If you have ever feel frustrated because you have been unable to reboot a machine from a remote location (using Microsoft’s own RDC), here’s a solution. While I recall having the option to send a Ctrl+Alt+Del to the remote machine that doesn’t seem to be available in most recent versions of the software, or at least not in the obvious places.

So, what you are left with right now is disconnect and log off options. To be able to reboot or shutdown the remote system you can call up the Command Prompt (cmd.exe) or just type the following in XP’s Run or in Vista’s search line that also serves the purpose of launching programs:

“shutdown -f” to shutdown
“shutdown -r -f” to reboot
“shutdown -i -f” to get a GUI
“shutdown -l -f” to logoff

Depending for how long you’ve been reading TechSpot you may have read a variety of comments about Apple products, from hate to well, less hate :). No, but seriously, despite of being mainly a Windows site we have tried to remain balanced and objective when time has come to report on any product, no matter if it came from Nvidia or ATI… Intel or AMD, Microsoft or Apple. We have said it like it is, and backed it up as needed and as possible. It’s what we owe to our readers.

Part of this objectivity comes from recognizing when a company is doing things wrong, and applaud their efforts when they make a brilliant comeback. For example there was no room left for fanaticism when Intel kept pushing the horrible Pentium 4, while AMD had to offer a better product in the Athlon. Likewise, how not to love the speedy and efficient Core 2 Duos nowadays.

But the discussion of the better operating system makes for a much stronger and subjective case, not to mention it’s been around almost as long as the Personal Computer itself. I can remember how Apple still had some loyal following during some of its darkest days in the mid 90s, and around the time TechSpot opened its doors in 1998, I could not help but hate the brand for its delusional claims that did nothing but mislead the end consumer.

In our eyes, Apple had no game in the computer world until the first consumer version of OS X was released in 2001. And even then it was severely lacking in the hardware department until they finally ate their own words to partner with Intel in recent years.

Which takes us to the present day, a revived Apple that is looking healthier than ever thanks to the iPod revolution along with some good long-term decision making on its computer division. The reaction from hardcore Apple fans is evident today throughout the web and even more so in the blogosphere. But like many PC users have begun to notice the fanaticism sometimes goes too far, and what you get as a result is a lot of subjective noise all-around that is certainly not helped by Apple’s own commercials.

But going back to the original purpose of this post, after a failed experiment using a Mac two years ago (Mac Mini G4 running Tiger, I couldn’t stand the slow hardware), I have decided to invest once again in Apple hardware, namely a MacBook Pro running a cool Core 2 Duo processor and OS X Leopard.

The thinking behind my decision was varied, for starters my old trusted ThinkPad T42 was needing a rest and another Vaio TX laptop I own, while very portable at 11″, is sometimes too small to get work done comfortably. Making a long story short, the MacBook Pro offered hardware that was on par with other major manufacturers ‘performance’ models, industrial design that is on par with Lenovo’s and Sony’s top models, and finally I got the choice of ditching OS X for Windows Vista or even XP, if I never found my way around it or needed to use Windows-only software. Of course, if I was going to believe all those Mac lovers out there, that could never happen.

I should add that it was also easier to swallow the $2000 spent on this laptop considering that as TechSpot’s Executive Editor, it comes handy when I can make a knowledgeable and up to date opinion on where OS X stands today against Vista or any other current Operating System, let’s face it it’s an ever recurrent topic.

I have been using the MacBook Pro for about a month now, and my experience has been mixed. The hardware is indeed beautiful and while I was expecting more from the LED lit screen, it’s still very very acceptable. There are small details that add to the overall experience like the backlit keyboard, the magnetic power connector and double finger scrolling, all in one portable package that is also the closest I have ever got to the performance of my custom-built desktop PC.

There are a few drawbacks that for the most part are inherent to every laptop that offers this kind of performance, so I won’t bother mentioning those. In the software side, I came across more than one surprise though.

