Lars Rasmussen (Lars-UT)

Caffeine - Utility to disable screen saver w/o interrupting input

2011-08-04T10:21:00.002-06:00

I ran this on a machine I was RDP’d into to prevent the screen saver from appearing while I was logged in. Handy. And like other powerful utilities, potentially dangerous. Not so much in an RDP session, though, because the console running the RDP client wouldn’t/shouldn’t(not a good idea) have this running, just the target host. The author simulates an F15 keypress to make this work. Didn’t know I had an F15 key. Very nice.

Only 2 files inside the compressed download, and one is a README.

http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/caffeine/
Caffeine

If you have problems with your PC locking or going to sleep, caffeine will keep it awake. It works by simulating a keypress once every 59 seconds, so your machine thinks you're still working at the keyboard, and won't lock the screen or activate the screensaver.

The icon is shown above - it's the leftmost one in the task tray, and this is all you see. Double-clicking the icon empties the coffee pot (that's what the icon is) and temporarily disables the program. Double-clicking it again refills the pot, and will keep your machine awake.

Firewall Upgrade to pfSense 2.0 RC3 from pfSense 2.0 RC1

2011-07-06T12:03:00.001-06:00

This morning I downloaded the latest (2.0 RC3) full upgrade of pfSense for my home firewall. I was previously running pfSense 2.0 RC1. I’ve been using pfSense since it was in alpha, and have always found it to be extremely stable.

Step 1: Backup your current pfSense configuration, just to be safe.

Step 2: Download the full upgrade for your architecture(i386 for me – I run pfSense on an old laptop for power savings)

Step 3: Upload the firmware via the pfSense web interface ( System >> Firmware ) & click ‘Upgrade firmware’

Step 4: Wait for the upgrade to complete. I navigated to the home page of the web interface for pfSense during the upgrade and found this nifty ‘upgrade is currently in progress’ screen. The speakers on the old laptop still work, and a lovely series of beeps and tweets played once the firewall completed its upgrade and boot sequence.

Step 5: Logon to pfSense web interface, verify new version, and confirm firewall functionality.

All done!

From FLAC to MP3 and back again–EAC Rips with LAME

2010-12-17T11:48:00.001-07:00

Maximum PC has a great post on Ripping archival quality MP3s from audio CDs, but one of the user comments following the article simplifies the LAME options.

User vintagegold suggests using the following:

-V0 %s %d

I just tried the above settings within LAME to rip a classical CD – Borodin – and it sounds great on my AKG K 271 Studio headphones. The HydrogenAudio wiki does indicate one preset with even higher quality for archiving, but my ears(which are still sensitive enough to hear the frequency on certain monitors/LCDs) don’t find the higher constant 320 kbit bitrate necessary.

Some of my essential EAC Screenshots – refer to the Maximum PC article for setting up Accurate Rip and other portions of EAC:

Arturo "Buanzo" Busleiman has current Windows and Mac downloads of the LAME binaries [high quality MPEG Audio Layer III (MP3) encoder] on his Argentina-hosted site. The Audacity for Windows download worked on windows 7 x64.

Goodbye FLAC – I’ll not miss your options.
-8 -A tukey(0.25) -A gauss(0.1875) -b 4096 -V -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s --sector-align

Wildcard Search for Exchange Recipients PowerShell Function

2010-12-15T17:46:00.001-07:00

I wanted to do a partial string search against names and aliases, and used the output from the Exchange Management Shell Command Log to write a PowerShell function that returned the type of broad result set I wanted, finding a match with names OR aliases.

function Get-Recip
{
  param (
            [string]$Filter=$(throw 'Partial Recipient Name or Partial Recipient Alias required')
        )

# Wildcard search prepended and appended to filter string passed, limit result set to 1000 matches

$Filter= "*"+ $Filter + "*";

Get-Recipient -PropertySet ConsoleLargeSet -ResultSize '1000' -SortBy DisplayName `
-RecipientType 'DynamicDistributionGroup','UserMailbox','MailContact','MailUser', `
'MailUniversalDistributionGroup','MailUniversalSecurityGroup','MailNonUniversalGroup' `
-Filter {(Name -like $Filter ) -OR (Alias -like $Filter)}

}

Free Space on all servers for all fixed drives? Done.

2010-12-13T15:41:00.001-07:00

A while ago I posted on querying free disk space using WMI and batch.

I wouldn't query free disk space using batch anymore. The PowerShell script I tweaked and currently use to query free disk space is displayed below. The script truncates for readability – the rounding methods are commented out if that’s your preference:

# spaceused.ps1
# Lars-UT http://larsrasmussen.blogspot.com
(Get-Date -format 'yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss').ToString() | Out-Default
$outData = @("")
$server = $args[0]
$dataFromServer = Get-WmiObject Win32_Volume -ComputerName $server | Select-Object SystemName,Label,Name,DriveLetter,DriveType,Capacity,Freespace

foreach ($currline in $dataFromServer) {
    if ((-not $currline.name.StartsWith("\\")) -and ($currline.Drivetype -ne 5)) {
        [float]$tempfloatcapacity = [math]::truncate($currline.Capacity/ 1000000000)
    #[float]$tempfloatcapacity = [math]::round(($currline.Capacity/ 1000000000),1)
    add-member -InputObject $currline -MemberType NoteProperty -name Capacity_in_GB -value "$tempfloatcapacity GB"
    
    [float]$tempfloat = ($currline.Freespace / 1000000) / ($currline.Capacity / 1000000)
        $temppercent = [math]::round(($tempfloat * 100),2)
        add-member -InputObject $currline -MemberType NoteProperty -name FreePercent -value "$temppercent %"
        
    [float]$tempfloatfreespace = [math]::truncate($currline.Freespace/ 1000000000)
    #[float]$tempfloatfreespace = [math]::round(($currline.Freespace/ 1000000000),1)
    add-member -InputObject $currline -MemberType NoteProperty -name Freespace_in_GB -value "$tempfloatfreespace GB"
        
    $outData = $outData + $currline
    }
}

$outData | Select-Object SystemName,Label,Name,Capacity_in_GB,Freespace_in_GB,FreePercent | sort-object -property Name | format-table -autosize

To run this against muliple servers just put the server names, one per line, in a text file and save that file. You'll then assign that file to a variable in PowerShell and loop through each line for each server:

PS C:\> $serverlist = Get-Content .\ServerNames-Prod.txt
PS C:\> foreach ($server in $serverlist) { .\spaceused.ps1 $server }

Here’s the pretty output! Yep, those are sub-second times for querying multiple servers.

Need to document this? Use Start-Transcript. I’ve seen auditors use it like so:

PS C:\> $strTimestamp =  [string](Get-Date -format "yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm")
PS C:\> start-transcript .\ServerSpace-$strTimestamp.txt
PS C:\> foreach ($server in $serverlist) { .\spaceused.ps1 $server }   
PS C:\> Stop-Transcript

Enjoy.

Music for Entering or Staying in “The Zone”

2010-09-03T15:48:00.001-06:00

The zone. It’s that special place where you find the ability to intensely focus and compress large workloads or complex tasks. Good music can help, whether its classical, inspirational, ambient, or just familiar. I often listen to music with no vocals to minimize the distractions surrounding my cubicle.

Here are a few oft-played tracks on my system courtesy of Grooveshark as an example:

I also listen to SomaFM – you should be able to find channels there for your particular taste, such as:

Groove Salad
Space Station Soma
Mission Control
Lush
Suburbs of Goa
Drone Zone
Underground 80s

Sometimes you want to listen to a specific track immediately. The GrooveSelect and Search GrooveShark bookmarklets will instantly cue it up.

Thermal Reactor > Fast Reactor: August CTO Breakfast Notes

2010-09-01T16:52:00.001-06:00

“We can build self-controlling reactors.”

YouTube - Thorium Remix 2009 - LFTR in 25 Minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHdRJqi__Z8

The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor: What Fusion Wanted To Be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHs2Ugxo7-8

Kynetx Demo from Sam Curren – Holy Personal Data Stores!

UTOSC (Utah Open Source Conference) 2010 - October 7-9, 2010
http://utosc.com/

The Future of UI
http://blog.ted.com/2010/06/01/drive_3d_data_w/

AppInventor
http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

Blue Ant T1 Bluetooth Headset – Scott Lemon is converted to this headset model.
http://www.myblueant.com/products/headsets/t1/index.php#video

Swype text input for Android phones – heavily endorsed by Sam.
http://swypeinc.com/

Hope to see you at the next CTO Breakfast!

AV Security Suite Malware Removal: Panda said I was clean, ComboFix disagreed

2010-07-19T14:25:00.002-06:00

"There's this security software that keeps popping up and I can't use my computer."

Say goodbye to several hours of your life should you decide to help.

But I've got this great malware removal guide from Maximum PC, and I've been doing tech support since the mid-1990s - no problem right?

Oh, the pain. I'm going to try mitigate others' potential suffering by sharing what helped me.

The Maximum PC Guide for removing malware contains some great comprehensive steps. Here are a few things that can be done to supplement the guide.

Booting the operating system that has the problem can slow you down at first.

1. Erase a spare USB Key and use UNetbootin to create a bootable Kaspersky Rescue Disk. Use this tool to remove some of the less resilient threats.

2. Boot in safe mode and run the following from a CMD prompt to delete Temp & "Temporary Internet Files" directories for all user Profiles(assumes XP install w/profiles on C: drive ):

C:\> for /f "usebackq" %a in (`dir /b /a "c:\documents and settings"`) do rd /s /q "c:\documents and settings\%a\Local Settings\Temp"

C:\> for /f "usebackq" %a in (`dir /b /a "c:\documents and settings"`) do rd /s /q "c:\documents and settings\%a\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files"

3. Defrag. Auslogics has a good free defragmenter, or you can use the built-in defragmenter.

4. Autoruns

from Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell(Don't use this unless you feel very familiar with windows services) - Click the Options menu, Check the Boxes for "Hide Microsoft and Windows Entries" and "Verify Code Signatures" as shown in this screenshot:

Push the Escape key, then hit F5 to refresh in Autoruns. Now inspect the list and right-click the odd looking entries. You can choose to "Delete" the offender or "Jump To..." to open up a Window with the startup location referencing the item - usually in the registry.

5. Run CCleaner. Cut Deep - but remember to be nice - some users like their Internet History kept intact, and I like to keep my Start >> Run history while troubleshooting.

6. At this point you can go ahead and step through the Maximum PC guide. What follows is the snag I ran into in removing a piece of malware called AV Security Suite and how to get around that snag thanks to some specific posts from chaslang at MajorGeeks and other posts from BleepingComputer.

After running SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and subsequently running Panda's Activescan 2.0, it looked like the machine was clean. I then started ComboFix and received the following error, but ran ComboFix anyway: Panda FAIL. AV Security Suite was supposed to be gone. Panda said the box was clean! Why, Panda, why? The ComboFix log displayed the following AV Security Suite GUID:

AE716D16-40FE-4cb9-8FD2-2975088F55B2

Googling that GUID resulted in a lifesaver post by chaslang, which stated there was a Browser Helper Object(BHO) that sill needed to be deleted. I skipped the first suggestion in chaslang's post to run MGTOOLS\analyse.exe, but followed his other instructions.

HijackThis found the offender.

I was able to click Fix and afterward run ComboFix according to chaslang’s instructions without ComboFix detecting the AV Security Suite. Chaslang, I owe you... something. Thank you!

When rebuilding or updating a home machine connected to the internet, I strongly suggest using the automated, toolbar-free installers created by http://ninite.com/ Makes it easy to install Microsoft Security Essentials, Flash, FireFox, Foxit Reader, Auslogics Disk Defrag, and several other apps. Ninite will save you a lot of time.

Another troubleshooting suggestion is to boot Windows off a CD or USB key(WinBuilder and Boot Land can help you create a bootable version of windows, but these are deep waters that will take some time to navigate for first-timers) and thereby work on the infected system in a safer environment.

PowerShell Power Breakfast 8:00am-9:00am, Wednesday, January 27, 2010

2010-01-11T11:48:00.002-07:00

Buy your breakfast at the East Bay Cafe, have a seat, and learn about PowerShell for one hour. PowerShell provides for Windows what shells like Bash provide in Linux – a command line for one-off tasks or automation, be they simple or complex. Schedule this event on your calendar, and bring your manager and/or coworkers.

I’ll be presenting on sending emails via PowerShell, persisting and searching your command line history between PowerShell sessions, and providing a brief overview of Quest’s Active Directory cmdlets functionality.

Schwag will be given to a few lucky attendees courtesy of Redmond and local Microsoft Technology Strategist Dan See. Thanks, Dan!

Windows PowerShell Quick Reference

Dig Out by Digging Into PowerShell

The PowerShell Power Breakfast is open to any individual interested in Windows PowerShell, from veteran developers and sysadmins to those just starting with automation & scripting in a Windows context.

Where: Novell East Bay Cafe, Building G, Provo Campus (map)

Directions: Take the University Ave exit off I-15, cross University Ave, and turn left (north) onto Novell Place and enter the Novell campus. When you drive up to bldg H (the 8-story bldg), turn left and park in the SW parking lot. The sidewalk on the west side of bldg H will take you to the cafe (bldg G). We'll be in the conference room at the far north end (past the food court).

Files from PowerShell Power Breakfast Kickoff Meeting

2009-11-25T15:56:00.001-07:00

Here is zip file containing the scripts, notes, slides, and some online books used for today’s introduction to PowerShell.

Thank you Shauna Theobald and the Novell OSTC for providing the venue! The fourth Wednesday in December seems too close to Christmas, so I think we’ll meet again on January 27.

Don Jones has a great video presentation entitled, “Getting to Know PowerShell” that covers much of this morning’s material as well.

PowerShell Power Breakfast in Utah – Kickoff Meeting 8:00am-9:00am, Wednesday, November 25, 2009

2009-11-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Buy your breakfast at the East Bay Cafe, have a seat, and learn about PowerShell for one hour. That’s the basic premise of the monthly PowerShell Power Breakfast. PowerShell provides for Windows what shells like Bash provide in Linux – a command line for one-off tasks or automation, be they simple or complex. Schedule this event on your calendar, and bring your manager and/or coworkers.

