How to create USB Multiboot thumb drive with MBR

The typical USB boot drive uses the legacy MBR to boot, which is fine for most utility and Windows installation images up to Windows 7. There are several free applications that can be used to create USB multiboot thumb drive with various strengths and weaknesses, but the most versatile without sacrificing ease of use might be Easy2Boot. If all that is needed is MBR booting from ISO images, then it often is as simple as adding the appropriate ISO image to the correct directory. In addition, using Easy2Boot makes it easier to transition into more sophisticated boots, including UEFI. Continue reading “Create USB Multiboot Thumb Drive w/ MBR”

This is a suggested template for malware removal guidelines document.

This document consists of a set of suggested guidelines and steps to aid in the successful removal of malware. No set of steps can 100% guaranty the state of any machine as far as malware infection goes, but following this guide will hopefully provide a framework to make malware removal more complete, more successful and less likely to end up with wiping the user’s system and starting over.

Factors in determining this must balance the inconvenience of the enduser in needing to backup and restore documents and settings of the various applications they use on a daily basis against the need for security and time allocated in cleaning the malware off of the machine.

Continue reading “Malware Removal Guidelines”

You need the Dell service tag number for a computer, but the machine is not currently in tech’s possession. However, it is up and on the domain.

From a command prompt (does not need to be admin), type:

wmic /user:\administrator /node: bios get serialnumber

Substitute the remote computer’s name for <domain> if logging in as local administrator.
It will prompt for the administrator’s password for the remote computer, and, hopefully, spit out the info you need.

Network issues can interfere with this, though, so if you don’t succeed at first, try again at a later time.