Warriors of the Net

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)

Unbelievable, so I'm sending an email earlier today and in the middle of me typing it my system freezes and i get the infamous BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). I didn't panic(but i was pissed that it happened), luckily i went into my system properties two weeks ago and deactivated the restart on blue screen so i could see the bug check codes and actually read the screen. Even though i knew what the issue was I thought i would post some info on troubleshooting/repairing the infamous BSOD(and lets hope you don't get the RSOD which is the Red Screen of Death).

BLUE SCREEN TROUBLESHOOTING

1. Download and install the latest updates and drivers
2. Scan computer for viruses
3. Check HDD for errors
4. Remove any new hardware or software to isolate the cause of blue screen
5. Restore computer to an earlier state

Step 1: Start Windows in safe mode

Step 2: Collect more information about your computer

To continue troubleshooting this problem, you will need to collect more information about your computer, and then use it to find more information online.

Use Event Viewer to find specific information about this problem

In the left pane, double-click Windows Logs, and then click Application
In the Actions pane on the right side of the window, click Find.
In the Find dialog box, type bluescreen, and then click Find Next. When a blue screen event is located, close the Find dialog box.

In the Actions pane, click Event Properties.
Click the General tab, and then locate and write down the Fault bucket. An example fault bucket is 0xD1_W_portcls!CPortWavePci::Notify+12.
Perform an Internet search

Go online to search the Internet for specific bugcheck codes you found using Event Viewer.
Go online to search the Internet for the driver name. For example, search for "portcls.sys."
Go online to search the Internet using different combinations of text, such as "Blue Screen" or "Stop Error" along with the driver or device name. For example, you could search for "portcls.sys bluescreen".

Step 3: Roll back or disable the problem driver

Step 4: Determine whether a third-party program is causing the problem by entering "msconfig"

Click the General tab, click Selective Startup, clear the Load startup items check box, and then select the Load System Services check box.

Click OK, and then restart the computer.

If Windows starts, go to Step 5. If Windows does not start, go to Step 7.

Step 5: Identify the conflicting program

Because of the number of programs that might be listed, we recommend that you use the following process of elimination: enter "msconfig"

Click the Startup tab.
Select approximately half of the listed items, and then click OK.
Restart the computer.
If Windows does not start, restart Windows in safe mode.
Repeat this process until you have identified the program that is causing the problem.

Once you determine that a specific program is causing the problem, we recommend that you remove it if you are not using it.

If you do not want to remove the program, contact the software manufacturer for a solution to the problem.

Step 6: Disable all third-party services

Disable all third-party services to find out whether the problem is being caused by one of them.
Enter "msconfig"

WARNING
The following procedure describes how to turn off third-party services. Be careful not to disable Microsoft services, because doing so will turn off System Restore and cause you to lose all system restore points.

Click the Services tab, and then click the Hide all Microsoft services check box to filter the list to third-party services only.

Click Disable all to disable the listed third-party services.

Restart the computer and check to see if the problem has gone away. If it has, you know that one of the disabled third-party services is causing the problem. Go to step 7 to identify which service is causing the problem.

Step 7: Locate and disable the third-party service causing the problem

Because of the number of services that might be listed, we recommend that you use the following process of elimination: enter "msconfig"

Click the Services tab, and then click the Hide all Microsoft services check box to filter the list to third-party services only.

Disable approximately half the services on the list, and then click OK.

Restart the computer in normal mode.

If Windows starts, then the problem service is among those you disabled. Repeat the process of enabling services in msconfig and restarting Windows until you determine which one causes Windows to not start in normal mode (this is the service that is causing the problem).

If Windows does not start, then the problem service is among those you left enabled. Repeat the process of disabling services and restarting Windows until you determine which one causes Windows to start in normal mode (this is the service that is causing the problem).

If you have determined which service is causing the problem, we recommend that you disable it and contact the service's manufacturer for information on how to solve the problem. Also, make sure you re-enable any of the other services you disabled for diagnostic purposes.


This info is what i found to be the most explanatory on the net.

