Category: Windows

So did your OEM vista didn’t come with Vista install media?  Never fear, you can obtain media for free from these sources.

Some claim that if you use your OEM license (say sticker off the bottom of your laptop with Vista Ult 32bit) to do an install, it might not accept, but its worth trying.  The main benefit will be to do a repair install, something you can’t do when you only have OEM image CD’s.

There are whispers that if you have Vista Ultimate 32bit license, you can install 64bit version with the same key but on retail media, not if you have OEM license.

References:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/08/windows-vista-free-direct-download-link/

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/12/22/64-bit-x64-windows-vista-official-direct-download-links/

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/10/how-to-make-vista-bootable-dvd-with-wim-downloaded-files/

Commonly forgotten Windows DOS prompt shortcuts

Key	What it Does
F1	Fills in the letter from last command you entered, one letter at a time.  Useful for fixing a typo on a command you just entered.  For example, if I enter cd "My Docements" which wont work, I can then press F1 10 times (or hold it down) to get cd "My Doc then press the u to correct the typo.  Then hold F1 to get the remaining characters of the last command.  cd "My Documents"
F2	Prompts the user for a letter and fills in the last command up to the letter you entered.  This saves  you holding down the F1 key to get to the dodgy letter. Using the last example again, if I press F2 then press e, the line buffer is filled to cd "My Doc.  You can then enter u and then press F2 followed by " to get to the rest of the entry.  cd "My Documents"
F3	Fill last command from current cursor position to the end of the line. So taking from the previous example, after you enter u, you can press the F3 key to fill in the remainder of the line.
F4	Delete forwards up to a specified character.  With the cursor positioned at the beginning of the line cd "My Documents", pressing F4 then u, will delete up the first few characters, leaving you with a line uments"
F5	Go back through history. Equivalent to the up arrow
F6	????  CTRL+Z
F7	Display the command history, use the cursor keys to navigate and hit enter to reuse the relevant command.
F8	Go back in history
F9	Re-issue a previous command.  Prompts for the command number (from the list that appears when you press F7)

 

References (and some other tips)

http://www.labnol.org/software/tutorials/useful-keyboard-shortcuts-for-the-dos-command-prompt-in-windows/2629/

Ok, so mklink is now my favourite Vista command line tool.  Well not really, but I’m glad Vista comes with a tool out of the box that allows you to create symlinks.  This includes hard links (links to other things on the same partition), soft links or junctions to anywhere and symbolic links (reparse points) that do the same job but in a different fassion.

References:

http://wesnerm.blogs.com/net_undocumented/2006/10/symbolic_links_.html

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/22/create-symbolic-links-hard-links-and-directory-junctions-in-vista-with-mklink/

http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/joshs_blog/archive/2006/09/28/Windows-Vista-Junction-Points.aspx

http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/jpoints.htm

This is also available via the DopodAsia.com website but if you aren’t that lucky, you can get the install files from here

Batch files – Redirection

Quick reference for NT

2&>1

Today I noticed on my desktop PC that I had a virus.

It put a file called TEL.XLS.EXE on the root drive of each partition. ie C:TEL.XLS.EXE, E:TEL.XLS.EXE

When I went to delete the file, it kept coming back so some quick googling found these links about it.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/730930.html
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/trojvbcwp.html
http://fileinfo.prevx.com/fileinfo.asp?PXC=669749228023

Basically it copies itself to the root directory and creates an AUTORUN.INI file so that each time you put a USB stick into an infected PC, it copies itself across, and then when that plugs the USB into another computer, self executes and copies itself to that machine.

The file is a hidden file, (so you have to go to control panel->folder options and select the radio button for Show Hidden Files and Folders), and its icon is made to look like a Microsoft Excel file.

The thing also changes a registry value so that if you go to the Folder Options Control Panel, you can’t see the Show All Hidden files option to see the thing. I only noticed it because I don’t use the Do Not show hidden files and folders option.

Ok, so the links have a rundown of how to get rid of it, here is my preferred way.

Get the program Process Explorer.  It is like Task Manager but gives you a bit better info.  It comes as a zip file with a single exe you can start to start the application.Start it up, look for svchost.exe.  There will be a few of them, but this one is noticeable because it has an icon that makes it look like an Excel file.  Double click on it.  The programs path will be C:WINDOWSSVCHOST.EXE.  Note that if its a proper windows file and not the virus, its icon wont be an excel file and it will have the path C:WINDOWSSystem32SVCHOST.EXE
 

My Toshiba comes with a CD, its R E S T O R e

My Toshiba has another CD, its R E S T O R
How to Create a Bootable Windows XP Setup CD/DVD from a Pre-loaded/Preinstalled Windows System howtohaven.com

and

http://www.5starsupport.com/tutorial/xp-recovery-cd.htm

For those whose manufacturers aren’t nice.