Mini: Virus Aftermath Clean-Up (File Type Associations)

For Win 7 computers I found another resource for fixing file type associations in case a virus breaks them. If you are having this problem, what happens is you click on a link, but instead of opening the program the "Open file-type with what program" box pops up. You can trick it into opening the program you want by choosing it from the menu, but it is far from optimal. Solution? Well one is this. There is a post on SevenForums.com(which I am not very familiar with) which gives you a page of registry file downloads that will repair your default file type associations for Windows 7. I just downloaded the .exe and .lnk files, added them, and voila! Like a charm. Hope that helps!

Less on the Tech Side - Restoring a Whiteboard

While I did spend most of  my day attached to a computer or sitting in class, at the end I got a little surprise gift. I call it a surprise because it wasn't supposed to be a gift. What I received was a 2'x3' white-board with marker on it that wouldn't come off (except by scratching directly). Well, I know I'm not the first one to have this issue, so off to google I went. And I came up with this.
I had:

• An Ehow article describing how to clean a white-board, 
• a rag, 
• bottle of alcohol, 
• Kaboom
• about 15 minutes
• a bottle of Orange Glo
• not a bottle of multi-surface pledge  and
• not shaving cream

First off I tried the isopropyl and the rag, and most of the marker came off. Where different colors of marker were used, there were light smears of color creating a colored backdrop. Not what I was going for. Next I tried Kaboom! the bath/tub/tile cleaner on it. I simply sprayed it on and quickly cleaned it off. This removed even more, but yet still not all. Next up I tried shaving cream, since it is just soap, not realizing that the 2 products before it were significantly stronger than it. Nothing happened except making my hands smell like Colgate with Aloe. I figured that it wasn't getting any cleaner, so I moved on. I dried it off (which took a little bit more off) and moved on to the pledge. The article recommends pledge, and I didn't have any of the original, so I sprayed the multi-surface pledge on the board, let it set, and wiped it clean. Nothing came off, and the board had a dry feeling to it. Since I know that pledge is a wood cleaner with oils for the wood, and that my teachers called white-boards grease-boards (not sure if they were right to do so, but that is neither here nor there) I decided to try the Orange Glo, which is a fancier(in my opinion) wood cleaner. Mine was the 2 in 1 type in case you would like to replicate my findings. Anyhow, I sprayed it on liberally, let it sit a few minutes, and rubbed it in with a paper towel. As I rubbed it in, the board began to turn white and the last of the marker began to come off, although with some effort. I rubbed it dry, and gave it a test drive. Perfect -- no stray marks or splotches of color. #win

Day's Roundup: E17 Debian Squeeze Stable

Fought tooth and nail for the last few days to get Enlightenment 17 installed, and finally won. Here are a few solutions that I used and needed, but the most useful one is here.

Gist:
Ok, here are the steps I followed. If I missed any details, please let me know so I can update this. Oh, and for the sake of this example, we'll use Debian Squeeze.
1) Install e17

a) Download easy_e17.sh from http://omicron.homeip.net/projects/#easy_e17.sh b) Install all the required packages as root or sudo:     apt-get install subversion autoconf automake1.9 autotools-dev autoconf-archive gettext libtool libfreetype6-dev libjpeg62-dev libpng12-dev libtiff4-dev libungif4-dev libbz2-dev libltdl3-dev pkg-config libxine-dev build-essential flex bison byacc libxcursor-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libtag1-dev sqlite libxml2-dev libsqlite3-dev libxslt1.1 libxslt1-dev giblib1 giblib-dev libtool libtagc0-dev libmpd1 libmpd-dev libxcomposite-dev libxcomposite1 libxdamage-dev libxdamage1 libxkbfile-dev libxkbfile1 libxkbfile-dev libxkbfile1 libdbus-1-dev libtheora-dev libpopt-dev libglib2.0-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxrandr-dev libasound2-dev libxinerama-dev cvs automake libgstreamer0.10-dev menu menu-xdg xdg-utils liblua5.1-0-dev dbus-x11 libiptcdata-dev libexif-dev libpam-dev mesa-common-dev libudev-dev x-window-system slim c) As root or sudo, run: bash easy_e17.sh -i (to install e17) d) Follow the instructions at the end of the script's output e) Set the path (the following steps are as the regular user): export PATH=\"$install_path/bin:\$PATH\" f) Create /home/me/.xsession with 'exec /opt/e17/bin/enlightenment_start' (w/o quotes) g) Create the symbolic link: ln -s ~/.xsession ~/.xinitrc  To start e17, do: startx

