WindowsNetworking.com Articles & Tutorials Archive

Articles & Tutorials by date (Click here to sort Articles & Tutorials by topic)

2008
[	9	]	January, 2008	[	8	]	February, 2008	[	8	]	March, 2008
[	10	]	April, 2008	[	4	]	May, 2008
2007
[	8	]	January, 2007	[	6	]	February, 2007	[	5	]	March, 2007
[	5	]	April, 2007	[	7	]	May, 2007	[	6	]	June, 2007
[	8	]	July, 2007	[	8	]	August, 2007	[	8	]	September, 2007
[	8	]	October, 2007	[	7	]	November, 2007	[	6	]	December, 2007
2006
[	9	]	January, 2006	[	8	]	February, 2006	[	9	]	March, 2006
[	6	]	April, 2006	[	8	]	May, 2006	[	5	]	June, 2006
[	5	]	July, 2006	[	10	]	August, 2006	[	8	]	September, 2006
[	9	]	October, 2006	[	10	]	November, 2006	[	7	]	December, 2006
2005
[	8	]	January, 2005	[	7	]	February, 2005	[	10	]	March, 2005
[	8	]	April, 2005	[	9	]	May, 2005	[	9	]	June, 2005
[	8	]	July, 2005	[	9	]	August, 2005	[	9	]	September, 2005
[	8	]	October, 2005	[	8	]	November, 2005	[	8	]	December, 2005
2004
[	2	]	January, 2004	[	2	]	February, 2004	[	3	]	March, 2004
[	4	]	April, 2004	[	4	]	May, 2004	[	2	]	June, 2004
[	4	]	July, 2004	[	4	]	August, 2004	[	4	]	September, 2004
[	7	]	October, 2004	[	8	]	November, 2004	[	7	]	December, 2004
2003
[	1	]	January, 2003	[	1	]	February, 2003	[	1	]	May, 2003
[	1	]	July, 2003	[	1	]	August, 2003	[	3	]	September, 2003
[	1	]	October, 2003	[	2	]	November, 2003	[	6	]	December, 2003
2002
[	3	]	January, 2002	[	1	]	February, 2002	[	1	]	March, 2002
[	11	]	April, 2002	[	1	]	May, 2002	[	7	]	June, 2002
[	7	]	August, 2002	[	2	]	October, 2002
2001
[	4	]	January, 2001	[	6	]	February, 2001	[	5	]	March, 2001
[	5	]	April, 2001	[	15	]	May, 2001	[	4	]	June, 2001
[	3	]	July, 2001	[	6	]	August, 2001	[	6	]	September, 2001
[	1	]	October, 2001	[	4	]	November, 2001	[	9	]	December, 2001
2000
[	9	]	January, 2000	[	9	]	February, 2000	[	5	]	June, 2000
[	7	]	July, 2000	[	3	]	August, 2000	[	2	]	October, 2000
[	1	]	November, 2000	[	5	]	December, 2000
1999
[	3	]	January, 1999	[	7	]	February, 1999	[	2	]	March, 1999
[	1	]	May, 1999	[	2	]	June, 1999	[	4	]	July, 1999
[	4	]	August, 1999	[	3	]	October, 1999	[	1	]	November, 1999
[	4	]	December, 1999
1998
[	4	]	February, 1998	[	3	]	March, 1998	[	2	]	April, 1998
[	5	]	May, 1998	[	6	]	June, 1998	[	12	]	July, 1998
[	2	]	August, 1998	[	5	]	September, 1998	[	1	]	October, 1998
[	2	]	November, 1998
1997
[	5	]	October, 1997	[	20	]	November, 1997	[	5	]	December, 1997

Articles & Tutorials for 2004 year

Happy Holidays from WindowsNetworking.com!: Date - Dec 23, 2004; Author - The Editor; Section - Site News; The WindowsNetworking.com team would like to extend the warmest holiday wishes to all of our esteemed members and guests. Through your loyal support we continue to be regarded as one of the world's leading free online networking resources. Now, as we approach the end of the year, we have our sights set on expanding and improving our service even further over the course of 2005 so we hope to see you all again after the festivities are over. Thanks to all of you!
