Geniuses Of Information Technology, Networks, Computer And Developers (KW)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:50:00 +0000

How To Restore An Outlook 2010 Archive

If you have created archive files of your Microsoft Outlook 2010 message data due to limitation of space and you want to view or restore these files then follow today’s tutorial on Outlook Archive. Today I am going to tell you how to restore an Outlook 2010 Archive. Just follow the following

simple steps:

1 – Launch Outlook 2010.

2 – Go to File and click Open.

3 – Then select Open Outlook Data Files.

4 – After selecting Open Outlook Data Files, a Dialog box will open. Select the Outlook data file (.pst) which you want to restore and click OK button.

5 – Now, you see restored Outlook archive files under Archive option.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:58:00 +0000

How To Collect Data Via E-mail Using Access 2010

We have the this scenario: I get daily e-mails containing attachments from which I extract some useful information. In order not to always save attachments and open them one by one to extract the information you want, we can use Create E-mail feature from Microsoft Access 2010. This tool generates an email that contains a form which is linked to the fields in the database (created beforehand).

In order to complete the form, E-mail recipients will just open the e-mail and click on Reply. It is not mandatory for the recipient to use Outlook. This form can be interpreted by the Web interface of e-mail i.e. Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail

Yahoo

Gmail

Windows Live Hotmail

What to do?

1 – In Access , we access the External Data tab, Collect Data group and we will execute Create E-mail command.

2 – After the introduction step, the next step will be to choose the type of form i.e. HTML or InfoPath. For this example, we use an HTML form. Further, we specify whether we will collect data or update existing ones. For this example we continue with the option of adding new information.

3 – The next step we will Specify what data to collect. On the left side we are showing all the columns in our table. We can select certain columns or all, depending on what data we want to add.

4 – If we had selected the option to Update data in the previous step, now would be to block certain columns – Read Only – to be modified when enter data.

5 – Because the arriving data needs to be processed automatically, we will put a check mark on the option Automatically process replies and add on to tblClienti.

6 – Given that the database I created doesn’t have a column for the e-mail, the wizard proposes two options: To enter addresses directly into Outlook accessing address book or use the e-mail stored in a Database Column. For this example we will use the first option.

7 – In the next step we can customize the Subject and the e-mail Body.

8 – After I sent the message, Outlook has created a Folder that will store messages that provide information to the database.

9 – Accessing the message, we can see the data entry form. To complete the form, you will need to answer this message – Reply.

10 – In each field, the form displays a text that informs us about the type of data.

11 – After entering the data, we will Send the message.

12 – There is no need to open that message, because Outlook has already sent data to the database. That’s it!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:50:00 +0000

How To Add Lookup Field Based On Another Table Or Query In Access 2010

Database building may be the most critical step in designing a new Information system. If you use Microsoft Access 2010, you may search for the tools that enable you reduce the rate of mistakes and misspells in data entry. Among of these, Access 2010 has a feature to base a new column in your table on a column in another table or query you created before in your database, so you can fill the records in the new column by choosing a value from a drop down list. This process can be explained in the following steps:

1- In design view, open the table that you want to add the new column into. Write the field name in the first empty row and choose Lookup Wizard from the data type drop-down list. Access lunches the lookup wizard.

2- With the “I want the lookup field to get the values from another table or query” option selected, click next. Access displays the tables and queries in your database. You can now click the source table or query. You can also choose to display tables or queries or both of them in the list.

3- After you select the source table or query, click next. The wizard displays a list of the fields of your table or query to let you choose the source column.

You can use the arrows to add or remove column(s).

4- Select your desired column then click next, Access then lets you sort the list of values.

5- In the last two steps of the wizard, Access displays the list and let you adjust its width.

Then Access asks you to name the new column, where you can also apply data integrity to organize the relation between the two columns.

When you click finish, you can display the new column’s table in the datasheet view, and try to add data to it, you will see a drop down list contains values from your source column.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:47:00 +0000

Download ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor Syntax

ASP.NET Web Pages with Razor Syntax is a web framework and part of WebMatrix. WebMatrix is everything you need to build Web sites using Windows. It includes IIS Developer Express (a development Web server), ASP.NET (a Web framework), and SQL Server Compact (an embedded database).

It streamlines Web site development and makes it easy to start Web sites from popular open-source apps. The skills and code you develop with WebMatrix transition seamlessly to Visual Studio and SQL Server.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:44:00 +0000

How to Rename Multiple Files or Folders at once in Windows 7

People who have to work with huge number of files or folders in Windows 7 and they want to rename these files or folders at once. Today we are going look at one of the way to rename multiple files and folders at once in Windows 7. The Following steps will lead you to this feature:

1 – First Select all files and folders, you want rename at once. Press CTRL button on keyboard and with left button of mouse select files you want to rename.

2 – Now press F2 Button by moving mouse pointer over the first file of the list

3 – Then Rename the first File and press Enter Button.