RUN COMMANDS

If anybody is like me then they want to be able to use the OS to it's fullest potential. One of the ways of doing that is knowing various paths and routes to naviagate to your desired OS utility. Knowing the "Run" commands are essential for administrators and fun for power users, but there can be more than quite a few too remember. I found a pretty good site that list around 150 Run commands. I haven't tested them all out on all OS platforms but some choice ones work for me running Microsoft Windows 7 Professional x64. Here is the link to the site "Run Commands"

SPEED UP SHUTDOWN TIMES

DON’T HAVE WINDOWS CLEAR YOUR PAGING FILE

1. Run regedit.exe
2. Go to --- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
3. Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0
4. Close the Registry and reboot

Sometimes it takes windows a long time to shut down because it's waiting to see whether a service will stop on its own before prompting you to manually shut it down. Windows, by default, waits 20 seconds before prompting you, which can sometimes seem interminable. You can hack the Registry to have Windows ask you sooner than 20 seconds.

1. Run regedit.exe
2. Go to --- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
3. Look for WaitToKillServiceTimeout value.
4. Set the value in milliseconds (ex: 15000 is 15 seconds)
5. Close the Registry and reboot

It's a good idea to start lowering it in increments of no more than 5 seconds. Never lower it less than 5000, or you might lose data or your PC might not shut down properly

SPEED UP BOOT TIME

There is a simple way to speedup boot times: make your system do a boot defragment, which puts all the boot files next to one another on your HDD. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.

1. Launch regedit.exe
2. Go to --- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
3. Edit the Enable string to Y
4. Exit the registry and reboot

HACK YOUR BIOS FOR FASTER BOOT TIME

1. Run Quick POST
2. Change boot order so the HDD or bootable drive is 1st
3. Disable Boot up Floppy Seek
4. Disable Boot Delay

FINE-TUNE REGISTRY

Get a registry cleanup tool to delete unneeded Registry entries and speed up startup times. Eusing Free Registry Cleaner (www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm) is an excellent Registry cleanup tool. It combs your Registry for outdated and useless entries and then lets you choose which entries to delete and which to keep. It also lets you restore your Registry if you run into a problem.

Extending Windows Server 2008 w/o Activation

 

How to manually extend the evaluation period

When the initial 60-day evaluation period nears its end, you can run the
Slmgr.vbs script to reset the evaluation period. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.
2. Type slmgr.vbs -dli, and then press ENTER to
   check the current status of your evaluation period.
3. To reset the evaluation period, type slmgr.vbs
   –rearm, and then press ENTER.
4. Restart the computer.

This resets the evaluation period to 60 days.

How to automate the extension of the evaluation period

You may want to set up a process that automatically resets the evaluation period
every 60 days. One way to automate this process is by using the Task Scheduler.
You can configure the Task Scheduler to run the Slmgr.vbs script and to restart
the server at a particular time. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Task Scheduler.
2. Copy the following sample task to the server, and then save it as an .xml
   file. For example, you can save the file as Extend.xml.
   