Whatever you have heard about OS X Leopard’s ability to put Windows Vista to shame is probably not true… at least not from my perspective. In the first 24 hours I experienced two hard crashes, and in the first week I came across a reportedly software bug that locked my keyboard from functioning after waking up from sleep (it forces you to restart). So perhaps Tiger was more polished than Leopard is, and those early reviews that told you otherwise are pure bull.

Not to put the latest incarnation of OS X down, there are a number of things that work much better in the Mac than in Windows, like Spotlight – now that is powerful search that works – but I’m afraid it’s still an above-average consumer platform with flaws here and there, and a far cry from an Apple’s fanboy dream claims.
But my evaluation of the MacBook Pro’s hardware and software is far from over, this is an experiment I may actually be able to pull off (forgive my Windows roots), and hopefully it will also open the door for further Mac-related coverage and perspective at TechSpot for a very valid and growing consumer base.

Although not all of us are cut to be extreme Windows tweakers, there are still a few small hidden tweaks most people are familiar with and feel comfortable enough changing. Take for example the shortcut arrows in Windows. Those have been around since Win95 I believe, and not even in Windows Vista is there an obvious way to remove them.

In fact, because XP users can rely on the free Tweak UI they can access to this setting without recurring to a third party application. But there are still no PowerToys for Vista, so third parties is what we have for now.

So, I was recently trying a few different Vista “tweakers” to see what they were capable of, and while none offered anything particularly interesting, one of them decided to remove the registry entry for the shortcut arrows completely, rather than changing its value. The result? An empty list of Favorite Links (those useful shortcuts on the Windows Explorer sidebar).

If this has happened to you, don’t worry. Just download a trusted application that will correct it for you, namely Vista Shortcut Manager, a.k.a. FxVisor by Frameworkx. This small application will let you configure the shortcut arrow overlay while also fixing whatever any other program did to your registry entry.

On a side note, if you are into deeper tweaking you may want to check out TechSpot’s own Windows Vista Memory Tweak Guide.

Switcher is an Expose clone for Windows Vista. You may remember I recommended the beta version just a few weeks ago, new in the final version are a few stability fixes and reportedly some performance improvements as well. If you have no idea what Switcher or Expose are and what they can do for you, check out this post.

I have yet to try this updated version but I still wanted to bring the update to you ASAP considering I have endorsed it in the past as the best implementation of Expose-like functionality for Vista. Forget about Flip3D, and ease your use of Alt+Tab with this smart application switcher.

Mac fanboys and even some so-called Windows fanboys will praise OS X like there is no tomorrow… all while bashing Vista in the process, of course.

In my personal experience Vista is not as bad as some people say, while XP with its rocky past, today seems to be solid enough. Apple’s OS X offers a nice overall environment and while it’s still missing some appeal for me to become a switcher, I have to admit it’s got one particular feature I would love to get in Windows: Exposé!

Ever since I upgraded to Vista I have waited for developers to come up with an Exposé-like application to replace the good looking but useless Flip3d. Well, it’s been over six months and I have tested a bunch of implementations… some would simply crash, others would become system hogs (and eventually crash), this went on and on for months.

Until now. Microsoft employee Bao Nguyen has been working on such an application for months on his free time (as a hobby project, not Microsoft directed). He already used to have the better Exposé application out there with Switcher 1.0 but it was still a bit buggy and not fast enough to really use and enjoy. Earlier this week he silently launched a beta version of Switcher 2.0 and I have been playing with it for a few hours now. It’s finally here, Exposé for Windows that actually works like it’s supposed to!

I’m happy to report Switcher 2.0 (beta – download here) feels very solid, it’s very customizable in both looks and function and runs fast enough for daily use and abuse. At least on my desktop system running Vista (Athlon X2 4400+, 2GB, GeForce 7800GT) it runs just fine, even playing videos and updating windows in real-time. Excellent job, great free application!

For the past 3-4 years I have been recommending Windows XP users to install a small combo of basic applications that will grant a more secure and thus stable experience with the OS.

Nowadays SP2/Windows Defender should be a given and along with it you should install a good non-bloated anti-virus like AVG or AntiVir (both free), a good software firewall like ZoneAlarm, and a couple of trusted anti-spyware apps to run at least once a month. Everyone’s favorites seem to be the free Adaware and Spybot.

