Utilities
Security Utilities
System Information Utilities
Miscellaneous Utilities

You can either download a tool individually, from any of the categories above, or you can download an entire suite of troubleshooting tools.

Another, lesser known option, to getting to these tools is through Sysinternals Live. This option will save you a considerable amount of time due that the tools are conveniently listed for quick access and can be launched directly from the web.

Sysinternals Live is a service that enables you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the Web without hunting for and manually downloading them. Simply enter a tool’s Sysinternals Live path into Windows Explorer or a command prompt as http://live.sysinternals.com/<toolname> or \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<toolname>.

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GEEK BONUS AREA

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Very Small Program You Can Use to Take Advantage of Your Scanner

I am going to bet that most of you have an all-in-one printer of some type (i.e. print, scan and copy).  I am also going to bet that that the scanner component of this all-in-one device is very infrequently used. This is usually the case due to most folks not completely grasping the purpose of the scanner.

Scanners are excellent devices to electronically archive documents, receipts, news clippings, articles, etc… ; however, the software that ships with these devices are often difficult for the end-user to understand.

To help you get over the hump in scanner usage I found a very small software utility called WinScan2PDF (40K) that gives you the ability to scan documents and save them on your computer as a PDF file (Adobe Portable Document Format).

Due to the small file size of WinScan2PDF,  I carry it around with me on my flash drive and have found it very useful when I need to quickly scan or copy a document.  Talk about easy to use…  Simply select the source (which will be your printer/scanner), click on “Scan to PDF” and the scanning process will initiate; and, following the scanning process you will be given opportunity to save the file as a PDF file.  Very handy utility…

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What to do after Windows 7 SP 1 Installation
@ TTC Shelbyville

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Liberate Your Flash Drive with LiberKey

Managing apps on a flash drive can be a real challenge even for the polished IT professional. Flash Drives have given us the liberty to transport files from PC to PC and the ability to run apps (software applications) directly from these little buggers. Again the problem that occurs is the ability to manage and organize what we place on these drives.  I can remember when flash drives first came out and developers started creating portable apps. These apps were far and few between; however, today the portable apps available number into the hundreds.  You literally can create a computer on a stick…

To help manage what you place on your flash drive and to help you decide what apps to install, I use a portable menu management utility called LiberKey.

The abilities of LiberKey are phenomenal and will, in a sense, take complete charge of your drive. The most important feature I like about LiberKey is after I select the apps I want I can go back at anytime and have LiberKey update the apps to the current version. As a matter of fact, being big on flash drive usage, this feature alone is worth its’ weight in gold. I do not know how many times I have installed a portable app on my flash drive and never take the time to perform updates.

LiberKey is FREE; is host to over 292 applications that you can select from; plus, if you are not in the mood to specifically select what apps you want to install, you can actually take the lazy man’s way out and download a complete suite of apps in a batch.

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GEEK BONUS AREA

An Ideal Scanner for Converting and Capturing
Paper Based Documents

Ultra-Portable Mouse – Great Price

Hot Tech Site of the Day – ReviewGuy

What to do after Windows 7 SP 1 Installation
@ TTC Shelbyville

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The Simplest Way to Print A List of Filenames In A Folder

Have a large listing of music files, movie files, picture files, etc…?  I bet there has been the occasion that you wished there was a simple way to get a printout of those listings. There is and it is with Directory List and Print.

Directory List and Print requires no installation (is a portable app) and is a must-have on your flash drive. There is a FREE version, as well as a Pro Version.  I have found the FREE version to be sufficient in most cases.

Features:

• Selection of directories to be listed by a tree structure.
• Selection of directories by entering the path as a text string.
• Drag & Drop of directories (or a file) from Windows Explorer.
• Integration of “Open in Directory List & Print” in the directory context menu of Windows Explorer.
• Direct selection of important system directories as “My Documents” etc.
• Listing of sub-directories and/or files and looping through sub-directories (recursion).
• Update file list automatically or manually.
• Display of last modification date.
• Display of last modificatione time.
• Display of file size.
• Display of file name with or without directory path.
• Display of file names with or without file extensions.
• Indication of number of entries of files and directories in the list.
• Print directory listing, direct printing of corresponding list.
• Export list into other programs by copying to the clipboard. The corresponding data will be organized in columns and separated by tabs so that the list can be pasted directly into Excel ™ as a table.
• Open the list directly in Microsoft Word™ and Excel™.
• Support for connecting and disconnecting network drives.
• Automatic saving of display options when exiting the program.
• Start program with a directory path as a parameter.
• Portable Application, no installation necessary.

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Wallpaper of the Week (#47) – Christmas Wallpapers

Here is a preview of some really nice high def Christmas Wallpapers that is available to add to your collection (brought to by CrispMe)

To Get These Wallpapers – [ CLICK HERE ]

Browse for wallpapers from previous weeks, [CLICK HERE]

Windows 7 Users: If you are using Windows 7, did you know you can create a desktop background slideshow to show off your pictures and wallpaper images?  To learn how to use this feature [ CLICK HERE ] .

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GEEK SQUEAKS’ (#66) – Soundsticks, Uninstaller, Amazon Pays You, Wipe Files Securely, and an Auto Safety App

Harman Kardon Soundsticks III

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Revo Uninstaller

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Amazon Pays You To Price Check in Stores December 10, Retailers Irked @ 404 Tech Support

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Three Steps to Securely Wipe Files
@ TuneUp Blog About Windows

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iOnRoad helps keep you safe in your car
@ TTC Shelbyville

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Computers & Accessories Index

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Update Microsoft Windows Without An Internet Connection

There are still folks out there that I know personally that are on a dialup internet connection and not by choice. Broadband service just is not there and any mention of using a 3G, 4G or satellite connection is too expensive and besides those services can be sketchy at best, depending on the location and the environment.

What these folks run into, and I’m working with someone on this now, is that due to the dialup speeds in these remote locations not even being up to standard (due to poor telephone lines), downloading the Windows updates that they need for their PC’s ends up being nothing but pure process of drudgery. Think about it, if you are already on a slow dialup connection and you have your updates set to auto update, when those weekly auto updates kick in,  the connection speed slows down that much further. Couple that with other security software updates and general software updates and I think you can see what I mean about a pure process of drudgery.

To workaround this problem and get the Windows updates, I use a program called WSUS Offline Update. You will need to find someone with a broadband connection who is willing to use WSUS Offline Update software on their PC and willing to download the updates for you. You will also need to know what operating system you are using (i.e. Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7).

With WSUS Offline Update there are two components to the software. One is the “Generator” interface that you use to select the what language and Operating system you need the updates for.  You can even tell the “Generator” to copy the updates to a flash drive; which, you can then use to update the target computer.

When downloading the updates, a command console window (see below) will appear and you will see the software going to work to pull down the updates. Do not be alarmed if the first time you perform this process that it takes a long time (even on a broadband connection).  A long time can be an hour to several hours, but you have to do what you have to do.

The second component built into WSUS Offline Update is the “Installer” that you use on the target computer.  To start up the installer look for the file “Updateinstaller.exe”, double click on it and the “Installer” interface will initiate with various selections to help you through the update process.

There are other options out there to download the Windows Updates; however, I have found the WSUS Offline Update utility to be the winner.

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Hot Tech Site of the Day – File Forum

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Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard (Built-in TouchPad/Laser Pointer)

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