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
   <Task version="1.2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task">
     <RegistrationInfo>
       <Date>2007-09-17T14:26:04.433</Date>
       <Author>Microsoft Corporation</Author>
     </RegistrationInfo>
     <Triggers>
       <TimeTrigger id="18c4a453-d7aa-4647-916b-af0c3ea16a6b">
         <Repetition>
           <Interval>P31D</Interval>
           <StopAtDurationEnd>false</StopAtDurationEnd>
         </Repetition>
         <StartBoundary>2007-10-05T02:23:24</StartBoundary>
         <EndBoundary>2008-09-17T14:23:24.777</EndBoundary>
         <Enabled>true</Enabled>
       </TimeTrigger>
     </Triggers>
     <Principals>
       <Principal id="Author">
         <UserId>domain\alias</UserId>
         <LogonType>Password</LogonType>
         <RunLevel>HighestAvailable</RunLevel>
       </Principal>
     </Principals>
     <Settings>
       <IdleSettings>
         <Duration>PT10M</Duration>
         <WaitTimeout>PT1H</WaitTimeout>
         <StopOnIdleEnd>true</StopOnIdleEnd>
         <RestartOnIdle>false</RestartOnIdle>
       </IdleSettings>
       <MultipleInstancesPolicy>IgnoreNew</MultipleInstancesPolicy>
       <DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>true</DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>
       <StopIfGoingOnBatteries>true</StopIfGoingOnBatteries>
       <AllowHardTerminate>true</AllowHardTerminate>
       <StartWhenAvailable>false</StartWhenAvailable>
       <RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>false</RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>
       <AllowStartOnDemand>true</AllowStartOnDemand>
       <Enabled>true</Enabled>
       <Hidden>false</Hidden>
       <RunOnlyIfIdle>false</RunOnlyIfIdle>
       <WakeToRun>true</WakeToRun>
       <ExecutionTimeLimit>P3D</ExecutionTimeLimit>
       <DeleteExpiredTaskAfter>PT0S</DeleteExpiredTaskAfter>
       <Priority>7</Priority>
       <RestartOnFailure>
         <Interval>PT1M</Interval>
         <Count>3</Count>
       </RestartOnFailure>
     </Settings>
     <Actions Context="Author">
       <Exec>
         <Command>C:\Windows\System32\slmgr.vbs</Command>
         <Arguments>-rearm</Arguments>
       </Exec>
       <Exec>
         <Command>C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe</Command>
         <Arguments>/r</Arguments>
       </Exec>
     </Actions>
   </Task>
   
   

3. In the sample task, change the value of the following “UserID” tag to
   contain your domain and your alias:
   
   <UserId>domain\alias</UserId>
4. In the Task Scheduler, click Import Task on
   the Action menu.
5. Click the sample task .xml file. For example, click Extend.xml.
6. Click Import.
7. Click the Triggers tab.
8. Click the One Time trigger, and then click
   Edit.
9. Change the start date of the task to a date just before the end of your
   current evaluation period.
10. Click OK, and then exit the Task Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler will now run the evaluation reset operation on the date that you specified.

Pasted from <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948472>

 

IE8 Broken/Slow Tabs

Some users that upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 experience issues with tabs not working properly or taking a very long time to load.  It seems for most users the issue can be attributed to a problem with actxprxy.dll not installing properly during the upgrade.  If you have a similar problem with IE8, fixing the issue is as simple as a running one command. Just open up an administrative level command prompt and type in regsvr32 actxprxy.dll and hit Enter. Reboot your computer and your tab issue should be resolved.


Pasted from http://www.tweakwin7.com/articles/39473/fix-broken-and-slow-tab-issues-in-internet-explorer-8/

Configuring IP/DNS addresses with CLI

The IP address of your computer can be set from the command prompt by running the following commands at an administrative level prompt:
netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" static 123.123.123.123 255.255.255.0 123.123.123.1 1
Local Area Connection is the name of the adapter you want to modify. In single NIC systems it is normally called Local Area Connection. 123.123.123.123 is the IP address you want to set. 255.255.255.0 is the subnet mask. 123.123.123.1 is the gateway. 1 is the gateway metric. You can leave this as 1 for almost all cases. If you want to enable DHCP you can run:
netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" dhcp
There are two commands for DNS since administrators typically configure a primary and secondary DNS server. 
For the primary DNS run:
netsh interface ip set dns name="Local Area Connection" static 208.67.222.222
For the secondary run:
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" 208.67.220.220 index=2
If you want to configure the computer to use DNS from DHCP run:
netsh interface ip set dnsservers name="Local Area Connection" source=dhcp

FIX DNS ERRORS

If you suspect you're having DNS problems then do the following:

1. Check your HOST file - if your HOSTS file contains an incorrect or outdated listing, you won't be able to connect. Even if you don't recall adding listings to a HOSTS file, it still might contain listings because some internet accelerator utilities edit them w/o telling you. Open your HOSTS file with Notepad and see if the site you can't connect to is listed there. If it is, delete the entry, and you should be able to connect.

2. Check your DNS settings - verify that the ip addresses for the DNS servers are correct. If not then double-click the problem connection in the Network Connections folder, choose Support then Details (on Vista and Win 7 click "View Status" next to the connection in the Network and Sharing Center, then click Details), and look at the bottom of the tab to find your DNS servers. If they don't match then go back into the problem connection and click Properties. Then highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and choose Properties. Change the DNS servers to the proper ones, or choose "Obtain DNS server address automatically."

