PAL 2.0 has recently released the beta of version 2.0.  If you are not familiar with PAL it stands for Performance Analysis Of Logs.  In a nutshell PAL allows you to quickly analyze Windows performance logs and gives you a nice report you can hand to your manager.  The new version of the tool is written in PowerShell 2.0 which makes it very powerful.  I have used the tool several time to troubleshoot complex production issues.  This tool will help make you look like genius by being able to pinpoint the problem and provide pretty pictures.  Please stop by the codeplex project site and check it out.  If you like the tool please drop Clint a quick email and let him know how you are using the tool.

PAL Codeplex Project Site
http://pal.codeplex.com/releases

PAL 2.0 Beta Download
http://pal.codeplex.com/releases/view/46846

Intro To PAL Slide Deck
http://pal.codeplex.com/releases/view/46846#DownloadId=126279

Clint Huffman Talks About PAL On PowerScripting Podcast
http://powerscripting.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/episode-97-clint-huffman-and-his-pal-project/

Hash Tab 3.0 is a small program that allows you to calculate file hashes.  The great thing about hash tab is that it is supported as a Windows shell extension. This means that once you have the program installed all you have to do is look at the file properties to see the hash.  Hash Tab 3.0 supports several algorithms including MD5, SHA1, SHA2, RipeMD, HAVAL and Whirlpool.  Check out the link below to download the program and learn more about it.

Download Hash Tab 3.0
http://beeblebrox.org/hashtab/

One of the best boot CD that exist was just recently updated to version 5.0.1.  This is one of the must have tools for system administrators that deal with server different operating systems.  Check out the information below which is from the sites main page.

You need the Ultimate Boot CD if you want to:

• Run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives. More and more PCs are shipped without floppy drives these days, and it is such a royal pain when you need to run diagnostic tools on them.
• Free yourself from the slow loading speed of the floppy drive. Even if you do have a floppy drive, it is still much much faster to run your diagnostic tools from the CDROM drive, rather than wait for the tool to load from the floppy drive.
• Consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. Wouldn’t you like to avoid digging into the dusty box to look for the right floppy disk, but simply run them all from a single CD? Then the Ultimate Boot CD is for you!
• Run Ultimate Boot CD from your USB memory stick. A script on the CD prepares your USB memory stick so that it can be used on newer machines that supports booting from USB devices. You can access the same tools as you would from the CD version.

Download Ultimate Boot CD
http://www.serverninjas.com/ultimate-tool-list/boot-utilities/ultimate-boot-cd/ultimate-boot-cd-download

Ultimate Boot CD Site
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com

The Poshboard project on Codeplex is a very interesting project.  I came across this project while doing a some research on creating dashboards from PowerShell.  The project was designed to create a modular IT web portal based on PowerShell and Silverlight.  In order to accomplish this the project has leveraged the use of several programs like silverlight cover flow, DevExpress AgDataGrid, blacklight, visifire silverlight charts.  The current version of this project is 2.5, but they also have a beta version out of their next release.  Check out the links below and let me know what you think.

Poshboard CodePlex Project
http://poshboard.codeplex.com/Wikipage

Poshbaord Site Page
http://www.poshboard.com/

Microsoft has released a great tool by the name of Microsoft Desktop Player.  This tool is currently in Beta and can be found by following the below link.  The tool streamlines access to information that Microsoft has made available to IT Pros and developers.  I have personally been using the tool now for a couple of days and have found it to be very addictive.  The desktop player makes finding presentations off of TechNet very easy.  So here is my official warning that following the link to this new tool could be very time consuming!  Please go check it out and stop back and let me know what you think.

Microsoft Desktop Player (Beta)

http://www.microsoft.com/click/desktopplayer/

Web Of Trust is a a web browsing tool that I came across recently.  This tool installs as an extension on your favorite browser.  WOT will then warn you about risky sites before you click on them.  The nice thing about the tool is if you go to a site directly it will pop up a banner warning you.  You can then select to continue on to the site or you can surf in a different direction.  WOT currently has almost 27 million sites rated and is growing every day.  I was pretty surprised to see that out of the 27 million about 3 million are rated dangerous.  This tool has really saved me a couple of times over the past couple weeks.  So I encourage you to stop on over at their site and check it out.  Stop back by and let me know what you think.

Web Of Trust
http://www.mywot.com/

WOT Forum
http://www.mywot.com/en/forum

BlueScreenView is a great tool that you can download from Nirsoft.  The free tool allows you to so scan minidump files created during the blue screen of death crashes.  The utility will show you the date\time, basic crash information, and the details of the driver that could have possible caused the blue screen.  This tool is a must have if you are a server administrator that needs to quickly figure out what has crashed your system.  This tool has significantly cut down on my troubleshooting costs and time.

Nirsoft BlueScreenView
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

InputDirector is a great program that allows you control multiple computers from one keyboard and mouse.  The great part about this program is that it is easy to use and also free.  Input director does require Windows 2000, Windows XP,  Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, or Windows 7.  They computers also must be networked together.  If you meet both of those requirements all you have to do is install the software on each machine and configure it.  You control the transition from one computer to another by simply moving your cursor off one screen to another.  So if you have a need to control multiple computers from one spot check out this great software.

Input Director Main Site
http://www.inputdirector.com/

Input Director Setup Instructions
http://www.inputdirector.com/quickstart-install.html

I think at one time or another we have deleted something that we needed.  The problem is usually getting files back is fairly hard.  There have always been tools out there to recover data, but they were usually to expensive.  That has all changed with the great product called Recuva.  This tool was created by Piriform and can be downloaded from their site.  They just released version 1.36.479 on March 1st, 2010.  The tool has several features including undelete files from your computer, recover deleted emails, and restore unsaved word documents.  So if you are need in a good undelete files tool check out this program.   Please stop back and let us know what you think!

Recuva Site
http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Recuva Features
http://www.piriform.com/recuva/features

Recuva Screenshots
http://www.piriform.com/recuva/screenshots

Windows Server 2008 R2 Core Edition is a great product for the command line driven administrators.  The only problem is it is hard to find a team where everybody is willing to learn this skill.  This makes is hard to deploy the new core edition of server 2008 R2.  That is until core configurator was developed over at codeplex.  Some of taks that can be completed through the tool are ISCSI settings, server roles, server features, joining a domain, add/remove programs, and WinRM.  This is just a few of the tasks that can be completed with a few clicks.  If you are thinking about deploying Windows Server Core 2008 R2 I suggest you check out the tool to make it easier to administrate server core 2008 R2.

Core Configurator 2.0
http://coreconfig.codeplex.com/