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Windows File Protection - Stops Microsoft Patch!
I attempted to roll out the WMF patch for the big security hole everyone has been talking about lately. After pushing it to a few machines as a test, these users started to complain that they were getting a message about windows file protection. It looks like when you attempt to push this patch to Windows 2000 machines, the windows file protection will kick in and stop it in its tracks.
I found the registry key that lets you disable it (I would suggest only while you are deploying the patch)
Open regedit, and browse to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Find the value SFCDisable
Set it to this hex dword value to turn of windows file protection: ffffff9d
If you want to turn it back on, switch it to zero.
It takes effect almost immediately, and you can deploy the patch right after making the change with no problems.
If you don't like mucking around in the registry, I wrote a program that will do it for you.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Friday, January 06, 2006
Clean viruses quickly
It always happens to me, and probably you too - A friend, or family member calls you over to look at their computer. Good luck for you they have no virus protection, and their computer is screaming signs that it is infected with a virus. I know there are a lot of free anti-virus solutions out there, but I always like to start with a free utility from McAfee called stinger Download this baby and let it rip. It even works on systems that are seriously in trouble because of a virus. Now I admit that it does not always clean the virus in question. But once you identify it, you can always find a free clean tool for any virus at Symantec. Just do a search in google:
If I wanted to clean the 'SoBig' virus, then just search for:
Symantec clean tool sobig
I almost always get the clean tool from Symantec on the first hit, and they usually work better than most of the antivirus products themselves, because these clean tools were specifically engineered to clean the virus.
So go forth and be the computer hero you were ment to be - and fix that system without spending a dime.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Friday, January 06, 2006
Robocopy is an administrators best friend
I am not sure if you have heard of it. Robocopy. It is a free command line utility that has been included with the NT line of windows for some time now. I actually think all the way back to NT 4.0. It is usually in the resource kit. This tool has saved me tons of time over the years. It essentialy lets you do a file synchronization between windows PCs. Perfect for when you need to copy gigs of data over the wan, but need something that will keep retrying until the job is done.
Lets say you want to copy the contents of c:\data to a network folder e:\data, but only want to retry 5 times if the copy is failing on any individual file:
robocopy c:\data e:\data /r:5
The above will only copy the root folder, not any subdirectories. To include all subdirectories use the /s switch:
robocopy c:\data e:\data /s /r:5
Now one problem I always run into is that I will have a ton of little files that are failing for one reason or another. They are usually log files that are in use and I don't care about them. To get the wait time between failures short and sweet then use the /w option. It tells it the number of seconds to wait between failures:
robocopy c:\data e:\data /s /r:5 /w:1
Now you are scratching your head, and think to yourself: "How is this different from xcopy - other than these retry and wait functions?"
It only copies the folders and files it sees as *new*. If you copied 1.2 GB of folder c:\data, and it got cut out in the last few files - you can call up robocopy and it will only copy the files that are newer, or do not exist on the remote side.
At the end of a copy it will give you a report. It lets you know how many files and folders were copied, and how many errors.
One of these days when I am in a programming mood I might throw together a GUI for those that find the command line interface too hard to understand ;()
If you don't have the resource kit, you can download a copy of robocopy here (Note: It only works on 2000, XP, NT, 2003, and Vista systems - no 98/95/ME sorry!)
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Friday, January 06, 2006
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