Yanzzee

6 GHz standard power

2026-06-24T12:39:07.607-07:00

I'm reviewing limitations of low power indoor (LPI) and standard power (SP) for 6 GHz in the FCC regulatory domain. There's been some discussion about the benefits of SP indoors, but my experience has been that the complexity, limitations, and risk of SP outweigh the benefits. I prefer to install LPI models wherever possible unless there is a specific need for power, weatherproofing, or external antennas. Especially in high density environments, I really want to be able to use 47.5% more channels that are in U-NII 6 and 8 when using LPI compared to SP. This likely is significantly more impactful to total system performance than being able to increase power and MCS rates.

Aruba AP-675 in an outdoor space

Standard Power 6 GHz

- requires daily location/AFC check-in, else 6 GHz radio is disabled
- limited to 40 of 59 channels or less, depending on AFC response
- higher max power possible, depending on AFC response
- allows external antennas
- allows outdoor models

Low Power Indoors 6 GHz

- allows 59 of 59 channels
- lower max power possible
- no location/AFC check-in required
- no external antennas allowed
- integrated directional antennas OK
- no outdoor/weatherized models allowed
- not allowed to be installed outdoors at all
- not allowed to be installed in a weatherized enclosure

Because of these new limitations, LPI APs with integrated directional antennas such as Mist AP47D or Aruba AP-763 are now a much more interesting option for large venues and possibly even as a standard design model. Increasing the gain in the direction of the floor will increase RSSI for nearby clients without needing the additional power of SP models and the complexity that is required for them. Additionally, this type of model will increase the proclivity of client devices to roam to closer APs rather than sticking on a mediocre radio that is farther away. Furthermore, co-channel contention in 5 GHz and even 2.4 GHz will also be reduced, making these existing bands more efficient.

Peter McKenzie does a great analysis of the benefits of LPI with integrated directional antennas in this video:

DNS entries needed for MLB app

2023-04-01T14:49:00.002-07:00

I have a pi-hole DNS server and fairly aggressive block lists from https://firebog.net/. The MLB TV android app was crashing until I whitelisted this google entry. It looks like it's for serving ads in the app.

imasdk.googleapis.com

These other entries can stay blocked and the app still worked.

X api.onesignal.com

X mlb.sc.omtrdc.net

X api.branch.io

X assets.adobedtm.com

X mlb.siteintercept.qualtrics.com

X udm.scorecardresearch.com

X b.scorecardresearch.com

X datadoghq.eu

X demdex.net

X app-measurement.com

X conviva.com

Simple powershell ping log with timestamp

2020-06-16T13:07:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick and dirty script that will ping with a timestamp, and save the ouput to a text file. I have used pingInfoView quite a bit, but sometimes this fits the situation better.

$hostAddress = Read-Host -Prompt 'IP Address or Hostname'
$fileName = Read-Host -Prompt 'Output file'

ping.exe -t $hostAddress|Foreach{"{0} - {1}" -f (Get-Date),$_}| Tee-Object -file $fileName

Communication medium effectiveness matrix

2020-02-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

Different communication methods and how effective they are in each of the following (usually) desirable categories.

Convenience
How quick and simple can this be used without a lot of setup.

Speed
Ability to get the message to someone timely.

Tracking
Is the communication recorded, or can it be verified at a later date.

Personal
How much the communication naturally builds your personal/professional relationship with others.

Ubiquitous
The degree that everyone has access and the ability to use this communication method.

Understanding
How effective the method is at conveying your intended meaning.

	Convenience	Speed	Tracking	Personal	Ubiquitous	Understanding	Total
Email	Med	Med	High	Low	High	Med	20
Slack	High	High	Med	Low	Med	Med	20
Text	Med	High	Low	Low	Low	Low	12
Desk Phone	Med	Med	Low	Med	Med	High	18
Cell Phone	Med	High	Low	Med	Low	High	18
P2P meeting	Low	Low	Low	High	Med	High	15
Group meeting	Low	Low	Med	Med	Med	Med	14
2-way Radio	Med	High	Low	Low	Low	Low	12

Scoring
Low: 1 point
Med: 3 points
High: 5 points

This is completely subjective, biased, and probably over-simplified because it is unique for each situation. I know my mom always liked sending letters in the mail.

OBi 200/202 no audio but call connects

2020-01-25T22:52:00.004-08:00

After installing a Palo Alto PA-220 with standard policies, there were several things that were broken.

VOIP phone through Google Voice/OBi analogue - no audio on any call (STUN over port 19305)
Speedtest.net find server and tests would not complete (SSL over port 8080)
Our washer and drier were no longer sending notifications when laundry was done (SSL over 46030)
External Plex server (SSL over port 32400)

The offender was the default outbound policy to the internet/WAN. While the source/destination are any/any, the Service specified is application-default which basically means that if services are using non-standard ports they won't be allowed in this policy. There weren't any indications of dropped traffic in the logs, because default policies are not logged in Palo Alto devices by default, and this traffic was getting denied by the interzone-default policy.

