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If you are using a Windows PC and want to extend the desktop work area without buying additional hardware with help of your existing Android or iOS devices like mobile and tablets then Spacedesk is the tool for you.

Spacedesk is a free software that lets you extend your Windows PC display wirelessly onto your Android or iOS devices.

It has two software components. Spacedesk driver or server that installs on your main Windows PC to which you want to extend your display. A client software that you will install from either Google Play store or iOS App store on your respective device.

Only requirement for this setup to work is that all these devices are to be on same WiFi network. 

Just make sure the Spacedesk software is running on PC and fire up the app on the respective devices. The app would autodetect the server on Windows PC and would have an option to connect. Just click on the connect and voila now you have extended your PC display to your device.

Good thing is that this works with multiple devices at once. 

Below is my setup on which I have tested and it works just fine.

You can reorder your screens in the Windows Display settings so that you can move your mouse to respective screen. 

You can also use the touch on your devices if you do not want to you use the mouse. You have options to disable or enable touch.

It is very easy to setup and all this setup can be done within 5 minutes.The software is still in Beta but works without any hiccups.

For additional settings or help you can visit their documentation which is very good.

Download Spacedesk from here - https://spacedesk.net/##box_434

Read their documentation here - https://spacedesk.net/user-manual/

Starting Windows 7 Microsoft has baked code into Windows Operating System that can make Windows with Wireless adopter a WiFi router or Virtual router. Only problem was to get it working for novice or advanced user alike.

Using Windows Laptop as Wireless router has its own advantages than Mobile Hotspot. You can not use Mobile Hotspot with Mobile connected to WiFi.

There are many free programs out there that claim to do this with ease, but only if they are stable and reliable.

Connectify Hotspot from connectify.me is one such program, but a very reliable and stable program that turns Windows 7/8/8.1/10 computers with Wireless adopter into Virtual router, that allows you to share any 3G, 4G, Wired LAN and Wireless LAN internet over WiFi.

There are many use cases for Virtual router, where you can share internet connection at Hotels, Airport, business centers and even at home in emergency.

Connectify Hotspot is super stable with constant updates being released to support latest Windows Operating Systems and features.

Personally I started using Connectify Hotspot Pro (Lifetime License) from 2014 on Windows 8 then upgraded to 2015 and now using 2016 on Windows 10. I use it on 64 bit Windows 10 Enterprise Insider preview edition with fast updates and it works without any issue.

I work with multiple wireless devices and Connectify works flawlessly every time I fire it up and connect mobile phones, iPads, chrome books, laptops at home and office.

Below are few screenshots of Connectify Hotspot 2016 Pro running on my Laptop

Connectify is of 9 MB in size that you can buy and download from www.connectify.me site install with few clicks, reboot your machine and when it boots back in, it is ready to be a Virtual router with single click.

It came to my rescue when I was at a place where only my machine had direct internet access and I had to download a piece of software onto few brand new iPads.

I suggest to go for Pro version as it is all worth the money for the features and convenience it offers.

You can rename the device for easy identification, disable/enable internet access with a click, share files between the connected devices as well.

As of this writing there is deal running with 75% off that would get you 3 Hotspot Max lifetime licenses for $15

Here is a shot video from Connectify.me

They offer free trail for few days, which I strongly recommend to try out. I am sure you will love it, if you have the need.

Reference

www.connectify.me

CloudWatch an AWS service provides rich set of tools to monitor health and resource utilization of various services on AWS. These metrics can be used to trigger an alarm, send notifications, even trigger actions based on these alarms.

One main metric that is missing from default CloudWatch metrics is Memory utilization of EC2 instances. Since AWS does not have access to EC2 instance at the Operating System level, only CPU, Network utilization, IO and other metrics that can be monitored through Hypervisor layer are available by default in AWS Console.

AWS provides a set of scripts that utilize CloudWatch API to send Memory Utilization info and make use of CloudWatch features to monitor and take action if alarms are raised.

The process of sending these custom metrics are different for Linux and Windows Instances. Even the process of installing pre-requisites on different Linux distributions is slightly different.

In this post we will see the process of installing and configuring CloudWatch Custom Metrics for Redhat derived Linux Distros, mainly RHEL, Amazon Linux and CentOS along with Windows to monitor Memory Utilization of the EC2 instance

Updated (27-March-2016) – Added Commands for Ubuntu Linux

List of all commands run on Linux are also available at the end of the post for easy

reference.

Step –1

Create an IAM user with access key. We do not need password or console access to this user.

Copy and keep the Access key handy as we would need this every time we configure custom metrics to be sent to CloudWatch

If you have installed Windows Server 2012 Roles and Features using PowerShell or remote server admin tools or new multi server manager console, you will see that the management tools are missing from the server on which you just have enabled the role or feature. This is because Microsoft has provided more granular control on what is installed on the Windows Server 2012. As an administrator we have choice to include or not to include management tools while installing the Roles and Features we choose.

Below is a comic illustrating the same.

Source:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/servermanager/archive/2012/08/13/the-case-of-the-missing-role-and-feature-management-tools.aspx

Reference:

More on Installing Roles and Features here

If you are like me using Windows computer daily and keep moving your hand between keyboard and mouse, Run box in Windows Start menu can be used to speed up access to a whole variety of functions.

Here are 30 commands that are very useful for time saving while using Windows computer. These commands not only help you get the work done faster, but also more efficiently instead of clicking through tons of windows and options.

All these commands can also be used from good old command prompt or brand new PowerShell

1. Add or Remove Programs – appwiz.cpl