http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_Verifier
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244617
Driver Verifier is a tool included in Microsoft Windows that replaces the default operating system subroutines with ones that are specifically developed to catch device driver bugs. Once enabled, it monitors and stresses drivers to detect illegal function calls or actions that may be causing system corruption.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tired of windows XP built in themes?
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20061029/royale-noir/#downloadlink
This is actually something Microsoft created and embedded into windows XP Media Center edition. However it is part of windows XP as well. Just put it there and it works. As it is officially built and signed by Microsoft you don't need to tweak your system. (which is how this stuff should work anyhow.)
This is actually something Microsoft created and embedded into windows XP Media Center edition. However it is part of windows XP as well. Just put it there and it works. As it is officially built and signed by Microsoft you don't need to tweak your system. (which is how this stuff should work anyhow.)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tools for Talking to you Linux Server
There are 3 tools depending on what you want to do.
The first is pretty obvious to most people who run a Linux server, Being putty. it is the nicer of ssh clients i have used, and enables many of the features that a native ssh client has to offer.
Next is WinSCP This allows for a very nice and clean interface for SSH based transfers of files. all you need is an ssh login and open port. far more secure than having FTP open.
Then finally there is XMing what it does is drops an Xwindow Renderer on your desktop, when combined with putty gives you a full remote control of applications running on your home or work Linux machine with far more security and availability than anything i have seen so far.
These three tools are an amazing combination of tools. for remote administration and use of your Linux Server or Desktop
Note this does not change the security benefits or weaknesses of having Xwindows installed on a server, however for a project machine this is very useful. and can allow you to use resources that normally wouldn't be available.
The first is pretty obvious to most people who run a Linux server, Being putty. it is the nicer of ssh clients i have used, and enables many of the features that a native ssh client has to offer.
Next is WinSCP This allows for a very nice and clean interface for SSH based transfers of files. all you need is an ssh login and open port. far more secure than having FTP open.
Then finally there is XMing what it does is drops an Xwindow Renderer on your desktop, when combined with putty gives you a full remote control of applications running on your home or work Linux machine with far more security and availability than anything i have seen so far.
These three tools are an amazing combination of tools. for remote administration and use of your Linux Server or Desktop
Note this does not change the security benefits or weaknesses of having Xwindows installed on a server, however for a project machine this is very useful. and can allow you to use resources that normally wouldn't be available.
Multiple Desktop Sharing with Synergy
Synergy is a fantastic tool It allows you to use a single Keyboard and mouse hosted to a machine to be interactively shared across multiple Machines and accessing their display.
So if you have 2 or more computers Side by side, and you don't mind the Screens being there, but you really hate having a swarm of Keyboards and Mice all over this is a graceful solution.
Start here, for windows only this is all you will need.
http://synergy-foss.org/
"Synergy is Free and Open Source Software that lets you easily share your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers, where each computer has it's own display. No special hardware is required, all you need is a local area network. Synergy is supported on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux."
If you have a Mac or Linux Desktop you would like to add to the mix, I strongly recommend QuickSynergy.
http://code.google.com/p/quicksynergy/
How i did this with My Ubuntu and Windows XP Machines.
I installed the QuickSynergy application from the Ubuntu Repository (it installs at version 1.3.1), Then i downloaded the Most up to date Synergy package from the synergy project which is version 1.4.2 and installed it form the command line which updates the synergy binaries, but leaves the QuickSynergy interface in place! "sudo dpkg -i synergy-1.4.2-Linux-x86_64.deb".
From here its just a matter of configuration which is pretty simple. Pick on for the server, and then add clients to that machine, the server is the computer that has the keyboard and mouse you want to use.
A quick rundown of setup from Linux Magazine
So if you have 2 or more computers Side by side, and you don't mind the Screens being there, but you really hate having a swarm of Keyboards and Mice all over this is a graceful solution.
Start here, for windows only this is all you will need.
http://synergy-foss.org/
"Synergy is Free and Open Source Software that lets you easily share your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers, where each computer has it's own display. No special hardware is required, all you need is a local area network. Synergy is supported on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux."
If you have a Mac or Linux Desktop you would like to add to the mix, I strongly recommend QuickSynergy.
http://code.google.com/p/quicksynergy/
How i did this with My Ubuntu and Windows XP Machines.
