Snort is THE premier open source intrusion detection and intrusion prevention application package. Install it locally to monitor your local machine and/or monitor your network. While not easy to master or configure, it is an advanced tool, it is useful from a monitoring perspective to understand everything happening on your system and/or or your network. Use with care as incorrect configuration can impact your system by locking it down too much.
WMIC commands are advanced command line scripts that extend WMI scripting so you can do windows workstation and server administration from the command line. These are a must to learn in order to work with MS Windows Server 2008 Core, which does NOT have a GUI interface for server management. The commands are broken down by configuration options. For example, ‘WMIC QFE LIST BRIEF’ will list patches that have been installed you your system. These commands work both locally and remotely. As always, use with caution.
I’m trying another theme extension in Word Press to see how it works. The ordinary browser will not see it, but if you connect with the iPhone, Touch iPod, or Android device the screen should automatically reformat to a nicely viewable screen easy to read on the small form factor browser. This is WPTouch, a recent plug-in/theme that I ran across and decided to implement after seeing it in use on another site. My first concern was that it would change my current theme and I would loose my customizations but it did no such thing. It integrates seamlessly and does an excellent job of rendering the site extremely readable on small screens. While it does not display all content seen in the header menus and sidebars, it works great with posted content and does make for easier reading. To my friend Xander I say check it out. It might we a useful plugin to help expand the viewability of your content to the small form factor systems making headway into technology. 
The Sysinternals tools are an advanced set of monitoring, configuring, and tracing tools specially designed to help view all aspects of a windows system. These tools are great for forensic investigations and troubleshooting with caveats, however even the most discerning Windows OS user will understand the value of the vast amounts of information that these tools can provide. This site is worth reading carefully and the tools are definitely working with to familiarize yourself with their application and use. As always, use caution when running the tools.
Among the more basic command line tools for system management are the NET commands as described in this Microsoft KB article. The command let you control and configure your system manually, if you feel comfortable using the command line, and through batch files. For example, on a workstation you can run the NET CONFIG WORKSTATION command to see the local workstation name, the long name if it is joined to a domain, the account under which you are logged in, and what the OS version name is. Another good example is the NET STATISTICS WORKSTATION command. The very first line will tell you the last time the workstation was booted. A quick google of the internet will reveal a whole list of the various NET commands, as will typing NET /? at your command line. As always, use these with caution.
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