4 – Now you can see all selected files and folders renamed at once, according to the name you has given to the first file and in the following pattern i.e. MicrosoftFeed(1), MicrosoftFeed(2) ,MicrosoftFeed(3) and so on,. (Figure 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:42:00 +0000

How To Monitor Your Disk or Directory Using Disk Pulse

If you want to monitor your disk or directory for changes, I found a brilliant software i.e. Disk Pulse. It monitors both the system and user changes in the main window. It also monitors modified, created or deleted files. All changes are saved in log file along with the date, time, and full path. I am going to tell you how to monitor your disk or directory using Disk Pulse. Just follow the following simple and easy steps.

Step 1: Launch ‘Disk Pulse’ (Start -> All Programs -> Disk Pulse -> Disk Pulse)

Step 2: Click on folder icon and select the source which you want to monitor it can be folder or drive.

Step 3: Click on ‘Monitor’ button.

Step 4: A Window pop-up, click on ‘Start’ button.

Step 5: ‘Disk Pulse’ Window will monitor any modification, creation and deletion of the source you have selected.

Step 6: You can stop monitoring any time, you just need to click on ‘Stop’ button, a Window pop-up which will ask to stop monitoring select ‘Yes’.

Now you can also save these changes in files but it is available in full version. I hope this tutorial helps you to monitor system and user changes. Share this tutorial within your social circle. Do not forget to give us feedback.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:42:00 +0000

How To Add A New User Account In Windows 8 Using Windows Live ID

In my series of articles on Windows 8, today I am going to tell you how to add a new user account in Windows 8 by using Windows Live ID. In Windows 8, you can add a new user account by two ways: One old Windows method by adding Local Account and other by using Windows Live ID. This is the new feature added in Windows 8 to add a New User Account by using Windows Live ID. Following steps will lead you to this feature

1 – Go to Control Panel.

2 – Then select Users from the list and scroll down to Add a User.

3 – Click More about logon options, this will take you to a new screen.

4 – If you want to add new user account using old Windows method then click Local Account button and if you want to add new user account using Windows Live ID then click Windows Live ID button.

5 – Click Windows Live ID button to add new user account using Windows Live ID. Then type your Windows Live ID in Windows Live ID field and click Next button to proceed.

6 – Then, click Finish button to complete the process.

7 – Now your new User Account is created but make sure one thing that you will need to be connected to the internet to Log on for the first time.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:39:00 +0000

How To Share Desktop Screenshot On Facebook In Windows 8

One of the new features of Windows 8 is to share your desktop screenshot on your Facebook account using Socialite Application. This application will allow you to share your desktop screenshot on your Facebook account without using Internet Explorer. Today, I am going to tell you how to use this application in Windows 8.

1 – Go to Start and select Share from the menu.

2 – After selecting Share, a screen will open at the right side of Desktop. Select Share a screenshot from the screen.

3 – Then, select Socialite under Apps.

4 – This will open Facebook Login screen. Enter your Credentials and click Login Button.

5 – Then Request for Permission screen will appear. Click Allow button to give permission to share that image on your Facebook account.

6 – Then enter the description of screen shot and click Share in Facebook button to share image on your Facebook account.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:35:00 +0000

Download Windows 8 Developer Preview

Today at BUILD Conference, Microsoft showcased a detailed preview of the next major release of Windows, code-named “Windows 8”. You can now download the Windows Developer Preview. Windows Developer Preview is a pre-beta version of Windows 8 for developers

Download

System Requirements

Windows Developer Preview works great on the same hardware that powers Windows Vista and Windows 7:

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch

Note: Windows Developer Preview is not stable, operate correctly or work the way the final version of the software will. It should not be used in a production environment.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

How To Setup PIN In Windows 8

Like Picture Password, PIN is another excellent feature introduced by Microsoft in Windows 8. PIN allows you to setup Windows Login Password at most four digits. This may not be as secure as picture password is but it is faster method.

It can be very useful method for touch screen

Windows 8 devices. Now I am going to tell you

how to setup PIN in Windows 8. Just follow the following simple steps:

1 – Go to Control Panel.

2 – Then select Users from the list and click Create a PIN button.

3 –Enter your current Windows Login Password ,

before creating PIN and click OK button.

4 – Then, enter four digit code PIN and also retype to confirm PIN.

In the end, click Finish button.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:27:00 +0000

Ask The Readers: How Do You Maximize Your Battery Life

Although batteries have become more robust and longer lived, some days the outlets are far and few between. How do you maximize the juice when you’re away from home

Laptops, smart phones, tablets, ereaders, and more require a steady supply of juice to give you the information, connectivity, and gaming fixes you crave. How do you keep the lights on when you’re trekking across the city, county, and country? Sound off in the comments with your best tips and tricks for maximizing your battery life when you’re on the move.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:24:00 +0000

IT: How to Join Machines to Your Active Directory Domain

We have shown you how to install Active Directory on your network, but it’s pointless to have a Domain Controller unless you add your machines to the Domain, so today we’re going to cover how to do that

Note: this is part of our ongoing series teaching IT administration basics, and might not apply to everybody.

