PCmark from FutureMark Sysmark from Bapco FreshDiagnose HDTune Network Qcheck
-
-
Windows Boot CDs
Some bootable CDs that will perform a variety of tasks for Windows: Ultra Boot CD Ultimate Boot CD Ultimate Boot CD for Windows Emergency Boot CD Hiren’s Boot CD System Restore CD Windows Password Reset
-
ProCon Firefox Plug-in Filter
Firefox users who wish to filter browsing (eliminate filtered words, etc) can use ProCon Latte, a Plug-in for Firefox. ProCon is available at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1803 and can easily be deployed alongside Firefox.
-
What Version of Mac OS X Am I Running?
Ever need to have a program check a file to tell you what version of Mac OS X you’re running to do a quick sanity check? In /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist you’ll find a key for ProductVersion. The value in this key is the version of Mac OS X you’re using. Keep in mind that the path should be relative to the volume that houses the operating system. Therefore, if you’re using a volume during imaging and you’re running a postflight or preflight script make sure you check the path relative to the operating system you’re augmenting.
-
Disable Caps Lock in Windows
You can disable the caps lock key in Windows by editing the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlKeyboard Layout registry key. Here, you’ll see Scancode Map, which should be set to the hex value of 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00 if you want to disable caps lock. MysterCrowley.com has a number of useful little applications. One of which runs the registry hack to disable the caps lock key for you. It’s called Numlocker. Another, keyboardlink allows you to assign shortcuts in strange ways that you couldn’t otherwise assign shortcuts, also using the scancode maps.
-
WhatTheFont?!?!
Ever forget the name of a font or see a font on something and wanted to know what it was? Well, WhatTheFont is a great way to figure it out. Check it out: http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont
-
Windows XP In A Grid
Organization and usability can at times take a back seat. Other times we can get into the mode of using something and always think back longingly to it. For example, in Windows 3.1 you could organize your windows in such a way that they always opened in a paneled grid. In fact, that was the default, each window defined as an inf file of sorts. Well, GridMove is a nice little app that organizes your windows into grids for Microsoft Windows XP. This gives you the ability to go back in time with regards to windows, if you’d like. Now if only you could go back in time and redo…
-
TinkerTool for Mac OS X
I cover a lot of defaults commands on this site. And I’m likely only going to be increasing that coverage. But there are a lot of developers out there that wrap these commands into little GUI applications. One such, and likely the most popular, is TinkerTool. TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built into Mac OS X. This allows to activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.
-
Advanced Features of the Mac OS X Calculator
The Calculator application in Mac OS X is pretty handy beyond the basic 10-key functions that most people use. As with many things from Apple you can make things much more complicated than the easy to use, basic screens that Apple provides. For example, did you know that Calculator can perform binary, hexadecimal, ASCII and Unicode conversions? To do so, click on the View menu and select Programmer (or use Command-3 to open the view. You can also stop carrying around that old TI-85 you’ve been using for years (to some degree) to calculate those random tangents from time to time. One of the best parts of Calculator is that…
-
Disable Automatic Login Programatically
Automatic logon can be enabled for Windows, or Mac OS X. We already discussed disabling automatic logon using a script for Windows, so let’s look at doing so for Mac OS X. The variable that controls automatic logon is stored in /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist in the autoLoginUser key. By default automatic logon is disabled and so you can simply delete that key to disable it, which you can do with the following command: defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow autoLoginUser You can also enter an autoLoginUser into the field to define the user who will automatically be logged in. You may remember that the loginwindow defaults domain is the same location that login hooks are…