I’ll be presenting a rapid-fire introduction to PowerShell, and will be followed by Ben Miller, current president of the Salt Lake City SQL Server Users Group. Ben will present on Gathering SQL Server Performance Data With PowerShell. Both presentations will be brief, and if time allows, we’ll hold a free-form discussion afterward.

Schwag will be given to a few lucky attendees, including this OGIO backpack, courtesy of Redmond and local Microsoft Technology Strategist Dan See. Thanks, Dan!

The following screen shot shows a directory listing(yes, that ls alias is installed by default), retrieval of BIOS information, and password generation using a .NET method, all using PowerShell.

Did that pique your interest? Come to the breakfast to learn more!

Windows PowerShell Quick Reference

Dig Out by Digging Into PowerShell

Where: Novell Cafeteria, Building G, Provo Campus (map)

Directions: Take the University Ave exit off I-15, cross University Ave, and turn left (north) onto Novell Place and enter the Novell campus. When you drive up to bldg H (the 8-story bldg), turn left and park in the SW parking lot. The sidewalk on the west side of bldg H will take you to the cafe (bldg G). We'll be in the conference room at the far north end (past the food court).

List all SQL Server-Related Service Accounts using WMI under PowerShell

2009-10-27T17:25:00.001-06:00

Ever wanted to know which service accounts SQL Server is using?

Fast PowerShell WMI Method(doesn’t work with boxes running Windows 2000)

1. Make a text file containing all the machine names of your SQL Servers – don’t worry about multiple instance names or virtual names, just put the machine names, one per line. This file will be used to populate the service account info once for each server listed.

2. Create a text file with the following, and save it as get-sql-svcaccounts-wmi.ps1 to be run in PowerShell.

$erroractionpreference = "SilentlyContinue"
foreach ($server in get-content("2009-10-27-sql-servers.txt"))
     {
     
     $class = Get-WmiObject -computername $server -namespace root\Microsoft\SqlServer\ComputerManagement -class SQLService
     "`n" + $server + ":"
     foreach ($instance in $class) {$instance.HostName + ", " + $instance.ServiceName + ", " + $instance.StartName}
     }

Why silently continue in case of error? Well that’s for those lovely Windows 2000 boxes that are _still_ on your network.

Here’s a screenshot:

Slow PSSERVICE + PowerShell Method(works with boxes running Windows 2000 and later OS versions of Windows)

Here’s a PSSERVICE.EXE + PowerShell script that will work with Windows 2000 boxes. The script builds a PSSERVICE string & runs the string using Invoke-Expression and passing the prefix of each service name.

1. Make a text file containing all the machine names of your SQL Servers.

2. Create a text file with the following, and save it as get-sql-svcaccounts.ps1 to be run in PowerShell.

foreach ($server in get-content("2009-10-27-sql-servers.txt"))
     {
     $exp1="psservice \\"
     $exp2=" security MSSQL | Select-String -pattern DISPLAY_NAME, SERVICE_NAME, ACCOUNT"
     $cmd_line = $exp1 + $server + $exp2
     
     #debug
     #echo $cmd_line
     
     "`n" + $server + ":"
     Invoke-Expression $cmd_line
     #part 2
     $exp2=" security MSDts | Select-String -pattern DISPLAY_NAME, SERVICE_NAME, ACCOUNT"
     $cmd_line = $exp1 + $server + $exp2
     Invoke-Expression $cmd_line
     
     #part 3
     $exp2=" security MSFTE | Select-String -pattern DISPLAY_NAME, SERVICE_NAME, ACCOUNT"
     $cmd_line = $exp1 + $server + $exp2
     Invoke-Expression $cmd_line
     
     #part 4
     $exp2=" security SQL | Select-String -pattern DISPLAY_NAME, SERVICE_NAME, ACCOUNT"
     $cmd_line = $exp1 + $server + $exp2
     Invoke-Expression $cmd_line
     
     #part 5
     $exp2=" security Report | Select-String -pattern DISPLAY_NAME, SERVICE_NAME, ACCOUNT"
     $cmd_line = $exp1 + $server + $exp2
     Invoke-Expression $cmd_line
     
     #part 6
     $exp2=" security MSOLAP | Select-String -pattern DISPLAY_NAME, SERVICE_NAME, ACCOUNT"
     $cmd_line = $exp1 + $server + $exp2
     Invoke-Expression $cmd_line
          
     }

Yes, I realize the above could be much shorter – if you rewrite it I’ll edit this post and give you credit.

Here’s a screenshot of the PSSERVICE approach:

That’s it!

References:

http://xinn.org/wmic.html

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/30426636/change-service-account-pa.aspx

http://www.mattwilsoninc.com/microsoft/the-many-ways-to-control-windows-services/

http://www.myitforum.com/articles/40/view.asp?id=12441

T-SQL to generate all rights for the current database as valid T-SQL statements

2009-10-22T17:12:00.001-06:00

Tested on SQL Server 2005 & SQL Server 2000
I wrote up a post on sp_helprotect2 previously, but I like this method better, even though they both use stored procedure sp_helprotect to populate the table.

      --T-SQL to generate all rights for the current database in valid T-SQL statements  
create table dbo.##protect ( 
            [owner] sysname,
            [object] sysname, 
            [grantee] sysname, 
            [grantor] sysname, 
            [protectype] sysname, 
            [action] sysname, 
            [column] sysname 
) 
go 

insert into dbo.##Protectexec sp_helprotect 
go 
      
select protectype + action + ' ON ' + object + ' TO [' + grantee + ']' 

from dbo.##protect 
where object <> '.' 
order by action 
go 
      drop table dbo.##protect 
go

What’s my NTFS Cluster Size?

2009-10-22T13:24:00.001-06:00

Maybe you’re a SQL Server DBA and you prefer 64K cluster sizes for optimizing disk I/O to read an extent at a time, or you just need to know how a volume was formatted. The command line can help using fsutil:

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo c:

Sample output:

“Bytes per cluster” shows the cluster size in use on the volume letter specified – in this case, 65536 bytes, or 64KB.

Cue Dora the Explorer “We Did It” music.

References:

http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/WinXP/microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics/2008-06/msg00172.html

http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic242971-65-1.aspx#bm243468

What’s gaffer’s tape? Volunteering at the 2009 Utah Open Source Conference

2009-10-12T12:59:00.001-06:00

Last Wednesday night I went to the Miller Free Enterprise Center on the Sandy Campus of Salt Lake City Community College to help set up for UTOSC 2009 – this year’s Utah Open Source Conference. My first marching orders from a seasoned network admin were to cut and crimp some cables for the exhibitor booths/tables. Turns out there is a best way to tape cords and cables to the floor, and it involves a specific kind of tape that techs who accompany concert tours and assemble movie sets use: it’s called gaffer’s tape. Gaffer’s tape tears like cloth tape, but is much stronger, and unlike duct tape, leaves no adhesive residue behind when removed. After false starts at Home Depot & Graybar, I purchased a 60yd roll for $20(after taxes) at the local Guitar Center. Usually it comes in matte black as to not reflect any light, but the roll I purchased was white for high visibility(cords are a trip hazard, even when taped down). Cheap imitations of gaffer’s tape exitst, but if you paid less than $15 a roll it was likely not the kind of tape a gaffer on a film crew would use. Graybar sold me something similar called Electrician’s Bundling Tape, but it didn’t tear nearly as well, and cost around $7 per roll.

Mounting tape was another adhesive used in conference setup. I needed to tape an additional Cisco wireless access point(conference attendees were saturating the wireless spectrum with their array of RF devices – I think we added 4 APs to the venue) to a glass window, and this mounting tape worked so well I wonder how somebody managed to remove the equipment afterward. A $500 radio within arm’s reach might be in danger of being stolen, and any safeguard preventing a casual thief from walking away with this hardware seemed a judicious choice.

Next year I want to be able to attend more presentations, so in the future think I’ll limit my volunteer efforts to the night before the event. Presenters were very technically oriented, and the raw knowledge disseminated more than made up for an occasional lack of salesman-like polish in delivery. As a geek I appreciate more substance and passion than hollow style. When a fellow geek noticed I was running Windows 7 on my laptop and quipped regarding the same, a guy I didn’t know across the table from me shot back, “Open Source is more than Linux”.

UTOSC speakers had a focus on automation and uptime – the theme of the conference was (afford | scal | reli)ability. Another attendee remarked at dinner that in his experience, *nix admins tended to focus more on automation of processes than their Windows counterparts. Or as another presenter, Christer Edwards, put it, “A good admin is a lazy admin.” I agree. Next year I’m going to offer to present on automating processes within - you guessed it – Windows.

SanDisk Sansa Clip Survives Washing Machine 1000 RPM Journey in Pant Pocket

2009-10-05T16:20:00.001-06:00

I thought my precious 2GB Sansa Clip MP3 player was destroyed when I found it had gone through our Fisher & Paykel washing machine. I let it dry out for a few days in a bag of uncooked rice.

When I finally powered on the Sansa Clip the screen lit up, but nothing legible was displayed. It was as if all the pixels were turned on but were very dim. Then the device powered off. I thought the display was shot.

2 months later my son convinced me to recharge the device. I was able to read files from the device, but when I turned it on, the display problem persisted. Only this time, when all the pixels lit up they were noticeably brighter. I looked in the Sansa manual to find ways blindly navigate the controls, and found an option to reset the player by holding the switch in the powered off position for 15 seconds, so I tried that instead.

When I again turned on the Clip, the display worked! The device had survived with no apparent ill effects, other than needing a reset. I had to take a picture.

This thing is small and tough, and unlike the Apple ipod firmware, it plays Ogg Vorbis(some of my preferred podcasts are in that format). Thank you SanDisk engineers!

Links and Junctions in Windows (yes, even in XP)

2009-09-28T08:33:00.001-06:00

link –s

A command that hearkens to the goodness of Linux…
Windows can do that, too!

My wife recently created a directory for scanned documents on her system under the "My Documents" folder.

I wanted this new folder that my sweetie named, "My Paperless Lifestyle", to automatically upload/sync to her Dropbox account. This would allow me to access the files on any computer with Dropbox installed.

I looked at the preferences for Dropbox on her machine, and Dropbox only syncs files that are stored under the
"c:\Documents and Settings\debbie\My Documents\My Dropbox"
folder in my wife’s profile.

Debbie’s machine is running Windows XP, so I grabbed the JUNCTION.EXE utility from Microsoft (thank you, Mark Russinovich!) to make a "fake" folder (junction, or symbolic link) under Dropbox that would point to the scans. A machine running Vista or higher would use the command MKLINK instead. Now the scans can be accessed on any computer with Dropbox installed. I can then access the stuff Deb scans on my work computer or laptop, and the added bonus is I don’t have to mess up my wife’s existing folder/organizational structure.

Here’s the command:

C:\> junction -s "c:\Documents and Settings\debbie\My Documents\My Dropbox\scans" "C:\Documents and Settings\debbie\My Documents\My Paperless Lifestyle"

Now let’s open the Dropbox folder, and…

There it is, an NTFS junction point called scans, that actually refers to the

"C:\Documents and Settings\debbie\My Documents\My Paperless Lifestyle" folder.

If a directory listing is output it looks like this:

<JUNCTION> doesn’t really tell us the secret location of where scans really points, so instead of using DIR, here’s the JUNCTION command with scans as a parameter.

That’s it! Now you can fool programs into thinking files are in one place, when the files are actually stored in your preferred location.

I’ve used this same technique to have multiple users on the same machine use the same Firefox profile. This helps prevent me from installing the same Add-ons for Firefox for each one of my children individually. I like reducing redundancy and the machine is configured so that only one user can be logged on at a time(it’s a netbook).

Maximum PC has a great article with examples on using MKLINK in Vista, Windows 7, etc. Here is another post explaining the differences between symbolic links and hard links(junctions are the directory version of hard links) in a Windows context.

PathPing > Traceroute

2009-08-26T10:41:00.003-06:00

Thanks Chris, for telling me about PathPing!

PathPing is a network utility supplied in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP and Windows Vista. It combines the functionality of Ping with that of Traceroute (in Windows: tracert), by providing details of the path between two hosts and Ping-like statistics for each node in the path based on samples taken over a time period, depending on how many nodes are between the start and end host. The advantages of PathPing over ping and traceroute are that each node is pinged as the result of a single command, and that the behavior of nodes is studied over an extended time period, rather than the Ping's default sample of four messages or Traceroute's default single route trace. The disadvantage is that, using the default settings, it often takes more than five minutes to produce a result.

PathPing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Use the -q number option to reduce the number of queries per hop if you're in a hurry, as the default is 100.

PowerShell: Get Information About Installed Applications Without Using WMI

2009-08-24T16:57:00.002-06:00

From: How to Get Information About Installed Applications Without Using WMI by Alex K. Angelopoulos

In PowerShell, the simplest way to display the [Installed Applications] is to use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet (which has the alias of gci), then pipe its results to the Get-Item- Property cmdlet. (Get-ChildItem doesn’t retrieve information about the registry values contained within subkeys; it only lists the subkeys’ names.) So, the command that you’d enter in the PowerShell window would be

gci “HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall” |ForEach-Object{Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath}

I changed the syntax a bit, and here’s what I prefer:

dir HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall | ForEach { Get-ItemProperty $_.PSPath} | Select DisplayName,InstallDate, DisplayVersion | Sort DisplayVersion, Installdate | Format-Table * -auto

The ability to change the sort order is handy for software inventory(When was that app installed?) and version troubleshooting, and

| Format-Table * –auto

”AutoFits” column widths.

Right-Click on Desktop >> Screen Resolution (Windows 7 Top UI feature)

2009-05-14T16:37:00.002-06:00

I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100(32-bit) on my old Thinkpad T60p(purchased in Oct. 2006) and am creating this post with it.

Took 37min 34secs (including 5 reboots) to install the OS and all the ‘important’(and a few optional) updates. The initial install without updates took only 28 minutes.

When right-clicking on the desktop the following appeared:

Changing the Screen resolution is available from the desktop context menu! How cool is that? Pressing the Windows key + P also gives some simple projector display options.