Adding a Computer to an Active Directory Domain is not hard by any means, but there are 3 things you should always remember:

Rename the machine to a user friendly, recognizable name before adding it to the Domain.
Make sure your DNS settings are pointing to the correct DNS Server for the domain.
You have to have access to a Domain account that is part of the Domain Admins security group.

Joining a Machine To a Domain

Open Computer and click on the System Properties button.

Now click on the Advanced system settings link on the left hand side.

When the advanced system settings open, switch to the computer name tab.

Click on the change button, from here you can change your Computers Name to a more friendly name.

Now switch the radio button, in the bottom section, from Workgroup to Domain. This will make the text box become available.

Now type in the name of your domain, ours is howtogeek.local, but yours will be whatever you made it when you set up Active Directory.

When you hit enter, or click ok, you will be asked for the user name and password of a Domain Admin user account.

If you specify the correct credentials you will be welcomed to the Domain.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:17:00 +0000

How To Extend Your Wireless Network with Tomato-Powered Routers

If you’re underwhelmed by the reach of your wireless signal, follow along as we show you how to extend your wireless network using routers powered with Tomato firmware.

Last year we showed you how to extend your network using DD-WRT powered routers. Since then, several readers have written in, asking how they could do the same thing with Tomato routers. Many of them said they’d switch to DD-WRT if they had to, but would prefer to keep using Tomato if possible. Although Tomato doesn’t have a perfectly analogous match to the DD-WRT repeater mode (more on this later) you can easily link two Tomato routers together with only a few minutes of configuration.

What You’ll Need

For this tutorial the requirements are quite minimal. You’ll need the following things:

Two Wi-Fi routers with Tomato aftermarket firmware installed.
An Ethernet cable (optional).

That’s it! You technically don’t even need the Ethernet cable but we always prefer to do any heavy router tweaking over a wired line (saves you the hassle of having to plug yourself in anyway should something go wrong with the wireless configuration and you lose you Wi-Fi connection to the router).

We won’t be covering the installation of Tomato in this guide (for that you can check out our previous installation guide to get up to speed).

A final note before we proceed. The prior DD-WRT guide we shared with you focuses on using the second DD-WRT powered router as a Wi-Fi repeater. Currently, Tomato (and it’s derivative TomatoUSB) do not include the specific software components necessary for a true Wi-Fi repeating mode. The network extension tool included in Tomato is known as Wireless Distribution System (WDS). If you’re interested in the technical aspects of WDS you can check out this Wikipedia entry here. For our purposes there are only a few key details we need to highlight.

The most important difference between setting up a pure repeater (as per our DD-WRT guide) and setting up a WDS node, is that the WDS suffers a performance hit after the first transmission hop. What this means in practical terms is that if you were, say, transferring a file between a laptop in your bedroom which was connected to your WDS node upstairs (which is then, in turn, connected to your actual router in your office), and then to a network drive connected to that office router, you’d suffer a theoretical performance hit of 1/2 the Wi-Fi transmission speed.

This sounds like an awful compromise, but in reality you likely won’t even notice it. Unless you’re trying to transfer massive files over your network by Wi-Fi (which isn’t very practical to begin with) the potential halving of transmission speed is of no practical impact for simple web browsing and small file transfers–and is far outweighed by the huge signal boost you get from the placement of the secondary node.

Although we’re focused on extending a Wi-Fi network with this guide, it is worth noting that you can use the secondary router (once configured in WDS mode) to plug in wired devices via Ethernet. Thus you could, for example, place the secondary Wi-Fi router near a network-enabled printer or older computer without a Wi-Fi connection and use the secondary router as a sort of Wi-Fi Ethernet bridge.

All that said, if you find the Wi-Fi performance hit to be unacceptable you can always flash your secondary node with DD-WRT and configure it as a pure repeater.

Getting Started Configuring Your Primary Router and Node

To cut down on confusion we will, henceforth, refer to the router that your internet connection is hooked up to as your Primary Router and the router you’re configuring to be your network extender as your Node. It is very easy to accidentally apply settings to the wrong administrative interface so, despite the relative simplicity of the following instructions, it’s critically important that you make sure you’re applying the settings to the correct side of the equation. Always double check if you’re supposed to be working with the Primary Router or Node.

The following instructions start from the premise that you have two routers, both with Tomato installed, and both plugged in.

First, navigate to the administrative interface of the Node. This is where it is extremely helpful to use the Ethernet cable as, even if the default settings on the Node confliction with the default settings on the Primary Router, your direct wired connection will overrule that.

In the administration panel of the Node, navigate to Administration –> Admin Access –> Color Scheme. Select an alternative color scheme for the Node. The default color scheme for Tomato is, simply, “Tomato”. We changed the color on the Node to “Blue”. It seems trivial but you’re going to spend the next 20 minutes plugging in commands to the two interfaces and something as simple as a different color scheme will decrease the chances you plug in the wrong parameters. Also, for future tweaking, it’ll make it immediately clear which of the devices you’ve logged into. Now would also be a great time to scroll down in that same Admin Access sub-menu and change the access password on the router if you haven’t done so already. Make sure to click Save at the bottom to save your changes.

