Setting Up nginx and php on Windows 10

Got a new laptop recently and hadn't set up php and nginx in a long time went looking for a simple setup and thanks to TechTuts they had just what the doctor ordered.

Help - SearchFilterHost.exe is hogging CPU!

Are you having the problem of SearchFilterHost.exe, SearchProtocolHost.exe and/or SearchIndexer.exe performing a HIIT workout on your CPU? We had the same problem with our Vista machines having an usually high CPU utilization and found that the following minor change helped fixed the problem.

Try and disabling the .XML file extension from being indexed in the Indexing Options control panel.
Answer by Eric Wolz - MSFT
via this thread

How do I change Windows indexing options?

Thank you Eric!

Visual Studio 2008 Extensions for SharePoint

If you have been struggling with some of the shortcomings of using the 64-bit Orca hack to to us the previous version of extensions your prayers have been answered. Microsoft has released the next version of the extensions to run on the 64-bit platform.

New Features in VSeWSS 1.3

* The extensions now install on x64 bit OS. Visual Studio 2008 and SharePoint must be already installed.
* Command Line Build option for TFS and MSBuild integration
* Separate WSP Package and Retract commands. You can now build the WSP without deploying it
* SPSolGen to Support Exporting from Content Management Publishing Sites
* New Item Template for RootFiles Deployment
* Automatically Remove conflicting existing features on development SharePoint server
* WSP View New Feature Dialog Improvements: scope, receiver checkbox, element checkbox
* WSP View can now be used to merge features and it blocks site features being merged into web features
* Allow adding separate binary files such as Workflow assemblies
* Some refactoring allowing for Web Part renaming and removing lines from feature.xml Item Removed
* Allow selection of GAC or BIN deployment for Web Part Project not including CAS generation
* Increase visibility of hidden features that VSeWSS creates
* Add fast update deploy for DLL only or file only changes to solutions
* Numerous Bug Fixes and improvements to error messages

source: Announcing Public CTP Release of VSeWSS 1.3

A few recommendations to assist with the installation:
1. Uninstall the 1.2 Extensions before performing the installation.
2. Do not click on the .msi. Open a command prompt using the now famous "Right click, Run As Administrator" and execute the following command "msiexec /i [downloaded 1.3 package]"

Cross Platform Password Programs

If you are considering a password program or looking to migrate from your current password program I'd highly recommend you consider the following two applications. They are cross platform so you can keep the databases and Windows portable versions on a USB key and reference the databases from your Linux version or you can copy them from your Windows installation to your Linux install or the other way around if you switch operating systems with any consistency.


KeePass
Windows Version
Install on Debian based distro by using apt-get install keepassx


PasswordSafe
Windows Version
Can install on Debian based distro by using apt-get install password-gorilla

Favorite Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets

There are some helpful gadgets on this list.

Remote Desktop Connection on Windows Vista Home Premium

In case you've only found blogs that say it can't be done then buckle up boys and girls, Tony Chan has come to the rescue and the ride isn't even a harrowing one.

Steps to Add Remote Desktop to Vista Home Premium:

1. Download termsvr.zip here
2. Extract Termsvr.zip to a temp directory
3. Start "Command Prompt" in Administrator mode (Run As Administrator)
4. Run the corresponding batch file for your Vista edition
5. Allow TCP Port 3389 on Windows Firewall or any other firewall product.
6. Done
source: Remote Desktop on your Windows Vista Home Premium

In the event that the link to Tony's blog entry goes bad let me know and I can email you the termsvr.zip file.

Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack

Recently I upgraded my main laptop to Windows Vista Business and as usual it begins the search for the newer versions of some of the tools that you've become so accustomed to using. This blog post has to do with the Windows Server 2003 Administrator Tools Pack. If you haven't used it before I'd recommend you check it out.

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Administration Tools Pack for x86 editions

Internet Connection Drops Every Few Minutes

Do you have an issues with your internet connection dropping every few minutes or multiple times per hour? If you're running XP Home/Office you've found a possible simple fix.

The first thing is to verify that the problem exists on your PC by eliminating the router and internet connection at your location. Go to a friends or neighbors house that has internet access and make sure that the problem continues there. If so the issue may be a corrupt Winsock. Be aware that running this command can cause issues with some VPN software which will require it to be reinstalled or some applications that create virtual adapters.

To use the fix open a command windows (cmd at the Run dialog) and type the following:

c:\> netsh winsock reset catalog

After the command is executed it will be necessary to restart your PC. If that doesn't fix your problem you want to read the following at Microsoft Help & Support.
How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista

Display Datasheet View in SharePoint 2003

Recently we had a user contact us that was having an issue getting the datasheet view to work in SharePoint 2003. The following message was appearing when attempting to use the datasheet view.

The list is displayed in Standard view. It cannot be displayed in Datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons: A datasheet component compatible with Windows SharePoint Services is not installed, your browser does not support ActiveX controls, or support for ActiveX controls is disabled.

After some investigation there were a few possible fixes.