I’m guessing the install required less than 10 mouse clicks – impressive. Here’s hoping final code gets released in October of this year.

Ad Hoc Backups Without Breaking Backup Chain in SQL Server 2005

2009-04-07T19:19:00.001-06:00

“Hey, can you get me a copy of the production database on the dev server?”

Aside from the fact that this request can be a really bad idea if sensitive data in a database is available on an unsecured dev server, there are scenarios where this is just fine - _IF_ the backup chain is not broken. Enter the COPY_ONLY flag available in SQL Server 2005. The sp_BackupNow stored proc uses the COPY_ONLY flag, and was pieced together from bits and pieces I found around the web, such as the timestamp used in the backup filename. Customizations followed to suit my needs. I added a self-documenting feature so that when run without parameters, some brief usage and examples are displayed. In addition, you’ll need a server share on the target server that allows the source server’s SQL Server Service user account write rights, since the proc will save the backup to a network location.

Go ahead and poke holes, or add this to your DBA toolbox.

The docs for sp_BackupNow follow, and the sp_BackupNow T-SQL is here.

Backing up production databases for restoring to development/test environments

Requirements/Context:

SQL Server 2005 (source and destination servers)

Writable Share named BackupWrite$ on Target Development Servers

sp_BackupNow stored proc on source server

Appropriate Database and Share Permissions

Description:
Source server creates a backup using the COPY_ONLY flag that is written to the target development server on the BackupWrite$ share. By using the COPY_ONLY flag(available in SQL Server 2005 and newer) the production backup chain is unaffected by the Ad hoc backup operation.

When executing the stored procedure sp_BackupNow, provide parameters for the following:

                @dbname                           the database being backed up
                @DestinationServer       the target server where the backup will be saved to share BackupWrite$
                @backuptype                    'USERBACKUP' or 'ARCHIVE'. Backups of type ARCHIVE are saved to a separate folder to facilitate long-term retention in TSM or other backup software if desired.

@UserBackDir The first name of the user requesting the backup is used to save the file to a folder of the same name under the share BackupWrite$ – this folder must already be created.

USERBACKUP Usage Example:

EXEC sp_BackupNow @dbname='MyDatabase', @DestinationServer='DEVSERVER', @backuptype='USERBACKUP', @UserBackDir='Fred'

The above example will save a backup of database MyDatabase to directory \\DEVSERVER\BackupWrite$\Fred\
The filename of the backup contains the databasename with a timestamp appended, such as

\\DEVSERVER\BackupWrite$\Fred\MyDatabase__20090130154713.BAK

The output displayed by the above example will be similar the following:

26 percent processed.
52 percent processed.
78 percent processed.
85 percent processed.
90 percent processed.
Processed 488 pages for database 'MyDatabase', file 'MyDatabase_log' on file 1.
100 percent processed.
Processed 1 pages for database 'MyDatabase', file 'MyDatabase_log' on file 1.
BACKUP DATABASE successfully processed 489 pages in 0.439 seconds (9.108 MB/sec).

@dbname=MyDatabase
@DestinationServer=DEVSERVER
@backuptype=USERBACKUP
@filename=\\DEVSERVER\BackupWrite$\Fred\MyDatabase__20090130154713.BAK
@backupname=MyDatabase AdHoc Backup

ARCHIVE Usage Example:
EXEC sp_BackupNow @dbname='MyDatabase', @DestinationServer='DEVSERVER', @backuptype='ARCHIVE'

The above example will save a backup of database MyDatabase to directory \\DEVSERVER\BackupWrite$\Archive\
The filename of the backup contains the databasename with a timestamp appended, such as

\\DEVSERVER\BackupWrite$\Archive\MyDatabase__20090130155825.BAK

The output displayed by the above example will be similar the following:

26 percent processed.
52 percent processed.
78 percent processed.
85 percent processed.
90 percent processed.
Processed 488 pages for database 'MyDatabase', file 'MyDatabase' on file 1.
100 percent processed.
Processed 1 pages for database 'MyDatabase', file 'MyDatabase_log' on file 1.
BACKUP DATABASE successfully processed 489 pages in 0.360 seconds (11.107 MB/sec).

@dbname=MyDatabase

@DestinationServer=DEVSERVER
@backuptype=ARCHIVE
@filename=\\DEVSERVER\BackupWrite$\Archive\MyDatabase__20090130155825.BAK
@backupname=MyDatabase AdHoc Backup

Pasting RTF to HTML in blogs using Insert Formatted Clipboard plugin for Windows Live Writer

2009-04-01T20:11:00.002-06:00

I’ve played with a few tools to post code to my blog and for sharing documentation. I’m mostly interested in pasting T-SQL from SQL Server Management Studio(pasting RTF), but I also paste PowerShell scripts and batch files.

Now I’m trying the Insert Formatted Clipboard plugin from Noah Coad along with Windows Live Writer – both new to me with this post. There was a painful install process(see comments by ITSOLVE) under Vista that involved renaming an .MSI file, executing msiexec from the command prompt, and manually copying a DLL file. In XP I had no problems with the install.

On to usage. I copied the T-SQL from SSMS

to the clipboard, and then, in Windows Live Writer clicked
Insert >> Formatted Clipboard…

Here’s what pasted:

SELECT '-- ' + cast(@@SERVERNAME as char(16)), cast(db_name() as char(20)), getdate()

Ahh. Cleanly converted HTML from an RTF paste – with inline styles. Hallelujah! You may notice that the pasted text does not contain the proper monospaced typeface. I’m ok with that, as I would normally wrap that text in a border with a monospaced font. Read on.

Sometimes I just want to wrap the code with a border following the styles created at Format My Source Code for Blogging.

     <pre style="font-family: Andale Mono, Lucida Console, Monaco, fixed, monospace; color: #000000; background-color: #eee;font-size: 12px;border: 1px dashed #999999;line-height: 14px;padding: 5px; overflow: auto; width: 100%"><code> 

    </code></pre>

So, using the above html I can paste inside the <code> </code> tag and it comes out like so:

SELECT '-- ' + cast(@@SERVERNAME as char(16)), cast(db_name() as char(20)), getdate()

Nice, eh?

Additional notes:

If I’m careful within Windows Live Writer I can highlight & copy the text that was created from the Insert >> Formatted Clipboard… step, then double-click on the newly created empty border and paste right into the border style without using the Source Tab.

The other Windows Live Writer plugin used above to display the <pre> style from Format My Source Code for Blogging was Code Snippet by Leo Vildosola.

If you’d like to dive even further into RTF, HTML, and related macros for Visual Studio, see Steve Nyholm’s blog.

Shrinking Transaction Logs in PowerShell

2009-03-16T16:17:00.008-06:00

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SMO") | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum") | out-null
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoEnum") | out-null
$s = New-Object ("Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.SMO.Server") 'MYSQLSERVER'

#Current Transaction Log Size in MB
$s.databases["MyDB"].Logfiles[0].Size/1KB

$s.databases["MyDB"].LogFiles[0].Shrink(2, [Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.ShrinkMethod]::Default)

$s.databases["MyDB"].Logfiles.refresh($true)
$s.databases["MyDB"].Logfiles[0].Size/1KB

Automation Using SQLCMD with Batch

2009-02-20T13:59:00.016-07:00

In the January 2009 Meeting of the Utah County SQL Server Users Group I gave a presentation on using SQLCMD.EXE with batch files for automating T-SQL scripts.

Automation Using SQLCMD with batch

Why SQLCMD?
1. Repetitive processes, same targets, deployment tasks
  1. Scenarios
    1. Run schema change on multiple server/db targets
    2. CREATE/ALTER stored proc on multiple server/db targets
    3. Query Permissions on multiple server/db targets
    4. Speed! Can be much faster than GUI
SQLCMD basics

install location:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Binn\SQLCMD.EXE

-S SERVERNAME
-d DBname
-i inputfile
>> append operator
CMD Batch Overview (2K, XP, 2003, Vista, Server 2008)

REM I love comments!
:: Protect yourself at the command line with this!

%1 first argument passed
%2 second argument passed
1. Arguments examples – copying files to a server
```
copy-backups.cmd
robocopy /MAXAGE:1 "%1" "%2" "*.bak"
```
```
copy-winrar.cmd
robocopy /S "%programfiles%\WinRAR" "\\%1\c$\Program Files\WinRAR" *.exe
```
2. use self-documenting batch files - commented examples or output when no arguments are passed
```
IF "%~1"=="" goto help
```
Putting it all together

Examples:

Demonstrate sqlcmd to multiple targets, then parse command line by copying everything before the append operator.

The batch file, ONEOFF.CMD contains the targets for the T-SQL to be executed.
ONEOFF.CMD accepts two arguments: the name of the .SQL file containing the T-SQL commands, and a log file for output.

I saved all 3 files to the same directory( C:\BIN ) to simplify the example and ran the following:

C:\BIN>ONEOFF.CMD ONEOFF.SQL ONEOFF.LOG

The log file can be very helpful in determining which servers/databases successfully parsed the commands, and which targets failed. The first part of the .SQL file contains the following 5 lines:

SET NOCOUNT ON;
GO
SELECT '-- ' + cast(@@SERVERNAME as char(16)), cast(db_name() as char(20)), getdate()
SET NOCOUNT OFF;
GO

These 5 lines above format the outputted log file with the server name, database name, and timestamp. In the example log file output below, the "server" name is my laptop(T60-LAPTOP) since I ran the demo locally. The first 3 lines show that database Chile accepted the .SQL without errors. Lines 4-7 show errors when running against database Cuba.

------------------- -------------------- -----------------------
-- T60-LAPTOP       Chile                2009-01-29 18:43:22.793
                                                        
------------------- -------------------- -----------------------
-- T60-LAPTOP       Cuba                 2009-01-29 18:50:13.543
Msg 156, Level 15, State 1, Server T60-LAPTOP, Procedure sp_BackupNow, Line 7
Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'BEGIN'.

Links:

SQLCMD standalone installer(Microsoft SQL Server Native Client required for install, found on same page)
http://bit.ly/sqlcmd-and-sql-native-client

Using the sqlcmd Utility
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms180944.aspx

Command line reference
http://www.ss64.com/index.html

NotePad ++
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net

All Your Command (CMD) Prompts Are Belong To Us

2008-10-30T16:11:00.014-06:00

Ever typed SET to display all the useful environment variables windows has?

You can add those environment variables to your command prompt permanently. And No, Billy, this won't work by simply editing System Properties, so read on...

Four files and the PSEXEC.EXE utility are needed - save all 4 files in the same directory in a share(such as \\server\share ) to prepare to deploy your groovy command prompt on every server under your influence.

I changed the command prompt to better keep track of which server and which credentials are in use, and added a timestamp.

CMDPROMPT.BAT - contains the prompt with your preferred environment variables and gets copied to %windir%

:: c:\windows\cmdprompt.bat
@echo off
prompt $_[%ComputerName%\%Username%] $t$_$p$g

CMDPROMPT.REG - get registered on the target machine(s) to invoke CMDPROMPT.BAT when CMD.EXE is executed

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="%windir%\\cmdprompt.bat"

CMDPROMPT-INSTALL.CMD - the installer script - important for deploying the prompt to multiple machines

:: \\server\share\cmdprompt-install.cmd
@echo off
copy /Y \\server\share\cmdprompt.??? %windir%\
regedit /s %windir%\cmdprompt.reg

SERVERLIST.TXT - a list of target machines(one per line) that will receive the newly minted command prompt goodness.

Eriador
Gondor
GreyHavens
Minastirith
Mordor
Rivendell
Rohan
Bullwinkle
Rocky
Elaine
George
Jerry
Challenger
Cubs
Hindenburg
SpruceGoose
Titanic
TowerofPiza

Now to install! Open up a command prompt and cd to the directory containing the SERVERLIST.TXT , then run the following:

psexec @SERVERLIST.TXT -c -u DOMAIN\%username% \\server\share\cmdprompt-install.cmd

sp_helpprotect2 - Version of sp_helpprotect stored proc that Returns Valid T-sql Permissions

2008-10-28T15:26:00.010-06:00

One common task with SQL Server is viewing and modifying table permissions.

sp_helprotect can spit out some very helpful reports, but the returned SQL does not comprise valid T-SQL statements unless the version of sp_helprotect in the master database is modified a bit. This modified version is called sp_helprotect2, and marks itself as a system object. Thanks to wzard on Experts Exchange for this syntax.

/****** Object: StoredProcedure [dbo].[sp_helprotect2]
by: wzard http://www.experts-exchange.com/Database/Miscellaneous/Q_21694613.html

Edited and Reposted by Lars Rasmussen on http://larsrasmussen.blogspot.com/
******/
SET NOCOUNT ON
GO

PRINT 'Using Master database'
USE master
GO

PRINT 'Checking if procedure already exists in master database...'
IF (SELECT OBJECT_ID('sp_helprotect2','P')) IS NOT NULL --means, the procedure already exists

BEGIN

PRINT 'Procedure already exists - dropping it.'
DROP PROC sp_helprotect2

END

GO

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[sp_helprotect2]

@name ncharacter varying(776) = NULL
,@username sysname = NULL
,@grantorname sysname = NULL
,@permissionarea character varying(10) = 'o s'

as
BEGIN
/********
Explanation of the parms...
---------------------------
@name: Name of [Owner.]Object and Statement; meaning
for sysprotects.id and sysprotects.action at the
same time; thus see parm @permissionarea.
Examples- 'user2.tb' , 'CREATE TABLE', null

@username: Name of the grantee (for sysprotects.uid).
Examples- 'user2', null

@grantorname: Name of the grantor (for sysprotects.grantor).
Examples- 'user2' --Would prevent report rows which would

-- have 'dbo' as grantor.

