Utilities for Windows NT

Besides my research work I am responsible for a couple of computers at the physics department of the University of Mainz which are running under Windows NT. Therefore I started developing some utilities which I think are missing in the core operating system. These programs will be free to use for everyone (which does not mean that I will not appreciate any donations if you like them, and if they save your time and money - this hint is directed mainly to users in a commercial environment).

Disclaimer: These programs are provided "as is" and come without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose or a particular system. In no case shall the author be liable for any damage or unwanted behavior of any computer hardware and/or software, including but not limited to data loss or time spent to recover your system. Do not test this program on your production machines without a backup you know you can restore!

A new service: You can send an e-mail to [email protected] to automatically receive information about new versions of some or all of the listed utilities.
NEWGINA How to run a script at logoff!
How to run a script at system shutdown!
How to get rid of CTRL-ALT-DEL prior to logging on!

Very new and untested... try at your own risk!

It is distributed under the GNU General Public License, and comes with source code and binaries for Intel x86. More information can be found in the README file.
Download newgina_pre09.zip (approx. 64k).
Important information (a little bug): The user logoff script does not execute if there is no log file set. Set the log file to NUL:.
(An old version without the logoff/shutdown script option with binaries for DEC Alpha is still available.)


CHOWN Demonstrates that it is possible to assign a new owner to a file, even if Microsoft asserts that this is impossible. Not the first implementation of such a program, but source is included, so you may understand how this works. There are no miracles. V1.1 changes more reliably the owner of files where the Administrator has no access to.

It is distributed under the GNU General Public License, and comes with source code and binaries for Intel x86. Type 'chown' on the command line for a short instruction. More information can be found in the README file.

Download Version 1.1 of chown.zip (approx. 35k).


CLOSE Closes a window from the command line based on its title in the title bar by sending a WM_CLOSE message. This allows graceful shutdown of applications as opposed to KILL utilities (e.g. from the Resource Kit), which do not give the application some time to tidy up.

It is distributed under the GNU General Public License, and comes with source code and binaries for Intel x86. Type 'close' on the command line for a short information. Usage should be self-explanatory.

Download close.zip (approx. 20k).


MOVEEX Replaces or moves files currently in use, e.g. system DLLs. This is nothing more than a command line interface to the MoveFileEx() API call with a flag that delays the move until the next reboot. More information can be found in the README file. Binary for x86 only, but source is included.

Download moveex.zip (approx. 21k)


PUSHKEYS for C This is a straightforward port of Christopher Latta's Pushkeys for Visual Basic to C. It is equivalent to the VB SendKeys statement (unfortunately missing in C), which allows to send keystrokes to open applications, including DOS application.
Included is a short demo program, which may be useful on its own (type 'pushkeys' on the command line for usage instructions and a short example), as well as the original VB program which includes the help file (in the /orig directory). It should run under Windows 95 as well.

Download pushkeyc.zip (approx. 35k).


LOGOFF A tool to log off users from their workstations remotely or unattended.

This tool is in a very early (pre-beta) stage and will be part of a service that monitors the valid logon hours and logs of users whose logon hours have expired, but should already be useful as a standalone program.

It is distributed under the GNU General Public License, and comes with source code and binaries for Intel x86, but without (much) documentation.

Few information can be found in the README file. For more information contact me.
Download logoff.zip V0.1 PRE-BETA (approx. 80k).


NOLOCKWS Especially for large PC pools in universities or schools it is very annoying when users lock their NT workstations, leave, and forget to come back. Subsequent users have the choice of resetting the PC or calling an administrator who can unlock the workstation. While lots of Windows NT settings can be changed through the registry, disabling the Lock Workstation button in the Windows NT Security (Ctrl-Alt-Del) dialog seems to be forgotten. This program allows administrators to disable or re-enable the Lock Workstation button. Version 0.99 BETA can now handle Novell's IntraNetware Client, which uses its own Gina (with the same lack of configurability), and eases the use with international version of Windows NT.

NOLOCKWS is distributed under the GNU General Public License, comes with source code and binaries for DEC Alpha and Intel x86.

More information can be found in the README file.

Download nolockws.zip V0.99 BETA (approx. 95k).


PASSWD This utility allows changing passwords on the command line or from within a batch file (non-interactive) instead of the usual CTRL-ALT-DEL dialog. It is also possible to change the password on remote domains or machines. No special privileges are necessary to issue this command (in contrast to the 'net user' command, which allows password changing as well, but only for users with administrative privileges).

Intended for:

Download passwd.zip (approx. 29k).


More useful utilities written by others...
I am working on more utilities, including a program that forces users to log off after the logon hours have expired (and not just disconnects network connections to a server). Watch out!
(C) by Alexander Frink, July 1997 (back to my homepage).
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