Cameron's Technical Tricks

HTML Applications, VBScript, and Includes

2011-07-07T08:42:00.001-04:00

Yes, you can use includes in HTA and VBScript applications, and there are a couple of ways to do this, but you need to control the environment quite well for success.

First off someone very helpful (ebgreen) posted a function you can use to add an include here, and while I mean him or her no disrespect, the delusion of this being called a class is bothersome. It's an include, plain and simple, not a class. Of course, his routine is hardly plain and simple. What I have gleaned from various sources on the Internet, and created is this:

' VBScriptWithIncFileFunctionBase.vbs
Option Explicit
Dim fso, oFile, sText
set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
IncFile ""

sub IncFile(strFileName)
set oFile = fso.OpenTextFile(strFileName,1)
sText = oFile.ReadAll
oFile.close
ExecuteGlobal sText
end sub

Simple, but EBGreen's routine has error checking/handling. Our projects at work have employed EBGreen's function and it works well.

No matter which method you choose to employ you must pay close attention to location. If you deploy this to a system, you'll need to be specific about where that IncFile is located and either specify it explicitly, or change to that folder to have it available when you begin this process.

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

'Change to the Install Folder...
strSourceDir = "C:\ITSupport\Scripts\MyScript"
WshShell.CurrentDirectory = strSourceDir

Prefixing your first call to IncFile with a change of directory should set you up nicely to proceed with success. Alternatively, you can be explicit about the location of the file name specified:

IncFile strSourceDir & "\"

Removing Firefox (BATCH)

2010-06-02T15:59:00.002-04:00

For whatever reason, I had/have the task of removing Mozilla Firefox from our PCs in an automated way. I figured I could do it from a batch file, a .CMD file, but here's the proof:

@ECHO OFF
CLS
ECHO Checking for Firefox...
FOR /F "tokens=* skip=4 delims=" %%a in ('reg query "HKLM\Software\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox" /v CurrentVersion') do SET DATA=%%a
IF "%DATA:~31,1%"=="." goto :longVersion
SET CVersion=%DATA:~26,5%
SET FVersion=%DATA:~26,20%
goto :versionCaptured
:longVersion
SET CVersion=%DATA:~26,7%
SET FVersion=%DATA:~26,20%
:versionCaptured

FOR /F "tokens=* skip=4" %%a in ('reg query "HKLM\Software\Mozilla\Mozilla Firefox\%FVersion%\Main" /v "Install Directory"') do SET DATA=%%a
SET IFolder=%DATA:~25%
ECHO *%CVersion%*
ECHO *%FVersion%*
ECHO *%IFolder%*
IF "%CVersion%"=="3.5.9" goto :DoNotRemove
goto :RemoveFirefox

:RemoveFirefox
echo The installed version is not approved for use in our environment.
TASKKILL /F /IM firefox.exe
CALL "%IFolder%\uninstall\helper.exe" /S
goto :eof

:DoNotRemove
echo This version is approved for use in our environment.
goto :eof

We like version 3.5.9, so we keep that version, but we need to revert or upgrade any other version. This is part of a bigger process, but...

Yesterday... Working with Dates

2010-06-02T12:12:00.002-04:00

Recently we ran into an issue where we were looking into why the data wasn't being returned on the first of the month for a particular web report. What we found was simple bad math, but what I learned was that sometimes efficiencies are found in what might appear more complex.

Below you will find the method used. and the problem is the subtracting of one (1) from the day of the month (DAY(GETDATE())-1). On the first of the month, this would result in a ZERO (0) which is impossible and will not return a result. The same can be said for using this sort of math on the month when your month is January. Not a good plan.

/* ---------------------------------------------
 This is the method in use...
   --------------------------------------------- 
*/
SELECT DISTINCT [DateModified]
  FROM [ITDS].[dbo].[Tickets] a
WHERE
  YEAR(a.DateModified) = YEAR(GETDATE()) AND
  MONTH(a.DateModified) = MONTH(GETDATE()) AND
  DAY(a.DateModified) = DAY(GETDATE())-1
  ORDER BY [DateModified] Desc
GO

Another method is to use DATEDIFF() as a filter on the age (1=Yesterday). This is much heavier a load on the server and you might be better-off to avoid it.

/* ---------------------------------------------
 This method is inefficient and will impact 
 performance more with large tables
   --------------------------------------------- 
*/
SELECT DISTINCT [DateModified], DATEDIFF(dd,a.DateModified,GETDATE()) as Age
  FROM [ITDS].[dbo].[Tickets] a
WHERE
  DATEDIFF(dd,a.DateModified,GETDATE())=1
  ORDER BY [DateModified] Desc
GO

Now, this combination of methods, using YEAR(), MONTH(), and DAY(), with the proper calculation of Yesterday is the charm. By setting the variable at the beginning, before the query, it is calculated once and the values for Year, Month, and Day are a simple comparison rather than the more complex effort that goes into DATEDIFF() from our prior example.

/* ---------------------------------------------
 This is the method adopted...
   --------------------------------------------- 
*/
DECLARE @Yesterday as DateTime;
SET @Yesterday=DATEADD(dd,-1,GETDATE());

SELECT DISTINCT [DateModified]
  FROM [ITDS].[dbo].[Tickets] a
WHERE
  YEAR(a.DateModified) = YEAR(@Yesterday) AND
  MONTH(a.DateModified) = MONTH(@Yesterday) AND
  DAY(a.DateModified) = DAY(@Yesterday)
  ORDER BY [DateModified] Desc
GO

Another advantage of this method is that if you want to filter on last month's data rather than Yesterday's it's a few small changes.

/* ---------------------------------------------
 This is the method adopted... Last Month
   --------------------------------------------- 
*/
DECLARE @LastMonth as DateTime;
SET @LastMonth=DATEADD(mm,-1,GETDATE());

SELECT DISTINCT [DateModified]
  FROM [ITDS].[dbo].[Tickets] a
WHERE
  YEAR(a.DateModified) = YEAR(@LastMonth) AND
  MONTH(a.DateModified) = MONTH(@LastMonth)
  ORDER BY [DateModified] Desc
GO

The best scripters/programmers learn from their own mistakes as well as those others have made.

Addendum:
There's another way to get "yesterday" that I saw, though I still believe the preferred method might be the adopted method above, where the WHERE condition would read/include:

(a.DateModified >= DATEADD(dd,-1,GETDATE()) AND a.DateModified <= DATEADD(dd,-0,GETDATE()))

The problem I see in this methodology is that you would get the last 24-period, not "yesterday" and the wastefulness of "DATEADD(dd,-0,GETDATE())" in that it really gives you nothing more that GETDATE() anyway. The result would give you, supposing that today might be August 10th, 2010 at 11:47:01 AM, August 9th, 2010 at 11:47:01AM through August 10th, 2010 at 11:47:01 AM. In effect the results could change through the day depending upon the time you ran the query. The adopted methodology would give you an absolute definition of yesterday, or last month, eliminating the time-of-day factor, which is preferred.

Adapting to the ever changing drive letters...

2010-05-08T00:02:00.001-04:00

...by using unique volume labels.

Okay, this isn't a complete thought yet, just some ideas I've mulled over and found a solution for for myself, but feel free to adapt and play with it. The reason I came up with this is because I picked up a new toy, a pogoplug (v2) and it provides me with network attached storage of multiple USB Drives (External Hard Disks or USB Keys). That's great, and it also provides for the automated backup of files/folders on my PC to the device, so why would I want to control it any further?

Because I can. The drive letters can change from time to time, depending on the timing of this or that being able to adapt to the changing drive letter seemed like a good idea. So, I fired up Notepad++ and wrote myself a VBScript tool that can do a bunch of things, but in this instance it can locate the drive letter for the volume name and I can parse that using CScript (command-line VBScript, vs. WScript, which would run graphical). Now I first ran cscript //H:CScript to ensure that it runs like a "DOS App" but you could easily change the batch file portion of this to simply run this in cscript. The follwing is the VBScript:

Option Explicit
' Find My Drive (ListDrives.vbs)

DIM strVolume, strFound, objDictionary, objWMIService, colDisks, objDisk, strComputer
DIM flagHideList, strDrive, wshShell, wshSystemEnv, wshCurrentEnv, strSetVar
DIM i

flagHideList=false
strFound=""
strVolume=""
strComputer = "."

