Hideout for IT Crowd

How to Change IP Settings Remotely

2009-10-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

In order to edit or change the IP settings of a remote client in your enterprise, you would need some tools and a set of command line knowledge. To get there in no time, simply follow these steps:

* Download the PsExec tool. This tool helps you run software on remote machines over command line.

*Unpack the zip file under your c:\ . Open up a command line, navigate thru the pstools to find PsExec.exe .

* The command goes like this;

c:\psexec \\remotemachineip -u username -p password cmd.exe

\\remotemachineip : Here you can enter the IP of the remote client OR the computer name of the client. i recommend going for the IP to avoid DNS problems.

-u : user name that has administrative rights on the remote client. In an enterprise, please DO include the domain and the user name as domain\username.

Example : contoso\administrator01 .

-p : password of the user name that has administrative rights on the client machine.

cmd.exe : this is the tool we will need to edit ip settings.

* After entering the command , you will see some lines passing through and finally you will get c:\windows \system32 . This means that you have successfully logged in the client machine and its cmd.

* type netsh and press enter. Netsh is a tool that allows you to mess with your network settings.

*type int and press enter. int stands for Interface.

* Under netsh interface , enter this command that will change the IP settings.

ip set address local static theipnumber thesubnetmask thegateway metric

theipnumber : this is the desired ip address.

thesubnetmask : this is the subnet mask suitable for the desired IP

thegateway : gateway IP that will let the client machine to Internet

metric : the metric of the gateway that will prioritise the entries of different gateways respectfully.

The Jungle Book - I Wan'na Be Like You - The Bare Necessities

2009-07-18T02:45:00.000-07:00

Louis Prima, Phil Harris and Bruce Reitherman. All in this record, producing one of the all times greatest soundtrack in the history of animated movies. As a kid's movie, Jungle book is still among the favourite movies of mine. I just love this song. Each time i watch Baloo loosens himself to the Swing Jazz music of King Louie and he says he is "solid gone", that puts a big smile on my face.

And of course not to forget the "Bare Necessities" of Phil Harris and Bruce Reitherman. Baloo teaches Mowgli to be cool in the jungle and act like a bear.

Bonus: Louis Armstrong singing Bare Necessities at London in 1968.

How to Assign Computers to Groups on WSUS Server

2009-07-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

Wsus server comes with an option that is used to manage designated updates for user created groups, so that an update needed on a computer can be installed without interfering other computers with different policy sets. To do that,

Open up the WSUS console from Administrative Tools menu. On the console open up "All Computers", right click and select "Add Computer Group..".

Input a desired name for the new group of yours.

Go to the "Options" screen and select "Computers".

I would recommend using the "Use the Update Services console" option. This way you are able to assign the computers directly from the WSUS console.

Now that you are ready to assign a computer to a group on WSUS Server, go to "Computers\All Computers\Unassigned Computers". Right click the computer name you want to process, click "Change Membership..",

and select the appropriate group.

Now go to "Updates\All Updates". If you don't see any updates, you may need to change the settings up in the "Approval" and "Status" combo boxes. Right click an update and select "Approve..".

Here you can see all the groups you create and assign an approved update to them.

After selecting multiple updates and approving those for installation or removal, the folloving screen appears and lets you know how the process is going.

WSUS Server is essential for mid size and large companies in order to keep up with the updates and not draining your internet speed.

The Smooth Criminal Lean

2009-07-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how Michael does the lean move in the Smooth Criminal video? Here are the patent's illustrations. By the way Michael Jackson has the patent and yes it is his invention. Just brilliant!

The Making of Thriller Video

2009-07-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson's 1995 MTV Awards Performance

2009-07-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

Master at work.3 pieces.

Michael Jackson's MTV ICON Performance

2009-07-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

How is it possible to hate this man? The Legend performing Billie Jean.

Never Forget

2009-07-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

I can not imagine a world without Michael Jackson, i had spent hours trying to pick some moves and dance like him, yet the stonecold truth about life is inevitable. The only regret i have is that i will never be able to see him on the stage again.

