Recently I had to help out a friend who, for various reasons had two Outlook Express identities on his XP machine.  He had recently changed the password to his ‘important’ identity and couldn’t for the life of him remember what it was.

No password, no access, no important emails.  That’s when I got called.

A quick search showed tons and tons of applications available for recovering OE Identity passwords – they ranged from $19.95 to $49.95.  I knew there had to be a way to get the email back for him without having to shell out money and guess what?  There is.  I had a bit of a search to find this stuff so I thought I’d write it up and share with the world.

Two notes before we start.  First, click the images to make them bigger and easier to read. Second, yes I know that OE is an older mail client and yes I’m sure there are better mail solutions out there.  However, there are lots of people who still use it so I hope this will come in handy to someone.

Here’s what we’re going to do.  We’re going to determine where OE stores all of the folders, emails and whatnot for each identity.  Then we’re going to create a new identity with the same email account settings as the ‘lost’ identity.  Finally, we’re going to copy all of the important stuff into this new identity.

Go ahead and right click on “My Computer” and choose explore.   In order to find the files we’re looking for, we’re going to have to make a few changes to how XP shows files in explorer. Mainly, we want to display file extensions and be able to see hidden and system files.

So in your Explorer window, choose Tools-> Folder Options.  Then select View.  From there, uncheck Hide file extensions, hide system files and change the option on Hidden files to Show hidden files and folders.

Now, let’s go look and see where OE keeps it’s brains.  In your Explorer window, browse to:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities

USERNAME should be substituted with your actual user name.

You should see something that looks like this:

Those long strings of numbers and letters are your GUIDs for your OE data.  Each Identity has a separate GUID.   There are a couple of ways to determine which GUID belongs to which Identity.

• The first is size – if you’re looking to find the files for an Identity that has much more mail than another one, you’ll be looking for larger files.
• The second is to look for date modified – if you haven’t been able to get into an Identity for the past two days, use that to determine which one is which.
• And lastly – the old fashioned go into OE and look method.  To do this though, you’ll have to have access to one of your Identities.   Open Outlook Express,  go to Tools-> Options.  From there click the Maintenance tab.  Then click the Store Folder button and look for a GUID.  That’s the GUID that belongs to the Identity you’re in.

So, you know where to find Outlook Express’ place to keep its mail – now what do you do?  Let’s minimize Explorer and continue on like so.

First thing we’re going to want to do is create a new Identity in Outlook Express.   Even if you don’t have access to any OE Identities, you can do this by Launching OE and then clicking the Manage Identities button.  From there, create a new Identity.  When OE launches, add all of your email account settings for the inaccessible Identity into this new Identity.  (For instructions on how to set up an OE mail account, hit Google).

Now that you’re in the new account, don’t allow it to check mail.  Just quit out of Outlook Express.

Back into your Explorer window and let’s dig a little deeper and find the files we’re going to copy to our new Identity.

You should be at: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities

Now browse deeper – GUID\Microsoft\Outlook Express

So your full path would be

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\GUID\Microsoft\Outlook Express\

Inside the Outlook Express folder you should see a number of .dbx files.  These are your mail files.  Folders.dbx will contain your folders, Inbox.dbx your Inbox, etc.  You’ll want to highlight all of these files and then right click and choose “Copy”.

Now, still in Explorer, back up a bit and go into your new Identities GUID – the easiest way for me to find this is by the date but you can use one of the methods I mentioned above.  Once in the new Identities GUID, browse to \Microsoft\Outlook Express, right click the white space in Explorer and choose “Paste”.  Allow these files to overwrite any existing ones.

Minimize Explorer, go ahead and start up OE and log in to your new Identity.  You should see all of your emails that were stuck in the inaccessible Identity.  Go ahead and check your mail so that new stuff comes in.  The hard part is over.

Tell  OE that your newly created ID is the one you want to log into by default (if that’s the case) through the Manage Identities tool which you’ll see when you launch OE again.

You should now have access to your previously locked Identity’s email in a new Identity.

Technorati Tags: howto, how to, oe, outlook express, identities, lost password, recover email

Technorati Tags: lifehacker, windows, optimization, myths, debunked, debunking, tweaks, registry cleaners, prefetch

Inkseine introduces a gesture-based UI, which reduces screen clutter and makes the app just plain fun to use. It also includes a few unique features. My favorite: you can highlight handwritten text and use it to search any document on your computer (or search the web), then open it for viewing or hyperlink it into your notes for easy access later. Inkseine also has a handy widget for taking clippings and pasting them directly into your notes, like a streamlined version of Snipping Tool.

Naturally as soon as I downloaded it I went straight to planning a D&D campaign. First I sketched out a couple of regional and dungeon maps. After adding some annotations, I hyperlinked the dungeon maps to the regional maps using the search feature. I have all my D&D books in PDF format so I used the search tool to look up the monsters and traps I intended to use, then took snapshots of them and pasted them right into the notes for easy access. I have the whole adventure planned out with everything at the tip of my stylus, and anything I forgot to paste into the notes I can easily search for mid-session without digging through a stack of books. Freakin’ sweet.

