IEZoneAnalyzer: Viewing and Comparing IE Security Zone Settings

IEZoneAnalyzer.zip

The attached utility is an improvement to “IE Zone Comparer” which was designed to overcome these limitations and provide additional visibility into security zone settings.  Pick any two collections of security zone settings, and IE Zone Comparer displays the values of those settings, highlighting any differences between the two collections.

IE Zone Comparer requires .NET 2.0 or higher; it does not require administrative privileges.

How to use it…

Source…

KB182569: Internet Explorer security zones registry entries for advanced users…

Event ID: 53258 Source: MSDTC

Warning event is logged on DC Event Viewer:

Type: Warning
Source: MSDTC
Event ID: 53258
Description:
MS DTC could not correctly process a DC Promotion/Demotion event. MS DTC will continue to function and will use the existing security settings.
Error Specifics : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\uiname.cpp:xxxx, CmdLine: xxxxxxxxxx\msdtc.exe, Pid: xxxx

Cause…

This issue occurs if Windows Server 2003 unsuccessfully tries to configure the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) service to use the default security settings. You experience this issue if the Network Service account is the account that the MS DTC service uses. Security settings for the MS DTC service are stored in the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSDTC

The Network Service account has insufficient permissions to modify the security settings in the registry subkey.

Resolution…

You can safely ignore the event ID 53258 warning message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section. To prevent the warning message from being logged in Event Viewer, update the security component. To update the security component, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Control Panel, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Component Services.
2. Expand Component Services, expand Computers, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
3. Click the MSDTC tab, and then click Security Configuration.
4. Under Security Settings, note the settings, and then click to select the Network DTC Access check box.
5. Click OK.
6. Click Yes when you receive the following message:

   MS DTC service will be stopped and restarted. All dependent services will be stopped. Please press yes to proceed.

7. Click OK two times.
8. Click Security Configuration, and then under Security Settings, specify the security settings that you had originally configured.
9. Click OK.

Hotfix for anyone that is running BitLocker on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 on the system drive

Problem…

Assume that you enable BitLocker for the system drive on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Then, you shut down the computer. You notice the computer intermittently stops responding during shutdown. Additionally, the operating system seems to have already shut down, and then the screen turns black. However, the computer does not turn off completely. Therefore, you may notice that the computer fan and other devices are still turned on.
This problem does not occur if BitLocker is completely disabled, or if BitLocker is enabled on a data drive but disabled on the system drive.
Note When this problem occurs, the functionality of the operating system is shut down. However, the computer hardware is not signaled to power off.

So, for anyone that is running BitLocker on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (which I STRONGLY recommend doing), please download this hotfix, test it, and apply it as soon as possible.

Hotfix download…

Source…

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Overview

When you purchase Windows 7 from Microsoft Store, you have the option to download an ISO file or compressed files. The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on a USB flash drive or a DVD. To create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive, download the ISO file and then run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. Once this is done, you can install Windows 7 directly from the USB flash drive or DVD.

The ISO file contains all the Windows 7 installation files combined into a single uncompressed file. When you download the ISO file, you need to copy it to some medium in order to install Windows 7. This tool allows you to create a copy of the ISO file to a USB flash drive or a DVD. To install Windows 7 from your USB flash drive or DVD, all you need to do is insert the USB flash drive into your USB port or insert your DVD into your DVD drive and run Setup.exe from the root folder on the drive.

Note: You cannot install Windows 7 from the ISO file until you copy it to a USB flash drive or DVD with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool and install from there.

The copy of the ISO file that the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool creates is bootable. Bootable media allows you to install Windows 7 without having to first run an existing operating system on your machine. If you change the boot order of drives in your computer’s BIOS, you can run the Windows 7 installation directly from your USB flash drive or DVD when you turn on your computer. Please see the documentation for your computer for information on how to change the BIOS boot order of drives.

You may make one copy of the ISO file on a disc, USB flash drive or other media in order to install the software on a computer. Once you have installed the software on a computer, the license terms that accompany the software apply to your use of the software and replace these terms. The license terms for Windows 7, once accepted, permit you to make one copy of the software as a back-up copy for reinstallation on the licensed computer. If you do not delete the copy of the ISO file you made to install the software on your computer, then the copy of the ISO file constitutes your back-up copy.

Download…

Installation instructions and FAQs…

Manually installing Solarwinds Toolset Integration features on Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 8

Scenario…

Accessing Orion NMP from your Web browser, causes the “Install SWToolset.exe” message to be displayed. Even though you install this Add On, it does not show up in the ‘Manage Add Ons’ Internet Explorer 8 (IE consequently resulting in the same “Install SWToolset.exe” prompt being displayed every time you click one of your monitored devices.

