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Disable Adobe Automatic Updates
I received a note from a reader yesterday:
I saw your post (below), but didn't see a way to make this screen appear. Can you tell me how to access that screen?
He is talking about this post:
http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/12/adobe-releases-acrobat-reader-8.html
I went back and read the article and realized that this settings page is very difficult to find within Acrobat Reader 8.
Here is how you can get to these settings. Open up Acrobat Reader, and click on Help then "Check for updates"
You will have to wait through at least one attempt at an annoying update.
Now when it sees that there are updates, or it fails you will get a page that allows you to download the updates - or change your update preferences. Click on the link that says "Preferences"
Now you will see the settings page for updates.
You can set it for a more reasonable update cycle, or disable it all together. Remember that the updates are important since there have been numerous security flaws in adobe over the past two years. Any one of them could allow an attacker to install software on your computer by simply viewing a carefully crafted PDF file.
Considering the security problems, and the fact that Adobe is going to make PDF files even more annoying by adding advertisements (I am not joking). I suggest downloading an alternative PDF viewer. My personal favorite is FoxIt.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Friday, November 30, 2007
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Convert physical machines to virtual machines - FREE
VMWare has actually had this tool for quite some time now. The VMWare converter for Windows was released in January of 2007. I just had a chance to use it, and it works great.
You can convert a physical machine to a VM while it is running. Thats right - no downtime to convert a system. This is perfect when you need to test something on a live production server...but don't want to risk it.
A few things to watch out for when using it:
-If you have Windows 2003, XP, or Vista the switch to the Virtual machine will trigger product activation. If you don't have an OEM license this can be a problem...and may prevent you from completing your task.
-You can't run the converter on the same machine you are converting. You need to run it over the network, or create a boot disk. A boot disk would be bad since this would cause a significant chunk of downtime.
Obligatory features and benefits from VMWare:
-Quickly and reliably convert local and remote physical machines into virtual machines without any disruption or downtime.
-Complete multiple conversions simultaneously with a centralized management console and an intuitive conversion wizard.
-Convert other virtual machine formats such as Microsoft Virtual PC and Microsoft Virtual Server or backup images of physical machines such as Symantec Backup Exec LiveState Recovery or Ghost 9 to VMware virtual machines.
-Restore VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) images of virtual machines to running virtual machines.
All in all I like this tool, and it has been a great help when testing or trying to isolate an issue without impacting users.
Get your free copy from here
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Wednesday, November 28, 2007
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Find old user accounts across your network
I was doing some house cleaning on one of my systems and I noticed a few test accounts that had been sitting around for over a year. I don't like having dormant accounts laying around since it creates a higher possibility that someone could use them to get in.
I wanted an easy way to list all accounts that have not been accessed within the last 60 days...on every computer on my network.
To start out I wrote a script that would output a list of dormant accounts on a single remote computer.
Here is my first crack at it:
'Minimum age of account we want to report (In Days)
iDays = 60
Sub ReportUnusedAccounts(sComputer)
'Get a connection to the remote computer
Set poComputer = GetObject("WinNT://" & sComputer)
'Used as a flag to see if we could see any accounts on the remote computer
bFoundAccount=FALSE
'Loop through each account and see how old it is
For Each poItem in poComputer
if poItem.Class="User" then
'Update our counter so we know we found at least one account
bFoundAccount=TRUE
'Get the number of days since the last login
iDuration=DateDiff("D",poItem.LastLogin,Date)
'If greater than our trigger, then report
if (iDuration > iDays) then
sOutput = sOutput & sComputer & ", '" & poItem.Name & "', '" & poItem.LastLogin & "','" & iDuration & "'" & vbLF
end if
end if
next
'If we saw no accounts, then we had a problem connecting
if (bFoundAccount=FALSE) then
Wscript.Echo sComputer & ", 'Could not connect, or access denied'"
else
WScript.Echo (sOutput)
end if
end sub
When I call the function in the script, it comes back with a comma delimited list of accounts that have not been accessed for more than 60 days.