I could go on about the things you can do with Inkseine, but I’ll let you check out the features yourself over at its page at Microsoft Research.

“By focusing principally on the needs of the average user, we were able to create a more unified PC experience for users of all levels while enhancing existing users’ experiences by enabling new home-computing scenarios,” said Rory Smotes, group vice president of the Platforms Strategy, Marketing and Developer Group at Microsoft. “Windows Vista Me 2 supports our goal to evolve the Windows-based PC to continue to provide a rich and exciting user experience in the connected home, while not violating any of the numerous patents held by other companies.  In addition, Windows Vista Me 2 will host it’s own schema of Digital Rights Management, assuring that the user never commits a crimed against the United States or any of the other numerous treaty nations.”

Virtualization, PC Health, Digital Media, Home Networking and Online Experience Enhancements

Windows Vista Me 2 is a timely technology update for home PC users. Enhancements to the home-computing experience are focused in the following areas:

Virtualization.  Windows Vista Me 2 marks a departure for Microsoft from a monolithic kernel to threaded environment hosting numerous instances of virtual operating systems.  Windows Vista Me 2 will allow users to spawn a virtual, 32 bit or 64 bit instance of Windows Vista Me 2 on each processor core, allowing for multiple applications to be launched while not taxing the underlying operating system.  Users will now be able to play games, surf the web and run other applications concurrently.

PC health. Windows Vista Me 2 provides an easier, more intuitive and stable computing experience. New features include a self healing file system, in which the entire system is mirrored on a separate, remote volume hosted by third parties.  Remote hosting ensures complete file integrity and will allow users to restore everything from a single file to their entire computer for a small fee.  If at any time your file system, files or any of your virtualized operating system instances become corrupt, they will instantly repair themselves based on the remote copy.  A high speed connection is required to utilize this function.

Digital media. Using PCs to do more with pictures, video, music and games is becoming increasingly popular among home PC users. Windows Vista Me 2 provides advancements in each of these areas with features such as Windows Picture Organizer (WPO) to store, modify and organize all of your digital photos.  New playback functionality for digital media allows users to purchase and play videos or music directly from the internet.  Since Windows Vista Me 2 utilizes many of the same drivers as Windows Vista, manufacturers of third party devices such as digital cameras, scanners or MP3 players will be able to update their products quickly.

Home networking. Windows Vista Me 2 further enables the “connected home” through the HNW, a feature that helps users quickly and easily find shared resources and connect them.  Now with one click of a button, discover all of the available wired and wireless networks and devices attached to them and access them with ease.

Online experience. Windows Vista Me 2 will provide the best Internet experience for families by providing enhanced features for doing the things that matter most to them: browsing the Internet, shopping online, sending and receiving e-mail, purchasing digital media, playing games online, doing Web publishing, and chatting or conferencing with friends and family. Windows Vista Me 2 includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.5 technologies, which adds print preview functionality, core reliability and performance enhancements to improve the home Internet experience.

Windows Vista Me 2 Pricing and Availability

Windows Vista Me 2 will be available in retail boxes or as a download from Microsoft. In addition, Windows Vista Me 2 will be available pre-installed on new PCs. The estimated retail price for Windows Vista Me 2 is  $209 (U.S.) for the full-package product and $109 (U.S.) for a version upgrade (from Windows Vista only). Parties interested in learning the estimated retail price in local currency for other countries should contact their local Microsoft subsidiary.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

Technorati Tags: vista me 2, microsoft, windows, technology, operating systems, announcement, press release, geek

Here’s what caught my eye when I first used it:

1. I was really pleased to find the latest version of their DiskDefrag included in the suite. So now one doesn’t have to download it as a separate program. It’s really easy to use and is faster than the Microsoft defragmenter, which I have been using before I got Auslogics.

2. There is a feature called One-Button Checkup. Basically, it’s a fast system scan which notifies you of any problems. Fixing those problems is one-button-easy as well. So it’s good if you don’t have much time to optimize the system and if you’re not that technical and don’t know where to start. I had to spend quite a bit of time to figure out which tool to use first in the previous version.

3. Internet optimization wizard checks the connection first and applies changes only after that (which is what they all should do, but somehow some don’t). Also now it supports FireFox.

4. Tweak Manager will apply changes much faster and now it properly supports Adobe Acrobat Reader

5. Registry Cleaner now supports Symantec and Nero products.

6. The design is so much nicer. I know it doesn’t really matter, but gives a good impression.

7. Lots of customization options

On the whole, it is now a lot easier to use, gives you full system information and gets rid of errors such as junk files. Also you can undo any changes, so it’s safe to use.
A free trial version is available here. It’s valid for 15 days and then you can buy the full version for $29.95

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.

