Well, I have a friend who got fired from his job.  His job forgot to obtain a company issued laptop so he asked me to fix it up for him.  Since they gave him local admin rights, I figured I would spoof up the OS a bit.  The first issue I noticed was that symantec was broken.  I found the following kB article from symantec and ran through this without any issues.  Its a bit tedious, but hell, its worth it!

To remove Symantec AntiVirus from the registry

1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start > Run.
2. In the Open box, type the following text:

   regedit

3. Click OK.
4. In the Windows Registry Editor, in the left pane, go to the following key:

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\Shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

5. In the left pane, right-click LDVPMenu, and then click Delete.
6. Expand the following key:

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features

   This key contains many <Package Code> keys.

7. Click each <Package Code> key, and look in the right pane for references to SAVMain.
   If you see any references to SAVMain in the right pane, then delete the entire <Package Code> key.
8. Expand the following key:

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products

   This key contains many <Package Code> keys.

9. Click each <Package Code> key, and look in the right pane for references to Symantec AntiVirus.
   If you see any references to Symantec AntiVirus in the right pane, then delete the entire <Package Code> key.
10. Expand the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products

    This key contains many <Package Code> keys.

11. Expand each <Package Code> key, and then click the InstallProperties key.
    If you see any references to Symantec AntiVirus in the right pane, then delete the entire <Package Code> key.
12. Expand the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

    This key contains many <Package Code> keys.

13. Click each <Package Code> key, and look in the right pane for references to Symantec AntiVirus.
    If you see any references to Symantec AntiVirus in the right pane, then delete the entire <Package Code> key.
14. Delete the following keys:
    • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\UpgradeCodes\20A7FB42A06BB49448A397B3CB77ED4D
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\20A7FB42A06BB49448A397B3CB77ED4D
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\DllUsage\VP6
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes\20A7FB42A06BB49448A397B3CB77ED4D
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\SPBBC
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec AntiVirus
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\SymNetDrv
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System\SAVRT
15. Expand the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features

    This key contains many <Package Code> keys.

16. Click each <Package Code> key, and look in the right pane for references to SAVMain.
    If you see any references to SAVMain in the right pane, then delete the entire <Package Code> key.
17. Expand the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products

    This key contains many <Package Code> keys.

18. Click each <Package Code> key, and look in the right pane for references to Symantec AntiVirus.
    If you see any references to Symantec AntiVirus in the right pane, then delete the entire <Package Code> key.
19. Click the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

20. In the right pane, delete the vptray value.
21. Click the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\InstalledApps

22. In the right pane, delete the following values:
    • AVENGEDEFS
    • Common Client
    • Common Client Data
    • Common Client Decomposers
    • NAVNT
    • SAV Install Directory
    • SAVCE
    • Savrt
    • SPBBC
    • SymNetDrv
    • VP6ClientInstalled
    • VP6UsageCount
23. Expand the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services

24. Delete the following subkeys:
    • ccEvtMgr
    • ccSetMgr
    • DefWatch
    • NAVENG
    • NAVEX15
    • SavRoam
    • SAVRT
    • SAVRTPEL
    • SNDSrvc
    • SPBBCDrv
    • SPBBCSvc
    • Symantec AntiVirus
    • SYMREDRV
    • SYMTDI
25. Expand the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application

26. Delete the following subkeys:
    • ccEvtMgr
    • ccSetMgr
    • DefWatch
    • LiveUpdate
    • SavRoam
    • Symantec AntiVirus
27. In the left pane, click My Computer.
28. On the Edit menu, click Find.
29. In the Find what box, type the following text:

    VirusProtect6

    Delete all keys and values that contain this string.

30. In the left pane, click My Computer.
31. On the Edit menu, click Find.
32. In the Find what box, type the following text:

    vpshell2.dll

    Delete all keys and values that contain this string.

33. In the left pane, click My Computer.
34. On the Edit menu, click Find.
35. In the Find what box, type the following text:

    933187C5788574F4889B3B1FBB35638A

    Delete all keys and values that contain this string.

