EmergingTechs.com

How to Mount an ISO File in Windows

Casey — Sat, 23 May 2009 21:38:07 +0000

Every once in a while I will download a program that is contained in an ISO file. This is usually because the file was intended to be burned to a CD / DVD first before installing it. However, instead of having to burn it to a CD / DVD first, there are some great utilities out there that allow you to mount the ISO file directly in Windows. In the following article, I would like to walk you through using my favorite ISO mounting utility. And the best part is that it even works with Windows 7.

The first step is to download Pismo File Mount Audit Package and run it.

You will notice right away there really aren’t any options when installing it. Just click the “Install” button to begin the installation process.

Once the installation has completed, just click “Close.” There is no reboot required.

Now locate your ISO file, right click on it, and select “Quick mount.” Your ISO file will now be mounted and ready to use.

There is also a “Mount…” option that has some options to choose from before mounting the image.

Just select your settings and click “Mount.”

When you are ready to unmount your ISO image, just right click it and select “Unmount.” Simple as that.

I’m really not sure why Microsoft hasn’t given us the ability to do this in Windows yet, especially in their latest version, Windows 7. But thanks to the Pismo File Mount utility, this is still an easy process.

If you have a favorite ISO mounting utility, please feel free to share it.

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How to Backup Printer Drivers and Restore Them on Another Computer

Casey — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:42:27 +0000

Back when I had a forum on this site someone posted a utility that allows you to back up printer drivers on one computer and restore them on another. This utility has saved me countless amounts of time, especially when setting up new computers. And since I don’t have the forum anymore, I felt like I needed to re-share it. So in the following article I would like to show you how to use this great tool.

The first step is to download the Microsoft Print Migrator utility. This utility was actually designed to backup printers on print servers but also works on desktops. It’s also a stand-alone app so it can be ran from anywhere including your flash drive.

Once you open the Print Migrator, click on the “File” menu and select “Backup.” You will now choose a name and a location where you will backup your printers to. Click the “Open” button to begin the backup.

Once the printers are done backing up, you will see a message in the bottom window that says “Backup Complete.”

Now you are ready to restore the printers on another computer.

To restore them, just transfer the backup file and the Print Migrator utility to the other computer and open the Print Migrator. Then click the “File” menu and select “Restore.” Select the backup file that you created and click “Open.”

Once the printers have been restored you will see a message at the bottom that says “Restore Complete.”

You are now ready to use your printers. Thanks again to the user TheKoz who originally shared this utility.

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How to Set Up Multiple Spaces in Windows

Casey — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:39:43 +0000

One of the features that I love about Mac OS X Leopard is the ability to set up multiple desktop workspaces which are called Spaces. Spaces are a huge help when trying to manage lots of windows at the same time or when working on multiple projects at once but wanting to keep them separate. My favorite way to use Spaces is to run Windows (using VMware) in one Space while using OS X in another. Now Microsoft has taken notice of the benefits of Spaces and is offering a free program called Desktops that allows you to do the very same thing in Windows. In this tutorial, I would like to show you how to use it.

The first step is to download Desktops by going to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc817881.aspx. Since Desktops doesn’t have an installer, you will want to extract it to the folder where it will be located permanently like “Program Files.”

Double click the Desktops application and you will be presented with a License Agreement.

Once accepted, you will be presented with the settings screen. Here you can choose which key combination you would like to use to switch between the different Desktops. Also, be sure to check “Run automatically at logon” so Desktops starts when Windows starts. Click “OK” and now you can start using your multiple Desktops.

You can start switching between them by using the key combination you chose or by clicking on the Desktops icon in the system tray. When clicking on the Desktops icon in the system tray, you get a visualization of what each Desktop has and you can choose it by clicking on them.

All in all, this is a great little app to use for multitasking. If I had any complaints it would be that you can’t choose how many Desktops you want and are limited to four. Maybe a future release will add this function.

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How to Check the Speed of a USB Flash Drive

Casey — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:32:02 +0000

Many people don’t realize that all USB flash drives are not created equal. Depending on the type of memory they have, their speeds can vary greatly. Being in IT, I have accumulated a small collection of these drives and have needed a way to test them to see which ones are worth using. I have found three great apps for doing this and I would like to share them with you.

Check Flash
Check Flash is an easy to use flash drive speed testing and error checking utility. This utility will tell you the average read and write speeds of your flash drive.

Crystal Disk Mark
Crystal Disk Mark is a disk benchmark utility that can not only be used on hard drives, but also flash drives. It can perform sequential read/write tests, random 512KB read write tests, or random 4KB read/write tests.

