mattx Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5296/adminbarie9.jpg Download it: http://www.mattx.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Admin%20Bar/Admin Bar.exe http://www.mattx.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Admin%20Bar/Admin Bar.zip Admin's Admin Bar 1.0b Installing. The Admin's Admin Bar is easy to install, just un-zip / un-pack the files into one folder. [ I would suggest making a folder called 'Admin Bar' on a USB stick or share and running it from there.] Reason for the Program: I got fed up visiting PCs and either not having access to tools I use the most. Mainly the ones from Systernals !! Having them all in one place and or running them from a USB stick or share is quite handy. I hope other admins - [ mainly school ones find the 'All In One Collection' handy for the day to day running of their network / networks ] Feel something should be added or changed ? I am open to suggestions. Let me know !! Breakdown of Admin Bar: Autoruns A 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. More details at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx Filemon & Regmon I've been using these apps for years now. Details here for: Filemon: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896642.aspx Regmon: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896652.aspx Process Monitor Basically its Filemon and Regmon in one place. If you are running Vista then Filemon and Regmon won't work and Process Monitor will. Details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx TCPview Breakdown of TCP and IDP connections to the current PC. For More details click on: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437.aspx PSinfo When clicked, will gather some information about the PC and stick it in notepad. I find this handy for a breakdown of installed apps and MS hotfixes. More details at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897550.aspx Process Explorer Basically Systernals answer to Taskmanager. More details at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx Psloglist Again Systernals answer to elogdump. Not currently working, I'm trying to think the best way to use. VNC Viewer If your network has PCs using VNC then having this tool close by is a must. More details at: http://www.realvnc.com/ RDP Will fire off the RDC client software. Delprof Will remove all profiles from the PC you are running the Admin Bar from. Delprof from the Admin Bar runs with the /q /i switches. Fpolicy Will refresh local and Active Directory-based Group Policy settings. The Admin Bar settings run with the /force & /boot switches. WSUS Update Will run the WUAUCLT.exe with a /detectnow switch. This of course will only work if you are running WSUS !! You may think nothing has happened after clicking on the icon but the process is very quick. You can double chuck by looking at the time stand and file of the WindowsUpdate.txt log file in the windows directory. Log Off / Reboot Will open up a box for you to choose either to log off or re-boot. 2
MK-2 Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 A nice idea, was always planning on doing one myself but never got around to it. Matt, would it be possible for me to use the autoit source as a base to make my own rather than starting from scratch. Obviously it would only be used by myself in my school. If not, no worries
mattx Posted January 7, 2008 Author Posted January 7, 2008 No problem, but the source is a bit messy !! PM me with your E-mail addy and I'll send you it.
GrumbleDook Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 Nice util ... I'll see if we can demo it during the week.
Domino Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 nice, could even map it to a network share and have it load when a tech logs in....hmmm
mattx Posted January 7, 2008 Author Posted January 7, 2008 The prog should run from a share and having it auto start is what I do when I login to a PC as an Admin. I am looking at possible updates to include a drive mapping util and a printer util. If I can get the user to either enter some server details into a input box or just in an ini file that would possibly help. Also looking to add links to web pages - technet / edugeek and a button to fire off a good file explorer prog like 2x Explorer - http://netez.com/2xExplorer/ If anyone has other suggestions as to what could be added then please say so.
Joedetic Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 I think I'm going to give this a go. What I've got at the moment is a tool bar that isn't docked in the windows taskbar. It's just a toolbar of a folder I've got in my home folder that has some links to software and folders etc. Very basic. Does your Admin's Admin Bar have the facility to add to and/or hide what's there at the moment?
mattx Posted January 7, 2008 Author Posted January 7, 2008 Does your Admin's Admin Bar have the facility to add to and/or hide what's there at the moment? I don't really want to hide icons as they are all there for a reason - I may however take off the Psloglist one as I don't really think many people want to export system logs. I want to add the x2 Explorer plus some other tools, scripts and links to help sites like Edugeek and Technet. What were you thinking of adding to it then ? As I really want ideas and suggestions to other realted stuff which all school techs would get benifit from....
