Spader's Thoughts

PFSense Installation on XenServer

2014-10-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

PFSense Installation notes, how to install from scratch on a XenServer:

To install Pfsense on Xenserver you have to disable all of the network interfaces, the boot from the ISO and enter install mode by typing 'I' during the 10 seconds it prompts you. If you don't disable the NIC's it will hang at 38% on the install.

Then finish the install and enable the 2 interfaces and removed the mounted CD and reboot.

NOTE: You will not be able to connect to the web configurator via the wan interface or ping it, it is disabled by default. You will have to start by using the LAN interface.

Outlook Reminders Not Popping Up on All Computers for only one User

2013-12-05T10:52:00.001-08:00

I just had this very rare issue that Google was not able to help me with. I wanted to post it hear in case others have this same issue.

I have about 10 computers that have outlook installed on them and they are mix of mostly outlook 2010 and 2013, most are in cached mode but some are in online mode. They are all connected to my user account which is the only place I was seeing the issue.

My issue was that no reminders were showing up and I was missing a lot of important tasks. They were still showing up on my Android and iPhone but not on any of my Windows systems with Outlook.

I tried the following steps on some of my 10 machines, but it did not fix the issue.
- Checking to make sure Reminders are enabled by going to File > Options and confirming it is checked.
- Running the clean reminders switch. Outlook /cleanreminders
- Running the reset folders switch. Outlook /resetfolders
- I have downloaded and ran the MFCMAPI tool and followed instructions from Allan on this link:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchangesvrclients/thread/f1894641-5c5c-49d5-971b-c829518f263e/

None of these steps fixed my issue. This was only affecting my user and I manage the exchange server so I could not figure out what was going on.

Until I found a virtual machine in my environment that I had disabled outlook reminders on, not realizing that it would disable reminders on all of my systems running outlook. This machine was in Online mode running Outlook 2010, but most of my other machines are 2013 in cached mode.

So the solution is to check all machines that are connected to the user to make sure reminders are enabled because if you disable it on one machine and that profile stays connected it will immediately dismiss all reminders and you will not see them on any other computers.

Here is the setting below:
- Checking to make sure Reminders are enabled by going to File > Options and confirming it is checked.

Annoying Google Chrome Freezes Entire Machine

2012-10-25T07:42:00.002-07:00

So I'm sure many other people are experiencing issues with Google Chrome freezing everything on your computer for a couple of seconds nearly every 5-10 seconds. This only happens when Chrome is open though. Well for awhile I just didn't use Chrome and stuck with Firefox but I finally researched it and found out that it is an application conflict with Airfoil. Apparently Airfoil has an issue with its latest version v3.3.2 as of 10/25/12. The issue is with the instant on function of Airfoil. If your like me and enable it you will have problems. So I have disabled the instant on function of Airfoil and I haven't had any problems since. This isn't the first time that I've had these types of issues with Airfoil. I think I have finally learned my lesson to stop upgrading Airfoil every time it alerts me of a new update. It is very apparent that the Airfoil developers do NOT do very good testing on there product before releasing it with issues to the public. I hope this helps others out there.

SBS 2008 Server Annoying Error

2011-12-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

Event Details:
The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1} to the user NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE SID (S-1-5-20) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

to NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE account as follows:

In Administrative tools, open Component Services and expand Component Services, Computers, My Computer, DCOM Config
Look for the IIS WAMREG Admin Service
Right click and select Properties and then select the Security tab
Click Edit under Launch and Activation Permissions
Add the Network Service user
Add Local Activation rights
Click OK twice
Close Component Services

http://www.seasideit.com/2009/01/dcom-error-10016-on-sbs-2008.html

Android email app review and why I'm using the standard email application

2011-11-28T07:14:00.001-08:00

Android email application review and why I'm using the Standard email application

I'm going to concentrate on the three major email applications that I know of for Android Standard Email, Enhanced Email, Touchdown by Nitrodesk.