 A few things to mention, my e17_src folder kept on popping up in the root directory, so I went to the script and replaced $HOME with /home. Worked like a charm. Additionally I had to reconfigure my DM to recognize Enlightenment, and install xcb and a few other files I think. Have fun!

How to configure SLiM for Linux
Gist:
To configure SLiM to load a particular environment, edit your ~/.xinitrc to load your desktop environment:

#!/bin/sh

#
# ~/.xinitrc
#
# Executed by startx (run your window manager from here)
#

exec [session-command]

SLiM reads the local ~/.xinitrc configuration and then launches the desktop according to what is in that file. If you do not have a ~/.xinitrc file, you can use the skeleton file by:

$ cp /etc/skel/.xinitrc ~

Remember to make .xinitrc executable:

 chmod +x ~/.xinitrc

Replace [session-command] with the appropriate session command. Some examples of different desktop start commands:

exec awesome
exec dwm
exec startfluxbox
exec fvwm2
exec gnome-session
exec openbox-session
exec startkde
exec startlxde
exec startxfce4
exec enlightenment_start
exec ck-launch-session $ONE_OF_THE_ABOVE

To get automount to work it might be necessary to use something like e.g.:

exec ck-launch-session dbus-launch startxfce4

How to fix “X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.”

Gist:

In linux, by default root user is allowed to run X server in most cases. So you don’t face this issue while running “startx” as root user.
Basically the Xorg X server needs to be configured to to authorize this user. Where should we configure this?

/etc/X11/Xwrapper.config – This file has as setting called “allowed_users”. It can accept three values:

1. root

2. anybody

3. console

The above values are self explanatory. You can edit this value to set as anybody for normal user to start X server. If normal user starts X server from console, console can also be set. It can be like this.

allowed_users=anybody

In Debian and its derivatives like Ubuntu, you can run the following command to do it in user friendly screen as shown below.

# dpkg-reconfigure x11-common

How do you modify a user's home directory in Unix/Linux?

Gist:

1. Login as a user with sudo privileges.
2. Enter this command:

sudo nano /etc/passwd

3. Nano text editor opens up. Locate the username you would like to change the home directory of (the last added user is in the end), and just enter whatever directory you would like. For example, the home directory for the user jack is set to /home/jack in this file:

QuickFix

Error: visudo: sudoers.tmp is unchanged

Fix: my VISUAL element was wrongly configured and contained an invalid argument. Simply did "export VISUAL="leafpad" " and all was well

Unlock a Restricted PDF

So, for a very legitimate reason I had a locked PDF that I wanted to unlock. I didn't want to stick it to the man or free the world, I just wanted to copy and paste from this file. So a quick google search found a small myriad of the same program for sale across different websites. PDFUnlocker I think it was. Anyhow, here is the free way I found to do this. Here I found an online utility that will do it for free if A) your file is less than 5Mb (which you can split it into multiple files if needed) and B) you don't mind sending someone else your PDF file. Hope this helps!

http://www.pdfunlock.com/

Not the prettiest site, but it works as far as I can tell.

SMS Backup on the RIZR Z3

Now it may come as a shock to some people, but there are a few of us who prefer to backup old conversations. I can think of a few reasons to do so, which could be explained better here. Anyhow, one of my most intense issues as far as computers go have always been with transferring data, and usually from there from a mobile device to a desktop/laptop. It isn't because it is impossible, but in fact because the software quality is so low. It makes sense, in a business kind of way. If a new phone comes out every year, and the data ports use new and upgraded protocols for faster speeds and more docking capabilities, then new software will need to be written every year to translate the data to something usable. If new software must come out every year, more money can be made by writing new software for each device and not supporting the software from the old device. Therefore, the current device based software is terrible.

