Configuring DNS Client Settings Configuring DNS client computers typically entail the execution of the following administrative tasks: Setting the client computer names for each computer. The computer names that you configure should not be greater than 63 bytes. The name can only include: Uppercase letters; A – Z Lowercase letters; a – z Numbers; 0 – 9 Hyphens Configure a primary DNS suffix for the computer. The primary DNS suffix of the computer is the name of the Active Directory domain that the computer is a member of, by default. Read More

IP Packet Filter Overview Access rules and packet filtering should be configured on firewalls to control both source and destination addresses and ports. With packet filtering, you can manage the flow of IP packets to ISA Server and from ISA Server. Packet filtering inspects the header of each packet for protocol, port, and destination address and source address information. Packets are dropped if they are not explicitly allowed. IP packet filters can be configured when ISA Server is installed in either of these modes: Firewall mode Integrated mode Packet filters Read More

If you receive an error message which reads: Windows error "Device Driver has corrupted the executive memory pool., it basically means that there is a corruption with a driver somewhere on your system. This issue can occur when an attempt to touch invalid memory at a process IRQL that is too high occurs. This is almost always caused by drivers that have corrupted the system pool. The number one cause for this problem is overwriting the end of a memory buffer; this overwrites the pool header for the NEXT block Read More

ISA Server Planning Overview When planning your ISA Server installation, there are a number of factors that you need to consider and others that you need to determine: How network topology needs to be configured to incorporate ISA Server. The size of the network. How you are going to achieve Internet connectivity. The needs and requirements of users. Active Directory integration requirements. The different ISA Server installation options. Is ISA Server going to be as a standalone server or an array? ISA Server array considerations (if applicable). The ISA Server Read More

The System Idle Process on computers running the Microsoft Windows Operating System (OS) typically displays when it is using more than 90% of the computer’s CPU. This confuses many users as they believe that there is an OS error or more drastically that the computer is infected with malware. In reality, the System Idle Process is designed to perform house keeping functions on the computer when the CPU is not tasked with any significant work. What Does the System Idle Process Do? The System Idle Process is a special task Read More

What is Group Policy Group Policy is an Active Directory feature that provides the means for you to effectively and efficiently manage large numbers of computers. You can manage both user and computer configuration settings centrally, from one position of administration. You can define group policies as being a collection of user and computer configuration settings which you can link to the following components: Computers Sites Domains Organizational Units (OUs) Once linked, Group Policy defines the manner in which the operating system, network resources, and applications and programs operate for Read More

Understanding the FAT File Systems The FAT file system was initially introduced with the MS-DOS operating system (OS) when hard disks were generally much smaller, and the structure of folders was not as intricate as it is in networks today. The FAT file system continues to be supported by each Microsoft OS since its advent. The initial FAT file system could only support a maximum partition size of 2GB. What this meant was that where a computer’s hard disk drive was greater than 2GB, you had to partition the drive Read More

DirectX is a collection of software necessary for different multimedia applications to run properly. Specifically, many people who play computer games run into the problem of having to update their DirectX. However, when buying a new game, for example, it helps to know what version of DirectX is installed on the computer so you can decide whether you need to upgrade or not. One of the things that should be understood about DirectX is that, for the most part, it is backwards compatible. If you have DirectX 9 installed on Read More

A DLL (Dynamic Link Library) consists of instructions to operate hardware units, system, utility, and application software. A DLL is a type of executable file that cannot be executed manually. Only other executable files such as .exe or .dll can execute it. Typically, Microsoft Operating Systems do not allow users to view .dll files (or various other system files for that matter) until they opt to “Show hidden files and folders” in the folder containing .dll files. To do this in Windows XP follow these steps: Open a Windows Explorer Read More

Microsoft's Windows Installer components comprise the small constituents of a program, which are installed or removed collectively. They provide a useful way to not only install programs, but also gives the user the ability to manage these programs as well. Therefore, Microsoft Windows Installer has numerous functions to improve the tasks completed by the user: The Windows Installer can be used to remove programs already installed on the hard drive. By using the Windows Installer, all of the components of the program will be removed such as files, folders, and Read More