Tag: Windows 7

How to: locate product numbers and serial numbers on HP and Dell computers

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Dexter

You have to know the serial numbers of HP computers and servers in order to get warranty.

If you run Dell machines, you need the Dell asset tags in order to get warranty.
As it turns out, many times you’ll be no where near your computers but have remote access (hopefully).  So how can you get either the HP Serial Number or the Dell Asset tag remotely?  Read on.
For both cases you need to open a command prompt: many of you should be familiar with this, if not, goto the Start menu and type in ‘CMD’ to bring up the familiar black DOS prompt.
See the below table to obtain the corresponding information on the right:
command information
wmic bios get serialnumber HP: shows Serial Number, Dell: shows Dell Asset tag
wmic csproduct get name HP: shows model name: Dell: shows base model
wmic /namespace:\\root\wmi path MS_SystemInformation HP: shows product number, Dell – nothing man, just nothing
This handy spot of information might come in handy for you one day if your ILO or Dell Open Manage software isn’t installed.
-Dexter

How to: Check your .Net Framework version on Windows 7

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Dexter

.Net Framework was easy to spot in the older versions of Windows XP, if you went and checked your ‘Add or Remove Programs’ section of control panel you’d see it plain as day:

As Windows matured, the .NET Framework became intertwined with the operating system.  So it became tougher to figure out if you actually had it installed.  A hint for anyone using Windows 7 right now: if you’ve installed Service Pack 1, you will undoubtedly have it installed: it’s required to run most, if not all of the fancy graphics engine behind aeroglass and most of the search functions.
If you’re ever inquisitive enough to wonder which version you have installed, you’ll notice your listing of installed programs and windows updates will usually not have it listed – again, this is because it’s such a core component of it’s Common Runtime Language, it’s become a given.
Websites offer up ways to see what version you have by way of checking directories and registry items.
I however, prefer a more direct approach instead of copying and pasting version numbers into Microsoft’s website – a little tool that’s downloaded doesn’t require any other run time to show you exactly what version you have installed: Asoft version detector.
Just Download and run right from the desktop, and it gives you all the juicy details you need.
So why would you need to know the version?  In my case it was work related as a program needed a particular framework to run a monitoring tool.  I can’t even speak as to why you would need it.  But it’s just a damn handy, if not very cool way of knowing what you got installed.
-Dexter

How to: Add Ctrl+Alt+Del to your Windows 7 Computer

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Dexter

If your computer is part of a Windows Domain, you will likely see this screen staring at you first thing in the morning:

Most Windows domain computers offer the basic security principles in place, such as the now famous Press CTRL +ALT+DEL screen you’re familiar with.
The screen itself is meant as a security measure to deter humans and bots alike from logging in, as the keys are strategically placed so they’re not pressed accidentally.
If you’re not part of a domain, but would like the added security that CTRL+ALT+DEL offers, you can do it with a few simple steps:
1. From the start menu, type “netplwiz”
2. Click the Advanced tab, and in the Secure Logon section, place a checkmark on “Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete”
3. Hit Apply, and OK.  And log off to see the changes!

Google Chrome – millions of .sst files!

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Dexter

If you’re a Chrome user like me, beware of the latest Google Chrome update preceeding 16.0.912.63.  This version has a problem with the way the database is sorting through web traffic.  It was putting over 20 GB of data of .sst files in

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\IndexedDB\ directory.

SST files from my experience is like a developer’s placeholder file.   Something that acts like cache and gets destroyed as soon as you’re done with it.  However, in this case the file never gets destroyed and actually multiplies.

Personally I didn’t even notice until my antivirus seemed like it was stuck in the same directory for over 4 hours.  It was then that I noticed the size it was chewing up on my hard drive.

Here’s what didn’t work:

1. Uninstalling – even removing the registry keys with Revo uninstaller for 64 bit machines

2. removing Google sync services and re-applying as I figured it was trying to grab my bookmarks and history

3. Moving the directory elsewhere -it’s not the size of the volume that’ the problem it’s the number of files.  Each one being around 2KB, it calculated it would take close to 8 hours to move.

 

Here’s what did work:

1. Uninstalling Google Chrome

2. Manually deleting the files via an elevated command line (akin to del *.sst)

 

It does take some time, mine was little more than 4 hours on a Solid State Drive, but it did all eventually disappear.  On the new Chrome releases it appears okay.  So hopefully this fix saves your bacon and hard disk space.

 

-Dexter