Group Policy

Sometimes viruses or people use Group Policy against us and we need to reset it back to the default. It can control access to a number of things in windows from logon scripts to access to the screensaver settings. Resetting it is actually pretty simple, which is why you shouldn’t rely on it solely to guard your network.

To reset the local group policy on a machine back to default issue this magical command and after a reboot the GPO settings will be set back to their defaults (enter this all on one line):

secedit /configure /db reset /cfg “c:\windows\security\templates\setup security.inf” /overwrite

Also, you should delete the registry.pol file if it exists:

del c:\windows\system32\grouppolicy\machine\registry.pol

Don’t forget to reboot! All the group policies should now be reset to default.

Filezilla

With so many FTP clients to choose from, finding the ‘right’ one can be a daunting task. I’ve tried so many, from CuteFTP, FireFTP and even used Windows Explorer for FTPing, and I’ve found that FileZilla is a fast and reliable FTP client with lots of handy features. It supports resume on both downloads and uploads, timeout detection, firewall support, SOCKS4/5 and HTTP1.1 support, SSL, SFTP and more, all with an intuitive drag and drop interface.

Some Stand-out Features from typical FTP software

• Supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
• Cross-platform. Runs on Windows, Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X and more
• IPv6 support
• Supports resume and transfer of large files >4GB
• Tabbed user interface
• Drag & drop support
• Configurable transfer speed limits
• Filename filters
• Directory comparison
• Remote file editing
• Synchronized directory browsing
• Remote file search

Download it here

Screenshots:

MyDefrag Logo

Hey, just bringing another software review, this time it’s a defrag utility called Mydefrag. In the context of administering computers, defragmentation is a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation in file systems. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the disk to store the pieces of each file close together and contiguously. MyDefrag was formally called JkDefrag (Named after the creator, Jeroen  Kessles), which is still available in a portable version here.

MyDefrag is fully functional freeware, no cost, no time limit, no advertisements.

I like MyDefrag because it is so well designed. It’s based on the standard defragmentation API by Microsoft, a system library that is included in Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 2008, and Win7. Most defragmenters are based on this API, including the free defragmenter that comes with Windows and many commercial defragmenters. Basically all MyDefrag does is send “move this file to that location” commands to the API. The API is part of the operating system and can safely move almost any file on the disk, without risk and while the computer is in full use.

Mydefrag attempts to move all your data to the front of the drive, it’s a known fact the the front of the drive can be up to 200 times faster than the end! My Defrag also organizes files into different zones, like directories, Windows files, files used while booting, regular files, and rarely used files. Frequently accessed files are placed at the beginning of the harddisk, and files that are commonly used together are placed in close proximity to each other. This results in a dramatic speed increase, and is in fact more important than defragmentation. The program comes with scripts with a zone organization suitable for most users, power users can customize the zones through scripts.

Sorting the files on your disk can give you even more speed. There are several sorting strategies to choose from. Most of them will take a lot of data shuffling, taking a lot of time for MyDefrag to complete, and therefore should only be used occasionally.

Features:

• Intelligent design.
• User scripts for different configurations.
• Can be ran from Scheduled Tasks, Network Scripts (Active Directory for example) or even run as a screensaver.
• 64 bit support for enhanced performance.
• Good for novices as well as experts.

MyDefrag is fully functional freeware, no cost, no time limit, no advertisements. The MyDefrag site is http://www.MyDefrag.com/.

A NOTE ABOUT DEFRAGGING: Defragmentation and optimization will not only make a hard drive faster, butit can also lengthen it’s life span, because the disk will have less work to do and therefore have less wear and tear. Also, it will refresh and strengthen the magnetic data on the harddisk by simply reading the (weakened) data and rewriting it fresh. However, defragmenting and optimizing is work, so excessive defragmenting and optimizing can actually cause more wear and tear than it prevents.