@permissionarea: O=Object, S=Statement; include all which apply.
Examples- 'o' , ',s' , 'os' , 'so' , 's o' , 's,o'
GeneMi
********/

Set nocount on

Declare
@vc1 sysname
,@Int1 integer

Declare
@charMaxLenOwner character varying(11)
,@charMaxLenObject character varying(11)
,@charMaxLenGrantee character varying(11)
,@charMaxLenGrantor character varying(11)
,@charMaxLenAction character varying(11)
,@charMaxLenColumnName character varying(11)

Declare
@OwnerName sysname
,@ObjectStatementName sysname

/* Perform temp table DDL here to minimize compilation costs*/

CREATE Table #t1_Prots

( Id int Null

,Type1Code char(6) collate database_default NOT Null
,ObjType char(2) collate database_default Null

,ActionName varchar(20) collate database_default Null
,ActionCategory char(2) collate database_default Null
,ProtectTypeName char(10) collate database_default Null

,Columns_Orig varbinary(32) Null

,OwnerName sysname collate database_default NOT Null
,ObjectName sysname collate database_default NOT Null
,GranteeName sysname collate database_default NOT Null
,GrantorName sysname collate database_default NOT Null

,ColumnName sysname collate database_default Null
,ColId smallint Null

,Max_ColId smallint Null
,All_Col_Bits_On tinyint Null
,new_Bit_On tinyint Null ) -- 1=yes on

/* Check for valid @permissionarea */
Select @permissionarea = upper( isnull(@permissionarea,'?') )

IF ( charindex('O',@permissionarea) <= 0

AND charindex('S',@permissionarea) <= 0)

begin

raiserror(15300,-1,-1 ,@permissionarea,'o,s')
return (1)

end

select @vc1 = parsename(@name,3)

/* Verified db qualifier is current db*/
IF (@vc1 is not null and @vc1 <> db_name())
begin

raiserror(15302,-1,-1) --Do not qualify with DB name.
return (1)

end

/* Derive OwnerName and @ObjectStatementName*/
select @OwnerName = parsename(@name, 2)

,@ObjectStatementName = parsename(@name, 1)

IF (@ObjectStatementName is NULL and @name is not null)
begin

raiserror(15253,-1,-1,@name)
return (1)

end

/* Copy info from sysprotects for processing */
IF charindex('O',@permissionarea) > 0
begin

/* Copy info for objects */
INSERT #t1_Prots
( Id

,Type1Code

,ObjType
,ActionName
,ActionCategory
,ProtectTypeName

,Columns_Orig
,OwnerName
,ObjectName
,GranteeName

,GrantorName
,ColumnName
,ColId

,Max_ColId
,All_Col_Bits_On
,new_Bit_On )

/* 1Regul indicates action can be at column level,

2Simpl indicates action is at the object level */
SELECT id

,case

when columns is null then '2Simpl'
else '1Regul'

end

,Null
,val1.name
,'Ob'
,val2.name

,columns
,user_name(objectproperty( id, 'ownerid' ))
,object_name(id)
,user_name(uid)

,user_name(grantor)
,case

when columns is null then '.'
else Null

end
,-123

,Null
,Null
,Null

FROM sysprotects sysp

,master.dbo.spt_values val1
,master.dbo.spt_values val2

where (@OwnerName is null or user_name(objectproperty( id, 'ownerid' )) = @OwnerName)
and (@ObjectStatementName is null or object_name(id) = @ObjectStatementName)
and (@username is null or user_name(uid) = @username)
and (@grantorname is null or user_name(grantor) = @grantorname)
and val1.type = 'T'
and val1.number = sysp.action
and val2.type = 'T' --T is overloaded.
and val2.number = sysp.protecttype
and sysp.id != 0

IF EXISTS (SELECT * From #t1_Prots)
begin

UPDATE #t1_Prots set ObjType = ob.xtype
FROM sysobjects ob
WHERE ob.id = #t1_Prots.Id

UPDATE #t1_Prots
set Max_ColId = (select max(colid) from syscolumns sysc

where #t1_Prots.Id = sysc.id) -- colid may not consecutive if column dropped

where Type1Code = '1Regul'

/* First bit set indicates actions pretains to new columns. (i.e. table-level permission)

Set new_Bit_On accordinglly */

UPDATE #t1_Prots SET new_Bit_On =
CASE convert(int,substring(Columns_Orig,1,1)) & 1

WHEN 1 then 1
ELSE 0

END
WHERE ObjType <> 'V' and Type1Code = '1Regul'

/* Views don't get new columns */
UPDATE #t1_Prots set new_Bit_On = 0
WHERE ObjType = 'V'

/* Indicate enties where column level action pretains to all

columns in table All_Col_Bits_On = 1 */

UPDATE #t1_Prots set All_Col_Bits_On = 1
where #t1_Prots.Type1Code = '1Regul'
and not exists

(select *
from syscolumns sysc, master..spt_values v
where #t1_Prots.Id = sysc.id and sysc.colid = v.number
and v.number <= Max_ColId -- column may be dropped/added after Max_ColId snap-shot
and v.type = 'P' and

/* Columns_Orig where first byte is 1 means off means on and on mean off

where first byte is 0 means off means off and on mean on */

case convert(int,substring(#t1_Prots.Columns_Orig, 1, 1)) & 1

when 0 then convert(tinyint, substring(#t1_Prots.Columns_Orig, v.low, 1))
else (~convert(tinyint, isnull(substring(#t1_Prots.Columns_Orig, v.low, 1),0)))

end & v.high = 0)

/* Indicate entries where column level action pretains to

only some of columns in table All_Col_Bits_On = 0*/

UPDATE #t1_Prots set All_Col_Bits_On = 0
WHERE #t1_Prots.Type1Code = '1Regul'
and All_Col_Bits_On is null

Update #t1_Prots
set ColumnName =
case

when All_Col_Bits_On = 1 and new_Bit_On = 1 then '(All+New)'
when All_Col_Bits_On = 1 and new_Bit_On = 0 then '(All)'
when All_Col_Bits_On = 0 and new_Bit_On = 1 then '(New)'

end
from #t1_Prots
where ObjType IN ('S ' ,'U ', 'V ')
and Type1Code = '1Regul'
and NOT (All_Col_Bits_On = 0 and new_Bit_On = 0)

/* Expand and Insert individual column permission rows */
INSERT into #t1_Prots

(Id
,Type1Code
,ObjType
,ActionName

,ActionCategory
,ProtectTypeName
,OwnerName
,ObjectName

,GranteeName
,GrantorName
,ColumnName
,ColId )

SELECT prot1.Id

,'1Regul'
,ObjType
,ActionName

,ActionCategory
,ProtectTypeName
,OwnerName
,ObjectName

,GranteeName
,GrantorName
,col_name ( prot1.Id ,val1.number )
,val1.number

from #t1_Prots prot1

,master.dbo.spt_values val1
,syscolumns sysc

where prot1.ObjType IN ('S ' ,'U ' ,'V ')

and prot1.All_Col_Bits_On = 0
and prot1.Id = sysc.id
and val1.type = 'P'
and val1.number = sysc.colid
and
case convert(int,substring(prot1.Columns_Orig, 1, 1)) & 1

when 0 then convert(tinyint, substring(prot1.Columns_Orig, val1.low, 1))
else (~convert(tinyint, isnull(substring(prot1.Columns_Orig, val1.low, 1),0)))

end & val1.high <> 0

delete from #t1_Prots

where ObjType IN ('S ' ,'U ' ,'V ')

and All_Col_Bits_On = 0
and new_Bit_On = 0

end

/* Handle statement permissions here*/
IF (charindex('S',@permissionarea) > 0)
begin
/* All statement permissions are 2Simpl */

INSERT #t1_Prots

( Id

,Type1Code
,ObjType
,ActionName

,ActionCategory
,ProtectTypeName
,Columns_Orig
,OwnerName

,ObjectName
,GranteeName
,GrantorName
,ColumnName

,ColId
,Max_ColId
,All_Col_Bits_On
,new_Bit_On )

SELECT id

,'2Simpl'
,Null
,val1.name

,'St'
,val2.name
,columns
,'.'

,'.'
,user_name(sysp.uid)
,user_name(sysp.grantor)
,'.'
,-123

,Null
,Null
,Null

FROM sysprotects sysp

,master.dbo.spt_values val1
,master.dbo.spt_values val2

where (@username is null or user_name(sysp.uid) = @username)

and (@grantorname is null or user_name(sysp.grantor) = @grantorname)
and val1.type = 'T'
and val1.number = sysp.action
and (@ObjectStatementName is null or val1.name = @ObjectStatementName)
and val2.number = sysp.protecttype
and val2.type = 'T'
and sysp.id = 0

end

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * From #t1_Prots)
begin

raiserror(15330,-1,-1)
return (1)

end

/* Calculate dynamic display col widths */
SELECT
@charMaxLenOwner =

convert ( varchar, max(datalength(OwnerName)))

,@charMaxLenObject =

convert ( varchar, max(datalength(ObjectName)))

,@charMaxLenGrantee =

convert ( varchar, max(datalength(GranteeName)))

,@charMaxLenGrantor =

convert ( varchar, max(datalength(GrantorName)))

,@charMaxLenAction =

convert ( varchar, max(datalength(ActionName)))

,@charMaxLenColumnName =

convert ( varchar, max(datalength(ColumnName)))

from #t1_Prots

/* Output the report */
create table #mytmp ([owner] varchar(255), [object] varchar(255), grantee varchar(255), grantor varchar(255), protecttype varchar(255), [action] varchar(255), [column] varchar(255))
EXECUTE(
'Set nocount off
INSERT INTO #mytmp
SELECT ''Owner'' = substring (OwnerName ,1 ,' + @charMaxLenOwner + ')

,''Object'' = substring (ObjectName ,1 ,' + @charMaxLenObject + ')

,''Grantee'' = substring (GranteeName ,1 ,' + @charMaxLenGrantee + ')

,''Grantor'' = substring (GrantorName ,1 ,' + @charMaxLenGrantor + ')

,''ProtectType''= ProtectTypeName

,''Action'' = substring (ActionName ,1 ,' + @charMaxLenAction + ')

,''Column'' = substring (ColumnName ,1 ,' + @charMaxLenColumnName + ')

from #t1_Prots
order by

ActionCategory
,Owner ,Object
,Grantee ,Grantor
,ProtectType ,Action
,ColId --Multiple -123s ( &lt0 ) possible

Set nocount on'
)
select [protecttype] + ' ' + [action] + ' on [' + [object] + '] to [' + [grantee] + ']' from [#mytmp]
Return (0) -- sp_helprotect2
END

GO

PRINT 'Procedure created.'
GO

--Mark procedure as system object
EXEC sp_MS_marksystemobject sp_helprotect2
GO

Create Windows Shares from the Command Line using RMTSHARE.EXE

2008-10-14T11:57:00.014-06:00

RMTSHARE.EXE from one of the Windows NT Resource kits makes quick work of creating shares.

Here's an example of creating a hidden, read-only share accessible only by the fictional AD group 'DOMAIN\AdminsSQL':

rmtshare \\SQLSERVERNAME\BACKUPS-RO$=E:\BACKUPS /GRANT "DOMAIN\AdminsSQL":r

Want write(change) access but still with a hidden share? Use this syntax:

rmtshare \\SQLSERVERNAME\BACKUPS-RW$=E:\BACKUPS /GRANT "DOMAIN\AdminsSQL":c

Remove the dollar sign from the end of the share name if you want the share to be visible.

Running RMTSHARE.EXE against a \\SERVERNAME with no parameters shows all the shares(including the hidden shares) available, like so:

C:\>rmtshare \\SQLSERVERNAME

Share name   Resource                        Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IPC$                                         Remote IPC
C$           C:\                             Default share
X$           X:\                             Default share
ADMIN$       C:\WINDOWS                      Remote Admin
BACKUPS-RO$  E:\BACKUPS                      Shared by remote command.
BACKUPS-RW$  E:\BACKUPS                      Shared by remote command.
D$           D:\                             Default share
L$           L:\                             Default share
E$           E:\                             Default share
The command completed successfully.

Tested in Vista, Server 2003, Server 2000. Let me know if you find a version of Windows incompatible with RMTSHARE.EXE!

'Copy as Path' - Vista's Best Feature

2008-10-10T10:24:00.016-06:00

Arguably one of the best features in Vista for those who live in Explorer with files and directories appears by holding down the Shift key when right-clicking a file or folder:

Copy as Path copies the full path of the file or folder selected as text to the clipboard that can then be pasted in email, in code or at the command line.

The full path gets copied as a plain text string, surrounded by quotes to handle any spaces that might be contained in the path/filename.

Move TEMPDB to a Separate Drive

2008-10-07T17:15:00.019-06:00

It can be beneficial to move TEMPDB to an alternate location for improved performance. I've run across installations where tempdb was located on the OS drive with autogrow enabled and the drive nearly ran out of space!

This change requires a restart of the SQL Server Service(MSSQLSERVER).

Here's an example in SQL Server 2005 of moving TEMPDB to the (T:) drive with one data file per CPU(four CPUs). On the box used in this example, the (T:) drive is on a SAN.

SELECT name, physical_name
FROM sys.master_files
WHERE database_id = DB_ID('tempdb');
GO

ALTER DATABASE tempdb
MODIFY FILE (NAME = tempdev, FILENAME = 'T:\SQLTEMPDB\tempdb.mdf');
GO
ALTER DATABASE tempdb
MODIFY FILE (NAME = templog, FILENAME = 'T:\SQLTEMPDB\templog.ldf');
GO

ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] ADD FILE ( NAME = N'tempdb1', FILENAME = N'T:\SQLTEMPDB\tempdb1.ndf' , SIZE = 100MB , FILEGROWTH = 50MB )
GO
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] ADD FILE ( NAME = N'tempdb2', FILENAME = N'T:\SQLTEMPDB\tempdb2.ndf' , SIZE = 100MB , FILEGROWTH = 50MB )
GO
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] ADD FILE ( NAME = N'tempdb3', FILENAME = N'T:\SQLTEMPDB\tempdb3.ndf' , SIZE = 100MB , FILEGROWTH = 50MB )
GO
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE ( NAME = N'tempdev', SIZE = 100MB , FILEGROWTH = 50MB )
GO
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE ( NAME = N'templog', SIZE = 10MB , FILEGROWTH = 10MB )
GO

SELECT name, physical_name
FROM sys.master_files
WHERE database_id = DB_ID('tempdb');
GO

--restart needed to affect changes

Amazon MP3 Denies Consumer Access to Previously Purchased Content

2008-08-16T15:00:00.015-06:00

Download purchased MP3s from Amazon more than one time? Not without intervention from tech support.

