IT Career Expectations

In an TR Dojo post, I asked TechRepublic members whether their IT career had turned out better, worse or about the same as they expected when first starting out. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the vast majority, 76 percent, reported their IT career being the same or better than they initially predicted.

As of this writing, 69 people had responded to the poll. Forty percent of respondents reported their IT career was better than they expected, 35 percent reported their career being about the same as expected, and 25 percent reported careers that had turned out worse than they initially expected. You can see how IT job satisfaction compares to other occupations in the IT Dojo blog.

Dell's Windows Vista Bonus program

Dell and HP are selling select, business computers loaded with Windows XP Professional. Customers can have Windows XP preinstalled and get a DVD to upgrade to Vista when they are ready.

You can read more about Dell and HP’s downgrade program in the IT Dojo blog.

Dell Inspiron 530: Windows Vista Home Basic vs. Windows Vista Business

Moving from Windows Vista Home Basic to Vista Business can be a pricey upgrade. Selecting Windows Vista Business adds $130 to the price of the Dell Inspiron 530.

You can read more about Dell and HP’s downgrade programs in the TR Dojo blog.

HP Compaq dx2400 Microtower: Windows Vista Home Basic vs. Windows Vista Business

HP wanted $80 to upgrade from a Windows Vista Home Basic license to a Windows Vista Business license with Windows XP Professional installed on an HP Compaq dx2400 Microtower.

You can read more about Dell and HP’s downgrade programs in the TR Dojo blog.

Bill Detwiler waiting in line for an iPhone 3G

Photo credit: Michelle Jones (Consuminglouisville.com)

TR Dojo: How to spoof a MAC address

When you support small offices, home offices, and remote offices, you often run across older wireless equipment. Equipment that’s likely secured with MAC filtering and perhaps a hidden SSID and WEP encryption.

Bill Detwiler thinks most techs would agree that MAC filtering alone isn’t going to secure a wireless network and that even WEP and a hidden SSID aren’t much better. But, does MAC filtering at least keep out the lazy hackers? In this TR Dojo video, he shows you just how easy it is to spoof a MAC address.

TR Out Loud - Community FAQ on July 18, 2008

TechRepublic’s Sonja Thompson is in San Francisco this week, checking out multimedia productions at the main office and then attending the BlogHer 2008 conference. Since time was cut too short to recap the data for the top discussions and members of the week, we decided to put together a TROLOV Community FAQ. The visual aid may be particularly helpful for newer members, and the hardcore members will at least have something to watch on Friday morning with their cup of coffee.

Sanity Savers for IT Executives: When should you do a major hardware upgrade?

The decision of when to buy new hardware on a large scale is typically driven by changing needs in the organization. The challenge is knowing how and when those changes translate into real hardware needs. This episode of Sanity Savers for IT Executives provides several questions to help guide IT leaders in the process.

TR Dojo: Automatically configure printers using Print Management in Windows Server 2003

Adding new printers to your network isn’t rocket science, but it can take time out of your already busy schedule. Luckily, there is a feature in Windows Server 2003 R2 that automatically detects and sets up printers on the same subnet. In this TR Dojo video, Bill Detwiler shows you how the Print Management Console can shave a little time off a common network administration task.

TR Out Loud - July 25, 2008

TROLOV (TR Out Loud on Video) is back in full swing this week, highlighting the most active discussions and members on the site. You’ll also get to see and hear the photos and voice messages that were sent in from the TR community.

Windows Vista ranked most-prevalent by only four percent of poll respondents

On July 8th, 2008, I asked TR Dojo blog readers to tell us which Windows version was most prevalent amount their end users. Three weeks later, over 1,300 people had answered the poll and picked a clear winner.

With 92 percent of the vote, Windows XP is still the clear favorite among the end users of those who answered the poll. Windows Vista was the second most-prevalent Windows version with four percent of the responses. Windows 2000 followed closely with three percent. And, Windows 95 (or earlier), Windows 98, and Windows Me accounted for only one percent of responses.

