System Admin Tools: April 2009

Top Web Hosting Provider

You have been reading me blogging since past few months, and you must have read my post about moving from blogger to wordpress and the difficulties anyone would face. This was just about what you may need to take care of technically and on SEO front to set up a wordpress blog but if you are just starting from scratch, do you know there are few more difficulties in the line? Yes, I am talking about the one which I faced while setting up my own hosted websites and blogs.

I am sure you are not aware of the difficulties anyone would face, if it’s your first time setting a wordpress blog or simply forget about blog, difficulties in setting up your own hosted website. The difficulty is to choose the web hosting service! I will tell you the reason why it’s difficult; once you enter into the market of web hosting services, everyone looks cool, everyone offers millions of free domain names, a billion data bandwidth and trillion bytes of disk space. Won’t it be obvious for any new webmaster to get lost in it.

That’s where the reviews are born in this web world. You need to have a friendly website which will give you honest web hosting reviews and make sure you are getting the best deal and all freebies along with your hosting packages. For example, check this out - Free domain forever, Host unlimited domains, $50 Yahoo search marketing credit, 300 GB Disk space, 3 TB traffic for $6.95 per month - Sounds like a great deal, isn’t it? Yes, to me too. It’s just that I will take a step forward and read the independent review about this hosting service and see what experience other webmasters had with their great service. And yes, it certainly helped me to read these 10 independent reviews of the web hosting and make my decision in like 2 minutes.

I wish I could have known about http://webhostingrating.com before, and probably would have saved myself from lot of headache of selecting a web hosting that suits my needs and budget. As they claim, they have this list of 10 top web hosting services that are cheap professional web hosting services under $10 a month; all hosting plans include at least one free domain name registration and 30 day money back guarantee in their own words. I have used PowWeb and Yahoo in the past, and I shall go and add my reviews there as well so that rest of you will be benefited.

Everyone likes to get a second opinion. People and companies in need of web hosting services are no exception. If you find yourself in such a position where you need to find a source for web hosting, then you might take a look at WebHostgrating.com. Read on.

WebHostingRating.com has lists of web site hosting services to choose from, and they provide detailed information about each hosting company they mention. Some of the details they cover include whether a host supports any particular content management systems (CMS) such as web hosting, Wordpress hosting, or web hosting. They also mention whether or not a service provider has backup services, multiple domain support, Frontpage extensions, Windows or Linux servers, secure data connections, SSL (secure socket layer) certificates, and SQL database support. If you’re in the market for a web host then you may already be familiar with some of these terms.

Some categories are under supported. I found their 2009 lists for top Resellers, Windows, and Managed Web hosting to be empty at this time, but their 2008 lists had a few mentions in each category. There was no explanation for this, so I couldn’t tell if it was an editorial decision, or if there was a lack of guest input for 2009.

Another oddity on the site was the case of user reviews. Supposedly users of the various services could leave their own reviews and comments regarding the various hosting services. Each reviewer has a link attached to their name, but, strangely, on the few occassions I clicked on a hyper-linked name I found they only returned to the WebHostgrating.com home page.

I also found out that the address for WebHostgrating.com. (To find this out I went to Google.com and searched for “whois webhostgrating.com”. You can try this on any web address to find out who is the registered owner of the address.) Dmitry also owns the domain for WebHostingGeeks.com which I reviewed in an earlier post. WebHostingGeeks provides a similar service. I don’t know if Dmitry is the designer or manager of either of these sites. Regardless, I found the WebHostingGeeks.com site had more articles and more focused user reviews, but WebHostingRating.com had more detailed information about the companies thereby saving you a click or two per company listing.

Managing local group policy on Windows Server 2008 Core Edition

In Windows Server 2008 Core Edition, you can manage the group policy remotely through a MMC snap-in. To configure this, you’ll need to go through a few hoops. First, get a MMC snap-in pointed to the Windows Server 2008 Core Edition server. For a default configuration, you’ll need to configure Windows firewall to allow this traffic. This command will stop Windows firewall:

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off

When the Group Policy configurations are finished, run this command to turn firewall back on:

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state on

From a remote system, run MMC.exe, add the Group Policy Object, and point it to a remote system. Figure A shows a remote system being pointed by TCP/IP address.

Figure A

Click image to enlarge.

