Is Computer a Member of a Domain "Laptops" Group

Check if the local computer is a member of a particular AD group that denotes being a laptop:

Const domain = "MyDomain"
Const laptops = "Laptop Computers"

Set objShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")

Function IsLaptop()
    Dim objGroup, retval, cn, objMember
    cn = objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%computername%")
    On Error Resume Next
    Set objGroup = GetObject("WinNT://" & domain & "/" & laptops & "")
    If err.Number = 0 Then
        For each objMember in objGroup.Members
            If Lcase(objMember.Name) = Lcase(cn & "$") Then
                retval = True
           End If
        Next
    Else
        wscript.echo "fail: group not found"
    End If
    IsLaptop = retval
End Function

If IsLaptop() Then
    wscript.echo "laptop"
Else
    wscript.echo "not-laptop"
End If

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Detection Deflection Reflection

Is the client 32-bit or 64-bit?

if exist "%windir%\SysWOW64" (
    echo "64-bit"
) else (
    echo "32-bit"
)

Is the client Windows 7?

Function IsWindows7()
    strComputer = "." 
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & _

strComputer & "\root\CIMV2") 
    Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery(_

"SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem",,48) 
    For Each objItem in colItems
        cap = objItem.Caption
    Next
    If InStr(cap, "Windows 7") > 0 Then
        IsWindows7 = True
    End If
End Function

If IsWindows7() = True Then
    wscript.echo "Windows 7!"
Else
    wscript.echo "Not Windows 7"
End If

Is the client XP or Vista/7?

if exist "%systemdrive%\ProgramData" (
   echo "Windows Vista or Windows 7"
) else (
   echo "Windows XP"
)

Before you flip out on me, YES: I know this doesn't address Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, and ignores Windows 2000. That's fine.  Feel free to modify any of this.  I was just throwing out some quick-and-dirty examples. I don't care about Windows 2000 anyway.

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Let's Put This Another Way

• It's the biggest killer in America and has been for decades
• It kills more people than all diseases combined
• It kills more than air crashes
• It kills more than homicide
• It kills people of all ages, races, religious and ethnicity; men and women alike
• The odds are you know someone killed by it
• There are No fund-raisers to address this
• There are No "race for the cure" events, no donation drives
• There are No bills before Congress or Senate to address this
• The technology to cure this has existed for decades
• We refuse to consider using it - We choose to live with this every day
• Can you guess what it is?

When you figure it out, ask yourself if humans are still the smartest creatures on this planet.

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Top-Ranked Customer Service

Everyone has a story to tell.  I'm no different.  I tell stories all the time.  Funny ones.  Sad ones.  Dumb ones.  Mostly dumb ones.  But when it comes to rating "customer support", everyone has a horror story to share.  It's always weird how most people remember the bad stories more than the good stories.  I remember the good ones more.  I'm weird.

So, I decided to rank the best experiences with customer support services from various companies.  I'm using a personal experience rating system.  These are based on my own dealings with these companies.  I tried to weight them based on number of interactions I've had with each: the more interactions, the heavier the weight.  Here goes: From Best to Worst on a scale of 1 (best) to 100 (worst)…

1. Amazon
2. Verizon Wireless
3. Avatech Solutions (now Imaginit Technologies)
4. Autodesk
5. Microsoft
6. Apple
7. Cox Communications
8. HP
9. Dominion Power
10. Cannon
11. Netgear
12. Linksys
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99. HFC / HSBC
100. Symantec

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SCCM Web Management

After building my own web interface to SCCM administration and monitoring, I cannot think of one single reason to ever use MMC again.  Ever.  Never.  I fail to see the logic in why Microsoft sticks with such a clunky piece of crap console interface.  I never have to Update/Refresh/Update/Refresh when viewing the same information via the web.  I think I'll bundle it up and post it online as a free/open-source app, but only if there's interest out there.  I'd still have to clean up the code a bit, document it a bit more thoroughly.  It's ASP and can run on any IIS instance.  Uses integrated AD authentication to provide app-level access control, or it can be controlled within the ASP code directly.  Anyone interested? 

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Fonts: 101

I don't care what you work on, or work with, Dreamweaver, Expression Studio, MS-Word, Adobe PhotoShop or Illustrator, AutoCAD, Visio, whatever, it doesn't matter. There is one basic fundamental law of using fonts that I wish people would pay attention to..

Fonts generally work best at certain sizes. They usually do not look right at all sizes.

For example: Arial, Helvetica and Segoe look pretty good at 10pt and up. They look like shit at 5pt to 9pt. Verdana looks great at 5pt to 10pt, but looks like shit above 10pt.

STOP using the same ****ing font for all sizes! It looks amateurish and stupid. It screams out "the designer is an idiot".

Thank you!

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How to: Convert MIT Open Courseware to Kindle Reader

MIT Open Courseware is a FREE and exceptionally well produced set of educational topics, lectures, lecture notes and handouts.  The notes and handouts are in Adobe PDF format only.  But if you want to read them on your Amazon Kindle Reader, you will need to convert them.  Fortunately, there is a process for doing this that is fairly simple, and totally free.  Be advised however, that converting PDF files to e-book formats is not a flawless effort.  Formatting will be changed, but in general, the textual content remains intact.



1.       Browse the MIT OCW library and find a topic (e.g. "Modal Logic", http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-244-modal-logic-fall-2009/lecture-notes/)



2.       Right-click on the "PDF" link for one of the Lecture Notes, copy the Link Address



3.       Go to http://www.2epub.com



4.       Click the "BROWSE" button, and paste the PDF hyperlink into the filename box, click Open



5.       Click the "Upload Files" link



6.       Select the option to convert to .MOBI



7.       Download the results of the conversion



8.       Open in Kindle Reader app or copy to your Kindle Reader device



You can also convert to EPUB format for Sony Reader and the B&N Nook Reader.

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