Rest in peace Michael Joseph Jackson August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

The Ghibli Museum

2009-07-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

Hayao Miyazaki is one of the best in anime industry, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Here are some pictures of the place where he does his simple magic.

Blizzard Campus part3

2009-06-25T02:08:00.001-07:00

Blizzard Campus part2

2009-06-25T02:06:00.001-07:00

It ain't Google, but its definitely something!

Blizzard Campus part1

2009-06-25T01:50:00.000-07:00

Blizzard Entertainment Irvine,CA campus.

LittleWheel

2009-06-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

Feed The Frog Please

2009-06-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

A fully customisable frog gadget for your site. Available here along with other nice stuff.

Increase Exchange 2003 Standard Database Size

2009-06-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

With Sp2, Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server database size had been increased to 18GB. Well nowadays a Bluray disc has 40GB of storage, even 18GB is not a big number anymore. However you may need a bigger space, as the Exchange server 2003 standard edition supports up to 75GB of data.

To increase the size of the database;

First enter "regedit" on the run box on the start menu.

Then find these subkey

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\\Private-GUID
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\\Public-GUID

The GUID at the end of the subkey is a long folder packed with numbers and letters.

Enter a new DWORD Value for both of the subkeys. In the "New Value #1" box, type "Database Size Limit in GB", click OK. Right click the DWORD , click modify and enter the amount you wish to be your max database size. Don't forget to enter an integer from 1 to 75. 75GB sounds just good.

Close the regedit screen. Open up the Run box, enter "cmd". At the command prompt type;

net stop msexchangeis

After the service stops successfuly, type;

net start msexchangeis

All done! You can verify your success by taking a look at the event viewer console. Under "Application" tab, look for the event with the ID 1216.

How to Clean Your Exchange Log Files

2009-06-22T02:11:00.000-07:00

Exchange log files usually take a lot of space if you don't automate a backup to run from some time to time. If you find yourself out of space on your drive, here is the thing to do.

From Start menu, type "ntbackup" on the run box.

Backup Utility screen appears. Select the "Backup" tab and go to the "Microsoft Exchange Server" box, expand and click "Microsoft Information Store".

The following screen gives you some info and schedule options.

And here is the screen that you can watch the statistics till the end.

After a nice backup of Exchange Information Store, ntbackup simply deletes the log files, freeing the space you need.

Enabling Websense to Find Domain Objects

2009-06-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

After setting up Websense Enterprise Server to be your faithful proxy server, you would probably want to add some domain groups and manage them.

To do that you right click on the Websense console, select "Add Directory Objects..."

"Select Objects to Add" box opens up. And you double click the "Directory" folder.

But instead of showing up the domain objects, you get an error telling you to check the "Directory Service"configuration under the "Settings" menu. If you read the help files, then you SHOULD know that you won't need to mess with the Directory Settings, as the "Windows NT Directory/Active Directory (Mixed Mode) option should be selected.

What you NEED to do is to simply give permissions to a service.

"Websense User Service" and "Websense DC Agent" needs to access the domain controllers. Therefore, right click on one of the services, select "Properties". On the "Log On" tab, select "This Account" and enter your domain admin credentials. Do this for the services mentioned above. Restart the services. All done!

How to Exclude an Address Being Filtered by Proxy Server on Internet Explorer

2009-06-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

So you need to set up a connection to a designated address but the connection is filtered by the proxy server even tough you excluded the address or configured the server not to(In my case it was the frikkin Websense and ISA server combo). Thank Bill for adding a small box into the Internet Explorer that helps us to bypass the proxy check and go directly to the site.

3 single steps to fool your proxy server.

First open the "Internet Options" from control panel.

Then go to "connections", "LAN settings". Click "Advanced" on the following menu.

The "Exceptions" box, is the solution. What ever you enter in this box, Internet Explorer will skip redirecting requests to the proxy server.

By the way, if you want this to work properly, your gateway should be able to access the Internet on its own, eliminating the need for a proxy server distributing Internet. Or you can always enter custom route of course.

