Archive for April, 2009
Can I Make My Own High Priority Folder Like My Documents?
Apr 16th
This morning we had a request for adding a “High Priority Folder”.
This would be a top level folder that shows up on your Windows desktop and in My Computer. Didn’t think you could do that? Well read on…
The folder we will be creating can not be removed – just like My Computer or My Documents. Easy accessibility for your most used folder.
You can assign the folder to be anywhere you have access to and use your own icon file for it. It will be the first view you see in any Open File box.
We found the step by step from PcTools talking about windows 2000. With a few slight mods we got it working on XP and it should work on Vista as well.
Now you can create your own custom system folder, like “My Documents”, that can not be deleted or renamed and place it on the desktop and My Computer. All you need to do is add a handful of registry entries. The last two steps add the shortcut to My Computer and The Desktop. You can do one or the other.
Editing the registry can be dangerous so be careful and make a backup before you begin!
- Create the following series of keys and values in the registry at [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID] or [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID]. The GUID, globally unique identifier, can be a random number, in this example “FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345″ is used. See this article for more GUID examples.
- Create a new key called [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}] and set (Default) to equal the name of the folder e.g. “My Folder”.
- Create a new sub-key under the main key called “DefaultIcon” (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\DefaultIcon]) and set (Default) to equal the filename for the icon you want to display e.g. “c:\windows\myicon.ico”.
- Create a new sub-key under the main key called “InProcServer32″ (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\InProcServer32]) and set (Default) to equal “shell32.dll”, also create a new String value called “ThreadingModel” and set it to “Apartment”.
- Create a set of sub-keys starting at the main key “Shell\Open My Menu\Command” (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\Shell\Open My Folder\Command]) and set (Default) to equal the command to execute when clicked, in this case explorer, e.g. “explorer /root,c:\MyFolder”.
- Create a set of sub-keys starting at the main key “ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}”
(i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers
\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}]) - Create a new sub-key under the main key called “ShellFolder” (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\ShellFolder]) and create a new Binary value called “Attributes” and set it to “00 00 00 00″.
- (Optional) To place the folder on the desktop add the following key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}] - (Optional) To place the folder in My Computer add the following key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}]
Now the folder cannot be deleted from the desktop or My Computer, nor can it be renamed other than removing the CLSID and the entries under NAME SPACE.
If you flucked shit up Are Banging your head against you desk messed up on any typing a blank icon will appear on your desktop or in My Computer – go back and check for any erroneous characters!
Odd Outlook Express Issue Fixed
Apr 16th
A few days ago I started receiving the error message on my computer in a popup window, “To free up disk space Outlook Express can compact messages. This may take a few minutes.” There are 2 options: OK and Cancel.
The interesting thing is that I never installed or use Outlook Express.
How did this happen??
Well, apparently this is caused by Windows XP SP3 and Windows Desktop Search (which I also installed)…ugh. here’s quite a lively forum chat over at Microsoft on this subject also.
(One note of caution. Be very careful when modifying your registry. If you do not feel comfortable doing it, please don’t do it. Any inadvertent changes or mistakes could cause disastrous effects..)
Here’s how to stop it from occurring:
1. Close all programs.
2. Create a Restore Point
3. Find this key in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{GUID}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0
4. Double click the Compact Check Count
5. Select the Base option for Decimal and change the value to 0
6. Close the Registry
Kerry enjoys writing about a variety of topics. Her favorite website is CallCatalog.com which is a reverse phone directory website. You can also read her blog which discusses personal privacy issues.
Keyboardr Lets You Search Using Only The Keyboard
Apr 13th
This is a really interesting search engine that caught my eye today which I happened to stumble upon and I really like it. I have been using Google or Live search for years now with an occasional visit to Yahoo. There have not been any great innovations in the search engine realm in years. But this is something I can sink my teeth into.
It is no secret that I love to use my keyboard – no matter if it is typing out console commands, browsing in dos or command line ftp. It might be the inner geek in me but I still love it.
That is where Keyboardr comes in. You simply browse to their site and start typing.
Let’s take a look at it:
I searched for Conficker the April Fool’s Worm that was supposed to ramp up its carnage yesterday. As soon as I started typing, results are displayed below. You select what you want by hitting the arrow keys. If you continue typing, your results will filter all without hitting your mouse or enter yet.
I added "AskTheAdmin" to my query and was returned with the following items. I want the first selection so I hit the enter key on my keyboard.
It opens a new tab in Firefox and I can hit Control + Tab to cycle through my tabs. Keyboardr also separates your search results into normal Google results in the center. Google Images and YouTube on the right and Google Blog results below.
The above images and YouTube videos came up with the AskTheAdmin query. I simply hit my right arrow key and it moved over to that part of the screen and upon hitting enter that item will open up in a new tab.
The author talks about Keyboardr on his blog, this little quote struck me so I thought I would share it with you:
In the first place keyboardr is a meta-search. You get Google, Wikipedia, Youtube altogether. The instant search and the keyboard navigation are replacing the feeling of "searching" with the feeling of "launching".
he goes on to give us a few tips and tricks
- Pressing ESC resets the search, takes you back to the clock instantly !
