Need to Format a USB drive properly?

From an elevated command window, run the following commands:

1. Diskpart

2. List Disk (determine which disk is your USB stick, probably disk 1 if you only have 1 hard drive)

3. Select Disk 1 (use the correct disk number here)

4. Detail Disk (ensure you have your USB drive selected)

5. Clean (this destroys all data)

6. Create partition primary

7. Active

8. Format quick fs=ntfs

9. Assign letter e: (any drive letter that works is fine)

10. Exit

Restrict Wireless access on your Cisco Wireless-G Broadband Router WRT54G2

You can be nice to your neighbors and leave your wireless internet open to all. I wouldn't do it.
In addition to having a password for your wireless network, i recommend setting up few more obstacles, such as:
1.Allow only specific MAC addresses
2.Allow only specific IPs - or range
3.Limit wireless access based on day of the week or time of the day.
4. Manually open wireless access when you need it - see previous post here.

In order to configure any of the above, logon to your router's management page and go to Access Restrcition.

See below:

How to save youtube videos to your local drive

Always handy...
there are many sites that will do it for you, my favorite: keepvid.com

You may want to check this one too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYYOOAXHlWY

Test message to a BlackBerry device with delivery confirmation

Want to make sure your BB is getting msgs from your corporate Exchange?
Send that user an email using this subject line:

If it works properly, upon delivery to the BB unit, you will get a confirmation back, which looks like the above.

What is PING -t

ping -t will ping the specified host until stopped.

The PING command is a tool that can give you useful information on the nature of your Internet connection. PING allows you to see if a particular IP address or a particular Domain name exists on the Internet and is actively returning PING requests.
Once you have your command line open type in Ping, followed by a space and then the IP address or domain name that you want to test. for example: ping 10.5.2.6
Here is a normal reply:

Reply from 10.5.2.6: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=252
Reply from 10.5.2.6: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=252
Reply from 10.5.2.6: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=252
Reply from 10.5.2.6: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=252

Ping statistics for 10.5.2.6:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 100ms, Maximum = 100ms, Average = 100ms


These results tell you that four test packets were sent out of 32 bytes each in size and came back from 10.5.2.6 in a time of 100ms. The TTL figure stands for time to live and defines how long your Ping requests bounce around before expiring.


Here is how it looks when it fails:
Pinging 10.5.2.6 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 10.5.2.6:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)


Ping Options.

The Ping command can be used with the following switches. To add a switch to the command just add it after a space. e,g,

Ping -t
Ping -t -a

Options:

-t Ping the specified host until stopped. Stop with CTRL and C.
-a Resolve addresses to hostnames.
-n count Number of echo requests to send.
-l size Send buffer size.
-f Set Don't Fragment flag in packet.
-i TTL Time To Live.
-v TOS Type Of Service.
-r count Record route for count hops.
-s count Timestamp for count hops.
-j host-list Loose source route along host-list.
-k host-list Strict source route along host-list.
-w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply

Oh, BTW, in case you use Ping -t and it stops after 49.7 days, here is the fix , well, just in case....

NSLOOKUP - what is it?

Nslookup.exe is a command-line administrative tool for testing and troubleshooting DNS servers. This tool is installed along with the TCP/IP protocol through Control Panel.

(THIS IS JUST FYI:

• Nameserver: These are the servers that the internet uses to find out more about the domain. Usually they are an ISP's computer.
• Mailserver: Where email is sent to. If there is more than one entry then the one with the lowest preference (pref= X) is tried first.
• Webserver: The domains website.
• FTPserver: FTP is file transfer protocol, this server is where files may be stored.
• Hostname: The name of the host as given by the domain.
• Real Hostname: This is hostname that you get by reverse resolving the IP address, may be different to the given hostname. )

NSLOOKUP is often used to perform a reverse lookup on an IP address. The first section specifies the server and address of that server that provided you with the domain name and IP address displayed in the second section.
Running nslookup without specifying an IP address or domain name will display your routers server and address. To get out of the > prompt type exit and press enter.

Insant Search

This is a buit-in feature on Windows 7. Windows uses the index to perform very fast searches on your computer.

The index requires almost no maintenance. However, if the index can't find a file that you know exists in an indexed location, you might need to rebuild the index.

Rebuilding the index can take several hours, and searches might be incomplete until the index is fully rebuilt.

1. Open Indexing Options by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type indexing options, and then click Indexing Options.

2. Click Advanced. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. In the Advanced Options dialog box, click the Index Settings tab, and then click Rebuild. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Windows Registry

The Windows Registry is a central database containing all information needed for the computer to run both the hardware and the software. The Registry is in constant use and almost anything that you do on a Windows PC will access the Registry for information.
Editing or making direct changes to the Registry is not typically an activity of most users but it is important to at least know how to back up the Registry and how to restore a damaged or corrupted Registry.
Because it is involved in everything, damage to the Registry can stop a PC from functioning

The registry contains two basic elements: keys and values.

Registry keys are similar to folders — in addition to values, each key can contain subkeys, which may contain further subkeys, and so on

There are seven predefined root keys:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKLM
• HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG or HKCC (only in Windows 9x/ME and NT-based versions of Windows)
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT or HKCR
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKCU
• HKEY_USERS or HKU
• HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA (only in NT-based versions of Windows, but invisible in the Windows Registry Editor)
• HKEY_DYN_DATA (only in Windows 9x/ME, and visible in the Windows Registry Editor)

Backing up the Registry

One way to backup it up is via System Restore point. System Restore returns your computer to a previous snapshot without losing recent personal information, such as documents, history lists, favorites, or e-mail. It monitors the computer and many applications for changes and creates restore points.

You can read more on how to set a System restore
point here.

















Another way to back up the registry is to do an EXPORT (though you can export just a specific key if needed):
To backup a selected key in the registry, use these steps:

• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type regedit.exe, and then click OK
• Locate and then click the key that contains the value that you want to edit
• Right-click on the key and choose Export.
• In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg)
• In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.

Save the REG file in a safe location in case you want to undo the registry changes made. You can restore the settings by just double-clicking the REG file. It automatically merges the contents to the Registry.

Don't mess with the registry unless you have too....and make sure to have a good backup - just in case!

To add an item to a new MMC console for a remote computer

1.	Open MMC
2.	On the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in, and then click Add.
3.	Under Snap-in, click Computer Management and then browse to the remote machine.

Turn Wireless OFF on Cisco Wireless-G Broadband Router WRT54G2

I don't like to leave my wireless ON all the time for various reasons...
Here is how you can manually turn it ON/OFF when you need to, while leaving the other computers connected to the internet (wired) - just switch the Wireless mode from MIXED to Disabled.