IT Resource

Although this is a rather old subject, I was recently approached by someone experiencing difficulties with Exchange 2003 SP2 and IMF (Intelligent Message Filter) so I thought I would quickly let you all in on a little tip, for those of you who haven’t as yet installed Exchange 2003 SP2, which I can’t imagine would be too many of you.

Before you start installing SP2, you need to uninstall the Intelligent Message Filter (IMF). By doing this, the settings from the SMTP virtual server where you allowed filtering are also removed.

After the SP2 installation, go to Intelligent Message Filtering settings (Global Settings -> Message Delivery -> Properties -> Intelligent Message Filtering tab) and setup IMF with the same settings as earlier. However, that alone does not reactivate IMF.

You still need to enable IMF from the SMTP virtual server properties -> General tab -> Advanced Edit and check “Apply Intelligent Message Filter” – just as you need to check the relevant options for recipient filter, connection filter, sender filter, and the new option of applying SenderID filter.

Hopefully someone finds this information in some way useful.

The following commands can be run from any NT 4.0, W2K, XP Pro, or Windows 2003 Server computer.

Note: You must add the /domain switch to the commands otherwise it will be performed on the local SAM and not the Domain Controller SAM.

For example, if you wanted to change the password of a local user account, type the following:

net user account password_here

Replace account with the user’s username.

To change a user’s domain password at the command prompt, log on as an administrator and type:

net user account * /domain

You will be prompted to type a new password for the user and then asked to type it again to confirm it.

The password should now be changed.

Alternatively, you can type the following command:

net user account password /domain

By using this command, the password changes without prompting you to confirm it. Because you aren’t prompted to confirm the password, it allows you to change multiple passwords of different user accounts from within a batch file.

If you attempt to change a password from an account without administrator privileges, you will receive an error message like “System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied.”

Whereas Exchange 2003 really offers only one type of clustering support (local, with multiple servers sharing a SAN), Exchange 2007 supports log shipping both remotely and locally, which opens up new modes of clustering:

• Local Continuous Replication (LCR ), a single-server solution in which the system uses the logs to create a second copy of a storage group (SG) on a different set of disks. This method gives you a second copy of the data. More information here.
• Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR), a two-server solution in which the system ships the logs to a second server to maintain a second copy of the SG. This second server can be local or remote. More information here.
• Single Copy Clusters (SCC), the same idea as Exchange 2003 clusters, in which one set of data is connected to multiple servers. More information here.

Exchange Server 2003 had a basic set of server roles: a back-end server that hosts information stores and performs the bulk of processing and front-end servers that accept client requests and proxies them to the appropriate back-end server. Exchange 2007 has a more granular set of server roles to give flexibility to larger Exchange deployments, while still allowing small to medium deployments to host all the required roles on one server if appropriate. The server roles are:

• Mailbox – Hosts mailbox and public folder data. This role provides Messaging API (MAPI) access for Microsoft Outlook clients. Additionally a variation exists called the Clustered Mailbox role when hosting as part of a clustered environment; it requires no other Exchange roles running on the cluster instance

• Client Access – Similar to the old front-end server role. Provides all other client protocol access, apart from MAPI (i.e., Outlook Web Access–OWA, POP3, IMAP, and ActiveSync)

• Unified Messaging – Provides client access to mailbox, address box, and calendar via telephone and voice. Require Special IP-PBX or VoIP gateway software.

• Hub Transport – Mail routing server that forwards mail to another hub transport server, edge server, or mailbox server. Unlike Exchange 2003, which uses Exchange routing groups, Exchange 2007 uses Active Directory (AD) sites.

• Edge Transport – Gateway from the Exchange organization to the outside world. This is the last hop for outbound mail and the first hop for incoming mail. This is the server that provides mail quarantine. This role doesn’t require AD access, making it ideal for perimeter deployment without opening up ports for AD access. This role must always be deployed on a server with no other Exchange roles.

The Mailbox, Client Access, Unified Messaging, and Hub Transport roles can be distributed across multiple servers or in combination with each other on potentially one server. Any AD site with a Mailbox role also requires a server in the same AD site running the Hub Transport and Client Access roles (or they can be installed on the Mailbox role server).