That’s a bummer because it generally means you’ve got a corrupt registry. Thankfully most windows XP installs (unless you’ve manually tweaked it not to) create restore points for you registry from which you can attempt to resurrect your Windows install.

NOTE: You will be digging into your windows system32 folder and mucking about. If this makes you feel queasy, or if you’re not entirely confident that you have a complete backup you may not want to do this. In other words, proceed at your own risk.

Hop on in to your Ubuntu install, and lets install a few tools we’ll need to access your Windows partition. You may have ntfs-3g installed already. Open up a CLI (Applications-> Accessories-> Terminal) and type:

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g ntfsprogs

Now we have what we’ll need to work in the NTFS partition that contains your Windows install.

Next, we’ll have to determine which partition that is and then mount it so we can work in it.

sudo fdisk -l

That command will list all of the available partitions on your hard drive(s). You’re looking for the one that says NTFS. It may look something like

/dev/sda2 1 9327 74919096 83 NTFS

If you have multiple NTFS partitions it’s a good idea to start with the first one. We’ll go through mounting them and you won’t do any harm in looking around. If you can’t find the directories needed in your first NTFS partition, try the next one. In this tutorial, we’ll use /dev/sda2. Remember to change this to correspond with what actually exists on your system.

So, we know what we want to mount (or have a good idea) so let’s get that partition mounted.

First let’s make a directory where it can sit.

sudo mkdir /media/windows

Now let’s mount it and make it read/write so we can modify it.

sudo mount ntfs-3g -o rw /dev/sda2 /media/windows

Change ‘sda2‘ to reflect your hard drive. If this generates an error message, you may have to force the mount with:

sudo mount nfts-3g -o force,rw /dev/sda2 /media/windows

Now you should be able to change directory into your windows partition.

cd /media/windows

That’s the root of your drive. Lets go to where the files you’ll need to replace are.

cd WINDOWS/system32/config

There are five files you’re going to need to pull from your restore point and plonk down here. First though, let’s back up the original files, even if they’re corrupt. Better safe than sorry.

cp default default.bak
cp SAM SAM.bak
cp system system.bak
cp software software.bak
cp security security.bak

Now you have your backup. Next we’re going to overwrite the corrupted files with ones from your last restore point.

cd ‘/media/windows/WINDOWS/System Volume Information’

Now let’s take a quick look.

ls -las

you should see at least one directory that starts with ‘_restore’ and then some random characters. Change directories into that.

cd _restore*

Now another ls to find the restore point directory with the latest date.

ls -las

Look for the most recent directory that is similar to RP123 – it will be different on your machine. Lets move into that directory

cd RP123

Now into the snapshot directory

cd snapshot

If you want to take a look around, do an ‘ls‘ to see what’s there. We’re going to copy those five files we made backups of back to their appropriate place.

cp _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT /media/windows/WINDOWS/system32/config/default
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY /media/windows/WINDOWS/system32/config/security
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE /media/windows/WINDOWS/system32/config/software
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM /media/windows/WINDOWS/system32/config/system
cp _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM /media/windows/WINDOWS/system32/config/SAM

Now that you’ve copied these, let’s tell windows to to force a file system consistency check.

sudo ntfsfix /dev/sda2

It’s time to boot into your Windows partition and see if we’ve fixed the problem. So restart and select Windows from your boot loader menu. When it first starts up, you should get a blue screen telling you that you’ll need to run a file system consistency check. Let it do it, and reboot again. Hopefully you’ll be back into your Windows install!

Technorati Tags: windows, ubuntu, technology, registry, corrupt, dual boot, geeks

Here’s the official press release:

StreamMyGame.com announced today that its software now enables 2D applications as such as Microsoft Office as well as 3D games to be used remotely on low spec Windows notebooks, Linux devices and the PlayStation 3.

StreamMyGame.com offers its members the flexibility to use their 2D applications installed on a main PC on any other PC or Linux device in their home or home office. The application does not need to be installed on the remote PC/device. Their applications can be viewed at HDTV resolution and two people can simultaneously use the same application making it easy to collaborate.

All 2D applications can be used including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, XP Media Center and even Photoshop along with commercial applications such as MYSQL Administrator and SAP’s Database Manager.

Gamers who use Valve’s Steam network can now use StreamMyGame to remotely see Steam’s 2D launcher. They can start games such as Half Life 2, Counter Strike Source and Team Fortress and then record, broadcast and stream them, even to the PlayStation 3.

“Our members wanted to be able to launch and play their Steam games remotely,” said Richard Faria CEO. “We have delivered that and provided them with the ability to access email and use other office applications as if they were in front of their PC,” he said. “Now they can play games and use applications anywhere around the home”.

StreamMyGame will extend its services in late March 2008 to enable games and applications to be used remotely over broadband networks and will release an office version of its technology later this year.

