We have just returned from a 6 day cruise aboard the Carnival Freedom, and overall we had a very nice time. Our ports of call were Key West, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The cruise director was John Heald, the senior cruise director for Carnival, and a very funny guy. The food was very…
Author: Alan
See https://www.akaplan.com/about/
Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for Businesses
“.. the iPhone 3GS is so weak it can be cracked in two minutes with a few pieces of readily available freeware. ‘It is kind of like storing all your secret messages right next to the secret decoder ring,’ said Jonathan Zdziarski, an iPhone developer and a hacker who teaches forensic courses on recovering data…
Add Manage Computer to Server 2008 Computer Menu
I frequently used the “Manage” menu choice from My Computer to launch compmgmt.msc. In Windows 2008 it launches Server Manager instead. I was annoyed. ManageComputer2008.reg is a small registry entry that adds a “Manage Computer” menu item to the Computer context menu of Server 2008. It launches compmgmt.msc. Rename from .txt to .reg and merge. Security hint: …
Acrobat Reader Version
I hate Adobe Acrobat Reader updates. Although it is used everywhere, from an enterprise perspective, updating it is a PITA. Especially since the program version is found in either AcroRd32.exe or AcroRd32.dll, apparently depending on the mood of the developer. This script, AdobeReaderVersion.vbs, is one way to get the version of Acrobat Reader on a…
Applied GPO report
This batch file produces the Help Center applied GPO report. The report also contains a complete list of group membership It must be run locally, but gives a very nice verbose report. Applied_GPOs.cmd is a very small file that has has a very long command line. Test only on XP. Rename file to .cmd. Tags:…
Send ADSPath of an OU to your clipboard
I am often prompted for the ADSPath of an OU for various applications. With a complex AD structure, the syntax can be very annoying. This script, OUADSPath2clip.vbs, lets you navigate through your OU structure to pick an OU. The “send to clipboard” bit uses the IE object, so you will have to allow access.
PC Decrapifier
Many hardware manufacturers are filling their new system drives with trial software commonly known as “bloatware”. Uninstalling it can take a lot of time. The PC Decrapifier lets you uninstall unwanted bloatware automatically. Be aware, however, that there are some programs you may not want to uninstall, that are on the list.
Happy Birthday, America
I am taking a few minutes before it gets dark (fireworks start soon) to say how much I appreciate being an American. This country has its faults, but its greatest strength is the Bill of Rights, and a embracing the right of our fellow countrymen to dissent. No one is thrown in jail in America…
Remove Standby from Shutdown Menu
In a large enterprise power management is important, but it should be done by the administrators rather than the users. Unfortunately system standby flummoxes some users. They accidently put their system on standby and can’t figure out why the power button is flashing. NoStandByMenu.vbs removes standby from the shutdown menu. This is version 1.2. Tags: standby
SaveAs Excel
Many of my scripts write to tab delimited files with a .xls description. These opened without complaint with Office 2003, but you get a warning from 2007. To convert a tab delimited file to XLS in Excel is not really obvious. Example code is in Resize and SaveAsExcel.vbs. This scriptlet takes the additional step of…