So the situation arose where after installing XP Pro on a virtual machine I can't get any updates after installing Service Pack 3. The disc I have comes with SP2 already loaded and the first update that I ran was SP3. Now I see 56 updates waiting and whenever I try to get them I get update failed for each item.
The Problem: Back in 2007 the Windows Update Agent was silently being upgraded which was creating a lot of complaints. As a result the new Windows Update Agent is not included in SP3. So in essence Microsoft goes from sneaky to bonehead in one move.
The Solution(s): My solution was to just install the new WUA from the following file.
If you want to see the Microsoft solution, look at the end of the article as it is lengthy and the above two methods are preferred by the user community.
Hopefully this helps as the use of Windows XP will probably still be around for as long as the updates are available.
**** Microsoft Solution ****
Solution: re-registered the .dll files for updates
action: stop the BITS, .ASPnet, cryptographic services
action: rename the software distribution folders, catroot2 folders
action: start the BITS,AUTOMATIC UPDATES ,CRYPTOGRAPHIC SERVICES
Image via WikipediaSo it's behind the proxy time again people and the Doctor has found the key. I'm working with a virtual XP machine and needed to update to SP3 and everyone knows that WGA is the intrusive plague that Microsoft adds to try and ruin the pirates secret sauce.
What does that have to do with the Doctor since he would never ever ever ever ever ever (continue to add ever until it sounds remotely believable) condone piracy? Well my legitimate copy is behind a proxy server.
Problem: Said proxy server does not allow WGA to authenticate to it's home server. WGA also does not allow any settings to add proxy authentication.
Solution: Follow the yellow brick road... which isn't actually yellow... or made of bricks... or even remotely resembles a road.
Prepping Your Box
Step 1: Reboot troubled machine.
Step 2: Hit cancel on the WGA installation box when it pops up.
Step 4: Type: iexplore http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=39204 then Click OK You will be prompted to download “LegitCheckControl.cab”
Step 5: Choose Open
Once this completes, a window will open showing two files. “LegitCheckControl.dll” and “LegitCheckControl.inf” Leave this window open for now.
Step 6: Click the Start button, then Click Run
Step 7: Type: system32, then Click OK
(If you are running Windows XP, you may need to click Show Files to allow access to this system directory.)
Step 8: Drag the “LegitCheckControl.dll” file from the window that was open into the “system32” directory folder. If you are prompted to overwrite a file, choose Yes, to overwrite any existing file. (If you are running Vista, you may be prompted to provide administrator permission to complete the action. If so, Press Continue, and allow it.)
Step 9: Click the Start button, then Click Run
Step 10: Type “regsvr32 LegitCheckControl.dll”, and then click ‘OK’.
You should see a dialog saying “DllRegisterServer in LegitCheckControl.dll succeeded.”
Step 11: restart the computer
Step 12: Cancel the WGA once again
Step 13: Go to the following website http://www.microsoft.com/genuine
Step 14: Locate the “Validate Windows” button. Double click on the button and follow the guidance.
Final WGA Installation
Step 15: Reboot the computer once again
Step 16: Do not cancel the WGA installation, but go ahead and run it (continue or next)
Yay! We have conquered the Microsoft insanity machine once again... and did not use one hack or crack.
So today's project, I am in VirtualBox like always and am working with an XPvirtual machine that I use to test ideas (instead of bricking my machine and making my IT guys upset)... Let me take a moment to pontificate on this last aside. You you may be able to upset your boss a few times and get away with it, you can upset your co-workers on a daily basis and get away with it, you can flip off the truck driver on the way to work and probably get away with it, but you can't continually upset the IT guy and get away with it... they have tricks... like ninjas... they'll get you.
Anyway, so my original XP virtual hard disk is 20 GB in size and I quickly find that although that is enough to get you through to SP2 and an Office install, it is going to run out of space soon with SP3 and a few useful programs. So what I want to do is expand this virtual hard drive to about 70 GB. Unfortunately, neither Sun nor Oracle have created this option to easily help us out, so I had the idea to just clone the drive from one hard drive and restore it to another.
Problems: If I use a straight up cloning software like Ghost or Clonezilla not only will I save the data, but the partition size as well and will have to manually resize the partition when finished anyway.
Solution: If I use GParted I can format and size partitions as well as copy and paste existing partitions.
Here's my step by step directions on how I proceeded.