I began trying Amazon's MP3 download service recently, and was initially pleased with the results. After purchasing a track I could visit the 'Your Media Library' section of the site and download my previous purchases, even if I was at another computer.

Not anymore.

Amazon will let me pay for the same track twice(albeit with a recently added warning), but there is no longer an option on the site to "redownload" tracks already purchased, _unless_ you contact Amazon's technical support. The following video screenshot displays the warning without any option to download content previously purchased.

This is further complicated by a lacking website implementation of the Amazon MP3 Downloader application, which only works if the Amazon MP3 site sends an 'AMZ' file to download cover art and create Artist\Album folder directory trees. If the site sends you an MP3 file instead of an AMZ, you get the pleasure of creating your Artist\Album folder directory trees manually!

Should you choose to cancel the download after purchasing, the site will not let you try to download the track again unless Customer support triggers a magic bit. And should you receive an MP3 file download prompt instead of an AMZ file that works with the Amazon MP3 Downloader, the whole cycle repeats itself.

At the very least Amazon could allow users an option to default to downloading AMZ files instead of a manual MP3 download.

Allowing users to choose to download AMZ files would have prevented me from attempting to download files to the same computer twice. But there was not a choice. After initiaing a purchase, the MP3 download was initiated, and that was it. I tried leaving the Amazon MP3 Downloader running, reinstalling it, and modifying the browser settings to force AMZ files to open in the Amazon MP3 Downloader instead of the default associated AMZ app(which was already the Amazon MP3 Downloader). Again, if an .MP3 download is already started by the Amazon web site, it's too late to try a second time to get the AMZ file to launch.

This also means accessing your purchased tracks on another computer is no longer a feature. It's been recently yanked.

Amazon was pretty quick to respond to my inquiry, but could they do more?
Here's the text of their response:

Hello from Amazon.com.

Amazon MP3 files are only available for download at the time of purchase. We display information about the items you've purchased from the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads store in Your Media Library so you can keep track of what you've bought and discover similar items that may be available. However, the files are not stored there and cannot be downloaded again after purchase without intervention from Amazon MP3 Support on an exceptional basis. This has always been the case with our downloads.

Because you can only download an MP3 file once upon purchase, we encourage you to make back-up copies of your MP3 Music files to ensure you will always have access.
[info about browser/cookie config removed]

Amazon claims this functionality has never been available. Methinks it has been removed in the last month, because I was able to download tracks more than once that I had purchased via the 'Your Media Library' without contacting support.

Amazon could do more to ensure that their customers receive the digital media purchased. Amazon's customer service has been handled well in other areas... why put the burden on the consumer, when the site can allow multiple downloads of previously purchased content?

Is this a digital iteration of forcing consumers to buy media more than once, similar to moves from VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray?

Nope. It's worse. In this case the consumer's second purchase does not include any additional value. The burdens of data integrity and recoverability are placed upon the consumer. Don't be concerned, because Amazon has a service that can be used for backups, too.

Querying Disk Space on Remote Servers using Batch with WMIC

2008-07-18T14:29:00.005-06:00

Time to check the disk free space in GB and percentage on a server volume...

WMIC(Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) makes another appearance!

Thanks to Tipsmark for this syntax (Response number 17 in this post). I added the /node switch and some error handling / usage to have this batch file work on remote machines.

@ECHO OFF
IF "%~1"=="" goto help
IF "%~2"=="" goto help

@SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS
@SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION

@FOR /F "tokens=1-3" %%n IN ('"WMIC /node:"%1" LOGICALDISK GET Name,Size,FreeSpace | find /i "%2""') DO @SET FreeBytes=%%n & @SET TotalBytes=%%p

@SET /A TotalSpace=!TotalBytes:~0,-9!
@SET /A FreeSpace=!FreeBytes:~0,-10!
@SET /A TotalUsed=%TotalSpace% - %FreeSpace%
@SET /A PercentUsed=(!TotalUsed!*100)/!TotalSpace!
@SET /A PercentFree=100-!PercentUsed!

IF %TotalSpace% LSS 0 goto error

@ECHO Total space: %TotalSpace%GB
@ECHO Free space: %FreeSpace%GB
@ECHO Used space: %TotalUsed%GB
@ECHO Percent Used: %PercentUsed%%%
@ECHO Percent Free: %PercentFree%%%

@SET TotalSpace=
@SET FreeSpace=
@SET TotalUsed=
@SET PercentUsed=
@SET PercentFree=
goto end

:error
echo.
echo *** Invalid server or drive specified ***
echo.
goto help

:help
echo.
echo diskfree.cmd
echo.
echo Queries remote server for free disk space.
echo Specify a MACHINENAME and a drive letter to be queried
echo.
echo Example:   diskfree.cmd MACHINENAME c:
echo.
goto end


:end

Here's an example of the script being run with a target computer named 'LARS', checking for free space on the [F:] volume:

If parameters are not passed or passed incorrectly(wrong drive letter) the script outputs the following or similar:

Remotely Remove IIS via the Command Line Using PsExec and Sysocmgr.exe

2008-06-05T10:27:00.013-06:00

IIS components can be manually removed the with the Add/Remove Programs>>Add/Remove Windows Components tool in Control Panel, or they can be uninstalled from the command line with a little script Kung-Fu. Several Windows components can be added/removed using this same technique by modifying the answer file.

Here's the syntax:

psexec \\TARGETMACHINENAME –u DOMAINNAME\%username% sysocmgr /i:%windir%\inf\sysoc.inf /u:"\\path\to\share\IIS_REMOVE-unattended.txt" /r /q

Here are the contents of the IIS_REMOVE-unattended.txt answer file - I've chosen to remove only 3 relevant components of IIS:

[Components]
iis_common = OFF
iis_www = OFF
iis_inetmgr = OFF

Here's what execution looks like:

Running
sysocmgr /?
from Start>>Run will display the available parameters for the tool.

50.7 cents per GB - WD External 2.5" USB-Powered Drive - WDMLZ3200CN

2008-05-15T15:32:00.003-06:00

The going rate for consumer storage is $0.20/GB or less you say? Why pay so much?

Ah, but that's in 3.5" internal SATA drives. Once you're able to fit 320GB(298GB as reported by Windows) in a coat pocket without needing an additional bulky power adapter to lug around, you'll see the instant appeal of such a device.

Make sure you get one with a carrying case - which is to say - you'll likely buy the Western Digital My Passport™ Elite™ from Costco.

Starting today there is $30 off coupon in the Costco mailer on a 2.5" external 320GB drive(298GB as reported by Windows OS) - I spent $151.12 including tax today for mine. Comes with a carrying case and an LED capacity gauge on the side that lights up to indicate remaining capacity - 320gb of portable goodness.

You can sometimes ask the Customer Service desk at the warehouse for coupons if you don't have the mailer.

Otherwise you'll pay right around $160.95 to purchase online from Costco.

The device comes formatted as FAT32, which doesn't support files larger tha 4GB(2 ³²−1 bytes to be more precise), so format it with NTFS - that'll work with the latest *NIX & Windows OSes.

Disclaimer: I like Costco quite a bit.

Using Floola and Media Monkey with the iPod Nano(iTunes Fails to Grant Joy)

2008-04-07T11:32:00.007-06:00

I purchased a 3rd generation 8GB Nano for $187 & change(not including tax) at my local wholesale warehouse(Costco). I was excited to load several files on to the device for my wife so that she could immediately begin to use it for her birthday. I spoke with a friend who already had the files(hymns and religious talks freely available for personal use from LDS.ORG) loaded on his iPod, and I naively suggested that we copy the files from his device(an older iPod) to the newly purchased gift for my wife. My buddy grinned and explained why copying files from one iPod to another might be difficult and/or undesirable due to limitations of the Apple iTunes software. I understood that Apple would want to maintain a tight grip on their DRM business model, but files that are not distributed by Apple shouldn't be subject to these Apple restrictions, as the use of said files is governed by the author or copyright holder, in this case a company called Intellectual Reserve.

Even though the copyright holder had specifically designated the files as freely copyable and redistributable for personal use, iTunes limits the number of times files may be copied from one device to another, or from a library to a device.

I ended up using a program called Floola to copy the files from my buddy's Mac Mini(not directly from his iPod) to my wife's Nano. Floola is multi-platform and can run directly from an iPod, so I copied the Windows(a standalone executable FLOOLA.EXE) and the Mac(a DMG file) versions to the Nano.

Steps:

Installed iTunes 7.4.3 from http://oldversion.com to my wife's PC and copied an album in MP3 format I had previously purchased from allofmp3.com to the iPod Nano using iTunes.
Copied Mac & Windows versions of Floola to the iPod Nano & tested adding/deleting tracks - worked fine.
Uninstalled iTunes from wife's PC.
Went to Buddy's house, plugged in wife's iPod Nano and launched OS X version of Floola directly from the Nano.
Used Floola to copy files from buddy's Mac Mini hard drive to wife's iPod Nano.
Closed Floola, Disconnected Nano from buddy's Mac Mini.
Verified that the files now existed on wife's iPod Nano.
Returned home.
Installed Media Monkey on Wife's PC as a replacement for iTunes, showed my wife how to use it in 20 minutes.

While the iTunes interface seems simple to use I really don't see the point in forcing Apple licensing limitations to media I already have the right to use. In my mind iTunes is crippleware because it restricts the playback, management, and transfer of media I already have the right to use and redistribute.

Additional Cons/gripes against the iPod Nano:

$187 for only 8GB of capacity seems too expensive - that's less than 2 DVD-Rs of storage.
The included USB sync cable is very thin - since the cable is used for charging(power) as well as data transfer and lacks additional shielding the transfer rate is likely compromised.
Is my sweetie really gonna watch video on this tiny screen? Rarely, if ever. A monochrome screen with 32GB of storage capacity would be much preferred, allowing for storage of many more audio files.
Having to pay $30 to install an after market protective cover(InvisibleShield) because the device so easily gets scratched.

Pros:

Small & light, bright display with good contrast.
The wheel on the Nano provides a smooth interface. I wonder how often it'll get used by my wife since she's using playlists, though. It's a simple matter to find a playlist on any media player and hit play.

Writing a timestamp in Batch using WMIC

2008-03-27T15:17:00.005-06:00

WMIC(Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) is one of the less used, but very cool & powerful features of windows.

Try this from a command prompt for an example:

wmic process

One of the things that sucks in windows is trying to use system date/time strings within a batch file, but WMIC makes this less painful:

:: Use WMIC to retrieve date and time
FOR /F "skip=2 tokens=2-7 delims=," %%A IN ('WMIC Path Win32_LocalTime Get Day^,Hour^,Minute^,Month^,Second^,Year /Format:csv') DO (
SET /A SortDate = 10000 * %%F + 100 * %%D + %%A
SET /A SortTime = 10000 * %%B + 100 * %%C + %%E
)

:: display timestamp
echo %SortDate%%SortTime%

References:
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/datetiment.html
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2005/02/23/378726.aspx

Intel Finally Including an Integrated Memory Controller

2007-09-21T08:12:00.000-06:00

It's taken what, 4 years? Intel has decided that removing the frontside bus roadblock for communication between memory and the CPU might be a good idea.

Even though Intel has been handing AMD its hat since the introduction of their Core 2 Duo processors, they've been dependent on a separate chip on the motherboard to coordinate i/o between the CPU & RAM.

AMD figured this out in 2003 by placing the memory controller on the CPU die. IBM and Sun have done the same. With their 13 or 14 fabrication plants, it seems that Intel has been only incrementally releasing the good stuff when they could be further pummeling AMD. Intel's manufacturing methods are on a process half the size of AMD's, so addtional features and power savings should be readily available to the consumer. How is all that extra die space being used? Yet another core? How about placing some real goodies on there, like embedding VMWare, increasing cache size, and adding some sort of monitoring that can interface with applications for instruction optimization over time? Intel has incredible engineers, let's see some of their innovations!

Google Angering Mobile Phone Companies & Becoming a Giant US ISP

2007-09-20T08:45:00.000-06:00

Whether or not Google actually ends up buying the 700-MHz band, an additional player/competitor toying with multi-billion dollar spectrum is not pleasant for Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. Such are the effects of capitalism - go Google!

Bob Cringely puts Google's 700MHz plans in perspective in his latest post - here's a taste:
"Imagine a hybrid wireless broadband mesh network using 700-MHz connections for backhaul and some truly mobile links and WiFi for local service."

With the aggregate of personal information supplied by users googling their search terms(especially while signed in to a google account such as Gmail), Google's servers aboundeth with information as to that which is being searched, purchased, emailed(your friend's Gmail emails are indexed as well), and blogged. Google owns the servers running this blog.

Mobile internet access is about to change very quickly.

Royalty Free Music

2007-09-18T08:54:00.000-06:00

Looking for some music to include in a multimedia project, or maybe on a telephone system? These tracks are high quality and royalty-free. The author requires Attribution under a Creative Commons license, and accepts donations.

I enjoyed the African and Celtic tracks - here's one example.

Software for Starving Students 2007.09 Released

2007-09-11T13:44:00.000-06:00

I've been heavily involved in the Software for Starving Students project for about 2 years. I believe it's the only free collection of software available with OS X & Windows concurrent releases, and we _encourage_ folks to copy our CDs and give them away.

The cost of a college education is always increasing -- usually faster than students can earn money. We hope our efforts will help lower students' software costs.

We enthusiastically support the concept of free/open software and standards, but our primary concern is that students have access to high-quality software, free of charge. If a software title could be useful for students and is free of charge, we'll seek permission to include it even if it is not open source. We've also chosen to license our contributions to the disc (the interface, etc.) such that it must remain free of charge.

The 2007.09 release of Software for Starving Students is now available for download at: http://softwarefor.org/downloads.html -- Software for Starving Students is a free collection of programs organized with students' needs in mind, but beneficial for everyone. Windows and Mac OS X CDs are available, torrents are live!