- One thing only a few know is, google is a all-in-one search. Try searching for "imdb Matrix". Or "lastfm james brown". Or "php str_replace".
- A feature often missed by the users eye, is the "All results" links to get the full version of each search engine. E.g. you need to calculate "5+5", "define:word" or check "weather cologne" then you just open "All results" from Google, right above the results, to get your answers from Google.
Do you use any sort of non-traditional search engines? How is that working out for ya? Please share them with us in the comments!
What are Thumbs.db and .DS_Store files? Can I delete them? Do I need them and how can i make them stop coming back?
Apr 13th
James from Virginia wanted to know if it was safe to delete these Thumbs.db and .DS_Store files from his network. Check out our answer and step by step removal tips.
Running in a mixed Windows/Mac environment I find it annoying to deal with all the little artifacts the great OS’s leave behind. All of our mixed shares and network drives are full of these frickin ‘Thumbs.db and .DS_Store files.
I hate them so much.
Each folder with initiated thumbnail views (that is where they have displayed a Thumbnails or Filmstrip view in Windows Explorer) will have a Thumbs.db file.
They do nothing for me. I look at them like litter on the ground. I looked up what they do and started deleting them. But they came back…
Some times I get caught up in doing something after in enrages me enough. So I was now determined to get rid of these files from my shares here on out. I did some research on how to get rid of them permanently and how to prevent them from coming back!
Here is how you prevent Windows and OS X from creating these annoying files.
Prevent the creation of Thumbs.db in Windows:
From “My Computer” click on the “Tools” menu item
Prevent the creation of .DS_Store files on Network volumes in MacOS:
- Open the Terminal application from the Utilities folder which is nested in the Applications folder
- Begin by first clicking on the Start Button
- Then click on Search and then Click on the All files and folders option
- In the All or part of the file name: box type in Thumbs.db
- Quickly ensure that the Look in: pull-down menu is set to whatever network drives you want to scrub
- Now Click on the Search button to search for all Thumbs.db files on your system
- In the All or part of the file name box type in Thumbs.db
- After the Search completes, click on the word Edit contained in your top tool bar area
This will pull down a menu for you to now click on Select All - Now Press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete all the Thumbs.db files on your system
- Then Close the Search Results window to return back to your Windows session
Now this doesn’t help you deleting the files that already may exist.
To accomplish that you may be interested in BlueHarvest to scrub your network of .DS_Store files and you can do a simple find and replace on Windows.
Find and Replace:
To delete all the existing Thumbs.db files on your computer you just:
For those of you who are scared to delete system files, the Thumbs.db and .DS_Store files are strictly cosmetic on network volumes and will have almost no impact on pretty much anything! Do you use them for something? Let us know in the comments.
_TheOCAdmiN_
Secure your Operating System with This Simple Trick! Works on most OS’s!
Apr 13th
Around my network we don’t have ANY user accounts called Administrator or Admin – Period.
Why you might ask?
Well for starters it’s a HUGE security risk! Let’s look at it like this. If a hacker wants to try and gain access to your machine the first thing they will do after a port scan is try and find your administrator password.
Most of the time automated scans search for weak passwords on commonly named administrator accounts including: Root, Administrator, Admin and foreign variations on them. If the potential attacker does not know what the account is called then they will have a MUCH harder time gaining admin access.
I learned way back when in school to not only rename my real administrator account but to create another account called Administrator with limited access.
This creates Honeypot of sorts. For a great example of Honeypot’s and snooping on the snoops check out this article on using Spector.
Why is it called a honey pot? Good question read this answer below:
Winnie the Pooh is a big fan of honey. In fact, he loves it so much that he will often get his paws and even his face stuck in the honey pot! In the computer world, a Honey Pot is a computer (or network of computers) designed to detect and monitor hackers. The idea is that the hacker will be lured in and trapped by the honey pot.
Now I don’t go crazy and give this sudo admin account an easy password either, after all the unauthorized user gains a small bit of access to your network that they did not have before. This is not what want. We want them to spend their time and resources looking for information that really doesn’t help them. And in the process your intrusion prevention services should catch them in the act.
So really password protect your fake administrator account. Let them spin their gears getting something that is no where near as critical as if they got your real account – you know the one you just renamed honeyp0t :)
This works on any operating system where you can rename your administrator account. Do you have other tips or tricks for securing your servers? Let us know in the comments! Put your fellow admin’s on!
Remotely turn on Remote Desktop for Windows Server 2003
Apr 9th
I had a 2003 box that we just installed a new raid card and drives on… And all of a sudden on reboot we had no display. I mean no bios, not post no nothing. I quickly removed the new equipment and was still dumbfounded by the missing display. This was a brand new box but it has an IP address and looks like it is booted up. I did not allow remote connections on it just yet – so I needed to find a remote way in without accessing the machine itself. Of course I had the admin username and password. So here is the quick, easy and painless solution:
- Run REGEDIT on your XP workstation or on your Windows 2000/2003 Server.
- Click on File, then choose “Connect Network Registry”.
- In the Select Computer search box either browse Active Directory to locate the remote server, or type its name or ip in the dialog box. Then Click Ok.
- In the remote machine’s registry browse to the following key:
