Email Notification of Event Viewer Events

In a recent onsite seminar about Windows Server and Group Policy, a student asked about ways to receive email notification of Event Viewer events. I found this article on Daniel Petri's website about how to do that: http://www.petri.co.il/forums/showthread.php?t=32283

My Top 10 Favorite Websites for I.T. People

Last month, I shared my top ten favorite tools for I.T. pros. This month, I'm sharing my top ten favorite websites for I.T. pros. This would have been a fairly easy list to compile, but then I decided to filter sites by six criteria as follows:

1. It had to be a site that provides information I need
2. It had to be a site that offers good stuff for free. It's okay if they charge for premium services, but there just had to be a lot of good stuff for fee. That eliminated sites like Experts-Exchange.
3. It had to be a site that is substantially about I.T. That eliminated sites like Wikipedia and Google.
4. It couldn't be a vendor site. As good as they are, I just didn't want to include Cisco, Microsoft, Sun, etc. on my list. Hey, it's my list; I get to choose!
5. It couldn't be a tools site such as Solar Winds. As helpful as those types of sites are, I wanted sites that were primarily about information.
6. It could be a site that I don't necessarily visit often, but one where I subscribe to their RSS feed such as Paul Thurott's WinSuperSite.

After I created the six criteria, I realized that there are really only about five sites I use regularly (other than vendor sites and, of course, Google and Wikipedia). So, here are my top five, plus five more sites that I don't use often but which are helpful.

The five that I use regularly:

• http://www.techrepublic.com/ (General knowledge)
• http://www.linuxquestions.org/ (Linux knowledge)
• http://www.howtoforge.com/ (Linux configs)
• http://www.rfc-editor.org/ (Look up RFCs)
• http://www.winsupersite.com/ (Windows knowledge)

Five more that are definitely worth a look:

• http://www.webopedia.com/ (General knowledge)
• http://whatis.techtarget.com/ (General knowledge)
• http://www.tomshardware.com/ (General knowledge)
• http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/ (Windows scripting)
• http://www.computerhope.com/ (General knowledge)

I'm sure you've got favorites of your own. Leave a comment and let me know what they are.

My Top 10 Favorite Tools

I've been building a new desktop computer for my office. (When I say "build", I'm speaking of installing an operating system and software.) As I've gone through the process, I've been thinking of all the tools I install and use. Lots of tech writers like to share their favorite tools list and I thought I'd do likewise. Here are my top ten, in alphabetical order:

HashTab: This very handy shell extension provides a great way to validate hashes for downloaded files. Download it at http://beeblebrox.org/

Inssider: This utility scans for wireless access points and displays MAC addresses, SSIDs, channels, signal strength, security, and speed. Download it at http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider

IrfanView: IrfanView is a must-have tool for viewing and performing basic manipulation of graphical images. It's a very fast, lightweight tool that allows you to crop and resize images and save them in different file formats. Get it at http://www.irfanview.com/

nmap: nmap is the king of port scanners. 'nuff said? Get it at http://nmap.org/

Notepad++: This is a replacement for Notepad on your Windows computer. I mentioned it last month. Get it for line numbering, if nothing else, but it offers a lot more than that. Download it at http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/

psTools: This is a suite of tools developed by Mark Russinovich of Sysinternals fame. They allow you to manipulate many aspects of remote Windows systems from the command line (subject, of course, to authentication). Unix/Linux admins especially will appreciate them. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896649.aspx

PuTTY: PuTTY is the must-have terminal emulator for Windows. Anyone who administers network devices or servers from the command-line needs this. It can be downloaded as part of an installation package that includes key generation and management tools. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

Tftpd32: This is a lightweight, yet powerful TFTP server which also includes a DHCP server and a Syslog Server. http://tftpd32.jounin.net/

WinSCP: For transferring files securely between your laptop and your web server (You don't actually use FTP, do you???), this is a great piece of software. I love the drag-and-drop capability of the Explorer-like interface and the seemless support for public/private keypairs is great. http://winscp.net/

Wireshark: Formerly known as Ethereal, this is Gerald Combs masterpiece. If you're really serious about understanding what's happening on your network, you've already used Wireshark. If you're a newbie, Wireshark is one of the fastest and best ways to elevate yourself past the "newbie" stage. http://www.wireshark.org/

Five New Free Articles Available

We've created a new area on our website with free articles on various technical and workplace skills topics. You find the article you want and we'll send it to you for free. Many of the articles are lessons taken from our various workshops and seminars. The URL is www.soundtraining.net/free-docs.

I just uploaded the following articles:

• Most Important Weblinks for I.T. Pros
• Building a Site-to-Site VPN between Cisco Routers
• vim Quick Reference Guide
• Ten Ways to Delight Your User
• Configuring SSH (Secure Shell) for Remote Login on a Cisco Router

I'm going to try to upload a significant number of articles regularly (subject, of course, to income-producing activities). Let me know what you think.

Thanks for your support

We're in a time of tremendous change right now. (Please forgive the understatement.) The reality is that, in good times and bad, there's always a need for quality products and services. You have my firm commitment to continue providing high quality learning solutions at fair prices, delivering great value. That's what we expect from our vendors and that's what you can expect from us.

We're Growing!

Please welcome a new addition to the soundtraining.net family. Jeff Martin joins us as National Accounts Manager. Jeff has been a trainer, content developer, and even a paramedic. He most recently was manager of content development at SkillPath Seminars. Jeff brings a wealth of experience in technical training (he has been certified as both MCSE and CCNA), content development, and customer relations. Jeff is responsible for developing onsite training opportunities nationwide. Jeff will be in the office starting this coming Monday and he'll be getting in touch with you over the next few weeks to introduce himself.

Week of Geek

Our onsite customers often ask us to customize the training for their particular needs. That makes sense, of course. You get focused training that targets your particular areas of interest and needs. Now, we've created a program to help you customize the training and we've even priced it to make a great value. We call it "Week of Geek". You select your choice of up to 30 modules from nearly 100 available and we deliver the training for your group of up to 14 over a period of five days. Each of the learners gets a customized workbook and you get a staff that's more knowledgeable and more motivated in just one week's time. You can find out more about "Week of Geek" here: www.soundtraining.net/weekofgeek. Please let me know what you think.