For Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, you can view saved passwords directly in its options/settings page. But for Internet Explorer, you need a third party program, IE PassView. There are three different browsers so I separate the guides into 3 sections which you can read below.

1. View Saved Passwords on Mozilla Firefox
2. View Saved Passwords on Google Chrome
3. View Saved Passwords on Internet Explorer

Security Note: After you read the guide below, you will see how easily to view saved passwords. The saved passwords are stored in plain text, no encryption applied at all. Therefore, you should understand the risk of using remember/save passwords feature. It is not recommend to save your passwords on a computer since it can be hacked easily and all saved password should be removed.

View Saved Passwords on Mozilla Firefox

The version of Mozilla Firefox on this example is 11.0.

1. Open Options on Mozilla Firefox by click on Firefox button and click on Options (For Windows XP, select Tools -> Options).
   
2. On Options, select Security tab and click on Saved Passwords.
   
3. On Saved Passwords, you see list of saved passwords that Mozilla Firefox saved. To view passwords, click on Show Passwords button.
   
4. The password column is displayed and you will see all saved passwords on Mozilla Firefox.
   

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View Saved Passwords on Google Chrome

The version of Google Chrome on this example is 18.0.

1. On Google Chrome, click on the wrench icon and select Settings.
   
2. On Settings, select Personal Stuff and click Manage saved passwords.
   
3. On Passwords, select on an item that you want to view a password and click Show.
   

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View Saved Passwords on Internet Explorer

1. Download IE PassView. IE PassView is a small password management utility that reveals the passwords stored by Internet Explorer Web browser, and allows you to delete passwords that you don’t need anymore. It supports all versions of Internet Explorer, from version 4.0 and up to 9.0.
   
2. Extract the zipped file and run the exe program and you will see saved passwords on Internet Explorer
   

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Or you try to delete any existing database and receive the error message:
Cannot drop the database ‘database name’, because it does not exist or you do not have permission.

The above error messages clearly stated that you don’t have permission on the SQL Server instance. This is because the person that performed SQL Server 2008 Express installation didn’t add your user account as SQL Server Administrators (sysadmin role). It is different from the previous version, SQL Server 2005 Express, that local Administrators group is automatically granted sysadmin role. On SQL Server 2008 Express, you have to add user account to sysadmin role manually while installing as the figure below.

It could be a problem if you can’t reach the person who performed installation. Fortunately, there is a script that can solve the issue which allows you to add current user to SQL Server Administrator (sysadmin role) within few clicks. The script is Script to add the current user to the SQL Server ‘sysadmin’ role. The requirement to run the script is that you must be a member of the local Windows Administrators group, or have access to the credentials of a user who is. The section below shows you step-by-step guide of how to use the script to add current user as sysadmin role on local instance of SQL Server 2008 Express.
Note: This script will restart the specified SQL Server instance (by default, SQLEXPRESS). All active connections to this instance will be lost. For this reason, it should not be used against production servers.

Step-by-step

1. Download the script by browse to Script to add the current user to the SQL Server ‘sysadmin’ role. Click on Downloads tab.
   
2. Click addselftosqlsysadmin.cmd to download the file.
   
3. Logged on with user account that you want to add to SQL Server 2008 Express (the account has to be in local Windows Administrators group). Then, run the file. It will ask for instance name of SQL Server. You can leave it as default value (SQLEXPRESS) by press Enter if you are not sure.
   
4. The script will try to add sysadmin role to the current user. If there is no error, you will see message as figure below which indicates that the current user has been added sucessfully.
   ‘Win7-PC\linglom’ was successfully added to the ‘sysadmin’ role.
   Note: The SQL Server instance will be restarted on this step.
   
5. Now the current user has sysadmin role and can performs any task on the SQL Server 2008 Express instance.
   
6. If you want to add other account (not the current account), you can provide parameters to the script. The first parameter is the instance name of SQL Server 2008 Express and the second parameter is an user account (locally). But you must run the script as Administrator. For Windows Vista or Windows 7, you have to open command-prompt as Administrator if you have UAC enabled.
   USAGE: addselftosqlsysadmin.cmd instance-name local-user-account
   

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Then, I try to save changes of the table, I will see the error message as following:
Saving changes is not permitted. The changes that you have made require the following tables to be dropped and re-created. You have either made changes to a table that can’t be re-created or enabled the option Prevent saving changes that require the table to be re-created.

