Fedora Graphical/Text interface

To switch between text and graphical login just edit the
/etc/inittab file...

and change the line " id:X:initdefault: "
where X is the runlevel (5 for graphical, 3 for text)

If at the console prompt already, just use "init X"
to boot the correct runlevel.

Symantec Antivirus Terminates : error 7031 or 7034

On Windows Server 2000 sp4 w/rollup & SAV 10.2.224.0 I got the following in the event logger...

"The Symantec AntiVirus service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 2 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 10000 milliseconds: Restart the service"

I tried the following on Symantec's site..

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2005060211491948

The Cache entry didn't resolve it and the LoginCaCertIssueSerNum
registry entry wasnt even there.

To workaround it, I went to SERVICES... selected Symantec Antivirus
service and made it use the Administrator login instead of the System
account. After rebooting the error only came up once, but SAV stayed
up afterward.

Remove Win 7 Libraries

Using regedit, remove the two registry keys under...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\

{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}
{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}

And Win7 will no longer default to displaying those
annoying Libraries that Microsoft thought everyone
would love.

How to create a USB bootable drive (nee floppy)

These guys not only provided the HP USB drive utility, but DOS
files to go with it...

http://www.lowfps.com/creating-a-bootable-usb-thumb-drive

Large Drive Formatting in XP or 2000

To see a larger size hard drive >137 GB in Windows 2000 you must have SP4 installed and the EnableBigLba flag set to 1 in the registry...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098

For Windows XP, you must have SP1 installed with EnableBigLba set to 1...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303013

Both O/Ss expect a 48bit LBA-compatible BIOS.

Remote Desktop

I am always asked for methods of accessing your desktop remotely, some
good programs are...

TeamViewer (easy to use, highly recommended):
http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx

RealVNC:
http://www.realvnc.com/products/free/4.1/download.html

Windows RDP (included with XP, Vista, 7):
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/remoteintro.mspx

Backup & Restoring of AOL saved PFC cabinet files

Use the following directions backup your Personal Filing Cabinet...

To backup mail in your AOL Saved on My PC filing cabinet:

•Search your computer for a file called "(your AOL screen name).abi".
•If your screen name is "myscreenname", for example, search for a file called "myscreenname.abi".
•You should find it in a folder called organize. A typical location is "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AOL\C_America Online 9.0\organize". You can go to this folder directly, too.
•Go up one directory, to the C_America Online 9.0 folder.
•For other versions of AOL, the folder name may be different. In any case, go up one directory from the organize folder.
•Highlight the organize folder.
•Select Edit | Copy from the menu of the Explorer window.
•Open the desired backup location (a CD or DVD, another hard disk, a network location or a USB stick, for example) in Explorer.
•Select Edit | Paste from the menu.

How to Restore Locally-saved AOL email

To recover mail and other AOL data from a "Saved on My PC" copy:

•Log on to AOL with your screen name at least once to create the user mail
profile, then make sure AOL is not currently running.

•Search your computer for a file called "(your AOL screen name).abi".
•If your screen name is "myscreenname", for example, search for a file called "myscreenname.abi".
•You should find it in a folder called organize under "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AOL\C_America Online 9.1\organize", although some variation in the path has been noticed from time-to-time.

•Go up one directory, to the C_America Online 9.1 folder.
•For other versions of AOL, the folder name may be different. In any case, go up one directory from the organize folder.
•Rename the organize folder "organize.save".
•Go up another directory.
•Open the folder containing the backup copy of your old organize folder in a new Explorer window.
•Highlight the backup organize folder.
•Press Ctrl-C.
•Switch to the AOL folder window.
•Highlight C-America Online 9.1 or whatever the folder containing the organize.save folder is called on your system.
•Press Ctrl-V.
•Log on to AOL.
•If everything is back in place, delete the organize.save folder.

http://email.about.com/od/aoltips/qt/et042206.htm

Windows XP Rebuild & fixboot command

If your copy of XP will not boot, and even safe mode or LKGood cannot help you...
Try using the rebuild option...

Boot up from XP setup disk and enter recovery console...

cd \

attrib -h -r -s boot.ini

copy boot.ini boot.ini.old

delete boot.ini

chkdsk

bootcfg /rebuild

fixboot

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251&pgno=2&queryText=&isPrev=

Fedora auto-login

Modify the /etc/gdm/gdm.schemas file to have the following...

AutomaticLoginEnable setting at true

AutomaticLogin set with the actual system login - do NOT use the friendly
or full name

Reboot and the system will enter Gnome desktop automatically.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=220794

Fedora 11 single user mode

To get into single user text based mode from GRUB... hit F8 a million times between post and GRUB loader, then choose A to append to existing boot line, then insert an s to the line and continue booting.

http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/157-System-Recovery-Week-Single-user-mode.html

Fedora YUM and installers will not work

If using Fedora (any flavor but I tried on 8, 10 and 11) and YUM installer (or package installer) and you get the following, (even with a fresh install of Fedora)...

"Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml)"

I finally was able to get around this problem, caused by my corporate
firewall, by using this combination...

1) Disabling client firewall in Fedora

2) Exporting the proxy server at the command line (even though I had
specified it in the GUI) as follows...

export http_proxy=http://%yourproxyhere%:port#

3) Changing each https entry in the /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo files to http to
make fetching non-secure.