2007 Utah Open Source Conference Ends Today

2007-09-08T09:05:00.000-06:00

The 2007 Utah Open Source Conference has been an amazing experience full of geek energy and spirit. Conference attendees, keynote speakers, breakout presenters, and conference organizers have done an amazing job of creating a wonderful, fun, well executed event. Sometimes I wanted to attend multiple breakout sessions being held at the same time, but had to choose just one!

Hopefully some audio and or video of breakout sessions will be posted soon.

I fully expect that UTOSC will double in size in 2008.

Congratulations to Clint Savage on bringing his idea of the Utah Open Source Conference to fruition.

Handy Extensions for Firefox 2.0.0.6

2007-08-21T09:26:00.000-06:00

Here's my currently installed extensions on Firefox 2.0.0.6, courtesy of Extension List Dumper.

Adblock Plus 0.7.5.1

Ads were yesterday!

BugMeNot 1.3

Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com.

ColorfulTabs 2.0.6

Colorful Tabs colors every tab in a different color and makes them easy to distinguish while beautifying the overall appeal of the interface.

ColorZilla 1.0

Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies

Context Search 0.4.1

Expands the context menu's 'Search for' item into a list of search engines.

Copy URL + 1.3.2

Copies to clipboard the document's URL along with the title or the selected text.

CustomizeGoogle 0.61

Enhance Google search results and remove ads and spam.

del.icio.us 1.2.1

Keep, share and discover all your favorite things.

Diccionario español Argentina 1.0

Download Statusbar 0.9.5.1

View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar

DownThemAll! 0.9.9.10

The mass downloader for Firefox.

Email This! Bookmarklet Extension 2.0.2

Email This! will send a recipient the link, title, and text of the webpage you are viewing.

Extension List Dumper 1.8.0

Dumps a list of the installed extensions.

Forecastfox Enhanced 0.9.5.2

Get international weather forecasts and radar images and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable extension.

FoxyTunes 2.9.5

Control any media player from Firefox and more...

Google Browser Sync 1.3.20070523.0

Synchronize settings between browsers

Greasemonkey 0.7.20070607.0

A User Script Manager for Firefox

gTranslate 0.3.1

Translates the selected text via Google Translate.

IE Tab 1.3.3.20070528

Enables you to use the embedded IE engine within Mozilla/Firefox.

Map+ 1.1.0

View a map of a selected address.

Selenium IDE 0.8.7

Record, edit and play Selenium tests

Tab Mix Plus 0.3.6

Tab browsing with an added boost.

TinyUrl Creator 1.0.4

Convenient tool to create small url redirects from longer ones.

Toolbar Buttons 0.4.1.6

Adds toolbar buttons.

TwittyTunes 0.5.3.1

Post your tunes to Twitter using FoxyTunes, and more...

Verificação ortográfica pt-BR 1.0.0.1

Dicionário português para a verificação ortográfica integrada.

Web Developer 1.1.4

Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

From XP to Linux, the Ubuntu Way

2007-08-17T07:18:00.000-06:00

I installed Ubuntu 7.04 on my work laptop that runs XP yesterday. Now I can run XP & Ubuntu on the same laptop, and it was easy!

The Ubuntu Linux installation is easier & faster than installing Windows XP.

Will Smith did a write up on switching to Linux via Ubuntu 7.04 here.

Maximum PC full issues available in PDF format for free

2007-08-10T09:11:00.000-06:00

I subscribe to 3 printed computer magazines: Maximum PC, CPU(Computer Power User), and Linux Journal. Maximum PC is unique in that if a product is lacking, the specific faults of the product are irreverently pointed out in their reviews. Most magazines take a fluffy approach with heavy emphasis on the good points of the product - not so with Maximum PC. I find the editors of Maximum PC very knowledgable in their reviews & enjoy their insights.

And Maximum PC has finally taken the step of posting their issues in PDF format - enjoy! Try the March 2007 issue for a great article on what to have on your toolkit/bag, starting on page 20 of the PDF(page 34 in the print version).

There is an RSS feed that contains links to PDF releases and articles from the magazine as they become available.

3Ghz for $170! Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ (socket AM2) Price Drops

2007-07-26T16:24:00.000-06:00

In the beginning of 2007, AMD released the high heat, high frequency, dual core Athlon 64 X2 6000+ running at over 3Ghz. It was priced around $464 dollars at the time, and meant to compete with Intel's E6600 & E6700. On July 9, 2007, AMD decided to drop the price to $178!

I just checked Newegg - now you can get a 6000+ proc for $170!

In order to beat the Athlon 64 6000's performance on certain benchmarks you'd currrently have to upgrade to an Intel Core2Duo E6700 for $317. Intel, that's gonna leave a mark.

It is refreshing to see AMD still competing with Intel on combined price/performance.

Transformers Movie - More CGI Than Meets the Eye(or the Visual Cortex)

2007-07-20T12:05:00.000-06:00

I went to see the Transformers Movie for the second time last night. This time I sat in the very back row of the theater. I was able to absorb more of the rendering work during the transforms and battle scenes. I previously mentioned the Linux Journal article detailing some of the infrastructure specifics used to render Shrek 3, but I'd like to know more about the Transformers Movie. The Transformers Movie has set a new precedent in terms of CGI excellence. I've not felt so impressed with the visual quality of computer rendering since movies Final Fantasy: The Sprits Within(it was amazing back in 2001), and the more recent Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The detail in Transformers seemed overwhelming at times. I wanted to be able to view a scene over and over again. My brain had difficulty believing that these scenes were being displayed at ~~29.97~~ 24 frames per second - the animation seemed hyper-real. The first time I attended the movie my seat was much closer to the screen and I had difficulty processing the detail level of the animations. Get a seat close to the back of the theater when you go to the movie.

I would love to take my young children to Transformers, but can't recommend the movie for kids due to some of the sexual themes.

16GB USB Flashdrive - $9.37 per GB

2007-07-05T11:41:00.000-06:00

Have you ever wanted to put a full-length DVD or two on your USB key and still have room for .ISO files of your favorite bootables?

At $9.37 per gigabyte, go ahead & shell out $149.98 and that 16GB could be on your keychain or lanyard.

Here's a review of the Corsair 16GB Flash Voyager from Maximum PC - looks like the drive needs memory that is better suited to large writes, but it's quite fast in read times.

Great Windows Programs I Use Almost Every Day

2007-06-29T13:23:00.000-06:00

I was in a class last week with several windows admins who unaware of some great windows programs, so I thought these programs used for common tasks might be worth linking to here. I use at least one of the programs listed on a near daily basis, especially VLC & PDFCreator. All these programs are free, but not all are open source.

Make all your mp3 files the same volume level without compromising existing audio quality using mp3gain

Copy video DVDs to a folder or an .ISO using DVDFab HD Decrypter
Mount ISO CD & DVD images using a CDROM emulator using Virtual Clonedrive (license allows for business _and_ personal use)
Create data CD & data DVD ISO files (the entire disc in one file) using the READ MODE in ImgBurn
(ImgBurn can also burn .ISO files in WRITE MODE)
Create PDF files using PDFCreator (here's how to get PDFCreator to work with Vista)
Download using the BitTorrent protocol with the µTorrent software
Use VLC to playback nearly any audio or video file _without_ installing additional codecs
Make Flash video tutorials/walkthroughs to share with colleagues using Debugmode's Wink software (also free for business and personal use)

Shrek 3: CPU Render Hours Double Every 3 Years

2007-06-06T12:30:00.000-06:00

Linux Journal has a great article detailing some of the rendering specifics of Shrek 3. Some of the highlights include a 2Gbps network, use of NFS & LAMP, RHEL 4, use of Python, 24TB of storage, and a corollary to Moore's Law.

Gmail's Targeted Advertising Sometimes Hits Their Target Market

2007-05-28T10:36:00.001-06:00

I just started playing paintball, and this morning I noticed Gmail was paying attention(see screenshot):

I've long been annoyed by advertisements, but when the ads are relevant to my tastes, I don't seem to mind as much. I still watch my TV shows without commercials, though. Suspension of disbelief and the viewing experience can be very negatively affected by advertisements. I've asked the ushers at movie theaters how long the ads/trailers last, and the answer seems consistent - 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes is a very long time when you're attending a show to be entertained, and also means that the cost of a movie ticket is paying in part to attend 15 minutes of advertisements! I'd pay even more to attend a theater that removed pre-feature advertisements, how about you?

Local Newspapers Dying - How Are Local Governments and Local Citizens Affected?

2007-04-30T22:17:00.000-06:00

I was listening to AM talk radio today on the topic of the continuing reduction of local newspapers while some national newspapers are seeing new growth.

As local newspapers and local media begin to disappear, who will publicize local citizens and local governments?

Blogs & the web came to mind. There seem to be some opportunities for channeling the voice of local peoples through the web, and I hope that increased communication between local governments and local citizens will result. I fear that a continued lack of accountability(due to lack of publicity) in local government and increased abuses of power will ensue as the shift in media formats and communication continues.

It seems evident that national media outlets are less concerned with local events - that's not their market or coverage. Increased national media focus will likely further isolate the average citizen. It is much easier to affect change on the local level in the areas in which we live. Our federal government seems to be less representative of its people as our voices are squelched by the broadcasts of national and world media giants.

Where can our voices be heard? Will free speech be tolerated by national media when local views are shared? Are local views relevant to national or global media outlets? To whom are media outlets responsible?

Time Travel to the Future by Modifying Blog Timezone Settings

2007-03-26T11:42:00.000-06:00

It seems like some folks post & edit their blogs in the future - I've set my timezone to UTC+14:00 as a test of my theory - let's see what happens.

I've also set the time of my previous post today to 11:59 PM - I'm curious to see what happens in aggregate feeds.

Adware in Windows Genuine Advantage Promotes Vista

2007-03-26T03:59:00.001-06:00

I launched an XP VM instance this morning in VMware Server after a recent testing install, and proceeded to update the computer. After installing Windows Genuine Advantage, I received the following advertisement on my screen, courtesy of Microsoft:

It appears that Windows Genuine Advantage - the component that is supposed to fight piracy - also doubles as Microsoft-branded adware. Nobody likes adware, especially the sneaky kind. Yech.

Thunderbird vs Outlook 2007 migration in Vista

2007-03-24T16:50:00.000-06:00

There is so much pain involved in moving to Windows Vista and/or Office 2007. I have had the opportunity to move a few computers over to Vista from XP, and I've dropped one of my monthly contracts as a result. I'll finish the migration, but I lost way too much time and money because of the following gotchas:

Microsoft Outlook 2003 and earlier versions do not export data & settings properly to Microsoft Outlook 2007(specifically Personal Address Books and to a lesser degree email account settings)
Vista does not maintain backward compatibility with Windows XP applications(Quicken 2005 is one of them)
Dell Computer refuses to sell a new laptop to home users unless the laptop comes with Vista
Hardware drivers that function with XP may or may not work with Vista(I've seen the most problems with USB devices)
Vista crashes Windows Explorer frequently because of DEP(Data Execution Prevention) bugs
Vista is very slow, even with new OEM hardware that has Vista pre-installed.

Here's one way to migrate from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 on Vista:

Connect both computers(old & new) to the same network
Create an empty new shared folder on your old machine that is
readable & writable by all users.
Verify you can connect to the shared folder from your Vista
machine.(push Winkey+R, then type
\\machine_name\shared_folder_name).
Create a new folder on the share & delete the new folder as a test.
Run Programs | System Tools | Windows Easy Transfer with both machines connected the network & step through the wizard.
Go do something else for several hours while both of your computers are running the transfer.
When the transfer is completed create a new mail settings profile on the Vista machine from control panel - enable the option to be prompted for which mail profile to be used upon Outlook 2007 startup.
Start Outlook 2007 using the new profile. Manually input your email account settings.
Open up the .PST file that was (hopefully) copied over from your Windows Easy Transfer. Manually copy (that's right - one subfolder or group at a time) your items from the old .PST file into your new Outlook profile. Don't try to copy the parent Inbox folder or you'll get an error message _after_ the copy fails. You'll need to _Select All_ the individual emails in the parent Inbox folder and copy them to your new Inbox folder. Afterward any child folders of the parent Inbox folder can be copied.
Once you've copied over your Contacts, Calendar Items, Tasks, Notes, and emails you'll need to make sure your contacts are used as Address Book lookups from the To: field in new messages.
Right Click on a contact folder >> choose Properties >> Outlook Address Book >> Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book. Repeat for any additional Contacts folders to be used for addressing e-mail.

Unnecessary complicated and painful in order to grant the user similar functionality that existed on the previous machine.

Here's how I migrated another user from Thunderbird running on XP to Thunderbird running on Vista:

Download & install MozBackup on both old & new machines.
On the old machine run MozBackup to create a backup of Thunderbird mail account settings.
On the old machine run MozBackup a second time to create a backup of Thunderbird mail messages, address books, extensions, and other settings.
On the new machine run MozBackup and choose restore. Point to the file created in step 2.
On the new machine run MozBackup and choose restore. Point to the file created in step 3.

That's it. I recommend Thunderbird over Outlook 2007 for ease of migration.

I'm sure we'll see service packs from Microsoft released before the end of 2007 due to the premature release of their new office suite & operating system. Stay away until the Service Packs are available!

PDF Security Features with PDFCreator

2007-03-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

Several applications will let you create PDF files in Windows for free. Many contain nagware. The Open Source PDFCreator has a version that eschews toolbars and fluff, and includes features that allow 128-bit encryption for PDF files you'd like to protect with passwords and other security options. Here's a tutorial/walkthrough on using security within PDFCreator.

$0.28 Per Gigabyte for 500GB Hard Drives

2007-02-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

I purchased two 500GB hard drives from ZipZoomfly recently at a cost of $139.98 each.

Maxtor 7H500F0 500GB Serial ATA HDD 139.98

shipping & handling + 0.00

$139.98

÷ 500GB

=$0.28 per gigabyte

Normally I'm a NewEgg fanboy, but I read some reviews on NewEgg that cited warranty concerns on OEM drives. Here's an example:

Cons: Regarding the controversy surrounding these drives' warranty/lack of warranty, let me offer some further insight. The retail version of this drive carries a 5 year warranty from Seagate--there is no dispute here. The version Newegg sells is an OEM version, which MAY or MAY NOT carry this warranty, depending on the source of the specific drives in any given purchase. Seagate customer service maintains that Newegg obtains some product from auctions (nothing wrong or illegal about this). However, the source of these auctioned drives can be corporate overstocks, bankrupted companies, etc., which companies may have originally purchased these drives directly from Seagate WITHOUT warranties.