I installed the QuickSynergy application from the Ubuntu Repository (it installs at version 1.3.1), Then i downloaded the Most up to date Synergy package from the synergy project which is version 1.4.2 and installed it form the command line which updates the synergy binaries, but leaves the QuickSynergy interface in place! "sudo dpkg -i synergy-1.4.2-Linux-x86_64.deb".
From here its just a matter of configuration which is pretty simple. Pick on for the server, and then add clients to that machine, the server is the computer that has the keyboard and mouse you want to use.
A quick rundown of setup from Linux Magazine
Launch QuickSynergy on the machine that is going to be the server (or Share in QuickSynergy terminology) and type the hostname of the netbook you want to control in one of the four fields. Each field allows you to specify which border of the server's screen should act as a switch. For example, if you enter the hostname in the Right field, you can switch to your netbook by moving the mouse cursor to the right edge of the server's screen. The cursor then magically jumps to the netbook's screen, and you can use the mouse and the keyboard with your netbook. Note that you must enter the hostname not the netbook's IP address. To find out the exact hostname of your netbook, simply run the hostname name command on it. When you've entered the hostname, press the Execute button to start the server. Launch then QuickSynergy on your netbook, switch to the Use tab, and enter the IP address of the server in the Server hostname/IP address field. Press the Execute button and you can then use QuickSynergy to control your netbook.
Monday, April 18, 2011
ATA over Ethernet Raid
http://www.coraid.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_over_Ethernet
This is something i will have to look over later, very cool conceptually. very simple as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_over_Ethernet
This is something i will have to look over later, very cool conceptually. very simple as well.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Windows (and Linux!) backups made dirt simple
This post is in progress, however as part of this I have been looking again at opensource software. specifically rsync.
The Cygwin Project made a beautiful version of rsync, i do recommended you take a look to see how much of the *nix world you can bring to your Windows computer!http://cygwin.org/
This specifically talk about using their implementation of rsync. as gathered by BackUP PC
their directions help you set up rsync as a service for a central machine to reach out and make a backup. you can set it to read only have it always run ect ect ect. this is great if you have a file server someplace. or simply want to make 2 machines nearly identical. This should be set for a time when your not logged in but the Machine is on.
However I expand on this with a more graceful and personal variation. Rsync can be used locally between 2 local filesystems (USB HDD anyone!) and a log-off script. basically when you shut down, or log off this thing fires off and makes the 2 locations the same. This gives you a backup of your needed data that can be referred to when needed.
so once installed you can do a command similar to
C:\opt\rsyncd\rsync.exe -uav "/cygdrive/c/docume~1/username" "/cygdrive/e/filesync/backup" >>cygdrive/e/rsync.log
This will backup your entire user profile in its entirety
How i used this. I created a folder called c:\opt and installed the binary in a folder there. I then created a folder on my destination drive to backup to (in this case an external Drive)
Here is where it gets interesting, create a back file with the desired rsync commands. save this, ( i used the handy c:\opt) then you can create a task, that every time you log off your computer it executes a batch file. this way you are not really logged in, so files normally being accessed (like outlook pst's and ost's) are not in use then it does a backup of files that have been changed (new version) every time you log off/shutdown/reboot. and the way rsync works it moves quite quickly.
This is the batch file i have run each time i log off the computer
It cleans up Google chrome and IE cache only. tidies up the log file and then runs my rsync.
@echo off
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 8
del C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache\*.*
del e:\filesync\rsync.old.log
copy e:\filesync\rsync.log e:\filesync\rsync.old.log
del e:\filesync\rsync.log
C:\opt\rsyncd\rsync.exe -uacv "/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/username" "/cygdrive/e/filesync/backup" > e:\filesync\rsync.log
E is the drive letter of the externally attached HDD i have.
Other things to try:
The Cygwin Project made a beautiful version of rsync, i do recommended you take a look to see how much of the *nix world you can bring to your Windows computer!http://cygwin.org/
This specifically talk about using their implementation of rsync. as gathered by BackUP PC
their directions help you set up rsync as a service for a central machine to reach out and make a backup. you can set it to read only have it always run ect ect ect. this is great if you have a file server someplace. or simply want to make 2 machines nearly identical. This should be set for a time when your not logged in but the Machine is on.