To resolve this easily, just change application-default to any. However, you may want to see what else is being blocked, and potentially keep blocking some of that. To do so, you could do one of the following:

log traffic in default security policies temporarily

How to log traffic in default security policies:
https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClHkCAK

Keep the outbound rule as application-default, and create a subsequent rule that denies all. This will log all the denies, and you can create granular rules for the devices/services that you want to allow.

Mostly I'm finding that this is catching SSL over ports other than 443. I'm sure there's a more elegant way to do this, but this is a learning experience for me.

What does application-default mean
https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClVwCAK

Application-default blocks speedtest.net
https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/General-Topics/application-any-and-service-application-default-in-policy/td-p/258909

Microsoft Edge Memory Leak

2016-09-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

I had one tab open in Microsoft Edge, and it was using over 5 GB of memory. Memory leak much? Yet Microsoft wanted to close Firefox.

Installing residential network wiring

2015-11-29T22:09:00.000-08:00

The goal of this project was to install network wiring throughout a house that only had the cable line in from the ISP. The house is a split level with four levels. The bottom basement is unfinished, but also has the cable line and modem installed on an unfinished wall. The primary need for this project was to wire up the bedroom used as an office, so wireless wouldn’t be the only option.

As an initial solution, I bridged an old Linksys router to our main wireless access point. This provided wired connections in the office without having to run wires the entire way. However, the Linksys router was slower than the bandwidth from the ISP, and was likely slowing down the wireless for all other connected devices. The router was also unreliable and required rebooting every few days. This was not the ideal situation to work on computers that might have other networking problems. Also, I felt that if I was not getting the full bandwidth from the ISP, I was cheating myself.

One solution would have been to replace hardware in the office to have a faster, more reliable bridge. I weighed the option, but decided that if I were going to spend any money, I’d prefer to fully wire the house. Then it would have a very reliable infrastructure that would not need replacing for many years.

An old Linksys WGR54GS device used as a wireless bridge

Overview

After planning, the project included several sections, including installing a rack and network equipment in the basement. The major part was finding wiring paths that made sense, drilling holes, and running fish tape and cable. Finally, terminating keystones, the patch panel, closing up holes, and cleaning up took quite a lot of effort. In the end I had seven finished wall plates with two RJ45 jacks each. This includes one plate in the front room, two in the family room, one in the office, and one in each of the three bedrooms.

Rack and wall equipment

For rack equipment I first mounted a sheet of plywood to wall studs in the basement. This provided space to mount a 12” 8U rack which holds a 24 port patch panel and 24 port switch, with room to grow. I also mounted a grounding bar, power strip, cable modem, wireless router, and cable splitter to the wall for a clean and organized wiring wall.

Cable installation

Routing the cables was probably the biggest challenge for me. Luckily, I managed to get a work friend over to help me who has a career of experience in cable installation. He gave guidance on wire paths, where to place jacks, and helped me drill holes and pull fish tape. I owe him big time.

The majority of the wiring runs vertically into the attic, and back down through the walls into the various locations. We managed to line up this initial run to a section of wall where the gap was literally the width of a single stud. A little bit of it was luck, but a lot of it was the skill and experience that my friend brought.

Finishing cables

The wires we pulled are CAT6 STP. I chose shielded because it wasn’t that much more expensive than unshielded. The cable isn’t riser or plenum rated, but this is a residence, not a place of business. Terminating wire at the patch panel and jacks was fairly straight forward and went without many problems. The catch with shielded cable is that it must be grounded or it can act as an antenna and receive even more interference, so I made sure to get a shielded CAT6 patch panel and ground it to the breaker box.

Cleanup

Cleaning up after the project was not something that I planned initially, but sealing the holes for wire runs, and restoring insulation where it was disturbed actually took a lot of time and effort.

Detailed Work

Acquire tools & materials

Tools included:
electricians scissors
110 punchdown
cable jacket stripper
cable cutter
jab saw
crimp tool
drill
screwdrivers
pliers
stud finder
specialty drill bits
wire pulling rods
tone & probe kit

Materials included:
500ft fish tape
1000ft CAT6 STP
CAT6 Keystones
wall plates
low voltage wall brackets
cable ties
cable tie mounts
8U wall rack
mounting hardware for rack
24 port CAT6 shielded patch panel
24 port Gigabit switch
spray foam insulation
blown-in insulation
fastening tape
2 ft CAT6 patch cables
grounding wire
wire ring terminals
electrical tape

The entire purchasing process took a lot of searching, several online transactions, and several trips to different hardware stores. In all I spent about $600 on this project, although some of the tools were borrowed. I managed to get a sweet deal on the gig switch from an out of luck bitcoin mining operation.

Some of the tools used for this project

Cut and mount plywood to wall studs

I already had the plywood, but had to cut it to the right shape with a jigsaw, measure and drill pilot holes for wood screws to securely mount it onto the wall. I used nine 2 ½” screws, thinking that the plywood will possibly hold a lot of weight.