The Iron Giant

2009-06-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

One of my all times favourite movies.

Just beautiful.

Force Wsus Server to Update Computers

2009-06-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

Tired of waiting for the Wsus server to update the client computers? There is a simple solution for that. Comes with a trial version, WuInstall is a software that triggers available windows updates. You can search and install the new updates on demand.

Easy to use, just got to the directory where the exe resides. Add the switch "/install" to search and install the available updates.

Setting/Resetting a Password Of Your Windows User

2009-06-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

Pretty simple. Locate "My computer" icon. Right click the icon and find "Manage".

On the "Manage" screen select "Local Users and Groups"\"Users" and find the user name that is to be configured. Right click on the user name and select "Set Password...". I always wondered what those ... symbols represent at the end of Set Password option.

The following screen indicates some important stuff which we will never read. Take a look if you want. It's a warning about how you can ruin your computer just by resetting your password. Pure crap with steam on it. Just select "Proceed" button.

Enter the new password twice and you are good to go.

Yes, that's it . What did you expected anyway? And by the way, from now on users without passwords will have to enter their password at start up screen and on the lock screen.

How to See Windows Shares on a Mac

2009-06-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Mr. Appleseed, it is pretty easy. Press the command(apple)+K on Mac's keyboard. A screen will appear like this.

The Server Address box comes empty. You should enter the ip address of the designated computer which you want access to. However since you are trying to connect to a Windows machine from a Mac, you put "smb://" in front of the ip. I strongly recommend using ip numbers instead of computer names. No need to add extra the DNS troubles, right?

Click "Connect" and a log on screen appears.

By default you will see your name on the log on name box. You have to supply a user name that has access rights on the shared folder. Then click connect again and after a successful log on, you will see a screen similar to this with your beloved folder in it.

If you are not on a Windows domain but on a Workgroup(like most home users) you have to have a user that has access to the Windows computer with password enabled. If you log on to your Windows computer just by pressing the power button and waiting to see the desktop, you need to set a password to your account.

How to Rename a Computer Remotely

2009-06-16T01:34:00.000-07:00

You don't have to visit each client computer of yours if you want to rename the computer names. There is a less painful way which takes a lot less time. Introducing "netdom.exe" tool. Comes with the support tools pack within WinXP or 2003 Server. Works only on Windows XP and above. The command is simple but a bit long. It goes like this:

c:\netdom renamecomputer currentcompname /newname:thenewone /userd:domainname\administrator /passwordd: *yourdomainpassword* /reboot:secondsbeforereboot

NOTE: The underlined "passwordd" syntax is perfectly correct. Yes there is a "double d".

After you press enter, a pop up appears that if you wish to continue. Simply press yes ,then viola!

Here is a screen shot. The computer's name is changed without a single step.

For more help, take a look at this site.

Gather IP Info of Your Clients

2009-06-15T04:22:00.000-07:00

In some cases you would like to gather the ip informaton of a remote computer without logging on to the machine or even not going near the computer. For obvious reasons (stealth) IT crowds can use a free tool that is really easy to use. The little tool is called Remote IP Configuration Tool "RmtIpCfg.exe". Just place the tool under c:\ for easy access.

Usage is plain,on the command screen, go to the place that the tool is, then type the ip address after the rmtipcfg.exe. Like this:

c:\rmtipcfg 192.168.1.10

Only 3kb big and real fast tool it is. Thank you Skrubbeltrang.com.

Nod32 v.4 Enabling Mirror Menu

2009-06-15T01:55:00.000-07:00

You are setting up a new Nod32 Enterprise server. First thing to do is to run the setup that will install server side of the application. Then comes the Remote console setup. At last you install nod32 antivirus software on the server. If you have many locations, many branches that reside out of your LAN, and you don't want the other servers download the virus definitions again and again, you need to set up a mirror on your core server. That way the lower ranking servers would download the necessary updates via the reliable connection from your core server.

To show the mirror tab on your core server's configuration menu, first

-open up the config menu by pressing F5.

-scroll down to Licenses and add your unique license given by ESET.