Once saved, the local console can interact with the remote group policy configuration of the core server. This can work in conjunction with a domain-based Group Policy configuration if applicable. Be sure not to overlap, as the domain configuration will override a local configuration by re-application. Permissions need to be in place for this to work correctly. This can include using domain-based credentials or passing administrative credentials manually with the ‘net use’ command.

The snap-in can be saved for future use, making it easier to access the core server’s local Group Policy easier. Figure B shows the snap-in being saved for the core server.

Figure B

Click image to enlarge.

Remember to turn the Windows firewall on if you turned it off. Now you’re finished!

It would be best to keep MMCs for the local Group Policy configuration of Windows core servers by computer name or IP address and store centrally for other administrators to access if required. This can save setup time for frequent access.

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Webhostinggeeks to the rescue. With their easy to follow ranking and rating site, its a breeze to see how all these hosting companies fare. Here's how it works: the hosting companies are displayed on a table each with its ranking, the features you get, costs, bonus features and finally a link to reviews written by users like yourself.

On the left hand section of the site is a long list of all the various hosting plans available from hosting on Windows to using Java and PHP hosting on Unix, VPS to dedicated hosting. It also shows you where to look for free hosting and free domain names. This is especially good if you are using certain TLD names or don't want to spend alot on hosting services.

So, if you're looking to save time searching around for web hosting plans, or save money on your current hosting, why delay, give these guys a visit for a complete list of top hosting and domain registrars all in one simple and easy comparison and ranking site.

know to import Thunderbird Mails to Microsoft Outlook 2003-Tutorial

Thunderbird is a lean and mean e-mail client, which is why it is so popular. But sometimes, for some reason or the other, people have to switch to Microsoft Outlook Express or Outlook 2003. However, Thunderbird saves its mails in the MBOX format, which is incompatible with other e-mail clients. Unfortunately, Thunderbird does not have any option to 'export' its mails to another e-mail client.

But since it is an open source software, there is a large community of people who develop plug-ins to do various things in it. Someone must have thought about the e-mail migration issue and therefore developed a plug-in known as ImportExportTools (MboxImport enhanced), which can be downloaded from http://www.nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html. We'll show you today how you can use it to make your Thunderbird mails accessible in Outlook Express or Outlook 2003.

The first thing you need to do is download the mentioned plug-in for Thunderbird to your desktop. Now launch Thunderbird, click on Tools and select Add-ons.

Locate the .XPI file you had downloaded before. Select it and click Open.

Click Install Now and the plug-in will get installed. You will now be asked to restart Thunderbird for the plug-in to take effect. Restart Thunderbird.

Once Thunderbird is up and running again, you will be notified about the new plug-in you just installed. Close the Add-ons window.

Now to export the mails, right-click on your local folder in the left pane, move your mouse over Import/Export > Export all messages in the folder and click EML format. Click Browse and go to a suitable folder (in our example, it is named Track IT_20090414-1125) on the desktop. The mail export process will start immediately.

Once the export process completes, open Outlook Express. Create a local folder in the left pane as shown in the figure. Now open the folder Track IT_20090414-1125\messages (according to our example) and drag and drop all the EML files it contains to your Outlook Express Track IT folder.

You will now be able to see your mail in Outlook Express. Repeat the procedure for other local folders such as Inbox, Sent items, Drafts, etc.

Now to get this same mail to Outlook 2003, launch Outlook 2003, click File > Import and Export > Import from another program or file, select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x and click Finish. Now you will be able to see that all your mails are available in your Outlook 2003 as well. It is as simple as that!

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Import Thunderbird Mails to Microsoft Outlook 2003-Tutorial

Locate the .XPI file you had downloaded before. Select it and click Open.

Click Install Now and the plug-in will get installed. You will now be asked to restart Thunderbird for the plug-in to take effect. Restart Thunderbird.

File Extension MTS

Some times you may face issues in opening some files with different extensions and we may need special software to open that file. There are lot of files that may need an extension application to open it and one among them is the .ica type files.There are three different types File Extension MTS. They are an Image Object Content Architecture (IOCA) Graphics file, a Citrix Independent Computer Architecture file, or an Identity Compass Answers file. Within those three type of File Extension MTS, the first one is the most common. Here are some short explanation about them each.