Set wshShell = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
Set wshCurrentEnv = wshShell.Environment( "VOLATILE" ) ' PROCESS, SYSTEM, USER and VOLATILE
Set objDictionary = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

If Wscript.Arguments.Count = 0 Then
    ' Do Proceed as Normal
Else
    For i = 0 to Wscript.Arguments.Count - 1
  If lcase(Wscript.Arguments(i)) = "/volume" Then
            if i+1 <= Wscript.Arguments.Count then
    strVolume=Wscript.Arguments(i+1)
   end if
  end if
  If lcase(Wscript.Arguments(i)) = "/setvar" Then
            if i+1 <= Wscript.Arguments.Count then
    strSetVar=Wscript.Arguments(i+1)
   end if
  end if
  If lcase(Wscript.Arguments(i)) = "/hidelist" Then
   flagHideList=true
  end if
 next
End If

Set colDisks = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_LogicalDisk")

For Each objDisk in colDisks
    objDictionary.Add objDisk.DeviceID, objDisk.VolumeName
 if NOT flagHideList then WScript.Echo objDisk.DeviceID & " " & objDisk.VolumeName
Next

For i = 67 to 90
    strDrive = Chr(i) & ":"
    If objDictionary.Exists(strDrive) Then
  if strVolume=ObjDictionary.Item(strDrive) then strFound=Chr(i) & ":"
    End If
Next
if strFound<>"" then
 WScript.Echo strVolume & "=" & strFound
 if strSetVar<>"" then
  ' Display the current value
  WScript.Echo strSetVar & "=" & wshCurrentEnv( strSetVar )
  ' Set the environment variable
  wshCurrentEnv( strSetVar ) = strFound
  WScript.Echo strSetVar & "=" & wshCurrentEnv( strSetVar )
 end if
end if
WScript.Quit 0

...and yes, this could be enhanced and/or streamlined.

So. To find a Volume name "Tom's Drive" you would type:

ListDrives.vbs /volume "Tom's Drive"

Now that's cute, but useless beyond yourself... what you can do is automate it... throw this into a batch file:

FOR /F "usebackq tokens=1,2 skip=3 delims==" %%i IN (`ListDrives.vbs /volume "Tom's Drive" /hidelist`) DO SET DL=%%j

FOR /F "usebackq tokens=1,2 skip=3 delims==" %%i IN (`cscript ListDrives.vbs /volume "Tom's Drive" /hidelist`) DO SET DL=%%j

You can now use the environment variable %DL% as the drive letter. You can use this dealing with All sorts of USB Keys, or even a memory card. There are other tricks too, but this was just an idea.

Using T-SQL to Decode a Decimal (BIGINT) IP Address

2010-04-06T13:19:00.003-04:00

A site I ran across stored an IP Address as a BIGINT decimal number, to reveal the more friendly IP Address use either of the following methods to extract the octets or the Friendly IP. These formulae will allow you to return the IP Address in a usable manner.

IPAddress	IPOCTET1	IPOCTET2	IPOCTET3	IPOCTET4	IPAddressEX
2886730061	172	16	1	77	172.16.1.77
2886730059	172	16	1	75	172.16.1.75
2886730053	172	16	1	69	172.16.1.69
2886730046	172	16	1	62	172.16.1.62
2886730047	172	16	1	63	172.16.1.63
2886730303	172	16	2	63	172.16.2.63

,[IPAddress]

You can use:

,
   CAST(
  CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)
  AS VARCHAR(3)
   ) AS IPOCTET1
   ,
   CAST(
    CAST(
   CAST(
    [IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)
    AS VARCHAR(3)) AS IPOCTET2
   ,
   CAST(
    CAST(
   CAST([IPAddress]
    -CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    -CAST(CAST([IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,2) AS INTEGER)/256 AS INTEGER)  
  AS VARCHAR(3)) AS IPOCTET3
   ,
   CAST(
  [IPAddress]-
  (CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)+
        CAST(CAST([IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,2)+
  CAST(
   CAST(
    [IPAddress]
    -CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    -CAST(CAST([IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)/256 AS BIGINT)*256)
   AS VARCHAR(3)) AS IPOCTET4

or use this to build a properly concatenated string.

,  
   CAST(
  CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)
  AS VARCHAR(3)
   ) + '.' +
   CAST(
    CAST(
   CAST(
    [IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)
    AS VARCHAR(3)) + '.' +
   CAST(
    CAST(
   CAST([IPAddress]
    -CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    -CAST(CAST([IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,2) AS INTEGER)/256 AS INTEGER)  
  AS VARCHAR(3)) + '.' +
   CAST(
  [IPAddress]-
  (CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)+
        CAST(CAST([IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,2)+
  CAST(
   CAST(
    [IPAddress]
    -CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    -CAST(CAST([IPAddress]-CAST([IPAddress]/POWER(256,3) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,3)
    AS BIGINT)/POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)*POWER(256,2) AS BIGINT)/256 AS BIGINT)*256)
   AS VARCHAR(3)) AS IPAddressEX

...and Back

To find a printer, in this example by searching for one in SQL, that IP Address might seem fairly useless looking at the numbers involved. You could calculate it yourself by taking the Octets of the IP Address and using this formula:

16777216*Octet1 + 65536*Octet2 + 256*Octet3 + Octet4

...but we like automation.

DECLARE @IPAddr varchar(16);
DECLARE @IPAddrAsDecimal BIGINT;
DECLARE @IPAddrOctet1 BIGINT;
DECLARE @IPAddrOctet2 BIGINT;
DECLARE @IPAddrOctet3 BIGINT;
DECLARE @IPAddrOctet4 BIGINT;
DECLARE @intStartPos INT;
DECLARE @intEndPoint INT

SET @IPAddr='10.176.24.138';
--SET @IPAddr='172.16.2.66';

SELECT @IPAddrOctet1=CONVERT(BIGINT, LEFT(@IPAddr,CHARINDEX('.', @IPAddr)-1));

SELECT @intStartPos=(LEN(@IPAddrOctet1)+2);
SELECT @intEndPoint=CHARINDEX('.', @IPAddr, @intStartPos);
SELECT @IPAddrOctet2=CONVERT(BIGINT, SUBSTRING(@IPAddr,@intStartPos,@intEndPoint-@intStartPos));

SELECT @intStartPos=(LEN(@IPAddrOctet1)+LEN(@IPAddrOctet2)+3);
SELECT @intEndPoint=CHARINDEX('.', @IPAddr, @intStartPos);
SELECT @IPAddrOctet3=CONVERT(BIGINT, SUBSTRING(@IPAddr,@intStartPos,@intEndPoint-@intStartPos));

SELECT @intStartPos=(LEN(@IPAddrOctet1)+LEN(@IPAddrOctet2)+LEN(@IPAddrOctet3)+4);
SELECT @intEndPoint=LEN(@IPAddr);
SELECT @IPAddrOctet4=CONVERT(BIGINT, RIGHT(@IPAddr,@intEndPoint-@intStartPos+1));

SELECT @IPAddrOctet1 as Octet1, @IPAddrOctet2 as Octet2, @IPAddrOctet3 as Octet3, @IPAddrOctet4 as Octet4

SELECT @IPAddrAsDecimal=16777216*@IPAddrOctet1 + 65536*@IPAddrOctet2 + 256*@IPAddrOctet3 + @IPAddrOctet4;

SELECT @IPAddrAsDecimal as IPAddressAsDecimal;

--/* 

SELECT [IPAddress]
      ,[PrinterName]
      ,[PModelID]
      ,[SiteID]
      ,[MAC]
      ,[Location]
      ,[Approved]
      ,[Hits]
      ,[Agent]
      ,[TouchDate]
  FROM [oad].[dbo].[PrinterList]
WHERE IPAddress = @IPAddrAsDecimal
;
--*/

Backing up 'My Pictures'

2009-08-16T15:04:00.003-04:00

I use Picasa to manage my pictures, all of them. The problem I have and a preference is that while I keep some of them on my laptop, which is backed up weekly, I'd like the bulk of them archived to my external drives.

The following is a batch file (.CMD) that will archive my files from my laptop to my "T:" drive, then back up that collection, complete to my "G:" drive. It also tries to process the Picasa Album databases, but I'm not sure this is working ideally yet. When running this batch file ensure Picasa is not running, and relax.

