Author Archives: Drasko Stojanovic

Windows host based Firewall: Your fist line of defense for Windows desktop

Protection from unwanted threats and attacks to hosts in your company network is very important part of your business activity. Today there are many threats which can be dangerous for your IT infrastructure. Because of that there are many hardware and software tolls and devices for your network protection. Antivirus software and hardware firewalls are used in most situations. On the market also exist many software firewalls which are used to protect computers from attacks from internal or external network. Software firewalls can also protect network from attacks sourced from computer on which software firewall is installed. One of the most used software firewalls is Windows Firewall which comes along with Windows OS installed. In this article we will describe Windows Firewall and explain how you can use it to protect your network hosts.

Using VNC for remote computing: pros and cons

Many times in your daily administration work there is need for remote controlling some remote computer. Often, it is desktop or server in your company but sometimes you have to do support to your friends, parents etc. In these situations you have to use some tool which enables remote control of computer on which you have to do something. Many times, often when you connect to company computers it is VPN technology which enables virtual private connection to your company network. But in situations where you don’t have VPN, tools which use Virtual Network Computing (VNC) can enable remote support and control of another computer.

How to manage roaming profiles in Windows network

Windows user profile is group of settings specific for one user that logs on computer. These settings are environment settings such as desktop background and colors, screen saver, toolbar configurations etc., then application settings, web settings such as browser home page, cookies and other settings which load when user logs to computer. Profile is stored partially in registry base and partially in user specific folder on local or remote computer depends on profile type. There is a few user profile types. Main types are local, roaming and mandatory. In this article I will describe what are roaming user profiles and how to manage it in Windows active directory environment.

Step by Step guide to install XAMP in Windows

XAMPP is multi platform package which includes Apache, MySQL, PHP, phpmyadmin, OpenSSL and some other useful tools which enable efficient web development. It is very useful tool because it includes most web development packages which you need to make powerful web applications. Also it comes in single installation package. When installation is finished you can start developing your applications immediately. Installation of XAMPP is very simple and straightforward. In this guide we will describe installation process of XAMP.

Coming Windows 8: Features you will be interested about

Windows 8 coming with new interesting features and look which make it different then other Windows versions. Most reviews consider this release of Windows as revolution in OS technology because of new look and features included in it. One of the most interesting features is new user interface called Metro. In this article I’ll describe some of the key features that will make you closer this new OS coming from Microsoft.

New desktop look you will like

In Windows 8 Microsoft introduced Metro Start Screen desktop which is one of the drastic changes from previous versions. Reason of introducing it is to make Windows closer to tablet like environment and enabling applications to be available from start screen. Metro start screen appears when you log in Windows and looks like as on next picture:

How to add a Second Domain Controller in Windows 2008 domain

Domain controller as server for hosting your company Active Directory (AD) is very important part of your network infrastructure. In case of its failure logging users on AD is impossible. Because of that one of the main things in planning your network infrastructure is make plan for implementing redundant domain controller in network infrastructure. In case you have it, failure of one of them does not mean that user will be unable to log on the system. Since failed domain controller is up again, backup controller will be in function of users authentication or other functions which it can have (DNS server etc.). On this way your network can stay functional, reliable and more resistible to failures.

Manage Engine Free Ping Tool: Monitor uptime and latency of your servers

In your daily network and system administration work there is often need for checking availability of servers, desktop or network devices. The simplest tool for that purpose is ping tool which is offered on all platforms and devices. When used, ping send defined number of IP packets to IP address of server or other device you want to check for availability and wait for response. If response comes ping is successful and device is available. It is the simplest way to check devices availability. If you want to perform detailed availability check such as time of response or ping with variable packet length ping offers that options but its using becomes more complex. In that moment you can think of new tool that can meet your requirements. In this article we will describe one powerful tool for checking availability of servers and network devices. It is Manage Engine Free Ping Tool.

How to setup and configure DHCP Server in Windows 2008

Assigning IP address to computers in corporate or home network is necessary step you need to do to include computers in network and enable its connection to other computers. There is two way to assign IP address: static and dynamic. If you have small number of workstations addresses can be set statically but in huge networks it is a complex task because of high number of workstations. In this situation dynamic IP address assignment is used. For this purpose Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is used. When you have DHCP server in your network IP addresses can be assigned dynamically. If computer is properly set to gain IP address from DHCP server you are as administrator released from task of static IP address assignment.

Step by Step guide to Install Virtual Machine with VMWare Workstation

VMWare Workstation is one of the most popular virtualization tools you can use on your home or company computer to make your virtualization environment. It supports many platforms which can be virtualized such as Windows, Linux etc. Often system administrator use VMWare for testing purposes. It is because its easy use and efficiency in making virtualized environments. In this article I will describe steps for creating virtual machine in VMWare Workstation. When machines created you have prerequisite for installing operating system on it.

Top Five Free Antivirus Software for Windows

Antivirus protection is very important component of your home or company computer system today. There are many threats which can damage your software and disable your computer to work properly. Because of that antivirus solution should be installed and updated on every computer you work on to avoid risk from malicious software infiltration in system. Due to some historical reason and large footprint or attack opportunity, virus maker target Windows platform to publicize their creation. Windows users are generally exposed to be attacked by computer viruses or malware from removable media or Internet. To keep the system safe and sound they need to install Anti Virus software. There are many antivirus software in the market. Few of them are free and few of them require you to pay handsome bucks. In this article I will make short description of top five free antivirus solutions for Windows users that can help to protect your system.