Plywood mounted to wall studs near cable up-link

Route fish tape, measure, drill, and pull cable

The easiest route for the majority of the wiring was not the shortest, and it wasn’t that easy. We drilled vertically from the basement into the main level wall, then from the attic into the same section. This section needed to hold 12 cables, so several holes were drilled in sequence. After reaching the attic, the majority of the cable ran over to the upper attic above the bedrooms. Three holes were drilled from the upper attic into different wall sections; two for bedrooms. One line had to go all the way from the upper attic through the upstairs wall, and into the upper basement wall. This was the most difficult section to drill, and we had to make a couple of extra holes in the wall to drill the correct holes in studs. That location was also where I needed the network the most.

Fish tape was pulled using rods. At this point, holes were also cut for the plates in various rooms. After fish tape was in place, cable was measured, cut, and pulled through to the appropriate location. In all there are 16 lines run to 8 locations. 7 of these locations are in finished rooms.

This step was completed over 4 days.

A hole in the attic into a section of wall

This stud finder shows the small gap between studs that we managed to route most of the cables

Fish tape pulled to a wall jack

Low voltage wall bracket installed

Cable bundled, tied to fish tape, and then secured with electrical tape for pulling

Install wall rack and hardware

The 12” 8U rack had to be assembled and installed on the plywood. Tee nuts were used to provide a secure mount to the plywood. Additional screws were installed for mounting the cable modem, wireless router, and power strip. I also mounted the cable splitter as well as a grounding bar.

The patch panel and network switch mounted to the rack, leaving 6U for future expansion. Both the rack itself and the patch panel were grounded to the bus bar, and the bus bar grounded to the electrical panel.

8U 12" wall mount rack installed on plywood

Terminate cable at patch panel and wall jacks

Cables needed to be cut to length, stripped, and punched down on the patch panel, as well as on keystone jacks at each wall mount. Plate holes needed to be finished and brackets installed. Keystones mounted into the wall plates. Each cable had foil shielding as well as an additional stranded copper wire for grounding. This attached at the patch panel. Patch cords connected the panel to the switch, switch to the router, and router to the modem. Cables were tidied up with Velcro and cable ties.

The first two cables punched down into the CAT6 shielded patch panel. Ground not yet connected

Keystone jacks punched down, and installed into a wall plate

A finished wall plate with two jacks

Cleanup

There were several holes in studs from the attic or basement that needed repair. Foam insulation from a can was used to seal these holes and hold the cable in place at that point.

There were also several places where the blown-in insulation was disturbed in the attic. I also realized that it was a bit low in some areas, so I added 7 bags of insulation by hand. It would have been better to rent an insulation blower, but 7 bags was not enough to rent one. It was however tedious work. This step was performed over two days.

The finished wall rack with cables and equipment

Additional thoughts

Most of the people I talked to, including other IT professionals, said they would just use wireless. Many of them still understood that wired connections are always going to be more reliable and have a higher throughput than wireless. Towards the end of this project I started to question whether it was worth it to do all this work for something that could also work over wireless. I’m glad that I did it, but I’m happy that it’s over, considering it took over 30 hours to complete.

There’s a lot of options when doing a project like this, and usually it’s going to take a lot more time to get things the way you want them rather than just getting a cable run the easiest way. I learned a lot about the difference between shielded and unshielded cabling, as well as the different jacket types.

If I were to do this type of project again, I’d be sure to do a bit more reconnaissance regarding what’s in the walls and between floors. Having done it once, I bet I could shave 10 hours or so off the next project, at least if it were a similar house plan. The worst part of this project was spending so much time in the attic being cramped, breathing dust, and accidentally drilling through a wall in the wrong spot. I at least know the house a lot better.

The benefit from this project is that this house now has gigabit network throughout most of the rooms, and a place to mount a small server in the basement. When gigabit internet is available and practical here, the house is ready to upgrade. It will even possibly handle 10 gigabit Ethernet because the cable runs are not very long.

Remove browser hijacker malware

2014-12-04T01:23:00.001-08:00

For conduit, white smoke, babylon, anything opencandy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCandy), and other browser hijackers I usually do the following.

1. uninstall these and anything unrecognizable from add/remove

2. in EACH browser

a. remove any add-ins/extensions

b. change the default web page/home page

c. remove any search engines that you don't recognize, set default to google

3. delete anything from c:\program files, c:\users\appdata that appears to be from the malware

4. run a full scan of Malwarebytes, and possibly other scans

5. probably also a good idea to clear your cache and cookies

I also heard that some trovi malware is also changing browser shortcuts on the desktop, and has a scheduled task to change these shortcuts. I haven't seen this personally, but it's worth checking. Apparently ADWcleaner is good at removing this.

My rule of thumb is that if it takes longer than 30 minutes to an hour to fix I'm going to re-install the OS. However this isn't always practical.

Delay dropbox startup in Windows

2014-10-05T12:05:00.002-07:00

Dropbox was slowing down my startup after logging in, so I wanted to delay startup by a minute or so to allow my computer to be usable earlier. The normal settings only allow it to either start up immediately, or entirely manually. Below are instructions on how I got it to start after 2 minutes. I did this in Windows 7, but it should work similarly in Windows 8, 8.1, and probably Windows 10. This also works with other programs, so you could stagger startup items instead of having them all hammer the system at once.

1. Disable the normal dropbox startup.

a. Click on the dropbox icon, click the gear icon, and click Preferences...
b. Uncheck "Start Dropbox on system startup". Click OK

1. a. Click Preferences...