1. Verify that your existing partition, in my case sda1, is showing up in GParted.
2. Find the second "target" partition, in my case this is sdb1, and create a new partition table
3. After you create your partition table you should see the whole disc as unallocated space as shown.
4. Now back on the source drive, my example is sda1, you want to right click on the partition and choose copy
5. Back on the target disc, my example uses sdb1, you need to paste the source partition and your screen should look as follows
6. Now click apply and be prepared to wait... a long long time
7. When the copy is done you will see a message as follows
8. Now on the new drive you want to resize it's partition to take up the rest of the unallocated space
9. Now unhook your original hard drive and make your new hard drive the master and reboot your machine.
10. The last step is to fix the MBR (master boot record). I had hoped that the original MBR would be copied, but no such luck. The easiest way to fix the MBR is to boot up to the recovery console and execute FIXMBR. I actually used the Hirens Boot CD and used mini XP and executed mbr 0 /install std to install a standard MBR to my drive.
SHOW STOPPERS
Forgetting to disconnect the old hard drive will cause a failure and possible data loss. Windows can not support a second windows.
Formatting your new hard drive to NTFS and then pasting your partition from the original may not work. For best results just paste your partition to unallocated space.
Not shutting down Windows correctly on the original hard drive before trying to copy will fail every time.
Other than those few hangups, you should now have your new larger hard drive booting up your operating system.
One of the complaints that we get when using the Windows 7XP mode is that the print is too small to read. There are two keys to changing the screen resolution for the XP mode to make it "bigger".
First you must break the integration from the Windows 7 machine.
Finally change the resolution to something smaller like 1024 X 768
Second you must change the relational size of the Windows 7 screen to something closer to what your wanted the XP mode to be. See illustrations for clarification.
In the first illustration we have a windows size of 2480 x 1530, so the XP mode will originally have a resolution of over 2000 x 1400 which will have tiny print. If you change the resolution down to 1024 x 768 the print will not become larger, but the viewing screen will become smaller and 800 x 600 will be even smaller yet.
In the second illustration we have changed the resolution to something slightly larger than 1024 x 768 (like 1152 x 864) and now the relational size is closer to the targets.
If the icons on the Windows 7 screen are too large now, you will need to go to the desktop personalize settings and change the desktop icons down to medium or small (150% or 100%)
Image via CrunchBaseBy The Computer Doctor Video By Jonathan Mann
So many of you are still bemoaning the shortcomings of Microsoft's project Longhorn which has spawned the Windows Vista and Windows 7 series of operating systems.
Despite the compatibility mode which is supposed to make older software run properly, many times we find erroneous errors popping up in our applications or that the applications will not run at all.
Well for once I applaud a Microsoft decision with reservation of course. If you own a legitimate copy of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate you can get for no additional cost the Windows XPmode. This is a virtual machine of Windows XP running on Microsoft Virtual PC platform.
My reservation of course is that if you have Windows 7 Basic or Home premium or any copy of Windows Vista you are S.O.L.
My experience with XP mode is in helping a customer who couldn't run software for her class that was required for school. Her computer specs were a 2.8 Ghz processor with 8 Gb of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive running Windows 7 Professional. We tried running in compatibility mode, changing graphics modes, cleaning the registry, and re-installing multiple times. Why shouldn't a 6 year old program designed for Windows XP Professional work on this system? Because the Windows Kernel has more forks than a public school cafeteria! So now what was she to do? Search endless garage sales for a used computer with Windows XP on it?
The answer came from one of my oldest tricks from the Linux side. If you can't beat them then join them with a virtual machine running the OS that the software you need was designed for. Microsoft finally saw the light in making a real XP environment available for these circumstances.
See the following promotional video for more information and to see what this XP mode looks like.
Software giant Microsoft’s internet explorer turned 15 years on Monday. The company recently said it would launch the internet explorer 9 public beta version on September 15, 2010.
Microsoft would launch the new version at a special event in San Francisco and confirmed the browser would only function with Windows Vista and Windows 7.
In July 2010, Internet Explorer has a combined market share of 60.74 percent and Firefox is at 22.91 percent, followed by Google's Chrome with 7.16 percent, Safari with 5.09 percent, and Opera with 2.45 percent, according to the latest data from Net Applications.
The software giant launched the first version of the browser internet explorer 1 on August 16, 1995. It was a revised version of Spyglass Mosaic, which Microsoft had licensed from Spyglass Inc. The first version came with Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 and the original equipment manufacturer release of Windows 95.
Internet explorer 2 was released for Windows 95, Windows NT 3.5, and NT 4.0 on November 22, 1995 (following a 2.0 beta in October). Internet explorer 3 was released on August 13, 1996.
Microsoft internet explorer 4, released in September 1997, deepened the level of integration between the web browser and the underlying operating system. The traditional Windows Explorer was replaced by version 4, when installed.
Internet explorer 5 was launched on March 18, 1999. Also, with the release of internet explorer 5, Microsoft released the first version of XMLHttpRequest, giving birth to Ajax. Internet explorer 6 was released on August 27, 2001, a few months before Windows XP. Internet explorer 7 was released on October 18, 2006.
