Open Command Window Here

This small program from Microsoft lets you open a command window (cmd.exe) by right-clicking on a folder or a shortcut to a folder.  When you right-click on a folder, you will see an additional option  named ‘Open Command Window Here’ and that would open a command window with the path already set to that folder.

Download it here (515KB)

Virtual Desktop Manager for Windows XP

Virtual Desktop Manager is a nice free little application from Microsoft that allows you to use multiple workspaces (up to four) at the same time. This tool is very useful if you normally work with a lot of applications and windows open. I’ve always wondered why Microsoft never included this as part of their OS, Solaris and Linux have had something similar to this built in since I’ve started working on them over five years ago.

To use it, simply download and install the application, then right-click on your taskbar, go to Toolbars, then select Desktop Manager. The toolbar will then appear on your taskbar and you can select which virtual desktop to use or see a preview of all four virtual desktops.

You can also use shortcut keys to quickly switch desktops. By default they’re set as Windows Key + 1 (virtual desktop 1), Windows Key + 2 (virtual desktop 2), Windows Key + 3 (virtual desktp 3), Windows Key + 4 (virtual desktop 4), and Windows Key + V (preview).

Download it now (550 KB)!

Network and Windows Administration Skills in High Demand in 2008

Here are some good news for us network/system administrators. According to a research released by Robert Half Technology, a poll of 1,400 CIOs cited networking as a job area where they see the most growth in 2008. 70% of CIOs ranked network administration as the second-most-in-demand skill. Windows administration ranked #1 with 74% of CIOs seeking such skills.

Emerging technology trends such as wireless, Web 2.0, and virtualization seem to be the reason why network skills are in high demand. Other IT skills in demand include database management (#3 at 60%), firewall administration (#4 at 55%), and wireless network administration (#5).

About 13% of the CIOs polled said they expect to increase IT staff hiring in the first quarter of this year, 3% plan to cut staff, and 82% expect no staff changes for the next 3 months. You can read the full article here.

8 Hot IT Skills for 2008

Computerworld.com published this article about the 8 hottest IT skills for 2008. Programming/application development is number one on the list. Here’s a quick summary:

1. Programming/Application Development (AJAX, .Net, PHP, Silverlight)
2. Project Management
3. Help Desk/Technical Support
4. Security (IDS, database, wireless)
5. Data Centers
6. Business Knowledge (business/systems analyst)
7. & 8. Networking and Telecommunications (voice-over-IP, wireless, infrastructure)

How to install a backup SonicWALL PRO 230 firewall

We had to do this last January and this was supposed to be a job that shouldn’t take more than an hour to complete but it took us a few hours due to the lack of documentation (our biggest issue was how to reset the firewall to factory defaults because no one knew the password for it, the person who originally configured the second firewall left a while back). SonicWALL no longer supports this product and it took us quite a bit of googling to finally find the information we needed. I made sure I documented everything we did and now I’m sharing it with you guys.

Prerequisites

• (2) SonicWALL PRO 230
• (3) Switches for the WAN/DMZ/LAN ports
• (6) CAT5 Cables for connecting the 2 firewalls to the switches
• (2) Static LAN IP addresses
• A backup of the Primary firewall’s settings
• Make sure that the Backup Firewall has not been previously configured for use (go to Tools->Restore Factory Default Settings). Also set the Password to password using the Password tab in the General section. ** If you cannot login to the backup firewall you will need to reset it to factory defaults by reloading the firmware. **

Resetting the SonicWALL PRO 230 to factory defaults by reloading the firmware (the following steps might also work with other models)

1. Turn off the firewall and unplug the power cord.
2. Use a paperclip to push the small button in front of the firewall and hold it for 15 seconds.
3. While the button is still pushed down, plug the power cord back in and turn on the firewall.
4. Wait another 15 seconds and release the button.
5. Turn off the firewall. The firmware should now be corrupted at this point.
6. Get a crossover cable and plug in one end into the LAN port of the firewall and the other end to your laptop/computer.
7. Change your laptop/computer’s IP Address to 192.168.168.200.
8. Open a web browser and go to http://192.168.168.168.
9. You should see a page asking you to upload the firmware for the SonicWALL (you can get it from SonicWALL’s website by logging in to your account). Upload the file (.bin) and the firewall will restart. Once it is back up it should now be back to factory defaults with an admin password of password.