@echo off
CLS
SET backupDest1=T:\Archive of My Pictures
SET backupDest2=G:\Backup of My Pictures
TITLE Backup Up Picasa Album Settings...
FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3,4,5 delims=/ " %%a in ('date /T') do SET backupDate=%%c%%b%%a
PUSHD "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Picasa2Albums\"
IF NOT EXIST "%backupDest1%" MKDIR "%backupDest1%"
IF NOT EXIST "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo" MKDIR "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo"
IF NOT EXIST "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo\%backupDate%" MKDIR "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo\%backupDate%"
robocopy backup "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo\backup" *.* /XO /S /E /ETA /V /R:3 /W:3
robocopy . "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo\%backupDate%" *.* /XO /XD backup /S /E /ETA /V /R:3 /W:3
TITLE Updating Album File Locations...
FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3,4,5 delims=:" %%a in ('echo %backupDest1%') do SET myPicsUpdate=[%%a]%%b
FOR /F %%a in ('dir /b /a:d-h "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo\%backupDate%\"') do call :cmpAInfo "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo\%backupDate%\%%a"
TITLE Clearing My Pictures...
robocopy "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures" "%backupDest1%" /S /E /ETA /MOVE /R:3 /W:3
TITLE Backing up %backupDest1% to %backupDest2%...
robocopy "%backupDest1%" "%backupDest2%" /XO /S /E /ETA /V /R:3 /W:3
TITLE Update Active Albums...
robocopy "%backupDest1%\_AlbumInfo\%backupDate%" . *.* /XO /XD backup /S /E /ETA /V /R:3 /W:3
if NOT EXIST "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures" MKDIR "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures"
popd
goto :eof
pause
TITLE Command Prompt
goto :eof

:cmpAInfo
echo Processing %~1...
REM FOR /F %%a in ('dir /b "%~1"') do echo "%~1\%%a"
FOR /F %%a in ('dir /b /a:-d "%~1"') do gsar -i -o -s"$My Pictures" -r"%myPicsUpdate%" "%~1\%%a"
goto :eof

Now... you'll need to verify your date format at the command prompt, mine is DD/MM/YYYY the line that sets the backupDate may need to be tweaked. Of course the two destination variables need to be set appropriately for your own needs. Have fun... but play it safe test this for yourself first.

gsar.exe - Global Search and Replace

robocopy - Microsoft's Robocopy

Tired of loading that HP Photo and Imaging Director?

2009-07-26T09:17:00.003-04:00

You can eliminate the use of this middle-man tool by creating Desktop or Quick Launch toolbar shortcuts to the actual program easily, but it takes some research. The first step is to figure out what application is being run when you click on the functions of this HP dashboard, this is done by watching your Task Manager and watching for a new image name to appear under processes. This is most likely the executable's filename so search for the imagename (i.e. hpqkygrp.exe) to find out where this file lives.

You'll need to rename imagename.exe to something else, I'd suggest _magename.exe (_pqkygrp.exe as an example) and copy this program to the folder you found that imagename in and rename it to the original application's name.

Click on that HP Photo & Imaging Director button again, this will open a dialog with the complete command line, copy this command line and create a shortcut in either your Quick Launch toolbar, or on the desktop.

Repeat this process for each of the buttons in this launcer application. It may work for other applications too, but this was my own challenge and I figured I'd share it with you.

Remember to rename the program back to what it was called originally, and keep WinEcho.exe for the next time you need it.

PHP error_reporting Code/Cypher

2009-04-01T04:06:00.003-04:00

When developing code, a web site, in PHP it's handy to turn on some of the error_reporting functionality during debugging. To determin the correct code(s) to use try this simple Google Docs spreadsheet.

The principle is best explained in the PHP manual (available online and only a Google away), but this may help you understand what's being enabled and disabled and with the code required.

Examples (Lifted from the manual for your understanding):

 // Turn off all error reporting
error_reporting(0);

// Report simple running errors
error_reporting(E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE);

// Reporting E_NOTICE can be good too (to report uninitialized
// variables or catch variable name misspellings ...)
error_reporting(E_ERROR | E_WARNING | E_PARSE | E_NOTICE);

// Report all errors except E_NOTICE
// This is the default value set in php.ini
error_reporting(E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE);

// Report all PHP errors
error_reporting(E_ALL);

// Same as error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);

?>

PHP is one of the most powerful languages out there for web development, frankly there's not much it can't do when you add the right classes (which is like a DLL or Component on the ASP side) but the advantage is the cost... ZERO. If you want a development environment for your own personal machine, try out VirtualBox or VMWare Server and build one (Ubuntu or Ubuntu Server are great platforms, though OpenBSD, Debian, Fedora and the like are also popular and just as worthy). VMWare's VMTN has ready-to-use VMs you can simply plug in and fire up. I might pre-fab a couple of installations for VirtualBox over the next little while, no promises but if you're stuck let me know and I'll do what I can.

TiddlyWiki - a reusable non-linear personal web notebook

2008-07-03T16:06:00.000-04:00

This is NOT my technical trick, but definately worth a gander. Excellent work by Jeremy and the TiddlyWiki contributors!

TiddlyWiki - a reusable non-linear personal web notebook: "TiddlyWiki, a popular free MicroContent WikiWikiWeb created by JeremyRuston and a busy Community of independent developers. It's written in HTML, CSS and JavaScript to run on any modern browser without needing any ServerSide logic. It allows anyone to create personal SelfContained hypertext documents that can be posted to a WebServer, sent by email or kept on a USB thumb drive to make a WikiOnAStick."

Simplifying Rollouts: Server-Sensitive Code

2008-03-19T11:09:00.003-04:00

I maintain a Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP site as part of my role and keeping the sites sync and problem free between Development, Stage, and Production can be a little tricky if you've got things to worry about like outbound e-mails, scheduled jobs, and credit card clearing that you really do NOT want going awry when it hits production.

There are many method of detecting which manner of operation your various sites have, the simplest of which is a variable that states the mode in a common file. This one file can become a hazard because you need to remember not to sync that file to the production server.

I was looking for a manner by which to determine which server the code was executing on with a high-degree of reliability and this seems to work. I created the function called 'serverIPAddress()' which returns the obvious, but it's the how that is interesting. I must say, I am unsure whether this will work 100% for all of you as-is, as there many be slight differences in the output of the Linux command 'ifconfig' that need to be accounted for. In my implementation there are but two adapters, local (lo) and Ethernet (eth0), eth0 is listed first and I'm not sure this can change but I'll accept that it could. So, that said... the output of ifconfig looks like this:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:29:41:18:C4
inet addr:192.168.1.3 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20c:29ff:fe41:18c4/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:26995 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:20748 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3324252 (3.1 MiB) TX bytes:6947293 (6.6 MiB)
Interrupt:177 Base address:0x1400

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

The code to extract the 'inet addr' from this response looks like this:

function serverIpAddress(){
exec("/sbin/ifconfig",$ifconfig);
$target=explode(" ",$ifconfig[1]);
$bustoutip=explode(":",$target[5]);
$serverIP=$bustoutip[1];
return $serverIP;
}

The path for ifconfig is explicit due my use of this in a host of scheduled tasks (cron jobs) on the server. I'll be apply in this to my web site as well as the method for detection is based on 'SERVER_NAME' and a little less reliable/safe in my books.

Once I have the IP Address I can move on to making server specific code that understands what to do dependant upon the server that it is executing on. The following code takes the resulting IP Address and sets variables, etc. to ensure that code transitioned from development to stage/production can understand and behave reliably. There's nothing worse during service recovery when there are code differences, especially if the code differences are not well documented.

switch(serverIPAddress()){
case '192.168.1.3': // PRODUCTION
$enable_say = 1;
define( "DEBUG", false);
$SMTPSmartHost = "192.168.1.7"; // Kerio Server
define("K_ServerMode","P");
break;
case '192.168.1.9': // STAGE
$enable_say = 1;
define( "DEBUG", false); //DEV
$SMTPSmartHost = "192.168.1.2"; // Cameron's DEV VM
define("K_ServerMode","S");
break;
case '192.168.1.45': // DEV
default:
$enable_say = 1;
define( "DEBUG", true); //DEV
$SMTPSmartHost = "192.168.1.2"; // Cameron's DEV VM
define("K_ServerMode","D");
break;
}

FTP a file and rename it to today's date.

2007-05-16T14:03:00.000-04:00

This isn't difficult, but it can be useful. This routine will grab a file (one or more actually but be careful) and rename the received file to today's date. You could go further and exercise the %TIME% variable, but that's up to you.

getfile.cmd:

@echo off
if exist dlfilespec del /f /q dlfilespec
ftp -s:getfile.ftp -v
if exist destfilespec_%DATE:~6,4%%DATE:~3,2%%DATE:~0,2%.zip ~SPLIT~
del /f /q destfilespec_%DATE:~6,4%%DATE:~3,2%%DATE:~0,2%.zip
ren dlfilespec ~SPLIT~
destfilespec_%DATE:~6,4%%DATE:~3,2%%DATE:~0,2%.zip

getfile.ftp:

open host
username
password
binary
prompt
mget dlfilespec
ls
close
bye

Alerting when a process is a memory pig...

2007-05-04T12:54:00.000-04:00

Now this example uses putty.exe right now, but the original purpose was to alert when a jrun.exe was getting too big for it's britches. Run as a scheduled task (AT job) and customize to suit:

@echo off
for /F "usebackq tokens=1,2,3,4,5,6 delims=, " %%a IN (`tasklist /NH /FI "imagename eq putty.exe"`) do CALL :CHECKMU %%e%%f
goto :eof

:CHECKMU
SET /A MEMUSAGE=0+%~1
IF /I %MEMUSAGE% GTR 1400 echo Memory Usage Warning: %MEMUSAGE%

GOTO :eof

The echo for 'Memory Usage Warning' will only execute if the memory usage exceeds 1400 (in this example) This could be a call, note the use of subroutines in the batch file (CHECKMU). If there are many processes running the PID could be passed using other variables (%%a, %%b, etc.) but it will execute for each instance that meets the criteria.

