April 1st link-dump

No. No April Fool’s jokes here.  All are refreshingly legit.

• USBDeview – NirSoft tool updated to version 1.60.  Lists all USB connected (and previously connected) to a system.

• WhatInStartup – NirSoft tool updated to version 1.20.  This version now allows you to fine-grain edit startup program triggers.

• SniffPass Password Sniffer – NirSoft tool updated to version 1.10. Collects passwords during sniffing. New version now supports NetMon driver as well as a promiscuous mode.

• SmartSniff – NirSoft tool updated to version 1.60. Now able to support user of NetMon driver for captures, a WiFi monitor mode to capture all unencrypted traffic under selected channel, can open NetMon .cap files, added check-box for promiscuous mode state.  More info in this NirSoft blog post: Capture with Microsoft Network Monitor 3 in SmartSniff and SniffPass utilities.  Related: Download details: Microsoft Network Monitor 3.3, and Microsoft’s Network Monitor team blog.

• Sysinternals Site Discussion : Updates: Process Explorer v12, VMMap v2.62, DiskView v2.4 – The update for Process Explorer is particularly beefy.

• Windows Virtual PC Update – Remember to Upgrade Integration Components – Virtual PC Guy’s blog.

• Newsfox NEXT – update for the FireFox feed reader “alpha/beta” release to version 1.0.6.1

• Mailbag: Windows 7 and the Disappearing Desktop Shortcuts - Within Windows.  Neat “hack” to bump the tolerance of Windows 7 to accept higher (than 4) numbers of “broken” desktop shortcuts before automagically cleaning them off without your permission.

• Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder – Tool to collect program keys from your system updated to version 2.0.8 on 03-29-2010.  Curiously, the main page at Magical Jelly Bean Software still lists the older versions.

• The Deployment Guys : USMT Failures Due To Bad Profile List Entries – Great tips for avoiding trouble when trying to migrate Windows profiles using the USMT.  They provide a MDT script to examine and validate some key items before USMT deployment to try to avoid failures.  Even if you don’t use it, the background information is useful.  Related: Reprofiler - A tool for repairing broken userprofile-associations and UserProfilesView – NirSoft; both of which can provide good information about Windows Profiles.

• Windows Live Wave 4 Milestone 2 leaked, screenshots galore – Ars Technica. Looks like Windows Live Writer (and friends) are going to get the Ribbon treatment.  WLW remains my blog posting platform.  However I’m not seeing any remarkable new features that would lead me to seek out the leaked version just yet. Neowin.net - Even more Windows Live Wave 4 screenshots leak  

• Internet Explorer 9: Platform Demos at Microsoft and Platform Preview gives Web developers first taste of IE9 at Ars Technica. Source download and good overview of what the next face of Internet Explorer will look like.  BETA: Internet Explorer 9.0 Technical Preview - Windows Live over at Kurt Shintaku’s Blog also has a nice breakdown of the finer points. All interesting stuff but installation of the preview platform not recommended for mere mortals.  Now folks who have a virtual machine of Windows laying around may be interested…. 

• Visualize Your Network in A Built-in Network Map in Windows 7 - Windows 7 hacker.  Nice little tip on how to use the “advanced” network map feature built into Windows 7 to understand your network a bit more clearly.  While there are many more sophisticated network mapping tools out there, this is a nice baked-in feature to do spot-checks of network connections.

• 3 Unique Bing Search Operators You Will Definitely Love – makeuseof blog.  Three clever ways to use Bing search beyond the groovy background images on it’s search page.

Cheers.

--Claus V.