Tech Tips

Windows NT : Users and Groups

Messenger Service and WinPopup

As a network admin, there are times when, for whatever reason, you might need to temporarily force users off the system. It's common courtesy to let users know when you plan to do such a thing, so that no data loss occurs (and no feathers get rumpled). Messenger Service and...

Hiding the Network Neighborhood icon

Network users frequently click around in Network Neighborhood, either to find a particular resource or just to see what's there. A great deal of network browsing can create something of a traffic jam by causing master browsers and backup browsers to repeatedly build resource lists. Of course you can ask...

Restricting access to floppy drives

Floplock is a service that can be used to limit floppy disk drive access to Administrator Group accounts for Windows NT Server or Administrator and Power User Group accounts for Windows NT Workstation. When the Floplock service is installed and started, only those users in the groups mentioned above have...

Hiding drives from "motivated" users

Preventing accidents is what you're all about. Given that, you might want to hide certain drives from users if they don't absolutely need access. NT enables you to hide drives from the obvious access points (Explorer and My Computer), although a motivated user could still access them from Start |...

Setting the Logon Script Name for all users in a group

If you decide to implement logon scripts in your network, you need to assign the script to your users. Obviously, you don't want to do this by selecting users one at a time. In User Manager for Domains, it's possible to select multiple users by holding down [Ctrl] as you...

Use NTFS permissions to guard open systems

Even in a tightly administered environment, you may still want to enable shared folder or file permissions for some networked resources. In such an environment, remember that NTFS permissions work cumulatively - that is, the most restrictive permission applied to a resource is enforced. However, it's important to remember that...

Changing access permissions with NTFS

When a volume has been formatted as NTFS, you have an extra tab called Permissions in the Properties window. To change the permissions on an NTFS volume, start Windows Explorer, right-click a directory, and select Properties. Click the Security tab to access the Permissions button. At this point, you can...

Don't delete ex-employees

When someone leaves a company, often the first instinct of an administrator is to delete that user's account. Don't do it! Once an account is deleted, its security ID and all permissions assigned to it are gone forever. Why increase the time you spend setting up accounts for new hires?...

Rebuilding clients' domain drop-downs

Moving users to a new domain is always a hassle, and it can be compounded by a bunch of support calls from users who can't find the new domain in the Logon dialog box's drop-down list. Fortunately, the workaround for this is a simple registry edit on the client system....

Joining a domain

Need a way to join the domain from the command line? Just use NETDOM, from the Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit Supplement 2. This utility can be used to add NT workstations or stand-alone servers to your domain. It will also create the computer account—if one doesn't already exist—if you...