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MAC-Address is the hardware Network Address for the NIC which is unique for the system. However, there may be time when you need to change the MAC-Address for administrative purpose on a network. Some of the device drivers come with an option to change it from the device properties but not all (like my Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet Driver). For those who do not have the luxury of changing the MAC-Address from the device properties there is a way to do this  by editing the Windows Registry.

To change MAC-Address for a Network card in Windows Registry:

1. Click Start – Run, type “regedit”

2. Navigate to

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Control
\Class
\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

3. Under this key, you shoud see numbers in sequence as “0000?, “0001? and so on. Click on one at a time to check the description of the device to match it with that of your Network Card. In my case (0001)

4. Once found, in the right-pane, look for “NetworkAddress” key value. If you find it, right-click and select modify. Enter the desired MAC-Address as a 12 digit number (all in one, no “space” “.” or “-”)

5. If you don’t find the key, right-click in the rightpane, select “New” – “String Value”. Enter the name as “NetworkAddress”. Now modify and set the desired value.

6. Now, disable and enable the Network card from the ControlPanel – Network Connections.

This should reflect the new MAC-Address on your NIC. Should you choose to go back to the original manufacturer set MAC-Address simply delete the key you just created/modified in the Windows Registry.

You can also use a tool like Technitium MAC Address Changer to change the MAC-Address of your NIC

I’m getting the message “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the folders options control panel.” when I attempt to open a PPS/PPT attachment in Outlook Express. What’s that all mean, and what do I do?

Well, in short it means that Outlook Express doesn’t know what to do with the attached file. It tries to figure that out based on the file “extension” or the characters that follow the last period in the file name; the “pps” or “ppt” file.
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NT performs most browsing tasks automatically without any help from the administrator. The election process, which determines which computer will function as the master browser, takes place when the following occurs.

* The primary domain controller (PDC) boots up.
* A backup browser is unable to obtain an updated browse list from the existing master browser.
* A computer is unable to obtain a list of backup browsers from the master browser.
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Recently when I was setting up a client’s computer with Windows Printer Sharing, I ran into an issue where a document was stuck in the print queue and was brining the system down to a crawl. First I tried deleting the document from the queue the “traditional” way by opening “Printers and Faxes” and launching the stuck printer and right-clicking the document name and selecting “cancel.” With that process, the document was stuck in cancel-mode for hours and obviously didn’t work.
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I was reviewing some Windows Event Logs and came across a repeated entry in the System log. It basically looked like this:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: MRxSmb
Event Category: None
Event ID: 8003
Date:
Time:
User: N/A
Computer:
Description:
The master browser has received a server announcement from the computer [computer] that believes that it is the master browser for the domain on transport NetBT_Tcpip_{#######-####-####-#. The master browser is stopping or an election is being forced.
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I have been sending mail to people and they have been recieving it.
But i get an error when it does the send and recieve but there is no detail in the error.
All my email are in the outbox. Nothing in the sent box. Every time i send an email it resends all the mail that is the outbox from previous messages. I have to manually delete every email that i send from the outbox. So i have no record in the sent box unless i move it to the folder.
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