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Chapter 11
Hints And Tips
- • Disabling The CD-ROM Autorun
- • Using The Recycle Bin To Restore A File
- • Configuring The Recycle Bin Properties
- • Changing The Network Bindings Order
- • Using The AT Command
- • Creating Shortcuts
- • Converting FAT Volumes To NTFS
- • Changing The Default Installation Device
- • Configuring Automatic Adjustment For Daylight Saving Time
- • Changing The Installed Software Components
- • Using The Find Utility To Locate A Computer
- • Using The Find Utility To Locate Files And Folders
- • Configuring The Inbox For Internet Mail
- • Optimizing Server Throughput
Administrator’s Notes...
This chapter does not focus on one particular area but, instead contains a mixed bag of hints and tips that don’t neatly fit into the other chapters. Many of the points covered in this chapter are provided to make the day-to-day workload a little easier for the system administrator.
Scheduling
One area of weakness in the current release of Windows NT is scheduling. A basic scheduling utility is provided, managed via the AT command, that enables commands and programs to be scheduled to run at a specified date and time. However, no dependencies can be set (for example, setting the system to run Job 3 only after Job 1 and Job 2 have successfully been run). Such dependencies are often required for complex scheduling tasks.
The AT command is used from the Windows NT command prompt and is not the most user-friendly administration tool. In fact, incorrect AT commands are often entered, which then fail at the specified time. This can be very frustrating, because little information is usually given regarding the cause of the problem. It’s worth checking the System Event log if you have problems with failing jobs.
The Schedule service needs to be running before you can use the AT command. Help can be obtained by adding a ? switch to the command, for instance, AT /?.
Shortcuts
To increase productivity and make frequently used programs and applications easier to locate, you can create a shortcut to the object from the Windows NT desktop. A shortcut can be configured on any object, including folders, disk drives, computers, and printers. When created, a shortcut appears as an icon with a small arrow in its left-hand corner. In addition, shortcuts can be placed in the Startup program group to automatically start the object upon logon.
Multiple shortcuts can be configured on the same object, and different security can be configured on each one. The deletion of a shortcut doesn’t affect the original object.
Finding Resources
Locating computers in a large network by using the browser tools—for example, Network Neighborhood—can get increasingly difficult as the network expands, especially when the computer names are similar. For example, many companies employ a computer naming scheme that indicates where a computer is located in the organization, such as BL1A6 for Building 1, Area 6. Although this is useful for physically locating computers, it is less than ideal when using the browser tools. Locating files and folders can be just as troublesome, especially if you’re not sure of the full name of the object you want to locate.
The Find utility, shown in Figure 11.1, is a handy alternative. In addition to locating computers, Find can be used to locate files and folders. Various search options are available with Find, including searching for files that contain a particular text string.
Figure 11.1 The Findutility dialog box.
Windows Messaging
Windows Messaging is a term used to describe user communication. For example, email and faxing are both parts of Windows Messaging. Windows NT is shipped with a client version of Microsoft Exchange, which can be used to connect to both Microsoft mail post offices and Internet mail services, and provide email facilities. These facilities are accessed via the Inbox icon on the desktop. The Practical Guide for this chapter contains an example of configuring Windows Messaging for use with Internet mail.
Projects:
Practical Guide To Hints And Tips
The following section provides real-life hints and tips in step-by-step format.
Disabling The CD-ROM Autorun
Whenever you’re in a hurry, which, of course, is all the time, the slightest holdup can send your blood pressure climbing. One feature of Windows NT that adds to your problems (at least, it does to mine) is the Autorun facility. Autorun brings up the Windows NT CD-ROM dialog box, as shown in Figure 11.2, each time you insert any application CD into your CD-ROM drive. Although the Autorun feature can be handy, especially when browsing a new CD-ROM, it’s a pain to have to close this dialog box every time you load the Windows NT source software to be used by an administration tool.
Figure 11.2 The Windows NT CD-ROM dialog box.
Don’t worry. You can use the Registry to disable this feature and keep your blood pressure from going off the scale.
- 1. Choose Start|Run. The Run dialog box appears.
- 2. Click Browse, and use the Browse dialog box to select the Registry Editor REGEDT32, located in the SYSTEM32 subfolder. Click OK. The Registry Editor window appears.
- 3. Select the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree. Select the SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom subkey, as shown in Figure 11.3.
- 4. Double click the Autorun data value in the right-hand pane of the Registry Editor. The DWORD Editor dialog box appears. Change the data entry from 1 to 0, and click OK.
- 5. Exit the Registry Editor. You’ll need to restart the system for the change to take effect.
Figure 11.3 The Registry Editor, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE subtree.
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