And when you click cancel, you will see this message dialog.
User canceled out of save dialog

This error message occurs because of the default option on SQL Mangement Studio which prevents you to save changes on a table that require the table re-creation. So why prevent this? Because there may be a chance of data loss when you save changes on a table if the table need to be re-created. You can read about this by follow the link on reference section at the end of this post.

Microsoft recommends you to use Transact-SQL statements to make the changes of a table. But if you don’t want to write such statements, or you are working on test environment, or you do have a backup of database, you can simply turn off this option by follow instruction below.

Step-by-step

1. On Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, select Tools -> Options.
   
2. On Options, expand Designers and select Table and Database Designers. Then, uncheck the Prevent saving changes that require the table re-creation check box and click OK.
   
3. Now you can save changes on the table.
   

Reference

• Error message when you try to save a table in SQL Server 2008: “Saving changes is not permitted”.

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Introduction

If you lost administrator’s password and hence couldn’t log on to Windows, this article might helps you solve the problem.
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is a program that can reset password of any user on Windows. It is open source on the GPL license so you can use it for free. It supports all Windows from WinNT to Windows 7 including Windows Server 2003 and 2008. To use this program, simply download Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, burn it to a CD, use it to boot on the PC that you want to reset administrator’s password, and follow the instruction below.

Note: I won’t responsible in any damage or failure of the system if you’re using this tool. So use at your own risk.

Step-by-step

1. Download Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. Click on Bootdisk button at top, scroll down to Download section and select cd110511.zip to download.
   
2. Extract the downloaded file, you get cd110511.iso which is an ISO image file that can be burn to a CD by Nero, ImgBurn or any other CD burning software. Now burn this ISO image to a CD.
3. After you have burn the image on CD which is an bootable disc. Insert the CD and reboot the target system. If you see this screen, press ENTER to continue. Otherwise, you have done something wrong. If the computer still boots from Windows, you have to check boot ordering in BIOS whether it is configured to boot from CD or not.
   
4. Once the program has been loaded, you see Step ONE which you have to select which partition that has Windows installed. In most cases, there will be only one partition so you can use the default value shown in the bracket ([1]), which refers to the first partition, by press Enter to continue.
   Note for Windows 7: You have to select a partition next to the partition that has 100 MB size and labeled as “BOOT” . This example, the computer is Windows 7 so I have to select a second partition by type “2” as in the figure below and press Enter to continue. If you leave with the default value, it will not work.
   
5. On Step TWO, you have to specify path to Windows registry. In most cases, you can leave it as default path as Windows/System32/Config by press Enter. But if you installed Windows on other path, for example, C:\WinXP, you have to enter WinXP/System32/Config instead.
   
6. Next, select which part of registry to load, press Enter to leave it as default option which is Password reset [sam system security].
   
7. On chntpw Main Interactive Menu, press Enter to select Edit user data and passwords option.
   
8. On chntpw Edit User Info & Passwords, you can select which account that you want to reset password. By default, it is Administrator. But in this example, I want to reset password of “Win7” account so I type the account name and press Enter.
   
9. On User Edit Menu, type “1” and press Enter to select Clear (blank) user password.
   
10. If there is nothing wrong, you should see a message Password clear! as in the figure below. Then, type “!” and press Enter to select quit option.
    Note: This doesn’t mean that the password has already been cleared. You will have to confirm changes to the system in later step.
    
11. On chntpw Main Interactive Menu, type “q” and press Enter to quit the program.
    
12. On Writing back changes, type “y” and press Enter to confirm any changes you made in above steps.
    
13. You will see “EDIT COMPLETE” message which indicates that the password has been cleared successfully. Press Enter to exit the program
    
14. Before reboot the program, you have to remove the CD first. Otherwise, it will boot to this program again. Reboot the system and now you can enjoy log on to your Windows without entering any password.
    

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This article shows how to install Northwind and Pubs databases on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express.

Step-by-step

1. Browse to SQL Server 2000 Sample Databases and click on SQL2000.Sample.Databases.(Northwind,pubs).zip to download the Northwind and Pubs databases. Once you clicked the file, there will be a pop-up displays license of this file. Click I Agree to download the file.
   Note: This file contains sample databases that can be used on SQL Server 2000/2005/2008.
   
2. Extract the zipped file, you will see files as the figure below. There are two methods to install these sample databases on SQL Server. The first method, run query on the SQL Server using instnwnd.sql and instpubs.sql for Northwind and Pubs databases respectively. The second method, attach database on SQL Server using NORTHWND.LDF and NORTHWND.MDF for Northwind database and PUBS.MDF and PUBS_LOG.MDF for Pubs database. On this article, I will show how to install Northwind and Pubs databases using the second method.
   
3. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your SQL Server.
   
4. Once the connection has been established, right-click on Databases and select Attach.
   
5. On Attach Databases, click Add in Databases to attach section.
   
6. On Locate Database File, browse to the folder where you extracted the downloaded file in step 2. Select a database file that you want to attach. I select NORTHWND.MDF which refers to Northwind database and click OK.
   
7. You will see detail of Northwind database. The NORTHWND.LDF is automatically added in the details on section below (“Northwind” database details).
   
8. Repeat step 5 and 6 for Pubs database by attach PUBS.MDF file if you want to attach more than one database at the time. After you finish selecting databases that you want to attach, click OK.
   
9. If there is no error, you will see the sample databases (Northwind and Pubs) list on the SQL Server as the figure below. Now you can use these sample databases as you want.
   

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When you are installing Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express on Windows Vista or Windows 7, you may receive this error message:

The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 29506.

This error message relates with permission issue (UAC) on Windows Vista and Windows 7. To solve this problem, you have to re-run the installer again using elevated command prompt by run the command prompt as administrator and execute the installer in there. If you are using 64-bit Windows, you should use the command prompt at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\cmd.exe instead. Otherwise, you can use the command prompt at C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe. You will see the step-by-step guide to use elevated command prompt to execute the installer file on the section below.

The other solution, you can disable UAC on Windows but I don’t recommend it since it will lower your security system.

Step-by-step

1. Run elevated command prompt by right-click on Command Prompt in Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
   Note: This step is for 32-bit Windows. If you are using 64-bit Windows, see the next step.
   
2. If you are using 64-bit Windows, you have to run the command prompt in C:\Windows\SysWOW64. Right-click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.
   
3. On User Account Control, click Yes.
   
4. On Command Prompt (both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows), change path to directory where the installer file is and execute the file. By default, the file name for 32-bit version is SQLServer2005_SSMSEE.msi and 64-bit version is SQLServer2005_SSMSEE_x64.msi.
   
5. On Setup Wizard, follow the instruction as usual. There won’t be the error message this time.
   

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This article shows you how to backup and restore database on MySQL using phpMyAdmin. You can choose to backup/restore tables in a database or databases so I have separate steps into different sections as below.

Section

1. Sample Database
   If you want to learn by follow this article, you can download sample database from this section and follow article in restoration section first.
2. Backup tables in a database
3. Backup entire database(s)
4. Restore tables to a database
5. Restore entire database(s)

Step-by-step

Sample Database

1. You can download sample database for MySQL at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/index-other.html. In this example, I use “world” database.
   
2. There are 3 tables in world database as you see in the figure below.
   

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Backup tables in a database

This section shows how to backup tables in a database. You can select which tables that you want to backup or all of them.

1. Select the database that you want to backup and click on Export. Notice I have selected “world” database on top (localhost -> world).
   
2. On Export page, there are many configurations that you can customize for export. By default, all tables in the database are selected for export which you can see that they are all highlighted in export section (city, country, countrylanguage). Also, you can select which file type that you want, for example, SQL, CSV, Excel, etc. In this example, I use default configuration and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Next, click Go button on the right. This will export all tables in “world” database including its records (data).
   
3. The popup window appears. Select Save File and click OK and the exported file will be saved to your computer.
   
4. Now you have backup the selected tables in “world” database. Here is sample content of the exported file in SQL format.
   

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Backup entire database(s)

The previous section backup only tables in a database. This section will shows how to backup entire database. You can select one or more databases for backup.

1. On phpMyAdmin main’s page, click on Export. Notice that I haven’t select any database yet on top (localhost).
   
2. On Export page, there are many configurations that you can customize for export as similar to the previous section. In this example, select the database that you want to backup, “world” database. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Go button on the right.
   Note: You can select more than one databases.
   
3. The popup window appears. Select Save File and click OK and the exported file will be saved to your computer.
   
4. Now you have backup the selected database. Here is sample content of the exported file in SQL format.
   

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Restore tables to a database

This section shows how to restore (import) tables from a backup file into a database. If you have an exported file which derived from section backup tables in a database, you will have to create a database manually and select that database before follow steps below.

1. Select the database that you want to restore tables to. In this example, I have a “world” database which is an empty database (no tables). Click on Import.
   