But beyond that, there are still choices out there for dumb phone backup. From what I have read, it seems that you cannot use P2K(the protocol) software to backup SMS, MMS, or phonebook contacts, and, at least in the motorola world, the only way to skin this cat is via AT mode. What is is? I'm not sure. Have I heard of it? Yes. Thats all. So what tools are open for this?

P2K Tools VS seems to have the functionality for this job, and can pull the contacts off like a champ. SMS on the other hand, not so much. It seems that it can handle downloading messages, just not very many. My RIZR can hold roughly 525 messages before it gets full, and the most I have successfully pulled off with P2K tools is roughly 100. This I did by deleting messages until it would no longer time out and crash the program and/or phone.

Motorola Phone Tools obviously has the ability to do this job, just it does it very badly. The interface is nice and clean compared to most of the basement apps that get written for this kind of thing, but MPT is unstable, heavy, and has most of the same issues that P2K Tools does, except for when it crashes, it crashes much harder. Additionally, after looking through my old logs, I found that MPT didn't actually download all the messages, it would cut off the last X messages and display no error or notification. Angering. But lo, what is that? The shining light on the horizon? Written in (Russian?)?

After scouring forums, searching for links, and fighting bad programming, I came upon Moto SMS Manager. Life.Saver. Pretty much, this is the only program I have tried that seems to work even most of the time. It seems like its been abandoned and forgotten, but it still works. I found this site here with a screenshot and download link (a .rar) to this program. If you decide to use this, you will realize quickly that A) it is in a foreign language (which can be changed by the third menu from the right) and B) if you run multiple instances (which has happened every time I have re-found it) it will throw some nasty looking memory exception error. But it works.

To get it to work, you change the language, restart the program, click the connect button, and then read. It will then pull all of the texts from your phone in very little time(for me, around 5 seconds). You then will want to hit "Save All". When you go to save it, you will probably want to change the template as the labels are in a foreign langage. Mine were "From/to" "Date" "Index" and "Message". Currently, the application doesn't seem to differentiate between sent and received messages, so the "From/to" seems to apply. I uploaded my to google docs (and did not let it convert it) and all was fine.

http://www.e398mod.com/content/view/334/28/

Enjoy!

Fun with Viri!

First of all, I do know that the plural of virus is not viri, but that really is the fault of Merriam-Webster not me. As we know America doesn't actually have a regulatory agency to standardize the language like many other countries do, so in all fairness I am doing my part to advance the evolution of the English language.

Back to the viri, I was given the opportunity to treat an XP computer that "was running really slow." If no one has told you already, allow me to inform you that diagnostically that means absolutely nothing. Nothing. Once I started up the computer and logged in, I realized the problem almost immediately. The computer booted slower than the hardware should have (roughly 10min for a 2.8ghz Pentium 4 with 1gb of RAM) and never fully loaded some windows components. The layers of command prompts were just the icing on the cake for my diagnosis.

 Viruses.

The computer was running too slowly to remove the viruses normally due to the rampant amount of programs running at the same time, not to mention the fact that all of the security and restore recourses had been disabled by at least one of the viruses on the computer.

rundll32.exe not found

Services disabled

(To fix the rundll32 error, look at my last post with the same title.)

So there I was with very few options, where could I turn? Well, I turned to linux. In this case I used the linux based Avira Rescue System which essentially scans and removes all viruses it finds.

All that is necessary to use it is to
1)Download the CD image
2)Use a burning program(like ImgBurn)
3)Set your BIOS to boot to the CD drive
4)Plug it in and let it run

In my case I let it run for roughly 12 hours unsupervised (I am fairly sure it didn't need nearly that much time) and returned to it to find that it had removed 72000 instances of viruses. Most of them were copies of a trojan that had copied itself nearly everywhere, but there were probably over 15 separate infections.