Running into The Man in Blue

2007-01-19T09:14:00.001-05:00

I recently went hunting for information on detecting browser information using JavaScript and through no random chance, found myself reading the blog of The Man in Blue.

While the information was valuable, what impressed me, and inspires me, is the design of his portfolio site. It's clean, usable, and incredibly simple. The interface is poetically enjoyable and intuitive. I would hope no one would copy this site, that would be wrong, but instead find inspiration in his design.

Please have a look: The Man In Blue

Feeling Regular and the use of Fibre.

2006-12-13T22:56:00.000-05:00

No, I'm feeling fine, though a tad tired.

I'm finally getting around to exploring Regular Expressions (RegEx) and coming to realize the value of the beast and the simplicity of the design. I picked the brain of my friend and mentor, Brent Ashley today and he showed me the RegEx Coach and introduced me to some of the logic. I found more in my O'Reilly book, "JavaScript: The Definative Guide" (I have the 3rd edition) tonight and I can say one thing about RegEx.

LEARN IT! Come to understand it and you'll be SO far ahead of the game. It is far from being the ONLY thing you need to know, but it will make you that much better at doing things the right way.

Now, I also asked Brent to do a code an informal code-review on a little VBScript thing I was working on. Frankly, it wasn't going well because I was just a little more rusty that I enjoy being, but I asked for the review to get an idea of where I need to improve. I found out.

It's tough to hear that you're not an ace, but you NEED to hear it. Efficiency is everything in development and my design was weak. There's much more I need to learn, but his manner of showing me where I can improve was skillful and conscientious.

Slow running Linux VM on VMWare ESX?

2006-11-13T16:21:00.000-05:00

If your VMWare ESX implementation of a Linux guest OS is running slow... a stop-gap solution may be the following...

Create a script that connects to a reliable time server and retrieves the time:

#!/bin/bash
# Sync HWClock to timeserver.mynetwork.local
/bin/date
/sbin/service ntpd stop
/usr/sbin/ntpdate 192.168.0.50
/sbin/hwclock --systohc
/sbin/service ntpd start
/bin/date

Now, add two entries to crontab:

1 */1 * * * /var/scripts/scheduled/synctime >> /var/log/synctime.log
*/2 * * * * /sbin/hwclock --hctosys

You can certainly adjust the times, this is set to get the real time once an "hour" at the 1. Then sync the OS from the VM hardware clock every 2 minutes.

Sample output of synctime:

Mon Nov 13 16:01:01 EST 2006
Shutting down ntpd: [ OK ]
13 Nov 16:04:46 ntpdate[19413]: step time server 192.168.0.50 offset 223.590418 sec
ntpd: Synchronizing with time server: [FAILED]
Starting ntpd: [ OK ]
Mon Nov 13 16:04:49 EST 2006

UPDATE Query from Excel to (My)SQL Database

2006-10-09T07:36:00.001-04:00

Recently I found out about a problem going between versions of MySQL last week and I though you might enjoy the solution. You see FLOAT()'s functionality changed whereby FLOAT(4,2) once meant 0000.00 to now meaning 00.00. The problem with this is that database imported with a value of 2341.33 becomes 99.99! This could be very bad. Fortunately you can export from the old DB via Query Browser to Excel (XML) and employ VBA and ODBC to get things right, fast.

Notably this does not update all values, only values where there is data, if you were to use this routine to post to a database repeatedly I would suggest adjusting the 'If ActiveCell.Value <> "" Then' functionality to set Null values as needed.

Sub UpdateDB()
'
' 09/10/2006 by Cameron Stevens
'

Set myconn = CreateObject("adodb.connection")
Connection = "Driver={MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver}; Server=MyServer; ~SPLIT LINE~
          uid=webuser; pwd=b33rg00gl3s; database=brewery; option=3; port=3306;"
myconn.Open (Connection)
Set result = CreateObject("adodb.recordset")
Sql = "USE brewery;"
Set result = myconn.Execute(Sql)

Range("A1").Select
Selection.Offset(1, 0).Select
strUpdate = "UPDATE tblBottlePrices SET "
While ActiveCell.Value <> ""
strWHERE = " WHERE order_id='" & ActiveCell.Value & "' "
Selection.Offset(0, 4).Select
strSET = " "
If ActiveCell.Value <> "" Then strSET = strSET & "retail_price='" & ActiveCell.Value & "' "
Selection.Offset(0, 1).Select
If ActiveCell.Value <> "" Then strSET = strSET & ", discount_price='" & ActiveCell.Value & "' "
'Selection.Offset(0, 1).Select

strUQuery = strUpdate & strSET & strWHERE

Set result = myconn.Execute(strUQuery)

'MsgBox strUQuery
Selection.End(xlToLeft).Select
Selection.Offset(1, 0).Select
Wend
myconn.Close
Set result = Nothing
Set myconn = Nothing

End Sub

Accessing or Deleting an Inaccessible File/Folder

2006-10-09T07:11:00.002-04:00

While the rights may be adjusted using CACLS or the like, there are occationally files hat prove inpenitrable. It seems that the pleasantries of Long File Names can occationally curse us if that LFN gets corrupted. You can do what you want to delete the folder but it won't budge. But... there's a trick... go to a command prompt and perform a DIR /X on the folder containing this file or folder. The /X switch shows you the 8.3 or short names for these files, rename the problematic file using the short name and all is well (i.e. REN ALLDEA~2 XXX).

While this isn't the only way into a file that's inaccessible, it may be the last resort with a file that's got a corrupt filename.

3D Text Screen Saver

2006-10-09T07:11:00.001-04:00

At one time the 3D text Screen Saver had some cool tricks that depended upon your choice of words. If you typed in 'Beer', 'Volcano', or 'rock' you had a selection of things come up in the screen saver that meant something to the developers. Windows 2000 threw this Easter Egg out, but left a treasure behind. If you're using Windows2000 you have the opportunity to inflict your personality on this screen saver. To get your own selection of words appearing you need to do the following:

Open Regedit and search for the string HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Screen Saver.3DText
Create a new String Value called Magic
Enter a value for it which will be the name of the file you want to use (e.g. c:\winnt\magic.txt)
Create the file (c:\winnt\magic.txt) using notepad. The format is as follows:
-Test
blah
deedum
hello
n00b

Important - The first word must be preceded by a hyphen as this is used to designate a group of words. It is this word that you must enter into the 3D Text screensaver 'textbox'. When you run the screensaver you will get a random showing af all the words under the hyphened word in the text file. You can add more sections to the text file (again give each section a hyphened keyword to use in the screen saver dialogue box).

Safe Data: Backup and Recovery

2006-10-09T07:10:00.000-04:00

It is critical to ensure data integrity in todays business world. Loss of data can set you back days or weeks and may put you in hot water with more than your boss or client. There are a few methods and means by which to safeguard your data and help you sleep at night. After deciding what sort of media you will use a backup schedule is the key to a good night's sleep.

Please have a look at this White Paper from Sun Microsystems and call me if you have any questions or concerns.

Finding a PC on the network

2006-10-09T07:09:00.000-04:00

If you have several hundred PCs in a domain and need to quickly find just one there's a quick trick to finding them. This is especially true if your org uses a odd naming conventions for the ComputerName. At a command prompt type 'net view | find /i "userid"'. The userid is an example. If you want to explore this one further look up the details of the command FIND. You can also redirect the output and open it in NotePad for simplicity. and copy & paste functionality.

Internet Explorer opens Zip file as web page or undisplayed graphic.

2006-10-09T07:08:00.000-04:00

It seems that a Zip Plug-In or MIME-type handler of zip files may have stopped functioning. The best way to reset this is to uninstall or install, then uninstall such a tool.

The symptoms are such that unless you right-click on a link and Save As, clicking on a zip file just opens another, somewhat blank, web page.

You may install the PKWare plug-in and, if don't really want to use it, remove it afterwards. If you do want it, please support the author by purchasing the full license.

Web Development Confinement to Screen Resolution Restrictions

2006-10-09T07:06:00.000-04:00

When you build a web site your goal is to make it easy to read for your target audience. The layout is important and the content's readability from a font and presentation perspective and how the text reads. The target audience may have a specific preference as to browser, screen resolution, or age/reading level. Just as a newspaper must cater to it's target audience so must you in developing your web site.

One tool I have found useful is a wallpaper template. I normally run at a high resolution (1600x1200) and remembering how things look to the common user (1024x768 these days, though it was once 800x600) is sometimes tough. This template helps keep your perspective. Simply re-size your browser to fit within the size you're targetting. If you're running Windows XP or (gasp) Windows 98 you could configure a second display to the appropriate resolution, but that's a different challenge. Windows 2000 doesn't actually have this capability, but it's my OS of choice.

Note: you may want to leave a little space at the bottom of the area for the task bar.