1) http://www.mindbusiness.de/.../sharepoint-server-2007-moss-2007/
2) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909506/en
3) http://objectmix.com/sharepoint/329100-cannot-edit-lists-datasheet-view.html

For us the fix was what was behind item #3. Since this customers laptops are delivered with the full Office 2003 suite (Office 2003 Pro, Project, Visio) we uninstalled the trial version of Project 2007 which he had installed recently.

Alternative Way To Force Logoff In Terminal Client/Remote Desktop

Due to my working from a hotel and the way they set up their network I was only able to VPN into a client's network and connect to one of their servers. There were connectivity issues at the hotel and their network would keep dropping my connection. Last time I connected it said I had exceeded the maximum number of connects on the only server I could connect to remotely....uh oh.

After some search I found a few tools available in the Windows Server 2003 Administrator Pack I've got installed on an XP laptop. For the example below we're going to assume the IP address of the server is 192.168.1.100

C:\>qwinsta /SERVER:192.168.1.100
SESSIONNAME -- USERNAME -- ID -- STATE -- TYPE -- DEVICE
rdp-tcp#166 -- myuser -- 2 -- Active -- rdpwd
rdp-tcp#169 -- myuser -- 1 -- Active -- rdpwd

Using the ID of #1 above we disconnect that user.
C:\>rwinsta /SERVER:192.168.1.100 1

Remove Shut Down button on Windows Server 2003

We recently assisted a client that has slowly moved from having staff in an office setting to most of them being virtual. Since they are doing away with their large office and instead going to a small office without the availability of a small server room we needed to move them to a data center. Part of the move required that we allowed access to their accounting data and software which has always resided on a machine in their office. We installed all software successfully on a Windows Server 2003 Standard machine however we wanted to make sure they don't hit Shutdown when logging off through the Start Menu since all accounting work will now be performed through a Remote Desktop connection. It is a simple registry addition as indicated below.

Key Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Type: REG_DWORD
Name: NoClose
Value: 1


Synchronize/Update Time on Active Directory DC

Recently while performing some updates on a couple of DC on a Windows only corporate network I noticed the time seemed off by more than 10 minutes. After a little investigation it appears that the time wasn't being updated. Using Google as my dear online search friend I came across this post. The script has been saved to a .bat file that is run on as a schedule task now so the problem is a thing of the past (pun intended).

On the main DC:
NET TIME /SETSNTP:time.windows.com
NET STOP W32TIME
NET START W32TIME
W32TM /config /reliable:YES
W32TM /resync /rediscover

On all other DCs:
W32TM /resync /rediscover

Thanks Chrissy for the good work on that one and make sure to visit Chrissy's blog.

Microsoft Word 2000 Unspecified Code Execution Vulnerability

What can you do about it, nothing until Microsoft issues a patch but you should be aware of it. Here is the overview from SecurityFocus:

Microsoft Word 2000 is prone to an unspecified remote code-execution vulnerability.

Microsoft Word 2000 is confirmed vulnerable to an unspecified remote code-execution issue. Exploit attempts against Word 2003/XP will consume all CPU resources and will cause a denial of service for legitimate users.

Note that this issue is distinct from issues described in BID 21589 (Microsoft Word Code Execution Vulnerability), BID 21451 (Microsoft Word Unspecified Remote Code Execution Vulnerability), and BID 21518 (Microsoft Word Unspecified Code Execution Vulnerability).

The only preventative measure being offered currently is this one by Symantec.

To protect yourself against these threats, do not trust unsolicited files or documents about “interesting” topics. Do not open attachments unless they are expected and come from a known and trusted source.

Sysinternals [Now Windows Sysinternals]

If you haven't heard of Sysinternals you've been missing out on some of the best diagnostic utilities for Windows on the free market. The site was originally started by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell back in 1996 and through the years has offered some great utilities that helped make keeping an eye on a Windows box or diagnosing problems much easier. Now that they've been bought by Microsoft they are a part of 'The Collective' so I'm posting the direct link to cut through the TeraBytes of data on the Microsoft Technet Website.

Internet Explorer on Linux

If you've ever had a need for running Internet Explorer, in this case IE6, on Linux there is a simple solution. First question might be why in the world would you want to? In some cases you need to test a website on IE to be sure it renders properly and in some cases you might be accessing Microsoft software that is a little picky about the browser that is accessing it.

The solution exists in IEs4Linux, a creation of Sérgio Luís Lopes Júnior. He has done a great job of allowing IE5, IE5.5, IE6 and now a beta of IE7 to be installed and run on Linux. The installation is fairly straightforward for all but IE7 and even that isn't too difficult by Linux standards. The performance isn't quite a snappy as I'd like to see but considering the price, $free, I can't complain too much.

Using Adobe Reader to Print PDFs Causes Printer Crash

Today I had a situation that has occurred once before. When attempting to print certain pdfs to a wireless printer the printer would present an error screen after a few seconds that required a hard restart. When attempting to update Acrobat Reader 7 through the update link inside of reader it generated an error saying it could not perform the update. Downloaded Acrobat Reader 8 through their website and the problem went away.

