When I run across a site that makes my life easier I try to share it with everyone else.  The site gpoguy.com is a great site if you need help figuring out windows group policy.  The part of the site that stand out the most for me is the free training videos.  The videos cover everything from the basic introduction all the way up to doing things at a forest level.  There is also a list of free tools for windows group policy that can be very useful.  Bookmark this site as I am sure you will fine a need for it during your IT career.

Main Site
http://www.gpoguy.com/

GPOGUY Video Training
http://www.gpoguy.com/Group-Policy-Video-Training.aspx

WANem is a great free tool over at sourceforge that simulates a wide area network.  This tool comes in handy when you want to see how an application is going to perform on a wide area network.  WANem allows you to simulate network delay, packet loss, packet corruption, disconnections, packet re-ording, and several other characteristics.  You can currently download the program as a live cd or a virtual appliance for VMWare.  Check out this great tool and let us know what you think.

WANem Sourceforge Link
http://wanem.sourceforge.net/

WANem Screenshot
http://wanem.sourceforge.net/screen.html

I have been dealing with cleaning up several family and friends computers from Viruses.  The majority of time they have a commercial program that is just not getting the job done.  There are several great antivirus programs and several not so great programs on the market.  The majority of the general computer population is unaware that there are a couple free options that offer great protection.  Below are the three that I highly recommend if you are looking for a free antivirus solution.  They are in no particular order as each of them has their pluses and minuses.

• Microsoft Security Essentials (Free Version Only)
• Avast (Free And Paid Version)
• AVG (Free And Paid Version)