“The company's Windows 7 should benefit from the corporate PC refresh cycle, which is in its early stages and the release of Windows Service Pack 1 (SP1) in the first half of calendar year 2011. The much-awaited corporate PC refresh cycle is underway and should drive Windows 7 sales for at least the next year,” said David Hilal, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
Internet Explorer 8 "Final" was released on March 19, 2009. On March 5, 2008, the first public beta (Beta 1) was released to the general public. The second public beta (Beta 2) was released on August 27, 2008. Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RC1 was released on January 26, 2009.
You might have seen this scene during the climactic shoot-out in any number of movies and television shows—the hunted character lures his hunters into a room full of mirrors, who fire their weapons at the reflections, mistaking them for the real person. Like most of what we see on the screen, this probably isn’t a very plausible scenario in real life (who gets so confused by a reflection, besides my cat?). But it is an apt metaphor when we think about using PC virtualization to add a layer of defense against malware and other types of security compromises.
The most popular, and ballyhooed, type of virtualization today is known as OS virtualization—wherein an entire operating system is encapsulated in a self-contained running environment atop a “real” operating system. You can use virtualization to run a full copy of Windows 7 inside a window on an Ubuntu Linux desktop. Or you could run Ubuntu Linux inside a window on Windows 7. You could run Windows XP on Windows 7, or, again, vice versa. Virtually useful
There are numerous reasons why virtualization has taken off. One is that today’s computers are so powerful that they often have processor cycles and memory to spare, giving them the horsepower to drive multiple operating systems at the same time. Another is that virtual operating systems are easier to deploy, backup, and restore than “real” operating systems. You can quite simply take “snapshots” of a virtual OS, preserving its exact state. Virtualization can make more efficient use of computing resources—for example, running a virtualized Linux-based server on a Windows desktop lets one physical machine serve different kinds of uses simultaneously.
When considering security, the greatest benefit of virtualization is that it runs in a “sandbox.” Think of a sandbox as a walled space, isolated from the real (often called “host”) operating system installed on the physical computer. They say that “whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”—well, the same is (usually) true for a sandbox. Many eggs, one basket
Consider the typical desktop security scenario: your computer probably contains lots of important information. You might have files with sensitive data, such as passwords, or work in various stages of maturity, which is important to preserve. Configuring your desktop machine the way you want is itself a kind of sensitive data—look at how much time is lost when you have to setup a brand new machine and re-install all your software.
You already know about “safe computing” practices, like not opening e-mail attachments from unknown senders. You already run anti-malware software to catch viruses and spyware before infection. But it might not be enough. Although these defenses are important and useful, they aren’t perfect.
An effective way to further protect your desktop is to run your “riskiest” online activities inside a sandbox. Using a virtual OS makes this easy. Keep ‘em separated
First you’ll need to choose a virtualization solution. Some, like VMware Workstation and Parallels, are commercial products with a price tag. Others, like VMware Player and VirtualBox, are free. To run a virtual OS, you must use a virtual image—a file (or set of files), which contains the installed and configured operating system along with any additional software.
The free VMware Player can be used to “play” (launch) pre-rolled virtual images, sometimes known as “virtual appliances.” The other virtualization products can either play existing virtual images or create new ones. To create a new virtual OS, you’ll need the install disc for the OS of your choice—either a physical CD/DVD or a digital disc in iso format. You can get started with virtualization without spending a dime using VirtualBox and downloading a disc image of a popular Linux distribution, like Ubuntu or SUSE.
A full walkthrough for setting up a virtual OS is beyond the scope of this article (there are many tutorials online), but let’s consider how you might use a virtual OS to enhance security:
* Run a virtualized install of Windows XP to support legacy software. Both Windows Vista and especially Windows 7 are more secure than Windows XP, but sometimes you need to use a piece of software that only runs in XP. * Similarly, use a virtualized Windows XP to run Internet Explorer 6, which—sadly—is still needed to access many proprietary corporate intranet services. Doing this will protect your valuable desktop OS from the notorious security holes in IE6. * Run a virtualized Linux distribution to surf the Web, using a browser, such as Firefox. Sure, you can use Firefox on your primary desktop, but if your primary OS is Windows, it still may not be fully secure against “drive-by” downloads and infected advertising, which can appear on legitimate Web sites. * For the ultra-paranoid, setup your virtual OS so that it is the only way to access the Internet from your machine. You can do this using a USB network adapter for either a wired or wireless network. The USB adapter can be assigned to the virtual OS, allowing it to connect to the Internet even if your primary OS has no network connection at all.