Although I wasn’t surprised by Windows XP’s dominance in our poll, I was surprised by the extremely low response for Windows Vista. More than a year after Vista’s release, Microsoft still struggles to counter the operating system’s lackluster image. Microsoft has finally statred to address Vista’s image problem, but as IT departments already look ahead to Windows 7, it might be too late to save Vista.

TR Dojo: Five things to consider when choosing a Linux distribution

Some argue that Linux distributions are essentially the same, and you should just pick the one with the color scheme you like the best. In reality however, distributions are different and some will suit your company’s needs better than others.

In this TR Dojo video, Bill Detwiler discusses five critical factors IT managers should consider when choosing a Linux distribution.

TR Dojo: Remove all remnants of the Windows Vista SP1 installation files

When you install Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the process leaves behind about 800 MBs of original Windows Vista files–in case you want to remove SP1. In this TR Dojo video, Bill Detwiler shows you how to remove all those old files using the SP1 Files Removal Tool.

TR Out Loud - August 1, 2008

After some technical difficulties in the studio, TechRepublic’ s Sonja Thompson, Toni Bowers, and Jason Hiner put together one heck of a show. Find out what discussions and members topped the charts on the site this week, plus the extent of community participation for TROLOV.

Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008

This week, Bill Detwiler will be attending Gartner’s Symposium/ITxpo 2008 in Orlando, Florida. Jason Hiner, TechRepublic Editor-in-Chief, and Larry Dignan, ZDNet Editor-in-Chief, will also be covering the event. Gartner expects nearly 6,000 attendees to attend the event’s keynotes, presentations, one-on-one meetings with Gartner analysts, and the expo show floor.

Bill will be gathering information on three critical IT trends–virtualization, unified communications, and the consumerization of IT. He’ll also be scouring the ITxpo show floor for interesting products and services. You can follow Bill’s coverage of Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008 in the IT Dojo blog.

Four ways virtualization changes IT's relationship with other business units

According to Gartner analyst Thomas Bittman, virtualization will fundamentally change the relationship IT has with other parts of the business. During his presentation, Virtualization Changes Virtually Everything, at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008, Bittman said this change would manifest itself in four ways–services replace equipment, agility, funding mechanisms, and sourcing.

Bill Detwiler agrees with Bittman’s overall analysis, but believes there are a few caveats and additional considerations IT organizations need to consider. In his blog post, “Four ways virtualization changes IT’s relationship with other business units,” bill walks through each of Bittman’s changes and gives you his take.

Amazon Kindle: Front

With its paper-like display, wireless capability, PC-free operation, and thousands of titles from Amazon’s catalog behind it, the Kindle may be the first e-book reader to gain broad acceptance. Bill Detwiler tested the Kindle. His experience was positive but, Kindle seems best-suited for people with very specific reading needs.

For Bill’s full review, read his article, “Geek Gift Guide 2008: Amazon Kindle”.

Amazon Kindle: Back

With its paper-like display, wireless capability, PC-free operation, and thousands of titles from Amazon’s catalog behind it, the Kindle may be the first e-book reader to gain broad acceptance. Bill Detwiler tested the Kindle. His experience was positive but, Kindle seems best-suited for people with very specific reading needs.

For Bill’s full review, read his article, “Geek Gift Guide 2008: Amazon Kindle”.

Geek Gifts 2008: Flip Mino (front)

Geek Gifts 2008: Flip Mino (back)

Geek Gifts 2008: Flip Mino (Connected via USB)

Replace your Wii sensor bar with candles

A broken Wii sensor bar doesn’t have to end your dinner party’s Wii Sports tournament. Find out how to replace the sensor bar with two hacked remotes, a couple of IR bulbs and batteries, or even a pair of candles.??http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/itdojo/?p=200

Fujitsu PalmSecure biometric scanner

Biometric security measures have long been used to control physical access to high-security resources. And in the past few years, they’ve made their way into the mainstream computer market–most commonly in the form of fingerprint scanners. But is there’s a new technology on the market that offers some significant advantages over traditional fingerprint scanners–Fujitsu’s Palm Vein Authentication technology or PalmSecure.

In a March 2009 podcast, Bill Detwiler spoke with Dan Miller, Development Manager for PalmSecure, about the how the technology works, the advantages it offers over fingerprint scanners, environments in which PalmSecure devices make sense, and the company’s new LOGONDIRECTOR single sign-on integration software.