The IOCA graphics format is developed by IBM in order to get a single compound document for multiple text and graphic elements. About Citrix’ Independent Computing Architecture (ICA), it is technology for allowing multiple computer users to access applications that hosted by a central server. The last, Identity Compass, it is an employment evaluation and profiling system can be used to help make selecting the right personnel a more productive exercise.

For all the software you install in your pc it will be registered in the system registry of the system and that registry file is responsible for every file to be opened. Sometimes your Windows is unable to open File Extension MTS. That might be caused by the missing registry files in your system. Just use Drivers Update for fix this problem. It has got everything you need. All you have to do is just visit the site.http://www.fileextensionmts.com/

File Extension GIF

The file File Extension GIF stands for the Graphic Interchange Format developed originally by CompuServe as a bitmap (one bit per pixel) "raster graphics" (rectangular pixel holds color) image format. CompuServe also developed a black-and-white file extension .xpm at the same time. Unisys has since purchased the patents, trademarks and rights to the .gif file extension.

The file extension .gif is a popular Internet graphics format with many advantages. It is especially good for reducing file sizes without compromising quality - the Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) "lossless" data compression maintains image clarity. These image files can then be transmitted more rapidly on the WWW.

Have you ever met problem experience with File Extension GIF? For the example is when MS.Outlook can not be accessed because there is a problem in the File Extension GIF. For this, I have the solution.

In general, when windows can not open a file extension, whatever those file, there is a problem with the windows registry. For this problem, try the software Driver Detective from File Extension GIF. Here we could do free scan and make repairs when they have an abnormal condition with the registry in our computer.

File Extension RSS

I am currently a PC user. With Windows XP installed, I can use numerous softwares available. Even for one filetype extension, we select some softwares which having same usabilities. For example, you can use Windows Media Player for playing movie, but you can also use Media Player Classic, Real Player, or even Apple’s Quicktime to do similar role. Sometimes, if we install some similar softwares, we need to select one software to be used as default one. One day, if we think the software isn’t good enough to handle our requirement we can delete or uninstall it immediately and replace it with other alternative softwares.

Problem comes up when we are unistalling a software, there may be a chance of erasing or modifying some sort of registry lines. We all know that Windows is rely heavily to its registry system. When a registry is having problem, it is suggested that we seek for registry repairer so we can play or use the number of File Extension RSS,again without having more trouble.

There are numerous softwares in the Internet that can be downloaded in order to fix the registry and file extension problem. But certainly we need to pick up one good software which can handle everything. If we want to fix some errors regarding File Extension RSS mobile file, we must seek File Extension RSS specialized in fixing multimedia filetypes.

http://www.fileextensionrss.com/

File Extension ICA

Some times you may face issues in opening some files with different extensions and we may need special software to open that file. There are lot of files that may need an extension application to open it and one among them is the .ica type files.There are three different types File Extension ICA. They are an Image Object Content Architecture (IOCA) Graphics file, a Citrix Independent Computer Architecture file, or an Identity Compass Answers file. Within those three type of File Extension ICA, the first one is the most common. Here are some short explanation about them each.

The IOCA graphics format is developed by IBM in order to get a single compound document for multiple text and graphic elements. About Citrix’ Independent Computing Architecture (ICA), it is technology for allowing multiple computer users to access applications that hosted by a central server. The last, Identity Compass, it is an employment evaluation and profiling system can be used to help make selecting the right personnel a more productive exercise.

For all the software you install in your pc it will be registered in the system registry of the system and that registry file is responsible for every file to be opened. Sometimes your Windows is unable to open File Extension ICA. That might be caused by the missing registry files in your system. Just use Drivers Update for fix this problem. It has got everything you need. All you have to do is just visit the site.File Extension ICA

File Extension 7z

So many types of file extensions on our computers. This is because each program contains more than one kind of file. And this correspondence between a file extension with the application. Finally all of them collect into one and stored in the windows registry.

One of the file extensions is File Extension 7z. This type of extension file is text file category and Mail Message file type. File extension 7z created by a Microsoft e-mail program, such as Outlook or Outlook Express; compatible with other programs that use Microsoft’s Messaging Applications Programming Interface (MAPI).

Have you ever met problem experience with file extension 7z? For the example is when MS.Outlook can not be accessed because there is a problem in the File Extension 7z. For this, I have the solution.