First I would like to explain this is only my quick thoughts about the product about my viewpoint, I may not be correct in all of my assumptions below.

My setup consists of an HTC EVO 4G running on the Sprint network. I'm currently running Cyanogen Mod Nightly's. I'm also evaluating only the Active Sync Exchange Server connections for Exchange 2003 and 2007. I'm not using any POP or IMAP connnections.

1. First I will start with NitroDesk Touchdown pro's and cons

Pro's:

• Sync's all content with many nice options.

• Very reliable sync

• Has a tablet edition of the software

• Supports email encryption

Con's

• Costs $20

• Does not sync calendar with built in Android calendar application. You have to use the touchdown application to view the calendar.

• Does not sync Outlook Notes

2. Second are the Enhanced Email pro's and cons

Pro's:

• Has a some nice options

• Will automatically download the pictures, but will only do it when you go into read it.

? If you ask me it should download the pictures before I view it because by the time I get to reading the email and deleting it the pictures still haven't load… Junk if you ask me

Con's:

• Costs $10 (Amazon App store had it for the free app of the day in November)

• Does not sync contacts properly for the 6 months that I used it

• Does not sync when an email has been read to the server from the phone.

? Just a note that the Standard email app is free and does these two items above

• The speed of the application is very slow compared to the Standard email app and Touchdown

• Does not mark the emails as read after reading each email on mobile device. So if I delete the item, I have to go into outlook and mark all items in my deleted items as read all of the time… ANNOYING!!!

• Does not sync Outlook Notes

• Sync is not as reliable as the standard email sync.

• Does not have a tablet edition of the software

3. Lastly hear are the Standard Email application pro's and cons

Pro's:

• Comes with the Android OS pre installed.

• Sync's all content with many nice options.

• Costs FREE!!!

• Very reliable sync

Con's:

• Does not automatically download pictures when using Exchange 2007 or 2003, I'm not sure about 2010.

• Does not sync Outlook Notes

• Does not have a tablet edition of the software

After you reading this you can probably understand why I am currently using the standard email application on my Android phone.

Thanks,

-Ben

Brother Printer Toner Reset 9320CW

2011-11-22T16:02:00.001-08:00

How to reset Brother 9320CW toner
1. With power on, open the toner access main door (You will get a “door open” message in the LCD.)
2. Hit the “Clear/Back” button and… ta-dah!!! you go right to the “Toner Reset Menu”
3. Using the up ^ Down > “Search” arrow buttons, you can then scroll through reset options for each of the printer’s [4] toner cartridges!
Code: K. = black; C. = cyan; M. = magenta and Y. = yellow
4. For each for these cartridges, there is the option to reset for STD (standard?) or STR (high yield?). I selected STD for all toners.
5. Using the number keypad, select option #1 for RESET.
6. Hit the “Clear/Back” button to get out of the menu, close door and all toners are working like new ones.
then your original toners are continuing to work.

Viper Key FOB replacement Pairing\Programming

2011-11-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

So I recently went through the fun of programming a new 7251V Viper 2-Way LE Responder
Remote Replacement for my Prius. I figured I would save anyone else out there the trouble that I had with the programming. I noticed all of the information on the internet was not enough to actually get it working on a Prius. So here is how I got it working on my 2009 Toyota Prius.

1st you need to enter the remote into progamming Hold the Function button until the remote gives a long beep and LED light comes on the remote a (it takes about 8 sec.) Then press and hold the remote start buttom until the remote beeps 3 times and LED lights up. Now your ready to program the remote, you have 60 seconds to do the steps in the next 2 paragraphs.