What I'm Reading These Days - Networking Books Recommendations: Date - Dec 21, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; I like to read a lot for several reasons. First, I need to read to keep up on the latest IT technologies, tools, and practices. And second, I write a lot and a writer needs to always learn. So I thought I’d take a moment and tell you about some of the books I’m currently reading in case you want to add some of them to your bookshelf. The five titles reviewed in this particular article are all available from Microsoft Press.
Planning for High Availability: Disaster Recovery Planning: Date - Dec 16, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; In this article, we will discuss what every Microsoft Windows Administrator and Engineer should think about when trying to manage their environments in the scope of planning for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity. In this article we will cover many of the details administrators and engineers need to know about planning Disaster Recovery (DRP) for Windows Systems, as well as for their networks in general.
Tweaking XP: Windows File Protection and SP2: Date - Dec 14, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; In this article we will cover a quick hack to the Windows XP Registry. As changes are made to your system from installing applications and other software, the Window File Protection (WFP) system works to keep XP running and not introduce anything that may cause the system to become unstable, a curse of older Windows based operating systems. Windows File Protection is an important tool, with it; you can run an executable (sfc.exe) that will start a process to analyze your system but other times, you will want to disable it.
Using Logon Scripts in Pure and Mixed Active Directory Environments: Date - Dec 09, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; This article looks at the differences in implementing logon scripts in pure and mixed Active Directory environments, including how to use Group Policy to assign scripts and how to run Windows Script Host (WSH) scripts from batch files.
Using Remote Desktop with Windows XP Professional: Date - Dec 07, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; In this article we will cover the use of Remote Desktop, a tool that once mastered can help you to connect over the network to remote servers to perform maintenance or to launch tests from. This article will cover the basic setup and use of it.
Windows XP Registry Backup 101: Date - Dec 02, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; In this article we will cover the Windows XP Registry, its function importance and most importantly, how to apply a basic level of disaster prevention to your system in case a problem does occur. Backing up the Registry in Windows XP is simple, painless and can save you a headache when you need that backup.
Building and Using a Windows XP Boot Disk: Date - Nov 30, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; In this article we will learn how to make a boot disk for a Windows XP system. A boot disk can start the operating system on a computer running Windows XP if it will not boot properly and the damage is suspected to be in the files that start Windows.
Diagnosing Server Performance Problems With Server Performance Advisor: Date - Nov 25, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; The Windows Performance Monitor is a great tool for analyzing a server’s performance. The problem is that it can be complicated to use and the results can be hard to understand. However, Microsoft has recently released a new tool that will test a server’s performance for you and compile the results into an easy to read report. In this article, I will tell you all about it.
What You Need To Know About The Shift to 64-Bit Computing: Date - Nov 23, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; For several years now, there have been rumors that 64-bit computing would soon become mainstream. We may have finally reached that point, but there are some problems. The market is filled with competing 64-bit standards, each requiring their own special version of Windows. In this article, I will explain what you need to know about the various 64-bit systems that are available today. As I do, I will talk about the limitations imposed by each.
Configuring the Windows Time Service: Date - Nov 18, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; This article walks you through the process of setting up an authoritative time server for a Windows Server 2003-based network running Active Directory. The article outlines procedures for syncing to both an internal and external time source, and also lists additional resources for configuring the Windows Time service and troubleshooting time synchronization problems.
Ethernet Tutorial Part I: Networking Basics: Date - Nov 16, 2004; Author - NovaStars Information Services; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; As companies rely on applications like electronic mail and database management for core business operations, computer networking becomes increasingly more important. This tutorial helps to explain Ethernet and Fast Ethernet, which are two of the most popular technologies used in networking.
Authenticating Linux against Active Directory: Date - Nov 09, 2004; Author - William Henderson; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; If you are planning to use a Linux workstation in a Windows Network, one of the things you probably want to do is authenticate against the Windows Domain name server (s), i.e. Active Directory.
