Setup your Log on to Domain automatically

One thing that really annoys me about windows is that when you add a machine to a domain the log on to domain defaults to “MachineName (This computer)”. This means that you then need to log into the machine under a domain account and then log off again if you don’t want to get a phone call from your users saying that their domain passwords dont work. This also occurs when you log into a machine using a local account to do some administration. Its such a time waster to have to login just to log out, especially if you are setting up multiple machines at a time.

By presetting the following key via a group policy object within active directory and assigning it to your computer Organisational Unit your computers always have domain name as default:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\DefaultDomainName (REG_SZ)

To do this you will need to setup a startup script under the computer policy section.

On your Computer Organisational Unit create a New Group Policy and call it DefaultDomainName.

Under Windows Settings -> Scripts, Right click on Startup and select Properties.

Click Show Files.

Now create the following two files within this folder.

A “DefaultDomainName.bat” containing:

%systemroot%regedit /s defaultDomainName.reg

A “DefaultDomainName.reg” file containing:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

“DefaultDomainName”=”YOURDOMAINNAME”

Close the folder and click Add on the Startup Properties window.

Click Browse and select the DefaultDomainName.bat file.

Click Ok -> Ok. Then close out of the Group Policy Editor.

When your computers under that Organisational Unit restart that policy should now be applied.

Assign disk quota to entire organisational units on pre R2 2003

You can sort users by Organisational unit within the Quota Management window of your Hard Drive for easier assigning or removing of a Disk quota.

To do this go to the quota entries for the drive you want to view via My Computer -> right click on the drive you want to view -> Quota -> then click quota entries.

On this screen you can turn on the users containing folder by going to View -> Containing Folder.

Now with the users organisational units shown, we can sort the list by clicking on In Folder and highlighting the ones we want to assign.

TVtSched.exe Slowing down Lenovo Machines

I’ve discovered that Tvtsched.exe is sometimes using greater than 70% CPU in task manager on alot of Lenovo PC’s I manage. This software tends to really slow down the machines and they appear to lock up. The program causing this is is called ThinkVantage System Update.

To uninstall this:

Goto Add/Remove Programs and find ThinkVantage System Update and click remove.

When asked to remove other files click Yes.

While you are here also uninstall the ThinkVantage System Update  Toolbar Button for IE.

Note: You can also stop the service called TVT Scheduler in Control panel-> Administrative tools -> Services and mark it is disabled at startup if you cannot get to all your machines in person. Pushing this disabled setting out via group policy might be better if you have many machines and are time short.