One of the door has to be open . Turn on Prius so it says "Ready" and the ignition is fully on (this is the important part that none of the other forums talks about, the car must be running). As soon as you turn the car on you have 5 seconds to do the next step which is to press and release the control center button (Control center is just the antenna that is mounted on you windshield, it should have a blue light and a button that you can press). After you have done that you have another 5 seconds to press and hold the button after roughly 5 seconds of holding the button down the blue light will start blinking and if you have the system hooked up to more than just remote start and doors you may hear a chirp or horn honk, but in my case neither apply so I had to watch for the blinking light because that was my only indication.

Then you need to press the lock button on the remote and you will hear a success tone from the remote and maybe a chirp from the Viper system. After you are done with that you can turn the car off and hit the function button twice to exit and save the programming\paring information.

Does that help? I know this info would have helped me big time when I was going through it so I hope I can help others.

Thanks,
-Spader

How to disable Sirius XM Timeout

2011-10-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

If you're like me and listen to the Sirius XM online radio 24/7, then the 90 minute streaming timeout really gets annoying. We'll I've got the solution for you. I have done this in Chrome and Firefox and it works great.

In summary to disable the streaming timeout you need to disable the JavaScript (JS) on the page after you have started the streaming session. It won't work if you disable JS before logging in because it requires JS to log in.

I recommend using Chrome because the Extension from this location does a great job of disabling the java only on the Sirius XM tab and other tabs can continue to use JS.

The other option if you don't like Chrome is to use the QuickJava add-on in Firefox. Some downfalls I have seen with this is that it diables JavaScript in all tabs, and it goes on to disable JS in your other Firefox installations if you have the QuickJava Add-On installed there and enable Sync in your Firefox browser. To use this plugin you have to make sure you go to View --> Toolbars --> Add-on Bar then you can click on the JS at the bottom of the Firefox page.

SBS 2003 OWA failures

2011-10-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

So I was starting to have issues with a SBS 2003 server that I manage. For some reason the OWA service would stop working for exactly an hour, and sometimes more, then all of the sudden it would come back online. Because I knew the time it went down and came back on within a minute I thought I would see logs during that time but that was not the case.

Well I have finally found what was causing the issue. It is ISA server that is blocking the connection because of a timeout issue. I didn't make any changes but this just started happening out of no where.

Here is the error log that I was receiving in the ISA Monitoring logs:

Failed Connection Attempt	SERVER 10/24/2011 8:16:40 AM
Log type: Web Proxy (Reverse)
Status: 10060 A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond.
Rule: SBS Web Publishing Rule
Source: External ( 64.141.100.136:0)
Destination: ( 65.41.114.173:443)
Request: GET https://mail.server.com:443/Remote/logon.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fremote%2fDefault.aspx
Filter information: Req ID: 16e41712
Protocol: https
User: anonymous

I have fixed this issue by modifying this time out in the firewall policy under the SBS Web Publishing Rule, In the advance setting under the SBS Web Listener Properties, I change the Connection Timeout from 120 to 620:

Let me know if you have any questions,
-Spader

Exchange 2003 Errors SBS 2003

2011-10-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

I found a warning message in the Application logs on my Exchange 2003 server and here is what I did to get rid of the error within the logs.

*****************************************************************************

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: MSExchangeMU
Event Category: General
Event ID: 1040
Date: 10/19/2011
Time: 4:24:51 PM
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER2011
Description:
Metabase Update failed replication 5 times with error 80070003 (The system cannot find the path specified.). Please change the diagnostic logging level of MSExchangeMU to 'minimum' or greater to find the source of the problem.

For more information, click http://www.microsoft.com/contentredirect.asp.

*****************************************************************************

So I found some steps on the web which directed me us the MetaEdit tool to delete a key. I ended up only deleting the DS2MB key and not touching the SMTPSVC/1/domain key. This completely eliminated all of the warnings related to the issue and now OWA is working like a champ.

