Bulk EFS decryption & encryption

Short story version: use the CIPHER command.

I had a 3-2-1 backup fail on me recently."

“21,684 files could not be copied”.

The original files were EFS encrypted.  Here’s a picture of what was going wrong:

In technical terms, the second computer did not have the EFS decryption key.  The easy fix was [...]

Re-using Bread Clips to make USB keys easy to identify.

I have lots of USB memory sticks.  I have plenty of lanyards as well.  Who doesn’t?  Go to a conference, get a lanyard, get a USB memory stick.  Identifying what’s on these USB memory sticks has become a chore.

I tried different coloured lanyards, but that didn’t work.  Too many lanyards/colour combinations

So I [...]

How to open an InstallShield Data .cab file.

InstallShield logo Some program installations use InstallShield, and the program files are compressed into Data .cab files.  But InstallShield decided to be cute, and use their  own propriety format with older versions of the Data .cab file.  They could have used a standard compression algorithm like .ZIP,  but did not.

My guess is that they didn’t want people fiddling with the raw files.

That’s a bummer for those of us who need to get at the files, such as Application Packagers.  I discussed this a little in the InstallShield Temp Directory Trick.

So it’s a good thing that CDMediaWorld has utilities, such as i6Comp to extract the files.  Just download it (I picked i6comp02.zip) and then run i6comp.  This is what i6Comp looks like when listing files from the data.cab file:

C:\temp\InstallShield>i6comp l -v -r data1.cab
InstallShield 6.x Cabinet Util
Version 0.2 -] fOSSiL & Morlac - 2000 [-

Date       Time   OrigSize  Attr  CompSize   Ind FileName
========== ===== ========== ==== ========== ==== =================
12-16-1999 10:24      28529 ____       5841    0 corecomp.ini
09-05-2001 04:18      77824 A___      29916    1 ctor.dll
09-05-2001 04:13      32768 A___       4483    2 objectps.dll
...
08-22-2003 17:27     278190 A___     264385  180 PowerDVD.CHM
09-05-2003 16:16      65536 A___      30014  342 AudioFilter\clds.dll
09-05-2003 16:16      45056 A___       8203  343 AudioFilter\clwo.dll
09-05-2003 16:16     245760 A___      81241  344 AudioFilter\CLADR.ax
09-05-2003 16:16     126976 A___      43046  347 AudioFilter\CLAuTS.ax
09-05-2003 16:25      73728 A___      27800  348 AudioFilter\CLAudioCD.ax
09-05-2003 16:25     503808 A___     239856  349 NavFilter\CLNAVX.ax
09-12-2003 18:38     520192 A___     205346  350 VideoFilter\CLVSD.ax
09-05-2003 16:16      45568 A___      23075  351 VideoFilter\CLLine21.ax
                 ----------      ---------- -------------------
                   49878589        19880422  311 file(s) total

C:\temp\InstallShield>

The list output is more interesting than the extract output. which is why I’ve showed list.  Other options are:

(Click here to continue reading How to open an InstallShield Data .cab file.)

Detecting inactive computers in your AD domain.

Use the LastLogonTimeStamp or the LastLogin Active Directory attribute.

If you are on a Windows 2003 Functional Domain or later, use LastLogonTimeStamp.  If you are on a Windows 2000 Functional Domain, you’re stuck with LastLogon (and a bit more work).

LastLogonTimeStamp. This is how I got the LastLogonTimeStamp for all the computers in my [...]

How to clean a BlackBerry TrackBall

The biggest hardware problem I see with (older) BlackBerries is the TrackBall fails to scroll.  It fails to scroll, because over time, it fills up with oil and grime from your fingers.  Now, unlike a computer keyboard, you can’t stick it in a dishwasher.  Doing that would certainly break your warranty and won’t fix [...]

Company BlackBerry says: “JVM Error 517”.

On a Friday night, on my way home from work.

I say, “You little bastard”.

Now, sometimes you can fix this by reloading the software on the device.  But to do that, you need the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software, the BlackBerry Phone software itself, and a micro-usb cable.  All were sitting on my [...]

“How do I extract Microsoft CAB files?”

asked our newest SOE Developer.  The best tool I’ve found for this is CABPACK v1.4, which was last updated in 1999.  The age of the program might give you some idea about how often we need to extract files from CAB files these days. ie. not very often.

It was fairly common back [...]

Changing your password in a Terminal Services session.

So you’re using a Terminal Services Client (MSTSC) to connect to a remote server, and you want to change your password.  The secret is to use CTRL-ALT-END.  Which will bring up the Windows Security dialog box.  From here, you can Change Password.   Other keyboard shortcuts have been documented by Microsoft here: Keyboard Shortcuts [...]

Adding computers directly to SMS collections

I don’t do this often enough to remember it, so here’s a quick guide for me (and anyone else out there still using SMS 2003).

Start the Administrator Console, and browse to the collection you want to add the computer to. Right-click the collection and select Properties. Select Membership Rules, and then [...]

Internet Explorer Security Tab Restrictions

One of our web developers contacted me, and asked how they could look at the settings for the Trusted Zone in Internet Explorer.  The Custom Level and Default Level buttons were greyed out.  And it’s not an Admin vs. Non-admin rights problem, as I have the same problem:

Internet Options - Security - Custom settings

The answer? Set the Security_options_edit value, t0 0 (that’s zero) in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings.

The Web Developer can now play to her heart’s content.

A breakdown of the security tab restrictions follows.

(Click here to continue reading Internet Explorer Security Tab Restrictions)