Lets get that bad Windows 8 taste out of our mouths with a little Speccy

 Speccy

Get your Windows Key / Windows 8 for free

Windows 8 is a great operating system. I use it everyday and haven't had a single issue. It takes some getting use to but thanks to Apple force feeding us now Microsoft feels they need to do the same. 

Speccy is a free program for home use to let you uncover your windows 8 key from Piriform (the great makers of CCleaner). With Windows 8 and Media center I ran into a lot of confusion about how this really works. You can only install with your original key and you upgrade to you media center key. So if you get your media center key it will only help you in the upgrade. You will need to find your original receipt with the Windows 8 key.

http://www.piriform.com/speccy

Look both ways before Backing Up, Time to stop playing with Toys

http://www.gfi.com/downloads/mirrors.aspx?pid=bkupf


I was recently working with SYNC TOYwhere I had Visual Studio files stored in a directory the Visual Studio application created for me when I started the project. I tried to used sync toy, a backup utility also from Microsoft that simply synchronizes or echos files from one directory to another. The problem was I had a project folder with the same name as the subfolder with the same project. SYNC TOY would only dump the contents of the second branch of the tree into the first branch. This made a real mess that I couldn't clean up and I wanted the project to maintain the same file and folder structure as the original project because if things go wrong I want to put it back the way it was before the failure.

I found a free utility that seems to work out well. It creates a full tree and ultimately folders containing files from what ever branch of the tree you select. You can also create backup projects and add the individual backups to a single project to back up with one click. If you want to speed things up and you only have one folder needing backing up then you can run the backup for just that folder.

http://www.gfi.com/downloads/mirrors.aspx?pid=bkupf

The backups can be batched together as shown below with the task group VS Projects.

You can do a large backup or simply synchronize files.

You select the first location then where you want it to end up and the method to get it there so you have a choice of date or date and CRC. You can also tell it which way to echo or to synchronize.

Finally you can put this on a schedule.



This is a full featured backup / files sync utility.

Rename Files - Another fine mess

http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php

Don't think you are going to use DOS because you are as old as these guys and know what you are doing. If you need to rename files and the file extensions are tied up in your mess you will either have to do a copy then wait and hope you did it right or try bulkrenameutility



The utility has a interface that is more confusing than programming in FORTRAN.

So what.

Select the files you want to rename. In the RegEX(1) box put what you want to match on, extension and all.

In the Repl (3) box put what you want it to be. Extension and all.
















You can explore other options but I would read the PDF manual first. Don't be a STOOGE.

Toying with Text

Searching for text and creating reports from large text files in windows can be a bit of a pain. In Unix you can use GREP and EGREP with limited success. So here we have 2 free tools to find and replace text and to create reports from large and multiple text files. I wrote RAMPART REPORT to help me do my job (check it out below). I use EDIT PLUS for most of my text manipulation needs but here is a free solution for find and replace which you will find more difficult in Vista and Windows7.

http://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/content/textcrawler

TextCrawler is a fantastic tool for anyone who works with text files. This cool utility enables you to instantly find and replace words and phrases across multiple files and folders. It utilises a powerful Regular Expression engine to enable you to create sophisticated searches, preview replace, perform batch operations, extract text from files and more. It is fast and easy to use, and as powerful as you need it to be.

Also:

http://rampart-ssh.com/

http://rampart-ssh.com/downloads/download_report.asp

Rampart Report
A program that allows you to do Boolean searches of log file. This is really a much more powerful GREP for windows.

You can search for lines in a file containing any combination of up to 5 search terms. You can search any combination of AND / OR. You can also filter your search.

The program allows you to search multiple files in a directory. You can specify which lines you would like to pull above and below the line you are searching for. You can do 3 layers of sub searches. Search and filter any combination to get the results you are looking for.

Now GREP on Steroids (Windows Only)

Little Devil is up to no good?

This Linux distro lets you create your own FREE network attached storage. If you have old drives hanging around and a slow machine this little devil can give you a place to share files around all your machines on the network.


http://freenas.org/doku.php

FreeNAS is an embedded open source NAS (Network-Attached Storage) distribution based on FreeBSD, supporting the following protocols: CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, TFTP, AFP, RSYNC, Unison, iSCSI (initiator and target) and UPnP.

