My Tech Fundas: Tips and Techniques

There are many ways to find your IP address just in case you ever need to do so

One way is from a command prompt. To open a command prompt the easiest way is to go to Start, then Run and type in cmd (command for Windows 95/98) and click OK. You will see a black box with a cursor like the image below.

If you just want to find your IP address you can type in ipconfig and press enter. You will get a listing similar to this.

You will notice 3 pieces of information. The first is the IP address which is the address of your computer on the network. Then you have the subnet mask which determines what subnet your computer is on within the network. Finally you have the default gateway which is a node on the network that serves as an access point to another network, in most cases out to the internet.

If you need to know more detailed information you can type ipconfig /all to get a listing of other IP related information.

This option gives you information such as your host (computer) name, DNS & WINS information and your MAC or physical address of your network card.

Another way to get your IP address is from your network connection properties. Right click your My Network Places and select properties. Then right click your Local Area Connection icon and select properties again. You will see a window similar to the example below.

Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on Properties.

Here you will see you IP address information

If you are getting your IP address automatically (using DHCP) there will not be anything listed in the boxes and this method will not work to find your IP address.

One final way I will mention to obtain your IP address is to click on the local area connection icon in your taskbar.

Then click on the Support tab to display the following.

Many people who take their notebook from home to the office may run into a problem of having to use a dynamic IP address at home and a static at the office. There is a way to have both settings in your configuration so you do not need to change them each time you change locations.

Go to your network connection properties by right clicking My Network Places and selecting Properties. Then right click your Local Area Connection icon and select Properties again. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on Properties. You will see a window similar to the following.

Click on the Alternate Configuration tab. Note that if you do not have Obtain an IP address automatically selected you will not see this tab

Enter your static IP information in the boxes and click OK.

One side effect of using this type of configuration is that it will take a little longer for Windows to completely load since it will first look for an IP address from a DHCP server before using the alternate configuration.

Have you ever wanted to know whose computer belongs to what IP address? Sure you can ping an IP address but that only tells you if there is connectivity. You can use the DOS command nbtstat to find NetBIOS computer names if you use it on your network. Just open a command prompt by going to Start, Run then type in cmd and click OK. Here are the available switches you can use with the nbtstat command

The one you want to use to find the host name associated with the IP address is nbtstat –a followed by the IP address. In the following example you can see 192.168.0.21 is the IP address, Jim is the computer name and TSI is the domain name.

If you have two or more computers networked together at home or work there most likely will be a time when you want to get a file or folder off of one of the other computers that you aren't working on. This is where file sharing comes into play.

The easiest way to share a folder is to open Windows Explorer or My Computer and browse to the folder that contains the file(s) you want to share. Then you will right click the folder and select Sharing and Security. You will get a dialog box similar to the one below. If you get a message warning you of the risks of file sharing just click on the section that says you understand the risks and to just enable file sharing.

Next you will click on Share this folder and type in a name or leave the default name of the folder. You can click on Permissions to allow or disallow certain users access to the shared folder. You can access these folders several different ways. See the accessing shared resources link for more information.

Sharing printers is very similar to sharing folders. Go to your printers folder by clicking on Start, Settings and then Control Panel or Start then Control panel depending on how your taskbar is setup. Right click the printer you want to share and select Sharing. You will see a dialog box like the following.

Click on Share this printer, type in a name and click on Ok. If you have other versions of Windows on your network you may have to click on the Additional Drivers button to install different drives to support those operating systems.

** Note**

If you are running an older version of Windows such as Windows 98 or ME you may have to enable file and printer sharing before seeing the sharing options when you right click. Click here for more details. Also keep in mind the dialog boxes shown here may not look the same but the concepts are very similar.

Now that you know how to share your files and printers on your network you may be wondering how to access them from another computer. There are many ways to do this and in this section we will explain how to gain the access you need.

Permissions

If you don't have the proper permissions to access your shared resources then you are not going to be able to use them. When setting up your shares make sure to check the permissions so you won't run into this problem. Windows tends to be fairly relaxed with default permissions so you should be ok most of the time.

Browsing for shared resources

One of the most common ways to find and access your shares is to browse for them. There are several approaches to doing this. One of the easiest ways is to browse your Network Neighborhood or My Network Places depending on what version of Windows you are running.

To do this just double click your icon or right click it and pick Explore. Next you would double click Entire Network, then Microsoft Windows Network and finally the name of your workgroup. Then you should see a listing of the computers on your network. If it is a work environment you may see a listing of other workgroups or domains.

When you click on a computer that has shared resources it will show what folders or devices it has shared.

As you can see here there is a folder called "a" that is shared and a CD ROM that is also shared. If there were any printers shared they would show up here as well. From here you could view the contents of the shared folder as well as copy and paste files to and from the folder assuming you have the proper permissions.

If there are any shared printers, you can double click them to install them onto your computer. Keep in mind that in order for you to print to a shared printer connected to another computer that computer must be on. If it's a standalone networked printer then that is not the case.

Other Search Methods

There are other ways to find your shared resources besides browsing for them. If you know the computer name and the share name you can go directly to that share by going to Start, Run and typing in the path to the share. For example if the computer you are trying to reach is called Sales and the shared folder is called reports, from the Run box you would type \\Sales\reports and click ok. This would then take you directly to that folder.