HD Tune
HD Tune is another disk benchmark utility that can also be used to test flash drive speeds. Unfortunately the free version will only test read speeds. However, they do have a more advanced pro version that will also test write speeds as well as other things.

What USB flash drive speed testing utilities do you recommend?

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Lots of Changes

Casey — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:36:33 +0000

There have been lots of changes taking place here at EmergingTechs.com. The first major change being that I recently switched blogging platforms. The site was originally built on Drupal, which I love, but due to the amount of upkeep it required as well as some other issues, I decided to switch to Wordpress. This was no easy task and in doing so, I lost all of the tags and categories related to each post. I am still working through all of this but will hopefully have all of my posts back to normal very soon. If you would like to know how I was able to migrate from Drupal to Wordpress check out Darcy Norman’s article on How to Migrate from Drupal 5 to Wordpress 2.

Another change that has recently taken place is that I have imported all of my old posts from my CaseyTech blog over to this one. This along with setting up the 301 redirects has taken some time to complete as well.

Some of you have also probably noticed that the forums are gone. Due to the lack of popularity, I have decided to leave them down for the time being. If I am ever in a position where I can bring on more writers, I will probably relaunch them. I really enjoyed some of the articles that you all posted there and would like to eventually repost them here on the main site.

Also, I don’t regularly dive into my personal life on here but I would like to explain one reason why I have posted so infrequently lately. I am happy to say that my wife is pregnant and we are expecting a girl. The due date is mid-October. It has been an awesome experience so far and I can’t wait until I finally get to meet my daughter face to face.

I want to thank you all for you patience during this time of transition. I also want to apologize to all of my loyal readers as I am aware that my RSS feed has been doing some strange things during the transition. This is hopefully all straightened out now. New posts will soon follow.

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How to Disable Windows Vista Permission Security Prompts

Casey — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you have been using Windows Vista for a while then you probably know how annoying the security confirmations can be. Any time you install a program, install drivers, run programs that need administrative rights, change certain configuration settings, etc., you are forced to confirm your actions before continuing. Fortunately, there are ways to disable these prompts.

First we need to understand what causes these prompts. User Account Control or UAC is a new security feature in Windows Vista that gives applications only standard user privileges when they run. This helps to prevent applications and malware from destroying critical operating system components that they would otherwise be able to do with administrative rights. The annoying side effect of this, however, is that each time an application needs administrative rights, you are presented with a “Windows needs your permission to continue” prompt.

Windows Vista does have the option of disabling UAC completely. Disabling UAC will suppress the prompts but also disables all of the other positive effects associated with UAC such as running applications with standard user rights, running Internet Explorer in protected mode, etc. When you disable UAC, you are essentially running Windows Vista with the same type of security as Windows XP. You can disable UAC in Vista by performing the following steps.

Step 1: Click the Start menu and in the Start Search box, type msconfig and hit enter. If you receive a security warning, click “Continue.”

Step 2: Click the “Tools” tab.

Step 3: Select “Disable UAC” and click “Launch.”

Step 4: Close out of the command prompt window and the msconfig window. Now reboot the computer for settings to take effect.

A better option is to switch UAC into “Quiet Mode” using TweakUAC or WinCleaner UAC Switch. Quiet mode allows you to still experience the positive effects of UAC but disables the prompts when an application needs administrative rights. In this mode you are giving control back to the computer, and in a sense, the computer is hitting the continue button for you when an application needs administrative rights.

Both of these options get rid of the annoying prompts but do not offer the full protection that UAC was designed to give. You should only follow these steps if you are an experienced user and are not worried about malware.

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Top 10 Mac Repair Tools

Casey — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As Macs continue to gain market share, there is an increased likelihood that you will have to support them if you are a tech. And even if you aren’t a tech, it’s good to know which tools are the best to use when it comes time to repair your own. I have put together a list of what are, in my opinion, the ten best repair tools for troubleshooting, diagnosing, and repairing a Mac.

TechTool Protogo

TechTool Protogo is a Mac repair program suite which contains three of Micromat’s best Mac repair tools; TechTool Pro 4, TechTool Pro Classic, and DiskStudio. Protogo creates a bootable Mac repair toolbox with these tools as well as any of your own tools on a portable hard drive or flash drive. You can then boot from this drive, bypassing the OS, and run diagnostics on a computer to determine problems. Protogo also allows you to repair and recover data from problematic hard drives as well as defragment, optimize, and securely delete data. If you do not want to use your own portable drive, you can also purchase TechTool Protege which includes all of the same tools but comes on a FireWire based bootable flash drive.