Download the tool here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301386

Follow these steps:
1) Backup the IIS metabase
2) Stop the Ms exchange System Attendant service
3) Using Meta Edit delete/rename the DS2MB key (Metaedit is a free tool)

4) Using Meta Edit delete/rename the key SMTPSVC/1/domain
5) Restart the Ms Exchange System Attendant service
6) The above keys will be recreated

Below shows the errors and how they stopped at 4:39pm when I executed the steps above:

Hope this helps others!
-Spader

BeyondPod Feed Update Disabled

2011-10-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

I believe I have finally figured out why my Beyond Pod scheduled feed update keeps getting disabled. I was thinking that it was Advanced Task Killer that was killing BeyondPod but that was not the case. I already put BeyondPod on the ignore list so it wouldn't automatically kill that program.

I figured out that it was my Titanium Backup program that was doing a force kill on the program so it could back it up. So if you have the same issue with BeyondPod feed update getting disabled all of the time, just go into your titanium backup program and either create a filter so it doesn't backup BeyondPod, or change the settings on Titanium Backup so it does not force kill applications. I would suggest creating a filter because if Titainium Backup doesn't force kill the application it won't be able to back up many programs properly.

Later,

-Spader

Dyndns Standard SMTP Service not working

2011-10-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

All,
I experienced an issue this morning with my dyndns service. I use them to send all of my email from my exchange server to external recipients. It appears they forgot to renew their certificate on the their receivers. These are the errors that I'm receiving on both exchange servers that I manage.

451 4.4.0 Primary target IP address responded with: "454 4.7.5 Certificate validation failure."

I also so in my logs event 11005 that stated this: Unable to validate the TLS certificate of the smart host for the connector MailHop Outbound. The certificate validation error for the certificate is CertificateExpired. If the problem persists, contact the administrator of the smart host to resolve the problem.

So I came to the conclusion that DynDNS forgot to renew their cert. Oops!

I notified them and they stated this:
I have received and acknowledged your concern regarding messages not being able to be sent through our outbound.mailhop.org server or generating a certificate-related error message.
At this time, Dyn is aware of a couple of our servers experiencing issues with their certificates and we are working towards a resolution of this issue.

To temporarily alleviate the issue, we kindly ask that you retry sending your messages with TLS turned off in your mail client. We will post an update to our status.dyn-inc.com site as soon as the issue has been resolved.

That said, if you are managing SBS 2008 or Exchange 2007 here is how to disable TLS quickly:

Just uncheck the "Basic Authentication over TLS" and viola!

Let me know if you have any issues with this.

-Spader

UPDATE 10-07-11: I am still having issues with my Exchange 2007 server, but the other server that I support which is exchange 2003 started working at 8:46am on the same day that the issues started 10-3-11.

I definitely which they would figure out how to be compatiable with exchange 2007, I'm sure many people are running this and having issues. Here is the error message that I'm receiving on my exchange 2007 server (SBS 2008):

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MSExchangeTransport
Date:          10/7/2011 7:47:58 AM
Event ID:      11005
Task Category: MessageSecurity
Level:         Error
Description:
Unable to validate the TLS certificate of the smart host for the connector MailHop Outbound. The certificate validation error for the certificate is UntrustedRoot. If the problem persists, contact the administrator of the smart host to resolve the problem.

It looks like they are either using a self signed certificate or used a certificate authority that is not in the SBS 2008 trusted root CA list.

PLEASE fix DynDNS, I would like to enable my encryption!
-Spader

UPDATE 10-19-11: I randomly checked to see if DynDNS has fix their issue today and finally was able to send messages using encryption. Thank you for finally fixing your issue DynDNS. We are finally back to normal!
-Spader

Acer Iconia A500 GPS issue

2011-10-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else having issues with the Acer Iconia GPS? I can't get it to get a GPS fix, and if it does it will take at least 2-10 minutes to get the fix then it doesn't keep the fix. I think something is seriously wrong with their GPS in this tablet.

I also tried using GPS Status app to try to fix it because that works on my HTC EVO but I didn't have any luck.

Did anyone find a way to fix this? Do I just call Acer support and try to get new hardware or a software patch?

