RobPlatt.com

Awhile back, we discussed generating UltraVNC viewer and single-click executables on the fly: http://www.robplatt.com/index.php/2010/03/02/dynamically-compiled-vnc-binary-repeater/

A missing feature that was requested, was the ability to add encryption to the connection. Sorry it took so long, but here you go!

Please note, all changes are in reference to my original post and those files.

1. Download the latest MSRC4Plugin.dsm: http://home.comcast.net/~msrc4plugin/msrc4plugin.html
2. Place MSRC4Plugin.dsm in \client
3. Place a copy of MSRC4Plugin.dsm, renamed to MSRC4Plugin_NoReg.dsm in \host
4. Download or generate rc4.key. Place in both \client and \host
5. For the client exe, change line 6 in the helpdesk.txt file to “-id $ID -plugin -connect $IP::$PORT -noregistry”
6. For the host exe, add MSRC4Plugin.dsm and rc4.key to vncviewer.7z
7. For the host exe, change line 4 to “RunProgram=”vncviewer.exe -dsmplugin MSRC4Plugin_NoReg.dsm -autoreconnect 5 $RESTRICTED -noauto -64colors -encoding tight -proxy $IP::$PORT ID:$ID””
8. Edit support.aspx, change line 44 to “”..\7zr a sc.7z ..\winvnc.exe ..\schook.dll ..\vnchooks.dll helpdesk.txt ..\MSRC4Plugin.dsm ..\rc4.key ..\icon1.ico ..\icon2.ico” & vbcrlf & _”
9. That should do it!

As always, I’ve included the changes for you. (You may want to generate a new rc4.key, this one is the one included from UltraVNC)

Download

I had a client that accidentally installed Incredimail. After awhile of using it, he decided he didn’t like it. Who can blame him right?

I looked around online for various ways to export his mail out of Incredimail, so he could use it in Outlook, Outlook Express, or now, Windows Live Mail. No such luck. He didn’t think it was right to have the shell out money for products that may or may not work, the free options didn’t work on the newer version of Incredimail, and of course – Incredimail won’t give you that option. So he stuck with it in hopes that some way would surface… He didn’t want to lose the email that had built up in the client.

This has been an on going problem for almost a year. Every few months we’ve checked to see if someone came up with a solution. Finally, someone did.

Thank you ReynardWare for making incredimail-converter!

Running the converter couldn’t be easier. It took about 20 minutes to export all of his email and attachments from Incredimail, into the Microsoft .eml format. Which we simply drug into Windows Live Mail.

Visit his blog and show him support!

Need to run a piece of software with another user account without having to supply that information each time?

Steel RunAs has you covered.

Steel RunAs helps you in executing commands or applications which run properly when run only with administrator privileges without having to give the user full rights to his machine.

Steel RunAs outputs a single executable (“.exe”) and does not need any installation in the target machine. Steel RunAs also doesn’t need any extension through command line. The end user can simply double click to execute the destined program with alternate credentials.

Strong encryption standards keep the embeded credentials safe and secure.

http://www.steelsonic.com/steelrunas.htm

Lets start out with our problem.

We have many desktops here at the office, and we want the user data replicated to the server so it’s included in the backups (Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Favorites, etc).

We used to use roaming profiles. Though the users were not normally allowed to roam from machine to machine. The upside was, it was easy to deploy a new machine to a user, and of course, we had a copy of their files on the server if their computer failed at any time. The downside, roaming profiles can cause logon/logoff events to take longer. Permissions can get screwed up, which will prevent the profile from synchronizing. Ever have a user complain that they deleted icons on their desktop just to have them magically reappear when they rebooted? Yea… So have we.

We ditched roaming profiles in favor of folder redirection in Vista/7. The upside, files are on the server and included in backup. The downside, you are now working only off the server. There are obvious delays when working with large files/projects.

That being said… Folder redirection with offline files works well for mobile users. As they are disconnected from the network the majority of the time. Therefore, they are working locally. When they connect, files sync, and are backed up. This was not a viable solution for desktop users on our LAN.

The solution? RoboCopy. It’s fast, free, simple to script, and can work with Volume Snapshots (vshadow). I tried a few others, but wanted a simple script that would mirror changed files, periodically, throughout the day.

This following document, I found to be a great starting point.

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspnet/f6972828-1e81-4cd4-ae0c-36196a82ed25/workstation-open-file-bac.aspx

I downloaded RoboCopy, familiarized myself with the command line parameters,  and wrote a simple script to copy some folders to my server.

Then I worked on implementing vshadow. It was a pain at first. Namely due to the fact that no single exe will work on all platforms. Theres one for 2003/xp, theres two for vista/7/2008 (x86/x64).

I downloaded the Volume Shadow Copy Service SDK 7.2, and started digging into it.

You’ll find the files you need in \Program Files\Microsoft\VSSSDK72\TestApps\vshadow\bin\… I referenced this article, which helped.

I wrote a script to mount a new snapshot, call my robocopy script, then delete the mount point. It errored on “‘dosdev’ is not recognized as an internal or external command“. Seems I’m missing another file. A quick google, and I picked dosdev up here.

Now I can take a snapshot, and mirror user directories to their folders on the server. =)

Here are the files I used.

Hope this helps someone.

p.s. the image, top-right, is a mozy.com t-shirt. i used to use mozyhome. however a good program, it doesn’t apply to this article 😉

WebEx and GoToMeeting cost $$. Teamviewer is free, but only for personal use….

How would you like a dynamically compiled single-click VNC, with no GUI, using a repeater, for free?

First off, let’s answer some questions… What is single-click? What is a repeater?

UltraVNC Single-Click is a mini UltraVNC Server that can be customized and preconfigured for download by a Customer. UltraVNC SC does not require installation and does not make use of the registry. The customer only have to download the little executable and Click to make a connection. The connection is initiated by the server, to allow easy access thru customers firewall.

Hmm, ok, and the repeater?

http://www.uvnc.com/addons/repeater.html
Basically allows you to bypass firewalls using a preconfigured server.

continue reading…

WhatsMyPass has published version 3 of TechTools.

Tech Tools uses Ketarin, which is an application downloader that checks to see if an application has been updated and downloads it if so.

The genius in this tool is that we dont have to have you download all these tools at one time from our website, you’re going to be downloading each file individually from the app’s website. This helps with our bandwidth costs and some authors of the applications, while freeware, wanted the only download of their software to be at their own sites.

There has got to be around 100 apps listed. Go check it out!

http://www.whatsmypass.com/techtools-3-0