Fix…

Internet Explorer 8 on a Windows 7 cause the “Install SWToolset.exe” message to be prompted even though this has already been installed. Another common message is “To utilize the Solarwinds Toolset Integration features, be sure to allw ActiveX controls on your browser.” Open up all security settings for ActiveX Controls (like you stated above)

• Make sure the Orion website is in the Trusted group. This prevents the error message To utilize the Solarwinds Toolset Integration features, be sure to allow ActiveX controls on your browser.”
• Open the browser, and manually download the SWToolset.exe
  • http://<orionserver>/Swtoolset.exe
  • Save this file somewhere (hopefully where all users will have rights)
• Open a command prompt with Administrator Rights (accessories -> right mouse click -> Run as administrator
• Very important: Close all your browsers to the Orion website!
• Navigate to the folder where you saved the SWToolset.exe file
• Run "SWToolset.exe /regserver".
• Open the browser, navigate to Orion, and see if it asks you again about installing the ActiveX (it shouldn’t, you just did it manually).
• If you do not get the message, give something a right click and see if you get the menu.

This will manually install the ActiveX Control. It seems I was not able to get the control install via auto download from the browser.

Source…

Powershell expression to check the correct instance of a process

To show all the processes that have a MainWindow title defined, run…

get-process | where {$_.MainWindowTitle} | Select ID,Name,MainWindowTitle,StartTime,@{Name="Age";Expression={(get-date) – $_.StartTime }}

This can be useful to see the correct instance of a process as well as see when a process started – StartTime property . The expression creates a custom property called Age which returns a TimeSpan object. The value is calculated by subtracting the StartTime value from the current date and time as returned by Get-Date.  The expression will return information like this:

Id              : 3172
Name            : taskmgr
MainWindowTitle : Windows Task Manager
StartTime       : 10/22/2009 10:31:05 PM
Age             : 09:22:53.1844560

Since Select-Object is used, so you can add on to the expression to pipe it to another cmdlet like Out-File or Export-CSV.

How to reset password for Websense Enterprise Manager

Problem Description:

Forgotten the Websense Manager password, cannot log on to Websense Manager, or need to change the Websense Manager password.

Error Messages: (Detailed)

Invalid user name or password.

or,

You have exceeded the maximum number of logon attempts.
Contact your system administrator to obtain access.

It is not possible to recover a Websense password; however, it can be removed. Once eliminated and then reopening Websense Manager, you will be prompted to enter a new password.

The password is encrypted and then stored in a configuration file. If you cannot access Websense Manager because you do not remember or do not know the password, then you can reset the password by editing the config.xml file (contains all your custom settings).

To reset the password, complete the following steps:

1. Stop Websense Policy Server.
   1. Select Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services.
   2. Right-click Websense Policy Server and then select Stop.
2. Open Windows Explorer.
   1. Select View > Choose Details.
   2. In the Choose Details list, ensure both Name and Type are checked, and then click OK.
      This ensures that you edit the config.xml file, not the config.xml.bak file.
3. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the \Program Files\Websense\bin directory and then locate the config.xml file.
4. Copy the config.xml file to create a backup.
   Save the copied version to another directory.
5. With Notepad or any similar text editor, open the config.xml file in the \Program Files\Websense\bin directory.
6. Use the Find function to search for the following string:
   K2097153
The search locates the line that requires editing. The entry is similar to the following:
<data name="K2097153">48F8A7EFBED3AE22F61C0861D45F7C63</data>
7. Use the Find function to search for the following string:
Once located, delete the alphanumeric string within the closed and open caret symbols ( > and < ).
When modified, the string should look identical to the following example:

http://kb.websense.com/article.aspx?article=3186&p=12

How to play MKV files on the PlayStation 3 (MP4)

Currently the PlayStation 3 does not have native playback support for HD files such as MKV (Matroska) This guide we will show how to store that MKV file in a supported container such as MP4 or AVI. This method removes content from one container and places in a supported container, avoiding the lengthy process of re-encoding the whole video.Only freeware products are used for this too.

Guide…

Directory Services Official Blog

The official Microsoft Enterprise Platform Support Directory Services Team blog, which supports Active Directory and its associated components – Group Policies, Certificate Services, DFS and Kerberos, to name but a few – all of these technologies are our bread and butter.  We provided the complete list of what we support below (well as complete as you can get- there is always something else!)

Complete List of what is supported…

• AD Administration and Design
• Domain Controllers and Global Catalogs
• AD Replication (KCC, Sites)
• LDAP
• FSMO Roles
• DCPROMO
• AD Schema
• AD Disaster Recovery
• Trust Relationships
• Domain and Profile Migration (ADMT & USMT)
• Certificate Services and Authorities
• EFS
• LSASS, KDC, & Winlogon
• Kerberos & NTLM
• File Replication (FRS & DFSR)
• Distributed File System (DFSN)
• W32 Time Service
• Permissions & Privileges
• Auditing
• Group Policies
• PolicyMaker, GPOVault, and Advanced Group Policy Management
• User Profiles and the Interactive Logon Process
• Client Side Caching – Offline Files and Folders
• Terminal Server Licensing

http://blogs.technet.com/askds/default.aspx

Chart your Career with Microsoft Learning

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/start/start-career.aspx