Run .net application from network share

I used to work in a Secondary School and whilst I was there I developed an application using VB.net for students to run checks on and upload e-portfolios to a shared resource before submission to the examination board. The application worked fine so I packaged it into an MSI and deployed it. Everything was ok [...]

Run Compiled HTML .chm from network share

Way back in 2002 Microsoft released a security bulletin regarding what they called a 'vulnerability in HTML Help that Could Allow Remote Code Execution'. The issue is related to help files that many software vendors use in the form of compiled HTML help files that use the .chm file extension.

Close Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) session remotely

I have a server located in a data centre miles away from where I work. It currently runs Windows 2000 Server. Every now and then when I try to connect to the server I get the following message about the number of Remote Desktop connections being exceeded:

Delete files older than certain number of days

I was recently asked to investigate a problem with a server and the lack of space on a partition. After a quick look using Treesize I noticed a suspicious folder being used by an application for logging purposes.

VMware ESX date bug fix

I use VMware ESX 3.5 and Virtual Center 2.5 since implementing it at my current workplace. Like many sysadmins I regularly keep on top of patching. I manually patch my ESX hosts when I see fit after pulling updates through Virtual Center. Subsequently, I recently applied the latest update (3.5 u2 or update 2) to [...]

Regkey to enable & disable Outlook 2003 cached mode

Pre Microsoft office 2003 SP3, when creating a new MAPI email account in outlook 2003 the default setting was to "Use Cached Exchange Mode". I have noticed that after installing SP3 the default seems to now be disabled when creating an email account.

Vista IE7 crashes when sending email through OWA

I have installed Microsoft Exchange quite a few times as a syadmin and since the release of Vista one thing I seem to forget is to address the issue of Vista clients using Internet Explorer 7 that send email through Outlook Web Access.

KiXtart script to retrieve Active Directory user info

Here's a quick script written using KiXtart to retrieve information for a user (object) in Active Directory. Once enumerated, object information is stored in variables to be used later.

KiXtart script to backup MSSQL database

Here is another quick KiXtart script I wrote to backup a Microsoft SQL database on a server. I personally run it locally on the server that contains the database I want to backup using a scheduled task. It connects to the MSSQL database using the OSQL command line utility which it runs through a shell.

Regkey to disable XP dial-up connection logon

Here is a registry key I run from a startup script to disable the option that allows users to invoke a "Log on using dial-up connection". Having had experience of working in a school I know how kids will use any excuse to distract them from logging onto a computer and starting the lesson!

Adtran disable Spanning Tree using Edgeport and BPDU

I have 6 Adtran Netvanta 1524st switches on which I wanted to disable STP (spanning tree protocol). After checking the switches through their web interface and using SSH to check the Adtran Operating System (AOS) command line help I was unable to spot any obvious method of disabling it.

Install Dell OEM PowerDVD on non OEM system

I just had an issue where I was trying to install PowerDVD 5.1 onto a Dell laptop with a fresh Windows XP install. The PowerDVD software was on Dell branded media and I had reinstalled the laptop using a non OEM Dell branded version of Windows XP Professional. It seems that there is a check [...]

Create file of a certain size

Every now and then I find myself needing to create a file of a certain size for one reason or another. This is usually for testing in situations where people are experiencing email attachment issues or disk quota problems, things like that. The quickest way to do this is to use a Windows command line [...]

Exchange Server hangs applying computer settings

I recently had a problem when I rebooted an Exchange 2003 server after some updates and it refused to display the winlogon screen. Instead it sat at "applying computer settings". I left it for around 10 minutes before realising something was seriously wrong.