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I searched for quite some time trying to figure out how to remove items from the list - until finally I discovered the obvious.

To remove an item from auto-complete simply select the address with the cursor keys, and press the delete key. Poof the entry is gone.

ZoneAlarm Pro is an antispyware, firewall, and ID protection suite that normally costs $39.95.

At 6 AM PDT, Tuesday morning this page:

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/sum/index.html

Will become live and provide instructions for downloading your free copy.

In addition, they will be offering a 50% discount on their airport friendly laptop bag.

On Thrusday, AVG announced: “As a follow-up to the rapid distribution of recovery instructions and repair CDs, AVG Technologies is offering all affected users a free license or license extension”

The free subscription would cover AVG 8.0, a free upgrade from 7.5, and also a free upgrade from the free version.

Now the interesting part is AVG has said that not all users would receive the free upgrade - only affected users.

No word yet as to how they can tell if you have been “affected” by the issue. The company said it will notify customers that were affected by the problem starting on November 24th, and let them know how to receive an upgrade.

This makes me ask a few questions. First, how can they determine which customers are affected. Secondly how can they tie that to contact information?

According to a Windows 2008 server blog:

WoW64 support for 32bit applications is now an optional feature in Server Core R2 and is not installed by default. This enables you to further reduce the footprint of Server Core if you remove it from the image. I’m interested in hearing feedback on our decision to not install this by default – is this a good idea, or will you always need to install this because you have 32bit code you need to run?

Hmm. This is a post referring to the Core version of Server 2008, but still it is an interesting development that you can totally turn off 32 bit support. The disturbing part from a compatibility standpoint is that it is not installed by default. Even our 64 bit compatible remote control has some elements that are 32 bit only. With no way to port these to 64 bit it immediately would render our products, and many others useless - at least until the customer added 32 bit support again.

I would hope that Microsoft would wait until R3, or Windows 8 to default to 64 bit only. Otherwise we will quickly need to update our Agent Settings application :/

We can attest to that from our own informal sampling here. For a long time we would only get requests to create BlackBerry compatible applications. These days it is about 50/50 with the iPhone and BlackBerry.

The new interfaces sports a few unique features that may please iPhone haters. The screen actually indents when you press it - so when you type on the visual keyboard it actually feels like you are pressing buttons. It also has excellent integration with Microsoft Exchange - something the iPhone has, but it is still far from what it should be.

Still, the look is missing that something special that the iPhone has:

And it is lacking in specifications. The stock $199 model (That Verizon will subsidize) Comes with only a 1GB memory card. In contrast the $199 iPhone comes with 8GB.

Still I think in the corporate environment the BlackBerry will win over for now - it has some of the best tools for controlling and monitoring use.

We are starting to toy around with a few test apps on the iPhone here…maybe we will get one of these also and see what type of apps we can come up with

The disturbing part is that Microsoft knew about this flaw as far back as 2001. According to Microsoft, they held back on releasing a fix because it would immediately break many applications that require SMB signing. For example, on the MSRC blog, a Microsoft employee states:

…the impact would have been to render many (or nearly all) customers network-based applications then inoperable. For instance, an Outlook 2000 client wouldnt have been able to communicate with an Exchange 2000 server. We did say that customers who were concerned about this issue could use SMB signing as an effective mitigation…

I could buy that. IF IT ONLY AFFECTED WINDOWS XP. But the bug in question also affects Vista, 2008, and 64 bit releases. Many applications were simply broken with the release of Vista. Why not just allow them to break and keep them secure? And why does it take 7 years to figure out this application compatible work around?

In our remote programs, like remote reboot, or remote desktop enabler, we need to use 4 different methods to authenticate via SMB with a remote host…to cover all of the versions of Windows. Now I can understand why this is the case! Because the SMB server in windows is a spaghetti code mess that probably has 10 more security holes the hackers already know about, Microsoft knows about, but still has not found a fix for them yet!

Sorry for the rant, but if you do have an internet facing machine I suggest disabling file and printer sharing, and make double sure these ports are firewalled.

From Parallels, here is a list of new features:

Redesigned User Interface - provides quick access to all virtual machines. Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac also improves upon earlier iterations by introducing support for video boosters such as DirectX 9, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0, and OpenGL 2.0.

