Rhyous

Hey all,

I recently noticed that their are more right-click options in Windows 7 when you hold down shift as your right-click.

You get different options based on the different items you right-click on, such as a folder, executable, etc…

I am not going to write a whole post, because I found this on another post.

http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/hidden-right-click-context-menu-options-windows-7/

Some things make me laugh.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9164038/Microsoft_Don_t_press_F1_key_in_Windows_XP
…Microsoft told Windows XP users today not to press the F1 key when prompted by a Web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE)…

How can a company the size of Microsoft not have the ability to provide a timely patch on a security vulnerability? I don’t see how a patch isn’t created within four hours on this.

I remember a vulnerability was found in FreeBSD (see this), which isn’t a company with thousands of developers but an open source project and the response differences are amazing.

You are letting your users down Microsoft. Step up for your customers. Fix it and fix it fast.

Windows 7 takes a long time to login, 50 seconds or more on my IBM T61.

I have seen that there is an issue if you are using a solid color blackground instead of an image, however, I am using an image.
http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/22147-slow-login-2.html

I guess I have to do more research on this.

Ok, so is anyone else frustrated that Microsoft fails to include certain executable tools that are standard on BSD and Linux? On my FreeBSD system, I don’t have to install anything special to telnet, or ssh, or check any type of hash (md5, sha1, sha256, etc…) and ump-teen other simple free features.

Especially the ability to check a hash, which is a key step to verify that a file was downloaded securely, and was not tampered with. In fact, it is a security risk that Microsoft doesn’t have these tools. We pay a lot of money for a Microsoft operating system and yet they fail to provide me with the tools I need to maintain security, tools that are ubiquitous and free. Also you wrote a tool for this already, were you just too thoughtless to include it in Windows 7? See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841290.

So here is what you have to do to get these tools added to your windows platform.

A quick search in Google led me to this download which will provide you with most the tools you need for comparing hashes or check sums.
http://www.nfllab.com/sums/sums611.zip

However, here is what I had before:

And if you want more tools that are ubiquitous to open source platforms but somehow Microsoft has excluded from their operating systems, check these out:

I hope this page helps you. I mostly wrote it for myself, so I could remember where I find this stuff again.

UPDATE: 3/5/2010
2.1.6 beta 6 addresses this issue, so please install this version and ignore the rest of the comments below.

Ok, so I am big support of ShrewSoft VPN Client and I am also a user of VMWare Workstation. However, I have found an incompatibility between the two.

I tell everyone here at work to use ShrewSoft VPN Client on their Windows 7 64 bit clients. However, they are all running VMWare as well. So I feel it is my responsibility to also inform them of this issue that was found by one of my coworkers.

PROBLEM
Well, a strange problem is seen on VMWare Guests running on a host with ShrewSoft VPN Client installed. No DNS requests are going out for the Guest. A DNS Request never leaves the host.

Troubleshooting
I seached the following term on the VMWare forums: DNS Bridged

The following VMWare Community discussion appeared:
DNS Name Resolution using a bridged network connection not working

Resolution
If you stop the ShrewSoft DNS Proxy Daemon, then the issue goes away.

Also, this is not really a reason to stop using ShrewSoft VPN. There is a post about Cisco’s VPN Client firewall causing the same issue.
Problems with networking using Workstation 7

Hello world,

I mostly use Windows 7 as a desktop but I often use FreeBSD with KDE, too.

I just submitted this wish to the KDE team.

Bug 221667 – Please make Keyboard shortcuts the same as those used by Microsoft Windows
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=221667

If you agree, please Login and vote for this bug. I so want to always use the same keyboard shortcuts no matter which platform I am installed on.

This probably is not just an enhancement request for KDE but for every GUI Operating System everywhere. In fact, let’s make a standard set of Keyboard Shortcuts and have every desktop-like software use the same exact keyboard shortcuts. Maybe someone who is a member could write and RFC and publish it, or does it need to be an IEEE standard?

Anyway…I try not to rant, but today it happened. Sorry.

Ok, so the Control Panel is annoying to me in Windows 7 (or Windows 2008 or Windows Vista). I want the big long list like I used to have. Also, I would like the Administrative tools and other features to be part of it. Turns out there is a way to do this.

1. Create a new folder. It doesn’t matter where.
2. Rename the folder this:
   

   GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

You now have a nice Control Panel with everything in a big long list.