3. Flush your DNS cache - ipconfig /flushdns @ command prompt

4. Find out if your ISP is having DNS problems - you might be accessing a downed server, so ping both servers for a response. If none is given then change your DNS servers

5. Reboot router, modem, or access point - many routers and access servers have their own DNS servers built-in

SUBNETTING MADE EASY

When people are learning subnetting and see what needs to be done, it can sometimes seem overwhelming and complicated. Learning classes and standard subnet mask then borrowing bits, learning values to create the new subnet mask, knowing which octet to subnet in correctly. Well I'm glad to say that there is a process of subnetting that makes it extremely easy to complete successfully. Theres no binary math involved or converting decimal to binary. Knowing your classes and standard subnet mask with proper value placement of an 8-bit octet is sufficient knowledge. Here's how you subnet a standard class C private address (pa) of 192.168.0.0/28

1. First you know that the standard class C subnet mask has 24 bits turned on for your network, so your standard sn (subnet) mask is 255.255.255.0

2. Second, you need to determine how many bits you are subnetting with and in which octet: if 24 bits is a standard C which is 3 octets and you have 28 bits turned on in the subnet mask then you simply do this (28-24=4 ** 28 being your bit mask and 24 being your standard subnet mask for a class C address). So you have 4 bits turned on in the 4th octet used for subnetting and the other 4 bits will be used for your host which will occupy all 32 bits.

3. Third, you take your IP address and your new subnet mask which is 255.255.255.240 and make a 6 row 2 column chart listing the IP address and the subnet mask as the first two leaving space for the Resident Subnet (Network or Subnet ID, or Network Group etc...whichever you would like to call it), the 1st usable address, the last usable address, and the broadcast address.
IPv4 Address: 192.168.0.0
SN Mask : 255.255.255.240
1st Subnet :
1st Address :
Last Address:
BC Address :

4. You then take the interesting octet(the octet being subnetted) of the subnet mask and subtract it from 256 (256-240=16). Which here gives you 16, this is going to be your base value of your subnets. Starting from 0 you count to 256 by 16's (0-16-32-48-64-80-96-112-128-144-160-176-192-208-224-240-256) and these are all of your subnets except for 256 because you would be going into the next bit borrowed.

5. So your first subnet is 192.168.0.0 which goes into row 3 of your chart and your broadcast address is minus 1 of your next subnet (and remember you are subnetting in the 4th octet) which goes in the 6th row

IPv4 Address: 192.168.0.0
SN Mask : 255.255.255.240
1st Subnet : 192.168.0.0
1st Address :
Last Address:
BC Address : 192.168.0.15

6. Finally, to find your range of usable addresses you simply add 1 to the Resident Subnet for the 1st address and subtract one from the broadcast for your last usable address which gives you your range of usable addresses

IPv4 Address: 192.168.0.0
SN Mask : 255.255.255.240
1st Subnet : 192.168.0.0
1st Address : 192.168.0.1
Last Address: 192.168.0.14
BC Address : 192.168.0.15

This is your first subnet with 192.168.0.0/28. You figured out the new subnet mask, range of usable addresses and the broadcast address. Also you now know all of your subnets with this scenario with 192.168.0.16 being your next subnet

WEB BUGS

Web bugs are invisible bits of data, frequently a pixel in size (sometimes called clear GIFs), that can track all your activities on a website and report it back to a server.  Sometimes, the web site the bugs
send info to isn't the one that contains the web bug.

Web bugs can send the following information:

 

1.   The IP address of your computer

2.   The URL page of which the web bug is located, so they know u visited the page

3.   The time the web bug was viewed, so they know exactly when you visited the page

4.   The URL of the web bug image

5.   The type of browser you have

6.   The values of certain cookies (generally only cookies set by the web site that the bug resides on)

 

Bugnosis is software that alerts you to pages that use/have web bugs.  This software does not eradicate the web bugs, rather it only alerts you to it's presence so you can possibly avoid that web site.