After you’ve set the color and changed the default password to something more secure, it’s time to begin configuring the Node to serve as a WDS access point. Navigate to Basic –> Network on the Node. We have quite a few settings to toggle in this section, you may wish to print a basic check list so you can check them off as we go (trust us, it’s really frustrating to waste time trouble shooting a network problem only to find out that you forgot to change a 1 to a 2 or something as equally tiny).

Within the Network sub-menu of the Node, you want to work down through the following settings, toggling them as you go. First, toggle the WAN / Internet to Disabled. Second, change the values in the LAN section to the following:

Router IP Address: 192.168.1.2 (presumes your Primary Router IP is 192.168.1.1)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1 (the IP of your Primary Router)
Static DNS: 191.168.1.1. (You may use either your Primary Router IP or your ISP’s DNS server IPs)
DCHP Server: Unchecked.

In the Wireless section of the Network sub-menu of the Node, configure the following settings:

Enable Wireless: Checked.
Wireless Mode: Access Point + WDS
Wireless Network Mode: G Only
SSID: The SSID of your Primary Router, i.e. linksys or wireless.
Broadcast: Checked.
Channel: The channel of your Primary Router, i.e. 6 – 2.437.
Security: WPA Personal (this is the strongest method you can use with WDS)
Encryption: AES
Shared Key: Enter the Wi-Fi key used by the security settings on your Primary Router.
Group Key Renewal: 3600
WDS: Link With…
MAC Address: In the first slot, insert the Wi-Fi MAC address of your Primary Router.

Make sure to click Save at the bottom to lock in all the changes you just made.

Now it’s time to go into the administrative panel of the Primary Router and finish the connection. Login and navigate to Basic –> Network (just like you did on the Node). In order to cut down on confusion (and the chances of you messing up the already functional configuration of your Primary Router) we’re only going to include the WDS specific changes you need to make. Scroll down in Network to the Wireless section. Toggle the following settings:

Wireless Mode: Access Point + WDS
Wireless Network Mode: G Only
WDS: Link With…
MAC Address: In the first slot, insert the WI-FI MAC address of your Node.

Note: If you weren’t using WPA Personal/AES and inserted new values for your security/encryption into the Node during the previous step, you need to make sure those settings are mirrored on the Primary Router. Click Save.

At this point, having saved the changed on both the Primary Router and the Node, you should be in business. Plug in the Node at the edge of your current wireless signal (say, upstairs or across your house) and enjoy a much stronger Wi-Fi signal.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:05:00 +0000

How To Convert PDF To Image Using Aiseesoft PDF To Image Converter

If you want to convert your PDF document into image, it is not difficult anymore. Aiseesoft PDF to Image Converter is the professional PDF to Image Converter to convert PDF file to image files in high quality in different image formats such as JPG, GIF, TIFF, PNG, BMP etc. You can adjust the quality to meet your needs. I am going to tell you how to convert PDF to image using Aiseesoft PDF to Image Converter. Just follow the following simple and effortless steps.

Step 1: Launch ‘Aiseesoft PDF To Image Converter’ (Start -> All Programs -> Aiseesoft -> Aiseesoft PDF To Image Converter -> Aiseesoft PDF To Image Converter)

Step 2: Click on ‘Add File’, and select the PDF file you want to convert to image

Step 3: Select ‘Output Type’ such as jpeg, png, gif etc

Step 4: Set image format quality, select ‘Output Color’, set ‘Resolution’, you can also select or set page ranges to convert into images, and you can also select ‘Output Folder’, all above procedures are red marked in given below screenshot

Step 5: Click on ‘Convert

’.

Step 6: When your file is converted, a Window pop-up will ask you to open ‘Output Folder’, if you want to open folder click on ‘Yes’ else click on ‘No

Your PDF file is converted into image, I hope this tutorial helps you, share it within your social circle and do not forget to give us feedback.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:40:00 +0000

How To Convert Excel To PDF, Word, RTF

If you want to convert your Excel sheet to PDF document, I found Excel To PDF .Net software which is a standalone component which allows any .Net application get professional export of Excel spreadsheet to PDF, Word and RTF documents. I am going to tell you how to convert excel spreadsheet to PDF using ‘Excel To PDF .Net’. Just follow the following simple and easy steps.

Step 1: Go To -> ‘Excel to PDF .Net (3.0.10.13)’ Folder -> Demo

Step 2: Click on red marked button which is located right after ‘Excel File Path’ textbox, and then select your Excel file.

Step 3: Select ‘PDF’ radio button, you can also convert your ‘Excel’ file into ‘Word’. You can also select ‘PDF’ output file folder, by default it will create a document in the same folder in which your ‘Excel’ file is present. You can also set ‘Sheet number’, ‘Page size’, ‘Page orientation’ according to your desire, and then click on ‘Convert’ button.