I needed to do this for every computer on my domain. So I added a script that would query the domain for a list of computers, and execute the above function on each one:
'Make sure we got our argument from the command line
if (WScript.Arguments.Count=0) then
Wscript.Echo "***************************************"
WScript.Echo "* IntelliAdmin, LLC *"
Wscript.Echo "* http://www.intelliadmin.com *"
WScript.Echo "* (Unused Accounts Reporter) *"
WScript.Echo "***************************************"
WSCript.Echo "Missing Arguments. Usage shown below: "
Wscript.Echo "UnusedAccounts.vbs "
else
'Get domain object so we can query a list of computers
Set DomObj = GetObject("WinNT://" & WScript.Arguments(0) )
'Filter only computer objects
DomObj.Filter = Array("computer")
'Loop through all computers and execute our ReportUnusedAccounts sub
For Each sComputer In DomObj
ReportUnusedAccounts sComputer.Name
Next
end if
Now I can call the script (With my domain as the only argument) and it will cycle through all computers on the network. It reports the unused accounts in a nice CSV format:
(Note: It can take up to 90 seconds for it to fail on a computer that is not available. This means the report can take some time to generate)
Execute the script like this from the command line to output it to a CSV file:
cscript.exe //nologo UnusedAccounts.vbs >> UnusedAccounts.csv
Then you could simply open the UnusedAccounts.CSV with Microsoft Excel and sort it the way you pleased.
Download the script from here
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Wednesday, November 28, 2007
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Final version of FastCGI released for IIS 6
Microsoft announced last week that the final version of FastCGI has been released. FastCGI is an extension to IIS that can vastly improve the performance of CGI based applications like PHP.
Here are a few links that will get you started:
Download the FastCGI for IIS 6.0 on Windows Server 2003
FastCGI Configuration guide
The great part - FastCGI is an open standard, and is supported by a ton of webservers. More information can be found here:
http://www.fastcgi.com
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, November 27, 2007
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Symantec releases software for smart phones
Last week Symantec revealed software that provides a firewall, blocks spam, and protects against viruses for smart phones.
Named Norton Smartphone Security, it combines Norton AntiVirus technology, a firewall, and anti-spam for messages sent via SMS.
The software is compatible with smart phones that run Windows Mobile, and Symbian operating systems. The anti-virus feature can detect mobile viruses, and prevent users from accessing infected files. The firewall inspects all incoming and outgoing network traffic.
Similar to their desktop products, the software will run in the background and will allow users to perform all of their normal functions.
It costs about $30, and can be purchased from their online store.
I have not had a chance to try it yet...hoping it does not slow down my phone like their desktop products do. I have heard that McAfee has just released something similar. When I get a chance I will test them both and report back here
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Sunday, November 25, 2007
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Test Drive Vista without installing it.
VMWare for OSX Update Released
VMware announced on Monday (11-12-07) the release of VMware Fusion 1.1. It is a new update to its virtualization software for Intel-based Macs. If you are not familiar with it, the software allows you to run other operating systems in a window under Mac OSX.
This is a free update for all current customers, and there is even a trial you can download.
I have been using VMWare Fusion 1.0 since its release on my modest Apple MacBook. And if you have been following blog, you know that is all I use to do my development. It runs Windows XP quite well in a virtual session.
The new release has made a great product even better. Here is a list of updates:
* Support for Mac OS X Leopard.
* Improved 3D graphics with experimental support for DirectX 9.0.
* Improvements to VMware Fusion’s Unity feature.
* Support for Microsoft Vista Boot Camp partitions as virtual machines.
* Support for French, German, and Japanese-speaking customers.
* Overall performance improvements.
One of the most pimped out features (Yes I reserve those words for only a few things I really like) is unity. Unity allows you to run Windows applications seamlessly along side your Mac applications. If you look at the shot below, you can see Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, and a command prompt running on my Mac Desktop. This feature alone makes it worth the $79.
In this release, it seems snappier, and the unity feature works much better than before. All in all I think it is a great release.
If you have a Mac, and need to work with Windows, I suggest giving it a spin.
For more info go to the product website.
And no, I don't get anything from VMWare for this. I simply think it is a great product.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Thursday, November 15, 2007
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Windows 2008 Server Versions Announced
The different versions of Windows 2008 were revealed yesterday by Microsoft. They are very similar to the 2003 server editions.
Here are the details:
Windows Server 2008 is available in eight versions, three of which include *Hyper-V:
•Windows Server 2008 Standard. This version has built-in, enhanced Web and virtualization capabilities, powerful tools that give customers greater control over their servers and streamline configuration and management tasks, and enhanced security features that work to harden the operating system to help protect their data and network and provide a solid, highly-dependable foundation for businesses. With Windows Server 2008 Standard edition, customers get one virtual instance per license.
•Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. It has the same features as Windows Server 2008 Standard, but with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise edition, customers get four virtual instances per license.
•Windows Server 2008 Datacenter. It delivers an enterprise-class platform for deploying business-critical applications. It helps customers improve availability and security features, and reduce infrastructure costs, by consolidating applications with virtualization licensing rights. And with Windows Server 2008 Datacenter edition, customers receive unlimited virtual instances per license.
Two versions offered without Hyper-V are targeted at specific workloads:
•Windows Web Server 2008. Designed to be used as a single-purpose Web server, Windows Web Server 2008 delivers a rock-solid foundation of Web infrastructure capabilities in the next-generation Windows Server 2008. Integrated with the newly re-architected Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, ASP.NET, and the Microsoft .NET Framework, Windows Web Server 2008 helps enable any organization rapidly deploy Web pages, Web sites, Web applications and Web services.
•Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems. It is optimized for large databases, and line-of-business and custom applications, providing high availability and scalability up to 64 processors to meet the needs of the most demanding and mission-critical solutions. Support for Itanium-based systems will now be offered through the new Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems edition, targeted at customers using the Intel Itanium platform and designed for these specific workloads.
*If you don't know it already Hyper-V is virtualization technology that MS is building into 2008. More info can be found here
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, November 13, 2007
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Open command prompt in any folder
Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Webcast(s)
As the beta cycle for 2008 is winding down, Microsoft will be having a few webcasts that talk about the new features built into Windows 2008 Terminal Services.
I have put together a list. If you can't make the live webcast, Microsoft will be archiving them:
TechNet Webcast: The Significance of the Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Release to Market
Thursday, November 8, 2007
8:00 A.M.–9:30 A.M. Pacific Time
TechNet Webcast: Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Session Broker
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
1:00 P.M.–2:30 P.M. Pacific Time
TechNet Webcast: Deploying Remote Programs with Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
8:00 A.M.–9:30 A.M. Pacific Time
TechNet Webcast: Remote Desktop Protocol as a Presentation Remoting Platform
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
1:00 P.M.–2:30 P.M. Pacific Time
TechNet Webcast: Terminal Services Easy Print
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
11:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Sunday, November 11, 2007
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Lock your computer with a double click
Many times I need to run away from my computer quickly...but I do not want to leave my computer unlocked.
So, yes, I am extremely lazy, well clumsy too. A few times when I am in a rush to CTRL-ALT-DEL I have knocked an entire bottle of water on to my keyboard.
I know that windows has a shortcut for locking the computer. It shows up on the start menu when you remote desktop into a Windows XP machine. See the Windows Security Icon - That locks it.
Did some Google searching, and yes it is easy to create your own.
Right click on the desktop and Click on New, then Shortcut.
For the location, type this:
%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe user32.dll LockWorkStation
Click next, then give it a descriptive name like "Lock Workstation" and then click finish.
Now you have an icon to lock your computer on your desktop. You can do it without lifting two fingers (You still need one :) )
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Thursday, November 08, 2007
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Free Kiosk Utility for Windows
Microsoft has just released Windows SteadyState. It is a free program that allows you to lock down a Windows installation, and make it suitable for use in a public environment.
It is actually a major upgrade (So major they renamed it) from an older tool called the Microsoft® Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP.
A few features that make it much more attractive than the older version:
-You don't need to repartition your hard drive to take advantage of the hard drive protection features
-User settings have been simplified to a high, medium, and low setting for each account.
-It enables you to import and export user accounts from one computer to another
-It includes a fully-revised Windows SteadyState Handbook
I decided to take it for a quick test drive, and one of the most compelling features is the hard drive protection.
This is great. Even if a script kiddy takes over my kiosk and vandalizes the thing, I can set it to refresh back to my original configuration after a reboot.
Another nice feature is the ability to hide the administrator account from the welcome screen
All in all, this program is packed with features, and provides a level of functionality I had only seen previously in expensive third party products.
Best of all, it is free. Download from Microsoft
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Wednesday, November 07, 2007
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Update Vista System Support Information
I was using a friend's system and I noticed that the system properties window had a logo, and contact information for the local computer shop.
I knew right away there was no way they (The local store) had purchased any special version of Vista to do this, so I looked it up.
