OS9USER News Room

• UTILITIES
• SUPPORT & TROUBLESHOOTING
• SECURITY, ANTI-SPYWARE & ANTI-VIRUS
• New Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Released
• New Microsoft IIS Diagnostics Toolkit
• DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS:
• Custom TTS Voice

Agent components provide animated characters (Genie, Merlin, Peedy, Robby & "Custom") to appear during specific help or instruction. (Support FAQ)

FolderShare keeps important files at your fingertips - anywhere. All file changes are automatically synchronized between linked computers, so you always access the latest files. (See Shareware & Freeware)

GroupBar desktop tool offers enhanced window management capabilities in a taskbar-like setting. Through simple drag-and-drop operations on window tiles within the bar, users can create lightweight, transient grouping relationships that allow them to perform certain higher-level window layout functions on multiple windows at once.

Location Finder turns a regular WiFi enabled laptop, Tablet or PC into a location determining device without the addition of any separate hardware. Location Finder uses WiFi access points - or reverse IP lookup when WiFi is not available - to center and display the person's location on the Windows Live Local.

Scalable Fabric is a task management system. A central focus area, defined by you, contains windows that behave in the traditional way. When you drag a window into the periphery, it becomes smaller and continues to get smaller the closer you get to the edge of the screen. This makes it possible to keep windows open all the time, and change "minimize" to mean "return to the periphery". Groups of windows can easily be created to represent different user tasks. 

Tweak UI gives access to system settings not exposed in the default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

USB Flash Drive Manager will backup and restore files to/from a USB Flash Drive device. 

Virtual Desktop Manager manages up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar

Virtual Machine is Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine for Internet Explorer, allowing you to view java applets on Web pages.

Clear Cache Feature for Internet Explorer  – automatically deletes all temporary Internet files, cookies, and history files. This was developed to programmatically clear these files when a corrupt entry caused errors with Internet Explorer.

ClearType Tuner fine tunes the ClearType technology via the Control Panel, making it easier to read text on your screen. A necessity for LCD screens (portables and flat screens) -- Or try it On-Line. [Bonus = Consolas ClearType Font Pack]

Color Control Panel Applet adds a new "Color" item to the control panel, providing viewing and editing color management settings.

• Developer Toolbar provides a variety of tools for quickly creating, understanding, and troubleshooting Web pages. (Feedback)
  
• Community Bar adds context-dependent content to the web browsing experience. As users browses the web, they can see (and leave) notes from other people who visited the same page, chat with other people viewing the same page, tag the page with a bookmark or category label, view all the inlinks to the page, find related pages, perform context-specific search, and see blog postings related to the page.
  
• Games Add-in gives you 40+ puzzle games, 20+ card & board games, 150+ downloadable games, 20+ word & trivia games, 80+ free online games, with new games posted weekly.
  
• Lotus Notes Add-in developed by MSN – This Protocol Handler allows you to easily find your Lotus Notes e-mail and search the contents within.
  
• MSG iFilter Add-in to Desktop Search – This iFilter allows searching on all elements of your Outlook MSG (.MSG) files including Message Body; Subject; From; From Name; From Address; To Name; To Address; CC Name; CC Address; Doc Title Prefix; Sent Date; Received Date; Primary Date; Conversation ID; Attachment Names and will indicate if an attachment is present within the .MSG. Additionally, content within attachments are indexed and searched. (Support: KB917402)
  
• Phishing Filter Add-in works to prevent high-tech scams using phony web sites with actual brands designed to steal valuable personal information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and Social Security numbers. (Support: How to. . ., Anti-phishing White Paper)
  
• PHLAT (Prototype for Helpful Lookup and Tagging) is an interface for Windows Desktop Search, enabling search through a user's own e-mail, files, and viewed Web pages. PHLAT makes it easy for users to specify queries and filters, attempting to integrate search and browsing in one intuitive interface. In addition, PHLAT supports a unified tagging scheme for organizing personal content across storage systems, such as files and e-mail. (Support: Blog Article)
  
• PrivBar - An IE/Explorer toolbar to show current privilege level.
  
• Search Preview Add-in - Make your searching more productive and convenient. Search Preview displays a thumbnail preview next to each result. Enlarge the preview by rolling over it and put an end to "click-look-back"
  
• Weather Add-in Keeps the local three-day weather forecast at your fingertips.
  
• Windows Live Favorites service allows you to store and quickly access all the interesting sites you find on the web from any computer, any time, any where.
  
• Windows Rights Management Add-on provides a way for users to view, but not alter, files with restricted permission. These restrictions enable authors to prevent sensitive documents, Web-based information, and e-mail messages from being forwarded, edited, or copied by unauthorized individuals. These restrictions provide protection, not only while the information is in transit, but also after the recipient of the information has received it.

Tweakomatic utility that writes Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripts enablimg you to retrieve and/or configure Windows and Internet Explorer settings locally or remotely.