Cost: $135.00

Memtest OS X

Memtest OS X is a memory testing program for Mac OS X. It is a command line utility so it can be ran in OS X or in Single-User Mode if your Mac will not boot. It is great for testing intermittent system problems when you are having trouble determining if it is a memory problem. If you prefer memtest with a GUI front-end, then be sure to check out Rember. Rember will run in OS X but will not work in Single-User Mode so Memtest OS X is the better option.

Cost: $1.39

DiskWarrior 4

DiskWarrior is arguably one of the best hard drive repair programs for the Mac. It works differently than other data repair programs. Instead of trying to rebuild the damaged data itself, DiskWarrior builds replacement data based off of the original data. It then verifies the new data structure based on the original to make sure it is error free. You can also use DiskWarrior as a preventative maintenance utility for hard disks. When ran, it rebuilds your directory eliminating any damage that you may not be aware of. It also optimizes the directory for better performance.

Cost: $99.95

OnyX

Onyx is a maintenance, optimization, and personalization utility for Mac OS X. It allows you to run hard drive diagnostics, run system maintenance tasks, delete caches, and configure tons of OS X hidden features. Even if you aren’t using it as a repair utility, it is a great application to help keep your Mac running in top shape.

Cost: Free!

Data Rescue II

Data Rescue II is a data recovery program that focuses purely on recovering data from corrupt drives instead of hard drive repair. It scans the corrupt drive analyzing all of its contents and allows you to choose which data you would like to recover. It even scans for deleted files. Data Rescue II restores the data to a separate drive leaving the original data intact. It comes with an emergency boot CD that you can use to recover data when the computer will not boot and it also works on drives that won’t mount.

Cost: $99.00

AppCleaner

AppCleaner may not be classified as a repair tool but it can be used as one. When you are having trouble with an application in OS X, you can simply remove it by dragging it to the Trash. However, this still leaves behind the applications preferences, caches, and other files that could still cause the same problem after you reinstall it. AppCleaner will remove all of these files making sure that the app is completely gone before you attempt a reinstall.

Cost: Free!

Drive Genius 2

Drive Genius 2 is a disk utility application for Macs. Its main features include defragmenting, running benchtests, directory repair, integrity checks, surface scans, repartitioning, cloning, shredding data, and more. This is actually the same program used to defrag Macs at the Genius Bar in Apple Stores. Drive Genius also comes on a bootable DVD so you can run it even when a Mac will not boot.

Cost: $99.00

Carbon Copy Cloner

Carbon Copy Cloner is a simple yet very effective backup utility for the Mac. Like most other backup utilities, it can be scheduled to backup your Mac on a regular basis. The best part, however, is its ability to completely clone a hard drive with it still being bootable. This tool comes in very handy when you are replacing hard drives, setting up multiple Macs, or recovering from a system crash. Carbon Copy Cloner is donation-ware so you can download it for free without any restrictions. You can also check out SuperDuper which has more features but costs $27.95. However, if you just need a simple backup and cloning utility, Carbon Copy Cloner does a great job.

Cost: Free! (donation-ware)

AppleJack

AppleJack is a troubleshooting utility for Mac OS X. It runs under Single-User Mode so it can be used even when OS X will not boot. AppleJack will repair disks, repair permissions, cleanup cache files, validate preference files, and remove swap files. You can select these tasks individually or have AppleJack run all of them and even reboot when finished. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, AppleJack is not yet compatible with Leopard but a new version is in the works. Be sure to check their page frequently for an update because this is an invaluable tool.

Cost: Free! (open-source)

Hardware Monitor

Hardware Monitor is a utility that allows you to view data from the hardware sensors in a Mac. It currently has support for temperature readings, battery data, voltage, current, fan speed, power and load, ambient light, as well as user-defined artificial sensors. It’s a great utility to use when simply trying to find out if your hardware is malfunctioning.

Cost: € 7.00 (can also be purchased with U.S. Dollars)

What Mac OS X repair tools do you like?

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How to Audit Your Microsoft Software Licenses

Casey — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Keeping track of Microsoft licenses can be a daunting task when you manage a network with multiple computers. This can be especially true when you are given the task of inventorying computers on a network that you personally did not set up. You could go to each computer and inventory it individually but this could take lots of time depending on the amount of computers. Or, you could use a free program that will scan each computer on a network and do this for you.

The Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer will scan a network and give you a report of which Microsoft products are currently installed on each computer. You can then use this report to figure out how many licenses you will need to purchase or how many extra licenses you have. In the following tutorial, I would like to guide you through the step by step process of using this tool.

Before We Begin:

Download and run the Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer.

Step 1:

After you run the program, you will be presented with the welcome screen. Click “Next.”

