These Damn ATM Fees Are Killing Me!

Never mind that I have nearly one hundred million...

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.
An infographic dissecting the nature and ramifications of Stuxnet, the first weapon made entirely out of code. This was produced for Australian TV program HungryBeast on Australia's ABC1

Direction and Motion Graphics: Patrick Clair
Written by: Scott Mitchell

Production Company: Zapruder's Other Films.

2012 Mayan Calendar - What It Really Means

How To Remove City ID (and other crapware) From Droid X (and other Android phones)

I've been on a quest to remove City ID, Blockbuster and other crapware that came bundled with my Droid X which Verizon won't allow me to remove.  Searching for "uninstall city id" or "remove blockbuster" will net thousands of results of people asking how to do so - almost all of which have nothing good to say about Ciquent (the developers of City ID), Blockbuster or Verizon.  I pretty much agree with all I've read.  In fact I have vowed to never use products ever again from Ciquent or Blockbuster, and I've notified both of my disgust and vows.

In my quest I haven't been able to find any specific instructions on how to remove this crap.  Most "instructions" say something like, "root, remove, reboot."  Well I persevered and figure it out.  It's actually pretty easy to get rid of these unwanted (cr)apps; in fact, it can be done using three readily available apps (actually four, but one gets installed automatically).

Here I'm going to provide detailed instructions (including pretty screenshots) on how to obtain and install the apps you need to root your phone (and unroot when you're done if desired) and remove those undesired bundled apps like Blockbuster, City ID, VZ Navigator and others.  First some warnings and notes though:

• WARNING: Removing these annoying apps (rather than disabling or freezing them) will make it difficult to upgrade your Droid X to Gingerbread.  Not to worry though, here are detailed instructions on how to Upgrade to Gingerbread After Rooting and Removing Crapware From Your Droid X.
• WARNING: use these instructions at your own risk.  You are responsible for what you do to your phone - not me.
• WARNING: the web is replete with posts saying rooting your phone may void the warranty or brick your phone; however there are also a number of posts either disputing this or saying they haven't had a problem with warranty issues after rooting.  Again, you assume all risk for what you do to your device.
• These instructions were used to remove unwanted programs from a Motorola Droid X running Froyo version 2.2.1 (system version 2.3.340).  It may or may not work on other devices or with other versions of Android.
• These instructions work as of the date of this post.
• Good luck and be happy to be rid of crapware from Verizon!

Android apps used in this guide

• Superuser
• z4root (AKA z4mod) by RyanZa - z4root.1.3.0.apk download mirrors (not in Market - use this link)
• Busybox (automatically installed by z4root)
• Titanium Backup

Step 1 - Download/install Superuser from Android Market (search superuser)

Step 2 - Download and install z4root, and root your device

• Download z4root from one of the mirrors listed in the link directly to your Droid (may not be available in Android Market - click download link.  If not available via link leave a comment with a way to contact you and I can provide one).
• Click the z4root-2.1.3.0.apk file to install (you may have to enable installation of non-Market applications - Home screen, Settings, Applications, check Unknown sources)
• Launch z4root/z4mod

• Select Permanent Root.
• This may take SEVERAL minutes - be patient.
• While it's running Busybox will be downloaded and installed.
• You will also see various messages about the progress of rooting your phone.
• It will either reboot your Droid or prompt you to do so.
• NOTE: on my first attempt I selected Temporary Root which didn't appear to work as later steps failed.
• NOTE: you can undo or unroot your Droid at any time.
• NOTE: my first few attempts to root with z4root didn't work.  My Droid locked and I had to pull the battery to reboot.  I uninstalled z4root and installed again from one of the links above and it worked fine after that.  In fact, I did all these steps again so I could make sure these steps are accurate and grab some screen shots.
• After rebooting open z4root/z4mod and if you see this screen you know you're rooted.

Step 3 - Install and run Titanium Backup (search titanium backup in Market)

• NOTE: the free version of Titanium Backup works for this, however as it does much more and is a great app I'd recommend upgrading to the pro version.
• When you launch Titanium Backup it will tell you if you don't have root.  If you do have root it will say "Root access: OK" and look like this.

• Click on Backup/Restore which will display a list of installed apps on your phone.
• Scroll to the (cr)app you no longer want and click on it and select Un-install.

• You will receive a warning asking if you're sure.  If so, click Yes and it's gone!
• Remove other unwanted crapware to your heart's content.

I used this to remove Blockbuster, City ID, Skype and VZ Navigator.  I'm definitely feeling better after removing all this crap!

That's all there is to it.  Of course you can use z4root to un-root your phone if desired.

Uninstall City ID from Droid X.  Uninstall Blockbuster from Droid X.  Uninstall Skype from Droid X.  Uninstall VZ Navigator from Droid X.

How Many Secret Service Agents Does It Take To Get Obama's Limo Unstuck...

This is classic!  Obama high-centered.


Obama's Car Gets Stuck At US Embassy - Watch more Funny Videos

During his visit to Ireland, Obama's car got stuck at the US Embassy's gate. Or as Fox News reported, "Oh God, This Guy Has Embarrassed America, AGAIN!"

Error Adding Windows 2008 R2 to Existing 2003 Active Directory

Tonight I'm trying to promote a spanking new Windows 2008 R2 server as a domain controller in an existing Windows 2003 AD.  When I ran dcpromo on the new server I was presented with the following message from the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard, "To install a domain controller into this Active Directory forest, you must first prepare the forest using "adprep /forestprep".  The Adprep utility is available on the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media in the \support\adprep folder."