If browsing for a computer in your network is not working for whatever reason, which happens in Windows, you can do a search for the computer by using its name or IP address. To do this, go to Start, then Search and select For Files and Folders. This menu may be slightly different depending on your version of Windows. You will see a window similar to this.

From here you would click on Printers, computers, or people and then click on a computer on the network . Then you would type in the name of the computer or its IP address and click on search.

You can install a shared network printer by going to Start, Settings and then Printers and Faxes or from the Control Panel and then printers. See our installing a networked printer section for more details.

In the world of IP addressing there are 2 main types of IP addresses, static and dynamic.

A static IP address is an address that does not change over time unless changed manually. It is used when you need the IP address or network location to remain the same consistently. A good example of this is for a web server. If you go to www.google.com you are really going to the IP address of 66.102.7.99. If this were to change suddenly you would not be able to get to Google unless you knew the new IP address or until Google updated their DNS records.

A Dynamic IP address is an address that keeps on changing. It is mostly used when having a consistent IP address is not necessary. An example of this would be the IP address your ISP (internet service provider) assigns you when you log on to the internet. You must have an IP address to surf the web but once you disconnect you loose that address. Then the next time you sign on you are assigned a new one. This is done using DHCP.

With today’s high speed internet access its imperative that you protect yourself from the outside world. One of the best ways to do this is to install a broadband router or firewall between the internet and you computer(s). Routers have dropped in price over the years so there is no reason not to have one.

Routers are used to block or filter certain types of network traffic from reaching your computer. They are configurable so you can tell it what you want to come in and what you want to stay out.

Some routers/firewalls will also monitor outgoing traffic for suspicious behavior associated with viruses etc. They can help keep viruses out of your computer but are not 100% effective.

Broadband routers are a form of a hardware firewall. There are also software firewalls which are less effective.

Some of the more common and inexpensive brands of routers for home use are made by Linksys, Netgear and D-Link. They usually range from $50 to $100 for the average home router. This is an example of a Linksys wireless router. A non-wireless router will not have the antennas.

Installing a broadband router is fairly simple, especially if you don’t need wireless capabilities. We will cover both types of installations here.

Wired installation

If you don’t plan on going wireless then you will be performing a wired installation of your router.

The first thing to find out is whether you have a static or dynamic IP address. Most of the time it will be dynamic so if you don’t know then you can assume it dynamic and you should be ok. If you have a static IP address then you will need to know what it is to enter it in your routers settings.

Next you need to know if you use a name and password to get online. Some companies like SBC make you sign on to use the internet. These settings can be stored in the router so you do not have to enter them to get online each time.

Now you can determine your physical setup. The basic setup consists of the phone line coming from the wall into your Cable or DSL modem. From there you will have a network connection using a Category 5 network cable that will run from the network or Ethernet port on the modem to the WAN or Internet port on the back of the router. From the back of the router you will have 4 or 5 ports that you can use to connect the router to your computer(s) network/ethernet port. Your setup will look something like this.

As you can see you can have multiple computers sharing the same high speed internet connection at the same time.

If you do not use a name and password to get online or have a static IP address you should be able to hook up your equipment like shown and then get right online. You should power on your modem first, then the router and then your computer. The router gets its information from the modem and your computer gets its information from the router. You should make sure DHCP is enabled on the router if you don’t use a static IP address so that your computer will get its IP address from the router.

To access your router to check the settings you need to open a web browser and type the IP address of the router into it. Most of the time the IP address will be 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. Your manual will tell you which one to use.

Then you will need to put in the name and password to gain access to the router. Most of the time the name is blank and the password is admin. Once again refer to the manual to make sure. You should also change the default name and password to make your network more secure.

Here is an example of the type of screen you will see when you log into your router. Its fairly self explanatory once you get in there.

On this screen you can see where you would check to have the router assign your computers an IP address (obtain an IP address automatically).

If your DSL/Cable provider makes you use a name and password you would check the PPPoE box and put in the name and password you user.

Wireless installation

Setting up your wireless network requires a little more skill and patience. You will still need to hook up the equipment like shown in the wired example except you will not have the cable going from the router to your computer.

You need to make sure you have a wireless port or card on your computer and make sure it is on to be able to use the wireless internet connection.

Finding your wireless connection will vary depending on what version of Windows you are using and if you are using the software that came with the router or having Windows try and find it for you. Since most Windows users use Windows XP, we will use that for our example.

Once you have everything hooked up, Windows should find your wireless connection. Keep in mind that if you see more than one connection it may be finding your neighbors router as well. You can name your router in the setup so you will know for sure which one is yours. You should get a popup message like the following.

From here you can click to view the available wireless networks. If you don’t get the popup message you can right click the computer icon and pick view wireless networks. Once you do this you will see a screen that shows what wireless networks Windows has found. In this example there were two networks found.

You then would click on your network and click on Connect. If you have setup a WEP key you would enter the key in the Network Key box. WEP stands for Wired Equivalent Privacy and provides security by encrypting data over the wireless radio waves. You can setup a WEP key in the WEP settings under wireless security in your router. What this does is block others from accessing your wireless network unless they know the key that you have entered in the router. Once you put the key in there you won’t have to re-enter it again.