For the Corporate Help Desk

2006-05-09T07:18:00.000-04:00

There is a basic presumption with these tools that your helpdesk/deskside people have Administrative rights to the desktop PCs. While some people are paranoid about this, with virus threats a real concern Administrative rights and remote control are essential. There should be policy regarding when and why the PC is accessed, especially for remote control.

One more consideration, though it may not be the way things are now, is that your systems should be built in a consistant manner. Different technical types do things different ways, that doesn't mean the way things are currently done are wrong, there are many good ways of doing things. Some techs prefer one large disk, others prefer a partitioned hard disk. There are arguments for both. The key is that throughout your organisation there's minimal varation.

These tools are formulated for one scheme where that hard disk is partitioned into 4 pieces. For a 40 Gb Drive it's likely C: 10Gb, D: 10Gb, E: 15Gb, and Y: 5Gb is the scheme though some variation in size may occur. At one time our systems were a single partition, the user's files trampled the space for OS files and caused excessive down-time. We're currently re-sizing systems due to a change in our application suite to ensure they are allocated enough space on C:. While this is time consuming it is necessary at this time based on choices beyond our control.

Our recent roll-out of systems has lessened the blow but the remaining systems need re-partitioning. While we are currently licensed for Symantec Ghost, we have decided to purchase licenses for Partition Magic to complete these systems efficiently. Re-Partitioning can be done using Ghost, with an added degree of safety, by backing up the system, then restoring it with the adjusted partition sizes.

Please note that long lines have been split. Look for ~SPLIT LINE~ to re-join these lines.

Checking Symantec Antivirus Defs Remotely

NOTE: X:\ISTOOLS is an accessible storage location for tools (duh). RMTSHARE.EXE is part of the Resource Kits for NT4/2000.

chkDefs.cmd
@echo off
color 1F
SET KILLSHARE=0
SET target=%1

if "%target%"=="/?" GOTO HELP
if "%target%"=="" SET /P target=Update which System?
if "%target%"=="" goto help
IF EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO DOIT
X:\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE \\%TARGET%\C$=C:\ | FIND /I "command failed"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO FAILED

SET KILLSHARE=1
IF EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO DOIT

:DOIT
:VIEW
START NOTEPAD "\\%TARGET%\c$\Program Files\  ~SPLIT LINE~
            Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs\DEFINFO.DAT.
goto end

:HELP
CLS
color 4F
echo   **************************************************************************
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   * chkDefs.cmd - Retrieves a remote systems Virus Defs Info.              *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   **************************************************************************
echo   * Usage:                                                                 *
echo   *   chkDefs [computername]                                               *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *                                               8:42 AM 7/21/2004        *
echo   **************************************************************************
pause
goto end
:FAILED
echo Could not create Remote Connection to %TARGET%
goto end

:NOTFOUND
echo Could not find system %TARGET%
goto end

:end
ATTRIB +R \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS.
IF %KILLSHARE% EQU 1 X:\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE \\%TARGET%\C$ /d
color

Internet Explorer Pop-Up Windows/Links are blank
Occationally something goes wrong in Internet Explorer that ensures every pop-up window is blank. To fix this the simple answer is to run 'regsvr32 /s urlmon.dll' and all is well. For simplicity this CMD file corrects the problem while not exposing some of the tech of the solution.

fixBlankPopUp.cmd
@echo off
color 1F
echo Expeiencing Blank Pop-Ups in Internet Explorer?
echo Close your browser and all Internet Explorer windows.
echo you're done come back here and...
pause
regsvr32 /S urlmon.dll
echo Done. Thank-you.
pause

Changing the HOSTS file to protect those surfing users...
The following will install a more restrictive HOSTS. file to protect or simply restrict a user's browsability. You may need to formulate or find some HOSTS files to accomodate your needs but the tools will work with any file you create. I have included a "Big Brother" option (HOSTS.BB) to use on those people who enjoy wasting company time.

setHOSTS.CMD
@echo off
color 1F
SET KILLSHARE=0
SET target=%1

if "%target%"=="/?" GOTO HELP
if "%target%"=="" SET /P target=Update which System?
if "%target%"=="" goto help
IF EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO DOIT
X:\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE \\%TARGET%\C$=C:\ | FIND /I "command failed"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO FAILED

SET KILLSHARE=1
IF EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO DOIT

:DOIT
IF NOT EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO NOTFOUND
IF "%2"==".BB" GOTO BROTHER
IF "%2"==".O" GOTO ORIGINAL
IF "%2"==".V" GOTO VIEW
IF "%2"==".bB" GOTO BROTHER
IF "%2"==".Bb" GOTO BROTHER
IF "%2"==".bb" GOTO BROTHER
IF "%2"==".b" GOTO BEAGLE
IF "%2"==".B" GOTO BEAGLE
IF "%2"==".o" GOTO ORIGINAL
IF "%2"==".v" GOTO VIEW

ATTRIB -R \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS.
XCOPY X:\ISTOOLS\HOSTS.TXT \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS. /Y
goto end
:BROTHER
ATTRIB -R \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS.
XCOPY X:\ISTOOLS\HOSTS_BB.TXT \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS. /Y
goto end
:BEAGLE
ATTRIB -R \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS.
XCOPY X:\ISTOOLS\HOSTS_B.TXT \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS. /Y
goto end
:ORIGINAL
ATTRIB -R \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS.
XCOPY X:\ISTOOLS\HOSTS_O.TXT \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS. /Y
goto end
:VIEW
START NOTEPAD \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS.
goto end

:HELP
CLS
color 4F
echo   **************************************************************************
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   * setHOSTS.CMD is used to update or reset a HOSTS. file on a TCI system. *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   **************************************************************************
echo   * Usage:                                                                 *
echo   *   setHOSTS {computername] [switch]                                     *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *   Default Action: place "safe" hosts file on system to protect         *
echo   *                   against hijackers and adware websites.               *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *   Switches:                                                            *
echo   *     .O - Original HOSTS. file                                          *
echo   *     .V - View user's Host file                                         *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *                                               10:10 AM 6/24/2004       *
echo   **************************************************************************
pause
goto end
:FAILED
echo Could not create Remote Connection to %TARGET%
goto end

:NOTFOUND
echo Could not find system %TARGET%
goto end

:end
ATTRIB +R \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS.
IF %KILLSHARE% EQU 1 X:\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE \\%TARGET%\C$ /d
color
pause

Wallpaper and ScreenSaver Enforcement
Ensuring the company is protected and that the corporate look and feel is consistent is critical. Not every company cares but those that do will like this. This can be enforced remotely using this tool, the added benefit is that it re-enforces itself once installed.

While I have customized this for each type of machine, your preference may be to customize by department. The whole system consists of two batch files, a menu file, plus the support files, which are stored in the support folder and dependant upon options. The screensaver I use was created using IrfanView 3.85, the perfect tool for simple graphic manipulation. The .ICO is an extra. I haven't decided what to do with that yet.

setCorp.CMD - FIRST FILE

@echo off
color 1F
SET KILLSHARE=0
SET target=%1

if "%target%"=="/?" GOTO HELP
if "%target%"=="" SET /P target=Update which System?
if "%target%"=="" goto help
if "%target%"=="." SET TARGET=%COMPUTERNAME%

IF EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO DOIT
\\tcint1\apps\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE \\%TARGET%\C$=C:\ | FIND /I "command failed"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO FAILED

SET KILLSHARE=1
IF EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO DOIT

:DOIT
IF NOT EXIST \\%TARGET%\C$\*.* GOTO NOTFOUND
SET RESP=%2
IF "%RESP%"=="" GOTO NOSWITCH
echo Configuring %TARGET% as %RESP%:
GOTO PICK%RESP%
goto NOSWITCH

:NOSWITCH
if not exist \\tcint1\apps\ISTOOLS\setCorpChoices.txt goto Default
CLS
echo Updating System: %TARGET%
type \\tcint1\apps\ISTOOLS\setCorpChoices.txt
CHOICE /C:123456789Q Selection:

IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 1 SET RESP=Default
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 2 SET RESP=T41
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 3 SET RESP=T30
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 4 SET RESP=T23
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 5 SET RESP=T21
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 6 SET RESP=S50
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 7 SET RESP=M42
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 8 SET RESP=M41
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 9 SET RESP=M200
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 10 SET RESP=
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 11 SET RESP=
CLS
IF NOT "%RESP%"=="" echo Configuring for %RESP%:
GOTO PICK%RESP%

:Pick
CLS
echo No Selection, cancelled.
pause
goto end

:PickDefault
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=CORPSTD.BMP
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickT41
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\WPT41_*.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=WPT41_1600.BMP 2
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickT30
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\TCI_T30*.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=TCI_T30_1400.BMP 2
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickT23
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\TCI_T23*.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=TCI_T23_1280.BMP 2
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickT21
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\TCI_T21*.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=TCI_T21_1024.BMP 2
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickS50
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\TCI_S50*.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=TCI_S50_1600.BMP 2
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickM42
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\TCI_M42*.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=TCI_M42_1400.BMP 2
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickM41
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=CORPSTD.BMP
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:PickM200
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\TCI_M200*.BMP ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
SET BITMAP=TCI_M200_SPECIAL.BMP
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.CMD ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.SCR ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT\SYSTEM32 /I /Y /Q
XCOPY X:\istools\setCorpsrc\CORPSTD.ICO ~SPLIT LINE~
             \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
goto COMPLETE

