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Quick Launch bar in Windows 7
edited by on September 28th 2011, at 16:59
Since Windows 7, the Quick Launch bar has been removed from the taskbar, and the pinning of applications has been introduced as a replacement. Not everyone likes this new feature, or perhaps you want to have the old Quick Launch bar back anyway. Well, it can be restored, albeit with a bit of a workaround.

The Quick Launch bar in earlier versions of Windows in fact nothing more than a folder containing shortcuts. With this in mind, it's in fact quite easy to add the Quick Launch bar, in this case as a regular folder.

First, unlock the taskbar. You need this to move over the Quick Launch bar once it's added, and to access its settings to actually make the toolbar look like the old Quick Laun  ...
 
Use diskpart to extend NTFS partitions in Windows 2003
edited by on September 28th 2011, at 12:48
When running virtual Windows 2003 systems (e.g. in VMware), it's sometimes necessary to increase the size of the disks to add more storage to your machine. Starting from Windows 2008, you can perform an online increase of NTFS partitions using Storage Manager. In Windows 2003, it's also possible to perform an online extend by using diskpart from the command line.

First, make sure to extend the physical volume (e.g. by increasing the virtual disk size in VMware). Then open a command prompt and run diskpart without parameters.

To extend, you have to select the physical disk and volume. To know what to select, you can view the available disks and volumes.

List and select the physical disk:

  ...
 
Postfix: block SMTP access by IP
edited by on September 28th 2011, at 12:23
If you wish to restrict SMTP access via IP addresses or a network range, one way to do it would be via Postfix configuration. You can set up restrictions using a Postfix hash-table or via a cidr file. You can choose one or both methods to perform the restrictions. The end-result will be the same.

Create a text file with the addresses you would like to reject. You can choose whatever file name you wish. E.g.: /etc/postfix/smtp_client_access

Its content should be something like:

192.168.0.1 REJECT Stop mailing us192.168.0.2 REJECT Stop mailing us192.168.1 REJECT Stop mailing us

Next, postmap it by running:

postmap /etc/postfix/smtp_client_access

Then add/edit this in your main.cf:

smtpd  ...
 
Disable IP autoconfiguration (APIPA) in Windows
edited by on September 28th 2011, at 10:56
IP autoconfiguration (also known as APIPA) configures a network interface with an IP address if no fixed IP has been specified, and there's no DHCP server on the network. In this case, an automatic IP will be assigned out of a private range (usually 169.254.x.x). APIPA exists on all Windows version (safe Windows NT).

In case you wish to disable APIPA on a certain interface, you can use the Windows registry to do this. By default, APIPA is enabled on all interfaces, unless it is explicitly disabled.

Fire up regedit. Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\adapter clsid, where adapter clsid is the ID of your adapter. If you only h  ...
 
Show desktop and Window switcher in Windows 7
edited by on September 24th 2011, at 15:53

For those using the Quick Launch bar in Windows 7 and have "misplaced" their Show Desktop and Window Switcher icons, can download the shortcuts in the attached archive to replace them.

 
Public (guest) access to Synology shares
edited by on September 9th 2011, at 14:22

When running a Synology, take care when you require (or don't want) public (a.k.a. guest) access to shares.

To allow access, first check whether the guest account is not disabled. I found out it was disabled after joining the device in a Windows domain. Disabling the account is a good way to effectively cut off all public access.

If you require guest access on some shares but not on all, be sure to set the ACL for Guest in Privileges Setup to No Access for shares that have to be locked down. Not explicitly setting this will allow public access on that share.

 
Running WordPerfect 9 on Terminal Server
edited by on September 8th 2011, at 14:03

If you're planning on running WordPerfect 9 on a Terminal Server, be sure to provide full access for your users on the registry key HKLM\Software\COREL (64-bit: HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\COREL).

This fixes the Cannot initialize error when starting WP as a regular user.

 
Burning an install DVD of Mac OS X Lion
edited by on September 2nd 2011, at 13:01
Apple has decided that the latest release of their OS, Mac OS X Lion (10.7), is no longer available as an install media. New systems have a recovery partition (called a Recovery HD) with the installation files, and those with earlier versions of the OS (Leopard and Snow Leopard) have to buy it via the App Store as a download.

The last scenario is in fact a hassle if you ever want to reinstall your Mac: prior to installing Lion, you have to install Snow Leopard, then all the updates, before finally downloading Lion. It would be so much easier if one could just install Lion from scratch.

Luckily, there's a way to create an install DVD yourself very easily: the install image is available insi  ...
 
Manually configure Exchange Online in Outlook
edited by on September 2nd 2011, at 12:49
If you are not able to configure Outlook using the Microsoft Online Sign-in Tool for some reason, there's a way to do it manually.

For this to work, you need the following:

a working internet connection (duh);

your username and password;

your storage location (usually closest to your HQ).

First off, we need the mailbox store server. To find this, you have to log in to Outlook Web Access. Your ICT department should already have given you information on how to do this. If not, use one of the following urls, depending on your location:

Asia Pacific (APAC): https://red003.mail.apac.microsoftonline.com/owa

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): https://red002.mail.emea.microsoftonline  ...
 