Step 2:

You will now choose your scan settings. You have two options. You can choose “Scan using Custom settings” if you plan on scanning the network frequently or “Scan using wizard” for just a one time scan. For now lets just choose “Scan using wizard.” Click “Next.”

Step 3:

Next you will choose the type of scan. Choose “Network” to scan a network. If you are not logged into the network with administrator rights then click “Login As…” to put in your username and password. Click “Next.”

Step 4:

Now you will choose which machines on the network to scan. For this tutorial, I am going to select “Specify the range of IP addresses” because not all of the computers on this network log into the domain. Click “Next.”

Step 5:

Now enter the range of IP addresses that you want to scan. When finished, click “Next.”

Step 6:

Now you will choose which types of Microsoft products you want to scan for. You can choose individual products are all Microsoft products. When finished, click “Next.”

Step 7:

Choose the type of format that you want to generate your report in as well as where you would like the report to be saved. Click “Next.”

Step 8:

You now have the options of consolidating this report with other reports you have generated. Click “Next.”

Step 9:

You will now confirm your settings. You can even have the report emailed to someone including yourself if you like. You can also save these settings as default settings so they come up next time you run MSIA. When finished, click “Next.”

Step 10:

MSIA will now scan the computers on your network for the Microsoft products you specified. When the scan is finished, you will be presented with a list of machines that MSIA failed to scan and the reason why it couldn’t scan them. You can attempt to fix the problems with the machines and rescan them by selecting the check box next to them or skip them by just clicking “Next.”

Step 11:

Your scan is now complete. Click “Finish” to view your report.

You will now see a report of all the Microsoft Products you scanned for that are installed on the computers on the network. By default, MSIA will tell you that each product has a license deficiency until you tell MSIA how many licenses you own. MSIA will even tell you which Service Pack is installed so it can also aid you in discovering which machines need updating.

Feel free to share your experience with MSIA or any other similar programs.

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Practice Installing Windows Using a Simulator

Casey — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

For most computer techs, installing Windows seems pretty straight forward. That’s because, if you are like me, then you have probably done it a thousand times. However, for those just getting into IT, this may not be the case. If you have no experience with installing Windows then you can now familiarize yourself with this process by using the free Windows XP Setup Simulator.

The Windows XP Setup Simulator allows you to practice installing Windows as much as you want on any computer. Just simply run the program and you are guided through the setup process just as if you were actually installing Windows on a computer.

The simulator is self-contained so it doesn’t interfere with your current Windows installation in any way. You can also use it to practice your Windows 2003 installations because the process is very similar.

The simulator also comes packaged with a guide that explains every step in the Windows XP setup process.

Unfortuantely, there isn’t a Windows Vista or 2008 Setup Simulator available yet that I know of. For now, you can just follow Installing Windows Vista: A How-To Guide and How to Install Windows 2008 Server Step by Step.

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Create a Batch File to Easily Refresh Network Settings

Casey — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you are an emerging computer tech and you haven’t already become accustom to using the ipconfig command, you soon will. This command is most commonly used at the DOS prompt to see a computer’s current IP configuration. Using this command with three different switches also allows you to refresh a computer’s network settings which can be very useful when troubleshooting network issues. In the following tutorial, I would like to show you how you can create a batch file that will run this command along with its switches to quickly refresh a computer’s network settings.

Before we get started, it might be helpful for you to first understand what a batch file is. A batch file is a simple text file that can run a series of DOS commands when executed. They can be created using Windows Notepad or any other plain text editor. You simply enter the DOS commands that you would like to run and save the file with a .bat extension. You can then execute it by simply double clicking on it.

Lets get started.

Step 1: Click on the “Start” menu and go to “All Programs”. Go to “Accessories” and open “Notepad”.

Step 2: In Notepad, type in the following commands which will be run to refresh a computer’s network settings.

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew

It should look like this.

The “release” switch will release your current IP address settings. The “flushdns” switch will flush the DNS resolver cache. The “renew” switch will renew your IP address settings.

Step 3: Now click on the “File” menu and select “Save As”. Change the “Save As Type” field to “All Files” located near the bottom of the window. Now enter a “File Name” such as “Refresh.bat” without the quotes. It is important that you put the .bat extension on the end of the file name or you will not be able to execute it as a batch file. Choose a “Save In” location and click the “Save” button to save it.

Step 4: Now you can run your new batch file by double clicking on it.

After the batch file has finished executing, the computer’s network settings will be refreshed.

You can put this file on your desktop for quick access or on a flash drive to use on other computers. It can be run on any Windows machine including XP and Vista. Remember, these commands will only work if the computer is set up to obtain an IP address automatically and will not work if the computer has a hard-coded IP address.

If you have any experience using batch files, please feel free to share what you use them for.

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