If you want you can drag it to your Start bar or ping it to your Taskbar.

Ok, so God Mode isn’t exactly some way to have all power over the box. It is really just a pretty, one-window-list of links to the interfaces of different management features

Why does Firefox prompt for Domain (AD) Authentication? or How to get Firefox to automatically login to web sites with Domain Credentials (Sharepoint for example)?

Hey all,

I am sure you have been annoyed by the fact that when you use Firefox, the sites that require Domain credentials can popup and ask you to login. Sites like Sharepoint can ask you to log in over and over and over and over again. And then just when you are about as annoyed as you can be with typing your Domain user name and password, it prompts you some more.

For those of you who know, I work for LANDesk and we have server software and our Web Console uses NTLM authentication or Active Directory Domain credentials. You can log into the LDMS Web Console using Firefox using this method.

Well, this is really easy to make this “authentication prompt” go away. A quick search in your favorite search engine will resolve this (on a Windows box at least).

I found this site rather quickly:
http://www.1stbyte.com/2008/03/15/automatic-windows-authentication-with-firefox-networkautomatic-ntlm-authtrusted-uris/

Step 1 – Gather the lists of Sites that require domain authentication

1. Determine all the sites you go to at work that require domain or active directory credentials and put them in a text file.
   

   http://CompanyName-Sharepoint
   http://CompanyName-HelpDesk
   http://InternalServer1
   http://InternalServer2
   http://InternalServer3
   http://LDMSCore

2. Now format them like this:
   

   CompanyName-Sharepoint, CompanyName-HelpDesk, InternalServer1, InternalServer2, InternalServer3, LDMSCore

   Don’t worry if you don’t get them all, you can add new sites at any time.

   Note: Save this text file as you may want to do this again for someone else or you may want to do it again yourself computer gets rebuilt/upgraded.

Step 2 – Configure Firefox to Automatically Authenticate to these sites

1. Open Firefox.
2. Enter the following for the URL:
   about:config

3. When warned to be careful, click the “I’ll be careful, I promise” button.
4. In the Filter field, enter this value: network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris
   Note: If the value is not there, you can add it as a new string.

5. Right click on the value and choose Modify.
6. Enter your servers as we formatted them above:
   

   CompanyName-Sharepoint, CompanyName-HelpDesk, InternalServer1, InternalServer2, InternalServer3, LDMSCore

7. Click Ok.
8. You shouldn’t have to close and re-open firefox but some poeple like to do this anyway.

You should now be able to browse your sites without having to enter credentials.

You may be asking the question:

Where can I get Windows 7 or where can I buy a Windows 7 license key (32 bit or 64 bit)?

Don’t steal it or pirate someone else’s key. One of the main reasons I am into open source such as FreeBSD is not because I don’t like Microsoft, but because I like to obey the law and open source lets me obey the law. I do used Windows all the time. I like many Microsoft products, including Windows 7. Yes, it is a better desktop than anything open source has to offer yet. Yes, you should pay for it. And Yes, someday the likes of Ubuntu and PC-BSD will remove the need to pay for an Operating System. Operating Systems will become ubiquitous. We aren’t there yet, so bite the bullet and pay for a nice shiny legal DVD with a nice legal key.

Amazon has your Windows 7 DVD and Legal License Keys here:
Windows 7 – Single License Key

• Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit OEM 1pk
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Windows 7 – Multiple License Key

• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User)

Windows 7 – Upgrade License Key

• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
• Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

Stay Legal!

Please don’t post illegal locations or sketchy sites as those comments will be ignored/deleted.

Hey all,

No more release candidate only. ShrewSoft’s Windows 7 VPN Client (that works in 64 bit) was released Dec 5th.

Go here to download it:

http://www.shrew.net/download/vpn

Or just click this link.

http://www.shrew.net/download/vpn/vpn-client-2.1.5-release.exe

Thank you ShrewSoft for the work you do…

Ok, so I have another Windows 7 annoyance. (It is the same annoyance on Windows 2008 R2 SP2 Server too.) Again, I am not trying to bash Windows 7. For ever bad thing I post, there are numerous good things I don’t post. Yes, I am a FreeBSD guy (as if you couldn’t tell) but I am not anti-Mircrosoft as some Linux/Unix/BSD admins are. I am more like a car mechanic that wants a good tool for the job at the right price.