Once the scanner finished, I rebooted the computer, removed the CD, and let it try for Windows once more. Faster this time, but some of the infections had not been caught by the linux scanner and all of the security that was disabled was just that, disabled. How did I know? More command prompt popups. So first things first, I uninstalled McAfee Security Center (which had not been updated in quite awhile) and installed Microsoft Security Essentials. Why Essentials? It is free and not too heavy. I ran a scan with MSE and found another 90 or so infections and was able to remove them. Rebooted. Most of the 90 stayed gone, but more still remained.

I ran msconfig from the run dialog.

And found under the startup tab somewhere around 1000 unintelligible entries with file paths that directed to the "C\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp\" folder (which is a common hideout/infection point for viruses).

The computer almost crashed from removing all of the entries at once, but it came back, just barely. I then ran Piraform CCleaner to delete the temporary files and hopefully get rid of this last set. I scanned with MSE after the clean and it reported with no detections. Sadly, I trusted that little green checkmark loitering on the screen.

After a reboot, all looked fine and good. After scanning through for a moment, the foreboding command prompts reappeared. In case you don't know, whenever those command prompts appear, it means that in the background some program is running code, likely undoing work one has just completed. 

I was done with this. I restarted the computer in safe-mode (which worked well at this point) and both installed Malwarebytes and ran a quick scan. 26 more threats (including trojans, viruses, and adware) were detected and quarantined. Happy with myself, I rebooted the computer and ran a full scan. 36 more threats removed.

Now to fix the damage caused. During the infection process, the entire control panel had been consecutively unlinked from the programs that the icons represented and disabled administratively. Thanks to google I found Re-Enable which did exactly what I needed it to. Between Re-Enable, CCleaner(for deleting all of those pesky startup entries) and Malwarebytes everything was back to normal. Just to be sure, I copied the I386 folder to the C:\ drive and ran "sfc /scannow" which made sure that no other system files had been corrupted or deleted. Once that was done, I could move on to the next and final pass-through.

After that I simply ran Windows Update, updated, scanned one more time, and deemed this machine clean!

One computer down, 10000 botnets to go.

The Good, the Bad, and the Capacitors

Clint Eastwood and I have been good friends for a long time now. But by friends I just mean I decide to like his movies despite their critical response. Especially anything made before he started looking over 50, which doesn't cover too much of his acting career honestly. Anyhow, recently I have been working on a few computers to fix them up. The first would be my uncle's.

Abit NF-M2S V 1.0

His computer, once fought with, decided that it no longer wanted to boot past the windows loading screen. My uncle was having one issue or another, reached safe mode, attempted a system restore which then rendered the computer unbootable -- even to safe-mode. An attempt to repair with a windows disk resulted in consistent BSOD's with the error of UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME going into windows and another about INITIALIZATION when trying to get into the windows setup area. After eliminating the video card, hard drive, dvd drive, and power supply, I decided the motherboard was at fault.
I probably could have jumped to that had I been more confident in my analysis of the motherboard in the first place, but skipping steps is always a bad idea in computer troubleshooting. Anyhow, look closely at that picture again. Yes, the close up on the capacitors.

Bulging Caps beside the CPU

Discolored Cap by the PCI Express Slot

Notice the nice little bulge on the tops of some, and the fun discoloration on one of the others? That was our problem. Dead caps == bad data between the CPU and the hard drive. Bad data == corrupted date == no boot. With a new motherboard from Newegg.com (represent.) most of our issues were resolved.

New Motherboard Installed

A chkdsk run on the hard drive inside another working computer brought it back to booting, and after installing the motherboard driver, life returned!

Rundll32.exe not found!!??

Pretty much just how it sounds. I was working on a computer that had been infested with viri and the entire control panel was kaput. Every time I tried to open up a system app(cmd.exe, msconfig, help and support) I would get the "rundll32.exe not found" error. After fighting and fighting, I found a solution. It seems this is a registry issue, so I followed the instructions here to

Simply follow the bellow step... ur problem will be solved
Try it.Click Start, Run. Type command and press Enter. Type notepad and press Enter.Notepad opens. Copy all the text below into Notepad.
Code: Select allWindows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]@="\"%1\" %*"


Save this as fix.reg to your Desktop (remember to select Save as file type: All files in Notepad.)Double Click fix.reg and click YES for confirm.Reboot your computer. 

Worked like a charm.