Once you have connected to your wireless network you can now start using the internet. You can double click your connection icon by the clock to see the status of your network and strength of your connection.

From here you can disable the connection and check the properties of the connection such as your IP address.

One important thing to check if you are having connection problems is to make sure Windows is managing your wireless settings. You can go to your network places or connections and right click the wireless connection and choose properties. From here click on the Wireless Networks tab and make sure the Use Windows to configure my wireless settings box is checked. You can also view the available networks from here and set the priority of the available connections that Windows can connect to.

When it comes to networking, the earlier versions of Windows are not the greatest at making it easy to get the job done. When you try and connect to a shared folder on a computer running Windows XP or Windows 2000 you may see a dialog box like the following.

It will have the resource listed as \\computername\IPC$ where computername is the name of the computer running Windows XP/2000.

In order to get around this, you need to create a user account on the XP/2000 machine that is the same as the name of the user on the 95, 98 or ME computer. For example if you are logged in as jsmith on your Windows 98 computer you will need to go into the users section of your XP/2000 computer and add a user with the name jsmith. It’s a good idea to use the same password too instead of leaving it blank. You should also check the box that says password never expires to avoid future problems. See out section on adding users to Windows 2000 & XP for help on how to create and edit users.

As you may have noticed when you went to your My Computer icon or Windows Explorer that you have drive letters assigned to your drives. Your floppy disk drive is assigned A, your hard drive is assigned C and your CDROM is assigned the letter D. If you have more than one hard drive or CDROM then these letters may vary.

If you have a home network or are on a network at the office you may have network drives or locations that you access frequently or copy data to and from on a regular basis. To make this process easier you can map a network drive to your network location. What this does it assign a drive letter to your networked drive. You can use any available letter from A to Z as long as it is not already in use. Then this drive letter will show up in Windows Explorer along with your other drives and stay there unless the connection to that drive is lost. Then you will see a red x through your drive letter.

We will go over the 2 easiest ways to map a network drive. One way is to open My Computer or Windows Explorer and go to Tools and then Map Network Drive. You should see a dialog box like this.

As you can see here it is asking you to pick the drive letter you want to assign to this new drive and the location of the networked/shared folder. You can either type it in if you know the UNC path or browse to it. If you check the Reconnect at login box then every time you login to your computer it will map that drive again for you.

Another way to map a network drive is to find the shared folder by browsing My Network Places. Then you would right click the folder you want to map and select Map Network Drive. You will get the same window as above except the Folder box will be filled in automatically with the path of the folder you right clicked on.

If you want to prevent other users on your network from accessing your shared data but still want to be able to get to it yourself over the network here is how you do it. Windows XP Home uses Simple File Sharing, which means you are sharing all or nothing and offers little security and configuration.

Right click the folder or drive you want to secure and choose Sharing and Security.

Enter a share name for your folder or drive and place a dollar sign ($) at the end of the name, for example photos$. Then click Ok and you are done.

Now the folder is hidden and other network users won’t be able to see it and it won’t show up in My Network Places. The only way any one will be able to see the folder is if they know the name of the folder.

For you to be able to see your hidden folder you need to map the drive and type in the path to the share including the dollar sign in the Folder box.

Microsoft introduced its Remote Desktop Connection with Windows XP. It allows you to connect to another computer remotely either over a network or over the internet. When you are connected to the remote computer you are actually controlling it and seeing the remote computer’s desktop etc. This comes in handy for situations such as using your work computer from home. Remote Desktop is similar to the Terminal Services software used on Windows server operating systems which has been around for many years. It allows multiple users to log into the same computer at the same time and use it remotely.

In order to use Remote Desktop you will need to know a couple of things. If you are using it in the on the same network as the computer you want to connect to then all you need to do is type in the computer’s IP address or computer name. If the remote computer has a static IP address it makes it easier to use because you will always know what the IP address of the remote machine is.

If you are using Remote Desktop over the internet you will need to know the public or internet IP address of the remote computer since you will not be able to use the computer name. You will also need to make sure that the public IP address you are using is mapped to the private IP address of the remote computer. What this means is that when you connect to the public IP address it gets forwarded to the actual IP address associated with the remote computer. This can usually be setup through your router or firewall.

To start the Remote Desktop Connection go to Start, Programs, Accessories, Communications and then Remote Desktop Connection. You will see a screen like the following (the example has the Options button expanded).

On the General tab you can enter information such as the computer name or IP address of the computer you want to connect to. If you want to automatically log into the remote computer or domain you can enter the information before clicking on Connect.

On the Display tab you can choose what resolution and color depth you would like to use for the remote connection.

The Local Resources tab allows you to set options such as hearing the remote computers sounds through your speakers, allowing Windows key combinations and sharing hard drives, printers and serial ports.

The Programs tab allows you to start a particular program after the connection is made by typing in the path to that program.

The Connections tab is important because it will determine how smoothly your remote connection works. There are some important options to check or uncheck here.

The connections tab has built in configurations for your connection depending on how you are connecting to the remote computer. Options include Modem, Broadband, LAN and Custom. If you choose custom you can decide such options as whether or not you want the remote computer’s background to show. This would definitely slow down your connection over a dial up modem since it would have to transfer the desktop picture over your internet connection while you are trying to work.