Using a virtual OS to sandbox Internet access can have some drawbacks. One is resource usage—the virtual machine will be consuming memory on top of your “real” desktop. If you’re simply using the virtual OS to browse the Web, this can be a resource-heavy way to enhance security. One alternative is to build a lightweight virtual OS, one that has only the minimally necessary components to run a browser.
If the prospect of building any virtual OS is beyond your comfort zone, you can download pre-made images already tailored to certain types of use—such as a turnkey image that runs Google’s Chrome browser right out of the box. Shedding the OS
To be fair, if all you hope to accomplish is safer Web browsing (or securing other specific applications), running an entire virtual OS can be overkill. There is an emerging alternative, known as “application virtualization.”
Using application virtualization, the principle behind the sandbox is applied only to a specific program. The program itself continues to run within your main desktop, but anytime that program tries to write data back to the system, these transactions are captured and redirected within the sandbox.
For example, consider how applications function in Windows. The typical Web browser will store data received from the Internet, such as cookies and cached files like images and flash objects. Typically this data is stored in locations created by Windows, but this also means that malicious software could potentially access other files in Windows.
The same browser run within an application virtualization environment will only “see” a false Windows environment. It will save the same data, but the sandbox will intercept it. As far as the browser is concerned, everything is functioning normally—but when you close the application, the sandbox is destroyed, along with everything it accumulated during your session.
Besides using fewer resources than a full virtual OS, running a virtualized application can be much simpler to get going. Windows users can download a free copy of Sandboxie. Once installed, you can launch any program either normally or inside its own sandbox. It is a simple solution that lets you easily run regular and sandboxed applications side-by-side.
Similarly, application virtualization is being introduced in other Windows security products including BufferZone and Kaspersky Internet Security 2010.
A more advanced approach to application virtualization is VMware ThinApp. Using ThinApp, you actually install a Windows application inside a virtualized environment. The result is an installed “application image,” which is not only securely ensconced inside a sandbox, but also portable. Because the virtual environment wrapped around the application simulates the Windows repositories where software normally keeps settings and other data, you can copy a ThinApp image to another PC, or onto a thumb drive, and launch it on any other Windows machine without requiring a formal install. Safe surfing
Virtualization technology will continue to mature. It could still be easier to use, even though it’s worth it. There is a small performance penalty when you virtualize applications, especially if they are graphically intensive and involve high frame-rate video.
Many of my readers often comment to me that Linux is just too hard to bother with, but more often than not that really means that it's a little bit scary.
I'm going to share a secret with you... once upon a time I was a little scared too. I've been working on PC's since 1983 and all I ever knew was the Microsoft way. It's time to change some thinking. When you bought your PC you bought two things. First you bought some hardware (PC case, hard drive, CD/DVD drive, power supply, ethernet card, ect.) and Secondly you bought an operating system (Microsoft Windows, or Macintosh OSX, or something similar). The hardware has basic rules of functionality like how many partitions can be created on the hard drive, how much memory can be installed, what speed can the processor safely run at. The operating system has rule on how it functions and how it will let the hardware function. There is no rule that states that the computer you bought must remain exactly the same as the day you purchased it (besides the rules governing the warranty).
The question really is, if all you know is all you know then how do you learn something new? One of the easiest ways to learn some of the Linux distributions is to use a live CD. This is a CD that has the basic operating system and it can run off of the CD (albeit a lot slower than on a hard drive) and you can see how things work without worrying about bonking your hard drive.
My first Linux OS was using a Knoppix live CD in German as a Pre-Install environment for Windows XP to repair something. I didn't even know I was using Linux and it was so intuitive that I was able to use the functionality without even having the benefit of my native language. My second Linux OS was Mepis which I loved for about a year, but I moved to Ubuntu for a larger support community (let the hate mail flow).
I used the basics of Ubuntu for almost a year before I found the Ubuntu Pocket Guide which was a free guide based on Ubuntu 8.04. In addition to that guide I would suggest new users to check out the Ubuntu Users Manual for 10.04 and take a look at their free users manual.
Use these manuals to get your feet wet and then you can check out user forums for specific questions and answers to help you go further than these manuals will take you.
Have you ever gotten a support call that starts out with the customer telling you that when they click on X icon it unexpectedly opens up program Y? Of course you find out that they chose the open with and selected a wrong program... No big deal right? Just have them choose open with and select the correct program and problem solved.
What if the file type shouldn't have any file extension? You can choose open with, but there isn't an option to delete the incorrect file extension (that would be too easy Microsoft).
This is a tool to practice converting
between decimal
and binary representations.
After you have practiced for a while and feel that you know how to do
the conversions, take the quiz.
Image via WikipediaBy The Computer Doctor
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