I promptly opened and Command Prompt on the R2 server, navigated to the \support\adprep folder and ran adprep /forestprep.  No joy!  Now I got the message:

Adprep cannot run on this platform because it is not an Active Directory Domain Controller.
[Status/Consequence]
Adprep stopped without making any changes.
[User Action]
Run Adprep on a Active Directory Domain Controller.

So, I went to one of my 2003 domain controllers and ran adprep /forestprep.  Another problem!

The image file C:\support\adprep\adprep.exe is valid, but is for a machine type other than the current machine.

It took a few minutes but I finally figured out I need to run adprep32 /forestprep since my 2003 server is 32 bit.  Ah, hah!  Of course, there's this little message:

ADPREP WARNING:
Before running adprep, all Windows 2000 Active Directory Domain Controllers in the forest should be upgraded to Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later.
[User Action]
If ALL your existing Windows 2000 Active Directory Domain Controllers meet this requirement, type C and then press ENTER to continue. Otherwise, type any other key and press ENTER to quit.

Just a little bit more....

From the same 2003 server you'll have to run adprep32 /domainprep as well.

Now that adprep(32) /forestprep  and adprep(32) /domainprep were successfull I can promote my 2008 R2 server to DC.

How to Unlock Secure PDFs

Tonight I needed to print a couple pages of a service manual that was in a secure PDF.  So I did a little googling and found a few ways to do this, however most were commercial products costing $40 or so.  Then I found FreeMyPDF.com, a FREE site that will "unlock" a PDF so you can print it.  Give it a try - then send them a couple bucks for this great tool.

Charlie Sheen for Halloween

Mom, can I be Charlie Sheen for Halloween?

Truncate (or Purge) Transaction Log in SQL 2008

Over the weekend one of our critical servers ran out of disk space on the volume which contains the transaction logs & all hell broke loose.  Our DBA was at a wedding and couldn't be reached so it was up to me to get things working ASAP.  I've truncated logs before in SQL 2005 and SQL 2000 (I've even written about it on this blog) with the following:

BACKUP LOG <DataBase_Name>
WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY
GO
DBCC SHRINKFILE (2,1, TRUNCATEONLY)
GO

However, our dear friends at Microsoft have removed TRUNCATEONLY from SQL 2008. Searching the 'net I found a few fragmented suggestions. But the one that was the bomb and corrected things for me right away was this great post by Otto R. Radke.  There is only one item that has to be customized (highlighted) with the DB name and voila, it fixed by problem by truncating my huge transaction log.  Thanks Otto!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Otto R. Radke - http://ottoradke.com
-- Info: T-SQL script to shrink a database's transaction log. Just set the
-- database name below and run the script and it will shrink the
-- transaction log.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Update the line below with the name of the database who's transaction
-- log you want to shrink.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USE <YourDatabaseName>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Don't change anything below this line.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GO
-- Declare variables
DECLARE @SqlStatement as nvarchar(max)
DECLARE @LogFileLogicalName as sysname
-- Alter the database to simple recovery
SET @SqlStatement = 'ALTER DATABASE ' + DB_NAME() + ' SET RECOVERY SIMPLE'
EXEC ( @SqlStatement )
-- Make sure it has been altered
SELECT [name], [recovery_model_desc] FROM sys.databases WHERE [name] = DB_NAME()
-- Set the log file name variable
SELECT @LogFileLogicalName = [Name] FROM sys.database_files WHERE type = 1
-- Shrink the logfile
DBCC Shrinkfile(@LogFileLogicalName, 1)
-- Alter the database back to FULL
SET @SqlStatement = 'ALTER DATABASE ' + DB_NAME() + ' SET RECOVERY FULL'
EXEC ( @SqlStatement )
-- Make sure it has been changed back to full
SET @SqlStatement = 'SELECT [name], [recovery_model_desc] FROM ' + DB_NAME() + '.sys.databases WHERE [name] = ''' + DB_NAME() + ''''
EXEC ( @SqlStatement )
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows 7 RUNDLL32 Shortcuts

Here is a good list of RUNDLL32 shortcuts / commands that can be used in Windows 7 and Windows 2008 (most also work in Vista and Windows 2003).

Add/Remove Programs

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL appwiz.cpl,,0

Content Advisor

RunDll32.exe msrating.dll,RatingSetupUI

Control Panel

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL

Date and Time Properties

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL timedate.cpl

Device Manager

RunDll32.exe devmgr.dll DeviceManager_Execute

Folder Options – Opens to General Tab

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Options_RunDLL 0

Forgotten Password Wizard (requires removable disk)

RunDll32.exe keymgr.dll,PRShowSaveWizardExW

Hibernate

RunDll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState

Keyboard Properties

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL main.cpl @1

Lock Screen

RunDll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Mouse Properties

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL main.cpl @0

Map Network Drive

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,SHHelpShortcuts_RunDLL Connect

Network Connections

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL ncpa.cpl

Power Options

RunDll32.exe Shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL powercfg.cpl

Regional Settings

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL intl.cpl,,3

Stored Usernames and Passwords

RunDll32.exe keymgr.dll,KRShowKeyMgr

System Properties: Advanced

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL sysdm.cpl,,4

Taskbar Properties

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Options_RunDLL 1

User Accounts

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL nusrmgr.cpl

Windows Security Center (Windows 7 only)

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL wscui.cpl

Windows – About

RunDll32.exe SHELL32.DLL,ShellAboutW

Unplug/Eject Hardware

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

Windows Firewall

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL firewall.cpl

Wireless Network Setup

RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL NetSetup.cpl,@0,WNSW