Other Thoughts: If the specific drive you buy from Newegg originally came from one of these "warranty-less" batches, you are out of luck as far as warranty coverage. The only way to check to see whether your specific drive has a warranty is to go to Seagate's website and check the drive's serial number for warranty coverage. I'm sure a lot of the OEM product Newegg sells is, in fact, covered under the manufacturer's warranty. However, it is an undisputed fact that some of the product sold does not have any warranty coverage. Sort of like playing Russian roulette, don't you think? The bottom line: if getting the best possible price is most important to you and you are willing to take a risk, go for it. If guaranteed warranty coverage and security weigh heavily in the equation, I would pass on this particular deal.

ZipZoomfly listed the 5-year warranty right on their product page. I received the drives today, and they were OEM versions. I immediately verified the warranties by serial number on Seagate's website(Maxtor was recently purchased by Seagate), and both drives have warranties that expire in February of 2012. I do not relish the thought of data loss - it's nice to know Seagate has me covered, and ZipZoomfly is being upfront about the warranty. Unfortunately, NewEgg isn't posting their warranty info on their pages in that same upfront way. I won't be buying hard drives from NewEgg until warranty information is posted on their product pages.

I previously suggested 4 rules when buying a hard drive - those rules still apply.

Software for Starving Students 2007.01 Released

2006-12-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

The 2007.01 release of Software for Starving Students is now available for download at: http://softwarefor.org/downloads.html -- Software for Starving Students is a free collection of programs organized for students (but available to anyone). They have best-in-class programs gathered onto one CD (one disc for OS X, one for Windows).

read more | digg story

2007.01 Software for Starving Students Released

2006-12-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.digg.com/software/Software_for_Starving_Students_2007_01_Released

Finally, it's out. A new K-meleon embedded CD Browser UI, 48 Windows packages, 34 OS X packages.

I love working on the Software for Starving Students project. I hope you enjoy it. Burn a copy and share it with others!

AllofMP3.com - No Visa, No Mastercard? No Problem

2006-11-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was not so pleased to find out that my favorite music site, AllofMP3.com, was no longer accepting Visa or Mastercard. I looked up AllofMP3.com on wikipedia today to find out a little bit more background, and it turns out that AllofMP3.com accepts payment via a site similar to PayPal called XROST. In order to buy an XROST pin/claim for a specific amount I had to go through yet another site, called clickandbuy.com.

Here's what I did:

signed up for XROST
purchased $20 worth of xrost "Prepaid iCard" via clickandbuy.com
Signed into my account on AllofMP3.com & redeemed my $20 Xrost via https://ssl.allofmp3.com/pays/payments.shtml?action=step2&via=xrost.

Boomshakalaka! I've refilled my AllofMP3.com balance.

Isn't there some way the RIAA can be punished via RICO statutes for ganging up with Visa and Mastercard against our capitalist comrades?

I guess the RIAA is just a U.S problem. My money goes all over the world. Thank you again, Moscow, for providing music the way I want to buy it: DRM _NOT_ INCLUDED, and by volume of data downloaded.

Ten Firefox v2.0 Extensions

2006-10-26T10:31:00.000-06:00

Previously mentioned were extensions for the older 1.5.0.7 version of Firefox, but Firefox 2.0 has been released. Extensions in Firefox are not always forward compatible, so it's time to revisit the extensions list! Extensions & themes are listed under the Tools menu option called "Add-Ons" now.

Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.0.4 - works in Firefox 2.0

Adblock Plus 0.7.2.1 - works in Firefox 2.0

Copy URL + 1.3.2 - broken in Firefox 2.0
updated version of Copy URL+ for Copy URL+Title functionality(no selection option)

CustomizeGoogle 0.54 - works in Firefox 2.0

DOM Inspector 1.8.1 - works in Firefox 2.0

Download Statusbar 0.9.4.3 - works in Firefox 2.0

~~Ext2Abc~~ 0.5 - broken in Firefox 2.0

FoxyTunes 2.0.4 - works in Firefox 2.0

ReloadEvery 2.0 - works in Firefox 2.0

~~Resize Search Box~~ 0.0.7 - broken in Firefox 2.0

~~Google Send to Phone~~ 0.4 - broken in Firefox 2.0

~~InfoLister~~ 0.9f - broken in Firefox 2.0

~~Tab Mix Plus~~ 0.3.0.5 - broken in Firefox 2.0
Simple tab session restoration is now built into Firefox(Tools>>Options>>Main>>Startup)
>Options>>Main>>Startup" />

TinyUrl Creator 1.0.2 - broken in Firefox 2.0
updated TinyUrl Creator version here

Web Developer 1.0.2 - works in Firefox 2.0

Thirteen Firefox v1.5.0.7 Extensions

2006-10-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

I installed Firefox on a new computer this week, and decided upon 13 extensions that were very useful. I'm sure I'll add more when I find out what else I'm missing.

Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.0.4

Adblock Plus 0.7.1.2

Copy URL + 1.3.2

CustomizeGoogle 0.52

DOM Inspector 1.8.0.7

Download Statusbar 0.9.4.1

Ext2Abc 0.5

FoxyTunes 2.0.2

Google Send to Phone 0.4

InfoLister 0.9f

Tab Mix Plus 0.3.0.5

TinyUrl Creator 1.0.2

Web Developer 1.0.2

List created using Ext2Abc and Infolister.

How much is that song worth? Less than 20 cents?

2006-09-14T07:56:00.000-06:00

I recently read a review of online music programs and associated music services. Eight different services were covered, and their accompanying software on Windows.

All of the services reviewed limited use of the tracks purchased or rented. Most were crippled by Digital Rights Management schemes drummed up to invent additional revenue and/or limit what the purchaser/subscriber could do with the music.

Fear not! There is a sucessful business model employed by a business unencumbered by DRM that works now. One company saw the demand and filled the need. The site is called allofmp3.com, and charges for tunes by the megabyte. It makes sense. Allofmp3.com leverages differences in international law and economics to its advantage, with some great technology behind the scenes.

Allofmp3.com does not require a monthly or yearly fee, and provides some optional slick client software(Alltunes) for searching and downloading the songs you've purchased. It gets better. Customers can choose from multiple codecs(no DRM included!) such as OGG, MP3, WMA, and AAC. I normally pay between 12 and 18 cents per downloaded track for 192kbps variable bit rate(VBR) MP3s, which, excepting classical music and superhuman ears, sound very good and burn to CD well. I've stopped purchasing CDs because of their superior business model. As a Russian site, allofmp3.com does not fall under the oversight of the RIAA, and their innovation shows as a result.

Music pirates grow up to be paying consumers, and my music dimes go to the Russians - they're providing what the world wants to hear.

How to Buy A Hard Drive

2006-07-29T15:42:00.001-06:00

I purchased a 250GB Parallel ATA drive recently for $75 from NewEgg. I'm quite pleased with the drive, and installed it into an external enclosure.

If you want to purchase a new consumer or prosumer-grade drive, here are some points to keep in mind:

1. Make sure the drive has at least a 3-year warranty.

2. Browse hard drive reviews and product recommendations, including those from magazine publishers. If you're in the market for a low cost drive while getting the most storage capacity for your dollar, buy a drive that's been on the market for a few months.

3. Check with small local PC shops & colleagues, and online ratings to find out which drives and/or manufacturers should be avoided. Verify the manufacturer and/or reseller has a good reputation and established procedures for returning broken or defective drives.

4. Calculate the cost per gigabyte of the drive by dividing the total price(including any applicable taxes or shipping surcharges) by the drive's capacity in gigabytes. I'll use the 250GB drive I purchased as an example:

250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive 74.99

shipping & handling + 5.64

$80.63

÷ 250GB

=$0.32 per gigabyte

Compare the price per GB(in this case 32 cents) to other drives with similar features(SATA or PATA, noise levels, RPM, areal density). Take into account the aforementioned points and make your purchase.

Internal or External?

If you need an external storage device, then go buy an internal hard drive and put it inside an external enclosure. Works well for hard drives and DVD/CD Burners...

memused.AGI Example Script

2006-07-14T12:13:00.000-06:00

This AGI was used in today's Sokol & Associates class, on day 5 of their bootcamp for the AGI module I taught.

It's a bash shell script that can be used with an AGI() application call in an extension on Asterisk to read back the amount of memory in use, average ping time in milliseconds, and packet loss to an external IP(4.2.2.2 - it was easy to remember).


#!/bin/sh

# Set a variable called stdin to help us
# get the variables from Asterisk
stdin="0"

# Read in the variables from Asterisk,
# and write them to a log file
while [ "$stdin" != "" ]
 do
   read stdin
    if [ "$stdin" != EOF ]
     then
        echo $stdin >> /tmp/logfile.txt
     fi
 done

# check the amount of memory in use in megabytes
#  and assign the value to a variable named memused
memused=`free -mto | grep Mem: | awk '{print $3}'`

# check the amount of average ping time
#  and assign the value to a variable named avgping
avgping=`ping -q -c5 4.2.2.2 | grep = | awk '{print $4}' | cut -d / -f 2`

# check the amount of packet loss
#  and assign the value to a variable named packetloss
packetloss=`ping -q -c5 4.2.2.2 | grep received | awk '{print $6}'`


# Execute the SayNumber command to verbalize
#   the $memused variable
echo "EXEC SayNumber $memused"
# Execute the PlayBack command add the word "megabytes"
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"megabytes\" "
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"with\" "

echo "EXEC SayNumber $avgping"
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"ms\" "
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"ping\" "
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"time\" "
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"and\" "

echo "EXEC SayNumber $packetloss"

# Execute the PlayBack command add the word "loss"
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"percent\" "
echo "EXEC PlayBack \"loss\" "

# Execute the SayUnixTime command to verbalize a timestamp
echo "EXEC SayUnixTime \",,IMp\""


# Now read the response back from Asterisk,
# and write it to the log file
read response
echo $response >> /tmp/logfile.txt

exit 0

Gum-Sized 1GB USB 2.0 Storage

2006-06-23T17:07:00.000-06:00

1.34" long, 0.49" wide and just 0.09" thick.

I bought this flashdrive today for $29.99 at my local PC Club store.

I lost my other PQI 1GB model - and that one lasted 4 trips through the washing machine! This time I've got a new strategy - I've anchored the drive to the detachable key thingy shown in the picture.

Spreadsheet Collaboration via Google

2006-06-09T11:10:00.000-06:00

Looks like Google celebrated 6/6/2006 by releasing Google Spreadsheets. "Create, store and share spreadsheets on the web".

Knoppix 5.01 Public Released

2006-06-08T10:35:00.000-06:00

One of the most popular Linux LiveCD(bootable CD) versions is ready to download. NTFS write access was introduced in the version released at CeBit, and is included in this public version as well. Other notable features:

Detection of onboard IDE-Raid Controllers and raid disk components
Linux Kernel 2.6.17 (rc)
OpenOffice 2.0.2 (german+english)
Transparent write access for NTFS partitions (libntfs+fuse)
Xorg Version 7.0

Knoppix v5.0.1 LiveCD Screenshots

KNOPPIX_V5.0.1CD-2006-06-01-EN Torrent

KNOPPIX_V5.0.1DVD-2006-06-01-EN Torrent

Dual Wan Example on pfSense

2006-05-24T17:33:00.000-06:00

Have you ever wanted to bundle/bond/combine devices together to increase your available bandwidth or load balance your routing? pfSense has been able to do this since its alpha version. pfSense is in 1.0 Beta 4 now, with RC to be released very soon. pfSense also supports QoS, so you can run BitTorrent & VoIP at the same time. Kick that iptables script or vendor X's firewall/router solution aside & move to pfSense!

dual wan instructions
other pfSense tutorials (including VMWare installation)
pfSense downloads
pfSense mailing lists and ##pfsense on freenode IRC
why pfSense sucks (for the cynics)

pfSense is the most advanced Open Source Firewall project as of this writing. Take a look at the pfSense feature set.

Trinity Rescue Kit for Windows and Linux Systems

2006-05-23T22:23:00.000-06:00

"Trinity Rescue Kit 3.1 or TRK 3.1 is a 100% free CD bootable Linux distribution aimed specifically at offline operations for Windows and Linux systems such as rescue, repair, password resets and cloning, with the ability to update itself . It has custom tools to easily recover data such as deleted files, clone Windows installations over the network, perform antivirus sweeps with 2 different antivirus products, reset windows passwords, read AND write on NTFS partitions, edit partition layout and much much more."

It's light and fast - the ISO is well under 100MB.

Current build: 210
md5sum: 6542485701afa398fb99f7800cf9bd67

Download Screenshots - checkout the clonexp script!

Thank you Google Alerts & Carla Schroeder for her TRK article.

Asterisk in Kansas City, MO

2006-05-15T10:23:00.000-06:00

Last week I shadowed Jared Smith, co-author of the O'Reilly Asterisk Book in Kansas City. Two things I'd like to emphasize:

1) Asterisk is very strong & growing quickly.

2) Kansas City has some good food.

The Asterisk Boot Camp presented by Sokol & Associates was very well attended; 3 continents were represented, and the attendees' backgrounds varied widely, from Digium Employees to VoIP providers, call centers to small shops. At the end of one day of training, 2 Cisco trainers entered our classroom to find the course had more than tripled the attendance of their own. Twenty minutes passed as the Cisco folks asked questions, and seemed impressed with the responses and implications of Asterisk's capabilities. One of the trainers was interested in providing venues and learning Asterisk so that he might train others on this Open Source PBX/back to back user agent. I was amazed by the momentum Asterisk has behind it, and I feel like I'm only scratching the surface.

In addition to being a good host, Steve Sokol knows how to charcoal grill a corn-fed beef steak. Aside from Steve's grill, I had the chance to eat at 4 places in Kansas City that I'd recommend to anyone visiting the area.