Download:

http://www.mydefrag.com/Manual-DownloadAndInstall.html

Screenshots:

This is an app that’s useful for people with a LOT of information on their system, or if you need to work on someone else’s computer and they had no idea where they were saving everything. (Or maybe they don’t want you to know *wink wink*)

WinDirStat is a disk usage stats viewer and cleanup tool with many handy features like:

• Directory list, Treemap and Extension list views so you can view your files the way you want
• Coupling. Select an item in the directory list: The treemap highlights it; and vice versa
• Zooming
• Built-in cleanup actions including Open, Show Properties, Delete
• Works with network drives and UNC paths
• ‘Create disk usage report’ option
• Language can be set to Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Russian
• ANSI and Unicode: The ANSI and Unicode versions of WinDirStat are both included with the launcher automatically launching the correct version depending on the operating system

You can grab a portable copy here: http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/windirstat_portable
Or the original with Installer here: http://blog.windirstat.info/

New WinDirStat Logo

Dubaron: Incredible Disk Utility Software!

Dubaron is a software company that makes Freeware, Open source libraries, &
Commercial libraries. I still can’t believe they just give this away! Dubaron Diskimage is the ultimate tool to backup and restore partitions, entire harddisks, usb keys, floppy drives and (read-only) optical media (CDs & DVDs). Ok, so it’s not Norton Ghost, nor was is planned to be, you can’t deploy a large number of corporate pcs with it from a server. (That’s a different app) But it CAN dump a raw disc or drive to a file on your PC that you can clone to another drive.

Usage examples

• Calculate MD5 sum of an file or iso
• Backup and restore USB keys
• Dump cd’s to iso
• Hexedit files, floppies and disks
• View partition information
• Backup and restore data on non-native partitions
• Search in file or disk for textual or binary data
• Clone a harddisk
• Copy contents of one partition to another

winLAME MP3 + CD Ripper

I use WinLame to rip CDs and convert them into VBR MP3s on the fly.

Why use VBR MP3s? Well unlike regular lower bit-rate codecs, LAME can use VBR to provides the best Sound Quality to space ratio, and WinLAME makes the process as easy as 1 2 3.

Lame is a Codec, and WinLAME is a GUI for that codec. It’s a superior codec than most and best of all it’s completely FREE. You can grab the latest version over at http://winlame.sourceforge.net/ Give it a spin, it’s open source and contains NO SPYWARE or Adware.
I ♥ winLAME, and I think you will too. It’s way better than using Windows Media Player, but easier than Exact Audio Copy.

]]> http://green.cx/software/free-software/cd-ripper/feed/ 0 http://green.cx/guides/integrate-facebook-twitter-buzz-gmail/ http://green.cx/guides/integrate-facebook-twitter-buzz-gmail/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:16:01 +0000 Jason Green http://green.cx/?p=971
Via Mashable: With over 9 million posts and comments in two days, Google Buzz has stormed the web like a swarm of locusts. An array of strong features, integration with Gmail, and lots of press have turned Buzz into an overnight phenomenon. If you’re like a lot of us, you’ve suddenly found yourself using your Gmail even [...]]]>

Google Buzz notifies you if you have new followrs

Gadget Integration Is Your Friend

“The key was using Gmail Labs feature at the bottom of the list called ‘Add any gadget by URL’. This allowed me to add these 3 features to my Gmail sidebar.”

Step By Step: Integrating Your Social Media into Buzz

Google Buzz is Google’s new social platform. Google has been working really hard at connecting all the different social networks out there into one large interconnected platform.

Click here for instructions on how to sign up, and if you already have a gmail, then just click to activate Google buzz!

http://www.google.com/buzz

Ok, I’ve been looking at Google Buzz, and I must say, it is far better than Google Wave!

However, it looks like it it currently not available for Google Apps for your Domain users YET.

I love shortcuts, especially the combos. They save me time and people are usually always amazed that I know so many. I think a big part of why I remember so many, is because I use them often. I also find that I mostly only remember the useful ones (Who can remember Alt- to bring up the right click in Windows 3.1 which changed to SHIFT+F10 in Win98 and greater? (Go ahead, try it, it works.) Well i guess I do, but that’s besides the point). The bigges, like Win+E (My Computer)
Win+R(Run)
Alt+Tab(Next Window)
Windows Logo+Tab (Flip 3d) and
Alt+F4 (Close Window)
are second nature to me, as I use them very often.

Here are some new ones that I just learned for Windows 7. Give them a try and see if you find any of these useful. I already like the Win+Space one.

Just remember, These are for Windows 7.

Enjoy

Green Complex is proud to announce that we will be launching an new forum! We’ve received feedback from several users about using a forum to interact and start new conversations.

Well, we listened, and we delivered! Go check out the shiny new forum right now, Introduce yourself and Say Hello!

http:///green.cx/forum