VirtualWiFi abstracts a single WLAN card to appear as multiple virtual WLAN cards to the user. The user can then configure each virtual card to connect to a different wireless network. Therefore, VirtualWiFi allows a user to simultaneously connect his machine to multiple wireless networks using just one WLAN card.

Wntipcfg This GUI tool gives you information about your IP configuration.

Bootvis – Microsoft states this tool is not available, but they still “support it”.  Bootvis “was” a performance tracing and visualization tool designed to help identify performance issues for boot/resume timing while developing new PC products or supporting software. 

 

Desktop Heap Monitor examines usage of a WIN32 subsystem that has an internal heap area known as "desktop heap". When running large number of programs, "Out Of Memory" error messages appear when you attempt to start new programs or try to use programs that are already running, even though you still have plenty of physical and pagefile memory available. (Support: KB126952)

 

DLL Online Help Database – helps identify DLL version conflicts.

 

Fiddler is an HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. (Support: HTTP Debugging)

 

Guided Help (depending on the problem) can automatically guide you through various steps to perform some diagnostic tasks yourself. (Support: How to . . .) 

 

MDAC Component Checker helps you determine installed version information and diagnose installation issues with the Microsoft Data Access Components (Support: MDAC Website)

 

Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors. (Support: Users Guide)

 

Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool (xpnetdiag) analyzes information about your network connectivity to help troubleshoot common connection problems. (Support: KB914440)

 

PortQry Command Line Port Scanner is a command-line utility that troubleshoots TCP/IP connectivity issues by reporting the port status of TCP and UDP ports on a computer you choose. For details, see KB310099 and description. (Description of Microsoft Port Numbers & All Port Numbers)

 

Port Reporter logs TCP and UDP port activity on a local Windows system by running as a service logging which ports are used, which process is using the port, if the process is a service, which modules the process has loaded and which user account is running the process. (Description of Microsoft Port Numbers & All Port Numbers)

Port Reporter Parser Tool is a log parser for Port Reporter log files. Port Reporter Parser has many features that can help you analyze Port Reporter log files.  

Product Support's Reporting Tools and Premier Services Reporting Utility (Alliance version) facilitates the gathering of critical system and logging information used in troubleshooting support issues. There are 8 specialty versions, one for each of the following support scenario categories: Alliance, Directory Services (not for NT 4.0), Networking, Clustering, SQL, Software Update Services, MDAC and Base / Setup / Storage / Print / Performance. (Support: Blog Article & Overview)

 

User Mode Process Dumper (userdump) dumps any running Win32 processes memory image (including system processes such as csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, services.exe, etc) on the fly, without attaching a debugger, or terminating target processes. Generated dump file can be analyzed or debugged by using the standard debugging tools.

 

User Profile Deletion Utility (Delprof) deletes all data that is stored in a user profile including desktop settings, favorites, program-specific data that is contained in the Application Data folder, and the contents of the My Documents folder.

 

User Profile Hive Cleanup helps with slow log off and unreconciled profile problems ensuring that user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off when using Roaming Profiles or locked profiles as implemented through the Shared Computer Toolkit. 

 

Video Decoder Checkup Utility helps determine if an MPEG-2 DVD video decoder is installed, and whether it's compatible with Media Player 10 or Media Center Edition.

 

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility can remove a program's configuration information if experiencing installation (Setup) problems.  

 

Windows Support Tools are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems. 

Baseline Security Analyzer includes a graphical and command line interface that can perform local or remote scans of Windows systems. MBSA will scan for common security misconfigurations in the following products: Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0, and 6.0, SQL Server 7.0 and 2000, Internet Explorer (IE) 5.01 and later, and Office 2000, 2002 and 2003. MBSA also scans for missing security updates, update rollups and service packs published to Microsoft Update. (Support Tool: Visio Connector for MBSA 2.0, MBSA Homepage)

 

Malicious Software Removal Tool checks for infection by specific, prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps to remove the infection if it is found. (Updated on the second Tuesday of each month.)  

 

Promqry and PromqryUI detects if a network sniffer that is running on a computer. If a system has network interfaces in promiscuous mode, it may indicate the presence of a network sniffer running on the system.

PromqryUI provides a Windows graphical interface that can be used to detect network interfaces that are running in promiscuous mode.

Promqry is a command line tool that can be used to detect network interfaces that are running in promiscuous mode.

Windows Defender protects against pop-ups, slow performance and security threats caused by spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

 

Windows Live Safety Center – Web service designed to ensure the health of your computer with free scanning tools helping get rid of unwanted software.    

• Bootvis – Microsoft states this tool is no longer available, but they still “support it”.  This program “was” a performance tracing and visualization tool designed to help identify performance issues for boot/resume timing while developing new PC products or supporting software. (Alternate Site: MajorGeeks)
  
• NEW! Desktop Heap Monitor tool examines usage of a WIN32 subsystem that has an internal heap area known as "desktop heap". When you run a large number of Windows-based programs, "Out Of Memory" error messages appear when you attempt to start new programs or try to use programs that are already running, even though you still have plenty of physical and pagefile memory available. (Support Document: KB126952 - "Out of Memory" Error Message Appears When You Have a Large Number of Programs Running)
  
• DLL Help Database – helps identify DLL version conflicts
  
• Exchange Server Error Code Look-up determines error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes.
  