    ---

    WARNING: Follow the next four steps only if the conditions that are described in the steps are met. These instructions affect registry entries that other Symantec products use. If you delete a key or value that another Symantec product uses, that product must be removed and installed again.

    ---

36. If no other Symantec application that uses virus definitions is installed, then delete the following key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Symantec\SharedDefs

37. If Symantec AntiVirus is the only Symantec program that is installed, delete the following keys:
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Symantec\Common Client
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Symantec\SymEvent
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SymEvent
38. If Symantec AntiVirus is the only Symantec program that is installed, go to the following key

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

39. In the right pane, delete the ccApp value.
40. Restart the computer.

Symantec AntiVirus client is now disabled, even though traces of it remain in the registry. These traces have little impact on how your computer operates. You do not need to remove them.

Remove Symantec AntiVirus from the Start menu and from the hard drive
After Symantec AntiVirus is disabled, you need to remove leftover files and shortcuts to the program.

To remove Symantec AntiVirus from the Start menu

1. On the Windows taskbar, right-click Start, and then click Open All Users.
2. Double-click Programs.
3. Double-click Symantec Client Security.
4. Do one of the following:
   • If more than one program is listed in this folder, right-click Symantec AntiVirus, and then click Delete.
   • If Symantec AntiVirus is the only program that is listed in this folder, right-click Symantec Client Security, and then click Delete.
5. Exit Windows Explorer.

To remove Symantec AntiVirus from the hard drive

1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start > Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.
2. Open the Program Files folder.
3. Right-click the Symantec Client Security folder, and then click Delete.
   

   ---

   WARNING: Follow the next three steps only if the conditions that are described in the steps are met. These instructions affect registry entries that other Symantec products use. If you delete a key or value that another Symantec product uses, that product must be removed and installed again.

   ---

4. If Symantec AntiVirus is the only Symantec product on your computer, delete the Symantec folder.
5. Open the following folder:

   Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared

6. If Symantec AntiVirus is the only Symantec product on your computer, delete the following folders:
   • Decomposers
   • SPBBC
   • SPManifests
   • SSC
   • VirusDefs
7. Open the following folder:

   C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Symantec

8. Delete the following folders:
   • Common Client
   • Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition
9. Exit Windows Explorer.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a SQL administrator and I have not done this migration.  I have installed Rightfax on servers that had multiple SQL services on it, so this should work.  I am going to perform this procedure in the upcoming weeks so if it blows up, I’ll update the post. 

1. Install SQL 2005

2. Use SQL manager (not sure of exact name. Your DB people should know) to backup rightfax database. Stop the Rightfax services before backing up the database.

3. Use SQL manager to restore rightfax database to SQL 2005

4. Reconfigure the ODBC connection to point to the new location.

1. Go to Enterprise Fax manager.

2. Double Click Rightfax Database Module

3. Click on the three dots under SQL Connection

4. Click the three dots in ODBC Data Source

5. Go to the System DSN tab

6. Configure Rightfax (or whatever naming convention was used)

7. Under SQL server you want to connect to, select the SQL 2005 server\Rightfax. You can find the path by using the SQL manager. It will prompt which server service to connect to.

8. Start the services.

Another day another game! Today’s game? One Shot!

If you like sniper games, you may find this game to be a tad easy. I blew though the levels without much heartache but that could be because I love playing sniper games. Well, enough blab blab blab and on with the walkthrough!

Mission 1 – shoot the guy with the baseball bat coming from the right
Mission 2 – shoot the hang glider and then shoot hte guy on the rope
Mission 3 – Shoot the guy in the car and he will run over everyone else
Mission 4 – Shoot the propane tank under the grill
Mission 5 – Shoot the rope at the top of the crane
Mission 6 – Shoot the person smoking in the upper right side of the building
Mission 7 – Shoot the tire on the cop car in the lower right. The cop will wake up and shoot the gangsters
Mission 8 – shoot the driver of the truck

Today I learned something new today.  I found a really easy place to find the service tag and other useful information for dell laptops.  If you go into the bios, it has the service tag information listed.  This worked out well for me as I had 20 laptops that I needed to inventory for a client.  It was a boring job, but made much easier after finding out this tidbit of information.  Well, thats about all I did today, what about you?

