Properly Streaming a Java or JNLP Application with Citrix XenApp

I’m so excited, i’ve just found a cool way to reduce application loading time in XenApp Streaming Application Package for Java based applications, using my way i was able to shave of 3 minutes(!) that it usually takes to get to the login screen of the application (after beginning the streaming on the XenApp server) and after Extracting the .CAB file to the Rade cache directory,
This is so cool, i’m checking this out and will report as soon as i test it a little more.

How to Drain Users on Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2003 or 2008..the easier way

Hi,

Just stumbled on a citrix KB suggesting a way to drain users’ sessions from a XenApp Server,

The article is found here: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX119661

And offers creating a load evaluator with “Citrix User Load” rule and set it to 1,

Why not use the following Load Evaluator technique?

Finding out the registry changes for customizing group policy on a terminal server

As a Citrix Administrator i find myself more often in need of customizing the user interface some users get on our XenApp servers, let’s say for example that i want to remove IE7 “protected mode is currently turned off..” notification, well, even after googling this i could find not the exact GPO or GPP in charge of this setting,

That’s where good ol’ Process Monitor from SysInternals Suite comes in…

Quick Solution when Citrix XenApp Rollup 6 or Installation hangs during update

Hi Again!

Before i explain my solution, Citrix has posted a solution that is more complex than what i offer here,

the CTX articles are:

http://support. Citrix.com/article/CTX114691

refer to Shawn bass’  great explanation of this issue:

http://www.shawnbass.com/Blogs/tabid/58/EntryId/130/Odd-issue-with-Citrix-hotfix-that-hangs-on-COM-Registration-of-CitrixLogServer-dll.aspx

which led Citrix to create a special MST (MSI Transform file)

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX113639/

This also happened in our environment, the installation stalled and hung, i ran it using msiexec logging and thanks to Shawn’s excellent i had an idea, which eventually made it all much more simpler

Using Aladdin eToken from inside a virtual machine (VirtualBox etc.)

Hey,

I’m a real fan of VirtualBox and i use version 3.2.4 on my windows 7 ultimate 64bit,

Today i tried using a usb etoken from Aladdin on my windows XP pro guest and to my surprise it didn’t work,

i looked all over the documentation and tried to filter my usb token, i tried what not and it refused to work,

when performing the command “VBoxManage list usbhost”  i could see all my other usb devices like my usb printer, usb drive etc. and in the filter screen i was offered to filter everything usb But not the etoken,

then it hit me!

Think a process is stuck? Think again

Sometimes when we run an application and we ask it to do something nothing happens or changes on-screen,

How can we know if an application is actually doing something and that it isn’t plainly stuck or frozen?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some sort of indicator as to the application’s activity?

Well, a good way I learned to view an application’s activity is using the windows built-in Task Manager,

To do that we will need to open the Task Manager, you can do that by right clicking on windows task bar and choosing “Task Manager”

Next, we go to “Processes” tab and click on “View” button at the top, we then choose “Select Columns…” we will be presented with a selection screen of various processes information available for us to view in the processes tab,

Check the “I/O Reads” and “I/O Writes” and click OK,

Now it’s possible to see if any In (that’s what the “I” stands for in I/O) or Out activity is going on and two new columns will be added and named respectively, the figures show us how many operations a specific process wrote or read and includes file (Hard Drive) and network (the internet or lan) operations.

That way we able to decide if a process might be doing anything before we end it,

To learn more about windows built-in Task Manager head over to Microsoft’s technet article:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938567.aspx

Goodbye for now, IT.Never.Ends…

How to properly defrag in windows XP and improve performance..the better way

I’m sure you’re all aware of the importance of a monthly/yearly maintenance of your hard drive,

In my experience to achieve the best performance from those fragmented hours it’d be wise to follow along the tips for a better performance of your xp machine,

You’ll notice great improvement in performance of application with large file system I/O

After all today biggest bottle-neck in achieving good performance is the speed of storage (Hard Drives)

Take Server 2008 R2 64bit on a Joyride on windows XP 32bit

Hey Again,

After much wait (Tried using MSFT new download manager..) I finally obtained a Server 2008 R2 64bit image for evaluation from Microsoft Here

The evaluation as is the commercial product is in 64 bit only and there’s no 32bit version for Server 2008 R2,

Here’s the story of how i achieved it using my computer setup and VirtualBox

Remote Desktop with Clear Type on Windows XP

Hi to all the RDP users out there,

Anyone who uses remote desktop from XP to XP knows how difficult it’s for the eyes when the fonts display all pixelized and if your like me you probably hate it,

Well this trick will make life a whole lot easier for your eyes..

A List of Must-Have Firefox add-ons

Hey,

I made a collection of my Firefox add-ons, some of them you may have heard of

You can find them all here

Especially useful is the InstaClick add-on for people from a laptop or netbook,

Enjoy,