Windows Vista has a nice built-in security feature called User Access Control, or UAC. The UAC basically forces users that are part of the local administrators group to run like they were regular users with no administrative privileges.

Whenever a user that is a member of the local administrators group tries to perform a task that requires administrative privileges (add/remove programs for example), the operating system halts the operation and prompts the user to acknowledge it prior to running the task.

This is a great security feature, not only for beginners but also for advanced users, as it lets you know when something is requiring administrative privileges, and gives you the option to run it or not.

Although I don’t recommend it, a lot of people have asked how they turn this feature off, so here’s how:

Method 1

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Under User Account and Family settings click on Add or remove user account.
3. Click on one of the user accounts. You can use the Guest account if you want.
4. Under the user account click on the Go to the main User Account page link.
5. Under Make changes to your user account click on the Change security settings link.
6. Untick the box that says Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer. Click on the Ok button.
7. You will be prompted to reboot your computer. Do so when ready.

Method 2

1. Click on the Windows button (start button) and type in MSCONFIG and then press Enter.
2. Click on the Tools tab and scroll down till you find “Disable UAC” and click on that line once.
3. Press the Launch button.
4. A command window will open. When the command is completed, you can close the window.
5. Close MSCONFIG. You need to reboot your computer for changes to take effect.

If you have used Windows Vista for more then a couple of minutes, you have probably discovered the UAC (User Access Control) by now. If you are here reading this article, chances are you want to disable the UAC before it drives you mad!

Note: Disabling the UAC will lead to a less secure system – be warned!

Disable UAC

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pol icies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Enable UAC

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pol icies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

After you enable or disable UAC, you will have to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

Note: If you don’t want to use the command prompt, I wrote an article some time ago which explains how to Enable/Disable the UAC using the Control Panel. This article can be found here!

Many people don’t know it, but there is actually a way to extend the trial period of Windows Vista from 30 days to 120 days (roughly).

If you haven’t activated Vista yet, press the Windows Start + Pause/Break buttons on your keyboard. This should open a window which will display basic information about your computer. Down the bottom you see something similar to this:

As you can see, I have 10 days left to trial Vista… for the time being anyway!

Type cmd into the Start menu search box and then press Crtl+Shift+Enter. This will open the command prompt in administrator mode.

Now run the following command from the prompt:

slmgr -rearm

It will take a minute or two but eventually you will see this prompt:

Click OK and then restart your computer. After it has restarted, press the Windows Start + Pause/Break buttons on your keyboard and you should see that your trial period has now gone back to 30 days:

Note: If you want to get a full 120 days trial, you will need to use this command on day 29 or 30 of your trial. You can only use this command 3 times before Microsoft ends you Vista trialling experience and chucks you into Reduced Functionality Mode, which you can’t do a great deal with!

If you are already locked out (Reduced Functionality Mode)

Good news, you can still reactivate Vista if you have more resets left. If you’ve already used up all 3, then you are out of luck, but if not, you can follow these steps to unlock your computer again.

1. Open up Internet Explorer and type C:\ into the address bar. You’ll be prompted by the UAC.
2. Now type in C:\Windows\System32\ into the address bar, and find the cmd.exe file. Right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
3. Now use the same command as mentioned above.
4. You should see a message saying that the computer is rearmed. Restart the computer at this point.

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is a free, professional grade software package that allows you to set up your own online community within minutes.

Its powerful custom made template engine puts you in full control of the lay-out of your message board and with our unique SSI (Server Side Includes) function you can let your forum and your website interact with each other.

SMF is written in the popular language PHP and uses a MySQL database. It is designed to provide you with all the features you need from a bulletin board while having an absolute minimal impact on the resources of the server. SMF is the next generation of forum software – and best of all it is and will always remain completely free!

I’ve personally installed, configured and tested SMF and have no problems recommending it to those looking at starting up their own online community.

You can find more information and download Simple Machines Forum from www.simplemachines.org

Some time ago I posted that I was offering free web hosting and cheap .id.au domain names over at IT Resource.  At the time of that post, disk space was set at 30MB and data transfer was set at 300MB (monthly).  As much as I thought people would jump on the offer, no one did, which was a little disappointing.

