TO SHUT DOWN A WINDOWS 2008 SERVER CORE SYSTEM USING THE COMMAND PROMPT

TO SHUT DOWN A WINDOWS 2008 SERVER CORE SYSTEM:

Shutdown -s -t xx

Where,

-s = shut down

-t xx = time to wait before shutting down in seconds, where xx =0 to 600

TO SHUT DOWN A WINDOWS 2008 SERVER CORE SYSTEM IMMEDIATELY:

Shutdown -s -t 0

Where

 0 = wait zero seconds (shut down immediately)

TO RESTART A WINDOWS 2008 SERVER CORE SYSTEM:

Shutdown -r -t xx

where

-r = reboot

-t xx = time to wait before shutting down in seconds, where xx = 0 to 600

TO RESTART A WINDOWS 2008 SERVER CORE SYSTEM IMMEDIATELY:

Shutdown -r -t 0

where 0 = wait zero seconds (reboot immediately)

EDIT OR ENABLE THE PASSWORD POLICY ON WINDOWS SERVER

EDIT OR ENABLE THE PASSWORD POLICY ON WINDOWS SERVER 2008 R2 WITH ACTIVE DIRECTORY

                                   If you are setting this up at home or in a small business environment and don't want to deal with the complex passwords that are required to meet the policy guidelines, you can edit the policy to disable the complexity requirements. 

                                    You can try going to a command prompt and typing 'gpedit.msc' then navigating to Computer Settings\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Account Policies\Password Policy\ section.

                                     Here you will see the 'Password must meet complexity requirements' item.  When viewing the properties of it, usually the Enabled/Disabled radio buttons will be grayed out and you cannot change the values. 

                                     If they are able to be changed, go ahead and do it, and save out of the dialog boxes.  If it is grayed out and you cannot change it here, this is how you do it:

GO TO A COMMAND PROMPT:      

         

1.Type 'secedit /export /cfg c:\local.cfg' and hit enter

2.Using notepad, edit c:\local.cfg

3.Look for the line "PasswordComplexity = 1" and change it to "PasswordComplexity = 0"

4.You can also edit "MinimumPasswordLength = 7" to a lesser value if you like.

5.Save the file.

AT A COMMAND PROMPT:

 Type 'secedit /configure /db %windir%\security\local.sdb /cfg c:\local.cfg /areas SECURITYPOLICY

This will apply the new settings and refreshing the gpedit.msc should reflect the new settings

Set your new less complex password….

Link To Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wu49Ir3Oa8

MICROSOFT OFFICE 2013 - OFFICE 365 HOME PREMIUM

TOP 10 FEATURES OF THE NEW MICROSOFT OFFICE

• Ø  TOUCH EVERYWHERE
• Ø INKING
• Ø  INCLUDED IN WINDOWS RT
• Ø  SKYDRIVE
• Ø  ROAMING
• Ø  NEW SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
• Ø  SKYPE
• Ø  READING AND MARKUP
• Ø  EIGHTY-TWO-INCH TOUCH-ENABLED DISPLAYS
• Ø  PEOPLE CARD

1. TOUCH EVERYWHERE: 

                                         Office responds to touch as naturally as it does to keyboard and mouse. Swipe your finger across the screen or pinch and zoom to read your documents and presentations. Author new content and access features with the touch of a finger.

2. INKING:

                     Use a stylus to create content, take notes and access features. Handwrite email responses and convert them automatically to text. Use your stylus as a laser pointer when presenting. Color your content and erase your mistakes with ease.

3. INCLUDED IN WINDOWS RT: 

                                                      Office Home and Student 2013 RT, which contains new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications, will be included on ARM-based Windows 8 devices, including Microsoft Surface.

4. SKYDRIVE:

                          Office saves documents to SkyDrive by default, so your content is always available across your tablet, PC and phone. Your documents are also available offline and sync when you reconnect.

5. ROAMING: 

                             Once signed in to Office, your personalized settings, including your most recently used files, templates and even your custom dictionary, roam with you across virtually all of your devices. Office even remembers where you last left off and brings you right back to that spot in a single click.

6. NEW SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: 

                                                      The new Office is available as a cloud-based subscription service. As subscribers, consumers automatically get future upgrades in addition to exciting cloud services including Skype world minutes and extra SkyDrive storage. Subscribers receive multiple installs for everyone in the family and across their devices.

7. SKYPE: 

                  The new Office comes with Skype. When you subscribe, you get 60 minutes of Skype world minutes every month. Integrate Skype contacts into Lync and call or instant message anyone on Skype.