If you are wondering how you can use this handy feature of Windows XP on your non XP computer, then you are in luck. The Remote Desktop Client can be downloaded and installed on a computer running Windows 95 and up. Click here to download.

You may have heard the term hub, switch or router when someone was talking about their work or home network. You may be wondering which the correct device for your network is and what the differences between the devices are. Well here is your answer.

Hub
A hub is a device that connects all you networked devices such as computers and printers together through a common shared point of access (or hub). It will usually consist of 4 or more RJ45 ports. RJ45 ports are used with network cables. The most common network cable in use today is Category 5 or Cat5. The connector on the ends looks like a slightly larger phone jack. A hub connects all the devices on its ports together. When data arrives at one port, it is sent to the other ports so that all the devices can see all the information, commonly called packets. When used in a large environment this is not efficient because all the packets are being sent to all the devices on the network causing traffic and collisions.

Switch
A switch is similar to a hub and servers generally the same purpose but is a bit smarter. It filters and forwards the packets on the same network so they go to where they are needed and not to every device. As a frame comes into the switch, the switch saves the originating MAC address and the originating port in the switch's MAC address table. The only time you will see traffic from other devices is when it is directed to the address of your computer.

Router
A router forwards data packets to their destinations through a process known as routing. It transfers data between 2 separate networks such as your home network and the internet. A router communicates with other routers using routing protocols and then creates and maintains a routing table to keep track of what device is where. Routers use protocols such as ICMP to communicate with each other and configure the best route between any two hosts

DSL and Cable internet services claim to offer high speed internet access. But are you really getting the speed you are paying for? There are tests you can perform to check your speed and compare it to other users and compare it to what your broadband provider claims to offer.

One good resource is DSL Reports. They will let you test your internet connection speed, hear what others are saying about their internet providers and let you shop for broadband internet access in your area.

To go directly to the speed test, click here. From the listing of test locations, choose the city that is closest to you. Then you will click on the Start button and wait until the test is finished. It usually takes around 15-20 seconds. During this time period do not use your computer to ensure accuracy.

Search DSL reviews by zip code.

Shop for DSL.

You may have heard the terms POP3 and IMAP relating to types of e-mail accounts. But what are the differences and does one have an advantage over another? Which one should you use? Do you have a choice? Let’s find out.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol) is the most commonly used internet mail protocol. It is easy to configure and use. For awhile it was the only choice you had. There are many POP clients available for virtually every operating system. Examples include Outlook and Eudora. With a POP account you download the mail to your local computer and keep it there. Most of the time it gets deleted off of the mail server after being downloaded. One disadvantage of POP is that once you download it to your computer you won't be able to check your mail from a different computer since it will already be downloaded onto your own computer. It tends to be slower than IMAP as well.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) uses a method where all the mailboxes and messages are maintained on the server. Therefore you can access your e-mail from any location with an internet connection. IMAP is faster than POP because the mail client reads all of the message headers without having to download the entire message. IMAP is also supported in a variety of clients just like POP. One thing to keep in mind is the amount of disk space allocated to your mail on the server may not be enough to hold all of your mail.

POP works best when you are using only a single computer, since you don’t have to worry about checking your e-mail from multiple locations. Plus it is faster as well.

IMAP would suit you better if you need to check your e-mail from multiple locations if you travel a lot. To use IMAP your ISP/mail provider must offer that type of account.

There may come a time when you are setting up your network that you may need to release and renew your IP address in order to obtain a new one from your DHCP enabled device. For example if you just installed a DSL/Cable router and use DHCP from the router to get an IP Address you may need to release the IP address from your internet provider to obtain a new one from your router.

To perform this process do the following:

1. Click on Start.

2. Then click Run.

3. Type winipcfg in the box and click Ok. A window will then appear on the screen. The IP Address field shows the current IP address for the default network adapter.

4. If the computer is holding a current IP address, click the Release button to have it let go of this address.

5. Then click the Renew button to obtain a new IP address.

Note:
For Windows 2000/XP/2003 all you need to do is open a command prompt and type in ipconfig /release and then ipconfig /renew .

Passive FTP mode is used by some FTP servers to work better with today’s firewalls. Internet Explorer has a setting for Passive ("PASV") FTP mode. You may need to either enable or disable this setting to allow Internet Explorer to work with a particular FTP server. Here is how you set it up.

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Click on the Tools menu.

3. Then click Internet Options.

4. In the Internet Options window, click the A dvanced tab.

5. Find the setting called Use Passive FTP

6. To enable the Passive FTP, check the box next to the Use Passive FTP setting. To disable the feature, uncheck the box

7. Click Ok.

If you need your users to have their profile stay with them when logging on to a different workstation you can setup roaming profiles that will follow them wherever they go.

To setup roaming profiles, first log onto your server and open Active Directory users and Computers. Right click on a user; choose properties and the click the profiles tab. In the profile box type the UNC path of the shared folder you made on the server. For example you would type:

\\servername\profiles\%username%

Where servername is the name of your server and the profiles folder is on the root of the C drive. Do not type in the users name at the end but make sure it says %username% like in the example.