PROBLEM
Another Windows 7 annoyance: Right-click options for a folder when it is open from “Libraries”

How to duplicate
I am using TortoiseSVN (because I am a developer and must use a dev repository to commit my code because it is good practice) and it adds options to the right-click menu.

I have a folder under the Documents library that is called “New Folder”. The folder is open and empty, so I should be able to right-click anywhere there is blank space and get some right-click options.

With Tortoise SVN installed I should be able to right-click anywhere there is blank space in the folder and do an SVN Checkout but the option is not there as you can see in the image below:

So in order to get the option to show up, I have to go to the directory without using the “Libraries” interface. Or I can go up a level and right-click on the folder itself (as apposed to having the folder open and right-clicking in blank space). I really am going to be in the folder usually though and going up a directory is annoying. I can browse directly by clicking Computer, or go up a level and right-click on the folder and choose Open folder location and then go into the folder, and it works. Then the option shows up.

So if anyone knows how to fix this, let me know, I will be grateful. I have seen posts on how to remove “Libraries” altogether but I think they are a good idea and really this is the only part of them I don’t like. So I will keep them, I will just be annoyed until Microsoft fixes this or there is a new solution. Maybe Libraries get their right-click options elsewhere and installers will have to add plugins in two places…

oh…sysinternals will show me what happens when I right-click…Ok I am done complaining and am off to test this latest idea that I might be able to add the plugin elsewhere.

Just an update to all who are wondering about my previous post.
Windows 7 hangs when creating a new folder and hangs again when renaming it

I have done some troubleshooting, trying to Analyze what is causing the hang but I still don’t have the answer. I am very disillusioned with Windows 7 because of this problem.

My efforts to troubleshoot this have failed.

Troubleshooting

ACTION: Followed this article:
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2005/08/28/the-case-of-the-intermittent-and-annoying-explorer-hangs.aspx

RESULT: I have a nice capture of everything my machine was doing (39 MB but only 3.6 MB zipped) though I filter on explorer.exe in Process Monitor. It show that Explorer.exe hangs, but doesn’t tell me why. Maybe someone can tell what the problem is:
ftp://ftp.landesk.com/incoming/Explorer Hangs.zip
(link only good for about two weeks)

ACTION: Ran this command from an administrator command prompt:

RESULT: Nothing wrong

Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

ACTION PLAN

Try a clean boot.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Ok, so I have a legal XP OEM license on an Gateway T2692.

Note: I do NOT believe in doing anything illegal, so an requests for Keys will be ignored and your comment will be deleted.

Problems:

1. The motherboard died and I replaced it.
2. The restore CD was an image not the install files and it failed with a blue screen.
3. I don’t have an OEM XP CD.

So I read that I can easily convert an XP Retail disk to an XP OEM disk, so here it goes.

Step 1 – Modifying the Originally CD Files

1. Copy the XP HOME w/SP3 Retail disk contents to a folder.
2. Copythe i386\SETUPP.INI file to SETUPP.INI.RETAIL
3. Edit the i386\SETUPP.INI file.

   Change it from this: (SETUPP.INI for Retail Versions)

   [Pid]
   ExtraData=786F687170637175716954806365EF
   Pid=76477000
   

   To this: (SETUPP.INI for OEM Versions)

   [Pid]
   ExtraData=786F687170637175716954806365EF
   Pid=76477OEM
   

Here is a resource I used: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/08/16/how-to-change-windows-xp-version-between-retail-oem-and-volume-license-channel/

Note: Make sure you save your changes. You don’t won’t to burn the disk only to find you didn’t make the change and you still have a retail disk.

That should be enough to change the files of the CD into an OEM instead of a Retail disk.

Step 2 – Extract the boot sector

1. Download and extract a boot sector extraction tool such as: http://www.nu2.nu/bbie/
2. My drive was drive F:, so I ran bbie with the following syntax: (In Windows 7, I had to open the command prompt as administrator.)

   bbie.exe f:

3. Copy the image1.bin to the directory where you copied your XP CD files.

You now have the boot sector extracted.

