Various cool software and more

Windows Fundamentals (Reduced Win XP)

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I don’t quite know how, but this one managed to escape my attention until now (it was launched in 2006). Anyhow I just read about this while reading about the Asus Eee PC.

It would seem that there exist a reduced/limited Windows XP version for deployment to older pc’s and other equipment with reduced/outdated hardware (ram cpu etc). It should be able to run on 233mhz pc’s with as little as 64mb ram. Nice 🙂  also useful for the odd virtual PC.

It however require a SA license with Microsoft which makes the whole thing less interesting for home users. A shame as there is many old laptops lying around that would work fine for simple browsing etc.

Take a look here;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Fundamentals_for_Legacy_PCs

http://tonysblog.real-family.com/2006/09/windows-fundamentals-for-legacy-pcs.html

http://bink.nu/news/microsoft-windows-xp-fundamentals-for-legacy-pcs-screenshots.aspx

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Splitting up CUE files to MP3

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I recently got a CUE file containing a whole Audio CD album, but as I wanted to transfer the music to my Ipod I was puzzled how to do..  I could burn a cd and then rip it, but this felt like a de-tour .  A little browsing the net came up with a neat little freeware utility “Medieval CUE Splitter V1.0”, this neat utility split up the CUE to mp3 files in no time. Nice.  But why someone need to create these CUE files in the first place is beyond me.

http://www.medieval.it/

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Windows 7 – screenshots

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For those with an urge to have a peek at the Windows Vista replacement, here’s a link to some screenshots.  They however look a lot like Vista so its hard to say what differences there will be in the end, also this is a very early alpha build of Windows 7 and they have a tendency to change quite a lot.  But still, rumors have it that Bill Gates have mentioned 2009 as the possible release year for Windows 7.

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/win7_6519.asp

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HDD recovery

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PC Inspector a free HDD recovery software, I have not tested this (hope I never need to 😉 ) but it does sound quite nice and feature rich.

Thanks to: Torben Slaikjer for the link.

http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?Language=1
or just http://www.pcinspector.de/

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MS-Forefront Client Security Update

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4s.gifIf you want to manually update the definitions in MS-Forefront Client Security you can download them here;

Download (Always the latest, downloads as an .exe file ready for installation).

For further details refer to;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935934

Update Dec 2009;
for tips on how to do a scripted (eg. daily) download look here;
https://readmydamnblog.com/?p=1085

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MS-Forefront Client Security issue

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Just a quick note on FCS (Forefront Client Security – Microsofts antivirus solution), I was in doubt if it would be a good idea to install Windows Defender as an added security to FCS, a quick Googling revealed that;

Answer found on Technet.
Client Security cannot be used to manage Windows Defender – as a matter of fact, Client Security requires that Windows Defender be removed.

Windows Defender can be managed with a Group Policy – please see the last item here: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/about/releasenotes.mspx

–Kimborly Ditto-Ehlert

for full post;
http://forums.microsoft.com/ForeFront/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1277937&SiteID=41

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Consumer warning: Keepit.com

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Just a word of caution in conjunction with my previous description of the online backup service KeepIT.com

I bought this service after a short test of their free 2gb offering, the price seemed fair and they offered unlimited storage space.  Things did not go smoothly though, at first their client software 1.0 was very poor, the client software seemed utterly unstable;

  • VERY slow (up to 10 minutes) when you tried to select what to backup. 
  • It was as good as impossible to tell what had been backuped (logging was very inadequate).
  • Client software would connect and disconnect from the server totally outside your control.
  • And the final nail in the coffin, when you need to restore you have ONE option – ALL or NOTHING, yes that is right you need to restore EVERYTHING it is not possible to just select the one file or files you need.

To top everything off a few extra actions was added to the story that forced me to discontinue my account; When I ordered the product I read the description on their website and downloaded and tested their product on my Win 2003 server, and everything seemed to be in order, however after returning from a weeks vacation in Milano I found that the backup job had stalled.  All attempts to get it back up and running failed, so at last I contacted their support mail.  The response was surprising, “our software do not support Windows 2003 server – have a nice day!” and then a link to a sub-page on their web site where this was stated.  Well what surprises me was that I never saw this while ordering and testing (we all know it is impossible to make the installer software not allowing installation on unsupported systems, sarcasm ;-)), so I can only come to the conclusion that this restriction was either added after I bought the product or very poorly described.  Anyhow the story ends somewhat satisfying, after a lot of writing back and forth KeepIT.com has agreed to return my payment and cancle my service.

A final word of caution, and perhaps the most important;
If you read the FAQ on KeepIT.com website (at least as it is today) you will find that if you loose your crypto key there is NO WAY of restoring your data, I found this very reassuring when I bought the product (as this meant my data was 100% private and secure).  However upon reading the “Terms of usage” VERY closely you will be surprised to find that not only do KeepIT.com have a ‘sparekey’ they also reserve the right to decrypt and examine your data without prior warning if they so see fit, unless you explicit request that they do not store a ‘sparekey’ (this if however NEVER an option during the orderprocess).  I find this option utterly disturbing.

I suggest you take a look at www.idrive.com instead, this service is cheaper has better client software and seem to respect your privacy.  I will see if I cant make a short review / comparison later.

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SP3 for XP – Address toolbar removed

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Well it would seem that SP3 not only contains improvements for the XP os, there are also a few annoying tweaks 😐

One is the removal of the Address toolbar in the Taskbar, it would appear that MS has been forced to remove this due to legal requirements..  I do agree that MS need to be kept on a ‘short leach’, but damn its annoying when they remove features like that.

Well never fear there are a few workarounds to try before ripping all your hair out.

1. http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2587494&SiteID=17

2. http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2614948&SiteID=17

3. http://www.muvextoe.com/

I opt for trying the restoration of the browseui.dll file from a SP2 CD I386 directory (read 2 for more details), I have yet to try this but it seem plausible.

Another ‘feature’ is the “Mstsc” command where “/Console” has become “/Admin”, annoying like …. but better get use to it as its there to stay in both XP, Vista and 2008 (unknown if it will hit Win 2003 also at some time?).

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Windows Update XP sp3 keeps failing

After downgrading from Vista to XP SP3 (5503) I quickly ran into problems, Windows Update keept failing to install 5 patches, it worked to start with but after Office 2007 was added things somehow got messed up and new patches failed.

Quite annoying because Windows XP kept informing me that these updates was ready to be installed.

Anyhow, the solution was found here;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144

Solution1 worked for me..
Stop the WU service (net stop wuauserv) and then run this command (regsvr32 %windir%system32wups2.dll), restart WU service and the patches installed perfectly.

Heard about this problem before, but never experienced it before now… perhaps this 5503 build of SP3 is not as final as promised 😉   oh well, could not wait any longer, Vista was simply not good for 4 year old pc.  And yes, the XP installation seem to run quite a lot faster, nice..

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SCCM 2007 – more “drivers”

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I earlier mentioned “Driver Magician” as a great tool for “extracting” drivers for use with Microsoft Systems Center Configuration Manager OS deployment.

knudsen-consulting.com was kind enough to mention another tool “Drivermax.com” with somewhat similar capabilities as “Driver Magician“, althoug Drivermax does seem more suited for debugging than extraction, as it shows ALL drivers and not just the ‘non native windows’ drivers, but still a great supplement for debugging those stubborn drivers 🙂

And Jesper my office college was kind enough also to share this link: http://totallydrivers.com which may prove equally useful.

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