Query a registry remotely with this neat trick that involves no script at all.

By Jeffery Hicks

Some files and folders are just too stubborn to delete easily. Try these tips.

By Zubair Alexander

Q: Why am I unable to delete a file or a folder in Windows Explorer? What are some of the common scenarios and solutions?

A: As far as NTFS is concerned, internally it treats folders as a special type of file. Therefore, we will use the term "file" to refer to both files and folders here.

A better way to find and delete files quickly and almost painlessly.

By Jeffery Hicks

Last year, I wrote a "Tip Sheet" column about finding certain files and then deleting them http://tinyurl.com/yvojna . After some further thought and looking at the comments, I realized you deserve an even easier way. There's still work for you to do, but the commands you have to type are reduced with this example.

Use pigs to find truffles and use Netcap to do quick and dirty packet captures. 

By Jeffery Hicks

I know there are many packet-capturing tools, including some terrific open source products. But for real simplicity, and the cost is right, there's the command-line version of Network Monitor, also called Netcap.exe.

Netcap.exe is part of Windows Support Tools. The only other step you have to take to use it is to install the Network Monitor driver and bind it to the network card you'll be capturing.

Documenting your servers can be a PITA. Make a script do it and it becomes less painful.

By Jeffery Hicks

Whenever I build a new server, I like to document the baseline configuration. This comes in handy when troubleshooting a problem later. Having baseline documentation helps me identify what has changed. But I don't spend any time writing things down. I let the server tell me how it is configured by using Msinfo32.exe.

Establish a baseline for performance easily and you'll know just how slow is slow.

By Greg Shields

Look Mom, take 2: No-script hard drive info, this time using WMIC.

By Jeffery Hicks

Last time http://mcpmag.com/columns/article.aspx?editorialsid=1778 I showed you how to get WMI information about hard drive utilization without writing a single line of VBScript. If you don’t have PowerShell but are running XP or 2003 (no, I haven’t tried this yet on Vista to know what has changed), you can use WMI command line.

Windows 2000, XP and 2003 have the capability to have a Network Printer so that it is automatically available to any user that logs on at that computer. Unfortunately, the Add Printer wizard does not expose that capability - it can only add a Network Printer for the currently logged on user. So to add a printer globally (for all users) you have to a different tool.