Windows and third party applications constantly write to and remove data from the Registry database. This produces empty areas in the Registry and data become fragmented (scattered) within the Registry file. This process is comparable to disk fragmentation. However, running a disk defrag tool won’t help to reduce Registry defragmentation. Disk defrag tools don’t change the contents of files, while a Registry defrag tool alters the database. This is why Registry defragmentation usually compacts, i.e., reduces, the size of the Registry file.

However, Registry defragmentation is not as risky as Registry cleaning because a defrag tool doesn’t have to understand what the Registry entries mean. Of course, if the defrag tool has a bug, then your Registry might also become corrupted. Therefore, you should always back up the Registry before you mess with it. You can do this with the Windows regedit tool.

Free Registry Defrag will first analyze the Registry and then tell you how much space will be regained after the defragmentation. You can then decide if it is worth the effort. Notice that Free Registry Defrag will reboot the computer after defragmentation is completed. I tested Free Registry Defrag v2.40.

Free Registry Defrag

• FREE: CCleaner – Improve Windows performance by removing unnecessary files and registry entries (3)
• FREE: EMSA Register DLL Tool – Register programs with a GUI (1)
• FREE: AccessEnum – displays directory and registry permissions (0)
• FREE: RegAlyzer – a nifty free Registry editor (7)
• TrackWinstall: track installations of Windows programs (0)

DSCT makes use of the new snapshot feature in Windows Server 2008. Unfortunately, creating Active Directory snapshots is a bit cumbersome and can only be done on the command prompt. If you want to work with DSCT in a productive environment, then it makes sense to create AD snapshots automatically. Of course, you can also use the tool whenever you have to perform major Active Directory modifications. If you create an AD snapshot before you run your new PowerShell script to modify some hundred objects, then you can use DSCT to clean up the mess of your automation efforts afterwards.

Before you start using DSCT, you should enable Active Directory auditing. You can do this in Group Policy (Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Audit Policy\). After you have installed DSCT, you have to add its snap-in to the MMC. The DSCT installer doesn’t add icons to the Windows Start Menu.

Once you have created a snapshot, you can change Active Directory objects. The snapshot has to be mounted and you have to expose the snapshot as LDAP server, as I outlined in a former post. You then have to tell DSCT in the Datasource settings where it can find the LDAP server, including the port you configured (see screenshot). DSCT will then display the difference between the snapshot and the current Active Directory state. DSCT enables you to select changed or deleted objects and to restore them to their previous state.

In my test, I renamed the givenname attribute of a user object. In the upper pane, DSCT displays the object, and in the lower pane, the changed attribute. Restoring the attribute to its original state worked flawlessly. I tried DSCT 1.3.3.X on a Windows Server 2008 R2 domain controller. As noted above, the tool also works on Windows Server 2008.

Directory Service Comparison Tool (DSCT)

• Contest: MaxPowerSoft Active Directory Reports – Filters, and print preview (0)
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• Active Directory management with PowerShell v2 (0)
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• Raffle: ManageEngine ADManager Plus – Reporting and Delegation (1)

CCleaner is a famous free optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. I should have added it long time ago to the list of free administration tools, because it is a valuable tool for admins who have to clean a user’s PC that has been cluttered with junk. This usually improves the performance of a Windows PC that has become slow because too many applications have been installed over time, often leaving traces even after they have been uninstalled. CCleaner can also help to free disk space. If you are planning to upgrade your PC to Windows 7, then it might make sense to get rid of all of the deadwood first—although I would always recommend that you perform a fresh install of a new Windows version.

CCleaner also allows you to remove unwanted traces that web browsers have left on the hard disk. The tool removes information such as the temporary file cache, the URL history, cookies etc. CCleaner supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari, although the website doesn’t say what kind of traces can be removed for the latter three browsers.

It is also possible to remove Windows Explorer traces, such as recently opened documents or the thumbnail cache. Furthermore, it empties the Recycle Bin, Chkdsk file fragments, memory dumps and more places where the operating stores temporary information (see screenshot above for complete list). Most important thing is that CCleaner can also remove remnants of third party applications. Unfortunately, CCleaner’s homepage doesn’t list all of the supported applications. You can also use CCleaner to uninstall applications and to manage auto starting applications, although both features have only limited functionality.