If you are familiar with all of those and you don’t rely on any untrusted sites, you should be in pretty good shape. Now I have another one to add to your list if you want to keep your system as secure as possible and rootkit-free. So, what are rootkits?

Rootkits are a specific type of malware which hide in other applications or a computer‘s operating system kernel. They allow malicious applications to collect passwords and sensitive data from the infected computer without the user’s knowledge, this can be used for personal information theft, spam relay and other criminal activities.

From the programs I just mentioned above, the anti-viruses should help a bit but none are specialized in detecting this kind of malware.

There used to be a pretty good free scanner from F-secure but the utility is no longer available. But don’t worry, AVG has got you covered with their Anti-rootkit Free utility, download that here and add it to your list of important programs.

Bashing Vista for whatever reason you can imagine seems to be the most hip thing to do nowadays, and while a post with my take on Vista is on its way, for now I wanted to share a tip with you for connecting external hard drives successfully to the OS.

I should note that not all external drives should be having this kind of problem, however when I upgraded from XP and wanted to get access to my Maxtor Shared Storage Plus external drive, the Maxtor utilities simply refused to communicate with the drive. As a side note, the drive I’m talking about is a networked drive a.k.a. Network-attached storage (not USB). Also Maxtor was acquired by Seagate last year, so my almost brand new 500gb drive receives limited support for the rest of its life span.

Now, the problem and its solution…

Windows Vista defaults to allow only NTLMv2 authentication on a network for increased security, and the Maxtor Shared Storage drives do not work with this type of authentication (that’s why only Public areas were accessible). The solution is to enable LM and NTLM authentications on the network to get full access back.

1. Click on Start and on the command/search field, enter secpol.msc
2. This will open the Local Security Policy app. Now on the left menu go to Local Policies > Security Options.
3. On the right pane, scroll down to Network Security: LAN Manager authentication level and double click it.
4. On the Local Security Setting tab you should see a drop down menu with options. Choose “Send LM & NTLM – use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated.” Accept all dialogs and restart.
5. That should do the trick (on Vista Ultimate).

Because the Home editions of Vista do not include the Local Security Policy utility, on those machines you will need to edit a setting in the registry. If you follow my instructions exactly there should be nothing to be worried about:

1. Click on Start and on the command/search field, enter regedit.
2. This will open the Registry Editor. Now browse on the left pane to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Lsa.
3. That should show a bunch of settings on the right pane, select LmCompatibilityLevel (double-click it).
4. Change the current setting, from 3 to 1.
5. Accept all dialogs and restart.

If you rely on a remote connection client to get access to your files at the office or from your home, chances are you have probably tried using the client built-in into Windows called Remote Desktop Connection (also Terminal Services Client).

Personally, I don’t like opening up my main PC to the Internet but only to those computers on my local LAN (which only I use). So I use RDC to access my desktop when I’m in bed or somewhere else around the house using my laptop. The biggest gripe of using RDC (which has been way improved since Windows 2000 days) was that I couldn’t use any font smoothing (Cleartype in Windows) so reading documents or browsing the web on an LCD screen was adequate at best.

Well, it just happens that with the latest update of the RDC client (6.0) for Windows XP and Server 2003 that dates back to November, you can now use font smoothing as long as the client PC is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. I just noticed about the change over the last few weeks, so now I’m happily writing this from my laptop running the RDC client connected to my main PC…

Over a LAN it’s not any slower than with Cleartype off, plus it should save some battery on the laptop since I’m not accessing the hard drive or processing stuff on the laptop itself, and my desktop PC is much much faster in the first place.

If you don’t have the latest RDC client installed you can download it here, and enable font smoothing using these instructions:

To enable font smoothing, follow these steps:
1.    Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click Communication, and then click Remote Desktop Connection.
2.    Click Options, click the Experience tab, and then click to select the Font smoothing check box.

A complete list of features on the latest version of Remote Desktop Connection can be found here.