I deploy a lot of Dell computers and one gripe I hear over and over is that the new Dell keyboards don’t adjust high enough in the back. The problem is a design flaw where on newer Dell keyboards the extendable legs or feet in the back don’t extend far enough for most users. As a result, you can only elevate the new Dell keyboards a fraction of the height of previous ones in the rear…and this ends up being a comfort issue for most users. Here’s a quick tip on how you can extend the height of the legs on newer Dell keyboards:

[requirements]

• The keyboard cable ties of your Dell Keyboard and Mouse.
• Alternatively, any wire cable ties will do.

[step 1] Crumble up the cable ties into a football shaped structure that will fit into the hole behind the keyboard leg (see picture below).

[step 2] Wedge it into the space next to the leg when the leg is extended forcing the leg to be at a steeper angle.

[step 3] Repeat on the other leg of the keyboard.

That’s it.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my clients had a machine infected by the MoneyPak FBI scam virus/malware. The MoneyPak variant works by suppressing all computer programs basically rendering the system unusable while displaying a fake warning message from the FBI stating that all activities on the PC are being recorded/encrypted. The fake message is a creative spin on the traditional blackmail ware type of scam where the computer is rendered useless after boot up with the intention of making the end user pay a sum of money to regain access to their system. Here’s how to get rid of the MoneyPak malware.

[the problem]

Computer is infected by MoneyPak malware/spyware variant.

[requirements]

• Rogue Killer
• Malwarebytes
• Eset Online Scanner

[solution 1] This solution only works if you have access to another account with admin privileges on the infected computer.

[step 1] On a working computer, download the latest versions of Rogue Killer and Malwarebytes and ESET Online Scanner to a thumbdrive.

[step 2] Reboot the infected system and into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking. NOTE: DO NOT LOG IN AS THE USER UNDER WHICH THE SYSTEM WAS INFECTED. In my experience this malware will work even in safe-mode if the system is logged in under the infected user account.

[step 3] If you are able to log in and use the computer in safe mode under this secondary user account, run RogueKiller and remove any found items. Then run MalwareBytes (FULL SCAN) and ESET Online Scanner and remove any items it finds and reboot the system.

That’s it.

[solution 2] This solution works only if you are able to remove the hard drive and connect it to a known working system using a USB-to-sata adapter.

[step 1] Remove infected hard drive from computer and connect it to the known working machine using a USB-to-SATA adapter.

[step 2] Run a Malwarebytes full scan on the infected hard drive and remove any found items.

[step 3] Run the ESET Online Scanner on the infected hard drive and remove any found items.

[step 4] Replace the previously infected hard drive into the computer and boot it up normally…cross your fingers.

That’s it.

This is my guide for recovering data off of a damaged hard drive. It comes with absolutely no guarantees or warranties, however the procedure has helped me recover data in cases where others believed all data to be completely lost. I’m not going to go into the reasons why hard drives fail, but I’ll cover some types of disk failure because understanding them will help determine if any data can likely be recovered from your failed drive.

There are lots of ways a hard disk can fail that pose significant hurdles for recovering any data. If the disk fails to spin up, makes loud grinding noises, clicks continuously, chances are good the disk is too damaged for this guide to be helpful.

There are also, however, some ways a drive may suddenly appear as failed but still have data that is in tact and recoverable. One of the easiest ways to determine this is to attach the drive using a USB to SATA adapter to a working PC running Windows and see what happens. If the drive is detected, but Windows thinks that it needs to be formatted, you may be in luck. Here’s what to do:

[requirements]

• Testdisk from CGSecurity – freely available data recovery software
• USB-to-SATA adapter – optional

[option 1] Watch ‘n learn – Crash course videos showing how to retrieve data from a hard drive with a corrupted partition table:

Continued…

[option 2] Step-by-step guide:

Ideally you’d create yourself a live boot flashdrive or CD/DVD (instructions here) and boot off of that livecd with just the failed drive in your computer but this may require some knowledge of Linux/Unix. Typically the base distro for most of these livecd’s is debian linux. Rather than covering all of that in this tutorial, I’m going to cover the scenario where we have TestDisk downloaded to a running Windows 7 computer and the failed drive hooked up to it using a USB-to-SATA adapter.