“Our new Linux player contains many optimisations including the use of the Cell’s multi-core architecture. It has improved video playback with a higher gamut and deeper blacks to provide high quality HDTV streaming,” said Richard.

StreamMyGame software is available free by simply registering at http://www.StreamMyGame.com/

Customers can use the free service or subscribe for $9.99 per year for resolutions up to HDTV 720p or $19.99 per year for higher resolutions.

Technorati Tags: streammygames, windows, linux, technology, computers, applications, office, ps3, playstation, neato

These release notes address late-breaking issues related to this release candidate of Windows Vista® Service Pack 1 (SP1), along with instructions for working around them. Unless otherwise specified, these notes apply to all editions of the Windows Vista operating system with SP1.

For an overview of significant changes and improvements in this release candidate of SP1, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107921.

For a list of the hotfixes and security updates included in SP1, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107922.

Before you install Windows Vista Service Pack 1

• If you install Windows Vista and then install this release candidate of SP1 without first activating Windows Vista, you might not be able to uninstall the service pack.Either activate Windows Vista before you install SP1 or activate SP1 before you attempt to uninstall the service pack.
• If you attempt to install the Korean version of this service pack on a computer that has the Korean version of the 2007 Microsoft® Office system, installation may fail. This only occurs when you use the executable installer—not Windows Update.To avoid this, install Office-kb937905-fullfile-x86-ko-kr.exe from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=107923 before installing SP1.
• If you have certain applications installed, installation of this release candidate of SP1 may fail with the error code 0×80010119 (RPC_E_TOO_LATE). This is definitely known to occur when either Nokia PC Suite or Exceed PowerSuite 2006 are installed.To avoid this, uninstall these applications before you install SP1. Once SP1 installation is complete, you can reinstall the applications.
• If you attempt to install SP1 from a protected shared network resource that requires a password (that is, the administrator does not have direct access to the shared resource), installation may fail with the error “ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND”.To avoid this, gain access to the shared resource, copy the installation file to the computer you want to install SP1 on, and then start the installation.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

The Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is turned on by default. If you do not want to participate in the CEIP, you can change the settings.

1. In Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then click Problem Reports and Solutions.
2. In the Task list, click Change settings.
3. Change the settings.

For information about the CEIP and the data that is transmitted to Microsoft, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=52095. For the CEIP privacy statement, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=52097.

Display

In some cases, computers that use multiple monitors may display black screens when the display mode is changed after resuming from sleep. This issue can also affect laptop computers connected to an external monitor. Display mode changes may occur in any of the following circumstances:

• Attaching or detaching a monitor.
• Accessing the computer remotely.
• Changing the screen resolution or color depth using the Display Properties dialog box (which you can access in Control Panel) or an application.
• Logging users on or off.
• Rotating the display on a tablet computer.

To avoid this, do not use multiple monitors, or do not allow the computer to sleep or change the display mode.

If this has already occurred, restart the computer.

Event log messages

The following events from the Shell Hardware Detection service are not valid and can be safely ignored:

• Event 7011 A time-out (30000 milliseconds) was reached while waiting for a transaction response from the ShellHWDetection service.
• Event 263 The service ‘ShellHWDetection’ may not have unregistered for device event notifications before it was stopped.

Group Policy management

This issue affects Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise.

When you install Windows Vista SP1, the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is removed from the computer. It is being replaced by an updated downloadable version, which will be available later.

To continue managing Group Policy from a client computer, do either one of the following:

• Maintain a computer running Windows Vista for managing Group Policy.
• Remotely connect to a computer running the GPMC.

Installation

• If you attempt to install this release candidate of SP1 immediately after uninstalling any of the release candidate preview versions, installation may fail.To avoid this, wait at least 30 minutes after uninstalling the preview version before you start this installation. You can check that the computer is ready for installation by running the following command at a command prompt:

  reg query HKLM\Components\DerivedData\Components | findstr /i /c:”-ntdll_” | findstr 6001.170

  If the output lists any versions prior to 6001.17047, you should allow more time before starting the installation.

• In some instances, installation of this release candidate fails with the error code 0×80010108 (RPC_E_DISCONNECTED).If this occurs, simply rerun the SP1 installer.

Message Queuing

If your computer is in workgroup mode and you install this service pack, and then uninstall the service pack, the Message Queuing (MSMQ) service will not start. The event log will indicate that “notify_queue$” was not found.

To correct this, complete the following steps:

1. Start Notepad with administrative rights.
2. Navigate to the \Windows\system32\MSMQ\Storage\lqs directory
3. Copy the entire contents of the file 000000002.* and paste them into Notepad.
4. Find the following values in the file:
   • Label=private$\admin_queue$
   • Type=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
   • QueueName=\private$\admin_queue$
5. Edit the values to the following:
   • Label=private$\notify_queue$
   • Type=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
   • QueueName=\private$\notify_queue$
6. Save the new file in the \MSMQ\Storage\lqs directory with file name 000000003.6AB7C4B8 and file type All Files.

