Tools from Microsoft

[mrng]

Guys,

I scanned through 1600 possible download of IT System Tools on the Microsoft site looking for things that could be of help to us. I found the following. I have not tried all of them, but based on their description and the sorts of tools mentioned in the Repair Tool of Week etc, I imagine this may be helpful to others.


Steady State
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=d077a52d-93e9-4b02-bd95-9d770ccdb431
Whether you manage computers in a school computer lab or an Internet cafe, a library, or even in your home, Windows SteadyState helps make it easy for you to keep your computers running the way you want them to, no matter who uses them.


Windows Automated Installation Kit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c7d4bc6d-15f3-4284-9123-679830d629f2&DisplayLang=en
The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) helps you to install, customize, and deploy the Microsoft Windows Vista™ family of operating systems.


Transfer Data from XP to Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2B6F1631-973A-45C7-A4EC-4928FA173266&displaylang=en
Download Windows Easy Transfer for your Windows XP-based PC so you can automatically copy your files, photos, music, e-mail, settings, and more to your new Windows Vista based PC. This software enables you to transfer data with Easy Transfer Cables or across a network, external drive, or CD/DVD.

Account Lockout and Management Tools
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=7af2e69c-91f3-4e63-8629-b999adde0b9e
Download tools that you can use to troubleshoot account lockouts, as well as add functionality to Active Directory.


NetDiag.exe
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=49ae8576-9bb9-4126-9761-ba8011fabf38
This command-line diagnostic tool helps to isolate networking and connectivity problems by performing a series of tests to determine the state of your network client and whether it is functional.

Windows® PowerShell 2.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=60deac2b-975b-41e6-9fa0-c2fd6aa6bc89
Learn how Windows PowerShell 2.0 can help increase the productivity of IT professionals by providing a powerful, complete scripting language to automate repetitive tasks and conduct remote troubleshooting.

WFetch 1.4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b134a806-d50e-4664-8348-da5c17129210&displaylang=en
A tool aimed at helping resolve simple or complex problems where the browser is unsuccessfully able to connect to a Website.

Sector Inspector (SecInspect.exe)
SecInspect.exe is a command-line diagnostics tool that allows administrators to view the contents of master boot records, boot sectors, and IA64 GUID partition tables. Additional features include creating hex dumps of binary files and backup/restore of sector ranges
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=dd3ef22a-a586-4079-9489-c3ea14573fc4

Windows Utility: Creates and Compares Snapshots of any Directory (FileImg.exe)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=6f67de36-539b-4c6a-82b9-d8333333edb2.

Virtual PC 2007
Download the full version of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=04d26402-3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6
mrng

[kdyer]

Windows Utility: Creates and Compares Snapshots of any Directory (FileImg.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/support...cles/Q243/4/24.


mrng,

Hate to be a bearer of bad news..

While your intentions were sound, it looks like some of the URLs are a bit wonky..

For example:
http://support.microsoft.com/support...cles/Q243424
Does not work..

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243424
Really, what it should be..

Thanks,

Kent

[TimeCode]

SteadyState = http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D077A52D-93E9-4B02-BD95-9D770CCDB431&displaylang=en

Netdiag = http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1EA70814-7E6C-46E5-8C8C-3C439A732E9F&displaylang=en and http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=49ae8576-9bb9-4126-9761-ba8011fabf38

PowerShell 2.0 = http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/pages/download-windows-powershell.aspx

[mrng]

Hey Kent,

Not sure what happened with the links. I have fixed them now. Enjoy !

mrng

mrng,

Hate to be a bearer of bad news..

While your intentions were sound, it looks like some of the URLs are a bit wonky..

For example:
http://support.microsoft.com/support...cles/Q243424
Does not work..

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243424
Really, what it should be..

Thanks,

Kent

[Cue]

Thank you, good to have this.

[eric76]

Nice stuff — thank you for your time!!

[Kenhelms]

thanks for the links!

a lot of my commercial clients like steadystate in their hotels.

[ProTech Support]

thanks for the links!

a lot of my commercial clients like steadystate in their hotels.

Always meant to test out SteadyState, but never got around to it. Do you have first hand experience with it? Is it as good as it sounds?

[frostbyte5014]

I use steadystate. It works great.