2. On Import page, click Browse button and browse to the location where you keep the backup file. Then, click Go on the bottom right.
   
3. If there is no error while importing tables, you will see the green section display as figure below. Notice that the tables have been imported to the database on the left side.
   

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Restore entire database(s)

This section shows how to restore (import) database(s) from a backup file.

1. On phpMyAdmin main’s page, click on Import. Notice that I haven’t select any database yet on top (localhost).
   
2. On Import page, click Browse button and browse to the location where you keep the backup file. Then, click Go on the bottom right.
   
3. If there is no error while importing database(s), you will see the green section display as figure below. Notice that the database(s) have been imported to MySQL on the left side.
   

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The workaround is to use to older version of APC PowerChute (8.0.0 or below). You can download APC PowerChute Business Edition version 8.0.0 at here. Or you can try to download from ftp at apcc.com .

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This article shows you how to enable cURL on XAMPP on Windows 7.

Step-by-step

1. Locate php.ini in xampp directory. By default, it locates in “xampp/php/php.ini”. Then, open the file with any text editor.
   
2. Uncomment the line below by remove the semi-colon at beginning of the line and save the file.

   ;extension=php_curl.dll

   to

   extension=php_curl.dll

   

3. Next, restart apache service. You can do this through Windows services or using XAMPP Control Panel. Open XAMPP Control Panel, click on Stop button of the Apache service. Once it stops, click Start button.
   
4. Now cURL is enabled on XAMPP, you can test by create a PHP file with the code below and save to htdocs folder.

   <?php
     phpinfo();
   ?>

   

5. Open the browser and navigate to http://localhost/phpinfo.php. Scroll down to find curl section, you will see that it is already enabled. If you can’t find curl section, it means that cURL isn’t enable on the server.
   

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Few years ago, I wrote an article about how to setup Apache web server using AppServ. Now there are many software similar to AppServ so I decide to write a new fresh one. But instead of using the same software as the previous article, I will use XAMPP this time. XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. At the moment there are four XAMPP distributions: Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Solaris. See XAMPP for more information.

XAMPP is not meant for production use but only for developers in a development environment. XAMPP is configured is to be as open as possible and to allow the web developer anything he/she wants. For development environments this is great but in a production environment it could be fatal.
Reference: XAMPP security console

This article will show you how to setup Apache web server with PHP/MySQL using XAMPP on Windows 7 (x64). The current version of XAMPP is 1.7.4. It comes with PHP 5.3.5 so if you don’t plan to use this PHP version, you should download the older version of XAMPP instead.

Step-by-step

1. Download XAMPP for Windows. Browse to www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html and click XAMPP for Windows.
   
2. Scroll down to Download section, there are 3 formats which you can choose to download. In this example, I select ZIP format.
   
3. Unzip the file into the folder of your choice. If you extract XAMPP in a top level folder like “C:\” or “D:\”, you can skip to step 5. Otherwise, you have to run “setup_xampp.bat” in \xampp folder. In this example, I extract to C:\ so I can skip to step 5.
   
4. Here is the screenshot of the execution of file setup_xampp.bat.
   
5. Open XAMPP Control Panel by right-click on xampp-control.exe and select Run as administrator.
   Note: If you’re using Windows XP, you just double-click on the file.
   
6. On XAMPP Control Panel Application, select Svc checkbox of Apache and click OK. This will install Apache as a service on this computer.
   
7. Click Start to start Apache web server.
   
8. Repeat step 6-7 on MySQL. Now Apache and MySQL are installed as Windows services and already started.
   
9. You can check if the services are really installed on the computer by click SCM.
   
10. On Services, you will see Apache and MySQL services are started and startup type are set to Automatic which means that services will be started automatically when the computer starts.
    
11. Now it’s time to test, browse to “http://localhost” or “http://127.0.0.1″. You will see the screen as below. This is XAMPP’s splash screen, select English language.
    
12. Here is the XAMPP’s main page. You can view other pages using navigation menu on the left side. For example, XAMPP’s status to see which components are running, security page to view current security configuration of the XAMPP installation, etc.
    
13. The main directory for all WWW documents is \xampp\htdocs. If you put a file “test.html” in this directory, you can access it with the URI “http://localhost/test.html”.
    
14. You can manage MySQL using phpMyAdmin by browse to “http://localhost/phpmyadmin” or you can select phpMyAdmin link on the XAMPP’s main page (in Tools section).
    Note: By default, the root’s password is empty (blank password).
    

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