In an attempt to try and get people to take up this offer, I’ve decided to raise the bar and try once again.  This time, the disk space is set at 100MB (up from 30MB) and data transfer is set at 1000MB (up from 300MB).  There is enough disk space and data transfer (bandwidth) available to get a really good website up and running.

Also included in this package is:

• cPanel Access
• Email Accounts
• FTP Access/Accounts
• Sub-domains
• Web mail
• PHP Support
• MySQL Databases

This is a professional hosting package allowing you to create and host virtually any website you want on Australian based servers.

If you are interested in taking up offer, click here for more details!

For those of you who have ever created a website incorporating Ajax, you will generally use a animated gif as an indication to the user that things are happening, so please wait/be patient!

Well, I recently found myself in a situation where I already had an animated gif but I needed a new one.  The one I was using was plain and simple and I needed something a little more fancy.  So, I hit Google and started searching.  It took about 10 seconds and I stumbled across Ajaxload.info – a website that can generate an Ajax loading/please wait/be patient, gif.

So impressed with this website I was that I decided I would share it with you.

You simply choose the indicator type, a background color (or make it transparent), a foreground color and click generate.  In seconds, you have your Ajax loading gif.  Best of all, it is completely free!

If you need to generate your own Ajax loading gif, heading on over to www.Ajaxload.info – I don’t believe you will be disappointed.

AddThis is the #1 bookmarking and sharing button on the Internet. AddThis spreads your content across the Web by making it easier for your visitors to bookmark and share it with other people, again…and again…and again. Our simple yet powerful button is very easy to install and provides valuable statistics about the bookmarking and sharing activity of your users. AddThis is the perfect tool to help your visitors create a buzz for your site and increase its popularity and ranking.

Some of the buttons available are pictured above.  When you hover your cursor over them, a menu will appear with a group of sites including Digg, Google, Live and so on (all of which are customisable) that you can add your website to quickly and easily.

I highly recommend you check out http://www.addthis.com for more information!

Microsoft today hoped to translate the visuals of Windows Vista into a new pair of keyboard and mouse sets. Though they work with most any USB-equipped computer, the Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 (shown) and wired Digital Media Keyboard 3000 are styled after the Aero Glass interface found in Microsoft’s own operating system and incorporate shortcuts designed for the platform.

The 7000 includes shortcut keys for Favorites in Vista on the ergonomic keyboard itself along with a Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 that has a button usable for task switching through Flip 3D (also reusable in other operating systems).

The Digital Media Keyboard 3000 makes up for its cabled nature with additional shortcuts, Microsoft says: in addition to the Favorites feature, the straight-shaped keyboard also sports media keys, image zoom, and a Flip 3D switcher along the edges. The premium Wireless Laser Desktop ships first in April for $130 and will be followed by the Digital Media Keyboard in June for $30.

Wireless Laser Desktop 7000

Digital Media Keyboard 3000

The wired Keyboard 3000 would make for a nice addition to my desk at work I think!  Not to sure about the Desktop 7000 – I don’t really like the look of it.

DNS; just three little letters representing such a critical component of your business. The functionality of DNS provides for availability, but also abets vulnerability. Because of their exposure on the Internet, DNS servers are among the most assailable computers that an organization employs. What appears to be simple is maddeningly complex – a black art of sorts.

DNSstuff.com is in business to help protect that necessary Achilles Heel.

Here at DNSstuff.com, our goal is to demystify DNS for you with a one-stop location containing every single tool and technique currently available. We make your job as easy as possible and we make your business as efficient as possible. Simply stated, we’re going to help save you time and money by enabling you to work smarter than you’ve ever been able to work before.

I personally am a paid member of DNSstuff.com and it has been one of the most useful resources I’ve ever had access too.

Check it out for yourself at www.dnsstuff.com.

If you have a website, any website at all, whether it be personal, business or otherwise, you should visit Link My WWW and place your link in the Link Directory. It is completely free register and add your link. You can add as many website as you like!

Address: http://www.linkmywww.com

I’ve created another website, yes another!

For all your proxy enthusiast’s out there, this is a good one for you. It’s called Link My Proxy – a proxy related link directory containing many categories which hopefully cater for most proxy related sites.

All submissions are free with no link backs or reciprocal links required. That said, if you do link back to the site, the ‘nofollow’ attribute will be removed from your link.

Check it out at http://www.linkmyproxy.com.