Get rid of Visual Studio Setup Projects as they will be discontinued in future

Buck Hodges informs us that there will be no Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) in future versions of VS.

Future versions of Visual Studio will not include the Visual Studio Installer project templates. To preserve existing customer investments in Visual Studio Installer projects, Microsoft will continue to support the Visual Studio Installer projects that shipped with Visual Studio 2010 per the product life-cycle strategy. […]

Related Links:

• Comparison: Choosing a Windows Installer Deployment Tool
• Supported and recommended alternative: WiX & Votive

How to Remove Windows Server 2008 R2 Serivce Pack 1 (SP1) Backup Files

Warning: As a result of removing the backup files you will not be able to uninstall SP1 anymore.

Steps:

1. Make sure the "Desktop Experience" is installed.
   (Note that if you need to install it, it requires a restart and it takes some time to install on the next boot)
2. Run "Disk Cleanup" (cleanmgr.exe)
3. Click on "Clean up system files"
   
4. Select "Service Pack Backup Files"
   
5. Click "OK" to start the cleaning (it can take quite some time, but will give you ~ 1-2 GBs)

Sending e-mail via command line

using SendMail.exe

Download: SendMail.exe (ZIP)

How to assign "Allow log on locally" rights to a Domain Controller

The Microsoft Knowledge Base has an answer (KB 234237):

1. Run mmc
2. Add Group Policy Management snap-in
3. Browse to your domain, right-click and click Edit
4. Open the path Default Domain Controllers Policy\Computer Configuration\Windows Setting\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment
5. Edit Log On Locally settings