TrueCrypt 5.0, the open-source, multi-platform encryption suite, is available for download. New features for Windows include improved write speeds (up to 100% improvement) and Full Disk Encryption. They’ve also released a long-anticipated Mac OSX version
Why did I embolden Full Disk Encryption? Because UK companies and Government organisations are losing laptops left, right and centre - without encrypting their sensitive contents. As an IT Professional, you’d be crazy to not be investigating the various options for keeping your company’s data safe, in the event of loss or theft.
To automatically download every hotfix released for Windows XP post Service Pack 2, just run this script. [Source site].
You’ll probably want to drop wget into your system32 directory before running the command, otherwise it’ll try to use your browser to individually download the files.
Once the script has finished, you can then integrate the hotfixes into your XP SP2 source and burn a bootable ISO using something like nLite. I’ll cover more options for integrating hotfixes in a later post.
The reasons for wanting to integrate post-SP2 hotfixes are numerous; but mainly, it saves time (using both WSUS and Microsoft Update take a while), and, overall, makes for a cleaner install.
It took me ages to find this via Google, so much kudos to Ross Smith for creating such a useful script. Thanks Ross!
If you’ve lost your Window License Key, and it’s not on the side of your machine, you can retrieve your key by using a little application called Keyfinder, by Magical Jelly Bean. You probably want to grab the 2.0 beta, as 1.5 is a little old and doesn’t support the latest operating systems.
In addition to retrieving keys for Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Server 2003, and Vista; Keyfinder also finds keys for Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.
For Small Business IT guys, as an added bonus, you can easily change your Windows key from the Tools menu. Handy if you’ve accidentally installed two PCs with the same license and need to change one (without having to re-install).
It’s a problem we all encounter at some point: You’ve just re-installed Windows, and now you need to download your Mainboard drivers. But which motherboard do you have again?
Instead of opening your PC case to find the Motherboard model number, check out CPU-Z
CPU-Z is a free, stand-alone application (no installer) that very quickly lets you know your system’s vital statistics (CPU, Mobo, and RAM), so that you can head off and find the drivers you need, without having to open up the PC.
This is something I come across frequently when I’m performing OS refreshes at DisplayLink. I imagine it’s a common problem in most start-ups (are we still are start-up? haha), where PCs are bought to spec on an ad-hoc basis. Often, the only way of finding out the motherboard number is by opening the case, lifting cables, and poking around the motherboard, in an attempt to find the tiny bit of writing on the PCB that tells you its model number. Hardly ideal!
ComputerWorldUK has an article discussing the findings of a recent survey by King Research, where it was discovered that 90% of IT Professionals Don’t Want Vista.
Going from my own experience with Vista - poor stability and woeful performance - I’m not surprised about this at all. Maybe - as with XP - SP1 will fix these issues, but until then, I remain unimpressed and unconvinced.
Phil is an IT Professional working at DisplayLink in Cambridge,
England. He generally blogs about useful solutions that he comes across in his work/play.
