Windows Server 2003

Publisher's Description

From Microsoft:

Windows Server 2003 (sometimes referred to as Win2K3) is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, released on April 24, 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on December 6, 2005. Its successor, Windows Server 2008, was released on February 4, 2008.

According to Microsoft, Windows Server 2003 is more scalable and delivers better performance than its predecessor, Windows 2000.

The following features are new to Windows Server 2003:
    Internet Information Services (IIS) v6.0
    Significant improvements to Message Queuing
    Manage Your Server – a role management administrative tool that allows an administrator to choose what functionality the server should provide
    Improvements to Active Directory, such as the ability to deactivate classes from the schema, or to run multiple instances of the directory server (ADAM)
    Improvements to Group Policy handling and administration
    Provides a backup system to restore lost files
    Improved disk management, including the ability to back up from shadows of files, allowing the backup of open files.
    Improved scripting and command line tools, which are part of Microsoft's initiative to bring a complete command shell to the next version of Windows
    Support for a hardware-based "watchdog timer", which can restart the server if the operating system does not respond within a certain amount of time.[3]

The ability to create rescue disk was removed in favor of Automated System Recovery (ASR).

Editions
Windows Server 2003 comes in a number of editions, each targeted towards a particular size and type of business.In general, all variants of Windows Server 2003 have the ability to share files and printers, act as an application server, and host message queues, provide email services, authenticate users, act as an X.509 certificate server, provide LDAP directory services, serve streaming media, and to perform other server-oriented functions.

Web

Windows Server 2003 Web is meant for building and hosting Web applications, Web pages, and XML web services. It is designed to be used primarily as an IIS 6.0 Web server and provides a platform for developing and deploying XML Web services and applications that use ASP.NET technology, a key part of the .NET Framework. Terminal Services is not included on Web Edition. However, Remote Desktop for Administration is available.. Only 10 concurrent file-sharing connections are allowed at any moment. It is not possible to install Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange software in this edition without installing Service Pack 1. Despite supporting XML Web services and ASP.NET, UDDI cannot be deployed on Windows Server 2003 Web. The .NET Framework version 2.0 is not included with Windows Server 2003 Web, but can be installed as a separate update from Windows Update.


Windows Server 2003 Web supports a maximum of 2 physical processors and a maximum of 2GB of RAM.However, an instance of Windows Server 2003 Web cannot act as a domain controller.It is the only edition of Windows Server 2003 that does not require Client Access Licenses when used as the internet facing server frontend for Internet Information Services and Windows Server Update Services. When using it for storage or as a backend with another remote server as the frontend, CALs may still be required.

GetDataBack for NTFS

Publisher’s Description

From Runtime Software:

GetDataBack is highly advanced data-recovery software that will help you to get your data back when your drive’s partition table, boot record, Master File Table, or root directory is corrupted or lost, when a virus hits the drive, when files have been deleted, when the drive has been formatted, or when the drive has been struck by a power failure. GetDataBack can even recover your data when the drive is no longer recognized by the operating system or not only the root directory but all directory information is lost. Advanced algorithms will make sure all directories and subdirectories are put together as they were, and that long filenames are reconstructed correctly. GetDataBack is safe because it’s read-only, which means the program will never attempt to write to the drive you’re about to recover.

ITUOnline Editors’ review

Accidentally deleted your files? GetDataBack Data Recovery can track them down–for a price. It even works with corrupted drives and those not recognized by Windows. This version only recovers files from NTFS drives, but it does offer a search tool for quickly locating a file by its date, name, or size.

If you suspect your actual disk is about to bite the dust, you can create a drive image to use during recovery. The utility can’t make rescue discs, however, so if you want to do that, you’ll need to build yourself a bootable Windows PE disc and add GetDataBack Data Recovery to it–the publisher’s Web site has instructions.

Although the application proves quite adept at locating deleted files, and you can view their contents, the demo won’t recover them. We can’t vouch for how well this core feature works. GetDataBack Data Recovery seems worth trying, but if you actually want to recover any lost work, this demo won’t do you much good.

DAEMON Tools Lite

Publisher’s Description

From Disc Soft:

DAEMON Tools Lite is a virtual DVD-ROM emulator based on a SCSI miniport driver. It emulates max. 4 DVD-ROM drives and works with CD/DVD images created by many burning programs. It is great on notebooks without a physical CD-/DVD-ROM drive or to save akku power and speed up CD/DVD access. In opposite to other CD-/DVD-ROM emulators DAEMON Tools Lite doesn’t use a proprietary container format. The advantage is that you can burn the images you’re using with DAEMON Tools Lite right away or just test an image before burning it to see if it was created correctly. DAEMON Tools Lite works with most image formats. Moreover it has a special feature to make physical (burned) backups of your CD / DVD images when it is possible. It supports Alcohol120%-Images (MDS-Files) and RMPS-Media. It’s also great if you want save Power on your Notebook.

