The Open Source Journal

Quite some time ago I installed Gentoo on my workstation for dual booting. As part of this process, I replaced the MBR installed by Windows Vista with GRUB. After getting another workstation for Gentoo, I decided to delete the dual-booting Linux partitions and recover the space for Vista to use. Sadly, I didn't stop to think before deleting my GRUB (/boot) partition and resizing my NTFS partition - rendering my system completely unbootable. I had to make the system bootable without rebooting, but how...?

Ever needed to SSH into a server, but found yourself limited by your employer's firewall/filtering system? Perhaps they have a L7 filter and simply drop outbound SSH traffic? Here I'll provide a simple, safe, and secure solution, so long as you can make outbound SSL connections (typically done on port 443, HTTPS).

Your computer should not reboot itself when you aren't there, unless you've asked it to. Few things annoy me more about Windows than when I return to my desktop only to discover a Windows Login box. Almost as annoying as this is that Windows Update pesters you to reboot your computer after applying updates, even while you're working. Nevermind that it steals focus from other windows, interefering with whatever it is you're getting paid to do, the damn thing doesn't have a "NEVER" option to choose from, just "now" and "later"!

Windows Vista has incorporated much finer grained control over Windows' power management features. Not only can you control when your monitor turns off or your hard disks spin down, new options let you choose when wireless devices go into power saving mode, USB devices suspend, and more.