1. b. Uncheck Start on system startup

2. Open the task scheduler.

a. From the Start menu, click All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Task Scheduler.
This can also be found in the control panel under System & Security, Administrative Tools, or by searching in Start.

3. Create a new scheduled task.

a. Click Create Basic Task
b. Enter Name - Dropbox, and a description if you wish. Click Next.
c. Trigger. Select "When I Log on". Click Next.
d. Action. "Start a program"
e. Start a Program - Program/script - Enter C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Dropbox\bin\Dropbox.exe. Be sure to change to your username.
f. Add arguments - Enter /systemstartup
g. On Finish check "Open the Properties dialog for this task when I click Finish". Click Finish.
h. Click the Triggers tab and click Edit...
i. Check "Delay task for:" and enter the number of minutes that want it to be delayed. Click OK on the open windows and close all other windows.
j. If this is a laptop, click the conditions tab and uncheck "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power" (if you want).

3. a. Task Scheduler - Create Basic Task...

3. b. Create Basic Task - Name

3. c. Create Basic Task - Trigger

3. e. Create Basic Task - Start a Program

3. i. Edit Trigger - Check "Delay task for:"

3. j. Uncheck "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power"

4. Test by restarting and logging back on.

Lockdown Browser 1.0.7.02 LAB SCCM deployment

2014-09-05T00:00:00.001-07:00

I needed to update from Respondus LockDown Browser Lab version 1.0.5.14 to version 1.0.7.02. This is how I've done it as an SCCM application. This could probably be modified to be used in some other deployment solution, but I've tested it with SCCM 2012 R2 and Windows 7 clients running 32 and 64 bit versions.

After 1.0.7.02 was activated this error shows on 1.0.5.14

Install Shield files and installer folder

First, you'll need to create setup.iss files. Instructions can be found here: http://www.respondus.com/update/2009-11-d.shtml

Here's their instructions for convenience:

First, be sure that Respondus LockDown Browser isn’t already installed on the computer. If it is, then un-install it before continuing.

Download the full installer (LockDownSFX.exe) from the Respondus website. BE SURE to obtain the .exe via the admin login for your institution since the installer differs for each institution.
Run the installer and select the "Click Here" link that appears next to the text, "Problems with the installation program?" This will allow you to extract the setup files to a folder on your local disk (such as "lockdown").
Start the Windows Command Prompt (or run CMD.exe).
Change directories to where the installer was extracted (i.e. the “lockdown” folder).
From the command line run:

setup /r

This runs the regular installer but also creates c:\windows\setup.iss
Copy the file c:\windows\setup.iss into the “lockdown” folder.
Un-install Respondus LockDown Browser.

Now you now have a silent installer that can be run using this command:

setup /s /f1"%CD%\setup.iss"

Create three iss files using the same method, setup /r inside the expanded installer files. You will use each of these iss files later in SCCM; the normal silent install won't work to upgrade existing versions, and the third one will be used for uninstallation.

Normal install with no other version installed - named setup.iss
A re-install with version 1.0.5.14 installed - named update.iss
An uninstall of 1.0.7.02 - named uninstall.iss

Put all of the iss files in the installer folder with setup.exe etc.

Install script

Create a bat file with the contents below named installLDB.bat. See in-line comments for what it's doing. Basically it is checking if version 1.05 is installed, running with the update iss file, and otherwise installing with the setup file. The last part is changing the registry entry for versioning because for some reason Respondus doesn't like to do this in their installer. We will also use that key in SCCM for detection.

@echo off

REM Check registry for version 1.0.5
REG QUERY HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3DEC3ECB-D6FB-450E-8248-D05C36AD5FA4} /f "DisplayVersion" | find "1.0.5"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% == 1 goto newinstall
IF %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 goto update

REM If doesn't exist as 1.0.5 run new install
:newinstall
setup /s /f1"%CD%\setup.iss"
goto registry

REM if exists with version 1.0.5 run update
:update
setup /s /f1"%CD%\update.iss"

:registry
REM Update registry to show version 1.0.7.02 instead of 1.0.5
REG QUERY HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3DEC3ECB-D6FB-450E-8248-D05C36AD5FA4} /f "DisplayVersion" | find "1.0.5"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% == 1 goto end
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3DEC3ECB-D6FB-450E-8248-D05C36AD5FA4} /v DisplayVersion /t REG_SZ /d 1.0.7.02 /f

:end

You may want to verify that the registry key matches what actually shows when it is installed. Also create a bat file named uninstall.bat with the line below and copy to your installation folder.

setup /s /f1"%CD%\uninstall.iss"

Copy the folder to your network share or SCCM server.

SCCM Application

Create a new Application (not package). I'm not going to show how to create an application step by step here, but I've included the settings I used, everything else is default. This part is pretty straight forward if you've done it before, and these details are easily viewed for verification after the application is created by going to the application properties.

