Altaro is raffling 15 licenses of their nifty backup tool for desktops and laptops. Each license is worth US$37. I tested Oops!Backup for a few days and was quite content with the results. I am a big fan of Continuous Data Protection (CDP), not only because the backup intervals are significantly shorter than with conventional backup tools, but also because configuration and handling are much easier. In this post, I will outline the CDP features of Oops!Backup and, in my next post, I will discuss the tool’s ReverseDelta technology and its suitability for laptop backups.

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Submitted by Santhosh – Blog: JiJi Technologies

With JiJi Self Service Password Reset(JSSPR), end-users now have the ability to securely reset their own Active Directory passwords without having to involve highly technical helpdesk professionals. JSSPR lowers end-user downtime, end-users no longer have to wait for a member of the helpdesk staff to reset their forgotten or lost password.

JiJi Self Service Password Reset is free up to 50 users.

JiJi Self Service Password Reset

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There are quite a few ways to elevate a program (run with administrator rights) under Vista and Windows 7. The sidebar widget Elevation Gadget is another option that can be helpful in some situations. You can place it on your desktop and drag applications or scripts on it that you want to run in elevated mode.

It is also possible to run multiple programs with admin privileges this way. You just have to select the corresponding icons and move them onto the Elevation Gadget. You can also type commands inside the widget to launch programs. The tool’s history buffer allows you to start previously launched programs.

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In my article about the analysis of Windows crashes, readers recommended the freeware tool BlueScreenView from Nirsoft. I had a look at it, and it is indeed quite useful. It helped me to get an idea about the cause of the crashes of my Windows 7 machine. The portable tool reads the data from the crash dump files in c:\Windows\Minidump.

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For once, this is a really useful application that the WindowsBlog (German) dug out. I couldn’t resist reviewing it for 4sysops. The main purpose of Bad Application is to crash. Yes, you just read the last sentence correctly. As you can see in the screenshot, the tool has four options: hang process, crash process, start flashing, and terminate Explorer. The last two features are bit lame, but I do like the first two.

Hang process will just start an endless loop, which will change its window title to the well-known and often experienced “not responding”. I get this telling “not responding” message from Firefox and Outlook at least once a day. It is good to know that other apps have this feature, too.

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Free Extended Task Manager adds a few useful features to the Windows Task Manager. The tool does not have as many functions as Process Explorer or Process Hacker, but it could be particularly useful if you are having performance problems and want to quickly find the culprit.

If your computer behaves sluggishly, then there are usually three possible causes: An application occupies too many CPU resources, needs too much RAM, or keeps your hard disk busy. Free Extended Task Manager tool adds a third graph to the Performance tab that displays the disk input/output activity. This way, you’ll see all three important parameters (CPU usage, RAM usage, Disk I/O) at a glance.

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In my last post, I described GFI WebMonitor’s filtering features. Today, I will introduce the tool’s security functions. If you want to have a chance to win a license for 500 clients worth 8,500 dollars, please refer to the end of the article.

As noted in the first post of this series, there is a Web Security edition, which can be purchased separately, or with the Web Filtering edition. The Web Security edition consists of four modules: Download Control Policies, IM Control Policies, Virus Scanning Policies, and the Anti-Phishing Engine.

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In my last post, I described GFI WebMonitor’s monitoring capabilities. Today, I will introduce the tool’s web-filtering features. If you want to have a chance to win a license for 500 clients worth 8,500 dollars, please refer to the end of the article.

The main purpose of web filtering is to prevent your company’s employees from spending time on the web for personal interests. Since many of the sites with the most popular web content—you know what I’m talking about—often contain malware, it will also improve security if you block them. The temptation to use the web for private matters at work has been growing along with the possibilities of the web.

The WebGrade database

GFI maintains a list of sites that are most likely unrelated to work in the so-called WebGrade database. I tried a few popular sites and GFI WebMonitor always blocked access to them. In such cases, WebMonitor displays a message in the user’s browser that the web site has been blocked from viewing.

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We recently migrated our Windows Server 2003 based DHCP Server to Windows Server 2008 R2 because I wanted to use Network Access Protection to improve our network security. After half an hour the software was installed and I started to configure the DHCP server. I quickly defined scope, NAP configuration, and all the other options and all I had left to do was move the DHCP reservations to the new server. I had no intention of transferring the addresses manually—it’s not that I am lazy, but copying and pasting many items is an error-prone process—and so I started looking for a migration tool.

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