Microsoft .NET Framework

If your computer is running Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and Internet Information Services (IIS) is configured to host XOML files, and you then install this release candidate of SP1, the files may not load properly if the application pool is in Integrated Mode. When you attempt to load the file, you will receive HTTP error 404.17.

To correct this, use the WFServicesReg.exe /c command to install handlers for Integrated Mode. This command is in the %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\ directory.

System Restore

When you install this service pack on a computer with low available disk space, the installer may delete previous System Restore points and shadow copies. This means that you may not be able to revert to the exact state of the computer prior to installing the service pack and that previous versions of files may not be available.Uninstallation

Uninstall

Follow these steps to uninstall SP1 using the command line:

1. Click Start, expand All Programs, and expand Accessories.
2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
3. In the command window, type the following and press ENTER:start /w pkgmgr /up: VistaSP1-KB936330~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~6.0.0.<build number>
   

   Note

   To uninstall SP1 from a 64-bit computer, replace x86 with amd64 in this command. Replace <build number> with the appropriate build number you are uninstalling. For example, for the Vista SP1 RC Preview, the build number is 17042.

4. Wait for the command to complete (there is no progress indicator), and then restart the computer when prompted.
5. To confirm that the uninstallation was successful, click Start and type winver in the Start Search box. The reported build version should be 6000.

Copyright

This document supports a preliminary release of a software product that may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release, and is the confidential and proprietary information of Microsoft Corporation. It is disclosed pursuant to a non-disclosure agreement between the recipient and Microsoft. This document is provided for informational purposes only and Microsoft makes no warranties, either express or implied, in this document. Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. The entire risk of the use or the results from the use of this document remains with the user. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft, MS-DOS, Visual Basic, Visual Studio, Windows, Windows NT, Windows Server, Windows Vista, and Active Directory are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

5.0

Technorati Tags: microsoft, vista, service pack 1, sp1, windows, technology, bork bork bork, what not to do

2046 rows of Vista group policy goodness can be had by clicking on this simple link:

Simple Link

Any group policy setting, command, tweak, or configuration you can possibly think of is in this 1.6MB testament to the school of who-needs-databases. Use it well.

Technorati Tags: vista, group policy, technology, computers, tweaks, how to, massive freaking spreadsheet

Want to get that screen when you boot up in Vista rather than the useless little scroll bar sliding back and forth while you boot?

It’s very easy to do.

Click the Vista pebble start button thingy, and in the search field type:

msconfig

Once that launches, click the Boot tab, and then check off No GUI boot.

Restart and pat yourself on the back.

Technorati Tags: vista, windows, microsoft, technology, geek, how to, boot screen, splash screen, area 51ish

Be cautious here – you’re working with your disks in a very direct manner.  If you don’t have everything backed up or are unsure of anything, you may want to wait until you have a standard Windows CD/DVD.

Boot into your Ubuntu LiveCD on the offending machine. Once Ubuntu starts up, go to System -> Administration -> Software Sources and enable (by checking it off) the Universal repository.

Now, open a terminal session (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type the following:

sudo apt-get install ms-sys

ms-sys is a program used to write Microsoft compatible boot records.

Now you’ll need to figure out what partition is the one hosting your Windows operating system. Back in the command line, type:

sudo fdisk -l

That will list the available partitions. You’re looking for a partition that says something like

/dev/sda1 1 9327 74919096 83 NTFS

The two important bits are the ‘/dev/sda1‘ which is the partition itself and the ‘NTFS‘ which tells us it’s a Windows formatted partition.  So your Windows partition exists on your drive sda and it’s partition 1. The MBR for drive sda (assuming you boot into windows using it’s native boot loader) is what you want to repair.

We want to fix the MBR on /dev/sda. To do so, type:

sudo ms-sys -m /dev/sda

You’ll want to change the ‘sda’ bit if your results from ‘fdisk -l‘ are different.  If for instance your windows install is on sdb or hda.

Once you do that, reboot the machine, removing the LiveCD from the drive and Windows should come back to you.

Sure, you could do this by inserting the correct Windows CD and booting into repair mode from it – but I find the Ubuntu way a bit faster and I’m more likely to have an Ubuntu LiveCD on me than a Windows CD.

Technorati Tags: mbr, ubuntu, linux, windows, fix, repair mbr, howto, how to, repair, technology, geek, compturs

Apricot intends to take on this challenge by recruiting a team of six who will have six months to create a fully 3D game using Blender and Crystal Space.  One of the goals of this project, which I fully support is ” to improve open source tools to better fit to the professional gamedev industry.”

Actually creating a game using open source tools only will certainly go a long way towards doing this as the developers will be able to point out all of the good and bad bits in Blender and Crystal Space by the time they’re done.