It also comes with a Registry cleaner. A bloated registry is sometimes the reason for a sluggish PC. The problem with automatic Registry cleaning is that you might end up with a PC having zero speed; that is, with a non bootable system or perhaps with some apps that no longer work properly. This applies to all kinds of automatic PC cleaning tools; however, messing with the Registry is certainly the most dangerous.

Thus, I am missing an undo function in CCleaner. Of course, you can always use Windows System Restore to revert all changes CCleaner has made. However, you should always back up the entire system before running the tool. CCleaner allows you to analyze your disk first and lists all of the changes it intends to do. It certainly makes sense to have a closer look at these and to deselect those that could harm your installation.

I have tried CCleaner v2.25 and I had no problem with it. I also skimmed over some forum discussions before I wrote this post. All in all, it appears that CCleaner is reliable. Just in case you are using the tool, it would be great if you could share your experiences. I would also be interested in other PC cleaning tools.

Cleaning your system is only one way to speed up your PC. Two years ago I wrote a post that gives some additional tips on how to improve the performance of a Windows PC. IT pros probably won’t find anything new there, perhaps, except for the last method, which is still the one that has always worked best for me.

CCleaner

• Free Registry Defrag – Defragment the Windows registry (0)
• VistaSwitcher – Better task switching for Windows 7 and Vista (0)
• PicPick Tools – A nifty free screenshot program (0)
• FREE: Product Key Finder – Export license keys from multiple Windows computers (8)
• FREE: UBCD4Win – Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, a comprehensive rescue tool (1)

You can copy entire directories or, using wildcards (*,?), particular files in a directory. You can also use the tool’s batch mode to configure multiple source and destination folders to copy their contents in one go. You can save this configuration so that the next time you have to perform the same copy operation you can do so with only a few mouse clicks. (This function is also useful for undamaged disks.)

Unstoppable Copier offers several options that could prove helpful in a disaster recovery situation. For example, you can copy the undamaged files first, skip damaged files, or only copy newer files. See the screenshot for all options.

The tool’s name may be a bit misleading because Unstoppable Copier can’t copy everything. It does not, for example, copy open files. However, it will continue with the rest of the selected files. The tool’s log file informs you which files have been skipped and which files were identified as being corrupt.

Unstoppable Copier comes with an installer, but the tool seems to run without installation if you just copy its program folder to another computer.

Unstoppable Copier

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• FREE: FileMenu Tools – Customize Windows Explorer easily (2)
• FREE: Recuva – Recover accidentally deleted files (2)
• FREE: GParted – Partition manager for Windows and Linux (1)

For instance, if you have started an admin tool on a user’s desktop and want to leave the place for a while. You can then let the tool finish its work while the user continues working with the computer. This way, you don’t have to worry that the user will interfere with your work. Another way to use the tool is to reduce the number of icons in your taskbar if it is cluttered with too many apps.

WinRAP is a tiny standalone tool which doesn’t have to be installed. It displays all running applications in the upper pane. You can hide each of the applications with a mouse click which moves the app’s name to the lower pane. The application’s interface will then disappear from the desktop. Of course, you can also unhide an application, if you want to access its interface.

To make sure that users don’t use WinRAP to unhide applications, you can protect the tool with a password and hide the tool itself. It is also possible to disable the Windows Task Manager, so users can’t just kill WinRAP.

WinRAP can lock out the average user, but it certainly won’t prevent IT pros from accessing your applications. For instance, it is possible to bring hidden applications to the foreground with Process Explorer. You only have to right click on the on the corresponding process and then select “Bring to Front” from the Window menu.

I tested WinRAP 1.0. Please let me know if you know a comparable tool that can’t be outsmarted so easily.

WinRAP

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• FREE: Process Hacker – a mighty Task Manager and Process Explorer alternative (3)
• Process Lasso – improve the responsiveness of Windows (5)

This is post was updated by Olivier from Mobatek. The new features MobaXterm 2.2 can be found at the end of the article.

