How to run the New Cisco Networking Academy RS Introduction to Networking Offline

Google indeed does not have all the answers! So here you go:

1. Download the offline material (it’s a zip file) from http://netacad.com using your academy instructor account or if you’re a student, request a copy from your academy instructor.
2. Extract the zip file; Windows would usually offer to create an extraction folder so just accept it.
3. Enable IIS 8 (Control Panel >> Programs and Features >> Turn Windows features on or off >> Internet Information Services).
4. Copy the extraction folder to C:\inetpub\wwwroot.
5. Launch your favorite browser and key-in http://localhost/the_extraction_folder_name (e.g. http://localhost/CCNA-R-S_ITN/)

Hope this helps…

Restore the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows 7

A couple of days back, I was trying to figure out how in the world am I supposed to keep a group of program shortcuts in one folder and drag it to the Quick Launch toolbar like I used to in Windows XP (sorry, never been a Windows Vista fan). My idiot instinct tells me it’s time to fire-up Help and Support which I did with glee knowing I’d get a good answer to my question. Keying "quick launch" in the search field returned two results. One of which, a question that says "What happened to the Quick Launch toolbar?". The way the question was framed gave me a clear picture that the Quick Launch toolbar is but a fragment of history which of course was validated after reading the help information. Disappointed, I launched the Command Prompt and did a dir quick* /s. Surprisingly, this is what I got…

Something tells me Quick Launch just needed to be unearthed. Well, I was able to somehow restore the Quick Launch toolbar and here is how I did it:

 

   1. Right-click the Taskbar and hover the mouse cursor to Toolbars then select New toolbar.

       This opens the New Toolbar – Choose a folder window.

   2. Click the document icon in the address field.

       If you got it right, you’d see something like this:      

  

   3. Now replace the highlighted path with this %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch and hit Enter.

   4. Click the Select Folder button.

       Notice that the Quick Launch toolbar has now been added to the Taskbar on the rightmost portion beside the system tray.

   5. Right-click the Taskbar and uncheck Lock the taskbar from the context menu.

       Notice that toolbar handles are now displayed.

   6. Unpin your current program shortcuts from the Taskbar. By default these are Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, and Windows Media Player.

   7. Right-click the Quick Launch toolbar then uncheck Show Text and Show title from the context menu.

   8. Click the Quick Launch toolbar and drag it all the way to the left next to the Windows orb.

   9. Resize the Quick Launch toolbar to display just two or three program shortcuts then Lock the taskbar again.

You now have a fully restored Quick Launch toolbar…

 

Works on Windows 8 too! Read about it HERE