Thanks!
-Spader

Acer Iconia Tablet A500 Wireless Hack for PEAP

2011-09-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

For everyone out there that want's to use their Acer Iconia A500 tablet at work but can't get get around the darn Enterprise level encryption. I hope I have your fix.

Background on my issue is that I bought a A500 tablet along with 2 other co-workers. Then WIFI stopped working for some reason almost exactly 2 weeks after connecting to the Corporation's WIFI network. They use PEAP encryption and require me to enter my username and password. I tried everything for months to get it working again but no luck. The interesting fact is that one of my co-workers had the exact same issue as me but the other co-worker didn't have any problems at all.

I have called Acer about this issue and they were absolutely no help and actually said the Honeycomb OS doesn't support it... FAIL. This issue had nothing to do with the OS.

So after trying everything, yesterday I was tinkering around with it and this is what I did to fix it.

Rebooted-->entered my username in the username\identity field then put characters in the field under that "Anonymous identity", and that's it, then I hit SAVE. Then turned wireless off then on. Then I put my credentials in the correct way with my username in the "identity" field and my password in the "password" field then turned wireless off and back on and then viola. I'm back in business.

I know I know, sounds more like witchcraft then troubleshooting, but it worked for me and and my other co-worker that was having troubles with it.

Let me know if you have any questions.
-Ben

HTC EVO GPS fix on Cyanogenmod 7

2011-05-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

After recently upgrading my HTC EVO on Sprint to the latest nightly builds I had major issues trying to get the GPS to work properly. I tried installing build number #54, #55, #57, #62, #64, I also tried installing stable release 7.0.3.1 and 7.0.2. But after installing all of these builds had a broken GPS within build.

I had read many possible solutions on the net but the only fix that actually worked was this one:

Warning: This is for advanced users. If you are not comfortable flashing and changing crap on your phone, don't do it. No one is responsible for messing up your phone other than you.

When on a Sense ROM (it can be stock, Fresh, Sprint Lovers, etc) do the following:

MAKE SURE YOU DO A FULL BACKUP FIRST!
Download MSL reader from the market
Run MSL reader to get your MSL. Your phone may freeze up after you get your MSL. Your MSL should be 6 digits long.
Flash to any Sense ROM. Unless you have a prior backup of Stock Sense or any other Sense ROM, I suggest flashing Fresh. Note: I had issues with Rom Manager version 3.0.0.5 while trying to flash a Sense ROM. If you have this issue also then you should flash an earlier recovery, I used 2.5.0.7 and it finally worked.
In the dialer, dial: ##GPSCLRX# (##4772579#)
Your phone will ask for a security number. This is the MSL. Input it here.
Reboot
After it has rebooted, test your GPS in Sense to make sure it works. If you need to, follow these steps again.
While you are in Sense, go to settings > about phone > updates > update PRL.
After the PRL is updated, go back to the updates and hit update profile.
Once the profile is updated either reboot into recovery or use Clockwork Mod, then
Flash your backup of CyanogenMod 7

Toyota Prius Hacks

2011-05-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

One of the most annoying things about my Toyota Prius is the it beeps constantly while in the reverse gear. As in, it beeps the entire time you’re in reverse. If you’re like me, you just drove your new Prius home and you’re Googling for a fix. Look no further, my friend.
The second Prius hack (below) to disable the seatbelt beeping is meant to serve as a convenience feature only. I often put something heavy (non-human) on the passenger seat and the Prius will beep annoyingly to remind (my computer bag mostly) that it needs to wear its seatbelt. Obviously, you should always wear you seatbelt for safety reasons. As the sticker I recently saw on a UHaul said “Don’t get caught dead sitting on your seatbelt.”
To disable the reverse beeping on your Prius (tested on the 2009 model):

Without your foot on the brake, turn on your Prius and make sure you are in ODO mode (not Trip A or B). Power off the Prius
With your foot on the brake, turn on the Prius. As soon as the ‘Ready’ light is lit, press and hold the ODO button for at least 10 seconds.
Keeping the ODO button pressed, move the shifter to Reverse and release, then press the Park button again. At this point, ‘b- on’ should appear on your dashboard display.
You can now let go of the ODO button, and each press of the ODO button toggles between ‘b-on’ and ‘b-off’. To disable the reverse beep, simply set it to ‘b-off’, the power off the Prius.