Step 3 – Building and Burning the CD

1. You need burning software that will create a bootable XP CD. If you don’t have burning software, download and install http://cdburnerxp.se, which is what I am going to use, but Nero and other burning applications can do this as well.
2. Open your burning software and choose the option to create a new data disc.
3. Name your new disk this: GRTMHOEM_EN
4. From the CDBurnerXP menu, click on Disk | Boot options and configure your boot options as follows:
   Use the image1.bin file.
   Emulation Type = No Emulation (NT/2000/XP boot images)
   ISO Level = ISO9660:1999 (unrestricted)
   Load Segments = 7C0 (or 07C0, same thing)
   Loaded Sectors = 4
   Enable [Check] ISO version number extension
   Disable [Uncheck] Enforce level 1

5. Now from the folder where your disk files were extracted, drag all the files to the new data disk.

   Yes, I did follow this guide, so you have to give credit where credit is due: http://www.dtraylor.com/blog/?page_id=40

6. Make sure you have a blank CD in the drive.
7. Click Burn.
8. Select Let me choose Advanced Settings.
9. Choose Disk at once.
10. Click Burn Disk.

You now have a working XP Home w/SP3 OEM CD.

Step 4 – Testing the CD

1. Boot off the CD and run through the installer.
2. Enter the OEM product key when prompted.
3. If it works, you really have an OEM CD, if not you don’t.

I have to be honest, even though I knew the right settings I clicked one of them wrong the first time and made a coaster out of my CD. But I repeated my steps and the CD booted.

SWEET, MY OEM KEY WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

User context is very important. What works for a logged in user may not work for the LocalSystem account. If a process is running as LocalSystem, it is important to test that what you are doing will work when running as LocalSystem. Testing as the logged in user may give incorrect results as the logged in user may have different access rights and permissions.

There used to be many ways to do this, but now in Windows 7 those ways have been cut down.

Here are the two ways I know of that still work, however, only the first way I would recommend:

Method 1 – Using PsExec from Sysinternals

1. Download psexec from here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897553.aspx
2. Extract it.
3. Open a command prompt and change to the directory where you have psexec and run the following:

   psexec -i -s cmd.exe
   

Method 2 – Using an interactive service

1. Open a command prompt as administrator (right-click on the cmd.exe shortcut and choose Run as administrator) and run the following:

   sc create CMD binpath= "cmd /K start" type= own type= interact
   sc start "CMD"
   WARNING:  The service testsvc is configured as interactive whose support is being deprecated. The service may not function properly.
   

   A prompt may appear or it may only show down on the start bar and you have to click it to see it. It looks like this:

   

2. Click “View Message”.You are now at a local system command prompt.
3. When you are done, close the command prompt and click return.How to verify that the command prompt is running as Local System?

   1. Run Task Manager and make sure that the cmd.exe process is running as user SYSTEM.

   2. Run SET in your command prompt and make sure the username variable equal your computer name with a $ at the end. For example if you computer is named MyPC1, the username variable would be MyPC1$.

Ok, so I have another complaint about Windows 7 and Explorer.

I am sure my system is in a state based on my usage that leads to this bug because it doesn’t always happen.

I wonder if this problem has the same cause as this one:
Windows 7 hangs when creating a new folder and hangs again when renaming it

Problem

Files deleted in Explore sometimes don’t delete from explorer right away, though they do delete. It takes too long to update. It takes far too long to update. It takes abismally too long to update. (I consider anything over 1 second too long, anything over 2 seconds far too long, and anything over 10 seconds abismally too long.)

Time to update is sometimes as long as 45 seconds.

Steps to duplicate

Here is what I do:

1. Delete a file in a folder.
2. Wait 15 seconds or more and the file doesn’t show as deleted.
3. Delete the file again and it says it is already deleted.

Getting to the state where this occurs
Unknown but here is what I do

I have a T61p Laptop running Windows 7 64 bit.
I am joined to a Windows 2003 domain and often the domain controller is not available (like I said I have a laptop).

I use Remote Desktop.
I use network shares often.
I use Visual Studio often.
I use Outlook often.
I use Firefox and IE often.
I have Windows Live Messenger running all the time.
Sometimes I VPN into work.
I do all of the above while VPNed

Software with plugins to explorer include: TortoiseSVN and Notepad++ (could be something they are doing, but even if it is, why would microsoft allow code that calls a plugin to execute when deleting a file?)

Resolution
Unknown, but the problem comes and goes.

Conclusion
Microsoft didn’t not test Explorer in production environments very well or they would have seen this.
If they have seen this and haven’t fixed then that would make me more annoyed.