They’ve also launched a DVD pre-sale event with the hopes of selling 1000 DVDs prior to February 1st.  What will be on the DVD?  “Expect on the DVD the complete game, all content in Creative Commons Attribute, video blog material, and clear examples and/or tutorials for how to extend the game, add levels, change characters, and so on. Early purchasers of the Apricot game will get their names credited on the game intro and final credit roll.”  The DVD costs 34 Euro, or about $50 US and goes to support not only this project but Blender or Crystal Space.  Pre-ordering will also get your name in the credits.

The game is based on project Peach, an open source movie created entirely in Blender.

Let’s hope the end up with an amazing game and take Linux gaming one gigantic step forward by not only making a game that’s in the public’s eye but by helping to improve development tools and giving game developers easier access to open source products.

Technorati Tags: gaming, linux, windows, osx, open source, project peach,   apricot

Microsoft has a program where, if you’re an XP or Vista user, you can sign up, answer some survey questions and let them track your every move via installed software for three months.  Then they’ll send you some software.

If you are a Windows Vista or Windows XP user and decide to join and participate in both programs, we will send you a free Microsoft product when you participate in the program. Limit one gift per person. This offer is non-transferable. This offer expires on 12/31/07, while supplies last, and is not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are your sole responsibility. The current list of products to choose from are:

• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit DVD)
• Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
• Microsoft Money Plus Premium
• Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008
• Microsoft Streets and Trips 2000

Interested?  You can go here to start the process.   Curious as to just what kinds of data they’ll strip out of your computer?  Here’s the FAQ.

I’d like to introduce the newest bit of computing that we’re going to be taking a look at here at ArsGeek.  It just arrived today – the VyePC S37. 

This little computer sports an 800Mhz Intel processor, an Intel 945GU onboard graphics processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 32GB solid state hard drive, wireless, touchscreen tablet goodness and weighs in at about 2.2 pounds (with the battery). 

There will be a full review of this UMPC in a few weeks once I’ve had a chance to put it through it’s paces.  Here’s a picture with a standard USB keyboard and a 17″ LCD behind the S37.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: vyepc, umpc, mini computers, mini-v, vista, 7 inches of fury, touch screen, mobile power

I just had a chance to download and start using Flock and I am loving it. Yes, it’s a tad slower than Firefox but the tools and integration it comes with are great!

It allows you to upload photos to flickr directly, drop videos into YouTube, check on the status of your Twitter account, see who’s online that you’re friendly with on any of these sites and more.

In fact, I’m posting this to ArsGeek via the Flock blogging tool. It’s not perfect – I can’t upload images directly to the blog but I’m still enjoying it. And best of all, it’s native to Linux, Windows and OSX.

If you’re interested in trying it out on your Ubuntu install (or any other distro) just download it, copy the compressed file to your home directory, right click on it and uncompress and then double click on the script file called ‘flock’.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: flock, social websites, web 9.0

EFS

Microsoft,  since windows 2000, has provided EFS, a way to encrypt your data. Sadly, for windows 2000 and XP, you have to use the Professional version to be able to use this. With windows Vista, you have to use either Premium, Business or Ultimate to be able to get this goodie. EFS is actually a subset of the NTFS filesystem. It allows you to encrypt single files of groups of files directly on-drive. The file names are still visible when the files are accessed without the key. There are some security issues, but from what I understood, if you’re running windows XP or better, your files seems safe.

Be cautions though, you can get bit by EFS quite hard if you’re not. When windows is recommending you to backup your key, do it. It will save your precious bytes. Without that key, it is virtually impossible for now to view the content of these files. Furthermore, to rescue the content of encrypted files from Vista, I had to reinstall Vista, Windows XP seemed to be unable to read them, even when I provided it the key I made. Here you’re warned.

Bitlocker

Vista Ultimate has a new feature called Bitlocker which can encrypt the entire drive. I have no experience with it, but it seems to be a secure way to encrypt your hard-drive. To do so you will have to either have a TPM chip in your computer or a USB key with your encryption key on it. I’ll let you within the capable hands of Microsoft to continue your research about Bitlocker.

Truecrypt

Truecrypt is the solution I was using to encrypt my files on Windows XP Home Edition and during my first love with Linux. It is a cross-platform (currently Linux and Windows 2000 and better) and open-source encryption utility. It can either encrypt a virtual container, a file which will act like a drive, or a partition. Using a file as a container will probably be slower, you have to add the speed of accessing the file from its parent filesystem with the speed of truecrypt, but even then, I find this quite fast.

It has many features, some more useful than the others. There is currently a total of eight encryption algorithms, and three hash algorithms. The encryption algorithm you choose will affect the speed and the security of your data. The hash algorithm is for securing the key, it won’t affect the speed, I think.

Truecrypt has an advanced security feature, hidden volumes. Hidden volumes can act as a plausible deniability by having your actual encrypted data in another container hidden inside the first one. The user can store less important data in the first volume, the outer one, while storing critical files in the inner one. This means that if the thugs comes home and wants to see, let’s say, some files and you don’t want to show them, you can decrypt the outer volumes while keeping the inner ones safe. The thugs will probably let your kneecaps in place as there is no way to tell if there is an hidden volume.

