• Windows XP

    Change Listening Port for RDP

    In Windows 7 (and previous versions for that matter), you can change the port that RDP listens on for new Remote Desktop connections. To do so you would fire up regedit and then browse to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlTerminalServerWinStationsRDP-TcpPortNumber Here, you would change the PortNumber to a new decimal value that is the port you wish to listen on. Save, reboot and you’re good to go.

  • Windows Server,  Windows XP

    Windows 7: Disable USB Storage

    In a number of environments, especially MPAA or DoD environments (in the US we rank nuclear bombs right up there with pilfered copies of unreleased movies, especially ones that cost a lot of $ to make), users should not be able to mount any local removable storage. While Group Policy is typically the best way to keep users from mounting said storage, you can also do so without assigning GPOs. Simply make the permissions on the following files set to Deny (assuming your c:Windows directory = %SystemRoot%): C:WindowsInfUsbstor.pnf C:WindowsInfUsbstor.inf You may also need to add the System account to the Deny list for those files, but in my experience you…

  • Windows XP

    Making Windows 7 Icons Transparent

    I have to take a lot of screen shots. Therefore, most of my computers tend to have a white background (they used to be the xman the machine was named after but alas, I’m older and now they computers are all named after Backyardigans;). Sometimes it’s hard to see your icons in Windows 7 on a white background though. If you grapple with this too then consider doing what I did and making the icons transparent. To do so, locate the HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced registry key and make a dword key called ListviewShadow with a value of 00000001. Or: [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerAdvanced] “ListviewShadow”=dword:00000001 To set it back, make that 1 into a 0. As…

  • Windows XP

    Programatically Clipboarding in Windows

    My last article showed how to interface with the clipboard in Mac OS X. Windows 7 comes with the same feature, but instead of pbcopy it’s simply clip. Since you don’t ls, we’ll pipe the output of dir into the clipboard: dir | clip Enjoy & no more complaining that I like one platform more than the other – you know who you are!

  • Windows XP

    Vista & Windows 7 Optimizer

    There are a variety of simplistic tasks that can be performed to optimize a Windowz box. Disabling unneeded services and protocols is a great start, but there are tons of other little things here and there. Vista Services Optimizer (works on Windows 7 & Vista) is a nice little tool for those who don’t have the time nor inclination to mess around with it too much. Nice tool at a great (free) price #thingsthatsounddirtybutaren’t

  • Windows XP

    Windows 7 HomeGroup

    HomeGroup is a new home security feature of WIndows 7. HomeGroup resemble how you protect your home (an analogy I use in the Mac OS X Security book as well): Keep the outside doors locked and keep the interior doors unlocked (unless you’re on the crapper). HomeGroup can be initiated by any Windows 7 version other than Home Basic and Starter editions. Any Windows 7 machine can join a HomeGroup though and it is not a backwards compatible feature, meaning that if you’re still running Windows 95, 98 or Millineum don’t bother to upgrade (you probably can’t read this site anyway). But 2K to Vista, you gots’ta upgrade to play…

  • VMware,  Windows Server

    Windows Server 2008 R2

    Can you say virtualization? How about “better together”? Do you care about Hyper-V or Windows 7 integration right now? If the answer to either question is yes (and in my experience that’s not always actually the case) then you will want to check out R2. One of the biggest new features in R2 is one that VMware has had for about 5 or so years in Live Migration, the ability to move a virtual machine, while it’s running (assuming the application in use supports the ability to do so and that you’re using Clustered Shared Volumes). This includes failover in Cluster Node Connectivity Fault Tolerance. SC VMM, or System Center Virtual Machine…

  • Mac OS X,  Windows XP

    Making Windows 7 Look Like Mac OS X

    Not sure if it is kosher to actually distribute a theme pack for Windows 7 that makes it look like Mac OS X.  But in lieu of doing so I can explain how it is done.  Basically, take your images from the icons of Mac OS X and copy them into files, copy them to Windows and assign them as icons.  Once you’re done, set the background to one from, let’s say, Mac OS X and make your icon placement similar.  Then, export your theme pack by going to the Appearance & Personalization Control Panel for Windows 7 and clicking on Personalization.  Under My Themes, right-click on the theme and…

  • Mac OS X,  Windows XP

    Windows 7 in October

    If Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard will be shipping in September then the earlier the better. The arrival of Windows 7 will come on October 22nd. Likely less than a month after Snow Leopard, Windows 7 is what many companies have been waiting for to get migration projects lit up. While there are a number of new features, few are more important to companies than the fact that it is very capable of running on new or old hardware alike. Windows 7 adoption shouldn’t stop you from buying now though, if you’re in the market for a new machine. Microsoft announced that it will include a Windows Upgrade Option…

  • Windows XP

    Windows 7 Themed XP

    Seven Remix XP is a theme for Windows XP that will make it look eerily like Windows 7. So if you’re not yet ready to jump into running full on beta software but you want to get used to the look and feel of Windows 7 you can download Seven Remix XP at this site.