How to Disable Media Sense for TCP/IP in Windows XP: Date - Nov 04, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; In this article we will cover how to disable ‘Media Sense’ for TCP/IP based connections on a Windows XP professional system. We will also cover why this may be beneficial to you in practical use.
Remotely Administering Windows Servers: Date - Nov 02, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; This article looks at the various ways you can deploy the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack (adminpak.msi) to remotely administer Windows 2000/2003 servers from administrator workstations running Windows XP. It also examines various incompatibility issues using these tools and workarounds for resolving them.
Using Netsh (Part 1): Date - Oct 28, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; In this article we will cover the fundamental uses of Netsh, a Windows based command line tool that if you master, can be very helpful in quickly getting your network setting changed from the command line without having to navigate the GUI for all your setting changes. The Netsh tool once mastered can make life much easier for you and your administration of systems on your network or at home. In this article we will also look at how to create files to simplify changes further.
The Dark Side of Windows XP Service Pack 2: Date - Oct 26, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; Although I haven’t had any problems with Windows XP Service Pack 2 myself, for many people, installing the service pack has become a nightmare. In this article, I will explain how you can better prepare for the Service Pack installation to minimize your chances of having problems.
Using the Windows Update Catalog: Date - Oct 21, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; This article walks you through using the Windows Update Catalog to download service packs, feature packs, updated system files, and WHQL logo device drivers so you can deploy them later to Windows computers on your network.
How to install the Microsoft Loopback adapter in Windows XP: Date - Oct 19, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; The Microsoft Loopback adapter is a testing tool for a virtual network environment where network access is not available; this may come in very handy when you need to verify connectivity or test. Those of you with Router and Switch skills may already be familiar with the use of loopback interfaces. In this article we will cover the fundamentals of installing a loopback adapter on your Windows XP system, cover why this would be done and how you can use it.
How to Use the SPCheck Tool in Windows XP: Date - Oct 14, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; In this article we will cover the use of the Windows XP support tool called SPCheck. This is a handy tool that can be quickly used to assess the service pack level of installed components on a file by file basis. In this article we will look at how to acquire this tool, how it install it as well as how to use it and read the reports it produces.
Streamlining the backup process with Microsoft’s Data Protection Server: Date - Oct 12, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; Although it is extremely common for organizations to back data up to tape each night, the technology behind tape backups is over twenty years old. At the same time, network administrators are being asked to back up more and more data in less and less time and to be able to perform nearly instant restore operations. The old tape backup technology is having a hard time keeping pace with such demands. Fortunately, Microsoft is about to release a new, disk based, backup solution called Data Protection Server that is designed to solve all of these problems. In this article I will tell you all about it.
What Can You Expect From Windows Server 2003 "R2": Date - Oct 06, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; Microsoft has announced a new version of Windows Server 2003 that will be released late in 2005. Although details about this new release, code named R2, are sketchy, R2 promises to greatly enhance the Windows Server platform. In this article, I will attempt to separate fact from rumor and explain what you can expect from R2.
Customizing Unattended Setup: Date - Sep 29, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; This article walks you through the steps of using Setup Manager to create an answer file for unattended installation of Windows XP. The article also covers how to use Setup Manager to set up distribution folders on your network and how to customize these folders for special purposes such as branding your system and updating device drivers.
Monitoring and Troubleshooting Using Event Logs: Date - Sep 14, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Troubleshooting; This article reviews best practices for working with Windows event logs including how to interpret event messages, how to configure event logs, how to search and filter events, how to view events on remote systems, and how to use EventCombMT.exe and other tools to monitor events on multiple systems.
WindowsNetworking.com New Article Alerts for your PC or Website Using our RSS Feed!: Date - Sep 09, 2004; Author - The Editor; Section - Site News; It is now possible to retrieve instant updates of the latest articles posted to all our websites by using the recently launched RSS feed service! Simply retrieve updates for your personal use or enhance your own website by providing your visitors with convenient access to our highly rated content as it's released.
Using Software Restriction Policies To Keep Games Off Of Your Network: Date - Sep 01, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; Unauthorized software such as computer games decreases productivity, robs your network of resources, and jeopardizes your network’s security. However, you can preserve your network’s integrity by using software restriction policies to control what software users are and are not allowed to run.