:COMPLETE
XCOPY X:\istools\REG.EXE \\%TARGET%\c$\WINNT /I /Y /Q
reg ADD \\%TARGET%\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run ~SPLIT LINE~
            /V setCorp /t REG_SZ /d "C:\WINNT\CORPSTD.CMD %BITMAP%" /f
reg QUERY \\%TARGET%\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /V setCorp
color 4F
echo   **************************************************************************
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   * DONE: WALLPAPER AND BITMAPS WILL BE REPLACED ON NEXT REBOOT            *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *                                               9:05 AM 7/27/2004        *
echo   **************************************************************************
goto end

:HELP
CLS
color 4F
echo   **************************************************************************
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   * setCorp.CMD is used to send a Virus Fix to a user's system             *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   **************************************************************************
echo   * Usage:                                                                 *
echo   *   setCorp switch [computername]                                        *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *   Switches:                                                            *
echo   *     d - Default Toyota Wallpaper/Screensaver                           *
echo   *                                                                        *
echo   *                                               9:07 AM 7/27/2004        *
echo   **************************************************************************
pause
goto end
:FAILED
echo Could not create Remote Connection to %TARGET%
goto end

:NOTFOUND
echo Could not find system %TARGET%
goto end

:end
IF %KILLSHARE% EQU 1 X:\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE \\%TARGET%\C$ /d
color
pause

CORPSTD.CMD
@ECHO OFF
SET WPStyle=%2
IF "%WPSTYLE%"=="" SET WPStyle=0
SET BITMAP=%~1
IF "%BITMAP%"=="" then SET BITMAP="CORPSTD.BMP"
ECHO Resetting to TCI Standards...
ECHO Resetting Wallpaper...
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V WallpaperStyle /T REG_SZ /D %WPSTYLE% /F
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V Wallpaper /T REG_SZ /D "C:\WINNT\%BITMAP%" /F
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V TileWallpaper /T REG_SZ /D 0 /F
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Colors" ~SPLIT LINE~
           /V Background /T REG_SZ /D "0 0 0" /F
ECHO Resetting ScreenSaver...
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" /V SCRNSAVE.EXE ~SPLIT LINE~
         /T REG_SZ /D "C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CORPSTD.SCR" /F
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V ScreenSaveActive /T REG_SZ /D 1 /F
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V ScreenSaverIsSecure /T REG_SZ /D 1 /F
REG ADD "HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V ScreenSaveTimeOut /T REG_SZ /D 600 /F
ECHO Resetting Wallpaper...
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V WallpaperStyle /T REG_SZ /D %WPSTYLE% /F
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V Wallpaper /T REG_SZ /D "C:\WINNT\%BITMAP%" /F
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V TileWallpaper /T REG_SZ /D 0 /F
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Colors" ~SPLIT LINE~
           /V Background /T REG_SZ /D "0 0 0" /F
ECHO Resetting ScreenSaver...
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V SCRNSAVE.EXE /T REG_SZ /D "C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CORPSTD.SCR" /F
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V ScreenSaveActive /T REG_SZ /D 1 /F
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V ScreenSaverIsSecure /T REG_SZ /D 1 /F
REG ADD "HKU\.Default\Control Panel\Desktop" ~SPLIT LINE~
          /V ScreenSaveTimeOut /T REG_SZ /D 60 /F
ECHO DONE.

setCorpChoices.txt


Please Select a Bitmap Collection to distribute:
================================================

  1 - Default/Generic Corporate Suite

  2 - T41 Laptop
  3 - T30 Laptop
  4 - T23 Laptop
  5 - T21 Laptop

  6 - S50 Desktop
  7 - M42 Desktop
  8 - M41 Desktop

  9 - M200 Toshiba Portege

  Q - Quit/Abort

Can't get into PCAnywhere after re-boot.

2006-01-01T07:09:00.000-05:00

If you're luck enough to be the Administrator on the remote PC and running Windows2000 locally (and Windows NT or better remotely) do the following:

Right-click on 'My Computer', select Manage
From the Action menu, select 'Connect to another computer...'
Enter the name of the PC you need to control. Press OK.
From the 'Services and Applications' tree, select Services.
From the right-pane, select the pcAnywhere service.
Right-click on the service and select 'Start'
Close 'Computer Management' and attempt connection through pcAnywhere.

Note: If you need to do this from a command prompt (or you have WindowsNT) you may also use netsvc.exe from the Windows NT Resource Kit.

Create a folder based on today's date.

2006-01-01T03:58:00.000-05:00

Though this can be applied in many ways, the WindowsNT/2000 Command Prompt has some powerful differences over the old MS-DOS Batch Language. the FOR command is just one difference. The delimiters specified and the order of the variables (%a, %b, %c) will depend on your localized settings. By default the following should create a folder called '20031129' (based on November 29th, 2003).

FOR /F "tokens=2,3,4 delims=/ " %a in ('date /t') do mkdir %c%a%b

This could be applied to a daily backup procedure using PKZIP from a command-line.

Killing off a Virus attached to explorer.exe (i.e. NovArg.m) Windows 2000/XP

2005-10-10T07:04:00.000-04:00

Because this nasty virus configures itself to launch when explorer loads, preying on the extensibility of the interface, it can be tricky to quickly remove the virus one it has settled in. I found that in a Corporate/Help Desk scenario, utilization of the remote administration functions can resolve this quickly.

have the user log off the system to the CTRL-ALT-DELETE screen
connect to the system remotely, if necessary using the UNC path \\[computername]\C$\WINNT\SYSTEM32
locate shimgapi.dll, delete it
locate taskmon.exe, delete it
have the user log back in
using regedit locally or remotely (slower) search the affected system for registry keys relating to taskmon.exe, and shimgapi.dll

This logic can be applied to many situations, but this was our recent fix. Your first defense is ensuring your virus definitions are up-to-date though user-education is often just as valuable. For more information research the virus at the Symantec or McAfee web sites. Symantec now has a removal tool. You might want to use this as it is more thorough.

Search and Destroy

2005-10-09T07:21:00.000-04:00

The risks to the corporate network by the use of MSN Messenger and similar programs is a minefield in your own network. Using SMS can often detect it and while SMS does an excellent job of detection, if it's not an option, there are other means of detection and destruction using a couple of slighly complex batch files. The following files will find and destroy MSN, though it can be adapted to any file in theory.

I use a couple of PSTools (www.sysinternals.com) to kill it and replace it though detection is enough with strong backing from management. The process is designed to capture a listing of users. This file will NOT work if the install directory is in a non-standard location though I go through some effort to find it in a few places. There's a few things you can do to find it through detection using PSList but this is only if it's running, PSInfo might work too. I did not use these tools for detection in this application.

DOALLPCS.cmd: This batch file will locate most if not all PCs on the network, it's presumed you would have administrative rights on these PCs. It accepts two parameters, the first of which is the batch file to run, the second is passed to the natch file is specified. In this application the batch file specified is the next CMD file, FindMSN. Note the ~SPLIT LINE~ tags... the next line is supposed to be part of this line.

@echo off
echo %TIME%: Start
for /F "skip=1 tokens=1 delims=\ " %%a in ('NET VIEW') ~SPLIT LINE~
  do START "Checking %%a using %1..." /MIN %1 %%a BATCH %~2
echo %TIME%: End - %1
:end

FindMSN.CMD: This is the worker in this process. It's big and I'll try to document this in a helpful manner.

@echo off
SET KILLSHARE=NO
SET TARGET=%~1
ECHO %TARGET%...