It supports Software RAID (0,1,5), ZFS, disk encryption, S.M.A.R.T/email monitoring with a WEB configuration interface (from m0n0wall).

FreeNAS can be installed on Compact Flash/USB key, hard drive or booted from LiveCD.

Feeling diabolical? But your the good guy? Your ISP won't think so.

http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools

MLAB is attempting to provide users with the tools to test their broadband connections by briefly communicating with a server elsewhere on the Internet.

I could have a lab like Dexter if it wasn't for the high cost of maintenance and power. Besides I don't have a basement.


Ping testing doesn't really tell you that much about your connection. You get your response time and whether your packets made it or not. The ISP world treats ICMP packets (PING) with very low priority. Also routers do more than route these days. High speed routers forward packets in hardware with very little processing required allowing them to handle more data faster.

Your packets are queued, buffered, and prioritized based on many factors. In many ways its like a first class ticket on a plane. The more you pay the better your treated. But imagine if the plane was loosing fuel and they needed to loose weight or they will crash. Imagine if they decided to throw third class passengers out the door.

The plane analogy doesn't describe the Internet very well. Its more like a highway with a HOV lane for the rich, When traffic is flowing good everyone is treated the same. When traffic is congested the HOV cars get through. The reason I like the plane analogy because in the HOV analogy all cars make it to the destination. In reality on the Internet your packets get tossed out to prevent the situation from getting worse for everyone.

Now you have the tools to see if your being treated like a customer or a criminal.

Network Diagnostic Tool
Test your connection speed and receive sophisticated diagnosis of problems limiting speed.
Glasnost
Test whether BitTorrent is being blocked or throttled.
Network Path and Application Diagnosis
Diagnose common problems that impact last-mile broadband networks.
DiffProbe (coming soon)
Determine whether an ISP is giving some traffic a lower priority than other traffic.
NANO (coming soon)
Determine whether an ISP is degrading the performance of a certain subset of users, applications, or destinations.


The PlanetLab Consortium joins Google and the Open Technology Institute in creating Measurement Lab (M-Lab), a distributed server platform for deploying Internet measurement tools. M-Lab is designed to empower the public with useful information about their broadband connections.

Don't let the ISPs run away with your re-concatenator/assembler high speed compression port adaptor.

All is Quiet, or is it?

http://www.wireshark.org/
The bad guys want to use your PC for there illegal activity so they won't get caught. Have you ever had that feeling that your being watched? How about being used? This much I can tell you, everyone is being watched and more people than you can imagine are being used. I hear the numbers are as high as 40% of all windows based PC may be hijacked.

Wireshark is a network sniffer that will capture everything off your local LAN. I wouldn't use this at work or anywhere you invade the privacy of others. You need to get your ip address of your machine and monitor activity or capture activity when the machine is idle and not in use.

If nothing is happening you can generate some activity such as web browsing to get a feel for what you should expect to see. If you leave it running during times when you are suspect you can confirm your suspicions one way or another.

http://www.wireshark.org/

You can install a firewall to help give you an idea of what is leaving you PC but these guys are good at turning these tools off without your knowledge.

So you have to fight these guys from the trenches.

This is what they say about the program:

Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many industries and educational institutions.

Wireshark development thrives thanks to the contributions of networking experts across the globe. It is the continuation of a project that started in 1998.

Features:
Wireshark has a rich feature set which includes the following:
Deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, with more being added all the time
Live capture and offline analysis
--Standard three-pane packet browser
--Multi-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others
--Captured network data can be browsed via a GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility
--The most powerful display filters in the industry
--Rich VoIP analysis
--Read/write many different capture file formats: tcpdump (libpcap), Catapult DCT2000, Cisco Secure IDS iplog, Microsoft Network Monitor, Network General Sniffer® (compressed and uncompressed), Sniffer® Pro, and NetXray®, Network Instruments Observer, Novell LANalyzer, RADCOM WAN/LAN Analyzer, Shomiti/Finisar Surveyor, Tektronix K12xx, Visual Networks Visual UpTime, WildPackets EtherPeek/TokenPeek/AiroPeek, and many others
--Capture files compressed with gzip can be decompressed on the fly
--Live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, ---Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platfrom)
--Decryption support for many protocols, including IPsec, ISAKMP, Kerberos, SNMPv3, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2
--Coloring rules can be applied to the packet list for quick, intuitive analysis
--Output can be exported to XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text

Sometimes its hard to see clearly

WinMerge Might Just help. This is no easy task to develop a program to do this kind of data comparision.