Joedetic Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 I was thinking along the lines of various mmcs maybe. It was just a bit of a brain fart more than anything
mattx Posted January 7, 2008 Author Posted January 7, 2008 (edited) I was thinking along the lines of various mmcs maybe. It was just a bit of a brain fart more than anything Heh - yeah, but a good brain fart - what could be done is a blank icon which points to say custom.exe or custom.mmc - as long as the custom.exe or custom.mmc is in the folder where the Admin Bar is, then it will work - the person using the Admin Bar then has the choice of having a slight advantage of some customization. [ As they may already have a MMC or different program they use all the time ] If the user decides not to, then clicking the icon will just pop up a box informing them nothing is there... What do you think of that idea ? If I get time later in the week, I'll change the pslog icon to a general icon with instructions as to how to stick in your own mmc. Edited January 7, 2008 by mattx
Joedetic Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 Sounds good. I don't know whether or not it might be useful to be able to minimize it to system tray or something? I could keep coming up with things but it might start to detract from the simplicity of the utility and make it a bit more complex.
richard.thomas Posted January 8, 2008 Posted January 8, 2008 We just use the QuickLaunch toolbar on the administrator profile, but I can see how the toolbar is a good idea to have in a share if you need to use some of the tools on someone elses account for what ever reason. Nice work - If I could i'd give you some rep... go on, someone else do it
mattx Posted January 11, 2008 Author Posted January 11, 2008 (edited) http://mattx.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Admin%20Bar/admin%20bar%202.JPG Sorted out the bugs - all working correctly. Download it from: http://mattx.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Admin%20Bar/admin%20bar%201.4.exe or http://mattx.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Admin%20Bar/admin%20bar%201.4.zip Would be nice to get some feedback [ if any !! ] Admin's Admin Bar 1.4 Installing. The Admin's Admin Bar is easy to install, just un-zip / un-pack the files into one folder. [ I would suggest making a folder called 'Admin Bar' on a USB stick, local drive or share and running it from there.] The tool is ideal for running on startup when logging to a PC as an Administrator. Reason for the Program: I got fed up visiting PCs and either not having access to tools I use the most. Mainly the ones from Systernals !! Website: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx Having them all in one place and or running them from a USB stick or share is quite handy. I hope other admins - [ mainly school ones find the 'All In One Collection' handy for the day to day running of their network / networks ] Feel something should be added or changed ? I am open to suggestions. Let me know !! [email protected] Known Bugs: None at the moment that I am aware of !! How to use the Custom Console Icon: If you have a Microsoft Management Console you use, you can launch this if you place the .msc file in the directory where the Admin Bar is installed. Just change the name of your console to 'console.msc' - without the quotes Breakdown of Admin Bar: Autoruns A 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. More details at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx Filemon & Regmon I've been using these apps for years now. Details here for: Filemon: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896642.aspx Regmon: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896652.aspx Process Monitor Basically its Filemon and Regmon in one place. If you are running Vista then Filemon and Regmon won't work and Process Monitor will. Details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx TCPview Breakdown of TCP and IDP connections to the current PC. For More details click on: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437.aspx PSinfo When clicked, will gather some information about the PC and stick it in notepad. I find this handy for a breakdown of installed apps and MS hot fixes. More details at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897550.aspx Process Explorer Basically Systernals answer to Task manager. More details at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx VNC Viewer If your network has PCs using VNC then having this tool close by is a must. More details at: http://www.realvnc.com/ RDP Will fire off the RDC client software. Delprof Will remove all profiles from the PC you are running the Admin Bar from. Delprof from the Admin Bar runs with the /q /i switches. Fpolicy Will refresh local and Active Directory-based Group Policy settings. The Admin Bar settings run with the /force & /boot switches. WSUS Update Will run the WUAUCLT.exe with a /detectnow switch. This of course will only work if you are running WSUS !! You may think nothing has happened after clicking on the icon but the process is very quick. You can double chuck by looking at the time stand and file of the WindowsUpdate.txt log file in the windows directory. Log Off / Reboot Will open up a box for you to choose either to log off or re-boot. X2 Explorer 2xExplorer is an ideal dual-pane replacement for explorer, compatible with all 32-bit windows platforms. Edited January 11, 2008 by mattx
mattx Posted January 15, 2008 Author Posted January 15, 2008 Just a small update to the Admin Bar - added the Event Viewer shortcut. Will hopefully add a psshutdown option next & stick the edugeek logo on it. Get 1.5 from: http://www.mattx.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Admin%20Bar/admin%20bar%20web%20page.html
Sirbendy Posted January 15, 2008 Posted January 15, 2008 We have what we term a "locallinks" bar...takes the username as a parameter and brings up a box like that at logon with the user name in it, and shortcuts to all the programs that have their shortcuts in the directory. All are 1 click execute, and the bar isn't closeable. Just minimiseable to the taskbar. God knows where that came from..we've had it since NT4. It's called "icontool.exe" Lifesaver though, and also good for USB drive use.