After processing your ‘Excel’ file is converted into ‘PDF’ file, ‘PDF’ file will open after converting. I hope this simple and easy tutorial helps you for conversion. Share this tutorial within your social circle and do not forget to give us feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:44:00 +0000

Free VM Monitor Listing updated: April 28, 2010

Download this FREE Desktop Tool - VM Monitor – from SolarWinds and continuously Monitor your Vmware ESX Server and its virtual machines right from your desktop! Get the real-time monitoring

you’ve been missing. VM Monitor shows you ESX Server CPU, RAM, and Network RX/TX utilization, number of VM Guests running on that server, VM Guest performance including CPU, RAM, and Network RX/TX utilization. See why more than one million network engineers use SolarWinds free tools to perform their daily network monitoring and management tasks. Download this FREE TOOL from Solarwinds!

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noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:27:00 +0000

FEATURED: Spiceworks' 100% Free Virtualization Management Tool Listing updated: January 20, 2011

Download a completely free virtualization management tool to track virtual servers running on your network. *This is NOT a free trial, "freemium", or stripped down verision.* Spiceworks’

virtualization management accurately finds and categorizes virtual server data to find hardware & VM hypervisors on hosts and view all VMware virtual machines. Part of the brand new Spiceworks 5.0 that includes network monitoring, multi-site help desk, troubleshooting tools, TFTP server, SNMP monitoring, active directory management, & more. Spiceworks is free now and will always be free, including support and frequent product upgrades. Download today - and share with your peers!

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noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:48:00 +0000

Creating a PVSCSI-based Virtual Machine

Creating a new virtual machine that uses a PVSCSI adapter is relatively easy as long as you use a supported guest operating system. To start with, when you create a new virtual machine, you need to choose the Custom option in order to be able to choose the PVSCSI option. Figure 1 gives you a look at this screen.

Figure 1: Choose the Custom option for creating a new virtual machine

After choosing the Custom virtual machine option, follow the wizard until you get to the Virtual Machine Version page. On this page, make sure to choose Virtual Machine Version 7, as shown in Figure 2. If you choose version 4 for the virtual machine hardware, the PVSCSI option will not be available.

Figure 2: Choose the version 7 hardware type

When you get to the operating system selection page, make sure to choose an operating system that is supported by the PVSCSI adapter. If you don’t, when you get to the SCSI Controller page of the wizard, you will get a warning next to the VMware Paravirtual option that reads “not recommended for this guest OS”. If you choose a supported operating system, you will get no such warnings.

Figure 3: Choose your SCSI Controller type

From here, the remainder of the virtual machine provisioning process is the same as it is for other SCSI controller types. It’s only once you begin your guest operating system installation that you need to take additional steps to make sure that you can use the PVSCSI controller.

For this example, I will use Windows Server 2008 R2 as the guest operating system on a virtual machine to which I’ve allocated 40GB of disk space. As I begin the installation of Windows 2008 R2, you will notice in Figure 4 that I am not being offered any disks to which to install an operating system.

Figure 4: No storage devices are available

The reason: The Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media does not include drivers for VMware’s paravirtualized SCSI adapter meaning that no attached storage can be identified. You need to provide drivers that can be used by the installer to locate and use the storage that has been provided. VMware has included floppy disk images that include the PVSCSI drivers. These images are available in the host data store. To connect to the floppy image, click the icon of the floppy disk in vCenter and go to Floppy drive 1 > Connect to floppy image on a datastore.

Figure 5: Connect to a floppy disk image

Once you are presented with the Browse Datastores dialog box, browse to vmimages> floppies and choose the floppy image that suits your operating system. Figure 6 gives you a look at the floppy disk image options.

Figure 6: Choose the vmimages folder

Back on the Windows installation screen, click the Load Driver button and, on the following screen, click Browse and expand the newly connected floppy device. Choose the top level folder for your operating system type – 32-bit (i386) or 64-bit (amd64). Don’t get confused about the name “amd64”. This is the driver that you should use on any 64-bit version of Windows, regardless of what processor vendor you’re using. AMD64 is a generic name for 64-bit systems.

Figure 7: Choose the appropriate driver type for your OS

Now, Windows will load the new driver and you’ll be able to choose the virtual hard drive that you create when you created the virtual machine. Figure 8 gives you a look at the newly discovered storage device.

Figure 8: The storage device has now been located

From this point forward, the remainder of the Windows installation goes exactly as it would for any other virtual machine.

Adding a PVSCSI Adapter to an Existing Virtual Machine

PVSCSI is not just for new virtual machines. You might have a virtual SQL server, for example, that could benefit from the performance gains offered by using PVSCSI. Unless your virtual machine has major I/O needs on the boot volume, it is recommended that you stick with the existing controller for the boot volume and add the PVSCSI adapter as a second controller.

In order to configure an existing virtual machine to use PVSCSI, the VM should have VMware Tools installed.You first need to add a new hard drive to the system so that the new controller has something connected to it. We will walk through the process with these steps:

First, open vCenter and right-click on the target virtual machine and, from the shortcut menu, select Edit Settings.

Figure 9: Open the virtual machine settings page

From the Virtual Machines Settings page, click the Add button to add new hardware. When you get to the Add Hardware page, select Hard Disk and click Next.