The Pros and Cons of Running Virtual Server: Date - Aug 25, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; Microsoft’s soon to be released Virtual Server 2005 helps cut hardware cost by allowing you to simultaneously run multiple virtual machines on a single server. Before you consider deploying Virtual Server 2005 though, you need to understand the various caveats and implications associated with virtual machines.
Planning for High Availability: Attempt to Eliminate Downtime: Date - Aug 18, 2004; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; To ensure that systems are available for requests when called upon, you have to plan for the failure of those same resources that are being requested. Hard drives have MTBF (mean time between failure), viruses go undetected, name it… disaster can happen. The only way to keep systems ‘available’ to those who request them is to deploy those systems in a manner that will keep them available to those requests.
Creating and Configuring FTP Sites in Windows Server 2003: Date - Aug 11, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; In this article we'll walk you through the steps of creating FTP sites in Windows Server 2003 using both Internet Services Manager and scripts. The tutorial will also will explain how to perform common administration tasks involving FTP sites and also how to implement FTP User Isolation, a new feature of Windows Server 2003 enables users to have their own separate FTP home directories.
Windows 2003 DFS (Distributed File System): Date - Aug 04, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; This document will explain what the distrubuted file system is and how to set it up in Windows 2003. After having read it you will have a general idea of why it is used and why you might want to consider making use of it in your organization.
Creating and Configuring Web Sites in Windows Server 2003: Date - Jul 22, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; In this article we'll walk you through the steps of creating web sites in Windows Server 2003 using both Internet Services Manager and scripts. The tutorial will also walk you through the steps for hosting content both locally and remotely using virtual directories, and will explain how to perform common administration tasks involving web servers.
Using a Split DNS to Support Small Business Remote Access Connections: Date - Jul 20, 2004; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; Small businesses are getting into the remote access market. No, I don’t mean that small businesses are becoming ISPs. What I do mean is that small businesses want to be able to access information stored on machines located on their small business network no matter where they go, in the same way big businesses do it.
Software Review: Network Server Monitor 5.5: Date - Jul 08, 2004; Author - Lee Derbyshire; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Product Reviews; As Network Administrators, we are usually expected to keep our servers up and running without interruption for as long as we possibly can. Of course, no-one knows as well as we do just how temperamental those servers can be. To help you in your quest for high server availability, there are a number of utilities out there that will automatically monitor your server activities every few minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One such product is GFI Network Server Monitor, and that is what I shall be looking at in this review.
Deploying the Windows SharePoint Services: Date - Jul 01, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; The Windows SharePoint Services are a free ad-on for Windows Server 2003. They allow users to collaborate on projects while preserving multiple versions of shared documents.
Working with the Windows Server 2003 Volume Shadow Copy Service: Date - Jun 24, 2004; Author - Brien M. Posey; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; New to Windows Server 2003, the Volume Shadow Copy Service provides users with a way of restoring files themselves without having to involve you. This article explains how to implement and configure this service.
Installing and configuring virtual PC (Part 2): Date - Jun 03, 2004; Author - Ricky M. Magalhaes; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; In the first part of this article I took you through the installation of Virtual PC, in this article I will guide you through the configuration of Microsoft’s virtual PC. The article will focus on how virtual PC should be configured so that your system functions effectively and makes use of the hardware efficiently.
An Introduction to Wireless Networking (Part 2) - Requirements and Setup: Date - May 28, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking; Welcome to the second of a two part series on wireless networking. In this section we will look at the what and how to of setting up a wireless network, as well as what Windows 2003 has to offer in this sector.
An Introduction to Wireless Networking (Part 1) - 802.11 Overview: Date - May 20, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking; This article will act as the first of a two part series on wireless networking. In part one we will look at the basics and get a general overview of what wireless networking involves.
Installing and Configuring Virtual PC (Part 1): Date - May 13, 2004; Author - Ricky M. Magalhaes; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; In this two part article I will guide you through the installation of Microsoft’s virtual PC. The article will also focus on how virtual PC should be installed so that your system functions correctly.