Required Steps

1. Make sure both firewalls are off.
2. Connect both firewalls to the network.
3. Turn on the Primary Firewall and wait for diagnostics to complete.
4. Log in to the Primary Firewall (let’s pretend this IP is 192.168.0.1).
5. Click High Availability on the left
   1. High Availability Status (Primary SonicWALL):
      1. LAN IP Address: eg. 192.168.0.2 (make sure this is different from the IP you’re logged in to right now (ie. 192.168.0.1))
   2. High Availability Settings (Backup SonicWALL)
      1. Serial Number:
      2. LAN IP Adress: eg. 192.168.0.3
      3. Check Preempt Mode (to allow the Primary to take over when it comes back up)
      4. Heartbeat Interval: 5 seconds (lowest is 3)
      5. Failover Trigger Level: 3 missed heartbeats (Backup will take over if 2 heartbeats are missed)
      6. Active SonicWALL Detection Time: 0 seconds
6. Click Update.
7. Turn on the Backup Firewall (the Primary Firewall will detect its presence and synchronizes the settings).
8. Check the Primary Firewall log for a High Availability confirmation message.
9. Log in to the Backup Firewall (192.168.0.3) to confirm that it is the backup.

Testing the Configuration

• Turn off Primary and see if the Backup picks up.
• Turn Primary back on and see if it will take over.
• Make a note on how long it took to pick up and also check for network interruptions (it should pick up instantly).

Notes

• If everything is working, the Primary will be in active mode, and the backup will be in idle mode.
• When the Primary goes down, the backup will switch to active mode.
• When the backup takes over, it will have all the settings of the Primary including the Network settings so there is no need to change anything.
• The IP 192.168.0.1 will still be accessible to access the firewall that is currently active.

TrueCrypt Disk Encryption Software

I’m sure you’ve heard or read many stories before about laptops getting stolen containing thousands/hundreds of thousands of records on patients/customers/etc. Those records usually include very sensitive information such as a person’s Social Security Number. And a lot of times the data on those stolen laptops were not encrypted!!! Now those people are at high risk of identity theft. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal if they took an extra step of saving the data in an encrypted volume using a strong encryption algorithm. This is very easy and simple to do, too, and there are many encryption software out there.

The one I would recommend is this free open-source disk encryption software called TrueCrypt. I’ve been using this software for about a year and a half now and never had a problem with it. It’s very easy and simple to use and supports different encryption algorithms, including AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard, 256-bit key) which is the encryption standard adopted by the U.S. government.

My new laptop actually came with its own encryption software but I still prefer TrueCrypt better because of its simplicity. What you basically do is you create a volume using the software by specifying how much disk space you want to allocate for it, the type of encryption to use, and the volume password (make sure you choose a strong password!!!). Then this encrypted volume would look just like a regular file on your hard drive. You then use TrueCrypt to mount that volume to your OS (it will prompt you for the volume password that you created earlier). The mounted volume would look just like a regular hard disk drive and you use it just like a regular hard disk drive as well. The encryption is done on-the-fly. You can also set TrueCrypt to automatically mount the volumes on startup. TrueCrypt is available for Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)/XP/20003/2000 and Linux.

You can download TrueCrypt from here for free.

Cost of TrueCrypt? $0. Cost of your stolen data falling into the wrong hands? Well, that depends, but it could be HUGE!!!

PowerShell Cheat Sheet

I found this PowerShell Cheat Sheet a while back when I was looking for tips on PowerShell. It contains commands that you’ll be using a lot when working with PowerShell, and also examples on how to use them. Very helpful especially if you’re just starting to learn it. Also check out the PowerShell team blog where I got this document from.

Java losing to newer programming languages?

Here’s an interesting article from infoworld.com saying that Java is losing ground to newer languages such as Ruby on Rails, PHP, AJAX, and Microsoft’s .NET in web and mobile applications development. Developers are complaining that Java hasn’t gotten easier and has become more complicated which slows them down. The article also mentioned a survey of 1,850 businesses and found .NET to be the choice over Java among businesses of all sizes and industries. Click here to read the full article…

Do you agree or disagree?