Recent Posts

7451

Living Room / Excellent Scripting site

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 23, 2005, 04:57 AM »

Don't know if this has been mentioned before but http://www.robvanderwoude.com/index.html is an excellent introduction to scripting including DOS Batch Files, Perl and Regular Expressions (plus more).

7452

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: "Runas" standard programs and own tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 23, 2005, 04:12 AM »

WinXP Pro SP2

Maybe the issue arises because my normal user ID is part of the Admin group ??

7453

General Software Discussion / Re: Released thinBasic 1.0.5.0

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 23, 2005, 03:39 AM »

Hi, yes your site is very nicely designed.

Re. Thin Basic, you say the beta is free but will expire. Does that imply that in the future it is going to be a commercial release? If so do you have any idea on what the likely price will be (ball park idea will do).

7454

Find And Run Robot / Re: version 1.07.12 with paste command

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 23, 2005, 03:25 AM »

confused ???

what is the paste for in:

my address | paste 432 chicago ave.\nchicago, IL\nUSA 11030
my name | Mouser Mousey
my phone number | 212-555-2323

7455

Living Room / Re: Help - Please Give Feedback On My Video!!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 23, 2005, 03:22 AM »

I like it, but one quick comment ...

When you give the option to click for further information at the end of a chapter it opens in another window, but the next mavie continues in the previous window ... is there any way to link in the same window to the extra info and then link back to the next video section otherwise you are left wondering what to look at ?

7456

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: "Runas" standard programs and own tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 23, 2005, 03:12 AM »

No it expands variables after execution so:

runas.exe /user:Administrator %userprofile%\desktop\notepad.exe

will expand %userprofile% for the user executing RunAs.

While notepad is excuting for Administrator %userprofile% is that belonging to Administrator.

By the way quotes are needed for correct expansion too:

runas.exe /user:Administrator "%userprofile%\desktop\notepad.exe"

otherwise this will be interpreted as:

runas.exe /user:Administrator C:\Documents

and so generate an error.

I can run RunAs and it does work, but it doesn't trap error conditions so if you enter an incorrect user name or password it just runs the command as the current user. Is that the intention? Given that you only want to use this to run applications under different credentials I would have thought knowing that you are still running as the current user was essential ??

7457

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: "Runas" standard programs and own tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 07:16 PM »

But cmd.exe does not show the "running as" info. And systemvariables are expanded prior to running the program, so they won't point to the other user's paths. Does RunAs' variables really expand to the other user?

-skrommel (September 22, 2005, 06:40 PM)

Try this:

Make a desktop shortcut, and put in this line for the filename

%windir%\system32\runas.exe /user:Administrator cmd

click next, give the shortcut a name, and then click OK.

Double click it and enter your password.

Now a window should open with title cmd (running as ...\Administrator) where ... is you computer network name.

Type SET followed by return and look at the list of variables.

At the bottom USERNAME and USERPROFILE are set to Administrator's credendtials.

Effectively RunAs is running programs as another user so it is essential that the other user has access to their resources. I'd guess RunAs is the basis for the Fast User Switching in Windows XP/2003

7458

Living Room / Re: Network problem - can anyone advise?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 05:01 PM »

If you are using a router or a server you can also limit traffic to specific MAC address. You can find these in the device properties for your network adapters and router. The MAC addresses should be unique to the device (it is like a device serial number) so it is hard for others to access any of the devices without the MAC address.

7459

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: "Runas" standard programs and own tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 03:46 PM »

Yes - and it is started

7460

Living Room / Re: Blog Column query

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 02:56 PM »

Thanks for that - I'm giving ProcessGuard a try ...

7461

Living Room / Blog Column query

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 01:15 PM »

I was reading "Sentinel's Column: Why many current security solutions we rely on are wrong..." and wanted to post a comment.

I note that other regular posters comments are there under usual Forum IDs but the post a comment section asks for Name, email address etc.

How does commenting work as I don't esp. want my email address displayed (or available directly via the site) although I quite happy to accept personal messages within the Forum?

FWIW my comment related tangetially to something else being discussed about computer security.

I hadn't seen this program before but it seems to go some way to answering some of the criticisms in the article under discussion. Check out "Anti-executable" if you want to only allow whitelisted programs to run on your system at http://www.faronics....om/html/AntiExec.asp

7462

General Software Discussion / Re: Stop unauthorised user installing?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 06:40 AM »

Thanks - that's the one - been driving me nuts ... 

7463

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: "Runas" standard programs and own tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 06:00 AM »

I can run this with no password, wrong password, non-existent users without any effect.

If I runAs Administrator with the correct password the %USERPROFILE% etc. should be set to the Administrator's profile - not current user. So when you display Favourites (eg.) it should display Administror's favourites.

Here is an example:

If I run the command:

%windir%\system32\runas.exe /user:computer\Administrator cmd

from a command window it opens a DOS type window with the title "cmd (running as computer\Administrator)".

This is documented in the MS Help file under RunAs.

I have added the line:

Command Window, cmd,cmd.exe,,,,

under [Tools] in the ini file

When I run "cmd" from RunAsTools with the correct Administrator credentials I get a CMD window entitled "C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe".

I can only presume than that the RunAs command is not being constructed correctly.

How are you passing the password to the command. The symtax displayed in MS help files doesn't seem to offer the option of passing the password as a parameter ???

Here is Microsofts syntax for RunAs - it doesn't mention passwords and the description suggests you will be prompted for the password (which is my experience):

http://www.microsoft...ocs/en-us/runas.mspx

7464

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: "Runas" standard programs and own tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 05:03 AM »

Hi Skrommel,

Not sure if I have this right but if I run your app and enter the wrong password for Administrator the tools still run.