In general, when windows can not open a file extension, whatever those file, there is a problem with the windows registry. For this problem, try the software Driver Detective from www.fileextension7z.net. Here we could do free scan and make repairs when they have an abnormal condition with the registry in our computer.

File Format Information and Resources at ComputerFileExtensions.com

File Extension mdiFile Extension jadFile Extension TORRENTFile Extension p7mFile Extensionfile extension dmg

There are many who often have to look for a nice source of information to fix errors related to file extension as well as to access to an c of such files. If you are also one of these file extensions wanderers, computerfileextensions.com is a source that can serve the requirements of these searchers quite well. The source has been developed with the aim of providing you the best solution for your file extension related errors, as they nicely put together quite ample file extensions resources that you have been made available on the internet these days.
Various file extension on the site have been categorized alphabetically, so one can find the related information of the desired file extensions quite easily, similarly, one can find the required file extension by the given search bar on the site. The list of most popular as well as recently accessed file extensions have also been given on the site and all that make this resource quite friendlier to the users.

A website named ComputerFileExtension.com is created for its goal was to put together the most comprehensive resource and information of file extensions available in the web. The site has a huge database of file extension and file format information. ComputerFileExtension.com also offers FREE SCAN to find out if their is a problem on a certain file extension, and repair registry conflicts on that certain file. Some not so familiar file extension available on this site are File Extension mdi, File Extension jad and a lot more.
If your having a hard time dealing with some unfamiliar File Extension or encounter some problems with file extension. Then you should try visit their site for some assistance.

Phone-007-call conference

Purplegoods.com is an online store specializing in web connected devices. The flagship product is Phone-007, a very special telephone with built-in recording function, which allows user to record phone conversation and ambient sound in Phone-007 system.

Phone-007 looks and works like an ordinary phone, but it can record every call made on the phone without user knowing it. It can also records ambient sound such as funny noise or conversation near the phone. The recording will start when ambient sound volume above threshold level set by user. The ambient sound can be recorded no matter the phone is in use or not.

Once a recording starts, user will get notified immediately by email, text message, or phone call based on user’s setting. While the recording is in progress, user can listen in by either picking up the notification phone call and eavesdropping right away, or calling local Phone-007 access number from any phone. In addition to eavesdropping in real time, user can login to my.PurpleGoods.com to hear all the prior recording sessions through browser.

Phone-007 service uses state of the art technologies to keep user’s recordings and personal information safe. Calls and recordings are encrypted before being transmitted over the Internet. Phone-007's network is monitored 24x7 to make sure the service is always up and running and user’s data is secure at all time. To ensure highest level security, users will be authenticated, each time before accessing the service, by entering login ID and pin code information.

my.PurpleGoods.com web portal provides an easy-to-use interface to manage all of Phone-007 services from web browser. The user can also call local Phone-007 access number from any phone to manage various user options through touch tone keypad.

People uses Phone-007 for a variety of occasions where voice recording is desired, such as catching cheating spouse, monitoring employee, parent control, elderly care many other audio surveillance, baby monitor, and applications.