Features:
Visual differencing and merging of text files
Flexible editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers and word-wrap
Handles DOS, UNIX and MAC text file formats
Unicode support
Difference pane shows current difference in two vertical panes
Location pane shows map of files compared
Highlights differences inside lines in file compare
Regular Expression based file filters in directory compare allow excluding and including items
Moved lines detection in file compare
Creates patch files
Shell Integration (supports 64-bit Windows versions)
Rudimentary Visual SourceSafe and Rational ClearCase integration
Archive file support using 7-Zip
Plugin support
Localizable interface via resource DLL
Online manual and installed HTML Help manual

http://winmerge.org/

Finally Grep for windows

Just Added: Rampart Report - A program that allows you to do Boolean searches of log file. This is really a much more powerful GREP for windows. This is a Beta since I just created it and I could use feedback to make it better for everyone.


http://rampart-ssh.com

So you use Linux or Unix how can this help you? It is simple. Do a grep on what you are looking for and save the file to a windows machine. You can use my emulator to do this quickly. Then use the report generator to get the results that aren't so easy to obtain using Linux, GREP or EGREP.

You can search for lines in a file containing any combination of up to 5 search terms. You can search any combination of AND / OR. You can also filter your search.

The program allows you to search multiple files in a directory. You can also specify which lines you would like to pull above and below the line you are searching for. I have also included 3 layers of sub searches.

You should be able to search and filter any combination to get the results you are looking for.

Now GREP on Steroids (Windows Only)

The top box is a search or multiple files where you choose a wild card.

The next box is to search a single file. All of the features work for both search types but the multi file search annotates the report with what file the lines came from in 2 possible ways. The first is marking each line with the file name. The other is inserting a break between the results of each file.

You have 5 search boxes A- E. The check box to the left allows you or AND the search boxes such as (A and B) or C or (D and E).

The list boxes to the right allow you to pull any combination of lines above or below the line you specified in your search. You use click and drag or ctrl click to select or de-select multiple selections.

The with comments checkbox tells you which line was pulled above or below your search.

The exclude search line only pulls the lines above and below and leaves out your search line.

The spaces ckeckbox puts a space 0r newline between each search result.

The sub searches allow you to search again on the results you just search to further filter your results.

You can load a filter from a file. I do this to generate reports and filtering to see the data that is important to me from SYSLOGs.

rampart-ssh terminal emulator now supports VT100 logging

rampart-ssh.com

Simply the fastest most reliable terminal emulator on the internet. The best part is it is free.

Supports all SSH and telnet including VT100

Do you perform mission critical operations?

Pasting text into router configs - you better know whats on that clipboard before you paste it.
Connected to console ports remotely - you better not loose your connection or have a application crash in the middle of mission critical work.

Seven windows open with hours of outage data and troubleshooting then your emulator crashes. Why put up with this?

Your boss wants to know exactly what you did on that router and when you did it. Can you tell him?

Work faster and more efficiently - Rampart-SSH is faster than any other emulator and includes 3 active log files and a buffer log at you finger tips. No more scrolling thousands of lines to trace back you work. Clear your mind, let the tool manage the work flow so you can concentrate on troubleshooting.

Light (it has a small memory foot print)
One stop shop - Command menus, Links, and tools at your finger tips so you stay organized and focused.

There is embedded advanced Cisco MPLS VPN troubleshooting that ends the cut and paste nightmare with a click of a button. You simply do "show ip vrf int" then point at the interface and right click. You will be able to generate a list of all of the useful VPN commands pre-built for that interface or sub interface. You right click any of those commands and paste and execute them in your terminal. No typing required to ping or do any show commands.

Just Added: VT100 terminal logging. The application will log VT100 format data