What’s new in this version: Version 4.45.4 offers support of APE image files; DT as a new virtual device is added to perform Basic Emulation; Improvement of portable installation; SPTD 1.78.

utorrent

Publisher's Description

From BitTorrent:

uTorrent is a powerful and efficient BitTorrent client for Windows. Most of the features present in other BitTorrent clients are present in uTorrent, including bandwidth prioritization, scheduling, RSS auto-downloading, and Mainline DHT. Additionally, uTorrent supports the protocol encryption joint specification and peer exchange. Unlike many torrent clients, it does not hog valuable system resources--typically using less than 6MB of memory, allowing you to use the computer as if it weren't there at all.

ITUOnline Editors' review

Small enough to run off a USB key, but powerful enough to download any torrent in a jiffy (if it's got enough seeders), uTorrent 2.0 is easy on the eyes and smart on your network. The memory footprint for uTorrent is very small, and system resources are barely touched. While you're torrenting, you shouldn't be surprised to find that other programs that use your Internet connection slow down, but the latest version of uTorrent has an answer to that. Called uTorrent Protocol, or uTP, it's a built-in throttling that detects network congestion and slows down the torrent until the traffic jam has dissipated.

Version 2.0 includes a transfer cap, so that users who have had limits imposed by their ISPs can keep track and automatically kill torrenting when that limit is reached. Skins have also been introduced, but there's no skins option in Preferences: instead, you must go to the uTorrent site and download and install them yourself. That's unnecessarily irritating.

The most difficult aspect of using a torrent client is still finding the torrents, but included are both a torrent search bar and a handy RSS feed download function. Subscribe to select feeds, and uTorrent automatically downloads files as they publish. Adding, starting, pausing, and listing torrents takes merely a click each. A speed guide helps you test your ports and adjust system settings for optimal performance, although watch out for the opt-out Ask.com toolbar when you install. Combined with Local Peer Discovery and DHT Network options, and Teredo and Ipv6 support, uTorrent should be the torrent program of choice for novices, intermediate, and advanced users.

Norton Ghost

Publisher's Description

From Symantec:

Norton Ghost is a comprehensive disk imaging solution for home and small office users. Enhanced with Drive Image technology, which Symantec obtained through the acquisition of Power-quest Corporation, Norton Ghost offers consumers the ultimate solution in data storage and protection with a complete, reliable, quick and easy way to backup system files, programs, settings, documents and other important data.

With Norton Ghost, users can now create backup images without restarting their computer or exiting Windows through the product's hot imaging technology. Imaging takes place in the background without interruption, allowing users to continue work on their system as the backup takes place. Users also benefit by saving valuable time and storage space with Norton Ghost's incremental backup and restore feature. Once an initial image of a hard drive is completed, users can make future backups incrementally - updating only the files and information that have changed rather than backing up the entire hard drive again. In the event it is necessary to restore data, users can choose to restore the entire system or just specific files or folders.

7-Zip

Publisher’s Description

From 7-Zip Software:

The main features of 7-Zip: High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression. Supported formats: Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR; Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z. For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip. Self-extracting capability for 7z format. Integration with Windows Shell. Powerful File Manager. Powerful command line version.
ITUO Editors’ review

It’s easy for Windows users to forget that WinZip isn’t the only file-compression utility in the world. Like its better-known competitors, the free 7-Zip unpacks a host of archive formats, including ZIP, TAR, GZ, and its own 7z format. Unlike WinZip, though, it can create TAR and GZ archives, which are commonly used on Unix and Linux systems.

The program’s ability to shrink files was stunning. In our tests, 7z archives were up to 40 percent smaller then their ZIP equivalents, although compression did take longer, and the highest compression settings can hog system resources. Advanced options include the ability to create solid and self-extracting archives, and to adjust the compression level and password protection. The program also has a command line module. Though the main interface is overly simple and looks like it was designed for Windows 95, it’s not hard to use and fairly self-explanatory. The context menu options, which include “testing” an archive, indicate that 7-Zip should be taken seriously.

7-Zip is fine for casual users with a bit of computer savvy, but it’s especially well-suited for developers and anyone else who moves between the Windows and Linux/Unix worlds.

Easy Recovery Pro

Publisher’s Description

From Kroll Ontrack:

EasyRecovery(TM) Professional 6.0 is the complete solution for your data recovery, file repair, and disk diagnostic needs. It includes all of Kroll Ontrack’s EasyRecovery Data Recovery(TM) and EasyRecovery FileRepair(TM) features and benefits, plus superior disk diagnostics including Ontrack Data Advisor(R), and advanced data recovery capabilities and options. EasyRecovery Professional contains advanced data recovery capabilities that allow you to search more than 225 different file types including MIDI music files, voice files, digital media files, and more! Plus you can utilize the Emergency Boot Diskette to recover data from systems that cannot boot to Windows. In addition to the new, more powerful data recovery engine, EasyRecovery Professional now has the power to repair Zip files and Microsoft(R) Outlook(R), Access, Excel, PowerPoint(R) and Word files! Plus the added disk diagnostic features, including Ontrack Data Advisor(R), provide valuable system diagnostic tools to quickly evaluate the health of your hard drive.