MobaXterm (formerly known as MobaXVT) is an enhanced terminal with an X server and a set of Unix commands (GNU/Cygwin) packaged in a single portable exe file.

MobaXterm includes a great multitab native Windows terminal, a new X server based on X.Org for easily export your Unix/Linux display and a lot of new GNU Unix commands. You can also use some of the free plugins for extending MobaXterm capabilities!

• The “split-mode” allows SysAdmins to monitor 4 servers at the same time
• The “save history” features allows them to easily keep some logs of their commands
• The ssh/telnet/rlogin/rsh/ftp/scp/sftp/rcp clients allow them to easily interact with remote Unix/Linux computers.

New features MobaXterm 2.2

• Added some new plugins (Netcat, WinSCP, Filezilla and Xnest)
• Added an HTML documentation in the About window. You can also type “help” in the terminal
• Improved the default console font
• Improved copy/paste when pasting to an external program
• Improved startup speed
• Added a great integrated picture viewer called “ShowImage”
• Added a great integrated text editor with development and diff features called “MobaTextEditor”
• Added a port monitoring program
• Added fdupes – a duplicate files finder (and optionally remover)
• When closing a remote ssh/telnet/rlogin/rsh connection, the tab title is set to the original tab title instead of “$HOSTNAME”
• Corrected a bug when in installed mode, the home directory was not correctly mounted
• The MobaConsole default font has been modified in order to better support antialiasing in Windows Vista and Windows Seven
• The default window size is now adapted to your resolution
• Changed the error message when using the “Create shortcut” button in the bookmarks editor without any bookmark selected
• Added FTP capabilities for bookmarks creation
• In the bookmarks creation dialog, there is a little red star for indicating required fields
• The bookmarks are now editable by double-clicking on them
• You can now select your home directory location, even in portable mode, so that you can keep your home files persistent
• You can now use small buttons for the MobaXterm menus
• You can now start an X-Win session with a light Window Manager (”Openbox”)

MobaXterm

• FREE: MobaSSH – SSH server for Windows (0)
• It seems the big Linux projects in Vienna and Munich are about to fail (5)
• Is Windows Server 2003 less reliable than Linux? (4)
• Is the Linux market share declining or not? (0)
• Impressive 90 days Vista vulnerability report or counting trap? (0)

The size of the standalone tool is only 670KB, so you shouldn’t expect wonders. I tried Disk2vhd on a Windows 7 system. I encountered my first problem with it when I had to decide which partition to convert. My boot and my system partition are separated. I selected them both and Disk2vhd packed them in one VHD file without complaining. The result was that neither Virtual PC 2007 SP1 nor the successor Windows Virtual PC was able to recognize the VHD. I didn’t try it with Hyper-V, but, I guess, the result would have been the same. Perhaps, it would have worked If I ran the tool twice to create two separate VHD files. But I didn’t explore this path because I have a 64-bit system and Virtual PC doesn’t support 64-bit guests.

I then tried something different for which the tool was not really made for. I used it within a VMware Workstation virtual machine. Disk2vhd was indeed able to create a VHD from the VMDK disk. I could even write the VHD file to a shared drive on the host system. This probably means that the utility also supports network shares as destinations. Not every P2V tool has this feature. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to boot with this VHD in Virtual PC 2007 SP1 and Windows Virtual PC. The virtual machine always hung. I then tried to boot in Safe Mode. Virtual PC was loading the drivers, but then the virtual machine hanged again. Syspreping the source VM didn’t help either, however, my guts tell me that this could work with a little more fiddling.

I admit my test Disk2vhd was not really fair. I suppose the tool works fine in common environments. Please share your experiences if you tried the tool already.

Disk2vhd

• Help in Sysinternals tool says “Navigation to the webpage was canceled” (3)
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• Sysinternals Live? (7)
• FREE: TCPView – displays active TCP and UDP connections (3)

Since Active Directory Recycle Bin PowerPack is an add-on, you have to import it manually once you installed PowerGUI. This will add a new folder to the PowerGUI tool which lists all deleted AD objects. I like that it preserves the hierarchical structure of deleted objects. This is useful if you deleted an organizational unit that contained other objects.