4) Inserting the following into the /etc/hosts file...

80.239.156.215 mirrors.fedoraproject.org
213.129.242.84 mirrors.rpmfusion.org

And finally it worked for me.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=223472

Skype unable to create account

If you are running Skype and it hangs at "creating account" during first time
setup...

Try disabling all firewalls. In this case, a copy of McAfee Client Firewall was
causing the issue. The account creation went through after that. This could also cause you not to connect to Skype at all.

Issues with Webpage ads not displaying

A friend of mine has an ad income generator and had issues with her ads not displaying correctly in any Windows browser. Although she had a recent virus attack, it wasn't the virus causing the issue.

Disabling Symantec client firewall resolved the issue. One of the sub-components of SCF was disabling certain webpage ads from displaying. The SCF security settings could have been hightened during the attack, and needed to be put back to normal.

Issues with Network Shares not Accessible

You are trying to attach to a network share using Windows... and you get a response "sharename already in use" or something to that effect. It may be
your Norton or Symantec client firewall causing the problem. Disable it
and you should then be able to attach without hassle. If you wish to keep firewalling active at your client, you will need to drill down to the actual
specific setting that is causing the issue. Or, you can setup the client to
disregard IP address ranges on your local network (like having it ignore
every 192.x.x.x address).

Symantec CF would not allow me to attach to a customer's Terastation Live.
I find having to do this workaround particularly stupid since network sharing
is a basic Windows function nowadays...

Symantec Corporate A/V hangs at 99% updating

If you are running Symantec Corporate AntiVirus (I have versions 7 and 10.x) and it ceases to update after 99% and just hangs there... there is a simple resolution although it makes no sense.

Open the client and goto CONFIGURE... DISABLE tamper protection, Exchange mail support, Lotus Notes support, and (at least temporarily) Internet Mail support. Rerun the updater and it should go through next time.

Source (SRCDS) Fast Download with GoDaddy

There are alot of HLDS users stating you cannot run HLDS Fast Download over a Godaddy account (free or paid). This is not true. We have had ours working for years.

First, make sure you replicate the server directory structure on the download account, and configure the software to point to that download spot.

Second, make sure your account directory permissions are set to 755 so the downloading client can obtain the files.

Third, make sure you have a .htaccess file located in the directory you are downloading from, make sure that file contains similar to the following...

Options +Indexes
AddType application/octet-stream .bin .bsp .res .bz2 .vmt .vtf

Tagged Email Phishing Scam

I recieved several emails from a friend stating they sent me
pictures or other stuff via Tagged Email, and it asks me
to join.

DO NOT JOIN TAGGED EMAIL under any circumstances. It is a
phishing scam that will rob your identity and flood your
PC with Crapware... it uses your address book to propagate
email floods and spam. Delete these emails immediately and
clean out your trash.

Is file sharing safe ?

The practice of sharing files via Bearshare, BitTorrent, Kazaa, and other programs opens you up to several issues...

1. Malicious programs and viruses from the internet can funnel into your computer, being costly to remove.
2. Your personal files can be opened up for the world to see, fueling possible identity theft.
3. Copyright-protected files (videos, music, programs) may be opened up for the world to download, spreading piracy and possibly exposing you to litigation by the copyright holder or their authorities.

We at NJ ComputerGuys do not suggest you engage in sharing files.

What is Spyware ?

Spyware and Malware and Crapware are programs (often disguised as free offers, toolbars, and smilee/icon packs) that infect your computer to promote unwanted advertising, prevent your PC from functioning correctly (if at all), mine your PC for private data or other such specious activity. We suggest purchasing a well-known anti-virus suite. Many free spyware removal tools and cleaners out on the internet
are actually spyware installers in disguise, so be careful with what you install! If it's free and it tries to scare you into buying it... it's usually not good. We recommend you use a combination of the following (some of which are available free)...

Lavasoft Ad Aware spyware cleaner (free version):
http://download.cnet.com/Ad-Aware-Free-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5

Microsoft Security Essentials malware and virus protection
for Windows Vista and Windows 7 only (free):
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Norton Antivirus, 360, Norton Internet Security (trial versions):
http://www.symantec.com/norton/theme4.jsp?themeid=free_tools_trials2

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware spyware and rootkit cleaner (free):
http://www.malwarebytes.org

AVG anti-virus (free):
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

Windows Server 2000 Domain Detection Issue

At some point of installation of Server 2000 (or Advanced), the setup asks you if you wish to join the server to an existing domain, run as a PDC itself, or run as standalone server.

For some weird reason, the setup acts as if it tries to join you to a domain anyway. It then puts you into a loop you cannot get out of.

I worked around this by reinstalling the O/S with the NETWORK CABLE REMOVED, when the setup has passed domain setup phase, you can then REATTACH THE NETWORK CABLE.

Linksys WVC54GCA camera

I purchased four of these WVC54GCA cameras new. After configuring them as per the manual, I found they would die (seize up) from one to three days later. I had the latest firmware R24.

Setting the units to STATIC IP (not DHCP) solved the issue and the cameras now work much longer (one to two months) before requiring power cycle.

The camera itself is a good buy for about 100 bucks. The image is clear even in low light. It works well with my linksys wireless routers, it uses b/g wireless. 640x480pixel view.