Name: Respondus LockDown Browser 1.0.7.02 LAB
Administrator Comments: Will update from 1.0.5 or perform a clean install, tested on Windows 7 64 and 32 bit, might not update other versions
Publisher: Respondus
Software Version: 1.0.7.02
Localized Application Name: Respondus LockDown Browser 1.0.7.02 LAB
Localized description: Respondus LockDown Browser 1.0.7.02 for labs only
Deployment type: script

Script
Name: Lockdown Browser 1.0.7.02
Content location: [enter UNC path to the folder you copied]
Installation program: "InstallLDB.bat"
Uninstall program: "uninstall.bat"
Run as 32 bit on 64: CHECKED

Detection Method
Setting Type: Registry
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{3DEC3ECB-D6FB-450E-8248- D05C36AD5FA4}
Value: DisplayVersion
Associated with 32-bit: CHECKED
Data Type: String
Operator: Equals
Value: 1.0.7.02

Install for System
Whether or not a user is logged on
Installation visibility: Normal
Max allowed run time: 20
Estimated installation: 5

It's important to check run as 32 bit on 64 bit machines, and associated with 32 bit in the detection method, or you will have problems on 64 bit Windows.

Deploy (test first) your application and you're done.

Another solution
http://windowsmasher.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/sccm-package-respondus-lockdown-browser/

More about reg command
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732643.aspx

Respondus LockDown Browser silent install - updated instructions
http://support.respondus.com/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/136/0/does-the-lockdown-browser-lab-edition-support-silent-or-unattended-installs-under-windows

InstallShield Parameters
http://helpnet.installshield.com/installshield18helplib/IHelpSetup_EXECmdLine.htm

Create System Center Configuration Manager Application
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682159.aspx

UNBEATABLE Tic Tac Toe Game

2013-03-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Click the link to download an unbeatable Tic-Tac-Toe game. It's possible to get a CAT game or lose, but the computer will never lose! You can also play two player if you want to have the possibility of winning.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2509724/TTT.exe

One player will be against the computer, two player will be against a friend (same computer)

Player one to choose X or O

The Computer Wins!

I created the program in high school after completing all of the assignments for the class. It was created with Visual Basic 6 with about 1200 lines of code. The program is fully functional, but certainly not polished. It was created pretty simply, e.g. the computer is not performing strategy, just making the pre-programmed best move, as Tic-Tac-Toe is a pretty simple game if you think about it. I also created a minesweeper game similar to the windows one, but I had a few bugs that I could never iron out. Sadly, I think I left that one on the classroom computer and don't have a copy. Shortly after this class I took a C++ class that helped me decide I no longer wanted to be a programmer! Feel free to distribute the program, but please give me credit if you do!

Wild Ones

2013-01-21T15:10:00.000-08:00

Bootable external drive for Windows & OSX

2012-11-06T13:58:00.001-08:00

This is how I created a bootable external drive with two partitions: One for WDS/Ghost etc. and the other for OSX install disk. For my drive, I've got a custom WinPE startup OS, and the OS 10.8 install image. The end result is an external drive that I can use to image or backup almost any computer that I come across. Below are the steps that I took to create the drive, but I'll cut to what I got hung up on: The Windows partition must be Active or your machine won't boot to it. Restoring the OSX image will remove this from the NTFS partition.

1. Create your Windows partition. (these steps can also be done in disk management)

Run CMD as an administrator (you must right click on CMD and run as administrator, not just be logged in as an administrator)
In CMD, run diskpart
list disk
select disk <#>
clean (! will remove all current partitions !)
create partition primary size=<n> (MB)
active
format fs=ntfs quick
assign letter=<L> (drive letter you want)
create partition primary (this will be the 2nd partition for OSX with the remaining space on the disk)
exit
After the volume is visible in the OS, you can copy your bootloader files over etc.

2. Mac partition. You'll need to remove your drive from Windows, and plug it in to a Mac.

Open the Disk Utility, you'll see the drive with two partitions. The first partition is the NTFS one that we just made, and the second is the partition that we created, but haven't formatted.

Locate the InstallESD.dmg file for OS 10.8. If you have the installer, it is located inside package contents in /Contents/SharedSupport/

In the Disk Utility, select File > Open Disk Image, and select the InstallESD.dmg file

Mount InstallESD by double clicking on it inside of the Disk Utility

Select the mounted image (Mac OSX Install ESD), and click on the Restore tab

Drag the 2nd partition to the Destination, and click the Restore button

After the image has been restored, you can copy additional files to the partition

3. Fix the first partition. OSX may have made the windows partition non-active, meaning when you try to boot to it, it will default to the second (Mac) partition.

Remove the device and put it back in a windows machine.

In the disk management utility, or diskpart, make the partition active

In CMD: list disk, select disk <#>, select partition <#>, active

Windows Disk Management

OSX Disk Utility

Windows 7 MySQL installation error service account

2012-07-29T18:10:00.002-07:00

When installing MySQL 5.5 on a Windows 7 machine, I received this error:

"an unknown error occurred while validating the service account"

and the installation would not complete, and I also got a configuration error with something like "unable to configure service".

After googling a bit and playing around with the settings, the answer was pretty simple. The default administrator account needs to be enabled. Although this was a pretty easy answer, I couldn't find it anywhere!