REG QUERY \\%TARGET%\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSNMessenger ~SPLIT LINE~
  /V InstallationDirectory
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 1 GOTO NOTPRESENT

REG QUERY \\%TARGET%\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSNMessenger ~SPLIT LINE~
  /V InstallationDirectory|FIND /I "C:"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO ONC

REG QUERY \\%TARGET%\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSNMessenger ~SPLIT LINE~
  /V InstallationDirectory|FIND /I "D:"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO OND

REG QUERY \\%TARGET%\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSNMessenger ~SPLIT LINE~
  /V InstallationDirectory|FIND /I "E:"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO ONE
pause
GOTO END

:ONC
echo C Drive
SET LOCATION=\\%TARGET%\C$
ECHO %LOCATION%
IF EXIST %LOCATION%\*.* GOTO DOIT
\\tcint1\apps\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE %LOCATION%=C:\ | ~SPLIT LINE~
  FIND /I "command failed"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO FAILED
SET KILLSHARE=YES
GOTO DOIT

:OND
echo D Drive
SET LOCATION=%TARGET%\D$
IF EXIST %LOCATION%\*.* GOTO DOIT
\\tcint1\apps\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE %LOCATION%=D:\ | ~SPLIT LINE~
  FIND /I "command failed"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO FAILED
SET KILLSHARE=YES
GOTO DOIT

:ONE
echo E Drive
SET LOCATION=%TARGET%\E$
IF EXIST %LOCATION%\*.* GOTO DOIT
\\tcint1\apps\ISTOOLS\RMTSHARE %LOCATION%=E:\ | ~SPLIT LINE~
  FIND /I "command failed"
IF %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 GOTO FAILED
SET KILLSHARE=YES
GOTO DOIT

:DOIT
ECHO Check Typical Locations...
IF EXIST "%LOCATION%\Program Files\MSN Messenger\*.*" GOTO Found
IF EXIST "%LOCATION%\MSN Messenger\*.*" GOTO Found
echo Not Found
goto end

:Found
echo Found...
IF NOT exist "FoundMSN" MKDIR "FoundMSN"
echo %1 %DATE% %TIME% >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
REG QUERY \\%TARGET%\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSNMessenger ~SPLIT LINE~
  /V InstallationDirectory >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
echo %LOCATION% >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
dir "%LOCATION%\Program Files\MSN Messenger\*.*" >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
dir "%LOCATION%\MSN Messenger\*.*" >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
pslist \\%TARGET% |FIND /i "msnmsgr" >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
IF %errorlevel% EQU 0 pskill \\%TARGET% msnmsgr

:NOTRUNNING
IF NOT EXIST "%LOCATION%\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" GOTO ALT1
dir "%LOCATION%\Program Files\MSN Messenger\*.*" >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
Xcopy F:\msnmsgr.exe "%LOCATION%\Program Files\MSN Messenger" /Y /I
goto wrapup

:ALT1
IF NOT EXIST "%LOCATION%\MSN Messenger\*.*" GOTO HIDDEN
dir "%LOCATION%\MSN Messenger\*.*" >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
Xcopy F:\msnmsgr.exe "%LOCATION%\MSN Messenger" /Y /I
goto wrapup

:HIDDEN
echo Search for EXEcutable... >> FoundMSN\%1.txt
goto wrapup

:WRAPUP
if not exist "\\%TARGET%\e$\My Received Files\msnmsgr.exe" goto end
IF NOT EXIST FoundMSN\%1_MRF MKDIR FoundMSN\MRFList
REM start /min x:\istools\robocopy "\\%TARGET%\e$\My Received Files" ~SPLIT LINE~
  FoundMSN\%1_MRF *.* /E /XO /V /ETA
DIR "\\%TARGET%\e$\My Received Files\*.*" >> FoundMSN\MRFList\%1_MRF.TXT
IF "%2"=="NOTIFY" call notify %1 "MSN Messenger"
IF "%3"=="NOTIFY" call notify %1 "MSN Messenger"
goto end

:FAILED
echo Cannot connect to %TARGET%. Aborted.

:end
:NOTPRESENT
IF "%KILLSHARE%"=="YES" RMTSHARE %LOCATION% /d
echo done
IF "%2"=="BATCH" exit

BTW: I don't think this is necessarily the BEST way to do this, it's one way. You may notice I spawn this into many VMs and this can take it's toll but I only need to watch 500-700 PCs. There are ideas you can take from this to do good or evil, please do good. Oh... There's one more batch file I didn't mention... NOTIFY.CMD. This is a wrapped NET SEND to the machine that's been examined. It tells them they're on the list of people that are about to have a very bad day.

This tool is designed to ENSURE that all systems that had received the Microsoft Patches via SMS have been rebooted and/or reported. It uses the DOALLPCS.CMD or DOALLPCS1.CMD which are in Trick 4.

@echo off
SET TARGET=%~1
SET SEARCHID=MSEMF  1 
ECHO Checking Target: %TARGET%...

IF /I "%TARGET%"=="%COMPUTERNAME%" echo Cannot Reboot Self...&goto end  2 

PING -n 1 %target%|find /i "Reply from"  3 
if %errorlevel% EQU 0 goto :checkver
goto END

:checkver  4 
For /F "skip=1  tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%a in ('psinfo \\%TARGET%') do ~SPLIT LINE~
  call :SetVars "%%a" "%%b"
IF "%NU_Product type%"=="Server" goto end
IF "%NU_Product type%"=="Professional" goto COI
goto end

:COI  5 
ECHO %TARGET%: %NU_Uptime%>> F:\UPTIME.TXT
SET /A X12=%NU_Uptime:~0,2%
REM IF %X12%  EQU 0 echo Not Required...&goto end
:: ---------------------------------------------------
:: PAYLOAD
:: ---------------------------------------------------

:DETECT FILE - END  6 
 IF NOT EXIST "\\%TARGET%\C$\Program Files\Common Files\~SPLIT LINE~
  Microsoft Shared\Grphflt\MS.EMF" GOTO END
 IF NOT EXIST 20051108\*.* MKDIR 20051108
 ECHO Found
 ECHO FOUND MS.EMF AT %DATE% %TIME% >> 20051108\%TARGET%_%SEARCHID%.LOG
:DETECT FILE - END

:: REBOOT CODE  7 
 goto NOREBOOT
 echo g:\istools\shutdown -m \\%target% -t 30 -r -f
 g:\istools\shutdown -m \\%target% -t 300 -r -f
 ECHO %TARGET%: To Be Rebooted! (%NU_Product type%)>> F:\UPTIME.TXT
:: REBOOT CODE
:NOREBOOT

:: ---------------------------------------------------
:: PAYLOAD  8 
:: ---------------------------------------------------

goto end

:SetVars   9 
SET VAR=%~1
SET VALUE=%~2
REM echo **NU_%W1%**
:TRIMLEAD
IF "%VALUE%"=="" SET VAR=&GOTO :eof
IF "%VALUE:~0,1%"==" " SET VALUE=%VALUE:~1%&goto TrimLead
ECHO %VAR%=%VALUE%
SET NU_%VAR%=%VALUE%
goto :eof

:end
:NOTPRESENT
echo done
color
IF /I "%BATCHMODE%"=="ON" exit  10


1	Set this to a difference code so it's easy to find the files.
2	Don't reboot the computer you're running this on.
3	Check to be sure the target is available.
4	Check to be sure you're not targetting a server (or are if you wanna get fired). Calling SetVars ( 9 ) captures the variables you'll need.
5	This first checks to see if the system has been rebooted recently, if it has, no need to interfere again.
6	This is the file you're checking for, this may be more complex than looking at the existence of a file, but the test can go here. If you haven't created a place to save the logs the folder is created (20051108) and the date and time is logged to a file. This is a manner of validation for the process.
7	While there are a couple of versions of SHUTDOWN.EXE, please make sure your versions parameters are correct. If not time, embarrassement is saved when you test thoroughly.
8	This may be additional actions. I haven't used this, but you can deliver files or registry settings here if required.
9	This is the procedure to capture various settings on your target system. The output of PSINFO.EXE (from sysinternals.com) is processed into environment variables. It also Trims Leading characters to ensure the data is relatively clean.
10	This is a catch all that allows the code to exist if it's shelled from another batch file.

COMMAND Scripted Tools for Network Administration

2005-01-09T07:16:00.000-05:00

This is a very long post, sorry.

The following are tools useful in performing Security or Administrative functions, they consist of Windows2000 or WindowsNT Resource Kit tools wrapped into CMD (batch) files. Please use all due care when connecting to remote systems to minimize impact and risks. You must acquire the Resource Kits on your own.

CMD: Finding a PC on the network.

This uses the NET command to find a machine matching criteria. If you're looking for Bob Jackson's computer (JACKSONB01) you might type 'FINDSYS jack' to return a list. If you do not include a parameter, it will prompt for the partial.

FINDSYS.CMD
@echo off
SET userid=%1
if "%userid%" == "" SET /P userid=Please enter the users ID or partial:
net view | find /I "%userid%" > %temp%\finduser.txt
start notepad %temp%\finduser.txt

CMD: Creating an User's Network Drive (F:)

This tool was created because the administrative function of creating an F Drive takes time best spent doing other things. The user must already exist, but after the creation of the user, this process takes only seconds and can be given to anyone with authority to resolve problems or oversights.

