TTC Shelbyville – Technical Blog

Want to change Windows 7′s logon background?  Here’s a cool little program….Link

Windows 7 Tour

I teach my students worker ethics and we constantly go over the privileges they will one day have as IT professionals.  After doing this for 20+ years, I can honestly say that I have been exposed (by users) to information that I won’t give out.  To clarify, I have not snooped or abused my privileges.   No matter how tempting it has been, I just can’t do it and I tell my students not to do it.  So how many IT personnel do?   Around 35% according to a survey.  1 in 3.   The reason privileges are set up is just for this reason.  Hopefully when IT personnel move up the ‘food chain’, they will have self discipline enough not to abuse their power.  With the ‘grape-vine’ effect, they will eventually be found out if they tell someone.  Here’s a good article on this topic.

Policies and Procedures should be put into place to discipline IT personnel if this happens.   When exposed to a user’s data or information (on screen or when over hearing information); an IT Professional should never repeat the information seen or heard.

36-Image Converter is a very good application for converting, resizing, special effects and other tools including transparency for your photos.

Download Here

Computer Hope has been around for a while.  There links to drivers is an excellent resource to find what you need.  Link

Microsoft’s DreamSpark is one of the best offerings for Students.  Recently we worked with Microsoft and created Live email accounts for our students.   The DreamSpark account was free and required only an accreditation verification and coordinating with Microsoft.   Currently DreamSpark offers :

Visual Studio 2008
SQL Server 2008
XNA Game Studio
Robotics Developer Studio 2008
Windows Server 2008 AND Server 2003
and much more…..

In March 2009 Students were given free vouchers to certify as a Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist.

Now Microsoft is offering a free pass for Students to the Microsoft IT Academy Student online learning center.

Want to participate, contact the IT department at your Technology Center.

Here are a few commands that can be ran from the run line for quick access or shortcut creation.

appwiz.cpl Opens – Add/Remove Programs
calc Opens – The Calculator
certmgr.msc Opens – Certificate Manager
charmap Opens – Character Map
chkdsk Checks the the primary drive
chkdsk /f Checks the the primary drive
chkdsk /r Checks the the primary drive
cleanmgr Opens – Windows Disk Cleaner
cmd Opens – Command Prompt Window
compmgmt.msc Opens – Computer Management
control Opens – Control Panel
control.exe folders Opens – Folder Options
control.exe netconnections Opens – NetWork connections
control.exe schedtasks Sends you to Scheduled tasks
desk.cpl Opens – Properties for the Desktop
devmgmt.msc Device Manager
dfrg.msc Opens – Windows Defrag
dxdiag Directx diagnostics
eudcedit Program for creating user defined characters
explorer Opens – Windows Explorer
iexplore Opens – Internet Explorer
firewall.cpl Opens – Windows Firewall
inetcpl.cpl Opens – Internet Settings
intl.cpl Opens – International Settings
magnify Opens – Magnifying Utility
main.cpl Opens – Mouse settings
mmc Opens – Microsoft Management Console
mmsys.cpl Opens – Sound Settings
mrt Opens – Malware Removal Tool
msconfig Opens – System configuration program
msinfo32 Opens – System Information
mspaint Opens – Paint
narrator Opens – Microsoft Reader
notepad Opens – NotePad
ntbackup Opens – the BackUp Utility
osk Opens – On Screen Keyboard
perfmon Opens – Performance Monitor
regedit Opens – Registry edit
restore Opens – Restore windows where you can choose rstrui.exe application
schedlgu.txt Opens – the scheduled tasks log
services.msc Opens – Services
sfc /scannow Scans Computer for missing or wrong version of system files
sndrec32 Opens – Windows Sound Recorder
syncapp Let’s you Create a Briefcase
sysdm.cpl Opens – System Settings
sysedit Opens – System Editor
taskmgr Opens – Taskmanager
wiaacmgr Opens – Windows Picture Scanner
winver Shows you the Windows Version
wordpad Opens – WordPad
wscui.cpl Windows Security Center
wupdmgr Opens – Windows Update
%systemroot%\system32\dllcache\wab.exe Opens – Windows Address book
%SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe Opens – Windows System Restore

PCSecurity has a great review on DansGuardian.  DansGuardian is a freeware application that helps to protect children on the internet.  Link

Comodo System Cleaner reviewed earlier on this blog is an excellent cleaner for your computer.   The newest version offers even more features than before and keeps your computer running top notch.  Comodo System Cleaner

See the Full Comparison Here

We have featured both Secunia and SUMo in previous post.  Here’s a nice low impact program to check common programs on your computer.  Update Notifier

With the beta testing of Windows 7 by the Computer Information Technology class in VirtualBox and testing by Dawn, Pat, Mike and myself; this fall TTC Shelbyville will migrate over 50% of the computers to Windows 7.  Testing will continue in the Industrial Maintenance and CIT classrooms.

The site milw0rm has information about recent security exploits and information.  Notice that most aren’t operating systems but are program related.

I’ve always met technology change with open arms but found myself a little hesitant on Twitter and Facebook.   Now after a year or so on both, I can see the practical application of keeping up with friends but find they can be too overwhelming….especially Twitter (I don’t need to know what you are doing every second!).

With the communication that comes from networking with friends on these social networks, this may prove to be an invaluable set of tools during this flu season….  as long as rumors or misleading information is not pushed out and privacy is respected.

Here’s several screencasts from Microsoft on Windows 7.  link

When making a connection to a database you can use ODBC to connect to the database (Such as using MS Access to connect to an SQL database).  [ODBC is found under the Control Panel | Administrative Tools]

If you are programming, you can make a connection to the database by using the following strings:

Standard Security

SQL Server 2000 SQL Server 2005 SQL Server 2008
Data Source=ServerAddress; Initial Catalog=DataBase; User Id=Username; Password=Password;

SQLCourse has been around for sometime.   With Microsoft’s DreamSpark, students can download SQL Server to build databases and to learn how to retrieve data by performing queries  (basically asking the database for specific data).   SQLCourse gives you step by step instructions on how to run these queries.

SQLCourse

I love aviation and the technology behind aviation (see former posts).  Here’s something interesting that never panned out in the 1940′s.  I received an email from Mickey and he sent this knowing I’m an aviation buff.  The German’s were developing a stealth bomber (I followed up on the email).  This fighter was featured on National Geographic.

My personal favorites was of course the B-17 and B-25 Bombers along with the P-51 Mustang and Great Britain’s Spitfire.

Here’s a site that test your browser’s security.  Link

[via PC Security Blog]

Ghostery offers an add-on to Firefox that reports back what websites are tracking.  While Firefox is a great browser, this add on allerts you to what a website delivered to your computer.  Link    (Requirements – Firefox of course)

If you haven’t visited the Tech Blog Launchpad (compiled by the blogger of WhatsOnMyPC) you are missing a great resource of over 240 technical blogs.   IT and computer guys/gals are usually hungry for data and information.  This link can fill your brain…..