Make sure you have created this profiles folder and shared it with the same name as the folder. You can leave the share permissions wide open if you want because the %username% will create the users profile with permissions that grant only the user the right to view the contents.

The next time the user logs in, the users local profile will be copied to the new profiles folder on the server creating a new folder with the users name and permissions set up so that only the user can access it.

The following list describes Windows NTFS (New Technology File System) and how permissions affect what a user can and cannot do to a file or folder. NTFS is more advanced than the FAT file system used by the earlier Windows operating systems. It supports file system recovery, extremely large storage media, long filenames, improved security and the ability to reconstruct files in the event of hardware failures

Here are the standard permissions:

Read - Allows a user to view the contents of a folder, of the contents of a file. The user cannot view the contents of subfolders.

Write - Allows a user create files and folders, but not read the contents of any files and folders he did not create.

Modify - A full combination of both Read and Write permissions. A user can also delete files within a folder that has this permission. She can also view the contents of subfolders.

Read & Execute - The Read permission with the ability to read file and folder permissions, along with the contents of subfolders.

List Folder Contents - The same as Read & Execute, without the ability to execute files.

Full Control - Allows a user to read, execute, create, and delete data, along with the added ability to assign other user accounts permissions to the object.

Here are the basic share permissions that are used along with NTFS permissions. While share permissions are not as detailed as NTFS permissions, they allow you to configure a shared folder for fundamental access scenarios.

Read
Users can display folder names, file names, file data and attributes. Users can also run program files and access other folders within the shared folder.

Change
Users can create folders, add files to folders, change data in files, append data to files, change file attributes, delete folders and files, and perform actions permitted by the Read permission.

Full Control
Users can change file permissions, take ownership of files, and perform all tasks allowed by the Change permission.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 comes with a built in firewall feature that helps make your system less vulnerable to attack by outside users or by malicious software, such as viruses. It is installed automatically when you install Service Pack 2. There are ways to adjust the settings of the firewall to work around potential things that you may not want blocked from your computer. You an also turn it off but it is not recommended unless you have some other firewall solution.

A firewall is PC software or hardware that restricts information that comes to your computer from other computers on the internet and allows you to control the data coming in and out of your computer. It checks information or traffic coming from the internet or your network and then either allows or disallows it, depending on your firewall settings. A firewall also provides protection against people or programs, including viruses and worms that try to connect to your computer with the intent to cause harm.

To open the Windows Firewall you can go to start, settings and then Control Panel and double click the Windows Firewall icon. Or you can go to Start and then run and type wscui.cpl to open the Windows Security Center and then access the firewall from there.

As you can see here you have the options to turn the firewall on or off as well as allow or disallow exceptions. Exceptions are rules that allow certain types of user defined traffic into your computer.

You can see in this example that certain programs are allowed to pass traffic to and from the computer. You can also add programs not on the list or open ports that may be needed by certain applications.

You may have seen a message from the firewall asking you if you want to block or unblock a connection. If you choose to unblock the connection, Windows Firewall creates an exception so that the firewall won't prompt you when that program needs to receive information in the future.

The Advanced tab allows for further configuration of the firewall.

It will allow you to change settings such as which network connection the firewall will be used on. Most users will only have their one main internet or network connection. You can also enable logging from this area. There are the following options for logging:

To enable logging of unsuccessful inbound connection attempts, select the Log dropped packets check box.

To enable logging of successful outbound connections, select the Log successful connections check box.

Under Log File Options you can change the name and location of the firewall log.

Security logging is not enabled by default.

You can also choose to have the computers on your network share error and status information using ICMP.

Keep in mind that the Windows Firewall does not detect or disable computer viruses and worms if they are already on your computer, stop you from opening e-mail with dangerous attachments or block spam or unsolicited e-mail. So you still need to be careful and implement virus protection software and watch for those strange e-mails.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the language used to transfer files from computer to computer over the internet or over a network.

To access files from a remote site you need to know a few things. First of all you will need to know the FTP site address or IP Address. If the site requires a login name and password you will have to obtain these as well. Some sites allow for anonymous login where you do not need a name and password

The next step is to open Internet Explorer (or any other web browser) and type in the site address in the address bar. You will need to type ftp:// and then the address or IP address. For example you can type it as ftp://ftp.microsoft.com or ftp://192.168.1.25 depending on what information you have.

If the FTP site requires you to login you can right click anywhere and select Login As and type in your information.

After you have successfully logged on you will see the available folders that you have permission to access. It will look very similar to your Windows Explorer or My Computer view. From here you can copy and paste files and folders from your local hard drive to the FTP site and vice versa. Keep in mind that you will need to have the appropriate permissions to add, change or remove files from the FTP site. These permissions will be assigned to your user account by the administrator of the FTP site.

Shadow copies are used as a way to supplement your regular backup and to allow administrators or even users to restore previous versions of their files if needed. It is only available on Windows Server 2003 and the Shadow Copy Client must be installed on each workstation. You can get the client installation software off your 2003 server at C:\Windows\system32\clients\twclient\x86 or from the Microsoft site.