8. READING AND MARKUP: 

                                                The Read Mode in Word provides a modern and easy-to-navigate reading experience that automatically adjusts for large and small screens. Zoom in and out of content, stream videos within documents, view revision marks and use touch to turn pages.

9. EIGHTY-TWO-INCH TOUCH-ENABLED DISPLAYS: 

                                                                                           Conduct more engaging meetings, presentations and lessons, whether in person or virtually, with these multitouch and stylus-enabled displays from Perceptive Pixel.

10. PEOPLE CARD:

                                Have an integrated view of your contacts everywhere in Office. The People Card includes presence information complete with pictures, status updates, contact information and activity feeds from Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

                                   While the full lineup of offerings and pricing plans will be announced later this year, Ballmer discussed three new Office 365 subscription services.

HERE ARE THE THREE SUBSCRIPTION MODELS:

1. OFFICE 365 HOME PREMIUM: 

                                                          Designed for families and consumers. This service also includes an additional 20 GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype world minutes per month.

2. OFFICE 365 SMALL BUSINESS PREMIUM:

                                                                           Designed for small businesses. This service also includes business-grade email, shared calendars, website tools and HD web conferencing.

3. OFFICE 365 PROPLUS: 

                                         Designed for enterprise customers who want advanced business capabilities and the flexibility to deploy and manage in the cloud.

LINK TO DOWNLOAD OFFICE 2013 BETA:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

Outlook - PST File & Moving PST Folder

Moving PST Folder Location

                       PST Stands For personal storage table, is the file format for the data files that Outlook uses to store all ofyour Outlook data, including your emails, contacts, calendar, and more.

                    OST files are the same format as PST, but are generally used as offline storage of email whereas PST files are used for email archival.

                   POP3 or IMAP accounts email may be stored in a PST File,while emails synced from a Hotmail account within the hotmail connector may be stored in a OST File.Exchange accounts may use both an OST file for offline access and a PST file for data backup.
             
                 In Outlook 2010,Open the File menu and choose Account Settings. 

In Outlook 2007,Click Account Settings from the Tools menu. 

Open the account Settings Window . Click Data Files tab to see your Outlook data files, including PST and OST files.  If you have multiple accounts in Outlook, you may notice several data files listed.  You can choose settings for each file, or click Open File Location to open the Outlook data folder in Explorer.

PST Files Saved Location:

Windows Vista or 7:

%localappdata%\Microsoft\outlook\

Windows XP:

%appdata%\Microsoft\outlook\

MOVING PST FILES:

        If you’re running out of storage space on your primary drive or would like to place your Outlook files in a more manageable location, you may want to move where Outlook stores your data files. 

      By default, if you simply move your Outlook data files to a new location, Outlook will automatically redownload your emails to a new PST file.  All that would accomplish is make you have to spend longer re-downloading your emails, as well as make it impossible to view older, archived emails from Outlook.

Instead, you’ll first need to change a registry value to change where Outlook stores its data files.  Exit Outlook, and then enter regedit in the Start Menu search or Run command to open the registry editor.  Browse to the correct key, depending on your version of Outlook:

   

             OUTLOOK 2010: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Sostware\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\

             OUTLOOK 2007: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Sostware\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\

             OUTLOOK 2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Sostware\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\

Enter Force PST Path as the value’s name, then right-click it and select Modify.

Enter the location to the folder where you wish to store your Outlook data files, and then click Ok.

Move all of the contents of your Outlook data folder you opened above to the new folder you specified, and then reopen Outlook.  Everything should work as before, except now your Data files are stored where you want them to be stored!

Hiding Zip Files Inside a Picture Without Software

HIDING ZIP FILES INSIDE A PICTURE

Since images are read from the header down, and zip files are read from the footer up, you can easily merge them as one single file, and no one will ever know.

Embedding Zip Files inside GIF Files

Note: During tests GIF images were the only image type to give consistent results, therefore we recommend you use them as well.

                  The first thing you will need to do is drill down into the directory that’s holding both your GIF image as well as your zip file, so press the Win + R keyboard combination, type cmd into the run box and hit enter. When the command prompt opens you can use the cd command to change directories.

All it takes to merge the files is one simple copy command, the trick is to use the /B switch like so:

Copy /B picture.gif+yourmenu.zip newfile.gif

This assumes:

· The original image is named picture.gif

· The zip file you want to hide in your image is called YourMenu.zip

. The combined file will be called newfile.gif

The result is a file that can be opened with both an archiving program such as 7-Zip or WinRAR as well as with an image editor.

