We have spent a number of weeks looking at tools to make “A Better Windows World” (do not get mad at me, I told that was not going away). Well looking at the tools posting I believe we have reached a good number of tools thus far.
I thought now would be a good time to go back and take the opportunity to post some tips. So I will make it a part of the weekly posts to add one or two posts per week that focus on either a some tips or tricks on some of the tools we feature here.
The tips and tricks will vary from features you may or may not know. To tips and tricks that you will find you cannot live without.
We will begin with some cool features from Magic Jelly bean key finder. Since I first wrote about Key Finder, they have added a cool new feature. That feature is a pre-populated config file that can help you to locate some of the most popular software keys you need to find. Another possibility is to edit the config file within Key finder. So let’s look at how we would edit the keyfinder.cfg file to add registry locations. Begin by opening Key finder:
1. Go to the Tools Menu
2. Choose Modify Config ( you will see a notepad text editor file)
3. Simply add the registry location to the text file
a. Ex.Winamp5|Name=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Nullsoft\Winamp\=regname|Key=HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Nullsoft\Winamp\=regkey
4. Save changes and then run you keyfinder software again.
Another cool feature is the ability to run keyfinder in a command line. The command line features allow you to perform the following functions.
/close - GUI is not displayed while keyfinder runs.
/save – Saves the keys in a text file
/savecsv - Saves the keys in a CSV file
/file - pre-formats the name of the save file
/hive -> Allows you to open another Windows registry. Instead running on the current Windows installation.
That last one is useful for recovering install keys from systems that will no longer boot. I hope these tips help you get better use out of Magical Jelly Bean KeyFinder. An here’s hoping this tip makes you world ( All together now) A Better Windows World!
Do you have any features in Keyfinder that you think are cool. Perhaps something that will make keyfinder better, let me know by commenting to this post. I would love to hear your thoughts.
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Like this and want more? Check out the other tools I've written about in A Better Windows World.
Plus, check out the Microsoft Subnet home page for more bloggers, news, humor, security alerts and more.
Ron Barrett, Director of e-Strategy for ClipTraining , is an independent trainer, author and consultant. He has been a technology professional for over 12 years, working for several major financial services firms and dotcoms. Ron is a specialist in network infrastructure, security, and IT management. He is the author of Office Communications Server 2007 R2: How-To , as well as co-author of Windows Server 2008: How-To and The Administrator’s Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 Servers. Ron has been a co-author or technical editor for several other books on Windows administration. Along with book writing, Ron has contributed to several industry magazines such as Redmond, Datamation and Windows IT Pro. Beyond writing, Ron has spoken at several technology conferences for CPAmerica, AICPA and MCP’s TECHMENTOR. Recently Ron has joined ClipTraining as the Director of e-Strategy in an effort to further the company’s presence via the Internet and social networking channels.
Ron's latest book, Windows Server 2008 How-To has been selected as the September 2009 book giveaway on Microsoft Subnet. To enter the monthly book giveaway, visit the Microsoft Subnet home page.
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