Identify your memory without cracking the case.

We have reviewed Crucial Memory in the past here when we gave away a 2gb memory module to one of our readers. So we were happy to plug them again when Jenny from San Fransisco wrote us asking:

Yo Admin can you tell me what kind of memory is in my PC without me having to open the case? I want to see how much it will cost to upgrade but don't want to dive into it unless I am going to do it. Dig? I have busted up one too many machines in the past. But memory is a good way to speed up my p4 machine it has 256mb right?

Jenny Needs Memory

Jenny yes 256mb of memory is not enough for anything nowadays!


You should but that rig up to at least 1gb. Memory is cheap just go to this link and you will be able to scan your memory and get all sorts of useful facts and prices. And wait there's more...



You will also be supporting AskTheAdmin by making any purchases via these links.

Why you might ask?

Well it is an affiliate program we have been experimenting with. You buy stuff you need and they give us a little bit o' cheddar for referring you over to them. It gets expensive running a website where advertising revenue brings in next to nothing. But I love helping you weirdos! Awww don't blush! I have seen your temp files and browsing history pervo!

But back to the hard sell...

Crucial makes your life easier by telling you how much memory your system can max out at and what type it needs and best of all how much its going to cost ya! What are you waiting for speed up your machines today!

Memory being the price it is can be a GREAT ALTERNATIVE to buying a NEW MACHINE! Support us to take over the fricking world get us up on our own dedicated server/line...


Maybe we could hire some more quality writers to give you more great information if we had more than .37 in the AskTheAdmin bank account. So instead of me carrying her on my shoulders help out! How does that make you feel? (It makes me feel like a guy in the train going from car to car saying Ladies and Gentleman I don't mean to interrupt...) Feelings... Death Threats... In the comments!

_TheNeedsMoneyAdmiN_

Why can my Vista Sidebar only hold a small number of gadgets?

When I first heard about the Windows Vista Sidebar way back when I was very excited. I thought Wowie, (yeah i say wowie and I give High-Five all the time too - What?!?) I am going to get every widget possible into my sidebar and be uber productive. (edit: I might be over exaggerating - just a little :) )

Then at first glance, the Windows Sidebar looked as though it can hold only a few widgets/gadgets. So much for the uber convenience I was looking for. When you fill up your Sidebar, adding another gadget makes the one on the bottom disappear, requiring you to delete a visible one to bring it back.

But as it turns out the Sidebar has more than one screen. When more than the visible number of gadgets are in use, the excess gadgets flow out onto another screen. The arrows at the top of the Sidebar take you from one screen to another. Even your less-used gadgets can be just one click away.

So what are your favorite "Gadgets"? Edit:(I still have this urge to call them Widgets.)

Send your tips in to tips at askTheAdmin dot com or hit us up in the comments! Your comment might just get you some swag!

_TheWidgetCrazyAdmiN_

Is there a way to reference cell ranges by label in Excel?

Jacob asked us if he could reference a whole cell range by label in excel. He continued on with how much easier it would make his life. Jacob today's your lucky day because it looks like you can!

You can reference a column by its header or label. This is wonderful and had more than a few of my end users jumping for joy! It works in OpenOffice as well as most Pc versions and on the Mac!

While you're writing formulas in Excel, you can refer to cell ranges not only by hard-to-read row and column numbers and letters but by label. So instead of totaling a column using =SUM(B2:B5), you can write the formula =SUM('Widgets Cranked'). After I mentioned this is a nice feature in Apple's new spreadsheet application Numbers '08, reader Dustin pointed out that it's available in Excel as well, just not turned on by default. To enable it, in the Tools>Options dialog, the Calculation tab, check off "Accept labels in formulas." Thanks, Dustin! [Via LifeHacker]

_TheExcelingAdmiN_

Why can't I play my mp4 videos on my computer? Error -2401: an invalid sample description was found in the movie.

We got this message from A 8525 user named DarkShadows:

I am at a loss. I uploaded my videos from my 8525 (which play fine on the phone) to save space. But they will not play on my windows machine. I am trying to play them using Quicktime.

Two types of extensions are present mp4 & 3gp. the 3gp plays in Quicktime but the mp4 doesn't play. I downloaded VCLan and it played them but with no audio, which is present when it is played on the phone. The Mp4 gives me this error message: Error -2401: an invalid sample description was found in the movie.