You can then restore single objects or the whole hierarchical structure with just a mouse click. By the way, Microsoft introduced an interesting change in Windows Server 2008 R2. If you try to delete an OU that contains objects you will get this message: “You do not have sufficient privileges to delete … or this object is protected from accidental deletion”.

You can protect containers against accidental deletion in previous Active Direction versions by simply removing the Delete and Delete Subtree permissions. I find it interesting that in a Windows Server 2008 R2 domain this accidental deletion prevention is enabled by default. Obviously accidental deletion of AD containers happens more often that one thinks. If you try to recursively restore a whole organizational unit with its objects using the Recycle Bin PowerPack, you have to first remove the Deny Delete and Deny Delete Subtree advanced permissions (see screenshot).

Another nice feature of the Recycle Bin PowerPack is that it allows you to restore deleted objects to a different location. This is a common feature of all backup solutions and it certainly could prove to be helpful in some situations.

Furthermore, you can also empty the complete Recycle Bin or remove single objects. Be careful with this feature because you will no longer be able to restore objects from a backup.

It is also useful that you can use the PowerPack to modify the DeletedObjectLiftime and TombstoneLifetime attributes. Note that “TombstoneLifetime” is only the name of the AD attribute. The correct term of this setting is “Recycled Object Lifetime” because in an Active Directory with enabled Recycle Bin there are no tombstone objects, as I described in my previous review about the Recycle Bin feature.

All in all, the Recycle Bin PowerPack offers all the functionality I expected when I first heard about this Recycle Bin. It is a bit strange that Microsoft neither offers a comparable GUI tool nor did they integrate the functionality in the Active Directory User and Computer interface (ADUC). It appears to be a new Microsoft strategy. For some functionality they only provide a PowerShell interface hoping that someone else steps in and offers a GUI tool for the feature.

Active Directory Recycle Bin PowerPack

• FREE: Directory Service Comparison Tool – Restore changed Active Directory objects (0)
• Contest: MaxPowerSoft Active Directory Reports – Filters, and print preview (0)
• Contest: MaxPowerSoft Active Directory Reports – Quick LDAP Reporting (0)
• Active Directory management with PowerShell v2 (0)
• How to migrate the Active Directory domain functional level to Server 2008 R2 – Part 3 (0)

Notepad++ is a free (as in “free speech” and also as in “free beer”) source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.

Feature list:

• Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
• WYSIWYG
• Auto-completion
• Multi-Document
• Multi-View
• Regular Expression Search/Replace supported
• Full Drag ‘N’ Drop supported
• Dynamic position of Views
• File Status Auto-detection
• Zoom in and zoom out
• Multi-Language environment supported
• Bookmark
• Brace and Indent guideline Highlighting
• Macro recording and playback

Notepad++

• FREE: Unstoppable Copier – Copy physically corrupt files (0)
• IZArc – The best freeware ZIP utility available? (6)
• FREE: FileMenu Tools – Customize Windows Explorer easily (2)
• FREE: Recuva – Recover accidentally deleted files (2)
• FREE: GParted – Partition manager for Windows and Linux (1)

NetworkMiner is a free tool to collect information about hosts “speaking” to the network.

From the publisher:

NetworkMiner is a Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT) for Windows. NetworkMiner can be used as a passive network sniffer/packet capturing tool in order to detect operating systems, sessions, hostnames, open ports etc. without putting any traffic on the network. NetworkMiner can also parse PCAP files for off-line analysis and to regenerate/reassemble transmitted files and certificates from PCAP files.

The purpose of NetworkMiner is to collect data (such as forensic evidence) about hosts on the network rather than to collect data regarding the traffic on the network. The main view is host centric (information grouped per host) rather than packet centric (information showed as a list of packets/frames).

