Run gpedit.msc Find Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Terminal Services -> Limit Maximum color depth. Right click on "Limit maximum color depth", click "Properties", then select "Client Compatible". Update: for Windows 7 the color depth policy was moved to Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Remote Desktop Services -> Remote Desktop Session Host -> Remote Session Environment

Email attachment blocking is a safety measure that can be a real pain in the *&^ when you have a legitimate need to send some file types that are considered "dangerous". Fortunately, as developers we have more than one weapon in our arsenal to defeat that feature. Here are some options I tried. Put the offending file in a zip - doesn't work for some services, Gmail is an example. Change file extension, e.g., from .exe to .ex_ or .doc. But this does not work if you are sending a WAR (Wab Application Archive) that contains hundreds of .js files. Base64 encode the zip, then gzip it. To restore: cat received.gz | gzip -d - | base64 -d - >origina... This may still fail for...

From the command line I can start and stop Windows services with NET START service_name and NET STOP service_name . But the NET command does not give a way to find the service name. You need the sc command to get the service name, below are some examples: List all running services: sc query List all services, running or not running (notice the space after =): sc query type= service state= all List all active drivers: sc query type= driver Find information about the "Indexing Service" (requires GNU grep): sc query type= service state= all | grep -i index ... Start the indexing service: sc start CiSvc Stop the indexing service: sc stop CiSvc Check the status of the indexing service: sc query CiSvc

If you don't want to open an extra port for VNC or want extra security with SSH, you can setup an SSH tunnel for VNC. On Windows, you can do this with Putty or openssh . Open a command window, and enter (using Putty as example): C:\local\bin\plink.exe -ssh -2 -L localhost:5901:r... When connecting with vncviewer , use localhost:5901 as server instead of remote_host:5901 . If you use the setup frequently, it is more convenient to setup the tunnel as a Windows service . Assuming the name of the service is vnc_tunnel , the registry entry would look like: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_...

Nothing describes this utility better than the utility's authors: This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

A runlevel is used to group the daemons (services) to start. For the Fedora/Redhat based Linux systems, the primary runlevels are: runlevel 1: Single-User Mode runlevel 2: Multi-User Mode runlevel 3: Multi-User Mode with Networking runlevel 5: X11 (runlevel 3 + X Window System) The typical workstation runs in runlevel 5. Servers without X-server runs in runlevel 3. To determine what runlevel you are using: # /sbin/runlevel To determine what runlevel your system will boot with: # cat /etc/inittab | grep :initdefault: id:5:in... To switch runlevels (replace RUNLEVEL with appropriate number): # /sbin/init RUNLEVEL When you switch runlevel, be sure that you are at a text console so that you don't accidentally kill your session when X-server is killed.