Result after enabling the default administrator account

Sorry I don't have more screen-shots, but I think it's pretty self explanatory. I may or may not add more later.

Texting is just like faxing

2012-04-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

It doesn't seem like texting (SMS) has much to do with fax machines. Perhaps not technically, but I will argue that the two technologies are very similar in the way we use them. At first I just wanted to compare the two tools of communication and how similar they seem. However, what I really want to say is that both of these tools are absolutely useless, and if you have either one, you are just giving your money away for something that is already free.

The most important thing that they have in common is that both technologies are obsolete, yet are still widely used. Worse, these technologies have free alternatives, but many many people are still paying large monthly fees to keep the service running. A lot of money is spent to keep us backwards compatible for those that only have these ancient forms of communication and refuse to use something better. The short answer is that internet access has replaced these tools, yet many still are clinging to that old familiar fax or text.

Alternatives to Faxing

It might be obvious that faxing technology is dying out, however it's still widely used in business and is combined into a lot of personal printers. The best alternative to using that old fax machine is having a soft copy of the file, and emailing it. There are a lot of lame arguments why this can't be done, but none of them hold water. I think most excuses boil down to collective laziness and refusal to learn something different. I've also heard that emailing is less secure than faxing, however the opposite is true if you password protect your documents or encrypt your email. There are also many different drop-box style websites that can be used to upload large files and send the link to the recipient. Newer multi-function printers have the ability to send and receive faxes. These can be used as a transitional tool to communicate with those that simply refuse to join the 21st century. Please find a better solution.

Alternatives to Texting

Before listing the alternatives, I'll assume that you want to send a quick message from your phone, anywhere that you have coverage. Perfect, any new phone that isn't built for your grandma has the ability to get the internet. Chances are, you probably already have 3G or 4G on your smart phone, in addition to your texting service. Instead of paying $20 for unlimited texting, why don't you pay $20 for unlimited internet and get the benefits of both? You probably already know that per character, text messaging is the most expensive form of communication.

As far as alternatives, e-mail is an obvious one if you want to send pictures or other files, however this can also be done with whatever your favorite social media site. Oh, you are just sending a quick message? The email app on your phone is probably as simple as the texting app. Also, ever heard of instant messaging? If your phone can have apps, then there is an app for that.

I think the real problem is that text messaging has reached critical mass, where everyone is using it, and it's hard not to have when everyone assumes they can message your number. I don't want to be the only guy that doesn't have texting; And I can't change everyone else's behavior just by refusing to use that form of communication. Just like it took a while for the idea of having a telephone in your home, it's going to take a while to kill some things that are no longer needed. The good news is that there are some free transitional technologies, similar to e-fax, that will allow you to send and receive free text messages. My personal favorite is Google voice, Apple has iMessages (although only iPhone to iPhone), and I know there are a lot of other alternatives out there. The point is that even if you must have the ability to text, it's a free service in a lot of forms. You can even send text messages from Google chat.

So why am I writing all of this, when the alternatives are obvious? Simply, it bugs me that so many people are using and paying for old technologies when they don't have to, and I am forced to accommodate their outdated and expensive forms of communication. It seems like it's only obvious to me, but maybe it isn't so obvious to everyone. Some people think that I am strange for refusing to pay for text messaging. To be honest, I think we're almost at the point of questioning why we pay for any communication service (phone, cable TV, etc) except for internet (but that's another discussion). I don't expect to be able to send a telegraph to you, so please cancel your texting plan and get rid of that fax line.

Embedding File Hangs Office

2012-01-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

I ran into the problem when embedding files into a Word document. I was using Office 2007, but this may be a problem in other versions. Word says that it is waiting for another application to complete an OLE action. What I had to do is open the task manager and end acroread.exe or whatever pdf program was running. After that I could embed the file successfully.

I'll upload screen-shots if I ever run into it again.

Print Screen Active Window Only Shortcuts

2012-01-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

Print screen the active window only by pressing ALT + Print Screen. On a mac you press Command + Shift + 4 then Space-bar, then click the window.

Mac:

Just a quick tip for reference. There's a more comprehensive tutorial for macs here: http://osxdaily.com/2010/05/13/print-screen-mac/ or http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/screencapturemac/ht/macscreenshot.htm

Windows:

If you want to capture a selected area in windows, you can do it if you have One Note installed with Windows + S, or from the Insert menu in OneNote, select screen clipping.

You can also use the screen snipping tool in Windows Vista or 7. Here's a good tutorial on how to assign a shortcut to the snipping tool:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/assign-a-shortcut-key-to-the-snipping-tool-in-windows-vista/

CMD Print DIR to text file

2011-10-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

dir > print.txt

The ">" symbol is telling to put the output of the command to whatever is next. In this case "print.txt". This is useful for writing any output to a file in a script or whatever.

Example: dir > %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\print.txt

This example will print the directory listing to print.txt on your desktop.

Other flags:

dir /b file names only

dir /s include all sub folders & files

Original source: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000772.htm

Actually I really like that site, and spent some time taking their quiz. Entertaining.