NetworkMiner

• Will Windows 7 fasten the migration to IPv6? (2)
• FREE: NetWorx – Network traffic monitor and network usage reporting (2)
• FREE: TCP Analyzer – Statistical Analysis of TCP connections in Network Monitor (2)
• FREE: Top Users Expert – Analyze bandwidth consumption with Network Monitor (3)
• FREE: Simple Search – An extension for Microsoft Network Monitor (8)

The program FileMenu Tools fills this gap. It creates a new item in the Context Menu of Explorer and opens up various possibilities for customizing it. If you choose the item FileMenu Tools Configuration in the Context Menu of the tool, a GUI will pop up where you can comfortably make your personal adjustments.

Now I want to provide a short overview of the included tools. Their values differ a lot, though, but some of them are very useful. In the following overview, I will concentrate on the most recently added tools. For those familiar with the CLI, there exists the possibility to open a tool at the current location or execute a program and pass some arguments to it. Another handy function is the Folder Synchronization option.

The program features an entry for shredding files, which makes them unrecoverable by recovery programs. It also includes a useful renaming utility.

For more advanced users, FileMenu Tools also offers users the possibility of registering or unregistering *.dll or *.ocx files.

Those previously-mentioned tools are sure to be helpful, but the most outstanding feature of FileMenu Tools is that you can add new tools. For this purpose, it offers five so-called actions: run a program, move to, copy to, delete specific file, and send to mail recipient. I find the “move to“ action to be tremendously helpful. My download and documents folders often get cluttered after some time, so manually moving the files to the archive folders requires lots of mouse clicks. Now I can just make a “move to“ entry for each of my archive folders in the FileMenu Tools. With this great tool, I can archive those files without manually navigating through the directories, which significantly reduces the amount of clicks used for file management.

With the action “run a program,” you can add your favorite tools to Explorer’s Context Menu. Various options are available for defining the program call. You can submit arguments and set a working folder. You can also restrict the availability of your added tool. You can define it’s context so that it only appears in the list when, for example, it is invoked on *.jpg files lying on a removable drive.

Besides providing users with the opportunity to alter their own entries in the Context Menu, it also includes a GUI to alter the “send to“ settings and the commands of other applications. Both options are nice bonuses, because you have one GUI to change the complete Context Menu. But for me, they have a rather limited use.

All in all, the tiny application FileMenu Tools adds a lot of wealth to Explorer’s file management capabilities. After you have personalized and worked with it for a few days, you will instantly miss it if you have to work on a computer where it isn’t installed.

FileMenu Tools

• FREE: Unstoppable Copier – Copy physically corrupt files (0)
• IZArc – The best freeware ZIP utility available? (6)
• FREE: Notepad++ – Source code editor and Notepad replacement (3)
• FREE: Recuva – Recover accidentally deleted files (2)
• FREE: GParted – Partition manager for Windows and Linux (1)

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in a database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish).

KeePass

• FREE: Passgen – Set unique administrator passwords on multiple machines (2)
• How to handle the built-in administrator account (4)
• FREE: Specops Password Policy Basic – Fine-Grained Password Policies (0)
• FREE: NetWrix Password Expiration Notifier (0)
• FREE: DocLock – password encryption tool for Windows Mobile (2)

• Keep an eye on nearly every aspect of your system with 60 different checks for system and network (connectivity, database, e-mail, performance, SQL Server, Exchange, and others).
• Decide how you will be alerted about problems and what actions should be taken (send e-mail, sms, open a ticket, launch a script).
• Define suspend/shutdown intervals for your workstations and have HealthMonitor turn them off when they are not used
• Track power savings over time and increase your system energy efficiency

HealthMonitor

• FREE: Real Temp – Another CPU temperature measuring program (1)
• FREE: SpeedFan – CPU and hard disk temperature monitoring (1)
• FREE: Process Monitor – view file system, registry, and network activity (0)
• FREE: NetWorx – Network traffic monitor and network usage reporting (2)
• FREE: TCP Analyzer – Statistical Analysis of TCP connections in Network Monitor (2)

If you are unfamiliar with how unerase utilities work, then I recommend reading Piriform’s short explanation. When you launch Recuva for the first time, a wizard will open asking some questions about the file types and the drive or path. Note that this will just filter the output in the results windows and has no effect on the scanning time. I suppose, most IT pros will just disable this wizard. You can also apply filters after scanning.

