When I used to teach MCSE classes, I would start with "Rules for Admins" even before we opened the MOC books..

1. NEVER use wordpad for scripts - while it can write .TXT files, it also can write .RTF and other incompatible formats with a .TXT extension. Re-opening the faulty doc in WordPad makes it appear OK, so you begin pulling hairs wondering what the problem is... Until you "type" the command and get gibberish.

2. Be explicit opening/creating files with notepad. If you want to edit the LMHOSTS (which doesn't exist by default), type "notepad LMHOSTS." - note the ending DOT.. this tells notepad that there is NO extension, otherwise it will happily add a .TXT extension and your file won't work.

Which brings us to
3. ALWAYS set up your explorer environment. Explorer was designed for users, and with that in mind, to protect the O/S from the user! You're an admin (or will be one shortly).. you need to know what's going on.
a. Open explorer from My Computer so you aren't many levels deep in your local machine. Odds are, you'll be working on a network drive anyway.
b. Set your default View to DETAIL - you need as much info as possible to make intelligent decisions. You can always change it when you need to.
c. This varies between NT, 2K, and XP, but generally:
- Show ALL files
- Don't Hide Extensions for known file types (you'll wind up with "install.bat.txt" when it shows "install.bat" !)
- Show compressed/encrypted files in color
- Show FULL PATH in title bar or status bar (always know EXACTLY where you are - you have just as much power to do it wrong as to do it right)
- For 2K and XP systems: Display the contents of System Folders and Don't remember individual folder settings.

4. Regardless of what Microsoft says, the Command Line is not dead. Put a shortcut at the top of your start menu to keep it handy, then customize it to provide a comfortable view (color combo, font size) and for NT, set the buffer from 24 to 300 lines so you can scroll back to see that error message that flew by.

Well, that's about all I can remember B.C. (before coffee) this morning.

Glenn

Oh yeah - research the info here on login scripts - they're powerful, but setting them up the first time is a bit tricky if you have more than one Domain Controller - you need to enable replication, put the files into the correct folder, enable the services, and - possibly - redefine the file and service permissions to use the Replicate account.
_________________________
Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! \:D