Slow acquiring GPS fix on Samsung GT-i5801
edited by on August 31st 2011, at 17:20

Try downloading octy's GPSopt application. It's available free of charge at Google Market.

It resolves the slow signal acquisition of the Samsung's GT-i5801 (perhaps on other phones as well). I use it together with GPSstatus (also available at Google Market) and no longer have GPS signal issues.

 
Recreate missing Show Desktop icon
edited by on August 30th 2011, at 12:13

If the Show Desktop icon is deleted from Quick Launch, the procedure below will recreate the file.

Open Notepad and enter the following text:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the new file as Show Desktop.scf (note the SCF extension) then drag and drop the icon on the Quick Launch bar or whatever location you want the shortcut to appear.

 
Enabling Windows Auto-logon
edited by on August 25th 2011, at 13:42
It is possible to enable auto-logon for a computer running Windows, even if the account required is password-protected, or when it's a domain account.

To enable it, you need to set some things right in the registry:

Fire up regedit, and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.

Edit the entry DefaultUserName, and set it to the account you wish to log in with.

Edit the DefaultPassword, and set it to the password required to log in. If the value doesn't exist, create it (its datatype is REG_SZ).

Notice
If no DefaultPassword is specified, Windows automatically changes the value of AutoAdminLogon from 1 to 0, effec  ...
 
New type of rootkit infects NTFS
edited by on July 8th 2011, at 10:33

A new type of rootkit has recently been seen. While most modern rootkits use the MBR and unused sectors of a harddrive, this one also misuses NTFS metadata to inject malicious code into a running OS.

Full article: http://www.securelist.com/en/blog/517/Cybercriminals_switch_from_MBR_to_NTFS

 
Getting rid of IMAP namespaces in Thunderbird
edited by on July 5th 2011, at 13:16

By default, Thunderbird shows the namespaces of IMAP folders as a seperate folder containing the subfolders belonging to that namespace. An example of this is when you use Google Mail and have IMAP access configured.

An add-on exists for Thunderbird which gets rid of the namespace folder and sorts all subfolders in the root tree:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/flat-folder-tree/

This is particularly useful for Google Mail where the sent mail, trash and other system folders are stored in a namespace called [GMail]. This way, these folders are stored directly in the root of the tree rather than in a subfolder named after the namespace.

 
Office 365 vs. Google Apps
edited by on July 1st 2011, at 10:48

Interesting article about how the new Office365 may best Google Apps in being the new market leader in cloud applications.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/06/30/why-microsofts-office-365-will-clobber-google-apps/

 
Fix EXE file association
edited by on June 27th 2011, at 11:59

In case of an infection with phony anti-spyware software (such as Anti Spyware 2009), where the EXE file association has been corrupted, use these Registry fixes to reset them to default behaviour.

Notice
Be sure to select the right file for your system. XP, Vista and 7 all have different settings.

 

 
Creating PKCS12 files for OpenVPN
edited by on June 23rd 2011, at 17:37
Since version 2.0, OpenVPN has the ability to use PKCS12-files as TLS/SSL keys for accessing an OpenVPN server. The advantage of this is that you only have one key file containing the private and public key of the client and the CA certificate.

Creating such a certificate storage file can be done very easily when you already have the individual files, using OpenSSL.

openssl pkcs12 -export -in my-vpn.crt -inkey my-vpn.key -certfile my-ca.crt -out my-vpn.p12

Run the command above, matching the file names to the ones you have. Optionally, you can type in a password to secure the PKCS12 file.

Next, adjust your OpenVPN config: remove all the lines to your certificate and key files and add a s  ...
 
Gather IBM DSA info from an ESXi server
edited by on June 23rd 2011, at 16:29
It is possible to gather DSA data from an IBM server running ESXi without having to boot with a bootable CD or reboot the server at all.

From any machine, Windows or linux, you can run the latest release of the DSA tool, then reference the ESXi server using commandline parameters when running the DSA tool.

In order for this to work, you need to put the ESXi server in remote technical support mode. This is done via the ESXi console.

Once activated, download and run the latest tool on your favourite platform (for Windows, choose the Windows version, etc.). Rather than opening running it by simply launching the application, fire up a command prompt and launch it with parameters.

>ibm_utl  ...
 
Windows XP TCP/IP simultaneous connections patch
edited by on June 17th 2011, at 13:54

Found this tool on some obscure site (don't even know where anymore). It's the most easy-to-use patcher to remove the TCP/IP simultaneous connections limit in Windows XP.

I've uploaded it on my site because I can't find the download link anymore*.

* If anyone has a problem with me mirroring it here, contact me through regular channels.

 
Daily automated reboot for Windows
edited by on June 14th 2011, at 17:03

For a daily automated reboot, create a cmd-script with this content.

@echo off
shutdown -r -t 5 -f -c "daily reboot"

Add it as a task in task scheduler, set to daily, weekly, or whatever you want.

 
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