You can set a logo, and other custom information in the system information page by creating this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation
You then create the following string values under it:
Logo - Full path to logo bitmap. Should be 120x120 pixels
Manufacturer - Name of the OEM system builder (Your company)
SupportHours - Your support hours
SupportPhone - Your support phone number
SupportURL - Your support website address
I updated it with a test logo, and my company info...and after a reboot:
While I was at it, I threw together an application that will do it all for you. I call it Vista System Builder Information 1.0. It takes care of the image too. When you apply the changes it will drop it into the c:\windows\ folder.
If you are in the business of building white box PCs, this is a nice way of adding that final touch to your build.
Here is the download link:
http://www.intelliadmin.com/VistaSystemBuilder.exe
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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HP to sell the first Windows Home Server systems
HP has said that it is taking pre-orders on Monday for its MediaSmart server. This is the first manufacturer to offer the new Windows Home Server operating system.
MediaSmart will be shiped later this month. It is priced at US$599 with 500GB of storage, or $749 with a terabyte of disk space.
A few months back I wrote 3 articles (Part1, Part2, Part3) about the beta version of this operating system.
I have not had a chance to write about it since then, but it is even better than before, and Microsoft has done a great deed by what they left out - more than what they put into it.
It does exactly what it is supposed to do...without much more....making it a very robust server operating system for your home.
One of the coolest features is the ability to add storage space with very little interaction. Add a new drive, and within a few moments it is added to your core space you use to store your movies, data, music, and photos.
HP had delayed the release of this product earlier in the year. Word is that they were having issues with automatic router configuration and accessing the machine remotely.
Fujitsu and a few other vendors say they will be releasing their own Windows Home server sometime next year.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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IE Parental Controls - How to remove them
I don't know if it is a bug in IE, or if my Nephews are playing a game with me. Suddenly over the weekend I started to get prompted for the parental controls password
Hmm. I do not know the password...since I never set one. If I try to turn it off or modify it by going into Internet Explorer settings...
Quick search of the net and I discover that you can simply browse to this key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
See the key that says Ratings?
When I deleted it I was able to get back into IE again.
Now I can browse to any site I want, without being asked for a password.
Update: Just got a note from a reader:
Steve,
Um...you just told my kids how to get around the parental controls. Thanks!
David
David - Actually not. If you only allow your kids to have a non administrator account they cannot access the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key in the registry.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Sunday, November 04, 2007
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Autocorrect no longer working in Outlook 2003
I was using Outlook 2003 over the last few weeks, and I started to notice that my terrible spelling and typos were getting past me.
It seems that the auto-correct feature was simply not working
After thinking about it I realized that I had installed Service pack 3 for office recently...so I did a search of the MS KB.
The solution is simple. Click on tools, then options, then move over to the mail format tab. Check the box that says "Use Microsoft Office Word 2003 to edit e-mail messages"
After that, the auto-correct feature started working properly again.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Friday, November 02, 2007
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Show system Info on your desktop
I was browsing through the utilities at www.sysinternals.com, and I came across this neat little utility: BGInfo.exe
What does it do? It writes a bunch of current system stats such as memory, CPU, IP address, hostname, etc to the desktop bitmap.
This can be a huge time saver when you are working on lots of servers during the day. Many times they all start looking the same, with KVMs and Remote Desktop you can easily forget what system you are on.
Instead of the need to drop to a command line or open the control panel - you can see what system you are working on with a quick glance.
The program does not run in the background. It simply re-creates the current desktop image with the current system settings.
When you launch it, you are shown a screen that lets you modify how the settings are displayed.
Once you get it the way you want, save it. Then you can have it update each time you login by adding this to a startup script:
bginfo.exe /silent /timer:0
That tells it to re-write the desktop without any prompts.
Bonus Feature: You can tell it to display on the Remote Desktop logon window, and the console login window. If you click on the Desktop button in the settings, you will be able to tell it to write to these:
I don't recommend it if the machines are not in a secure environment. Why? Because it gives away info about the system without any login credentials. With that said it can be great if you have many machines buried behind a firewall and need to know which one you are on right away.
To make it more clear, if I have the Remote Desktop feature turned on, I can see info about the system before I even login:
The same is true for the console logon screen option
This tiny program is loaded with features. I have only touched the surface of what it can do. Check out its home page at Microsoft for more info.
Posted By: Steve Wiseman on Thursday, November 01, 2007
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