Recuva supports two different scan modes. In default mode, the tool will scan the Master File Table for files marked as deleted. In contrast, the deep scan process scans the complete drive to find file headers indicating the start of a file. Naturally, the deep scan method requires significantly more time. Note that this method only works for certain file types and if the disk is defragmented.

Once the tool is finished with scanning, its shows all restorable files in the results window. In List View, files having an excellent chance for a successful recovery are marked green, orange stands for an acceptable chance, and red signifies unlikely. There also is Tree View showing recoverable files sorted by folders and drives, as well as Thumbnail View displaying restorable images.

You can also display some file types in the preview pane. The info tab displays file properties such as the path, size, or creation time and the Header pane show the hexadecimal and ASCII codes of the file header.

All in all, I found that Recuva offers quite a few features for a free tool. I tested version v1.29.429.

Recuva File Recovery

• FREE: Unstoppable Copier – Copy physically corrupt files (0)
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• FREE: GParted – Partition manager for Windows and Linux (1)

The tool only supports two command switches: /CSV and /remote. “/CSV” will create a text file in the CSV format. The file name is just the computer name with the extension .txt. You can use multiple computer names with the /remote switch. Product Key Finder will then create multiple CSV files.

It appears that Product Key Finder has problems with Vista x64. It failed to retrieve the Microsoft Office 2007 product key on my test machine. In contrast, it had no problem exporting the Office license key on Vista x86. I tested Product Key Finder 2.0.9

Product Key Finder

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• AutoHotkey – A free mouse / keyboard shortcut and macro tool (2)

Real Temp is a standalone tool that is useful if you want to measure the CPU temperature on a server quickly because you don’t have to install the program. Real Temp can display the temperatures of all CPU cores and the GPU (graphics processing unit) separately in the systray. This can be useful if you have to stress your CPU for some time, and want to stay informed about the temperatures at all times.

Real Temp displays the minimum and the maximum temperature the CPU has had since you launched the tool. It is also capable of logging temperature changes. The user interface shows the distance to TJMax. TJ stands for temperature junction, which is the temperature of the CPU core as opposed to the temperature of the CPU case. TJMax is the maximum temperature the CPU core can bear. This value can be configured, as it is different for different CPU types. If you are lucky, then the datasheet of your CPU contains information about this. Real Temp can launch a program whenever the CPU or the GPU reaches a configurable temperature.

If you want to get an idea of how a heavy CPU load affects its temperature, you can use the tool’s sensor test. It uses the free tool Prime 95, which you have to download first to strain your CPU. By the way, CPU killer is my favorite CPU stress tool.

Real Temp has two downsides. It only supports Intel processors, and only displays temperatures in degrees Celsius.

Real Temp

• FREE: HealthMonitor – Monitor 60 different system states (0)
• FREE: SpeedFan – CPU and hard disk temperature monitoring (1)
• FREE: Process Monitor – view file system, registry, and network activity (0)
• FREE: NetWorx – Network traffic monitor and network usage reporting (2)
• FREE: TCP Analyzer – Statistical Analysis of TCP connections in Network Monitor (2)

GFI WebMonitor Freeware

• Windows 7 multiple active firewall profiles (6)
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• New features of Microsoft ISA Server 2004 SP3 (1)

There are various partition tools for Linux. One of these is GParted. If you think that GParted is only capable of dealing with Linux file systems, you may be surprised to read that every option that it offers is also available for NTFS. GParted can detect, read, create, grow, shrink, move, copy, check and label almost every file system. The screenshot below gives you an overview of all supported file systems and functions.

You can download an ISO image of GParted Live from the GParted Homepage. If you intend to use it in other than virtual machines, you must burn the ISO on a CD first because you will have to boot from the CD. I usually use the tool ISO Recorder since this utility is small, easy to install, and is integrated in Windows Explorer.

You can also boot from a USB stick; however, this is more difficult than using a CD. You can find a step-to-step tutorial for booting Gparted from a USB here.