After it is enabled on the server and the client is installed on the workstation you will have an option to restore previous versions of shared files and folders. When you right click a file or folder you will see a Previous Versions tab. There will be previous versions of files and folders that have been previously changed that you will be able to choose from.

The intervals for the copies to be made can be set on the server to suit your needs. Be sure not to do it too often or during peak network usage time or else your network traffic will suffer.

From here you can choose which version to go back to. You have the option to either view the file to see if you want to restore it, copy the file somewhere else so you can compare the copy to the current version or restore the file over the existing copy. If the file has not been changed then you will not see any previous versions to be able to go back to.

Setting up Shadow Copies on the server is fairly simple. Right click My Computer and select Manage. Then you will right click Shared Folders, click All Tasks and then Configure Shadow Copies. You will see the configuration screen.

From here you can select which drive or drives you want to enable Shadow Copies on. You can configure options such as what drive you want the copies to be made on and how much space you want to allocate to the copies. You can also delete previous copies to get disk space back. There are also options for scheduling the frequency that the copies will be made.

One important note to keep in mind is if you try to go back to a previous version while logged in locally on the server you will not have that option unless you browse to the location using a UNC path rather than a local path

You may have noticed that when you right click on your network connection under My Network Places you have an option for Bridge Network. What a network bridge does is allow two or more networks to be tied together so that they act like a single network.

For example if you have 3 computers on a LAN connected via Ethernet and then have a wireless laptop with only a wireless connection you could use a bridge to connect all 4 together. You need to make sure that one of the wired computers has a Ethernet port AND a wireless port. The Ethernet port is used to connect to the other 2 wired computers and the wireless port will be used to connect to the wireless laptop.

Once the Ethernet and wireless connections are bridged, all the computers can see each other on the network thanks to the computer with both types of connections that is bridging the connection. The only catch is that the computer doing the bridging must be on for the bridge to stay active.

To “make” the bridge, you would go to the computer with both types of connections and go to My Network Places. Then you would right click one and select Bridge Connections. When its complete you will have a new icon for the new bridge in your connections. You will use this new icon/connection to manage your network properties. Keep in mind you may have to reboot when it’s completed.

LimitLogin adds the ability to limit concurrent user logins and to keep track of all login information in an Active Directory domain. It is not dependant on your Active Directory Forest or Domain modes. It only needs one Windows Domain Controller for the domain you wish to use the application on.

Here is how it works according to Microsoft:
“When a user logs on to the domain, the llogin.vbs file runs and sends the host machine's data (computer name, IP address, session ID, and authenticating DC name) to the LimitLogin Web service as XML, using SOAP. The Web service uses the client's security context against Active Directory and checks to see if this user is configured for LimitLogin and has a login quota in the LimitLogin application directory partition.If the user does not have a login quota set, then the Web service notifies the script that it should continue to log in normally. If the user does have a login quota in place, then the Web service counts the number of registered logins the user has collected in the LimitLogin application directory partition. If the user's login quota is less than the actual number of logins registered in Active Directory, then the Web service updates the user's login information in the LimitLogin application directory partition and notifies the login script to continue login normally. If the user's login quota is equal to or exceeds the number of logins registered in Active Directory, however, then the Web service notifies the login script to log off the current session.”

LimitLogin capabilities include:
Allows you to limit the number of logins per user from any machine in the domain, including Terminal Server sessions.
It will display the login information of any user in the domain according to a specific criterion.
Features easy management and configuration by integrating to the Active Directory MMC snap ins.
Has the ability to delete and log off user sessions remotely straight from the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap in.
Generates login information reports in CSV and XML formats.

LimitLogin supports the following operating systems:
Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4 and above
Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4 and above (Including Terminal Server sessions)
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 and above
Windows Server 2003 (Including Terminal Server sessions)

MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output, pronounced my-mo) is a wireless technology designed to boost wireless bandwidth and range by taking advantage of multiplexing. MIMO uses algorithms in a radio chipset to send information out over two or more antennas. The radio signals then reflect off various objects in the environment to create multiple paths used to carry more information. This information is then recombined on the receiving side by the MIMO algorithms. Current 802.11g technologies use single transmitting and dual receiving antennas, MIMO utilizes multiple transmitting antennas. MIMO uses the additional pathways provided by the multiple antennas to transmit more information and then recombines the signal on the receiving end.

MIMO provides improvements in wireless LAN (WLAN) throughput, range and reliability that will broaden the usefulness of wireless for applications and allow for more throughput intensive applications to run over wireless. Airgo's MIMO chip set implementation transmits two distinct datastreams simultaneously at 54Mbps totaling 108Mbps (Airgo is a MIMO chip manufacturer).

Eventually there should be an IEEE 802.11n standard for MIMO which promises to push wireless network data rates well above the 100Mbps mark which will hopefully fill those wireless dead spots most people experience around their home and office wireless network.

Of course a new technology requires new (more expensive) hardware. Unfortunately different manufactures products may not necessarily work together with each other. Both wireless adapters and access points may have to be the same brand. Also, the best results are obtained with a true MIMO implementation on both ends of the connection. "True MIMO" requires multiple antennas and radios on both the transmitting and receive sides of the link. Expect MIMO hardware to be more expensive at least in the beginning of its rise (or fall) to glory.