• Fiddler is an HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. (Support Document: HTTP Debugging)
  
• Guided Help (depending on the problem) can automatically guide you through various steps to perform some diagnostic tasks yourself. (Support Document: How to . . .)
  
• NEW! IIS Diagnostics Toolkit (x86, ia64, & amd64) is a compiled set of tools aimed at reducing the overall time to resolve problems with Internet Information Services (IIS) products. These tools include tools aimed at resolving problems related to Secure Socket Layer (SSL) issues, permission or security problems, gathering data for your SMTP server included with IIS, as well as the famous Log Parser utility used to sift through hundreds or thousands of log files very quickly.
  
• Log Parser is a command-line tool that lets you run SQL queries against a variety of log files and other system data sources, and get the results out to an array of destinations, from SQL tables to CSV files. (Log Parser Support Website)
  
• UPDATED! Malicious Software Removal Tool checks your computer for infection by specific, prevalent malicious software (including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom) and helps to remove the infection if it is found. (Updated on the second Tuesday of each month.)
  
• The MDAC Component Checker tool is designed to help you determine installed version information and diagnose installation issues with the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC Support Website)
  
• Network Diagnostics for Windows XP tool (xpnetdiag) analyzes information about your network connectivity to help troubleshoot some of the most common connection problems encountered in a home networking environment. (Support Document: KB914440)
  
• PortQry Command Line Port Scanner is a command-line utility that you can use to help troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity issues. The utility reports the port status of TCP and UDP ports on a computer you choose. For details, see KB310099 and description. (Description of Microsoft Port Numbers & All Port Numbers)
  
• Port Reporter logs TCP and UDP port activity on a local Windows system. Port Reporter is a small application that runs as a service logging which ports are used, which process is using the port, if the process is a service, which modules the process has loaded and which user account is running the process. (Description of Microsoft Port Numbers & All Port Numbers)
  • Port Reporter Parser Tool is a log parser for Port Reporter log files. Port Reporter Parser has many features that can help you analyze Port Reporter log files.
    
• Promqry and PromqryUI are two tools that enable you to detect a network sniffer that is running on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000. If a system has network interfaces in promiscuous mode, it may indicate the presence of a network sniffer running on the system.
  • PromqryUI is a tool with a Windows graphical interface that can be used to detect network interfaces that are running in promiscuous mode.
  • Promqry is a command line tool that can be used to detect network interfaces that are running in promiscuous mode.
    
• Product Support's Reporting Tools  facilitates the gathering of critical system and logging information used in troubleshooting support issues. There are 8 specialty versions, one for each of the following support scenario categories: Alliance, Directory Services (not for NT 4.0), Networking, Clustering, SQL, Software Update Services, MDAC and Base / Setup / Storage / Print / Performance. NEW! Premier Services Reporting Utility (Alliance version) (Support Document Support Blog Article)
  
• PSSDIAG Data Collection Utility is a diagnostic data collector for Microsoft SQL Server. It simultaneously collects Perfmon/Sysmon logs, Profiler traces, event logs, SQLDIAG reports, and detailed blocking information.
  
• UPDATED! System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) for Windows XP has been updated with a Tools Tab. The System Configuration utility automates the routine troubleshooting steps used when diagnosing system configuration issues. (Support Document: How to troubleshoot using MSCONFIG) 
  
• SQL Server Express Utility (SSEUtil) lets you easily interact with SQL Server to handle connections, execute scripts, perform maintenance tasks, and more.
  
• NEW! User Mode Process Dumper (userdump) dumps any running Win32 processes memory image (including system processes such as csrss.exe, winlogon.exe, services.exe, etc) on the fly, without attaching a debugger, or terminating target processes. Generated dump file can be analyzed or debugged by using the standard debugging tools.
  
• UPDATED! User Profile Hive Cleanup is a service to help with slow log off and unreconciled profile problems ensuring that user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off when using Roaming Profiles or locked profiles as implemented through the Shared Computer Toolkit.
  
• Video Decoder Checkup Utility helps determine if an MPEG-2 DVD video decoder is installed, and whether it's compatible with Windows Media Player 10 or Windows XP Media Center Edition.
  
• Windows Installer CleanUp Utility can remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information if experiencing installation (Setup) problems.
  
• The Windows Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors.
  
• Windows XP Support Tools are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems.

SEARCH THE KNOWLEDGE BASE: With the Standard Knowledge Base Search, it can be difficult to locate the article your need, so I recommend using the Advanced  Knowledge Base Search – this can help you quickly isolate your question to a specific product and published date.