Send Email from Windows Batch/VBS File

Our scenario was we were trying to improve on the manual process that a previous network administrator was using where he was manually checking the server each night to make sure a script had run, obviously this isn't a process that can be duplicated very successfully across many clients (I kinda like my free time at night) so we wanted to set up a script which handled the normal network, disk, etc. issues and sent us an email when done.

There are some great alternatives to sending a script like the ones outlines in this article, How can I send an e-mail message from a script? on the Petri Knowledge Base however I prefer to use built-in windows functionality whenever I can as I don't have time to review everyone's source (if available) to make sure that it doesn't have an malicious stuff in it. There are obviously plenty of girations you can do to this script like storing your password securely in the registry, making the send script into it's own bat file that can be called from others and the list goes on but I wanted to get it out there for people struggling. The only thing that is needed is the smtp server, email address and password and you should be good to go.

Enjoy

Set Message = CreateObject("CDO.Message")

With Message


'==This section provides the configuration information for the remote SMTP server.
'==Normally you will only change the server name or IP.
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing") = 2

' smtp authentication type
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpauthenticate") = 1

'Name or IP of Remote SMTP Server
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver") = "mail.yourserver.com"

'Server port (typically 25)
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport") = 25

' username & you know what
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusername") = "notifications@yourserver.com"
.Configuration.Fields.Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendpassword") = "notifications-password"


.Configuration.Fields.Update

'==End remote SMTP server configuration section==


.To = "smallbiz@yourserver.com"
.From = "notifications@yourserver.com"
.Subject = "Scripted Email Notification"
.TextBody = "This email was sent from a vbs file"

.Send

End With

MsgBox("Email Generated Successfully")

Windows Event Logs On Remote System As Different User

We ran into an issue recently where one client had multiple domains set up and access to separate servers required logging in as a different user on a different Active Directory domain. One of the servers was having issues with logging on due to slow performance so we wanted to view the remote logs as a different user, there are a few ways to do this but the easiest I found is run the following at the command prompt.

runas /netonly /user:DOMAIN\USERID "eventvwr.exe"

At this point you will be prompted for the password for that account then the Event Viewer will popup, you can then change it to the Remote Computer Name/IP and you should be good to go.

Remote Desktop Connection 6 - Remember/Save Domain Name

After months of dealing with an irritating behavior with RDP 6 not saving my domain I think I've got it to work correctly now. To give a brief background I have a laptop at home that is on a workgroup however I VPN into a client where I using RDP client to connection to Terminal Services running on different servers. The client has a couple different domains but the *.rdp files were not saving my domain settings. It would default to the MachineName(or IP)\MyCorporateUserAccount instead of the Domain name I had entered.

Here is an example file:

screen mode id:i:2
desktopwidth:i:1280
desktopheight:i:1024
session bpp:i:16
winposstr:s:0,1,286,0,1280,600
full address:s:192.168.1.###
compression:i:1
keyboardhook:i:1
audiomode:i:0
redirectdrives:i:0
redirectprinters:i:0
redirectcomports:i:0
redirectsmartcards:i:0
displayconnectionbar:i:1
autoreconnection enabled:i:0
username:s:MyCorporateUserAccount
alternate shell:s:
shell working directory:s:
disable wallpaper:i:1
disable full window drag:i:1
disable menu anims:i:1
disable themes:i:1
disable cursor setting:i:0
bitmapcachepersistenable:i:1
redirectclipboard:i:1
redirectposdevices:i:0
drivestoredirect:s:
authentication level:i:0
prompt for credentials:i:0
negotiate security layer:i:1
remoteapplicationmode:i:0
allow desktop composition:i:0
allow font smoothing:i:0
gatewayhostname:s:
gatewayusagemethod:i:0
gatewaycredentialssource:i:4
gatewayprofileusagemethod:i:0


Tried adding the older domain:s:MyDomainName item to the file as well as changing the username:s: item to MyDomainName\MyCorporateUserAccount and just for grins MyDomainName\MyCorporateUserAccount. All of them didn't seem to work then I stumbled across a MSDN blog entry related to Vista which gave me an idea.

How about modifying the username item to look like the following, username:s:MyCorporateUserAccount@MyDomainName. Now we're in business without having to always changing the domain from the machine name to the correct AD domain.

Just in case you haven't installed Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP (KB925876), enjoy.

Fix Most Common Windows Problems

Located this handy, dandy utility when doing some other research.

Dial-a-fix is an advanced utility for 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows written by DjLizard in Borland Delphi 7 that repairs various Windows problems, such
* Windows Update errors and problems with Automatic Updates
* SSL, HTTPS, and Cryptography service (signing/verification) issues
* COM/ActiveX object errors and missing registry entries
* and more.

Dial-a-fix (hereafter known as "DAF") is a collection of known fixes gleaned from Microsoft Knowledgebase articles, Microsoft MVPs, and other important support forums, that will assist you in repairing problems with your system. Although this tool is ordinarily meant for power users, technicians, and administrators, it is quite safe to use even without technical guidance (although guidance is recommended). Simply choose the solutions you wish to apply via checkmarks, and click GO. There are other buttons and tools present on the main dialog as well, such as the policy scanner. All tools and checkmarks identify their purpose when you mouse over them.

The full list is here.