Sc@-tt3r-ed Thoughts

Ok, so … ready for the link of the day ? http://www.hamachi.cc/.
You ask what is this. well… the details are on the website, but in a few words, it a simple to setup VPN solution for LAN to LAN. Coupled with some remote administration software (i.e. VNC, or Remote Admin), you can get access to your network without having to open specific ports and still stay within a safe secure tunnel.

It does involve a middleware hamachi server, but my understanding is that there is a version of the server available for Linux for download with the source. (I might be wrong about that… don’t take my word on it).

In any case, I have not tried it yet, but if anyone has personal experience with it, please post your comments here. I’m interested to know what kinds of problems you’ve seen with the products and how you’ve fixed it…

Update:
I just installed Hamachi on my computer, and all I have to say is WOW. I expected it to be simple, but not that simple. it works like magic. I’ve always been scared of setting up real VPN, because I never quite understood it. but Hamachi was a snap to setup, it setup a virtual network adapter with my unique IP, and I was on. all I had to do was know the name of the network I want to join, and know the password to that network, and voila! now, I can just do a \\ip.address\share .. or \\ip.address\c$ if I have the full admin access to the box, and I have full access to the files. I imagine, that the IP would work for any type of access. i.e connect to the network via Hamachi, then use this IP to connect via remote admin or whatnot. no need to open any ports or anything. now that sounds like a sweet deal. If you’re wanting to have access to your stuff from work or vice versa, this is a great way to go.

One of the downsides that I’ve seen with running the client on windows is that I can’t run the client as a service, so when I log off your machine, the client shuts down, and the VPN connection is broken. Still looking into this to see if there’s a way around it.

It seems like lately, I’ve been writing all thse articles and references about password rescuing, and/or bootdisks. I guess I’ve always been attracted to well written tools that can help in a disaster recovery situation.

Well, today, I have a site whose URL might seem simple, but I thought I’d put it here anyway… it’s http://www.bootdisk.com. It’s very simple, and unattractive with its design, and most of it doesn’t even have much original content, but it does have a great compilation of links that most people would love to have when have problems with any of their operating systems, from DOS, to Linux to Windows 95, to XP… Check it out.

Ever get a machine from a customer to fix it, and you turn it on, only to find yourself stuck on the login screen with nowhere to go? I have, many times, and I’ve had to either call the customer to get the password, or use KNOPPIX to extractthe data. If you’re a consultant, you know how frustrating that is. of course, ideally, you would have the customer change the password in the first place before giving you their busted machine, but remembering to ask for that doesn’t seem to always be the case.

Well, I looked around online to try to find some tools to be able to reset the Windows Administrator password, and I found some products that are mostly payware that allow you to reset passwords. so then I went and looked some more. (yup, gotta love Google). and I found this article at http://petri.co.il. It has some links to to some free tools that allow you to create a bootable floppy that will allow the changing of passwords for the local admin accounts. some of them even allow for the editing of the registery as well. I haven’t tried any of them yet. I will report back when I do. but I have a feeling that at least one of them will work pretty well, and will someday proove useful.

If anyone has used any of these tools on this sites, please let us know what works and what doesn’t.

Cheers!

As I was looking around today for some information about how to find a solution for forwarding address to an external email, I found this site http://www.msd2d.com.

Unfortunately, you have to actually have an account to be able to see anything on it. however, the good news is that it’s all free. there are a lot of useful tips and references there. For most people this is gibbly gunk. .. but for those of us who have an interest in Exchange, SQL or Sharepoint in any way, this might be a good site to visit.