Figure 10: Add a new hard drive

Follow the on-screen steps to choose the size for the new virtual hard drive. When you get to the Virtual Device Node option, it’s critical that you connect the hard drive to a separate virtual SCSI adapter. Do not attach the hard drive to anything starting with a zero as this is generally the default SCSI adapter. In this example, I’ll use 1:0 for the Virtual Device Node, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: Choose a virtual device node

Continue with the remainder of the process. When you are done, notice that the device list now shows two new devices: Your new hard drive as well as a new SCSI controller of the default LSI Logic type. The reason that the new adapter was created is because we chose to attach the new hard drive to something other than the default adapter.

Figure 12

Now, select the new SCSI controller and click the Change Type button. On the Change SCSI Controller Type window, choose VMware Paravirtual and click OK.

Figure 13: Choose the PVSCSI controller type

At this point, when you reboot your system and open the Disk Manager tool, you will see the new volume available and ready for formatting and use.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:43:00 +0000

New version of Microsoft Security Essentials is now available!

Microsoft has released the beta for the next version of Microsoft Security Essentials. The software, Security Essentials, is a free toolset for any Windows user to protect themselves from the malware that plagues the world of Windows computing.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure – when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple. New features in the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials include:

Windows Firewall integration – During setup, Microsoft Security Essentials will now ask if you would like to turn the Windows Firewall on or off.

Enhanced protection for web-based threats – Microsoft Security Essentials now integrates with Internet Explorer to provide protection against web-based threats.

New protection engine – The updated anti-malware engine offers enhanced detection and cleanup capabilities with better performance.

Network inspection system – Protection against network-based exploits is now built in to Microsoft Security Essentials.

To download the beta of Microsoft Security Essentials, click here to visit the Microsoft Connect page to register for the beta. Once completed – you will find the instructions for downloading and installing the beta.

Source : MicrosoftFeed.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:39:00 +0000

Microsoft Safety Scanner – Get a free PC safety scan

Do you think your PC has a virus?

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool that provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It works with your existing antivirus software.

Note: The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner again.

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is not a replacement for using an antivirus software program that provides ongoing protection.

For real-time protection that helps to guard your home or small business PCs against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, download Microsoft Security Essentials.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:37:00 +0000

GFI WebMonitor – Web Security and Internet Access Control Software

Most of companies want able to monitor and control user access to the Network and the Internet, GFI Software has a solution that can help you meet there need. Available as a standalone proxy version or as a dedicated plug-in for organizations that have deployed Microsoft ISA Server, GFI WebMonitor is a great, policy-based Web monitoring, filtering, scanning and control solution.

GFI WebMonitor™ is available in three editions:

WebFilter Edition: Includes URL filtering and website categorization
WebSecurity Edition: Includes antivirus and anti-phishing protection and spyware detection
UnifiedProtection Edition: Combines both WebFilter and WebSecurity editions

When you install the software you can choose between two modes depend on which kind of network infrastructure that the company have:

1- Simple Proxy mode

this mode is for HTTP traffic filtering with SERVER that have one network card and its connected to the network (you must set GFI WebMonitor SERVER as a default proxy for the clients to able the HTTP filtration).

2- Gateway mode

in this mode the GFI WebMonitor SERVER will be between the network and the default router so all HTTP traffic will be filtered and GFI WebMonitor SERVER will be the default gateway for the network .

When you finish the installation and the configuration you can run GFI WebMonitor then you can see how easy to use the interface.

Here is a review for most of GFI WebMonitor menu:

Dashboard

Here is the dashboard that shows the network traffic activities.

Monitoring

1- Active Connections : when you choose Active Connections you can see all active connection that clients are doing even you can terminating the download over HTTP.

2- Past Connections : Here you can see the latest activities from the clients.

Bandwith Consumption

1- Top Sites : You can see top sites according to bandwidth used.

2- Top Users : You can see top users according to bandwidth used.

Users History

Top Policy Breakers : Here you can see top users who break any GFI WebMonitor rules that you made.

Blacklist

You can set the blacklisted sites and it will be blocked from access by all users.

(Server side) Here is a sample that we put *.Google.com in the blacklist

(Client side) Here is the response from GFI WebMonitor SERVER when we visit Google.com

WebFilter Edition

Here you can set a policy with specific sites category that can be blocked or allowed by all users or selected users.

WebSecurity Edition

GFI WebMonitor provides scan and usage control restrictions such as controlling downloads, IM , virus scanning and anti-phishing protection. WebSecurity Edition integrates three popular virus scanning products: Kaspersky, Norman and BitDefender.

1- Download Control Policies :

You can set List of file types you can allow/block/quarantine the users to download it from the internet.

this is example for blocking download flash files from the internet (click on pictures to see the full size)

this is example for blocking download JPEG (Pictures) and flash files from the internet (click on pictures to see the full size)

2- Virus and Spyware Protection :

Integrated most popular anti-virus products included with GFI WebMonitor : Kaspersky, Norman and BitDefender

For more information and further inquiries or to download the trial version go to: GFI Internet Monitoring Software

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:34:00 +0000

Facebook will throw you under the bus

Tryin to ruin my name
Threw me under the bus
Riding all over the town
Spreading rumors around
Threw me under the bus
From Under the Bus by Lolene

In my previous post I explained why I left Facebook. Doing so freed up enough time to actually do another bl0g entry so it’s only apropos that this entry reinforce the idea that Facebook is not your friend. Unless of course your friends are conniving weasels who steal from you and will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat. Like being friends with Casey Anthony (but I digress). If you have friends like that then Facebook is what you are used to. If not then read on.