azrael78 Posted January 15, 2008 Posted January 15, 2008 Looks like a pretty serious bit of kit there If you are up for a few suggestions or ideas, I have a few for you .INI Files - have these in a central location (or user profiles for personalised toolbars) - use the INI files to determine icons, paths to programs, names of shortcuts etc. Something like: [AppName] (as shown in toolbar) Path="Path\to\executable" Parms="Any parameters the program may need" Icon="icon file to use for the program" (not sure how you could make it pick icons out of an .EXE/.DLL tho. Visible=1/0 (Should we show this icon or not?) Using those will allow each admin/school to customise your admin-bar to their own needs without trying to reinvent the wheel. I'd have a crack at this myself but I'm not an AutoIT scripter (I could learn I guess) - I spend most of my time in VBS/KiX so making something there would be a nice project for me to do but a) My manager would never authorise my time like that and b) Why reinvent the wheel? Az
russdev Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 Very good Matt yes like above have tool get program list from ini files butmake it look in root folder of program and central location or some way of syaing where ini files are stored. As like lot of people I want to run it from usb memory stick. Also like programs if can add sites to it by using ini would be good. But very good program.
mattx Posted January 16, 2008 Author Posted January 16, 2008 (edited) Very good Matt yes like above have tool get program list from ini files butmake it look in root folder of program and central location or some way of syaing where ini files are stored. As like lot of people I want to run it from usb memory stick. Also like programs if can add sites to it by using ini would be good. But very good program. It should run from a USB stick or share - the ini file it currenly uses just has the list of sites to use. All the other apps are run from the folder the .zip or .exe extracted to. Just double checked, and it will run from a USB stick. Edited January 16, 2008 by mattx
russdev Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 right that last message was not very clear I will start again. if make it so users can add there own programs to menu using some kind of ini system as person above me suggested. Then if using central place to keep ini files make sure that can be overridden so ini files can be stored in root of program folder. Also if could add sites to list by using ini file of some kind (as current one just has site names) Cheers Russ
mattx Posted January 16, 2008 Author Posted January 16, 2008 I'm not that clever Russ !! I'll have a go though.....The sites option was a quick and dirty way of getting it working, the self inputted ini file I wanted to do from the start - maybe I'll make that a change when I can. I think the other aspects of it I would start that as different project. All my scripting stuff etc is all self taught so I have many bad habits..... [ They never did basic stuff like this when I was at school which was quite a while ago ] - I did write a 1k crappy game once on my ZX81 - it had lots of GOTO's and CLS commands in.....
russdev Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 what is it written in Matt if want send a copy of source over to me and will have play with sure can help somewhere. Russ
mattx Posted January 16, 2008 Author Posted January 16, 2008 Its written in AutoIT - I'll have a go at the ini file for the web sites, plus I want to add the Psshutdown option - after that I know I will get stuck so will hassle you then - [ I may hassle you sooner if I get stuck..... ]
mattx Posted January 17, 2008 Author Posted January 17, 2008 Just finished a small update - [ psshutdown ] Some may find this addition handy.... http://www.mattx.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Admin%20Bar/admin%20bar%20web%20page.html
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