With Windows XP you can store your user credentials in your Windows XP system by saving them to your user profile. When you connect to a network or internet resource you may see a box that says Remember My Password. If you use the Stored User Names and Passwords tool it will use that information to log into that resource the next time you log in with your stored user credentials from your user profile. When you access a resource, the authentication package searches the Stored User Names and Passwords store for the most specific credential that matches that resource. If it finds one, it will be used to authenticate you without any interaction from you.

From here you can add, remove or edit your stored passwords. If you click on Add you will get a dialog box like the following.

Here you can enter the name of the server or site you want to store your password with, your username that you logon with and the password for that username. Next time you login to that server you won’t have to enter any credentials.

If you are having network connectivity problems and think its TCP/IP related and would like to uninstall and reinstall TCP/IP, you can’t. You will notice in the local area connection properties that the uninstall button is grayed out. In Windows XP, the TCP/IP stack is considered a core component of Windows and therefore not possible to uninstall.

You can however reinstall the internet protocol stack to the way it was when Windows was first installed using the Netshell utility.

Using this command with a certain switch will allow you to reset rewrite pertinent registry keys that are used by TCP/IP to achieve the same result as the removing and reinstalling the protocol. Use the following command to do so:

netsh int ip reset [logfile]

where logfile is a name you give to the file that records the actions performed by netsh. Here is an example of the command you can use.

netsh int ip reset iplog.txt
to create the iplog.txt log file in the current directory

OR

netsh int ip reset c:\iplog.txt
to create the iplog.txt log file on the C drive.

As always, be careful when using these kinds of commands to avoid permanent damage to your system and remember to backup your registry first.

Another method to reintsall TCP/IP is from the properties of your network connection.

With NTFS permissions, you can assign special permissions to users or groups. Special permissions provide more of a customized unique level of permissions for your files and folders. Here are the NTFS special permissions.

Traverse Folder/Execute File

List Folder/Read Data

Read Attributes

Read Extended Attributes

Create Files/Write Data

Create Folders/Append Data

Write Attributes

Write Extended Attributes

Delete Subfolders and Files

Delete

Read Permissions

Change Permissions

Take Ownership

Full Control

• Enables the object to perform all Special Permissions.

Unlike group types, which are fairly simple to understand, group scopes can be frustrating to those new to working with Windows Server 2003 and Active Directory. The scope of the group identifies the extent to which the group is applied throughout the domain tree or forest. There are four group scopes:

Local groups
Local groups can contain user accounts from the local machine, user accounts from the domain the local machine is joined to, or user accounts from any trusted domains of the domain the machine is joined to. Only local groups can manage permissions for local resources (local to a single machine).

Domain local groups
Domain local groups can include other groups and user/computer accounts from Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows NT domains. Permissions for only the domain in which the group is defined can be assigned to domain local groups.

Global groups
Global groups can include other groups and user/computer accounts from only the domain in which the group is defined. Permissions for any domain in the forest can be assigned to global groups.

Universal groups
Universal groups can include other groups and user/computer accounts from any domain in the domain tree or forest. Permissions for any domain in the domain tree or forest can be assigned to universal groups. Universal groups are only available if your domain functional level is set to Windows 2000 native mode.

Windows XP Professional includes Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1 which makes it possible for you to host your own Web site on the Internet or your internal intranet. IIS includes a broad range of administrative features for managing Web sites. The Windows XP installation of IIS can service only 10 simultaneous client connections and only one Web site. It does not have all the features of the server version. It cannot be installed on Windows XP Home.

To install IIS 5.1 on Windows XP Pro follow these steps:

1. Click on Start then Settings and then Control Panel (or Start, Control Panel).

2 Double click Add or Remove Programs.

3. Click on Add/Remove Windows Components.

4. Click on Internet Information Services (IIS) and then click Details.

5. In Internet Information Services (IIS), check the boxes for SMTP Service and World Wide Web Service, and then click OK. You can check File Transfer Protocol as well if you want to setup an FTP site.

6. In Windows Component selection, ensure that the Internet Information Services (IIS) check box is selected, and then click OK to install the components that you selected. You may need to insert your Windows XP Professional CD during the installation

7. The Internet Information Services console can be found under Administrative Tools

After you are finished you can go ahead and setup your new website using the IIS console.

With the introduction of Windows Server 2003 came some new command line utilities designed to make server and network administration easier. Plus most of the Windows 2000 commands are there as well. Here is a listing of many of the commands and what they do.

cipher.exe
Cipher.exe is a command-line tool that you can use to manage encrypted data by using the Encrypting File System (EFS).

cmdkey.exe
cmdkey.exe enables you to manage Stored Usernames and Passwords from the command prompt. It displays, creates, and deletes stored usernames and passwords.

defrag.exe
defrag.exe is the command prompt equivalent of Disk Defragmenter. defrag.exe does everything that Disk Defragmenter does and in addition, it supports scripting. You can use defrag.exe in a script to schedule analysis and defragmentation of your servers. Scripting is the primary reason to use defrag.exe instead of Disk Defragmenter. sfc.exe

devcon.exe
The Device Console Utility is a command-line utility that can be used as an alternative to Device Manager. It provides a level of detail that is not available in Device Manager.