DNS Conditional Forwarding in Windows Server 2003: Date - May 06, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; In this article we'll look at conditional forwarding, a new feature of DNS in Windows Server 2003. Conditional forwarding can be used to speed up the DNS name resolution process by directing queries for specific domains to specific name servers. This tutorial explains in detail when conditional forwarding can be useful and how to set it up.
NAT in Windows 2003: Setup and Configuration: Date - Apr 29, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; This article will describe how to setup and configure NAT in Windows 2003. NAT, or Network Address Translation, is a widely used IP translation and mapping protocol that works on the network layer (level 3) of the OSI model. It is sometimes referred to as a routing protocol because of the way it allows packets from a private network to be routed to the Internet.
Windows XP SP2 New Security Features Review: Date - Apr 21, 2004; Author - Amit Zinman; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP; Visual review of the new security features Microsoft is planning for Windows XP Service Pack 2. This article focuses on my experience with installing the current Beta v.2082 of SP2 so things may change by the time of release. I do not go over Internet Explorer changes in this article since they deserve a separate article.
DNS Stub Zones in Windows Server 2003: Date - Apr 15, 2004; Author - Mitch Tulloch; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; We would like to extend a warm welcome to Microsoft expert Mitch Tulloch as he presents his first article to the WindowsNetworking.com community. In this article we'll learn about stub zones, a new feature of DNS in Windows Server 2003. Stub zones can help reduce the amount of DNS traffic on your network by streamlining name resolution and zone replication. We'll examine how stub zones work, when you would use them, and how to set them up in this tutorial.
Installing DNS On Windows 2003: Date - Apr 08, 2004; Author - Ricky M. Magalhaes; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; This tutorial will cover the installation of DNS on a Windows 2003 system. By reading through this tutorial you will learn about caveats that need to be noted when installing one of the most important services on a Windows network.
Windows 2003 Performance Monitor: Date - Mar 29, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; This article will focus on how the Windows 2003 performance monitor utility can be used to monitor the performance of your network. Apart from this, we will also take a look at why it should be used as well as an introduction to this tool that gives you a background of what is involved.
Windows 2003 Terminal Services (Part 2): Date - Mar 18, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; Welcome to part two of my Windows 2003 terminal services article. This section will be of interest to terminal server administrators and clients. It includes a step-by-step guide of how to logon to a terminal server, troubleshooting common logon problems, and a tips section.
Windows 2003 Terminal Services (Part 1): Date - Mar 08, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; Terminal Services, known to some as an Admin’s best friend, uses RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), relies on TCP/IP, and falls under the application layer of the ISO 7-layer model. It has been improved by offering more features, greater reliability and scalability in Windows 2003.
Choosing a Firewall: Date - Feb 23, 2004; Author - Deb Shinder; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the factors you should consider when buying a firewall, features available on some of the most popular offerings, and how to compare the real cost of each (hint: the initial purchase price is only a starting point).
Windows Networking Article Updates in Your Mailbox!: Date - Feb 09, 2004; Author - The Editor; Section - Site News; Keep up to date with all Windows Networking related articles and tutorials published on WindowsNetworking.com with the 'RealTime' and 'Monthly' article updates! A great way to ensure that you don't miss the articles and tips that matter to you most. Click here to subscribe.
Setting up & managing a file server in Windows 2003: Date - Jan 22, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; A file server is a computer responsible for the storage and management of data in a central location. Network clients can access these files, therefore saving them from having to physically transfer data from one computer to another. Users are able to access files and applications at the same time. This will serve as a step-by-step guide on how to setup a file server in Windows 2003.
Setting up a DHCP server in Windows 2003: Date - Jan 15, 2004; Author - Andrew Z. Tabona; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003; "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an IP standard designed to reduce the complexity of administering IP address configurations." - Microsoft's definition. A DHCP server would be set up with the appropriate settings for a given network. Such settings would include a set of fundamental parameters such as the gateway, DNS, subnet masks, and a range of IP addresses. Using DHCP on a network means administrators don't need to configure these settings individually for each client on the network. The DHCP would automatically distribute them to the clients itself.