Microsoft Technet Summer Scripting Games : Javelin Throw

I was invited to be a guest commentator for the Javelin Throw event during the recently concluded Microsoft Technet's Summer Scripting Games. For this scenario, I had to write a time logger with time-stamped text entries that describe a particular activity. I created a VB script that accepts user inputs as arguments, stores these together with the date and time of the activity, amount of time spent on the activity, the status of the activity and some remarks onto a CSV file.

You can find my write-up and solution at this link:

http://blogs.technet.com/heyscriptingguy/archive/2009/06/24/hey-scripting-guy-event-9-solutions-from-expert-commentators-beginner-and-advanced-the-javelin-throw.aspx

Checking for Remote Desktop Status of a Remote Server

Here's a script that checks for the Remote Desktop feature status of a remote server. The server hostnames are read off a servers.ini file. The server's registry is then queried for the DWORD value of fDenyTSConnections under the server's HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server registry key.

List Local Users of Remote Systems (Powershell)

Here's a Powershell script that reads the hostnames off a text file (hosts.ini) and lists all the local users of the remote host:

Moderating the "The Official Scripting Guys" Forum in Technet

Yep, I am now one of the moderators of "The Official Scripting Guys Forum" in Technet. I feel humbled to be in the company of the other moderators, the best of the best, whom I have looked up to in the past. This is my own little way of "paying it forward"...

Walkthrough: Boot WinPE on a USB Thumbdrive

I was in a bind. I had onhand, a Lenovo X200 which I was trying to install a Vista image on. But this unit had neither a built-in nor an external CD or DVD drive. And all I had my trusted {Insiders} USB thumbdrive:



The WinPE image I was using to boot up is in an ISO format. I used MagicISO to mount the ISO file to access the image's folder structure and its files. Once I had the files and folders ready, I had to do the following steps to be able to boot from my USB thumbdrive:

1. list disk - displays disk information including disk number, size, and status
2. select disk x - focuses all subsequent commands on a particular disk
3. clean - cleans and removes all configuration information from the disk
4. create partition primary - create a partition (of type primary in our example)
5. list partition - displays partition information of the disk in focus
6. select partition y - moves the focus to the partition y
7. active - marks the partition in focus as the active boot partition
8. format fs=fat32 - formats the active partition with the FAT32 file system
9. assign - assigns a drive letter (the next available one) to the disk

I then copied mounted my WinPE ISO and copied the files/folders to the USB thumbdrive. And off I go, booting up WinPE from my {Insiders} USB thumbdrive.

New-Look Gmail

Have you noticed your new and spanking Gmail lately?



Log-in to your gmail account. Click on Settings --> Themes.



Choose a new theme (you can also add features under Labs). Save the changes and voila, a cool-looking Gmail UI.

Offline Files Synchronization Errors (Sync Center)

This has got me stumped. My users' home folders are stored on a NetApp filer (cifs). "My Documents" and "Favorites" are redirected and are made available offline. On the filer, oplocks has been set to "on". When a user syncs his offline files from his Windows Vista Enterprise computer, the "view sync results" windows displays a lot of errors (Details: "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."). On a Windows XP computer, synchronization works like a charm.

KB296264 mentions about modifying the registry of Windows Servers so this doesn't apply in my case. I'm on a quest to find a solution for this. =)

Follow the ongoing thread in the Technet File Services and Storage forum:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverfiles/thread/26bc65ca-5663-4183-b15b-f49a4cb664d0

From a TechNet Lurker to a TechNet Contributor

I am an IT professional and oftentimes when I encounter problems in the systems I am administering, I would search for possible solutions using Google Search from the internet. Ninety-nine point ninety nine percent of the time, someone else has already encountered the problem and, if I'm in luck, a solution has already been found and posted.

The Microsoft TechNet is my usual haunt for Microsoft-related stuff. For years, I've been lurking in the TechNet forums, browsing for TechNet (and at times, MSDN) articles, whitepapers and guides, copy-and-pasting studying scripts from the ScriptCenter, rummaging through the Virtual Labs to try my hands on new technologies, and a lot of other occasions. Never did it cross my mind during those years that I can actually contribute to those other IT pros seeking answers and solutions; I had doubts and reservations on my expertise, however minute it may be.