dsadd.exe
dsadd.exe adds objects to Active Directory. dsadd.exe can add computer, contact, group, organization unit, or user objects.

dsmod.exe
dsmod.exe modifies attributes of objects in Active Directory. dsmod.exe can modify computers, contacts, groups, servers, organization units, users, quotas, and partitions.

dsget.exe
dsget.exe is used to see the properties of objects in Active Directory. It shows selected attributes of computers, contacts, groups, organizational units, servers, or users. You input objects into dsget.exe and it outputs a list of properties for those objects.

dsmove.exe
dsmove.exe moves a single object to a new location in the same domain. However, it will also rename a single object without moving it.

dsquery.exe
dsquery.exe enables you to query Active Directory for objects that match a specified criterion. This is useful if you need to search all of AD for objects that have similar characteristics.

diskpart.exe
diskpart.exe enables you to manage disks, partitions, or volumes from the command prompt. You can type the commands directly at the command prompt via interactive mode or you can configure diskpart.exe to use a script for its input.

eventcreate.exe
The eventcreate.exe utility creates an event in a specified event file. The valid event files are Application and System logs. You cannot enter events in the Security log with this utility. You must have administrator access to use this utility to enter entries into the application and system logs. The Application log is the default log file for this utility.

eventtriggers.exe
eventtriggers.exe is a tool used to configure and manage triggers on event logs. A trigger is a mechanism that initiates a new process or action when a threshold is met.

fsutil.exe
You can use fsutil.exe to manage FAT and NTFS file systems from the command prompt. Some of the actions you can perform with this utility include the following:

gpresult.exe
gpresult.exe displays the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) information for a target user and computer. RSoP is a tool that can show the effective policy applied to a user or computer or what the policy would be, for planning purposes.

logman.exe
The logman.exe command-line utility manages and schedules performance counters. You can also use it to manage and schedule trace logs. You can use this utility on a remote computer provided you have the proper administrator credentials.

relog.exe
You can use relog.exe to extract data from performance counter logs and convert it to tab separated value (.TSV), Comma-Separated Value (.CSV), binary log file (.BLG), or SQL formats. This tool is commonly used to extract logs to Excel spreadsheets and to resample logs and create new ones that are based on a particular time period, sampling interval, or specified counters. It can also be used to create source data files for database manipulation tools.

rendom.exe
The Domain Rename tool allows you to rename any of your domains, as long as all domain controllers in the forest are running Windows Server 2003. It allows you to restructure domains within a tree and create new trees. However, it does not allow you to change which domain is the forest root. In addition, you cannot add and remove domains from the forest; you can only rename them and you can’t reuse names.

rss.exe
rss.exe manages Remote Storage from the command prompt. You can use Remote Storage to extend your server’s disk space by moving data off your hard disks and onto magnetic tapes or magneto-optical (MO) disks, with file data cached locally for quick access.

sfc.exe
The System File Checker (sfc.exe) is a command-line tool that can be used for initiating on-demand and boot-time scans, as well as managing the contents of the Windows File Protection cache folder.

sigverif.exe
File Signature Verification Tool is a wizard-driven tool, which scans the system for the presence of unsigned drivers and critical system files. It also creates a report that lists all the files scanned along with relevant version and digital signature information. The report is stored in your Windows directory and is called sigverif.txt.

sc.exe
The Service Control utility is used to communicate with both services and with device drivers. The functionality provided is only a subset of the Device Console utility focused on device drivers themselves; however, unlike the Device Control Utility, the Service Control Utility is installed with Windows Server 2003.

schtasks.exe
You use schtasks.exe to set programs to run at scheduled intervals, delete or change existing scheduled tasks, and stop or run a scheduled task immediately.

setx.exe
You use setx.exe to configure environment variables for either the user (the variables apply only to a specific user) or the system environment (variables apply to all users).You can set variables explicitly by specifying their value or using the value of a registry key or the contents of a file. setx is the only way to permanently (i.e., remembered between reboots) set a variable name via the command line.

shutdown.exe
Use the shutdown.exe command to shut down or restart local or remote computers. You can also use it for shutting down several computers at once using the /i option. With this option, a new window appears where you add the names of the computers that you want to shut down or restart.

tasklist.exe
tasklist.exe shows all the tasks that are running on the local or remote computer.

typeperf.exe
typeperf.exe is similar to relog.exe; this utility enables you to write performance log file data onto a command window or a file. This functionality distinguishes this tool from relog.exe.

taskkill.exe
Use taskkill.exe to terminate processes on the local or a remote computer. You need to use tasklist first to identify the process that needs to be terminated. Taskkill has many options and if used without care you could end up ending more processes than you expected.

takeown.exe
Another command-line tool useful for managing files is takeown.exe. As you might guess, this tool enables the user to change the ownership of a file or files specified on the command line. Takeown can set the new owner of a file as a specific user or as the administrators group, depending on the command-line parameters used. By default, takeown assigns the user of a file to be the user who ran the tool.

tracerpt.exe
The tracerpt.exe command-line utility generates a report for the event traces.

whoami.exe
whoami.exe displays usernames and group membership information about the currently logged-on user. It can display the security identifier (SID) and all privileges assigned to that SID.