Latest and critical Windows Patch : April 2009

Security patches
MS09-010/KB923561 - Important (XP, 2000, 2003): There are four bugs (two previously disclosed publically, two previously undisclosed) that affect a variety of word processing documents, that can allow remote code execution exploits to occur. The files are Office, RTF, Write, and WordPerfect files, and the exploit is triggered when they are opened in either WordPad or Word. For Word 2000 users, this is a “Critical” bug; for Word 2002, Office Converter Pack, and WordPad it is “Important.” Until you install this patch, do not open these types of documents from “untrusted” sources. There is a known issue with this patch around opening Word 6.0 and Write documents; read this KB article for more details. Frankly, I think that this patch is a “must install” despite the “Important” label; too many people open documents from all over the place. It affects 32-bit, 64-bit, and Itanium versions of Windows.
MS09-011/KB961373 - Critical (XP, 2000, 2003): This patch closes a hole that let attackers execute a remote code execution attack through MJPEG files; the bug is in DirectX 8.1 and 9.0x. Users with restricted accounts will possibly not be quite as impacted should they encounter one of these files. You should install this patch immediately. It affects 32-bit, 64-bit, and Itanium versions of Windows.
MS09-012/KB952004/KB956572 - Important (XP, Vista, 2000, 2003, 2008): This patch resolves four holes in Windows that have already been publically disclosed. The hole allows an attacker who is already logged onto the system to escalate their privileges and take full control of the system. Seeing as the attacker already needs to be logged on and able to run code, this is not a “drop everything you are doing and install this patch!” item, but you should definitely include it in your next update push to the desktops. It affects 32-bit, 64-bit, and Itanium versions of Windows as well as Windows 2008 Server Core. If you are running XP, Vista, 2003, or 2008, check this KB for known issues around some settings that may not be preserved after deploying the patch.
MS09-013/KB960803 - Critical (XP, Vista, 2000, 2003, 2008): This patch addresses three bugs in the Windows HTTP Services system; one of them allows remote code execution which allows an attacker to completely own a system. This is a “must patch” item for all Windows systems. Note, this is not an “IIS” bug! It affects 32-bit, 64-bit, and Itanium versions of Windows as well as Windows 2008 Server Core. You may see some problems with NTLM authentication if you use IPv6 addresses after installing the patch.
MS09-014/KB963027 - Critical (XP, Vista, 2000)/Important (2000, 2003): This is a cumulative security update for Internet Explorer 5, 6, and 7. Some of the fixes address already public bugs, some deal with privately disclosed exploits. You should install this patch immediately. Users with IE8 do not need this patch. It affects 32-bit, 64-bit, and Itanium versions of Windows. You may see some problems with NTLM authentication if you use IPv6 addresses after installing the patch.
MS09-015/KB959426 - Moderate (XP, Vista, 2003, 2008)/Low (2000): This patch takes care of a problem with the Windows SearchPath function that could enable an escalation of privileges. The exploit has a rather convoluted attack vector with a lot of “if the user does this” type items involved, which is why the security rating is so low. Include this in your next scheduled push of patches; there is little reason to scramble on this one. It affects 32-bit, 64-bit, and Itanium versions of Windows as well as Windows 2008 Server Core. Check the KB article if you have issues with an XSI 5.0 application not loading after the patch is installed.
Other updates
KB969058 - Important (IE8 on Vista x64): When you disable IE8 on 64-bit Vista, the “Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)” shortcut does not get removed; this patch fixes that.
KB944036 - High Priority (IE8 on XP, Vista, 2003, 2008): This is a big one: Internet Explorer 8 is now a patch/release item. Be aware! Thankfully, the priority/classification should not make it automatically install.
“The Usual Suspects”: Updates to the Malicious Software Removal Tool and Junk Email filters.
Changed, but not significantly: None on this Patch Tuesday.
Updates since the last Patch Tuesday
There have been a number of minor items since the last Patch Tuesday:
KB905474: Updates to Windows Genuine Advantage Notification.
KB926139/KB926140/KB926141/KB928439: Updates to PowerShell for Windows XP, Vista, and 2003.
KB955706: Upgrades the Windows Internal Database that SharePoint, WSUS, AD Rights Management Services, Windows System Resource Manager, and UDDI Services rely upon.
KB956587: Windows Home Server Power Pack 2. Adds:
Streaming of MP4 files.
Adds Music, Photos, Videos, and Recorded TV shared folders on the Home Server to Windows Media Center.
Allows Media Center Extenders to not use the “Guest” account.
Web-based diagnostic systems to test outside connectivity.
Prevents accidental overwrites of connector files.
Limits file transfers from Vista to make sure that they are not larger than the available disk space on the Home Server.
KB967902: Fixes an issue with expired certificates while connecting to VMs on Windows 2008 x64.
Changed, but not significantly: MS07-055/KB923810, Microsoft Base Smart Card Cryptographic Service Provider Package, Windows Server 2008 Server Manager, WSUS 3 SP 1 update, IE8 Compatibility View List.

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System Admin Tools

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Managing local group policy on Windows Server 2008 Core Edition

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

Hosting with Webhostinggeeks.com

know to import Thunderbird Mails to Microsoft Outlook 2003-Tutorial

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Import Thunderbird Mails to Microsoft Outlook 2003-Tutorial

File Extension MTS

File Extension GIF

File Extension RSS

File Extension ICA

File Extension 7z

File Format Information and Resources at ComputerFileExtensions.com

Phone-007-call conference

Latest and critical Windows Patch : April 2009

The great web hosting service webhostinggeeks.com/

Top 10 Web Hosting — Best Web Hosts (2009)

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