They appear to be running under my current user.

I'm not sure what should happen with RunAs for Favourites but I suspect if you run as another user it should show the relevant Favourites - as it is it doesn't matter who you RunAs you get the current user favourites ???

7465

Mouser's Zone / Re: Slow server or is it just me?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 22, 2005, 04:22 AM »

I don't know if you received the email from SMF but SMF 1.1 RC 1 has been released. One of the areas addressed is speed and efficiency.

Having played with it a bit (though not gone live with my board yet) it is a bit different to 1.0.5 so if you are tempted I suggest having a play in a different installtion folder before upgrading the live board.

If you want to see what the new version looks like have a look at my "toy" setup at www.lairdswood.com/Forum

7466

Mouser's Zone / Slow server or is it just me?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 06:41 PM »

Not sure if it is my computer but has the DC Forum server slowed down considerably over the last few days?

Each time I load a page it seems to take ages and posting even longer.

Doesn't seem to be happening with other websites - so I just wondered

7467

Living Room / Acronis TrueImage version 9 now available - but be warned ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 06:38 PM »

On paper the new version looks good - not only does it have all that version 8 had but also it now includes file level backups too. There are also customisable before and after backup links to run external programs. For example, you could set it up to run a complete virus and spyware scan before backup and the shutdown afterwards using batch file scripts - really useful.

I have been using "Powerquest V2i Protector" which was Powerquests corporate backup utility (with on the fly and incremental backups) This generally works well but has always had an odd problem with its incremental backups (like it suddenly wouldn't do one and you had to start with a fresh backup for no reason). The final straw was with the Symantec buyout it has been killed off as an app in favour of Ghost (previously aka Powerquest Drive Image) and a really expensive corporate backup application.

Having read the TrueImage reviews here I purchased version 8 a few days ago after a trial period. I like it very much and it doesn't seem to suffer with the eccentric problems of V2i Pro. I got an email last night with a free upgrade to the new version 9. I was quite chuffed with the new features and so installed it straight away.

If you use this and are tempted to upgrade give it a while. You get the impression this version was really rushed out. It seems full of bugs ... so far I have reported:

• Browsing backup archives only works for image based backups - not the new file based backups. The help link for this feature is also broken.
• The before and after scripts don't seem to work at all. the manual says use batch files but the batch files just trigger an error, and the script doesn't run
• File level backups work and can be restored, but restoring a single file doesn't work - you can select the files you want in a browser type window but unless you select everything the restore fails with a 'nothing to restore' error
• Sceduled tasks seem to get corrupted very easily and for no apparent reason

Judging by comments on their support forums I am not the only one experiencing these problems.

I really don't know why companies do this sort of thing - it really reduces confidence in a good product. Backup utilities after all are supposed to be solid and reliable - not flaky and frustrating!

7468

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Opera goes FREE!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 11:27 AM »

Probably but RoboForm is very easy to use and well integrated into Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape and Maxthon. They all have the ability to save passwords natively but RoboForm does more than that, and what's more it is very easy to recover all your data if your system does the big firework. There are even versions for handhelds and for use with memory sticks.

If you haven't tried it is worth a look.

7469

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft RAW file thumbnail viewer for Windows XP SP2

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 11:19 AM »

The smaller download is all that is needed if .NET is already installed. Still quite large for a file viewer but it is nice to get thumbnails in explore and an enhanced version of the preview window.

7470

General Software Discussion / Microsoft RAW file thumbnail viewer for Windows XP SP2

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 10:38 AM »

People with Canon and Nikon Digital Cameras may be interested to see this ...

http://www.microsoft...6&displaylang=en

7471

General Software Discussion / Re: Stop unauthorised user installing?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 10:37 AM »

That looks very similar to commercial program I remember seeing.

7472

General Software Discussion / Re: Stop unauthorised user installing?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 09:25 AM »

Unfortunately I can't find it any more, and I can't remember its name but there is a product designed for education establishments that goes one stage further. It allows you to set up windows as you want it and then everytime you reboot the system windows is restored to that format. That is ALL changes made during a windows session are completely lost (including registry changes, files saved etc.).

You could exclude other partitions from the restore so that you can save files separately during work and not have them wiped, and there was a command console which could unlock the system so you could make changes.

The programme also locked modification via BIOS hacks.

Originally designed for schools, so that you could always simply press the reset button and get a standard system, I toyed with the idea of using the system at home too for people sharing my computer. Seemed a bit like overkill to me but you may find it useful.

I will wrack my brains and see if I can find it or remember what it was called ... anyone else know what I am talking about?

7473

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Opera goes FREE!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 21, 2005, 05:44 AM »

So how are Opera going to make any money?  Surely few people will pay for premium support?

-rjbull (September 21, 2005, 03:50 AM)

Presumably by premium email accounts (why would anyone use this?) and advertising on their website. Presumably they could diversify a bit too into webservices or ther software.

Can't help wondering how long it will be before it is killed off altogether or donated as an open source project ...

7474

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Graffiti Picture ScreenSaver

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 20, 2005, 04:53 PM »

Nothing like a bit of (attempted)  humiliation to get the grey matter working again ...

7475

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Graffiti Picture ScreenSaver

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 20, 2005, 04:22 PM »

Oo err - skrommel defeated ... surely not 

Maybe the icons should move too - it would make using the computer like playing old Space Invaders ...

now catch the icon ........ <BANG>