Disable thumbs.db in Win7

Notes for self on how to do this.

1. Start Local Group Policy Editor.
   1. From start menu type gpedit.msc and hit enter.
2. Navigate the left pane:
   1. User Configuration
   2. Administrative Templates
   3. Windows Components
   4. Windows Explorer
3. On right hand side find:
   1. Turn off the caching of thumbnails in hidden thumbs.dg files
   2. Double click this item.
   3. Change value to Enabled

Other notes:

Might need to log off and log on again.

Will not delete existing thumbs.db file.

 

RunAs Utility

I've recently discovered (been introduced to) the runas command line utility which I was previously unaware of. This command allows you to run in the context of another user which is particularly useful if you are testing access permissions under different user names. The syntax is:

runas /user:mydomain\myuser program.exe

The one annoyance is that when you run that command it requires that you type in the password and if its a particularly long and complex password I will often make a mistake. However, because this is in a command window you can copy the password to the clipboard and right click at the password prompt and select Paste and it works.

Try running the following with a different user who is registered on your local computer.

runas /user:mydomain\myuser cmd

This will bring up a new command prompt in the context of that user. Now type the command...

whoami

...in both command windows. You will see that each command window is running in the context of a different user.

Windows Management Framework Core is already installed on your system

I've been trying to install Windows Update KB968930 on my XP SP3 machine and kept on getting this error:

Windows Management Framework Core Setup Error
Setup cannot proceed. Windows Management Framework Core is already installed on your system.

This update, I believe, is Powershell 2.0 (final)

To install Powershell 2.0 you first have to uninstall Powershell 1.0

I finally solved it and got it installed by uninstalling some stuff that has to be removed before you uninstall Powershell 1.0. This is what I uninstalled and the order in which I did it:

1. Update for Microsoft Windows (KB971513)
2. Update for Windows Internet Explorer (KB975364)
3. Microsoft Base Smart Card Cryptographic Service
4. Windows Powershell 1.0 MUI Pack
5. Wndows Powershell 1.0
6. Windows Management Framework Core

UPDATE 12/22/2009: You may find that after you've installed Powershell 2 you see an exception from mscorelib.exe when you reboot your computer and this error repeats three times. If you look at the Event Viewer and under System you will see an error from Service Control Manager: The .NET Runtime Optimization Service v2.0.50727_X86 service terminated unexpectedly.

To solve this problem you need to run the following in the new version of Powershell that you've just installed:

Set-Alias ngen (Join-Path ([Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeEnvironment]::GetRuntimeDirectory()) ngen.exe)
ngen update

There will be pages and page of informational text displayed including errors and warnings and this will take a fair amount of time to run. Be patient and don't panic.

Source: https://connect.microsoft.com/PowerShell/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=494515

 

Win7 slam the sides feature

I frequently need to view two web pages side by side but I find that I have those two web pages open in separate tabs in the same browser.

What I used to do would be the following:

1. Copy the URL from one of the tabs.
2. Minimize all windows on the desktop (Win + D)
3. Open a second browser.
4. Paste in the URL and hit enter.
5. Restore the original browser.
6. Right click the task bar and select "Show windows side by side" (or whatever the XP equivalent was).

I've found two shortcuts to improve this process. One of them from Windows 7 and the other seems to be a new(ish) feature on modern browsers that I just stumbled across.

1. Click the title bar of the browser with the mouse and slam it onto the right or left edge of the screen. (This will cause the browser to fully occupy one vertical half of your screen.
2. Drag the tab off the browser and it will immediately create a new new window.
3. Slam that title bar into the other edge.

I've discovered that dragging the tab away from the tab bar will create a new browser window in FireFox, Chrome and Opera but I haven't been able to get this to work in IE8.

In Firefox and Chrome you can drag the tab down onto the current page and it will pop up a new windows. However, in Opera, you need to drag the tab off the browser to get it to create a new window. That's why it's better to slam the side with the browser before dragging the tab because then you know that you have space to drag the tab onto.

Enabling SpamBayes on Outlook 2007 on Server 2008 x64

After installing SpamBayes Addin for Outlook 2007 on my Server 2008 x64 "workstation" I started receiving the following message when starting up Outlook 2007: "Outlook experienced a serious problem with the 'spambayes' add-in."
The fix was to disable DEP for that application. To do this on Server 2008:

• Start > Computer > right click > Properties (System Control Panel)
• Click Advanced System Settings
• Under Performance click Settings...
• Click on the Data Execution Prevention tab (have you worked out what DEP stands for yet?)
• Click Add... and then navigate to the application that was causing problems and add it.

If you've already disabled the Addin on Outlook 2007 you're going to want to re-enable it:

• In Outlook 2007 select menu Tools > Trust Center
• On left panel click Add-ins
• Under Disabled Application Add-ins select the Add-in that you disabled.
• From the Manage drop down select Disabled Items and click Go...
• Select the disabled item and click Enable.

Acer not charging for free upgrade this time around

I bought an Acer laptop a couple of years ago just before Vista came out. It touted a free upgrade to Vista because Vista was imminent. Fair enough I thought, I'll still get Vista and don't have to wait so I went ahead with the purchase.