Any ideas? I got this wicked video of this chick from last weekend. Hook me up!

We sure do DarkShadows! And this one is a really easy fix! The MP4 file that windows media is producing is not actually a MP4 file format AT ALL! It is actually a 3GP file and if you simply rename your files extension from MP4 to 3GP it will work.

That's all you have to do.

No really, unless you want me to give you some busy work to go along with that! :)

_TheEasyFixAdmiN_

After using GP for a while, things are a little bit slower sometimes when new users log on. Why?

Since so many of you have been asking for more and more Group Policy Goodness - we brought in Jeremy from GPanswers.com to pass along some of his expertise in the area. Check out his answer to this question below:

Yesterday, I finished giving a private GP 2.0 Catch-up class. This company originally took my Essentials class several years ago. In the middle of the catch-up class one of the guys asked me

"Jeremy, now that we've been using GP a little while, and are really embracing GPOs, things are a little bit slower sometimes when new users log on."

And my response might shock you.

I said "Awesome !"

He was a little taken back. And I know why. He thought he had a problem. But he doesn't. He just missed a key point about how GP works.

Let's imagine that you wanted to do something a little crazy. And, I know you wouldn't really want to do what I'm about to describe; it's just something for us to hang our hats on, okay? So, imagine you wanted to (yikes) re-ACL your entire hard drive. Yep. That's the directive. Ouch.
Again, it's just theoretical, so go with me here. So, in simple terms you have a handful of options:

• Use a startup-script which manually does the deed
• Manually run a script which does the deed on each machine

or

• Use GP to deliver the same set of instructions via the NTFS security node

They all do the same thing, right? Right. And the action they're taking (the actual "thing" they're doing) is kind of slow and painful ,right?

So is the GP engine the cause of this "slowdown?" No. It's the "action" you're doing. The theoretical re-ACL'ing of the hard drive.

So I was kind of excited when he said that sometimes things are slower because that means he's actually DOING something with GP. So, I like to say that GP is a "Blame the message, not the messenger" technology.

A little later in the GP 2.0 Catch-up class I showed him how to bust apart Vista's new logging mechanism and see -- precisely -- how long a "GP Cycle" takes. That way he can be really really sure how long GP was taking to process each step if he wanted to. Heck, it might not even be that anything he's DOING with GP is even causing the slowdown!

But in any case, the next time you think "Hey, the computer is running a little slowly" embrace it. It means it's working. (But also consider getting smarter in GP troubleshooting it too, to be 100% sure it's working for you.)

Stay tuned for more Group Policy Goodness from Jeremy!

How can I backup the information I cant see before formatting A Windows Box?

Every time a machine gets put in front of me that needs to be formatted I first have to backup all the user's personal data. I can't see their passwords for their IM or Email accounts - So how can I retrieve it? We have covered programs that reveal the password behind the Asterisks before but this goes much further. Check out what we can backup with this method:

• Documents/Pictures/Music Collections
  
• Mail Settings (Accounts, Passwords, Address Book etc.
  
• Dialup & VPN Setting.
  
• Messengers Accounts
  
• Windows & Applications License Keys.
  
• and much more...

Data such as Documents and Media files are simple to backup. But how can I know what's behind those asterisks to save their passwords? You ask how can I collect all those licenses and other hidden data ???? And how can we do it FAST and efficient? We definitely don't want to end up like lost password Lucy below...

Well, the solution comes from a great site for small and useful freeware utilities called NirSoft. The site includes many utilities that reveals your precious information. It's like the missing piece of the puzzle. Some of us have used the Windows documents and settings migration tools - but this is so much better.

But wait! What I need to satisfy the inner admin in me IS - Automation !!

So I've collected some of the utilities, added my own batch script and packed it all to an automated self-extracted archive called: SaveMyData


When you run it, this batch will:

• Collect all your private settings.
  
• Export the data to text files.
  
• Save the files in a Backup folder in your system drive.
  

The Settings includes:

Mail Settings, VPN & Dialups Passwords, Product Keys, Messengers Passwords , IE AutoComplete Passwords, Network Passwords, Wireless Networks Keys (WEP/WPA)

* note: one of the tools (Pspv) exports the data to a Text file and also to a Data file that can later be manually imported back using that same tool.

I know that these utilities drastically changed the amount of time I need to dedicate to the pre-format actions.

I sure hope it will help you guys too :-)

Cheers,
YaronM