In this post by the oft quoted (by Security For All at any rate) Sharon D. Nelson, Esq. of the {ride the lightning} blog the following question is asked: How Much Data is Facebook Giving Law Enforcement Under Secret Warrants

According to Reuters, since 2008, federal judges have authorized at least two dozen warrants to search Facebook accounts to the FBI, the DEA and ICE. The investigations have involved such things as arson, rape and terrorrism.
What interested me most is that these warrants demands a user’s “Neoprint” and Photoprint” – terms I had never heard before which apparently appear in law enforcement manuals and refer to a Facebook compilation of data that the users themselves do not have access to. So much for Facebook’s claim that the “Download Your Account” button gives you everything that Facebook itself possesses.
Facebook doesn’t tell users about the warrants to give them a chance to challenge those warrants legally.

Yikes! Talk about throwing your users under the bus. And without notice. As Sharon points out even Twitter has a policy of notifying users before they hand over anything to law enforcement. But not Facebook.

And then there is this post by fellow Security Blogger Carole Theriault in the nakedsecurity blog that asks Does using Facebook put you at more risk elsewhere on the internet?

The Pew Research Center has shown that the more time you spend on the internet, especially social networks like Facebook and Twitter, the more trusting you become.
Not just on social networks, but everywhere – both online and in real life.
With 30% of the world estimated to be online – about 80% of North America and 60% of Europe – and more than half of these users belonging to some social networking site, an increase in trust could have major impacts on how people interact in the future.
Does this mean that social network users will eventually become a bunch of loved-up hippies? It is really difficult for me to imagine what I would be like if I shed my cynical armour.
I shouldn’t really worry: while I study social networks all the time, I am more of a voyeur than a player. Let’s be honest here – I find them really scary.
Many users of social networks seem completely addicted – they are on there all the time, recording every event of their lives. It just seems so intrusive to me…and compulsive.
So the premise is that people on Facebook are more trusting than other internet users, and MUCH more trusting than non-internet users.
It seems clear me to me that if Facebook users are genuinely more trusting, they are more at risk of online scams, both on and off social media sites.
Maybe research like this proves that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter need to show greater interest in educating their users about being safe online.
One could argue that they should proactively protect their community against commonly encountered threats.

I agree that it would be swell if Facebook showed a greater interest in educating their users about being safe online but from where I sit I’ve only seen an interest in exploiting their users. But it is a great interest.

To borrow a soundbite (in spite of the lack of audio in this blog) from former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Just say No! to Facebook. Or friend Casey Anthony.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:31:00 +0000

Another nasty Christmas Present from Facebook

Whenever somebody comes up with a new business idea involving

social media it’s usually time to cover your private parts. To the extent that you can. Take this idea from Hong Kong-based microlending startup Lenddo as described in this article in The Observer.

Lendo] calls itself “the first credit scoring service that uses your online social network to assess credit.” The first thing Lenddo asks for is a Facebook account; then it wants access to Gmail, Twitter, Yahoo, and Windows Live. The Observer was given a respectable score of 470. But when we tried to apply for a loan, we were told “you need at least 3 connections with scores above 400 in your Lenddo trusted network.”
The company’s algorithm is proprietary and secret, said CEO Jeff Stewart, but the primary metric is what Lenddo knows about the people you’re friends with. “We think that in the age of the internet you should be able to establish your reputation and your identity through your social graph, through your on- and offline community, and use that to get access to financial products and information,” he said.
If Lenddo sees one of your best Facebook buddies took out a loan and paid it back, there’s a good chance you will too. “Our backgrounds are in machine learning and pattern recognition,” Mr. Stewart said. “It’s some serious math.
“There’s no reason there shouldn’t be thousands of engineers working to assess creditworthiness.”

I should note here that I too have a background in machine learning and pattern recognition but would hardly summarize it as “some serious math” except maybe to US GOP Presidential nominee hopefuls to whom addition is apparently an arcane art, but I digress…

Marketing hype aside, this simply checks to see if your Facebook “friends” are creditworthy and makes the unwarranted leap that you are like them with respect to creditworthiness. Problem with that idea is when you have “friends” with completely fictional profiles on social media sites. Like say me (when I was on Facebook) or Nitrozac and Snaggy. If you had friended me on Facebook, services like Lendo might conclude (not without basis) that you were a total wackjob. Seriously though, there is a very ugly side to this social credit rating business.