CREATEF.CMD
@echo off
IF "%1" == "" GOTO SYNTAX
IF "%2" == "" GOTO SYNTAX
showgrps tcidmnnt\%1 | FIND /i "Invalid User Specified"
if errorlevel == 1 goto userfound
goto nouser
:userfound
mkdir \\servername\f$\users\%1
cacls \\servername\f$\users\%1 /E  /G %1:F
rmtshare   \\servername\%1=f:\users\%1
  /GRANT everyone:"Full  Control"
  /REMARK:"by %username% on V#:%2"
DATE /T >> "\\servername\userdata\support\FDRIVE.LOG"
TIME /T >> "\\servername\userdata\support\FDRIVE.LOG"
echo Create F: Drive: %2 %1 >> "\\servername\userdata\support\FDRIVE.LOG"
echo Done.
showacls \\servername\f$\users\%1
goto end
:SYNTAX
echo Please use syntax: createf.cmd userid ticket#
goto end
:nouser
echo ERROR: User (%1) not found.
goto end
:end
pause

This tool can be used from the Start.Run or command-line and will create the F drive for a new user. You may need to wait a 1/2 hour for the server to know who the new user is after creation. The Syntax is 'CREATEF userid 00000' where 00000 is the Help Desk Ticket number. This requires Domain Admin or equivelant rights on the server and access to the following NT/NT Resource Kit tools: cacls.exe, rmtshare.exe, showgrps.exe

CMD: Make Remote Shares

Occationally I need to access a system that does not have the default shares (C$, D$, etc.). To make the connection process simple MKSHARES.CMD will establish the shares temporarily (until next re-boot). The syntax is 'MKSHARES computername'. Some machines do not have a D:, E, or Y: drive but the drives that do exist are created.

MKSHARES.CMD
@echo off
rmtshare \\%1\c$=c:\
rmtshare \\%1\d$=d:\
rmtshare \\%1\e$=e:\
rmtshare \\%1\y$=y:\

F Drive Clean Up Tool.

This is a tool designed to let you find those old and unused folders of users long gone. It checks the 'Domain Users' membership and reports the folders that don't exist as accounts.

KLEENUP.CMD
@echo off
Title F Drive Kleen-Up
echo Querying Domain...
echo Folders without Users > fldrlist.txt
showmbrs   tcidmnnt\domain  users  |  ~SPLIT LINE~
FIND  /V  "$"  |  SORT  /O  %TEMP%
\DOMAINU.TXT
echo Checking F Drives...
dir \\servername\f$\users /a:d /b > %TEMP%\usrfldrs.txt
echo Analyzing...
for /f %%u in (%TEMP%\usrfldrs.txt) do call chk4usr %%u
cls
start notepad fldrlist.txt
start \\servername\f$\users

CHK4USR.CMD
@echo off
type %TEMP%\DOMAINU.TXT| FIND /I "%1"
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO NOTFOUND
GOTO END
:NOTFOUND
echo %1 (Extra Folder)
echo %1 >> fldrlist.txt
GOTO END
:END

CMD: Checking a Remote Computer for Welchia Virus

This is more for Virus Hunting. When checking a remote machine that has been acting like a host to the Welchia virus, this tool will help determine the virus' presence in a non-invasive manner. Once the presence has been determined the removal can proceed through remote control and or manual removal. There is a need for the NT Resource Kit tool, rmtshare.exe to allow this to work. Please ensure this is in the SystemRoot folder. The tags 'found1' and 'found2' represent different strains of Welchia, the latest hitting mid-February.

CHK4WELCHIA.CMD
@echo off
rmtshare %1\welchia$=c:\winnt\system32
if exist %1\welchia$\wins\*.* goto found1
if exist %1\welchia$\drivers\svchost.exe goto found1
goto end
:found1
dir %1\welchia$\wins\*.*
pause
goto end
:found2
dir %1\welchia$\drivers\svchost.exe
pause
:end
rmtshare %1\welchia$ /d

Syntax:
CHK4WELCHIA \\computername

Try this Command line:

for /F "skip=1" %a in ('net view') do call CHK4WELCHIA %a

This should search through every machione on your network (that's visible with NET VIEW) and test for Welchia. An Alternate and more raw test would be the following:

for /F "skip=1" %a in ('net view') do IF EXIST ~SPLIT LINE~
%a\c$\winnt\system32\drivers\svchost.exe echo %a >> E:\targets.txt

This logs the hunt to a file. Any infected PC is noted and your staff can hunt these systems down and clean them up. The best protection is a up-to-date antivirus tools.

Duplicating Rights by Group from one user to another

This is essential to my job as there are moves on a regular basis as rights don't move with people.

  @echo off
REM SYNTAX: mirror DONOR RECIPIENT
FOR /F "tokens=2,3,4 delims=/ " %%a in ('echo %DATE%') do SET DSTAMP
=%%c-%%a-%%b
echo Preserving Original Group List for %2...
showgrps DOMAINNAME\%2 > E:\ID_%2_ORIG_%DSTAMP%.TXT
echo Obtaining Mirror List from %1...
showgrps DOMAINNAME\%1 > E:\ID_%2_MIRROR_%1_%DSTAMP%.TXT
echo Clearing Current groups for %2...
for /F "skip=1 tokens=1,2 delims=\" %%s in ('type E:
\ID_%2_ORIG_%DSTAMP%.TXT') do (IF "%%s" == "  DOMAINNAME" ~SPLIT LINE~
echo Removing %2
from "%%t" & net group "%%t" %2 /DELETE /DOMAIN )
echo Mirroring %1 groups for %2...
for /F "skip=1 tokens=1,2 delims=\" %%s in ('type E:
\ID_%2_MIRROR_%1_%DSTAMP%.TXT') do (IF "%%s" == "  DOMAINNAME" ~SPLIT LINE~
echo Adding %2
to "%%t" & net group "%%t" %2 /ADD /DOMAIN )

CMD: Connecting to the first available drive letter

Sometimes you NEED to use a drive, can't use a UNC path, must be a drive. So... Here's a tick that might help.

@echo off
CLS
color 2F
echo Initiating SMS Manual Installation...
SET DRIVE=
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims= " %%x in ('net use * \\SERVERNAME\sharename') do IF
NOT "%%x"=="error" IF NOT "%%x"=="command" IF NOT "%%x"=="network" echo
CONNECTED as %%x&SET DRIVE=%%x
ECHO %DRIVE%
REM DO what you want here...
NET USE %DRIVE% /D /Y

CMD: Opening a weekly report on a single click - UPDATED!!!!

The purpose of this batch file is to look for the last status report (Last-Week/This-Week/Next-Week Report or LTN) and open it. The functionality of the batch file counts on your date format being English(United States) but this is easily changed to suit your needs. The process is simple and not perfect but somewhat logical. The file system doesn't really care about the date so we disect it into parts and assign these to the variables YEAR, MONTH, DAY. If the file isn't dated with today's date then we subtract 1 from day and try again. If the day reaches 1 then we set the day to 32, subtract 1 from the month, subtracting 1 from the day again as a matter of logic puts us at 31 and try again. Even if the month has 28 days, this will still work. The COUNTER variable ensures this doesn't go on forever, I figure 10 is enough as a week is 7 days and the most offset from a month-end (31 vs 28) is 3 days.

When I first wrote this I found it didn't subtract properly... the simple answer is don't mess of the math with cosmetics. seperate the calculations from adding the leading zeros and all works fine.

This thing was created because I hate having to look for the file and the filename changes every week. Ya... real lazy. I connect it to an icon and can open my target file in a single click. That I like!

OpenLTN.CMD
@echo off
SET DOCPATH=F:\Reports\Weekly
for /f "tokens=2,3,4,5 delims=/ " %%a in ('date /t') do ~SPLIT LINE~
SET MONTH=%%a&SET DAY=%%b&SET YEAR=%%c
SET COUNTER=0
IF "%DAY%" EQU "08" SET DAY=8
IF "%MONTH%" EQU "08" SET MONTH=8
echo *%MONTH%*
pause
SET /A DDAY=%DAY%+3
SET /A MONTH=%MONTH%
echo %YEAR%-%MONTH%-%DDAY%
SET /A DDAY=%DDAY% + 1
ECHO %DDAY%
ECHO %MONTH%
echo Begin Search...
:START
SET /A MONTH=%MONTH%+0
SET /A DDAY=%DDAY%+0
IF %DDAY% EQU 1  SET DDAY=32
IF %DDAY% EQU 32 SET /A MONTH = %MONTH% - 1
IF %DDAY% GTR 0  SET /A DDAY=%DDAY%-1
SET /A DDAY=%DDAY% * 1

SET D=%DDAY%
IF %DDAY% LSS 10 SET D=0%DDAY%

SET M=%MONTH%
IF %MONTH% LSS 10 SET M=0%MONTH%

SET /A COUNTER=%COUNTER%+1
IF %COUNTER% EQU 60 GOTO NOTFOUND

echo Checking Date: %YEAR%-%MONTH%-%DDAY% (%YEAR%-%M%-%D%)
if exist "%DOCPATH%\%YEAR%_%M%_%D%.doc" start winword "%DOCPATH%\%YEAR%_%M%_%D%.doc"
if exist "%DOCPATH%\%YEAR%_%M%_%D%.doc" goto end

Goto START

:notfound
echo Can't find the blasted file... sorry.
pause

:end