CMD combine CSV files into one

2011-10-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

I had the need to combine several CSV (excel) files into one file. The set was long enough that even opening them and copy/pasting would take over an hour. This little trick will do it in a few seconds. (in windows)

1. Put all of your files in the same folder. They all need to be CSV format and should be the only CSV files in the folder. You may want to remove headers from your spreadsheets if you don't want them later.
2. Open a command prompt. Windows+R > cmd This should be the normal command prompt because it doesn't work in powershell.
3. Navigate to the folder with your .csv files
4. type "copy *.csv newfilename.csv"
5. A new file named "newfilename.csv" will show up in the same folder. If you wanted to copy it somewhere else you could run copy *.csv path\newfilename.csv.

Example: copy *.csv %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\newfile.csv

This will copy all the CSV files from the folder you are in to a file on your desktop named newfile.csv.

I'm sure this can also be done with any type of text-only file.

If you need to do it on another type of spreadsheet file, you'll want to save copies as CSV first.

Note: if you run this more than once, you will want to delete or move the newly created file before running again. Otherwise the new file will be copied in with the rest and you'll have a lot of duplicates.

I think this is where I found the original answer.
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/do-you-combine-multiple-csv-files-into-one-file-t1739041.html

Save communicator chat history in outlook

2011-09-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

For some reason, our installation of communicator was set not to save any messages by default, but it did save my call history.

Since I don't have any juicy communications at work, I don't have any problem saving everything in communicator. I save those chats for gchat. By the way, administrators of communicator can view your conversations in communicator, so I would be careful when using it. They also control if these settings are available, so you might not be able to change much anyways.

When this option is selected, your chat messages and history will be saved to a folder in Outlook named "Conversation". (Image) Enabling this is very easy. It's done in Communicator, NOT in Outlook.

1. In Communicator go to file, tools, options...

2. Check the box that says "Save my instant message conversations in the Outlook Conversation History folder"

After restarting you will have a folder in Outlook that will save your chats from now on.

Here are my sources, which I'm sure you will find before this site, so I don't even know why I wrote this.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/communicator-help/frequently-asked-questions-HA010289995.aspx

http://weblogs.asp.net/coltk/archive/2010/04/29/enable-office-communicator-chat-history-in-outlook.aspx

Only one processor showing XP

2011-03-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

This fix is if Windows XP is only showing one processor on a multi processor/core machine.

1. Boot to safe mode with networking

2. Delete (or rename) the following if they exist from C:\WINDOWS\System32\

hal.dll

ntoskrnl.exe

ntkrnlpa.exe

(Check for these. They usually do not exist but delete them if they do)

halmacpi.dll

ntkrnlmp.exe

ntkrpamp.exe

3. Copy the following into C:\WINDOWS\System32\ from the files described in the bottom note.

hal.dll

ntkrnlpa.exe

ntoskrnl.exe

4. Reboot and it should fix itself the rest of the way.

NOTE: The new files in step 3 were taken from the originals which can be found on other machines in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386:

halmacpi.dll renamed to –>HAL.DLL

ntkrnlmp.exe renamed to –>ntoskrnl.exe

ntkrpamp.exe renamed to –>ntkrnlpa.exe

Outlook 2010 - Change default from-address gmail

2011-03-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

It took me a while to figure out how to change the default from address in Outlook when using gmail or a google apps account. I've done it in Office 2010. This will make your alias the default email address when sending any emails. It won't say "on behalf of" or anything like that.

1. Set up gmail account in outlook if you haven't done so already
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=77689

2. In file tab, open Options

3. Select Advanced Tab

4. Send/Recieve...

5. Edit...

6. Select your account and click Account Properties...

7. IMAP E-mail tab

8. Change E-mail Address: (not User Name)

Now when sending emails from the original account, the email address will actually be the new one even when the original account is selected.

Note: You can't use google apps sync with this solution; you have to use use calendar sync if you want use the calendar also.

If you just want to change the from address once, you can do this:

1. Create a new email
2. In options, select the from field
3. in the From tab, select "other email address" and put whatever address you want

Admin Group Policy fails to apply

2011-01-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

Problem:

Group Policy doesn't apply, but gpresult doesn't show any problem.
Some Policies are working on the same computer
The same policy is working on other computers
The windows log has an error with something like this:

The client-side extension could not remove computer policy settings for ' ' because it failed with error code '0x8007000d The data is invalid.' See trace file for more details.

Solution:

Delete all files in this path: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Group Policy\History
In Windows XP: D:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Group Policy\History
In a command window run "gpupdate /force"

I ran into a problem where our administrator group policy was not applying for some reason, while other policies were applying. I could not find any information in gpresult or in any group policy settings or information. The policy is the same that is on all the other machines in the domain, and was working, except for one or two machines.

I've spent several hours searching for a solution to this problem, and I we've re-imaged computers because of the problem, the actual solution will only take you 5 minutes. Other policies might not be applying also such as the password reset, even though they show that they are applying in gpresult.

The problem is a corrupt file in this location: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Group Policy\History. The solution is to delete everything in that folder and let Group Policy re-create it with gpupdate /force.