1. Connect the drive to your computer using the USB-to-SATA adapter and power it on, but DO NOT FORMAT THE DRIVE WHEN PROMPTED! This is very important. If you format the drive or write any data to this drive, you’ll make recovery difficult or impossible.
2. Run TestDisk (testdisk_win.exe) from whatever folder you extracted it to. The application is self contained in a single folder and does not need to be installed. NOTE: You may be prompted to run this application with admin privileges.
3. When running, TestDisk should appear a dos application as shown below. You may create a log file for each session that may prove useful, but I typically opt not to create a log file.
   
4. Select the disk from which you would like to recover data, then select >[proceed ] and hit enter.
   
5. Specify the type of partition your disk had before it encountered damage or trouble. If unsure select >[Intel ] and hit enter.
   
6. Select >[Analyze ] to analyze the current partition structure and hit enter.
   
7. Select >[Quick Search ] to attempt to locate any data on partitions that were found.
   
8. Select each partition and press “p” to list any files found on that partition by the quick search. If the >[Quick Search ] didn’t find any files, you may want hit enter at this point and run a >[Deeper Search on the drive to try to find more partitions/data.
   
9. Once you have the file list on a discovered partition, press "a" to select all files or ":" to individually select specific files, then "c" to copy individual files or "C" to copy all selected files to another location. NOTE: the default COPY TO: location is the drive you are running testdisk_win.exe from. You can use the Directory Up (..) directive to select a different folder/drive to copy files to. Enter "C" to begin the copy.
   
10. If your drive isn't physically damaged and you have found files on each partition using either a Quick Search or Deeper Search, you can also to try to write a "fixed" partition table to the disk.
    NOTE: use the [ Write ] option at your own risk! It may or may not work and writing anything to the disk could render it more difficult to recover any data later. If testdisk found data on your drive, you may want to copy the data to another location before writing anything to the damaged disk.
    

That’s it folks. Good luck.

I’ve been having this problem with my system ever since I added a second monitor. I set up my display settings such that my monitor 2 is my default display and the display is extended to monitor 1 and arrange them how I like them to be. Then I reboot the system at some point later and the monitor configuration is reset. After the system comes back I am back down to just monitor 1 being my only display and I have to re-configure my display settings all over. I’ve tried everything setting up the display settings in ATI’s Catalyst software rather than the native Windows Screen Resolution control panel. I’ve tried removing and re-installing the drivers, why won’t these display settings stick?

[the problem]

In Windows 7 x64 SP1 the order of multiple displays in an Extended monitor setting may be lost or reset after the system is rebooted. After each restart the monitor configuration is reset back to using only a single monitor.

[the solution]

After an extended Google search session, I finally found the fix. It’s a registry key that needs to be cleared. Here’s how to:

[step 1] Open the Registry Editor by clicking Start->Run->Regedit or simply typing Regedit into the search box on your start menu.

[step 2] Find and expand the following key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers\Configuration]

[step 3] Backup this entire key to a file by right-clicking it and selecting Export and specifying a safe location to backup the registry file.

[step 4] You will likely notice a number of sub-keys in Configuration that look something like the screenshot below.

[step 5] Delete each of the sub-keys contained in Configuration by clicking it one by one and hitting the delete key on the keyboard and then confirming the deletion.

[step 6] OPTIONAL: I also repeated [steps 2-5] for the Connectivity sub-key because it had some of the same entries as Configuration, but this may not be necessary.

That’s it. Hope it helps someone out there.

I’ve had an issue recently where a new installation of Dell AppAssure 5 did not keep the correct number of snapshots based on a chosen retention policy. The issue after working with a awfully slow tech support over the course of three weeks was to update to a specific newer release of Dell AppAssure Version 5.3.1.59332. Here is what happened:

[the problem]

My environment was running two 2008 Server R2 Standard (one as a file server and one as a domain controller) virtual machines on VMWare ESXi 5.1 and one physical 2008 Server R2 Standard member server as the AppAssure Core. The Core’s default retention policy was set to keep 5 daily incremental Recovery Points (RP), 3 weekly RPs  and 2 monthly RPs in the default repository, but only 4 or 5 daily incremental snapshots would be retained on each protected machine no matter how the retention policy was set.

