average admins

I use the MMC for various system management jobs but I’ve never thought about blogging about it. It’s just one of those things that I’ve never given a second thought.

Rob, from confessions of a freeware junkie, posted about how he has his setup. I have to say, his looks a lot more useful that the one I created.

http://maximillianx.blogspot.com/…-extending-power-of-your-management.html

One thing I do differently than Rob is that I launch the entire MMC with my domain admin credentials. This is what the Target: field of my shortcut looks like:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\runas.exe /user:domain\my-admin-acct “mmc C:\Chris\Microsoft Management Consoles\Domain Management.msc”

Note: If you want to save your password so you don’t have to type it in every time you launch the MMC add /savecred right after /user:domain\my-admin-acct.

Also, in order to add Active Directory Users and Computers, you’ll need the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/…

While you’re at his site, take a look around. I monitor his RSS feed on Bloglines and he’s always posting cool stuff.

Those of you that know me know that I have a huge music fetish. I LOVE listening to new (previously unheard by me) stuff.

With that in mind, I’ve recently ran across some new stuff which I want to share with you.

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This is probably the best third-party test of AV that I’ve seen in a while. They actually use a LOT of samples and they seem to have tested just about every possible AV product out there.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2135092,00.asp

There are a couple of things that don’t sit well with me:

ClamAV scored very poorly. ClamAV is probably the most widely used AV scanner for Linux mail gateways out there. I use it and F-Prot in all of mine.

F-Prot scored pretty badly, too. Well, I seem to be 0 for 2 now.

Ewido bombed as well. Who is Ewido, you ask? Ewido was bought by AVG so while AVG did well, how will this affect their future performance?

AVG is my personal favorite. It’s free (for personal use) and works very well. I tried Avast! for a while and it didn’t pick up half the malicious files I tinker with that AVG usually catches. I also don’t like the Avast!’s interface AT ALL!

I could go on about what I like about AVG, but that’s not what the point of this thread is about.

One thing I did notice recently is that AVG has a Linux version. A FREE Linux version. A FREE Linux version packages as a .deb file! It sucks that they don’t have a source package available, or a binary file that will work on other distros, but I can’t complain that they offer a version for Debian, which is my OS of choice. I haven’t tested their version with Amavis, yet, but it’s on my todo list. It also appears that Avast! has a free Linux version (and they offer a .tgz file, too). I’m not crazy about needing to keep up with a key that will expire, but you really can’t complain about free.

This is for you SAMBA people out there.

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/18850.html

Originally found on Terminal23’s blog:
http://www.terminal23.net/2007/05/diggnation_news.html

Original site can be found here:
http://www.doubleviking.com/…/5215-p.html

You absolutely must visit the doubleviking site to read the comments. The first three are hilarious.

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Before I start my little rant, first let me say that Red Hat has done a lot for the Linux community. My very first Linux install was Red Hat 5.2. It lasted about 2 days on my machine, but it was my first.

Red Hat is also deeply involved in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project which I think is absolutely great. If you want to see the laptop in action there are two short videos posted on RH’s site: http://www.redhatmagazine.com/.

Now, on to my rant.

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Original articles:

http://dmiessler.com/archives/1315
http://dmiessler.com/archives/176

Maybe I’m alone here, but I had no clue about Firefox’s quicksearch ability. Apparently, just by typing ‘g keyword’ in the URL bar, you’ll automatically search Google.

Back in 2005 Daniel Miessler expanded this feature by configuring FF to also search MSN and Technorati, which are also both very cool.

Well, now Google has added the ability to use command-line switches to their search feature such as /img to search images, /maps to search Google’s maps, /groups to search Google newgroups database, and so on.

You can find a great explanation for all the search functions here: http://projects.felipc.com/gcl/

To quote Daniel’s 2005 post, this is how you configure FF to also search MSN and Technorati:

1. Create a new bookmark in Firefox.
2. For the URL, add the text below for MSN:
“http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=%s&FORM=QBRE”
3. For the prefix, add “m” (or whatever you want to use).
4. Create another bookmark.
5. Add this for the URL:
“http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&url=%s”
6. Use “t” for the prefix (or whatever you want to use).

Thanks, Daniel, for bringing this to my attention. I can see myself using this ALL the time.

Later on I might create one big entry with my little Windows shortcuts, but for now I’m always wishing I had written these instructions down.

For the original article by Jeff, click here: http://www.averageadmins.com/blogentry.php?id=61

For now, I’m going to keep it simple and just add the two commands that, if you want, can be easily changed to match your situation.

netsh interface ip set address local static 192.168.1.254 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1 1
netsh interface ip set dns local static 192.168.1.1

For a DHCP-enabled interface:

netsh interface ip set address local dhcp

Other resources include:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=242468
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/…

Personally, I have an AdBlock entry that blocks Google AdWords and a lot of other advertising sites. I know that by displaying ads, you’re opening yourself up to HTML, Javascript, and any other nastiness that doesn’t originate from the site you’re trying to visit. I also don’t click on those paid advertising links from a Google search because usually they’re for a commercial product when all I need are simple instructions.

Here are two sites by people that have personally dealt with the maliciousness of Google AdWords.

http://www.dynamoo.com/blog/2007/04/malware-via-adwords.html
http://explabs.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-sponsored-links-not-safe.html

Geocaching is basically a world-wide scavenger hunt where all you’re given are GPS coordinates.

You can read more about geocaching here: http://www.geocaching.com/.

From the site:

What is usually in a cache?

A cache can come in many forms but the first item should always be the logbook. In its simplest form a cache can be just a logbook and nothing else. The logbook contains information from the founder of the cache and notes from the cache’s visitors. The logbook can contain much valuable, rewarding, and entertaining information. A logbook might contain information about nearby attractions, coordinates to other unpublished caches, and even jokes written by visitors. If you get some information from a logbook you should give some back. At the very least you can leave the date and time you visited the cache.

Larger caches may consist of a waterproof plastic bucket placed tastefully within the local terrain. The bucket will contain the logbook and any number of more or less valuable items. These items turn the cache into a true treasure hunt. You never know what the founder or other visitors of the cache may have left there for you to enjoy. Remember, if you take something, its only fair for you to leave something in return. Items in a bucket cache could be: Maps, books, software, hardware, CD’s, videos, pictures, money, jewelry, tickets, antiques, tools, games, etc. It is recommended that items in a bucket cache be individually packaged in a clear zipped plastic bag to protect them.

Currently, there are 80 hidden caches in Texarkana.

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