However I expand on this with a more graceful and personal variation. Rsync can be used locally between 2 local filesystems (USB HDD anyone!) and a log-off script. basically when you shut down, or log off this thing fires off and makes the 2 locations the same. This gives you a backup of your needed data that can be referred to when needed.
so once installed you can do a command similar to
C:\opt\rsyncd\rsync.exe -uav "/cygdrive/c/docume~1/username" "/cygdrive/e/filesync/backup" >>cygdrive/e/rsync.log
This will backup your entire user profile in its entirety
How i used this. I created a folder called c:\opt and installed the binary in a folder there. I then created a folder on my destination drive to backup to (in this case an external Drive)
Here is where it gets interesting, create a back file with the desired rsync commands. save this, ( i used the handy c:\opt) then you can create a task, that every time you log off your computer it executes a batch file. this way you are not really logged in, so files normally being accessed (like outlook pst's and ost's) are not in use then it does a backup of files that have been changed (new version) every time you log off/shutdown/reboot. and the way rsync works it moves quite quickly.
This is the batch file i have run each time i log off the computer
It cleans up Google chrome and IE cache only. tidies up the log file and then runs my rsync.
@echo off
RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 8
del C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache\*.*
del e:\filesync\rsync.old.log
copy e:\filesync\rsync.log e:\filesync\rsync.old.log
del e:\filesync\rsync.log
C:\opt\rsyncd\rsync.exe -uacv "/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/username" "/cygdrive/e/filesync/backup" > e:\filesync\rsync.log
E is the drive letter of the externally attached HDD i have.
Other things to try:
- -b (i.e. -avb) makes backup copies of any files at the destination, before updating.
- -u (i.e. -avu) updates - won't overwrite newer files.
- -S (i.e. -avS) is more efficient if you have sparse files.
- rsync -e ssh -av --delete "/cygdrive/d/" remote:/rsync/data1/d >>rsync.log will log the transfers to file rsync.log
- -z (i.e. -avz) is very useful if doing it by modem. This compresses the information before transport. Waste of time if on a fast network.
- -P (i.e. -avP) shows progress during transfers, and also keeps partially transferred files so that if the transfer is interrupted mid-file, the bit already transferred isn't wasted. Again, good if rsyncing by modem.
- The --exclude option is very useful to exclude swap files. You may also want to exclude things like netscape caches. For example:
--exclude 'pagefile.sys' --exclude 'WIN386.SWP' --exclude 'Cache/' - --backup-dir=PATH puts all old versions of files into the named directory, thus giving an incremental backup.
- Look at the rsync man page for more ideas.
NotePad++
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Notepad++ is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.
So the official line aside, best note pad replacement i have found. Still dirt simple, Tabbed multiple documents, very nice Code formatting and code highlighting and a good structure management. in all very nice.
I use it most for digesting large log files and weirdly formatted logs. as well as writing SQL and shell scripts
it is well worth acquisition.
Notepad++ is a free (as in "free speech" and also as in "free beer") source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.
So the official line aside, best note pad replacement i have found. Still dirt simple, Tabbed multiple documents, very nice Code formatting and code highlighting and a good structure management. in all very nice.
I use it most for digesting large log files and weirdly formatted logs. as well as writing SQL and shell scripts
it is well worth acquisition.
7zip - File Archiving
http://www.7-zip.org/
This one is first about 7zip. Its a basic File Archiver, and they even have their own format (.7z). The project is opensource so you can review the code and see what its doing. The interface is dirt simple and without clutter.
It supports more formats than most any archiver i have dealt with. and it also supports multi-threading, and you can select how many cores you want to use, and some very nice explorer contest menus as well.
I have been a big fan of WinRAR for a number of years, but this year 7zip with 32 and 64 bit versions has just made it irrelevant for me.
This one is first about 7zip. Its a basic File Archiver, and they even have their own format (.7z). The project is opensource so you can review the code and see what its doing. The interface is dirt simple and without clutter.
It supports more formats than most any archiver i have dealt with. and it also supports multi-threading, and you can select how many cores you want to use, and some very nice explorer contest menus as well.
I have been a big fan of WinRAR for a number of years, but this year 7zip with 32 and 64 bit versions has just made it irrelevant for me.
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