Useful hack for running scheduled tasks at a higher frequency than daily in windows xp

http://www.randomtree.org/eric/techblog/archives/2004/09/the_windows_task_scheduler_is_not_a_secondclass_citizen.html

Microsoft should abandon vista

Best article i've read all day: Microsoft Should Abandon Vista

Some reading for me

Windows software update service

Using Group policy to deploy applications

Multiple monitor control panel: Ultramon

Remote Desktop vs VNC

Windows Desktop Sharing API

Terminal Services Team Blog - WDS API Introduction - bummer, only available on windows vista or above.

Offering remote assistance API - "Summary: This whitepaper details the information necessary to build a customized solution based on the Offer Remote Assistance feature of Remote Assistance. The objects and sample code provided below may be used to integrate the Offer Remote Assistance solution into the workflow of a help desk organization. (23 printed pages)"

Access add/remove programs information

Get list of installed programs via registry

Wrapping the windows installer API in C#

Working with Delegates in C#

Terminology:
Static method handlers
instance method handlers
delegates
factory method

Other random info:
Tivo HME Development Kit - developing custom applications for Tivo, to be run on your home network.

Speeding up multiple windows xp installations

We set up a lot of windows boxes, and invariably they require quite a bit of patching before we send them out the door.

Sometimes we set up 3 at a time, which can be a real big hastle when you have to download the patches all at once. Lots of waiting, coming back, checking, etc.

So I thought, why not set it up to where we proxy the windows update files. It used to be that windows update would use WPAD to find the location of the local proxy server, but according to various sources on the internet, you now have to manually configure the proxy using the proxycfg tool. More details can be found from this article and the squid faq.


Windows Update v5 and squid (squid wiki)

Another very useful article from javier arturo rodriguez:

JR's article on windows update and squid