Security and backup - A complete set of antivirus, firewall, scanner, recovery, filtering and identity protection capabilities powered by Kaspersky Internet Security. Even better, the new platform now embraces the latest backup and restore capabilities from disk-management software provider Acronis.

I am downloading a trial right now to take it for a spin…here is the download location for those who are interested:

http://www.parallels.com/download/

Since this is a critical windows component, it has caused many machines not to boot. Two of our XP machines experienced the issue here, but it has not seemed to have bothered our Vista installs.

This happened because their scanner contained an incorrect virus signature that led it to think that user32.dll contained the Trojan Horse PSW.Banker4.APSA. AVG then prompted to delete the file (Heal). Luckily we did not do that

If you are running AVG, and you deleted the file, you will need to run system recovery or boot from a CD like BartsPE and restore it from c:\windows\system32\dllcache

Within a few hours AVG updated their signatures, and it no longer has the incorrect entry.

One of the more interesting things I found in the Windows 2008 R2 reviewer’s guide is some new features in Remote Desktop:

• Multimedia Redirection: Provides high-quality multimedia by redirecting multimedia files and streams so that audio and video content is sent in its original format from the server to the client and rendered using the client’s local media playback capabilities.

• Task Scheduler: This adds the ability in Task Scheduler to ensure that scheduled applications never appear to users connecting with RemoteApp. This reduces user confusion.

Those are some nice updates, but the most interesting feature described in this document is the new RemoteApp and Desktop Web access.

It promises to:

“ensure a consistent list of applications is available to the user at all times, no matter the desktop OS used. The default web page provides a fresh and inviting look and feel and includes a new Web-based login with integrated single sign-on.”

Hmm. No matter what OS is used. This little line of text means a lot to me. Currently the web based login is just a glorified link to the RDP client. It has a page with an embedded ActiveX control. If what they say is true, and any operating system is supported, it means they have designed a web-friendly way to connect to a machine - without using ActiveX.

This will be one of the first things I check out when I get my hands on a copy of 2008 R2.

If Windows Vista is the Windows ME of the new millennium, then Windows 7 should be the Windows XP. If you have ever used Windows ME you will know what I mean. I have done some research to find out what the 5 biggest features will be

1. Sensors - Windows 7 will have context-aware support through a new sensors API. For example, a location sensor can tell where your computer is, and applications that know about this can take advantage of this. My tin-foil hat is starting to spin on this one. Still sounds like a cool feature

2. Accelerators - These should really be called specialized shortcuts. Here is aan example of how accelerators work. Anywhere within Windows you can select text, or speak commands through a microphone, and windows will take action. A few that are built into IE 8 already would include: ‘Define with Encarta’, ‘Email with Live Mail’, and ‘Search with Live Search’.

3. HomeGroup Networking - This part of windows will do many of the same things that Network Magic does right now. Essentially it simplifies the process of setting up your home network.

4. Improved Explorer Windows Explorer will be updated with many new features. A resizeable search box, a simpler toolbar, and a new view style called content. The content view style is a preview mode for images and other things like PDF files, and word documents.

5. UAC Improvements - The favorite feature of Vista (Just kidding). Microsoft has totally reworked this to make it more customizable. Four different levels of UAC notification will be available:

1. Never Notify- The user is never notified when a program tries to install software, or make changes to the computer.

2. Only notify me when programs make changes - The user is not notified when software is installed, only when programs try to make changes to the computer and windows settings.

3. Always notify - The user is prompted when a programs try to install software or make changes to the computer.

4. Always notify me and wait for response - The user is notified when a program tries to install software, or make changes to the computer, and Windows will wait for the response.

All of these are a welcome change. I can’t wait to get my hands on the first public beta.

We appreciate all of the hard work our Beta testers have done for us.

Here is a link to the trial:

http://www.intelliadmin.com/setupex.exe

Screen Shots:

http://www.intelliadmin.com/RemoteControl3_ScreenShots.htm

All current customers should receive an email sometime on October 31st (Today). If you do not get your email…drop us a line at support@intelliadmin.com and we will take care of you.

I wanted to find a way of simply entering a new serial number after the fact.

I researched to see if there was a way to update it without the reinstall…and it turns out it is actually not too hard.

You simply need to drill down to this registry key (As always backup your registry before messing with it):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0
\Registration\{90120000-0030-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}

If you see more than one GUID, and it does not match the one above…Look through each until you find one with the ProductName of Microsoft Office 2007

Once you find the appropriate registry key look for the two values ProductID, and DigitalProductID? Delete these.