The real story behind the free upgrade was that (1) I had to wait for months after Vista had shipped and was already available on a similar model laptop at Best Buy and, (2) I had to fill out an online form and then mail in all sorts of proof of purchase and, (3) I had to pay $15 for shipping and handling. This was a big effort, wait and annoying cost and that's the last time I fall for that free upgrade story.

Interestingly I just read Free Windows 7 upgades not always free and it reminded me of my Vista saga. However it looks like Acer may have learned from the Vista experience as they are now the only company listed in that article not to charge for the Windows 7 upgrade. However, I still wouldn't buy a computer with an upgrade promise because I can guarantee that you will have to spend hours fighting for that upgrade and you will only get it long after it's become available on the same laptop in that same store that you bought your Vista machine in.

Caveat emptor.

Windows 7

I'm ready to move on to Windows 7. Most of the reports and experiences that I've read have been very positive. In fact I don't recall anything negative that I've heard about Windows 7 that would impact me.

My main desktop machine is running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. The reason that I selected this OS as a desktop operating system was because (1) I wanted to be developing on the same machine that my apps were being targeted for and (2) I wanted to use Hyper-V. This was a mistake. IIS7 comes on all modern Microsoft operating systems now and it turns out that as a desktop machine Hyper-V works particularly badly because it virtualizes the video card and really impacts performance of everything you're working on.

On top of this Windows Server 2008 makes it painfully difficult to install run of the mill applications that you would frequently use on your desktop such as the Zune Desktop and Windows Media Player. Granted, Server 2008 was not designed to run these apps, that's what Vista and Windows 7 are for. I now understand my folly.

I now have a dilemma. Do I keep my powerful Server 2008 machine and turn it into a "remote into" machine for running and testing applications or do I convert it to Windows 7? Using it as a remote into only machine means that I can re-enable Hyper-V however it also means that I'll have an expensive and powerful machine sitting on my home network that's hardly being used anymore.

My biggest problem with all of this is the amount of time it takes to setup a new machine but I think that while typing this I've come up with a solution. I'll buy a cheaper piece of hardware and use my Windows Home Server's image of the Server 2008 machine and restore that to the new hardware. I'll then install Windows 7 on my main power machine. This will also give me a chance to test the recoverability of a system from WHS without risk.

Unable to reach NetBIOS name

Just been trying to troubleshoot why I couldn't ping any of the other computers on my network from one of my laptops. I still haven't fully solved the problem but I've managed to get the piece of software to work that I needed to get to work by following an excellent tip from amcmillan after asking "Can ping machine by IP but not by name" on the new Server Fault web site. The tip was a link to this Microsoft troubleshooting guide.
Here is my markedup flowchart that has got me to the next step:

Disable UAC on Server 2008 and Vista

I'm running Windows Server 2008 as a workstation. I ran into the usual problems with UAC and eventually disabled it.

My logic is this: On XP we didn't have UAC and I never got into trouble. The reason that I didn't get into trouble is because I'm a highly sophisticated user (software developer). I don't surf dubious web sites or follow suspicious links, and I don't install software from sources that I haven't researched or aren't linked to from multiple reputable places.

I believe that UAC shows it's true value to the mother-in-law (unsophisticated user) and protects them against valid dangers. I have seen my parents clicking on all sorts of links that I wouldn't go anywhere near. They need UAC and it should be switched on for them.

For us developers my belief is that leaving UAC switched on will cost us more in lost productivity than it will gain us in protection.

Disable UAC on Windows Server 2008

 

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Click User Accounts.
3. Click Turn User Account Control on or off.
4. (If you receive a User Account Control message click Continue.)
5. Clear the "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer" check box, and then click OK.
6. Click Restart Now to apply the change right away, or click Restart Later and close the User Accounts tasks window.

Disable UAC on Vista

1. Similar to the above except when you open the Control Panel just type UAC into the search box (top right).
2. You will then see the "Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off. Follow this link.
3. Clear the check box and then click okay.

 

Running VPN on a VM

Just been doing some testing on running VPN on a VM and on the host OS. The host in this case is Server 2008 x64 and the VM software is Hyper-V and the guest VM is Vista x64.

As expected, the OS running VPN takes on the IP address of the VPN while host or guest will continue to use the original IP that you were previously connected to. Obviously the VPN is running over your original IP to get to the VPN but to the outside world this is the IP that you're using.

Stopping a Hyper-V VM that refuses to stop

I posted this question on the Microsoft Tech Forums: I have a Vista (x64 Ultimate) VM that refuses to stop. (Host is Server 2008 x64.)  I've tried using the hard stop but it remains in the state of Stopping. How do I stop it from here?

And received this (great) answer from Stephen Edgar:

If you grab Sysinternals Process Monitor you can check each VMWP.EXE Process (Virtual Machine Worker Process) and Select 'Properties' and each process will have a reference in the 'Command Line' section of the properties dialogue which refers to the VM's GUID which can be found for each VM by examining the configuration files contained in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V\Virtual Machines and then just kill the approriate VMWP.EXE Instance and that should kill that VM without affecting any of your other currently running VM's.

This is the second time that I've had this problem with Hyper-V and I have no doubt that it won't be the last. Thanks Stephen!