Anyway, I’m back at using truecrypt, I don’t want to get bit again with the way Vista handles file-encryption.

And sure, there might be many more ways to encrypt your data within windows, but I’m only presenting the ones I know and have experience with. If you want to have your word, do it in the comments, as usual; I would be glad to have some feedback about this article. Have fun securing yourself, and try not to lock yourself out of your data!

So I figured out how to do it. It’s not terribly pretty but here’s what you need to do.

First, Gutsy got rid of the previous versions of Ubuntu’s way of handling USB mounts by not using USBFS anymore. Doh. That’s an issue for Virtualbox and your virtual XP installs. So you’ll need to download and install the latest Vbox release, 1.5.2. Click on that link to download the .deb file. Save it on your desktop and then double click on it to install it.

For a quick and easy tutorial on using Virtualbox and installing a virtual XP instance, see UbuntuGeek.

Once you have your virtual XP machine running on your Gutsy host, it’s time to do a wee bit of hacking. Turn of your XP instance and let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.

First, open a terminal session (Applications-> Accessories-> Terminal) and type in the following to edit a script file:

gksudo gedit /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh

Once you’ve got that open in Gedit, type CTRL-F to search for a string. Search for ‘magic’ (sans quotes).

That should bring you to this:

#
# Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work
#
#mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
#domount usbfs “” /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
#ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
#mount –rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb

All those pound signs are comments. Remove them from the last four lines so you end up with this:

#
# Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work
#
mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
domount usbfs “” /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
mount –rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb

Save the file and exit Gedit. Round one goes to the user!

Now we’re going to create a group called usbusers. Go to System-> Administration-> Users and Groups. Type in your password and then click the Manage Groups button. From there click the Add Group button and name it usbusers. Check off your username below. Exit these windows and round two goes to us.

Now we’ve got to change a file in udev. So, let’s gedit it and gedit over with. I’ll apologize for the bad jokes in a later post.

gksu gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules

Again, CTRL-F to bring up the search dialog and search for ‘usbfs replacement’ (again, sans quotes). Once you find it, you should be looking at this:

USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM==”usb_device”, MODE=”0664″

You’ll want to change it to this:

# USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM==”usb_device”, GROUP=”usbusers”, MODE=”0664″

Save your file and exit out of Gedit.

Now, the last bit of hackery which may or may not be required for you. It was for me. We’re going to add a mount to /etc/fstab for usb devices using usbfs.

gksudo gedit /etc/fstab

At the bottom, add the following line:

none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=46,devmode=664 0 0

Save the file and exit Gedit. Phew! Now, the easiest way to get all of these changes working on your system is to restart it. So go ahead and do that and then I’ll see you back here in a few.

Back? Great. Time to plug in your USB device, whether it’s a thumb drive, an iPod or something else, plug it in and let Ubuntu detect it.

Now, we’re going to open up Virtualbox and make some changes to your XP machine BEFORE you start it up. So go to Applications-> System Tools-> Virtualbox and get it started up.

Highlight your XP machine (if it’s not the only instance of a virtual machine) and click the Settings button at the top of Virtualbox. You should now have a USB option on the left hand side of your settings. Click the add icon on the right hand side (see the pic below) and select the device from the list. In my example, it’s a 512MB memory key. Now click the Okay button.

Start up your virtual XP machine and you will see a notice pop up courtesy of Ubuntu about unsafe device removal. Nod your head sagely and let’s continue on. Once XP is up and running, it should automatically detect the new USB device, and do it’s best to install it. With my memory key, it was as simple as turning the virtual XP machine on and letting XP take care of it.

You may have to go to the Devices menu on your virtual machine (once it starts up) select USB Devices and then uncheck whatever it is you’re trying to mount.  Repeat the process, this time checking it off and it should mount if it didn’t automatically.

Technorati Tags: usb, virtualbox, virtual box, xp, virtual machines, howto, ubuntu, 7.10, gutsy gibbon

After removing those, I found two psuedo tupperware containers with the remains of some ancient sandwiches. Ouch, those can go.

This is good, right?  I’ve removed about 1/10th of a pound worth of plastic so far.

Okay, two thumb drives, gotta keep those to transfer files.  Two LED mini-flashlights, useful in black outs or surviving zombie uprisings.  My paperback. . . nope, going to keep that too.

Two pens, a first aid kit, a plastic baggie with some tylenol and cold medicine, chapstick, 17 cents.  Okay, the pennies can go.  An old gum wrapper can go as well.

So, after sorting out my entire bag I’ve removed a few bits of plastic and made room for one new DS game, and space in case I happen to receive any new gadgets, like say a largish laser.

How much tech is too much tech?