But things have changed. A bit. I have been posting on the forums in a scale I've never done before. This sort of builds up my confidence and self-esteem. And now, here I am, a TechNet forums regular poster. And, look, I just got my third medal!

Why am I doing this? Helping out those who seek answers? Paying it forward; for all those times when I was the one looking for help and the forums were there to save me, it's payback time.

Microsoft TechFEST 2008 (Singapore)

I reckon I heard about the forthcoming TechFEST 2008 in October (23-24) from one of the Microsoft Insiders meetups a couple of months back. Likewise, I have received emails from Dennis concerning this and the topics that might be covered during the event. Early this afternoon, I received an email invite from sgevents@microsoft.com for the "Microsoft TechFEST 2008 – A Festival Featuring Microsoft Latest Technologies"; good thing I've informed my team about this earlier and was given the green light by my boss to go.  Good thing my cost center is going to cover for the SGD$99 registration fee. I'm looking forward to meeting the Pinoy MVPs during the two-day event (Pom, Ed, Andre, and Jay) and learn a thing or two from these experts.

And what do I get with the 99-singbucks? To say a lot will be an understatement:

- 3 MSPress Books (1 on Windows 2008, 1 on SQL 2008, 1 on Visual Studio 2008) total worth $168

- 1 Keynote and 12 Break Out Tracks

- Up to 42 Hands On Labs (Hyper-V, BI, SQL Security, Silverlight2, WPF)

- Free Access to MCS & MVPs during this period (make the most out of the MCS folks, ask them questions, they are your bloody expensive friendly consultants)

-And more!

Google Releases Chrome Patch (0.2.149.29)

In one of my earlier posts, I have highlighted about a DoS vulnerability on Google Chrome's Inspect Element feature wherein a specially crafted page can cause all Chrome windows (not just tabs!) to crash. Google has released a patch to fix this and a few other vulnerabilities as mentioned in the update's Release Notes.

The milw0rm exploit, Shinook's Chrome exploit, and even Aviv Raff's carpet-bombing flaw exploit appear to have no effect on this updated version. An earlier patch, 0.2.149.27, was still vulnerable to the carpet-bombing exploit before the .29 update was released. The good? Google was able to release the patch in a timely manner, in fact, just hours (or was it a day) after the first vulnerabilities were made public. The bad? The update was done without even notifying the user. I still prefer to know what is being installed on my computer irregardless of whether it is fixing a vulnerability or not, hear Google?

IE7 vs Chrome (SunSpider Javascript Benchmark)

If it were a boxing match, IE7 would have been KTFO'ed Amir Khan style. Chrome came out the runaway winner, significantly outpacing IE7 in almost all aspects of the SunSpider benchmark test. This is a clear-as-day indication that Chrome is best suited for ajax-heavy websites. I've been consistently using these two browsers for the past few days and noticed a noteworthy speedier access to Yahoo mail (and gmail, of course) when using Chrome; however, it does not render well asp.net menus (some Community Server forums, for example) and Silverlight-laden sites.




Ah, but Microsoft is not sitting idle as far as the browser race is concerned. Early last month, Internet Explorer 8 Beta has been released. I'm going to give this Chrome-worthy contender a spin in the coming days and see how it fares.

Google Chrome Inspect Element Denial-of-Service Exploit

Whoa! A Chrome exploit from milw0rm!

http://www.milw0rm.com/exploits/6386

And what does this do? Not much really, it just crashes ALL your open Chrome windows. ;-)

Google Chrome's Porn Incognito Mode

I have been testing Chrome, Google's new and highly-anticipated browser, since it was made available for download four days back. One thing I noticed is that it is very fast in rendering (some) pages. However, it still lacking in some ways, in my humble opinion (worthy of another blog post, if I may say so).


One feature that stands out, as far as I am concerned, is the Incognito mode. Although this is nothing new, Safari has a "private" mode for some time while IE8 Beta has the "in private" mode, it is a welcome feature to those porn loving paranoid users. This is a welcome feature for those who worry much about their browsing histories footprints on their computers.


I love the Incognito icon, it's kinda bad-ass. A side note, browsing in this mode only keeps Chrome from storing information about the websites and pages you have visited. The websites you have visited may still have records of your visit.