Binary Expressions

1. Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System (keyboard shortcut: Windows Key-Pause/Break).
2. On the left hand side click on “System Protection”.
3. Now at the System Properties dialog under System Protection remove all check marks on available disks. Click “Turn System Restore Off” if prompted.
4. Click on “OK”.

Note: If you disable System Restore you will no longer be able to recover system in this manner.
Note: To reverse these steps to enable System Restore, place check marks on available drives you wish to choose. In most cases the C drive is all that is wanted.

Background Knowledge

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By default Windows Vista will not connect to a Samba share if you are running Samba version less then version 3. The reason for this is because Samba did not add support for NTLMv2 authentication until Samba version 3.0.

Solution

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1. Go to Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy.
2. Local Policies -> Security Options.
3. Double click “Network Security: LAN Manager authentication level”.
4. Change the authentication to “LM and NTLM – use NTLMV2 session security if negotiated” (default authentication is “NTVLM2 responses only”).
5. Left mouse click on “Ok”.
6. Close “Local Security Policy”.

Note: The best solution is to upgrade Samba to version 3.0 or greater.

Source: Get Vista and Samba to work

Background Knowledge

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If you go to signup.Live.com you will notice that you are required to create an email address either with live.com or hotmail.com. It appears for some reason that Microsoft has hidden the ability to sign up without creating an email address or create a limited account via live.com. Here is your options and how to do it.

Note: MSN Messenger is now called Windows Live Messenger.

Note: Signing up for an account provides a Windows Live ID that allows you to use all Windows Live services such as Windows Live Messenger.

Signup Options

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Sign up using your own email address

Use an existing email address from any email provider of your choice (ie. example@somedomain.com). Using this method does not create a email address at hotmail.com or live.com.

Sign up creating a email address at hotmail.com

Creates a new email address using the MSN Hotmail.com service. This new email address will be used for your Windows Live ID.

Sign up creating a email address at live.com

Signs you up and creates an email address using live.com service.

Sign up with a limited account

A limited account allows you to use Windows Live services without having/creating an email address. The limited account creates a email address through passport.com, however the difference is you can not send or receive email messages with this email address nor can you retrieve your password if its forgotten.

Source: Windows Live ID
Source: Creating Msn Account Without A Hotmail Account

If you would like to remove the list of user accounts and force users to login using their username and password, change the following settings:

1. Go to Start Menu -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy.
2. Local Policies -> Security Options.
3. Double click the entry titled: “Interactive Login: Do not display last user name”.
4. Place a check mark in the “Enabled” check box.
5. Click OK and close “Local Security Policy” window.

Source: Make users to login with a user name and password

Error Message

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Encapsulated PostScript image Message

Error starting Ghostscript. Make sure that Ghostscript is installed and if necessary - use the environment variable GS_PROG to tell GIMP about its location. (Failed to execute child process (No such file or directory))

Encapsulated PostScript image message

Could not interpret ‘image_example.eps’

GIMP Message

Opening ‘image_example.eps’ failed: Enscapsulated PostScript image plug-In could not open image

Screenshot - GIMP v2.4.6 on Windows Vista SP1

Solution

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Instructions for Windows Vista

Requirements: Ghostscript installed

1. If GIMP is running, close the application.
2. Press Windows-Key+Pause/Break keys (Control Panel -> System).
3. Left mouse click on “Advanced system settings” (system properties).
4. Left mouse click on “Environment Variables..”.
5. Left mouse click on “New…”.
6. Enter the following information (without double quotes) for Variable Name: “GS_PROG” and Variable value: “C:\Program Files\Utilities\gs\gs8.61\bin\gswin32.exe”. Replace the path and file name with your location and current version of Ghostscript installed.
7. Left mouse click on “Ok”.
8. Left mouse click on “Ok”.
9. Left mouse click on “Ok”.
10. Load GIMP and open EPS files.

Source: GIMP Plugin Registry: Problem opening .eps files
Source: Download Ghostscript

Recently I had the wonderful experience of noticing that my dryer was marked up inside from crayons. Yes the crayons were melted on to the drum of the dryer and each time clothes were dried it would cover the clothes in crayon marks as well. Here is how I removed the crayon marks on the dryer drum.

1. Use Vim with bleach. Take a little bit onto a cloth and start scrubbing.
2. Rinse off with warm water using another cloth.
3. Take a towel and dry off.

Repeat this process until the entire dryer is clean.

I tried many other methods but this was the most successful for me. One I would highly not recommend doing is using WD40 to remove the crayon marks. The WD40 made more of a mess and was a hassle to remove the WD40 itself so you would not get any on your clothes.

Source: Crayola Stain Removal Tips
Source: Crayon off Clothing
Source: How To Clean Crayon Stains From A Clothes Dryer Drum

This is such a cool site and one of the best sites that i have ever found about Ninja and how you can learn everything about them. The equipment/weapons is pretty cheap if you ask me and really cool looking. The only thing is they let anyone just take it which isn’t good for the criminals finding out about the site and learn the art of the Ninja.
Source: ninjitsuryu.com

Changing the name/IP address of the server is quite simple. Using your favorite text editor editing the following files and change all reference to server name and server IP address.

