HOW TO - Quickly send your best friend a link to a website

Q: I find myself emailing my good friend links of great sites.  I've started using the "Gmail This" bookmarklet but I still have to type his email address - how can I make this even faster?

A: Simply edit the Bookmarklet.  My default is the traditional Gmail this link from about.com.  Simply drag the "Gmail This" link above into your bookmark toolbar (you might have to make it visible in your browser first). With the link in your bookmark toolbar, right click on it, edit it, then look within the long string of characters for the text after view=  "view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to="  Right after the "... to=" insert your friend's email address.  Then every time you find a great site, click that bookmark and a new Gmail email will open addressed to your friend - then just click send.

Dropbox Shareable Links and Missing Public Folder

Issue: New Dropbox user doesn't have a link for 'Get shareable link' and doesn't have the default folders.
Solution: 

1. Shareable link - visit https://www.dropbox.com/enable_shmodel - to enable that feature.
2. Folders - create a new folder on the website called folder1, then rename it to public. Dropbox will handle the rest.  Works for the Photos folder as well.

Send event log entries as SNMP traps

Issue: An event just showed up in my system, security or application event log that is important.  How can I be notified quickly about it?

Solution: Enable SNMP Traps for that event.

1. Create the event (or find it in the logs) – so you have it as an example
2. Identify three variables
1. Event Log - System, Application or Security
2. Log Source - eg: TermService, NTBackup
3. Event ID - eg: 8018, 8019
3. Run evntwin.exe (from windows\system32)
4. Click Custom / Click Edit
5. In the bottom left browse the event log, event log source then find the event id
6. Just double-click the event ID & accept the defaults
7. Click ok & you’re done
8. Trigger the event again and it will trigger an SNMP Trap to your SNMP Server.

Note: This assumes you have a fully functioning SNMP Server to receive traps and send them as emails.  We recommend Dell's IT Assistant, especially for Dell Servers.

Why is my laptop trying to request wpad.holidayinnexpress.guest

q: A customer's laptop was making odd URL requests to the router that all ended in holidayinnexpress.guest.  What is causing this.
a: Recently the customer stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and used their connections for internet.  Holiday Inn added a DNS suffix entry in the advanced TCP/IP settings of the laptop.  Simply remove this. 

To resolve this (in Windows 7)

1. Right click the network icon (down by the clock)
2. Click "Open Network and Sharing Center"
3. Right click on your "Local Area Connection"
4. Click Properties
5. Select "Internet Protocol Version 4" and click Properties
6. At the bottom of the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window click Advanced
7. Click the DNS Tab at the top
8. Select holidayinnexpress.guest under "Append these DNS suffixes (in order):"
9. Click Remove.
10. Click OK, OK, OK