Done.

Installation Of Microsoft Windows XP & Device Drivers

Clean Installtion of Windows XP

                             The procedure to install Windows XP home edition is very similar to the professional edition. The best way install Windows XP is to do a clean install.

                             All versions of Windows XP CD are bootable. In order to boot from CD/DVD-ROM you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD/DVD-ROM. You can then perform the following steps to install Windows XP:

Step 1 -

             Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD". Soon as computer starts booting from the CD your will get the following screen:

Step 2 - 

         At this stage it will ask you to press F6 if you want to install a third party Raid or SCSI driver. If you are using a an IDE Hard Drive then you do not need to press F6. If you are using a SCSI or SATA Hard drive then you must press F6 otherwise Windows will not detect your Hard Drive during the installation. 

           Please make sure you have the Raid drivers on a floppy disk. Normally the drivers are supplied on a CD which you can copy to a floppy disk ready to be installed. If you are not sure how to do this then please read your motherboard manuals for more information.

Step 3 -

           Press S to specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 -          

            You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 -

         You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Step 6 - 

        You will then get a Windows XP Professional Setup screen. You have the option to do a new Windows install, Repair previous install or quit. Since we are doing a new install we just press Enter to continue.

Step 7 -

             You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue.

Step 8 - 

            This step is very important. Here we will create the partition where Windows will be installed. If you have a brand new unformatted drive you will get a screen similar to below. 

              

              In our case the drive size is 8190MB. We can choose to install Windows in this drive without creating a partition, hence use the entire size of the drive. If you wish to do this you can just press enter and Windows will automatically partition and format the drive as one large drive.

           However for this demonstration I will create two partition. The first partition will be 6000MB (C: drive) and second partition would be 2180MB (E: drive). By creating two partition we can have one which stores Windows and Applications and the other which stores our data. So in the future if anything goes wrong with our Windows install such as virus or spyware we can re-install Windows on C: drive and our data on E: drive will not be touched. Please note you can choose whatever size partition your like. For example if you have 500GB hard drive you can have two partition of 250GB each.

Press C to create a partition.

Step 9 - 

                 Windows will show the total size of the hard drive and ask you how much you want to allocate for the partition you are about to create. I will choose 6000MB. You will then get the screen below. Notice it shows C: Partition 1 followed by the size 6000 MB. This indicates the partition has been created. We still have an unpartitioned space of 2189MB. 

                  Next highlight the unpartitioned space by pressing down the arrow key. Then press C to create another partition. You will see the total space available for the new partition. Just choose all the space left over, in our case 2180MB.

Step 10 - 

               Now you will see both partition listed. Partition 1 (C: Drive) 6000MB and Partition 2 (E: Drive) 2180MB. You will also have 8MB of unpartitioned space. Don't worry about that. Just leave it how its is. Windows normally has some unpartitioned space. You might wonder what happened to D: drive. Windows has automatically allocated D: drive to CD/DVD-ROM.

Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Step 11 -

             Choose format the partition using NTFS file system.This is the recommended file system. If the hard drive has been formatted before then you can choose quick NTFS format. We chose NTFS because it offers many security features, supports larger drive size, and bigger size files.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 12 -

              After the setup has completed copying the files the computer will restart. Leave the XP CD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.

Step 13 - 

            Choose your region and language.

Step 14 - 

          Type in your name and organization.

Step 15 -

           Enter your product key.

Step 16 - 

            Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 17 - 

           Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 18 - 

             For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 19 - 

             Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Step 20 - 

             Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.

Step 21 - 

             Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.

Step 22 - 

               Will this computer connect to the internet directly, or through a network? If you are connected to a router or LAN then choose: 'Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network'. If you have dial up modem choose: 'No, this computer will connect directly to the internet'. Then click Next.

Step 23 -

             Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.

Step 24 - 

             Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.

Step 25 - 

              You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.

Step 26-

               Log in, to your PC for the first time.

Step 27 - 

               You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. 

           

             Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.

                If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. In our case we have a Video Controller (VGA card) which has no drivers installed.

               Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using the automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them.

To install a driver manually use the following procedure:

(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window.

(c) Click on the Driver tab.

(d) Click Update Driver button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up as shown below:

You now get two options. 

                                         The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. 

                                 

                                         If you don't know the location of the driver chooses the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take effect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. 

Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.