Technorati Tags: tech, too much, gadgets, backpacks, 36 pounds of crap

Mine is Color Cop. The application itself is well-done and has lived through ages. Jay Prall first released it in 1999, and I discovered it a couple of years ago. Using it never grew old on me as it was and is still a breeze to use. You simply drag the picker from the application to your color and you’re done. There’s even a magnifier to more precisely select your color when a bunch of pixels are not the same one. You can also get the average color of a bunch of pixels if needs be.

There are other features like the complementary color palette, which shows you 42 colors that might fit with the one selected and the history of picked colors. Other than that, you can head over Color Cop‘s website to watch an animated gif of it in action and, hopefully, download it and use it. Sadly, it’s windows-only. In the linux world I used gcolor2, not knowing anything better.

Have fun picking colors!

read more | digg story

Windows Vista is the next version of Microsoft Windows, an operating system for both home and business. As with its previous counterparts (Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 95), developers of Vista have made available many shortcut keys to make our lives easier. We’ll take a look at some of these shortcut keys below.

Click Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools.

From there click Group Security Policy.

Find Computer Configuration on the left hand side. Expand that and find Administrative Templates.

Once you’ve expanded Administration Templates, go to Windows Components -> Desktop Window Manager and enable “Do not allow flip3d invocation“.

No more Flip3d.

Note: In some sort of strange, galactic synchronicity a set of instructions also appeared on the How-To-Geek’s site.  We were both concerned that the fabric of space/time may be harmed but I assure you after carefully watching an episode of the Simpsons, everything seems to be under control.

Check out WINDVIS.com. Lots of interesting tips and tricks, as well as troubleshooting, software reviews and tutorials.

YAY for bugs!

Thanks much to neosmart.net for the tip!

read more | digg story

I dislike this on general principle.  Especially for dual boot machines. When I tell my computer to turn off, I mean off, not nodding into sleep.

Here’s how you can modify your Vista install to turn your box off.

First go to (ready?  it’s a long one!)  Start -> Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options -> Change Plan Settings (this will be below your current power plan) -> Change Advanced Power Settings.

Phew! Wasn’t that fun?

Now that you’re finally where you want to be,  let’s make the change.  Look for Power Button Use and Lid.  Expand that and find Start Menu Power Button.  Change this from Sleep to Shut Down.

Click OK and the next time you mouse jam your Vista power button, your computer will do the right thing.

Technorati Tags: vista, shutdown, sleep, modify, gui hack, wake up

Windows PowerShell in Action is an encyclopedic tome of PowerShell scripting bringing the reader through the basics with simple shell scripts through powerful and flexible scripts any Windows systems administrator will find immediately useful.

The book is divided into 13 chapters and three appendices with an index. Payette sorts these chapters into two parts, Learning PowerShell and Using PowerShell. The first focuses on syntax, language and objects and operators, the second focuses on manipulating files and data.

Part 1, Learning PowerShell consists of chapters one through nine and includes an introduction to PowerShell, the basic structure of the language, types, operators and expressions, flow control, functions objects and debugging.

Part 2, Using PowerShell brings the reader through such practical uses such as processing text files, XML, .NET tie-ins, Windows objects (COM and WMI) and creating secure scripts.

Every book has areas where they shine and the appendices of Windows PowerShell in Action is what shines for this book. Appendix A compares PowerShell to other languages, a useful read for those already familiar with programming.

Appendix B, “Admin Examples” is in my opinion the most immediately useful section of the book. It contains a number of PowerShell scripts that will be instantly beneficial to any Windows Sysadmin – not only because these scripts are sure to be immediately useful but because they illustrate how to do immediately useful things. With the knowledge gained from reading this book these scripts serve as a wonderful basis for further understanding just how powerful and useful PowerShell can be.

Appendix C is a grammar reference for PowerShell containing notes and references to just how PowerShell statements are constructed. A handy reference for quick answers on how to write portions of a script.

Windows PowerShell in Action is a straight forward programming book which wastes no time in getting into the nitty gritty of writing PowerShell scripts. Within the first chapter the reader will find themselves immersed in the language and creating scripts on their own. Payette has a straight forward approach to learning and a good sense of humor which helps to keep the reader going.

The book is full of useful examples in the form of code snippets and full blown scripts which guide the reader through the concepts of PowerShell by example. To me this is one of the more useful ways to learn a language particularly if you’re not overly familiar with programming when you pick up this book. The appendices and more advanced examples are well suited for veteran code writers.

This book is well suited for both the novice and experienced programmer looking to learn PowerShell. It will also serve as a great reference for the Admins who will occasionally dip into shell scripting while maintaining their Windows servers and domains.

Technorati Tags: powershell, windows, review, book review, scripting

What the heck is a Silverlight you ask?  No, it’s not a propriatary super hero or a globe spanning super-bug, but a “cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.”

You can make stuff in it.

See the Silverlight page, or just go download it for your Windows or Mac computer.