In another nifty but nefarious innovation, Lenddo reserves the right to broadcast your loan status if you fall into default. As the site warns: “Failure to repay will negatively impact your Lenddo score, as well as the score of your Lenddo friends. Lenddo MAINTAINS THE RIGHT TO NOTIFY YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY if the borrower fails to repay, however, this is only done after several notifications to the borrower and an attempt to work out a payment plan.”
“I think Mark Zuckerberg said it best,” Mr. Stewart said. “Every industry will be in fact impacted by social.”
Banks have been curious about using social media to gauge risk for at least a year, said Matt Thomson, VP of platform at Klout, which calculates “influence” based on a user’s social media activity. Determining creditworthiness is not a core product of Klout’s, he said, but banks have approached the startup to ask about it. He wouldn’t name names. “It’s really like the who’s who of banking,” he said.
(Mr. Stewart of Lenddo also said his startup is approached “regularly” by major banks curious about the algorithm.)

So let me get this straight, the same weasels who trashed the global economy with financial instruments that institutionalized fraudulent and unsecured, except by other equally dodgy financial instruments like credit default swaps, mortgages are now using the fact that everyone knows – or is – someone who was victimized in this debacle to further victimize people?

This time I’m not even going though the pretense of some imaginary conversation about privacy being dead, I’ll just throw out this quote and leave it at that.

Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff dismissed the idea that social media credit scoring is a serious erosion of privacy, mostly because there’s nothing left to hide. “We’re already in the nightmare scenario,” he wrote in an email. “They already know everything about you—more than most of us realize. If anything, the addition of social networking information to this data mining will help us come to some understanding of how much more these companies know about us than we know about ourselves.”

And there you have it folks from the lips (or keyboard) of a bona fide Media theorist – social media credit scoring doesn’t invade your privacy because you have no privacy to invade. So if you are still on Facebook you might as well just bend over. Again. Or quit being a tool. I’m just saying.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:27:00 +0000

Manual Removal of W32/SdBot.CNG Trojan » VMwareservice.exe

W32/SdBot.CNG Trojan Known Files » isqsys32.exe, wiaservg.log
W32/SdBot.CNG is a trojan.The trojan will infect Windows systems.
This Trojan Copies its file(s) to Windows\System32 folder as hidden files or active non-hidden files.

This trojan information updated on November 7, 2009.
Other names of W32/SdBot.CNG Trojan:
This trojan is also known as Backdoor:W32/SdBot.CNG, Worm:Win32/Neeris.AN, W32/Virut.gen.A.

Download Registry, Taskmanager and Folder Options Repair Tool

W32/SdBot.CNG Trojan Manual Removal Instructions

Recommended Removal from Windows Safe Mode:
How to Start Windows in Safe Mode:
Restart your Computer, Press F8 Repeatedly, when your Screen turns on, Select Safe mode, press enter.

The Infected Files Can be Seen in these folders and names also Running in Tasks
End the Following Active Process Before Removal
[ Kill the Process, Use Killbox if your Access Denied ]

~~Download W32/SdBot.CNG Trojan Known File Removal Tool~~
[In Windows Vista Run As Administrator, After Execution System Will Restart ]

%Windows\System32\VMwareservice.exe
%Windows\System32\csrsc.exe

[ No Exact Information about Files, search above related files in Program files Folder ]
If you have any of these files in running process from task manger, end the process before removal.
Note: if task manager is disabled, Download the following file, Download - Enable Registry.reg
[ Right Click - Save Target As/Linked Content As ]
Open it with Regedit.exe [%system32\regedit.exe], then it Confirms Add to registry Yes or No, Confirm Yes, then click Ok.

W32/SdBot.CNG Trojan Entries Manual Removal From RegistryClick Start, Run,Type regedit,Click OK.
Note: If the registry editor fails to open the threat may have modified the registry to prevent access to the registry editor.
Download UnHookExec.inf,
[ Right Click - Save Target As/Linked Content As ]
Save it to your Windows desktop.
Do not run it at this time, download it only.
After booting into the Safe Mode or VGA Mode
Right-click the UnHookExec.inf file and click Install.
[This is a small file. It does not display any notice or boxes when you run it.]
Or Download Regfile to enable Registry editor
Download Registry Enabler [ Right click - Save Target As ]
Open it with Registry editor

W32/SdBot.CNG Trojan modifies registry at the following locations to ensure its automatic execution at every system Startup:
Delete The Entries

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
remove VMwareservice entry

Delete file entries from right side, look up file entries listed above
Search Registry For W32/Bredolab.AL Trojan File Names listed above to remove completely,
Edit Menu - Find, enter Keyword and remove all value that find in search.

Exit the Registry Editor,
Restart your Computer.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:26:00 +0000

Create a Shortcut to Abort Shutdown

If any rouge application tries to restart your PC, with a shutdown countdown timer. You can abort that shutdown with a code that execute from Start - Run

The Shutdown aborting code is
" shutdown -a "

You also can create Desktop shortcuts to abort shutdown

Right Click on Desktop and Select New - Shortcut

In Path
Type : shutdown.exe -a

and click Next, Write a name like, " Abort Shutdown ".

When your PC Starts to Shutdown open this shortcut to stop shutdown process.