• /etc/hosts
• /etc/hosts.allow
• /etc/hosts.deny
• /etc/mygate
• /etc/myname
• /etc/hostname.*
• /etc/resolv.conf
• /etc/nttpd.conf
• /var/www/conf/httpd.conf

At the command prompt run the following command to reconfigure your NIC with the new IP address and applicable netmask.

ifconfig le1 inet IP_ADDRESS_HERE netmask NETMASK_HERE

The “le1″ is the device name of the NIC. Not sure what the NIC device name is? At the console prompt type without quotes “ifconfig -a” and locate the network card device name.

Source: OpenBSD FAQ - Networking

It has come to my attention awhile ago that D-Link Routers have a major security hole and was ignored by D-Link for quite some time. I became aware of this huge security problem when listening to the Security Now podcast episode #52. May I say that this security problem is not to be taken lightly as Steven Gibson explained in Security Now and I quote “This vulnerability allows an attacker to execute privileged code on an affected device. When a specific request is sent to an affected device, a traditional stack overflow is triggered, allowing an attacker complete control of the router. With the ability to execute code on the device, it is then possible to apply modified firmware and ultimately compromise the entire network.”, end quote. D-Link released an update in July. A simple rule to follow is turn of UNPnP (universal plug in play). It’s simply dangerous convince feature to use.

D-Link Routers Affected

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The D-Link routers that are affected are DI-524 Rev A, DI-524 Rev C, DI-524 Rev D, DI-604 Rev E, DI-624 Rev C, DI-624 Rev D, DI-784 Rev A, EBR-2310 Rev A, WBR-1310 Rev A, and WBR-2310 Rev A. You can identify what router you have by looking at the back (bottom) of the device. Go to D-Link’s support page to help determine what model number and revision number your device has.

How to Apply the Firmware Update

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The below firmware update instructions will work on any operating system with a web browser.

• Download the latest firmware for your device via D-Link’s support page.
• Open your favorite web browser (ie. Firefox).
• In the browser type in the address of your router. In most cases it’s http://192.168.01/.
• Click on the “Tools” menu at the top.
• Click on “Firmware” on left hand menu.
• Click on the “Browse” button on the page and locate the firmware you just downloaded.
• Click “Apply”.

How to Disable UNPnP

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• Open your favorite web browser (ie. Firefox).
• In the browser type in the address of your router. In most cases it’s http://192.168.01/.
• Click on the “Misc” menu at the top.
• Locate “UNPnP Settings” and click on “Disable”.
• Click “Apply”.

Note: Refer to the emulators to locate exactly where your settings are to disable UNPNP on the D-Link Support web page.

Source: D-Link Support
Source: Security Now episode #52
Source: eEye Digital Security - Advisory

Introduction

In Windows XP the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is set as the default image viewer for many file types. Unfortunately there is no Windows interface that provides you the ability to disable or change this applications file associations. Follow the below steps to remove this applications association so one may use a much better alternative application such as XnView.

There is two different solutions to choice from. One is a completely manual solution and the other is a simple registry patch that does it all in one step. It’s your choice and at your own risk. I would recommend strongly to backup your Windows registry just in case.

Registry Patch Solution

• Download registry patch to a temporary location, such as the Windows Desktop.
• Left mouse double click on the registry patch file.
• A dialog will appear. Left mouse click on “Yes” to allow the registry patch to be applied.
• The installation should now be complete and in effect immediately (reboot not required).

Manual Solution

• Run the Registry Editor, Start Menu -> Run -> enter without quotes “regedit” and press enter.
• Navigate to \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ SystemFileAssociations\ image\ ShellEx\ ContextMenuHandlers.
• Delete the ShellImagePreview key.
• Navigate to \HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\ {e84fda7c-1d6a-45f6-b725-cb260c236066}\ shellex.
• Delete the MayChangeDefaultMenu key.
• Close the Registry Editor when you’re done; the change will take effect immediately.

If at any time you wish to restore Windows Picture and Fax Viewer as the default viewer you may restore your registry backup or follow the “Registry Patch Solution” instructions above but us this registry patch file instead.

• In the menu left mouse click on File -> Import and Export. This will start the “Import and Export” wizard.
• Select Export Favorites and the click on “next.”
• Select Favorites to backup everything or select a specific folder and click on “next.”
• In the next window you can accept the default save directory or choose a new one. I suggest you select “Desktop” so you can easily find the file again. Click on “next.”
• Finally, click on “finish” and your Favorites will be saved to disk.

If you wish to import your bookmarks follow the above steps in reverse and instead of selecting “Import Favorites” select “Import Favorites” instead.

Many as do I find it quite annoying to have applications showing all the documents you have open or also known as child windows in your Windows taskbar. In my mind these child windows should only show within the parent window/application only. Here’s how to make all child windows (documents) in Adobe Reader to not show up in the Windows taskbar and end up with just one task showing.

Steps for Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6.x and version 7.x

• Load Adobe Reader.
• Go to Edit menu -> Preferences.. or press CTRL-K.
• In the preferences dialog go to “General” on the left hand side.
• Under “General” uncheck “Show documents in the taskbar (takes effect after next launch of Acrobat)”.