I even attempted to set each protected machine to use a custom retention policy to see if that would take place and modified it to only keep a single incremental RP. Nothing seemed to make a difference. Still the Core would always keep four or five daily RPs.

[solution]

Since Dell purchased AppAssure, there have been some major issues with AppAssure 5. Technical support is one and lack of documentation is the other. Both make what could be a great product very difficult to troubleshoot and thus recommend. Here’s what I finally learned:

[step 1] Download and upgrade to AppAssure 5 Version: 5.3.1.59332.

[step 2] Reboot the Core.

This resolved the issues with the default retention policy not taking effect on all of my your protected machines.

That’s it.

Got a lot of reports about the Google Message Center freezing in IE8/IE9 this week and determined that this is a problem with an older version of the Java JRE. To resolve this issue simply download and install the latest version of the Java JRE. You may also want to take this opportunity to remove any previous version(s) of Java you may have installed. They probably have security holes that make your system vulnerable.

[the problem]

When attempting to preview or deliver a quarantined email from the POSTINI message center, IE8 or IE9 freezes momentarily.

[solution]

[step 1] Close IE and install the most up-to-date Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

• Download JRE offline installer

That’s it.

I hate Acrobat 9. Among it’s many shortcomings is this idiotic incremental upgrade procedure, but I digress. Unfortunately many penny wise business owners don’t understand that up-to-date software is inexplicably tied to employee productivity and insist that they want to keep using that Acrobat 9 license they purchased in ’06. So as an IT guy I’m stuck supporting dated software with bugs. One of these bugs affecting acrobat 9 on Windows 7 in IE9 manifests itself in the form of a blank error message when the user attempts to open a PDF.

[the problem]

[the solution]

[step 1] In Acrobat, click Edit->Preferences->Internet and then uncheck the box ticked Allow fast web view.

If that does not resolve the issue, also uncheck the box that states Display PDF in browser.

That’s it.

Yes, I’m still using SageTV. I just can’t get away from it, plus the 6 or so terabytes of recorded content are going to take me years to go through. So to make a long story shot, the Firefly wireless remote I had been using to control SageTV got progressively worse and I finally replaced it with a Tivo Slide. I’ve been using it for about four months now and can honestly say that it is bar none the best HTPC remote I’ve ever used. Had I known how easy it is to use with Windows 7, I would have bought it much earlier. Here’s how I set it up with SageTV:

[step 1] Purchase the Tivo Slide Remote and Bluetooth Adapter. You it at BestBuy or on eBay for around $60 bucks.

[step 2] Plug the USB Adapter into your computer’s USB Port. Windows will automatically detect it and install all the necessary drivers from Windows Update.

[step 3] Download and install the free version of LM Remote KeyMap. NOTE: The donator version comes with access to a library of thousands of configured devices with known IR codes so you don’t have to learn your own.

[step 4] Open LM Remote KeyMap and click Customize your Remote.

[step 5] Select the Tivo Slide bluetooth remote from the remote options by clicking the picture of the remote.

[step 6] Now you’re ready to customize the keys on the remote to do what you want them to. Most buttons on the front of the remote are customizable. The only buttons I found that didn’t take were: Power, Input and a couple of others at the top. Click Edit on the Default profile to customize the remote.

[step 7] To change the function of any key, simply click it on the picture of the remote to select it, then add/remove or edit any actions for that button. You can select keyboard strokes or pre-recorded IR signals you’ve learned here. In the image below, I’m assigning the power IR signal for turning on my ONKYO receiver to the red button on the TivoSlide remote.

Alternatively, you can add complex keystrokes to your remote like CTRL+SHIFT+S.

[step 8] To add learned IR codes to any key, you’ll need an IR Blaster device configured with LM Remote Keymap. I use the USB-UIRT device blaster personally. When configured in LM Remote Keymap, you can learn your own remote IR codes rather than searching the donator version database. Simply click Learn IR codes to do so.

[step 9] Click OK and Close LM Remote KeyMap when done to send it to your notification (task bar) area. It will remain running there and wait for you to send remote signals.

Once all the programming is done, you’re ready to use your new slide remote control. The keyboard will work like any wireless keyboard and the buttons you’ve customized should now be sending your custom IR codes or key-presses or other events as long as LM Remote KeyMap is running in the notification area.