To give credit, here's where I found the solution. It might have a better answer anyways.
http://tools4pros.blogspot.com/2009/05/group-policy-error-0x8007000d-data-is.html

Export Domain Users to CSV with PowerShell

2011-01-19T19:04:00.000-08:00

If you would like to create a list of all domain users in excel with a powershell script you are in luck. Quest software has created some pretty awesome tools to manage Microsoft Active Directory. Here's how to do it:

1. You'll need to install the Quest ActiveRoles management shell v. 1.4 or later, located here: http://www.quest.com/powershell/activeroles-server.aspx

2. Create a PowerShell file with the following script. Basically, just copy this text into a text file and rename the extension to .ps1.

#This script requires Quest ActiveRoles management shell v.1.4 or later and Powershell to be installed. http://www.quest.com/powershell/activeroles-server.aspx
#The script may be run on any machine that is bound to the domain and actively connected. You do not have to be a domain administrator.
#Two files will be created. One CSV with results and one TXT log file.

$strTimestamp = [string](Get-Date -format "yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm")
start-transcript DomainScriptLog-$strTimestamp.txt #starting log file to verify that the script did not have any errors.

Get-Date -format s

# $strFilePath = ($Home + "\My Documents\")
#This is the path of the logged in user. Use this if you want to save to My Documents (add below into csv-export and out-file commands, otherwise it will save where the script is located.

$strFileName = ("DomainUsers_" + $strTimestamp + ".csv")
Write "Writing File to $strFileName. This may take some time..."

#set sizelimit to 0 for full list
#you can set the various attributes that you would like as columns here
Get-QADUser -Sizelimit '0' -ShowProgress -ProgressThreshold 0 | select-object Name, SAMAccountName, givenName, sn, title, manager, employeeID, employeeNumber, employeeType, defaultGroup, postalAddress, City, postalCode, PasswordNeverExpires, AccountIsDisabled, Description | export-csv ($strFileName) -notype

#this will put a timestamp in the file if it finished correctly
"Execution Completed successfully starting $strTimestamp ending: " + [string](Get-Date -format "yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm") | Out-File ($strFileName) -append
Write "Execution Complete"
Get-Date -format s
stop-transcript

3. Open the Quest ActiveRoles Management Shell for Active Directory program that you installed in step 1 and find the ps1 file that you created. If you run it in normal a normal PowerShell it won't work. Your computer should be logged in to a domain account and have an active connection. The process may take a while, but this script includes a progress bar as well as telling you which account it's working on.

PowerShell script with progress bar

4. You might get an error saying:

"File ....ps1 cannot be loaded. The file ....ps1 is not digitally signed. The script will not execute on the system. Please see "get-help about_signing" for more details.."

You can either figure out how to digitally sign the script by following these long instructions:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/SigningPowerShellScripts.aspx

Or you can just turn off the check because you know what it's doing:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347628.aspx

If you want to query specific groups such as admins, there's a similar tutorial here:
http://www.yanzzee.com/2011/01/use-powershell-to-create-domain-admin.html

Export Domain Admins to CSV with Powershell

2011-01-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

It would be nice to be able to run a PowerShell script to query certain domain groups in Microsoft Active Directory, and write them to .CSV files for easy review in excel. Here's one way to do it:

1. You'll need to install the Quest ActiveRoles management shell v. 1.4 or later, located here: http://www.quest.com/powershell/activeroles-server.aspx

2. Create a text file with .ps1 extension, and the following text. You can review the comments in the script to see what each part does, or just google the commands you don't know. Quest has some documentation last time I checked.

#the AD groups that will be queried. These are groups that are considered domain admins
$aGroups = @("Administrators", "Domain Admins", "Server Operators", "Enterprise Admins", "Account Operators", "Backup Operators", "Group Policy Creator Owners", "Schema Admins", "Domain Controllers")

#where the results are saved. you may want to change this
$strOutputPath = "C:\Users\username\Desktop\"

#creates a time-stamp for the file name
$strTimestamp = [string](Get-Date).Year + "-" + [string](Get-Date).Month + "-" + [string](Get-Date).Day + "_" + [string](Get-Date).Hour + "-" + [string](Get-Date).Minute

#the query happens for the groups provided above, and will record the details listed here and export it to a csv file for each with the timestamp
foreach ($group in $aGroups){
Get-QADGroupMember $group -Indirect -Type 'user'| select-object Name, sAMAccountName, title, manager, employeeID, employeeNumber, employeeType, associatedDomain, ObjectClass, defaultGroup, postalAddress, City, postalCode, PasswordNeverExpires, AccountIsDisabled, Description | export-csv ($strOutputPath + "_" + $strTimestamp + "_" + $group + ".csv") -notype
}

3. Run the powershell script on a domain machine that is currently on the network. You will have to open the Quest ActiveRoles Management Shell that you installed in step one. You should get a CSV file for each group specified. You shouldn't have to be a domain admin to run the script successfully, but your user and computer should be on the domain.

4. You might get an error saying:
"File ....ps1 cannot be loaded. The file ....ps1 is not digitally signed. The script will not execute on the system. Please see "get-help about_signing" for more details.."

You can either figure out how to digitally sign the script by following these long instructions:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/SigningPowerShellScripts.aspx

Or you can just turn off the check because you know what it's doing:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347628.aspx