Listen to the Bill’s interview with Dan Miller.

Blank entries in the Windows MSCONFIG Startup tab - 1

In my TR Dojo video, Diagnose Windows XP boot problems with MSCONFIG, I provide a general overview how MSCONFIG can be used to troubleshoot boot problems. After seeing my description of the MSCONFIG Startup tab, several members asked about a blank entry they saw on my example.

I responded in the original blog post’s discussion thread, but thought a separate post was also warranted.

The entries shown on the MSCONFIG Startup tab correspond to registry entries located within keys that are shown in the Startup tab’s Location column. Blank MSCONFIG entries occur when a registry value exists but contains no data. This can occur when a application install or uninstall fails, or if a pieces of malware has modified the registry.

In the case of the system shown in the video, the blank entry on the MSCONFIG Startup tab (shown here) was caused by a registry value named MSWheel (shown in the next image)–the software for Microsoft Intellipoint mice.

Blank entries in the Windows MSCONFIG Startup tab - 2

The registry value named MSWheel (shown in the next image) contained no data was causing a blank entry to appear on the MSCONFIG Startup tab.

Blank entries in the Windows MSCONFIG Startup tab - 3

I deleted the MSWheel registry value and the blank entry on the MSCONFIG Startup tab disappeared (shown here).

Screengrab: Firefox screenshot Add-on

Screengrab is the most popular Firefox screenshot plugin with 25,379 weekly downloads as of this writing. It allows you to capture what’s visible in the current browser window, an entire page, a section of the page, or a specific frame.

Screengrab: Firefox screenshot Add-on

You can save the image as a JPEG or PNG file or copy it to the clipboard. Screengrab doesn’t have many options, but it gets the job done.

FireShot: Firefox screenshot Add-on

Using FireShot, you can capture the page’s visible portion or the entire page. You can save the output image as a PNG, GIF, JPEG, or BMP file. Although FireShot works well, I have two issues with this screenshot Add-on. First, there’s a “Check PC for errors” option at the bottom of the tool’s dropdown menu. Clicking this link immediately prompts you to download RegistryBooster from Uniblue. I understand FireShot’s developer wanting to make a profit, but this is a bad way to go about it. At the very least, the link should take you to the RegistryBooster web site and not prompt you to down the application’s EXE file. Second, FireShot is only available for Windows.

FireShot: Firefox screenshot Add-on

You can also send the image to a printer, copy it to the clipboard, add it to an email, or even edit the image with FireShot’s external editor. FireShot has lots of features, but these can be a bit overwhelming if you’re just looking for Add-on that takes screenshots.

Pixlr Grabber: Firefox screenshot Add-on

Pixlr Grabber is available as a Firefox or Chrome extension or Windows application and was developed by the creators of Pixlr Editor (an online image editing application) and Pixlr Imm.io (an online image sharing service). The Pixlr Grabber Firefox add-on lets you capture an entire Web page, a portion of the page, or the visible area currently being displayed by the browser.

Pixlr Grabber: Firefox screenshot Add-on

You can edit the captured image through the online Pixlr Editor, upload it to the Imm.io service, save it to your machine, or copy it to the clipboard.

Screen Capture Elite: Firefox screenshot Add-on

Screen Capture Elite from Grizzly Ape, lets you capture a selection of the active page, the portion shown by the browser or the whole page. You can save the page as a JPEG or PNG file or copy it to the clipboard.

Screen Capture Elite: Firefox screenshot Add-on

One of Screen Capture Elite’s most interesting features is the shading used when selecting a portion of the page.

Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic: Firefox screenshot Add-on

I’ve been using Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic for over a year. Using the plugin’s button, located on Firefox’s Navigation Toolbar, you can easily capture the visible portion of Web page that’s currently displayed or the entire page. You can also configure a keyboard shortcut for taking screenshots.

Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic: Firefox screenshot Add-on

It lacks an editor, but it’s easy-to use and allows you to save Web page images as JPEG or PNG files. You can scale the output image, format the file’s name, and capture Flash content.