If you do not have a full backup of your data, make one before you begin the partitioning. Fiddling with partitions always comes with the risk of losing data. After you have backed up your system, insert the Gparted CD and restart the computer.

Once Linux is booted, the GParted user interface – with buttons for taking a screenshot, starting a terminal session, changing the screen resolution, or exiting the OS beside the main window — will be waiting for your input. .

You will see the partition scheme of your primary hard disk in GParted’s main window. To change the drive, use the drop down menu in the right top corner. You have access to most of the application‘s functions through the toolbar.

Additional information such as the model, the size and the disk label type of the selected hard drive can be displayed if you choose the Option „Device Information“ under the Menu View.

If you want to move partitions from one drive to another, select the drive first and then the partition. Afterwards, click on „Copy“ and then choose a destination Drive with enough space and click on the „Paste“. Be careful though: The copy is identical to the source partition, so the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) is also the same This can cause problems if you want to mount partitions with the same UUID; you should, therefore, change the UUID.

All changes you have made will be displayed in the lower part of the GParted’s user interface. They will not be written to the disk unless you click „Apply“. Only confirm the changes if you are certain that you have a backup of your disk.

GParted logs all errors: should something go wrong, these logs are helpful to users for problem resolution in most cases. However, basic knowledge about partitions and partition tables is needed.

After all pending operations have been completed successfully, double click on the „Exit“ button and choose „Reboot“ from the menu. Make sure you have removed the CD from the drive; otherwise, you will boot into Linux again.

I had no problems resizing and copying NTFS file systems, whether they were Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 or Windows XP. When I booted from the ISO image in a virtual machine on Hyper-V I, I received many error messages during the boot sequence. Once the system was up and running however, I experienced no problems.

You might get the following error message on Vista after booting: „Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.” You must use „Startup Repair“ from the Vista DVD to solve this problem,. After you have booted from the Vista DVD and launched „Startup Repair“, a dialog box will prompt you to answer the following question: „Do you want to apply repairs and restart your computer?“ If you answer „Repair and restart“, your PC will reboot and check the partition’s file system. After this everything should work flawlessly.

There is one last thing I want to mention: Due to a hardware/firmware bug, it is not recommended to run GParted on HP Pavilion machines.

GParted

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SpeedFan monitors the temperature of processor cores, GPUs (Graphical Processing Units), and hard disks. It can also measure motherboard voltages and the speed (in RPM) of your CPU fan, chassis fan, and power fan.

Measuring the voltages and fan speed didn’t work on my Dell laptop using Vista x64, even though, SpeedFan officially supports 64-bit systems with signed drivers. Monitoring the hard disk temperature only worked after I started the tool as administrator.

You can also use SpeedFan to adjust your fan speed, if your motherboard supports it. The tool enables you to change other settings of your motherboard, such as the CPU clock, but I would be very cautious with such features, because it is possible to destroy computer components this way.

What is more interesting is the tool’s ability to inform you or take measures when certain events occur. For example, SpeedFan can send an email or run a program if the CPU has reached a certain temperature. SpeedFan also monitors quite a few hard disk conditions. Examples are "seek error rate" or "calibration retry count." In this way, you can also use SpeedFan to identify hard drives that could cause problems in the future.

I tested SpeedFan 4.38 for this review.

SpeedFan

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The IT Health Scanner comes with an easy-to-use wizard. It first checks if updates are available, and then asks for your firewall settings and the subnets you want to scan. In my tiny test network, scanning only took a few seconds. I guess, it will take a little longer in a real network.

The wizard presents the scan results in a small window, but you can create HTML reports. Every problematic configuration has a short description and a link to a Knowledge Base article that explains the problem in more detail.

The tool was developed by the Essential Business Server team, but it is useful for all small- and medium-sized networks. Active Directory is a highly complex system where many things can go wrong. If odd things are happening in your network, then this tool is the first one you should fire up. It also makes sense to scan your network regularly using the IT Health Scanner. Sometimes, everything appears to be all right, but beneath the surface, a faulty configuration could already be seeping through your network.

The IT Health Scanner requires at least Active Directory functional level Windows 2000 native mode.

IT Environment Health Scanner

(via The Experience Blog)

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