Pre-shared Key Recovery - PIX/ASA

This document assumes that you have already configured the security appliance with VPN configurations and provided pre-shared key as the authentication parameter.

The information in this document is based on the Cisco PIX 500 Series Firewall with software version 7.x and later.

The Problem is Once a pre-shared key is configured, it is encrypted, and you cannot see it in the running configuration. It is displayed as *******.

No HyperTerminal to Configure Cisco Routers Connected Via a Local COM Port in Vista & Server 2008

Recently I had to connect routers / vpn devices via a local com port to upgrade BIOS and other configurations. They have Windows vista on all desktops and my Laptop has no serial port. So I decided to use old good HyperTerminal. I thought HyperTerminal is still under the Programs > Accessories > Communications menu. I failed to locate hypertrm.exe. From Microsoft support website:

HyperTerminal is no longer part of Windows. There are several options you can use to replace its functionality. If you previously used HyperTerminal to control serial devices, you can usually find a downloadable version of HyperTerminal on the Internet that is free for personal use.

Sending Automated Job Email Notifications in SQL Server 2000 with SMTP

When you have automated backup jobs running on your database server, sometimes you forget that they are even running. Then you forget to check to see if they are running successfully, and don’t realize until your database crashes and you can’t restore it since you don’t have a current backup.
That’s where email notifications come in, so you can see the job status every morning when you are sipping your coffee and pretending you are working.
SQL Server provides a built-in method of sending emails, but unfortunately it requires you to have Outlook and a profile installed on the server, which isn’t necessarily the ideal way to send an email. Thankfully there is another method, that involves installing a stored procedure on your server that will allow you to send email via SMTP.

How To Disable Internet Explorer First Run Welcome Screen Pop Up

One of the things that makes me run and pull my (remaining) hair out is the mind-nagging "Welcome to Internet Explorer" page that pops out  after you install Internet Explorer 8 or 9 and launch it for the first time. I could live with that, however someone with a sick sense of humor in the IE team has made up his or her mind to constantly keep nagging us even when you reset the IE settings, and obviously when you log in as a different user. This welcome screen appears and asks you to go through a few steps, with the final goal to change the search and accelerator settings of IE.

Excel 2003 Slow Opening From Network Share

Recently a user was having issues opening excel files , were by a 600kb file could take around 20 seconds to open. When you copied this file locally to the computer it opened it straight away , and other computers accessing the file had no problem. What I did notice was when you opened the file , the network usage would spike to 7mb/s for the entire time while only retrieving a 600kb file. Opening .pdf / .doc files around double or triple the size would open instantly A bit of research online only proved the fault/fix with a Windows 7 setup accessing office 2003 documents http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982860 I tried the “Under the registry entry, disable these two registry keys: Right-click Enablesecuritysignature, and then click Modify. Type 0 in the Value data box and then click OK. Right-click Requiresecuritysignature, and then click Modify. Type 0 in the Value data box and then click OK.” However no success , my setup however was Windows XP and Office 2003. After much searching the fix was actually pretty recent from Microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2570623 “reduces performance due to the network traffic when reading in the parts of the workbook” So upgrade to 2007/2010 or disable OFV! 

Cleanup Winsxs after Windows 7 SP1 install - Huge Winsxs folder

I recently noticed that the free space on the 60GB OS partiton on my laptop was running very low on space. Some of this was due to old offline files which I managed to cleanup fine.

I then ran Tree Size on the OS partition and found that the winsxs folder was 10.2GB.

After a bit of research I managed to use the command below and reduced the winsxs by 4GB 

DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /SpSuperseded