Have you ever been a situation where you cannot find settings that you know
should be visible? I call this the 'Monday morning disease'. Why
this strange epithet? Well my training courses usually
start on Monday, so every week I get a fresh installation. Each Monday I must
remember to set: SHOW ALL FILES otherwise I have a fright that BOOT.INI is missing or I get egg on my face when I try and demonstrate the Default User folder
under Documents and Settings. So here is a list of other hidden settings:
View All Those Settings - Show All
Explorer - Tools, Folder Options, View, SHOW ALL Files
I also like to remove the tick next to 'Hide Protected Operating System
Files'
System Icon - Hardware, Device Manager, View, Show
Hidden Devices.
DNS (Select the Server Object), View, Advanced.
Active Directory Users and Computer - View, Advanced
Features. a) You get an extra tab called 'Object'. This is one of the best ways of discovering which OU a user is a member of. b) What this shows you is the 'Lost and Found' folder for orphaned
users. c) If you have Exchange 2000, this 'Advanced Features' also shows you one more tab
on the user properties: Exchange
Advanced.
Talking of Exchange, I also have a Registry Hack so that
you can add the Security Tab
in the Exchange System Manager.
Guy Recommends 3 Free Active Directory Tools
SolarWinds have produced three Active Directory add-ons. These free utilities
have been approved by Microsoft, and will help to manage your domain by:
Guy Recommends: Orion's NPM - Network Performance Monitor
Orion's performance monitor is designed for detecting network outages. NPM makes it easy to see what's working, and what needs your attention.
This utility guides you through creating network maps. It also helps troubleshooting by indicating whether the root cause is faulty equipment, or resource overload.
In Active Directory Users and Computers, select View (menu) and Add/Remove Columns... Experiment with
different columns such as Display Name.