And to disable each of the front seatbelt warning beeps, follow these instructions:

Be sure someone is sitting in the seat which seatbelt beep you wish to disable.
Without your foot on the brake, turn on your Prius and make sure you are in ODO mode (not Trip A or B). Power off the Prius
With your foot on the brake, turn on the Prius. As soon as the ‘Ready’ light is lit, press and hold the ODO button for at least 10 seconds.
Keeping the ODO button pressed, insert the seatbelt that you wish to disable the beep for. At this point, ‘b- on’ should appear on your dashboard display.
You can now let go of the ODO button, and each press of the ODO button toggles between ‘b- on’ and ‘b-off’. To disable the reverse beep, simply set it to ‘b-off’, the power off the Prius.

These instructions may work for earlier model years as well, although 2006 and earlier models may require no one be in the seat which seatbelt is being disabled.

UPDATE: I recently changed my starter battery in my Prius and I had to run through these steps again. Seriously Toyota... You have a myriad of batteries in this car and you couldn't find one to hold these settings. My kids toys have more capabilities that that! Yet another car manufacture #FAIL

Where's that sound coming from???

2011-05-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Learned today that it's not good to set the wireless Access Point on top of the computer amplifier.

I searched everywhere looking for power cables over the speaker wires then I finally figured out it was the AP sitting on top of the bass\amplifier under my desk.

Immediate satisfaction :)

Toyota's Seat Belt Chime\Alarm

2011-05-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

First of all I would like to strangle Toyota for implementing the most annoying seat belt alarm. I can guarantee that does nothing to help with the safety of the car\truck. If poeple don't want to ware a seat belt an alarm isn't going to get them to start.

You know what Toyota, it's the their life if they choose not to buckle up. Me personally I always

buckle up; but yet they have succeeded in installing an alarm that is incredibly annoying even for people who use the seat belt.

So for any owner of a 2008 Toyota Tundra, here is how you disable the seatbelt alarm in less then 5 minutes. Shorter then the time I spent on this post :).

Steps:

Detach the seat belt sensor from the back of the seat belt buckle by using a pointy object to push in this little black button and then pulling down on sensor from the seat belt buckle:

Next all you have to do is remove th small spring that holds the white plastic piece up. This plastic piece would be pushed down if the seat belt was inserted into the buckle. Take a small piece of tape to hold it down, because I hear that it could disable your airbag if you don't. (kind of important).

Then it is simple to insert the sensor back into the seatbelt and viola! No annoying pointless beep!!!

I'm guessing this will work for any Tundra after 2007 seeing that was the last year they made major changes to the Tundra.

UPDATE: I have found that on my 2008 Tundra I can not do this on the Passenger seat because it will disable the passenger air bag. But it does still work on the drivers seat. Please beware when doing the passenger seat, I tried many times and it looked like I got it working without disabling the airbag but then about a day later the air bag was disabled and would not go back on until I put the spring back in.

-Ben

First Post

2011-05-01T09:47:00.001-07:00

So I figured that I would start putting some of my thoughts down in the interwebs.... So people can search and read items that I think is necessary to post for all to read.

I can guarantee only one thing, I will not post things that everyone cares about.

Here are the topic's that interest me that I see myself posting on this blog:

Life Hacks - Anything to make your life easier
Cool products - Anything that people should consider for themselves
Stupid things - Things that I make no sense and should be abolished
Security related items - Seeing that my career is in the computer security realm

Enjoy!

-Ben