-now go to update tab on the config , Advance Update Setup. And there is the Mirror option.

Motion Controller for PS3, howdy XBOX

2009-06-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Here we go, there is your answer Nathan. I wonder which one will be better? Check the video and decide for yourself. The physics are impressive but the interaction with the virtual world means the endless possibilities of frikkin awesome games

inFamous , not so precious

2009-06-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Draw power from the gridlines, move cars with pulses of shockwaves, hop around like a happy bunny. And these all come with a massive power failure affecting the whole city and it`s habitants.

You can heal people in exchange for XP points, electrocute bad guys, hower cars, climb certain areas like a monkey that has the Duracell up his back and much more. The AI is no good if you ask me. Feels like a combination of GTA4 and Fallout3. Traffic, town's people and some interesting buildings from GTA4, post nuclear catastrophe and crazed people from Fallout3.

pros: lots of space, do it however you like style missions

cons: AI, AI, AI, and some graphical flaws

overall: don't expect much, it's a fun game

Overlord II, scrape the land

2009-06-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

As soon as you start playing the game you get in the mood of total destruction. Fuzzy bears, cute baby seals, all just a spec for your minions. The controls can be a little bit confusing at the beginning but you get hold of it in max 10 minutes.

There are some flaws while controlling the minions. Using the right stick you can send a horde of troops into action but till they come back you cannot move the camera left or right. In time you get used to it.

Graphics could be better but the game is so fun, there is simply nothing to complain about. The game is a sequel to Overlord. There are some additions that makes the game more fun, like funnier looking villains, utensils that make your minions look crazier, wolf mounts and such.

And some old stuff is here too, like scraping the land with your minions, looting gold and weapons, demolishing houses and all kinds of nice things including sheeps,trees baby seals in exchange of life points that are necessary to spawn more minions.

pros: definitely a fun game, challenging and colorful

cons: graphics could be better, some trouble controlling your minions

overall: a must have

Little Big Planet

2009-03-28T06:24:00.001-07:00

There are certain aspects in a game that would make you glue yourself to the controller and this one has the most of it.

As always Sony has the brightest coders that would make a simple character look like real and alive. It is pretty amazing how you end up behaving like a sack boy at the end of one hour game play. The controls are simple yet powerful as you keep evading obstacles you can change your looks, mood even slapping the second player in the face.

Do not expect a child's game. It's a platform game but you get to play with your friends in the same room up to 6 people or via Internet across the globe. Plus you can create your own level, adding various debris and prize alike stuff that players would want to collect, villains, fire pits and even traps. The game play sadly ends too soon but there is no need to mention the hundreds of other Little Big Planet players feeling creative. More than a thousand user created level awaits you to conquer. The levels can be rated after you play them, plus you can add a tag which informs the other wandering players how you felt about that level.

pros: excellent graphics, real fun game

cons: too short game play

MotorStorm Lunatics UNITE!!

2009-03-28T06:15:00.001-07:00

The title speaks pretty much of itself already. Of course I am talking about Motorstorm. Once you get the hang of it you will enjoy the beautiful mapping and the design of the game.

A beautiful island full of nice views awaits the player. Simple yet very effective controls maximize the joy and satisfaction, yet you ask for more. Then comes the multiplayer section which will test the limits of your patience for there are no AI but cunning human kind at the other end of the broadband connection. It’s pretty amazing how people can memorize the tracks and finish the race and slamming a fist on your character's face at the same time. The camera aspects and the in-game cut scenes are adorable yet you cannot stop cursing when you are backing up your vehicle as your bearings fail and you end up backing in the wrong direction. There are some real neat faceplants and long trips down the hills that you will enjoy with your friends on the split screen option. Up to 4 players the split screen will be the ultimate feature as you keep smacking your opponent's face with L1 and R1 buttons.

pros:

Sweet graphics, easy controls, upgraded player density in multiplayer and split screen options

cons:

Backing up the vehicle can sometimes be a pain in the ass, not so good soundtrack

Overall:

The game is a must have.