How many girls and cups do you want?  6 girls 4 cups, or 3 girls 7 cups?  4 girls 2 cups, or 5 girls 6 cups?  Is 7 girls 4 cups better than 4 girls 7 cups?  Is 2 girls 5 cups better than 2 girls 3 cups?

Does more cups mean it’s better or more girls?

0 girls, 1 girls, 2 girls, 3 girls, 4 girls, 5 girls, 6 girls, 7 girls: does it matter how many girls?

0 cups, 1 cups, 2 cups, 3 cups, 4 cups, 5 cups, 6 cups, 7 cups: does it matter how many cups?

What if they’re D cups?

There we go.

Here is the strategy I used when playing this game. I made it pretty far, but couldn’t beat it. Unfortunately, the game only allows you to get level 6 power ups if you play on their site and I played it on newgrounds.com. Name? Sure! Lone Defender!

First upgrade accuracy
Second upgrade velocity
Third upgrade damage – should of been second upgrade?
Forth upgrade – damage
Fifth upgrade – rate of fire
Sixth upgrade – targeting
Seventh upgrade – explosion
8th upgrade – rate of fire
9th upgrade explosion
10th upgrade – explosion
11th upgrade – explosion
12th upgrade – rate of fire
13th upgrade – rate of fire
14th upgrade – accuracy
15th upgrade – accuracy
16th upgrade – damage
17th upgrade – targeting
18th upgrade – accuracy
19th upgrade – accuracy
20th upgrade – Velocity
21st upgrade – targeting
22nd upgrade – targeting
23rd upgrade – velocity
24th upgrade – velocity

Blimp: fire at the logo
Little planes: fire at the space between the shadow and the plane
Missile: fire at the middle and hope for the best
Large plane: fire at the second cockpit

I have a user that did shift delete from outlook.  A co-worker of mine pointed me in the right direction on how to resolve this.

1. Open the registry.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options.
3. Add a DWORD value named DumpsterAlwaysOn and set it to 1.
4. Restart Microsoft Outlook to make the change take effect.

Then from the inbox, you can go to recover deleted items from the Tools tab.

Its as simple as that.  No need for expensive gimmick softwares!

First of all, these computers are heavy as hell!  I needed to find the serial number for the devices and didn’t care to turn them on.  There is a method to find the number when they are on, and off.

For most people, the on method would work.

Go to the Open Apple next to the Finder and Select About this Mac

Click on the Version build twice, and the serial will show.

The Off method is a lot easier if you have multiple G5 towers that are off.  I had 12 that I needed to inventory, so the on method just would not of worked out.

On the back of the computer, open the case lock.  Then tilt the side panel of the case open.  It tilts forward  and the serial number is going to be on the bottom of the frame.  Good luck and wear a back brace!

Well, I took another bout with Antivirus 2008.  This time, it also removed the desktop tab from the display window.  How annoying!  I removed the program by killing the process, going to program files\process name and removing the directory.  Then going to the registry and removing the process name from there as well.  After I rebooted, desktop tab was still missing from the display windows!

For giggles, I ran smitfraudfix.  After disabling AV (so annoying that AV flagges that) and ran it again, it worked.  It restored the registry to proper settings again.  God bless you smitfraudfix and may you continue to resolve spyware issues!

Another game? Why not? Scope: First Blood, it is!

Mission 1: Shoot the dog
Mission 2: shoot the radio. Then shoot holes in the pool. The water will spill out of the pool and shock all the people
Mission 3: shoot the guy in his dick as he is peeing
Mission 4: shoot the cigarettes. Shoot the ones that aren’t by people’s heads first, then work your way around
Mission 5: Shoot the guy with the umbrella then shoot out the light
Mission 6: Shoot the Rope (it is right above the window) on the window for the machine. Then shoot the oil can and let the puddle build. Next shoot the rope and have the beam hit the worker. He will throw a cigarette and blow the building up. A weight will hit the worker in the building
Mission 7: Shoot the guy to the left. Then shoot hte guy on the lower right. The next guy will walk, shoot him. Then shoot the guy behind the tree