Now run launch any office application, and you will be prompted for the new serial number.

Now you can update the serial without waiting through a re-install.

There are few details on why it is releasing the patch, but a little research shows that it is a flaw in SMB - Windows File Sharing. The update will be released at 10 A.M. Pacific time, as announced on the Microsoft Security blog.

If you take a peek over at the National Vulnerability Database, we can see this article Here is the overview:

Buffer underflow in Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 and SP3, Server 2003 SP1 and SP2, Vista Gold and SP1, and Server 2008 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a Server Message Block (SMB) request that contains a filename with a crafted length, aka “SMB Buffer Underflow Vulnerability.”

This means this vulnerability could be exploited to create a worm. Further it means if one PC gets infected on your network, then quickly all of them will.

After doing some more research it seems there is already an exploit in the wild - it is set to “go off” during the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states.

This is a very serious vulnerability and I suggest making sure your computers are updated with the patch as soon as possible.

-256 bit AES encryption

-Request Access before connecting

-Support for Vista, 2008 and 64 bit windows

-Support for third party VNC clients like RealVNC, UltraVNC, and TightVNC.

To Get the download, simply use this form to get into the beta site:

http://www.intelliadmin.com/beta/signup.asp

The VNC support is a “clean-room” implementation of the RFB protocol. This means we took the public information about VNC provided by this document.

We carefully designed it with security, performance, and modern operating system support in mind. Since we built ours from scratch our remote control will be unlike many other VNC compatible servers - it won’t have the same quirks and bugs as RealVNC - We will just have our own quirks and bugs!

Here are a few screenshots:

A remote control session to a 2008 64 bit server:

The client settings and connect window:

The agent settings window:

This creates a problem for many of our tools and products. For example, our remote USB disabler cannot do its work without remotely writing the appropriate registry keys. Our Remote Control product cannot automatically install its agent without file and printer sharing. They all use this to do their magic. We are not the only ones - psexec from SysInternals needs file and printer sharing too.

There are hundreds if not thousands of tools used by IT administrators that require file and printer sharing enabled in the firewall.

If you have 10 computers it is an easy fix. You simply walk around to each of them and add an exception in the firewall. Simple. Done.

If you have 100s of computers spread across 3 states…you now have a much more difficult problem. You could write a script that executes at login. The trouble with this idea is that every user would need full administrator access to their own machine. This type of access is getting pretty rare these days, so I don’t even consider it an option.

The best method is group policy. I am going to walk you through it. My example uses Windows 2003 Server. Those of you with 2008 will find that it is almost exactly the same. If you have 2000 Server…well…you have your hands full anyway and shouldn’t even have time to read this article.

Start out by getting on your domain controller. Open “Active Directory Users and Computers”. You need to determine what group of machines your policy is going to be applied to. Some organizations will have computers under many different OUs.

To keep things simple I am going to change the group policy for the entire domain.

Right click on the domain name and go to properties:

This will bring up a properties window. You will want to move to the Group Policy tab, select the policy you want to edit (In our case it is the Default Domain Policy) and press the edit button.

This is a computer policy (It will apply to computers…not specific users), so drill down to:

Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> Network Connections -> Windows Firewall

You will notice two sections under this area. A domain profile, and a standard profile. A machine will automatically determine which profile it should use by the type of network it is connected to. Directly from Microsoft, they are defined in this way:

* Domain profile The domain profile is the set of Windows Firewall settings that are needed when the computer is connected to the managed network. For example, the domain profile might contain settings for excepted traffic for the applications and services needed by a managed computer in an enterprise network.

* Standard profile The standard profile is the set of Windows Firewall settings that are needed when the computer is connected to another network. A good example is when an organization laptop computer is taken on the road and connects to the Internet using a public broadband or wireless Internet service provider. Because the organization laptop computer is directly connected to the Internet, the standard profile should contain more restrictive settings than the domain profile.

So generally speaking, I suggest only making these changes to the Domain Profile. You don’t want your sales guys hooking up to a hotel network with their file and printer sharing fully accessible.

