SysAdminCircus

If your company is still using Windows XP as the enterprise image, there has likely been discussion concerning an upgrade to Windows 7.  With talk of a Windows 8 release (estimated for Q3 or Q4 of 2012) and now an open Development Preview, there may be additional discussion about a shift away from Windows XP.  [...]

This is the 2nd part of a 2-part, high-level overview about Windows Imaging.  This series is intended to prompt System Admins to think about important aspects of imaging before they jump right into installing Windows on a reference workstation. The first part of this series discussed high-level thought process and decision-making before System Administrators begin [...]

This is the 4th part of a 10-part series about tools commonly used by System Admins. Slmgr.vbs is a fairly common script used by Windows System Administrators to manage licensing options.  It is a simple command line script that has about 30 customizable parameters.  While a simple web search will return plenty of results on [...]

Not too long ago, I was helping a client create custom Windows 7 64-bit images. I was asked the question “What does Sysprep really do?” I had several answers to this question, being asked frequently over the years. However, the truth was that I was a long-time casual user. I’d never taken the time to [...]

Having recently worked for several large organizations, I’ve been in the still-raging debates over the migration to Windows 7.  As IT departments reluctantly began to migrate in mid-2010, the spectrum of legacy applications reared its ugly head.  I am overly sensitive to legacy application support because I’ve regretted not taking it seriously enough in the [...]

Your network and systems are secure from a virtual attack, but what about a physical attack? Sadly, we are usually focused on network-based intrusions causing us to lose focus on a physical attack.  This loss happened at a company in Washington, D.C.  The company was housed in a first-floor office with large windows. These windows, [...]

Windows 8’s Task Manager has a completely new tab called App History.  I’ve been testing the Developer Preview of Windows 8 for several weeks now.  I think this tab has the potential to be very useful, especially for System Admins.  So, what exactly does this tab do and why is it useful? The first part [...]

This is the 3rd part of a 10-part series about tools commonly used by System Admins. Have you ever wondered why anyone would want to make a flash drive bootable? Windows 7-based bootable flash drives are useful in many situations.  Not only can you use bootable flash drives as a launching point for imaging solutions, [...]

I was reading through articles about Cloud-based computing and came across Intune.  Windows Intune is Cloud-based I signed up for a 30 day free trial and these are my experiences. The purpose of Windows Intune, according to Microsoft, is: “Windows Intune simplifies and helps businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows® cloud services and Windows [...]

This is the first part of a two-part, high-level overview about Windows Imaging. This series is intended to prompt System Admins to think about important aspects of imaging before they jump right into installing Windows on a reference workstation. When it comes to building a new image, there are many things to consider. The primary [...]