Arthur Bryant's - not for those interested in "heart-healthy" cuisine, this BBQ is incredible. Make sure to pay attention to those who are in line & be ready for your turn - there seems to be a certain way to order that is acceptable. Arthur Bryant's is all about the sauce.

The Cheesecake Factory - a national chain, but worth a visit. I recommend the pecan-crusted catfish & a piece of cheesecake to go. The Key Lime cheesecake was excellent, and the tuxedo cheesecake was also recommended.

Jun's Authentic Japanese Restaurant - great sushi. I liked the maguro, tiger rolls, and unagi don (BBQ eel).

Murray's Ice Creams & Cookies is not to be missed. Thanks Paul!

Forcing Clamwin 0.88.2.1 on Windows Users

2006-05-01T10:13:00.000-06:00

Clamwin 0.88.2.1 was released on April 30. I figured I'd force it on some of my windows users that did not yet have it installed. I placed something similar to the following in the Samba logon script:


goto CLAMAVCHECK

:CLAMAVINSTALL
"X:\Antivirus\Clamwin\clamwin-0.88.2.1-setup.exe" /sp- /silent /norestart
EXIT

:CLAMAVCHECK
REM If ClamWin isn't installed, install it
IF NOT EXIST "%ProgramFiles%\ClamWin\bin\ClamWin.exe" goto CLAMAVINSTALL

In the real logon script(beware of line breaks) I do checks for multiple antivirus program executables, and push this new version of ClamWin on users that already have a previous ClamWin version installed.

Hey Sysprep.exe, Factory Reseal This!

2006-04-13T12:12:00.000-06:00

I use Samba running on Debian for my Domain Controller at work with Windows 2000 & XP Professional desktop clients. I find it's helpful to buy identical desktop workstations in batches from my local vendor PC Club, 5 or more at a time, and automate their configuration.

If you've ever tried to update a master image(Ghost, Acronis Trueimage, etc.) in order to deploy multiple Windows XP Pro systems, you may have run into this special error message:

"Your grace period limit has been reached and will not be reset"

[quote source="www.mcse.ms thread"]
In Windows XP Professional, Sysprep can reset Windows Product Activation a maximum of three times.

This causes a problem when deploying the image on other pc's as the image is redundant after 30 days of it being created.

e.g. create image on 1st sept - can deploy on other pc's in sept but when deploy the image on a pc in Oct it has expired and wont let me log on.
[/quote]

There is a solution buried in Microsoft KB308554:

(all actions tested on Windows XP Pro SP2 with an OEM Product Key - a big thanks to Amit in MS Tech Support!)
1. Update your master system with applications and patches.
2. Run 'sysprep -factory' & reboot.
3. Activate windows.
4. Run 'sysprep -reseal -activated'. No error message about the grace period appears this time!
5. Use the prepped system's drive as your fresh master image for deployment.

Sharing HD Videos with Non-Geeks

2006-04-12T12:40:00.000-06:00

As many geeks have discovered, commercial-free television via bittorrent downloads lets you watch only what you want to watch, when you want to watch it. An hour long TV program is usually only 40-42 minutes in length without those pesky commercials. PVR software such as MythTV combined with an HDTV tuner & capture card allows better than DVD (MPEG 2) quality playback, if you have a computer set up for playback, or burn to media for playback on an MPEG-4 compatible DVD player such as the Philips DVP642. Now there's another option I like even better.

Vantec just introduced a new product that will facilitate sharing your archive of video files with non-geeks, the Avox Jukebox. It comes with a remote control and all the cables you'll need to lend it to a non-geek friend for playback on their low-end TV or plush home theater HDTV setup.

You'll need a spare 2.5" laptop hard drive and $100 to spend.

Supported Formats:
Movie: MPEG 1, 2, 4 (MPG, MPEG, AVI, M2V, DAT, VOB, IFO etc.) DivX, XviD (except GMC, Qpel option applied)
Music: MP3, OGG Vorbis, WAV, WMA (except WMA9 pro.lossless)
Photo: JPG(JPEG)
Available OS: Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, Mac OS 9 or Higher, Linux 2.4 or Higher

Output:
Video: COMPOSITE _or_ COMPONENT Y, Pb, Pr (480p, 720p, 1080i Progressive Scan)
Audio: STEREO L-R _or_ DIGITAL COAXIAL (DTS Pass-Through Only)

36 Cisco 79xx Ringtones

2006-04-06T14:28:00.000-06:00

Dump all the files from cisco-ringtones.tgz into your tftproot, reboot your Cisco 79xx phone & you should be good to go.

Note: The cisco-ringtones.tgz archive creates a cisco-rings folder for convenience only - the files should be copied into your the root dir of your tftp server without the containing folder. I tested on a Cisco 7940.

34 of these ringtones were already available, I just added the 2 CTU ringtones from the TV show "24" and created a RingList.xml file.

Music from Mitsubishi Car Commericials

2006-03-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for a good list of the music tracks to the Mitsubishi car commercials for a while... I found one.

A few favorites:

"Days Go By" / Dirty Vegas

"Just Breathe" / Telepopmusik

"Start the Commotion" / Wiseguys

"Spybreak" / Propellerheads (this track is widely known from The Matrix lobby scene)

While on the subject of music in commercials here are a couple movie trailer music favorites:

"Absurd (Whitewash Mix)" / Fluke

"The Eyes of Truth" / Enigma (jump to time index 4 min 9sec for the good part, or time index 2 min 46sec on the Radio Edit version of the track)

Microsoft: November 2006 now means January 2007

2006-03-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista Delayed again - marketing speak and financial implications ensue.

So much for those 2006 Holiday sales. Maybe we'll see a Vista/Halo bundle to compensate since MS is crippling the upcoming PC version of the game to not run on XP.

Will this extra time mean WINFS will now be included in Vista? Nope.

Caste System Internet (or is it Tiers?)

2006-03-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

I think that the average internet user is likely to be hurt by the mafia-like idea of slowing down pages for those who don't pay "protection money" very soon. The equal playing field is starting to disappear.

Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, creator of slashdot, recently wrote:

'I like to think of the phone companies as basically being gangsters showing up at Google and saying in their best fakey, mobster accent, "Ya know, Sergey, we were just talking to our buddies over at Yahoo! yesterday, and they agreed to pay us a million dollars to make sure that their customers get 10ms ping times to their servers. If you pay us $2 million, we'll give you 8ms ping times. Oh, and if you don't pay up, it sure would be tragic if your customers started dropping packets and lagging out. I heard there's going to be a lot of construction in the Midwest. It sure would be terrible if your backbone got cut by a backhoe somewhere."'

pipes.txt . Caught In The Web . April 2006 . Vol.6 Issue 4 . Page(s) 86 in print issue (Full Article)

OS Design Priorities? Security, Maintenance, and Backups

2006-03-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

I love reading Alex St. John's monthly CPU articles...

"Microsoft has shipped how many OSes since 1995? Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, and Windows XP SP2, and rather than getting better with each major OS release, security problems for consumers have gotten worse! With each promise of a more secure OS, we’ve ended up with a less secure one."

"Security, maintenance, and backup and recovery are the most fundamental OS services that any OS should provide, and you’d think that Microsoft would concentrate on getting these fundamentals right before worrying about all the junk it ships with the OS that we don’t need. This, of course, has never been the case to such an extreme degree that Microsoft has created a multibillion dollar industry for such companies as Symantec and McAfee to clean up the mess it makes with each new OS product."

Computer Power User . April 2006 . Vol.6 Issue 4 . Page(s) 14 in print issue . Irony . The Saint by Alex St. John

Star West to Honor Business Warranties for Defunct Totally Awesome Computers

2006-03-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Looks like Star West will be offering warranty support for business customers of Totally Awesome Computers, a Utah company that just disappeared. If you were a former business customer of TAC, I'd call Star West very soon - before they change their mind. Maybe this will slow down possible litigation from folks who paid more for their computers in order to receive "lifetime service and warranty". Looks like the home users are Totally Awesome screwed.

Gadgets & Technologies to Keep an Eye On

2006-03-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

Gadgets & Technologies to keep an eye on:
USB over wireless w/o software - Belkin's $130 CableFree USB Hub
Indoor signal strength repeater for cell phones - Spotwave Wireless' $400 Zen system
RGB LED television - AKAI PT52DL27L and PT42DL27L
The beginning of the end of DLP TVs?
http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CEStechnology/LEDdisplaytechnology.php
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1909038,00.asp?kc=PCYH105129TX1B0001084

Combine a live CD with a USB hard drive as a "persistent home", the excellent hardware detection abilities of Knoppix, but choose your own desktop. That is GRML Linux.

Here's what I did:

Created a spare 6 GB partition on my USB external hdd at the end of the drive
Booted off the CD

ran:
apt-get update
apt-get install grml2hd
grml2hd /dev/sda2 -mbr /dev/sda

Sometimes you're on a *nix box & have no idea what kernel version and/or distribution it's running. The following commands should help shed some light on the matter:

uname -a
cat /etc/*release
cat /proc/version
echo $OSTYPE

Xubuntu
Put those old pentiums to use... Xfce4 is a nice thin desktop.

"The aim of the Xubuntu community project is to provide a nice Ubuntu desktop experience (even on older hardware) by using Xfce4 as the desktop environment and GTK+ 2 applications wherever possible."
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu

Fast-booting Knoppix LiveCD does it in 60 secs
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5205752428.html

1 U, 400GB RAID 1 for less than $1500
(Turns out this wasn't _real_ hardware RAID - yech. I ended up using software raid with Debian.)
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=1925792&WishListTitle=lars%2Dut+file+server

Overview of dmraid source package
"has not yet entered testing"
http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/dmraid.html

http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/55097/
http://www.madtux.org/livepc.php
$199 - only moving parts are fans. See the link at the bottom of the story.

I spent $144.97 (including shipping) on some parts from newegg.com...

An Antec mid-tower case w/450w psu & old faithful NEC DVD burner...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

Security, Windows Vista, and the Consumer

"If you, the consumer, have purchased an application for your computer that Microsoft breaks in the name of security, it will be your responsibility to recognize that this has happened, seek out your publisher, figure out how to manually download and install the necessary patch, and prove that you’re a legitimate owner of the software. Why? Because Microsoft prevented your software publisher from automating any of this for you. Microsoft is relying on your fear of security threats and ignorance about how legitimate software needs to work to deter you from trying to consume non-Microsoft software and services."
http://www.computerpoweruser.com/email.asp?emid=137986
Computer Power User March 2006 • Vol.6 Issue 3 Page(s) 14-15 in print issue Bronx Cheer For Vista Security! by Alex St. John

Additional interface for crossover cable on Gigabit ethernet card:
ifconfig eth1 inet up 192.168.5.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.5.255
route add -net 192.168.5.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 gw 192.168.5.1 dev eth1

Windows XP/2000 Commands and Tools

http://www.networkclue.com/os/Windows/commands/index.aspx

Configuring Apache for Maximum Performance LG #123
http://linuxgazette.net/123/vishnu.html

I revisited my allofmp3.com music account & charged $15 to the balance. That ought to tide me over for a few months. allofmp3.com uses a pay-by-the-megabyte pricing model and offers more formats/options for downloading my music tracks than iTunes. I usually pay 12 to 18 cents per song for variable bitrate 192 Kbps encoding.

Computer & Consumer Electronics Recommendations

2006-02-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a recommendations page for folks that ask me which computer parts & consumer electronics to buy...

Why Gmail's Searches Suck & a Cheap Digital Camera

2006-02-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to find that Gmail's search functionality is quite limited. For example:
I was searching for the term 'hangover' in my board game night messages, and Gmail will not find 'hangovers'. But when I input 'hangovers' - voila! The messages then appear. Even worse, 'hangover*' doesn't return 'hangovers' either.

My sweetie & I are preparing to buy our second digital camera. We purchased our first in 1999, a Kodak DC3200. We were early adopters. It sure will be nice not to have the slightest motion blur the shot. I talked with a salespeople at Best Buy & Costco, and they both agreed the Canon A520 was a sweet spot for price/value at $190 from Best Buy for the consumer market. 4x optical zoom, 4 megapixels(2272 x 1704). I'm still not sure how listing the "digital zoom" ability of a camera helps a consumer. It's akin to saying, "In my photo editing program I can zoom in and see individual pixels! Check it out!" Que ridículo.

Bulletproofing Your Web Server?

2006-01-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

Configuring Apache - Don't Succumb To The "Slashdot Effect"

This article mentions The Coral Content Distribution Network and some suggested parameters for tweaking Apache.

This might end up being the technology that solves the traffic spike problem that previously crashed our web server at softwarefor.org. Thanks to Herlo for the link.

Other stuff I've noted of late...

Make sure to use '-compatible=mysql40' with mysqldump if going backwards a few versions when exporting.

Wired 14.01: The Coolest Rooms on the Planet
"When it was time for architect Thomas Roszak to design his own home, he opted for minimalism in everything but technology. With features like flat-panel speakers and remotely controlled, built-in amenities - including motorized blinds, lighting, and indoor-outdoor thermostats - there's nothing to distract from Roszak's free-flowing floor plan."

Software for Starving Students (SSS) version 2006.01 is now released

2005-12-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

The past few months I've been the Program Manager for SoftwareFor.org.

I'm pleased to announce our latest Mac OS X & Windows versions. Please see our press release for more info.

We've spent some late nights working on this, and I'm very happy with the user interface that Dave Turnbull developed. A list of programs included on the CDs is available here.

This a redistributable project - we encourage copying of these CDs, so fire up those CD burners!

Torrents here.

SD, SD, Everywhere

2005-12-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

My sweetie gifted me a used Palm Tungsten T (m550) for Christmas. It takes SD(Secure Digital) Cards for additional storage. SD seems to be replacing Compact Flash cards all over the place. I found a Transcend 1GB Secure Digital (SD) Card for $64.81 (including S&H) at NewEgg, & recommended it to a friend. I love NewEgg, and have spent thousands of dollars there - mostly for other people.

Finalizing Software for Starving Students 2006.01 Release

2005-12-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's almost done. Over 50 packages of free software in this version of the Software for Starving Students CD. Now we need hosting, a trackerless torrent, lots of seeders, and some nice announcements on high-traffic sites...