S.M.A.R.T stands for Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. S.M.A.R.T is a set of technology standards for monitoring hard drives for problems. S.M.A.R.T can report on hard drive performance and can be used to predict if a hard drive is going to fail. Most if not all newer hard drives are smart compatible.
Here is a small little tool that will monitor your hard drives S.M.A.R.T data in real time and alert you of any problems.
Get S.M.A.R.T
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Text Messaging For Free
Text messaging is not cheep, and if you use a work phone chances are that it's even blocked.
Here are a few ways to send and receive text messages for free.
Send via an SMS Gateway.
Every phone carrier has whats called an SMS Gateway that you can use for free. Basically its a way of sending and email to an address which then converts it to an text message. My phones are on Verizon so an example of how to send me a text message would be to send an email to MyPhoneNumber@VText.com
Below is a list of SMS Gateways for the major phone carriers.
Sprint phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon phonenumber@vtext.com
T-Mobile phonenumber@tmomail.com
AT&T phonenumber@txt.att.net
Send via Gmail or AOL instant messenger
Another way to send and receive text messages for free is to use a Gmail or AOL account. Basically you assign a phone number to a contact and you can send and receive text messages in a chat window. Very easy and its free.
Use txtDrop.com
txtDrop.com is a free service that allows you to send and receive text messages a few different ways. You can use their website or you can install a little app on your computer that acts like a chat window to send and receive.
Here are a few ways to send and receive text messages for free.
Send via an SMS Gateway.
Every phone carrier has whats called an SMS Gateway that you can use for free. Basically its a way of sending and email to an address which then converts it to an text message. My phones are on Verizon so an example of how to send me a text message would be to send an email to MyPhoneNumber@VText.com
Below is a list of SMS Gateways for the major phone carriers.
Sprint phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon phonenumber@vtext.com
T-Mobile phonenumber@tmomail.com
AT&T phonenumber@txt.att.net
Send via Gmail or AOL instant messenger
Another way to send and receive text messages for free is to use a Gmail or AOL account. Basically you assign a phone number to a contact and you can send and receive text messages in a chat window. Very easy and its free.
Use txtDrop.com
txtDrop.com is a free service that allows you to send and receive text messages a few different ways. You can use their website or you can install a little app on your computer that acts like a chat window to send and receive.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Blackberry Enterprise Server Install Links
Useful Links from my last Blackberry Enterprise Server install.
Exchange Permissions
Local and AD Permissions
Install Guide
Exchange Permissions
Local and AD Permissions
Install Guide
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Tapping Cell Phones
Sometimes innocence IS bliss......
I came across and interesting article this week talking about how easy it is to tap cell phones. You can see all text messages, hear every call, and track where the phone is at all times using it's internal GPS. And the scariest feature of all? The internal speaker phone mic on the cell phone can be activated and the hacker/stalker can listen to what the person is saying at any time without the person knowing about it.
VERY scary stuff! If you do a little digging there are a ton of sites with programs to do this type of thing.
Here are two short videos from news stations doing a report on this type of thing.
Video1
Video2
I came across and interesting article this week talking about how easy it is to tap cell phones. You can see all text messages, hear every call, and track where the phone is at all times using it's internal GPS. And the scariest feature of all? The internal speaker phone mic on the cell phone can be activated and the hacker/stalker can listen to what the person is saying at any time without the person knowing about it.
VERY scary stuff! If you do a little digging there are a ton of sites with programs to do this type of thing.
Here are two short videos from news stations doing a report on this type of thing.
Video1
Video2
Monday, May 11, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
TS Web Access -- IE ActiveX Problems
Came across a problem today where I had an Windows XP computer that was trying to connect to our TS Web Access site and could not get past the "You must install the ActiveX control". The XP workstation was SP3 and had RDP Client 6.1 installed. Looking in the Manage Add-On's in IE there was no RDP or Terminal Services Add-On.
Turns out to fix this problem all you have to do is delete two registry keys.....
Below are the steps to fix this problem .
1. Open Regedit and find the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings
2. Within the Settings sub-key, delete the following sub-keys:
{4eb89ff4-7f78-4a0f-8b8d-2bf02e94e4b2}
{7390f3d8-0439-4c05-91e3-cf5cb290c3d0}
Turns out to fix this problem all you have to do is delete two registry keys.....
Below are the steps to fix this problem .
1. Open Regedit and find the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings
2. Within the Settings sub-key, delete the following sub-keys:
{4eb89ff4-7f78-4a0f-8b8d-2bf02e94e4b2}
{7390f3d8-0439-4c05-91e3-cf5cb290c3d0}
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Free Data Recovery Tools
Recovering deleted files from Windows
When a file in windows is deleted its not really deleted, at least not right away. When you delete a file in windows, windows hides the file from view and marks the space on the disk where the file is as writable space. What this means is that your file is still on your hard drive until windows writes over that space with a new file. Sometimes this process can happen immediately other times it could be months or years.
There are a bunch of tools on the market that you can use to recover files that have been deleted.
Most of them cost money but there are few free ones. I have added a few links to some of the free ones.
One note I have had different results from different programs so sometimes you might have to use more than one program to find what you need.
Recuva
Windows tool that can also recover files from Hard Disk and Removable Media like MP3 players, cameras, and flash drives.
Undelete Plus
Windows program that run on Windows 95 through Vista.
Testdisk
Its a dos based tool so there is not windows GUI, but if you can find your was around the DOS commands its one of the most advanced free recovery tool out there.
Restoration
Another windows tool
When a file in windows is deleted its not really deleted, at least not right away. When you delete a file in windows, windows hides the file from view and marks the space on the disk where the file is as writable space. What this means is that your file is still on your hard drive until windows writes over that space with a new file. Sometimes this process can happen immediately other times it could be months or years.
There are a bunch of tools on the market that you can use to recover files that have been deleted.
Most of them cost money but there are few free ones. I have added a few links to some of the free ones.
One note I have had different results from different programs so sometimes you might have to use more than one program to find what you need.
Recuva
Windows tool that can also recover files from Hard Disk and Removable Media like MP3 players, cameras, and flash drives.
Undelete Plus
Windows program that run on Windows 95 through Vista.
Testdisk
Its a dos based tool so there is not windows GUI, but if you can find your was around the DOS commands its one of the most advanced free recovery tool out there.
Restoration
Another windows tool
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