AdventuresInVista
Hints, Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Windows Vista

Flush Your DNS Cache With IPConfig
2 July 2009 in Help & Tips & Maintenance | Comments (0)

Do you find that sometimes websites fail to load, or act up generally? It *might* be that your DNS cache needs clearing out, or “flushing”.

Luckily, there is a command in ipconfig to do just that…

• Click “Start” > “All Programs” > “Accessories”
• Right-click “Command Prompt” and choose “Run As Administrator”
• Enter your admin password if you have one, or just click continue.
• Once the command prompt appears, type the following commpand…
  ipconfig /flushdns.. and hit ENTER.

That’s it! You should receive a message telling you that your DNS cache has been flushed. All you need to do then is close the Command Prompt.

Windows Vista SP2 now available for Download
27 May 2009 in Maintenance & Windows Update | Comments (1)

Microsoft yesterday announced the availability of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) via their Microsoft Download Center website.

The update, which combines both Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 in a single install, is designed to simplify deployment, management and support for IT professionals.

The new service pack includes many updates for both operating systems, many of which can be downloaded separately. However, the convenient “roll up” of these updates into a single package makes deployment, for both home users and network administrators, much easier.

You can read more about the included changes and updates by reading the Notable Changes Document.

Download Vista / Server 2008 SP2 for x86 systems here

Download Vista / Server 2008 SP2 for x64 systems here

The update is of course also available via Windows Update.

FTP built in to Vista (and XP!)
17 March 2009 in Help & Tips | Comments (1)

I never knew this, but I suppose it makes sense!

It turns out that there is FTP functionality built into Windows Explorer in both XP and Vista. So, no more dodgy versions of CuteFTP or WS-FTP - just connect, and then drag and drop your files, just like you would any other directory. Cool. Here’s what to do.

• Click the “Start” button, and enter your FTP address into the search box (remember to prefix with “ftp://”), then press <ENTER>. Here you can see me logging in to the work FTP…

Continue reading…

HOW-TO: Enable Active Directory / Vista
15 March 2009 in General & Help & Tips & Installation | Comments (0)

Following on from my observations the other day about how Windows Vista performs in a Windows Server / Active Directory environment, I thought I’d give you a quick overview of how to enable Vista to use your AD server.

This how-to assumes you have a fresh installation of Vista up and working, its connected to your network, you can get online, and your Active Directory system is setup and working. It also assumes you have already know a fair bit about Active Directory, networking, etc.

The first thing you need to do is open System Properties, so…

• Click the “Start” button
• Right-click “Computer”
• Click “Properties” on the popup menu

You should see the System window…

(your System window may look slightly different)

Continue reading…

Vista as a Business Workstation OS?
10 March 2009 in Compatibility & Installation & Security | Comments (0)

It’s a generally accepted rule that Windows Vista is rubbish when you use it as a client/workstation operating system on a Windows network. This means that the uptake of Vista among companies has been very poor, infact I’d go so far as to say almost non-existent. Certainly in the companies I work in, if you mention Vista you get a very protracted scowl from the IT department.

But why?

I was recently gifted the opportunity to find out just how well Vista performs in an Active Directory environment. And believe me, it was a gift I neither wanted nor enjoyed - my main PC hard drive failed. Big stylee. So in the end I went and bought a new machine.

Now, to be fair, I was all set to just throw XP Pro on and get my system back up and running as fast as possible. But then I got thinking “Is Vista really so bad for business use?!”.

This was the ideal opportunity to find out.. if it all went pear-shaped and I had to reinstall everything (again), I was only gonna lose another day. So after much deliberation, I took the plunge…

Continue reading…

IE8 Compatibility Mode - Make a Decision Microsoft!!
19 February 2009 in Internet Explorer 8 | Comments (0)

Sitepoint today reported on the return of IE8s “opt-in” to it’s Standards rendering mode.

I don’t want to repeat what they’ve said, but to give you a brief overview… IE8 is gonna be standards compliant, but there’s still some discussion as to how to facilitate rendering of IE-designed sites with the IE7 rendering engine. Continue reading…

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 Now Available
17 February 2009 in Internet Explorer 8 | Comments (0)

Microsoft recently made available a new version of Internet Explorer 8.

Release Candidate 1 (or RC1) is probably the final version before IE8 becomes production code, or the general release version. Therefore, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at some of the cool features now present in the browser.

As well as all the cool features mentioned in my previous posts on IE8 Beta 1 and Beta 2, some new things have appeared, and some upgrades have taken place.

Quick Tabs

One of the coolest features is Quick Tabs, although quite how useful it proves to be I’m not sure. Quick Tabs basically displays all your tabs on screen at once, in mini windows. Here it is in action…

Continue reading…

Introducing our new sister site - AdventuresInWindows7
15 February 2009 in AIV News & Windows 7 | Comments (0)

This is a Windows Vista blog, right? Correct.

Well, some of you may have noticed the previous post sneaking in about Windows 7 (the successor to Vista). I guess that’s allowed, after all 7 is just a tweaked Vista by all accounts.

However, I wanted to provide more comprehensive coverage of Windows 7 than I felt was acceptable on AdventuresInVista.

So… I’ve started another blog!

AdventuresInWindows7 will provide hints and tips for the new Windows 7, from the public BETA version, right through to final release and beyond.

So, no more Windows 7 talk here thank you very much! To get your Windows 7 fix please visit www.AdventuresInWindows7.com.

Introducing Windows 7
8 February 2009 in Screens + Vids & Windows 7 | Comments (0)

With the critics lambasting Windows Vista since launch, and the public perception being mostly negative, you can understand why Microsoft are keen to get us talking about Vista 2.0 - or rather, Windows 7.

You might, however, be suprised to learn that for the first time in it’s history, the company has decided to release a public BETA of the operating system. This working-but-not-bug-free version of Windows has been made available by Microsoft to gauge reaction to the new features, and to get feedback, bug reports, etc. Many companies do this on a regular basis with their software, but you don’t often see it with Operating Systems - can you image ever seeing a public beta of OS X, for example?

So, Windows 7…

Looks a bit different, no?

Continue reading…

New Forum for 2k8 Server Admins
4 February 2009 in Learning Resources | Comments (0)

A friend of mine recently launched Windows 2008 Forums - a community site dedicated to those of you managing servers running Windows 2008.

The site is just getting going, but I encourage you to check back often - if I know Dave, it will quickly become an invaluable resource.

Visit Windows 2008 Forums now!