What tripped me up about this procedure is that I had incorrectly assumed that it was a one-time operation when in fact it must be done each time Hyena is launched. Right-click the domain in question in the tree pane. Select "Set source Domain Controller". If this is your first time, you *may* have to enter the FQDNs of your DCs here. They always show up in my dialog automagically though and I simply click Okay as soon as the dialog pops up. That's all there is to it. Now expand the tree and see all the goodies.

A very good article on how the MBR works can be found here.

Historically, in Microsoft-land, the MBR has been repaired using a DOS boot floppy and the command fdisk. However, the command fdisk is incompatible-with-Windows NT/2000/XP.

In walks "MBR Fix". It's free and it works from Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 command prompt, and so is perfectly suited for use in removable operating systems (ERD Commander, BartPE, WinPE, etc.) You can download it here.

The Microsoft Software Forum Network has a very detailed section entitled Unattended Windows which gives a very good breakdown of how to produce automated Windows OS and application installation, configuration and tweaking.

Keywords: windows software application install installation msi ris automated unattended

...which is why we didn't bother to check it for you by default.

This would have been useful to know for the past couple years:

"If you regularly work with a large number of folder windows at the same time, you can quickly and easily improve the stability of your PC. By default, each folder you open occupies the same area of RAM. This means that Microsoft Windows XP has to do a great deal of shuffling as you flick between windows, potentially leading to crashes. In the Control Panel, double-click Folder Options and move to the View tab. Scroll down the list in the lower portion of the dialogue box and tick ‘Launch folder windows in a separate process'. Click OK." 

Taken from Microsoft Windows XP: The Official Magazine - 50 Best Tips Ever.

Explorer can hang for minutes at a time, often taking other applications or your whole system with it. I have now seen this on at least a dozen installations. I have spent many an hour trying to track down what the root of the cause was. Here are some of the many possible causes compiled in a quick list so you don't have to suffer what I've suffered:

After reading the subject line, you are undoubtedly saying to yourself, “…What?” And with good reason I might add.

It turns out that viewing the properties of a Public Folder from the Exchange 2003 ESM (Exchange System Manager) which was created in Exchange 5.5 and migrated to Exchange 2003 will automatically cause the folder to become mail-enabled — even if you “Cancel” out of the properties window and made no changes at all! What’s better? Now you can get cryptic serialized names showing up in your GAL that look like this one I found today (exact copy and paste, no embellishment): 2708b030-d58a-42c0-8764-ff90f8735656. What’s better is the string of phone calls and emails that pour in from executives who are wondering why this is happening and are not only unsympathetic to your plight as an Exchange sys-admin (who lobbied from the get go to never install Exchange in the first place) but are also entirely incapable of comprehending that there is no possible way to remove this known and documented Microsoft Exchange issue.

For some time now I have been gathering a collection of applications which can be run without installation. I have considered publishing the list of my collection, but it looks as though somebody has already dones so. This is quite likely the most useful collection of software for the the Windows platform:

• The Portable Freeware collection

The only way to *really* flush DNS without rebooting Windows. First determine the funky name (not sure what the proper label would be) for your network adapter. It may take some guesswork unless you're smarter than me. On some systems there are obvious labels next to the funky names, on others not. It seems to depend on the driver. Here's the command you type:

devcon listclass net

Once you've got the funky name, edit the following script to your needs and save it as a .bat file. This is the script I use on my own system:

As all Windows users often find, the only reasonable solution to the building quirkiness of a Windows session is the eventual reboot of the machine. As a systems admin, I often find myself in situations where this is less than practical and so I have come up with the following, ultra-cheezy technique which actually usually brings a system back into (apparent) stability. (It's always hard to be certain what's going on under the hood though).

1. Close all non-critical applications and stop and any non-critical services (if you're not certain which services aren't critical for your current situation, skip this step).
2. Open the Task Manager by one of the following methods (because, depending on the state of your system, often many of these will fail to function properly):
• Press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC
• Press CTRL-ALT-DEL (and, if necessary, select Task Manager
• Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager
• Open Start => Run... and type either taskmgr or c:\windows\system32\taskmgr.exe
• Go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\ and double click on
  taskmgr.exe
• Open a command prompt and type either taskmgr or c:\windows\system32\taskmgr.exe
3. WARNING: Do *not* exit the Task Manager after performing the following step. If you do, you may have to reboot your system. The following step will close the Start menu, taskbar and all Explorer windows without and thequite probably will not restart automatically. You will use the Task Manager to restart them.
   
   Once you have the Task Manager up, select the Processes tab and then click on the Image Name column to sort the processes alphabetically. Locate each instance of explorer.exe, right click and select End Process.
4. Open the File menu of the Task Manager and select New Task (Run...)
5. Type explorer in the Run... dialog. With a lot of luck, your Start menu, taskbar and tooltray should return, and Windows should be acting somewhat normal again.
6. Restart all your necessary but non-critical applications and services which were started earlier.
   

This is a collection of scripts I use to manage Windows network adapters. They help me keep sane when using a Windows notebook. I work in several varied environments and am always moving and connecting in new locations. These scripts automate:

• Flushing DNS – In a way that always works in every instance! Really! No rebooting ever again because ipconfig /flushdns only works half the time!
• Disabling network adapters (useful for switching from LAN to WIFI and vice versa)
• Enabling network adapters (ditto)
• Recycling (disabling then enabling) network adapters

You can use a program like RunFast to pop off these scripts in just a couple keystrokes. Heck, I use RunFast to pop off just about anything I do in Windows at all, and I agonise over watching people scanning the screen to look for that menu item, the nested-menu item, that one icon somewhere in there, that file, bookmark or whatever. CLICK CLICK POP! I’m already there in three keystrokes. (I’m pimping RunFast here because it totally changed my Windows experience for the better). I can’t remember if it has an installer or not, but I can tell you that it doesn’t require installation. I just drag and drop it to new systems to get up and running, never needing to see the Start menu.