Selecting the domain profile, and looking on the right we see what we need - “Windows Firewall: Allow file and printer sharing exception”

There are two items you need to set. First check the radio button to enabled, and then below you need to fill out a filter value. This tells the group policy what computers are allowed to connect to the machine. For our example I will put *

This value allows any computer to connect. Click OK, and allow some time to pass (15 to 30 minutes). Then your computers will pick up the new policy. If you are impatient you can go to the command line on the server and your test machine. Type: GPUPDATE /force

If I hop on one of my Vista machines we can see that it has accepted the policy:

Perfect. Now I can terrorize my programmers by rebooting all of their machines at the same time using Network Administrator

It has a cool new setup wizard, and agent settings application. Here are a few screen shots:

Settings Form:

Setup Wizard:

More screenshots can be found Here

Download it from here

I happened to be working from a Vista Ultimate machine. So I went over to one of our XP Pro installs - it worked fine. The more testing I did, I realized it only happened with machines that were Windows 2000

Immediately I remembered that there were different levels of NTLM authentication, I thought that Vista might be enforcing a higher level through security policy.

On my Vista machine I opened the local policy editor (You can find this under administrative tools in the control panel).

Drilled down to Local Policies -> Security Options

Looking at:

Network Security: LAN Manager authentication level

I see that it only will allow NTLMv2 responses. Since I know that my physical network is protected, and I know all of the machines running on it I changed it to this:

Now I can connect to the admin$ share…and any other share on Windows 2000 computers.

This tip comes with a warning. Obviously dropping this down makes your Vista install less secure. If you think it is possible that you could have a rogue SMB server (A specially crafted windows share) on your network, I suggest not changing this. setting.

It has a cool new setup wizard, and agent settings application. Here are a few screen shots:

Settings Form:

Setup Wizard:

More screenshots can be found Here

Download it from here

If you want to take it for a spin email us at support@intelliadmin.com and put beta in the subject…if you already sent us a mail and have not gotten your invitation…then please send it again. We are getting a large number of requests, and since we are silly enough to do them by hand…some get lost

A few features:

1. It supports Windows Vista, 2008, 2000, XP, 2003, 32 and 64 bit versions

2. It allows you to request access before connecting to a machine

3. It works over the internet now…and only one TCP port is needed.

4. Supports active directory user accounts, and local user accounts - currently only allows users in the “Administrators” group to access the machine

5. Uses 256 Bit AES encryption with Diffie-Hillman key exchange to keep your credentials safe

Join the beta soon. We will be closing it as we get to our final release date of October 31st. Thanks again beta testers!

Many of you have signed up for the beta, and your input has been tremendously helpful. It has been almost a month since we posted a beta for download, and this was because we needed to re-write a major section of the agent to get the performance we were looking for. I will tell you right now…it was worth the trouble.

This one particular Vista machine would show about 15% constant CPU time…and sluggish response on the remote side. After our changes:

Yep. Zero. Now…this is a decent system. Our old laptop from 1999 with Windows XP…still shows about 8%, but still very snappy.

This means we can start moving forward. We have overshot our original release date by many months, so this means to get a final version out soon we will need to cut back on proposed features.

Next Wednesday, October 1st, we will be releasing a major beta. It will be near a production level release. It will have all of the current features of 2.8, plus:

-It will be Vista, 2008, and x64 Compatible

-Users will have the ability to show a “An Administrator is connected” window at all times

-Users will be able to request for permission before connecting

I know some of you will be disappointed that many of the features shown before will not make it into this release - not to worry. Part of our team will still be moving forward at full pace to get those finished. In the meantime we can get a 3.0 out soon that will allow customers to connect to their 2008, and Vista machines.

If you are not a member of the beta program, or we missed your last request to be a member (Sorry)…send an email to support@intelliadmin.com and just put beta in the subject.

It does not require an install. You simple download the main application from here

This simple download will create a boot floppy, or an ISO image that you can burn to a CD.

When the program boots it will immediately begin scanning your memory. The default is standard mode, which includes six different tests. Each uses a different algorithm to scan for different types of problems and errors. It will show its progress as it is completing each test. (Notice I have highlighted the test count in the screenshot)

Alternatively you can use the extended mode, which runs 11 different tests. After each test completes it will show you a success or failed message - if a test fails it will give you detailed information about what the issue was.

It will continue to loop through all of the tests until you exit the program.

The only limitation to the software is that it cannot scan more than 4 GB of RAM.

It is the perfect tool when building your own systems. I usually run it for 24 hours after putting a box together.