Category Archives: windows

Windows XP SP3 & 7 SP1 Disabling Safe Services

Posted by on December 15, 2011 No comments

I frequently have to tweak and optimize the operating systems that I work with. And one of the things that I do as part of my check list is to disabled unnecessary services that are safe to do so which won’t impact usability of the desktop.

The lists of services which are to be disabled was taken from Black Viper’s resourceful website.

Save the following as a batch file and run it.

Windows XP SP3


net stop Alerter
net stop ClipSrv
net stop HidServ
net stop Messenger
net stop NetDDE
net stop NetDDEdsdm
net stop RemoteAccess
net stop ERSvc
net stop cisvc
net stop Netlogon
net stop mnmsrvc
net stop xmlprov
net stop WmdmPmSN
net stop RSVP
net stop RDSessMgr
net stop RemoteRegistry
net stop seclogon
net stop SCardSvr
net stop LmHosts
net stop TlntSvr
net stop UPS
net stop WebClient
net stop W32Time
net stop WmiApSrv

Windows 7 SP1


net stop RemoteAccess
net stop NetTcpPortSharing
net stop Mcx2Svc
net stop SharedAccess
net stop WSearch
net stop WMPNetworkSvc
net stop wcncsvc
net stop StorSvc
net stop SNMPTRAP
net stop SCPolicySvc
net stop SCardSvr
net stop RemoteRegistry
net stop RpcLocator
net stop WPCSvc
net stop CscService
net stop napagent
net stop Netlogon
net stop MSiSCSI
net stop iphlpsvc
net stop TrkWks
net stop CertPropSvc
net stop PeerDistSvc
net stop bthserv
net stop AppMgmt

Scheduling sFTP Transfers with PSFTP

Posted by on November 25, 2011 No comments

Recently I was asked by a client to implement some sort of system that will establish a sFTP connection to a remote server and download the desired data. Initially I was like, yeah easy, get a sFTP FOSS client, configure it with the remote servers’ details, schedule it and done!

Well… Wasn’t I in for a surprise!!! Turns out that there isn’t really any nice, simple GUI software which can be scheduled and off we go. Nope, CLI all the way baby! Of course, there is Filezilla which can establish sFTP connections and other FTP software around, including cuteFTP but for that you have to pay, and you know… I like my FOSS, so I didn’t really want to go down that route.

So I finally settled for PSFTP – Putty sFTP client, after reading up its short but comprehensive manual I got it working the way I wanted it to like so:

Read more »

Pidgin configuration with Openfire on Windows

Posted by on October 7, 2011 No comments

In this guide Pidgin will be configured to work with our previously installed and configured  Openfire server.

Step 1

Download the latest version from http://www.pidgin.im/download/

Read more »

Openfire Configuration on Windows

Posted by on October 6, 2011 No comments

This is a follow up guide from Openfire Installation on Windows,on configuring Openfire on a Windows platform. Some pre-requisites for this guide are:

Step 1

From the Openfire console window click Launch Admin

Read more »

Openfire Installation on Windows

Posted by on October 5, 2011 No comments

The following guide is installing Openfire in a Windows environment. From the Openfire page:

Openfire is a real time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP (also called Jabber). Openfire is incredibly easy to setup and administer, but offers rock-solid security and performance.

Step 1

Go to http://www.igniterealtime.org/downloads/index.jsp and download the latest version of Openfire executable which includes Java JRE

Read more »

Creating a Database in PostgreSQL

Posted by on October 4, 2011 No comments

This guide will show how to create a database for Openfire, but the same commands can be used for creating any user and database you want.

Step 1

Providing that PostgreSQL is installed, start SQL Shell from the Start Menu

Read more »

Installing PostgreSQL on Windows

Posted by on October 3, 2011 No comments

This is a very basic guide in installing and PostgreSQL on a Windows platform. The following guides will involve creating a user and a database, and ultimately install and configure Openfire!

Step 1

Go to http://www.enterprisedb.com/products-services-training/pgdownload  and download the latest version for your architecture

Read more »

WinCDEmu Replaces Daemon Tools

Posted by on June 28, 2011 No comments

Since I first installed WinCDEmu it was an instant replacement for Daemon Tools.

Being a Daemon Tools user for many years I grew tired of having to be extra cautions with each install if something sneaky has been installed.

Version 3.6 weights in at 822.1 KB which is a stark contrast from 11.2MB by Daemon Tools. Some of the other features are:

  • Supports unlimited amount of virtual drives.
  • Runs on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions from XP to Windows 7.
  • Allows creating ISO images through a context menu in Explorer.
  • Small installer size – less than 1MB!
  • Does not require rebooting after installation.
  • A special portable version is available.
  • Translated to more than 20 languages.
  • Does not occupy drive letters when not used.
  • Supports data, DVD-video and BD-video images.
  • WinCDEmu is free for any kind of use – it is licensed under LGPL

First time install driver warning - nothing to worry about, install the driver

First run it installs the appropriate drivers.

Download WinCDEmu

Printer Spooler Problems

Posted by on April 12, 2011 No comments

If one experiences printing problems such as:

  • Unable to print
  • Unable to delete print queue jobs
  • Other various Print Spooler errors

Then the below script should fix the majority of the issues related to either the spooler service or spooler files:


@echo off
 echo.
 echo Purging the print queue . . .
 net stop Spooler
 echo Deleting all print jobs . . .
 ping localhost -n 4 > nul
 del /q %SystemRoot%\system32\spool\printers\*.*
 net start Spooler
 echo Done!
 ping localhost -n 4 > nul

Simply save the script above in a Notepad document changing the extension to either .BAT or .CMD and running it.

What it does is that it stops the Spooler service, deletes all of the jobs in the queue (if any) and then re-starts the Spooler service again!

Snap, Crop, Upload – Screenshot Utility

Posted by on March 1, 2011 No comments

Taking screenshots for examples, tutorials and the like is not a simple task if you have to do it manually – take screenshot, crop it, save it, upload it – yes all of those steps for just one screenshot!!

But help is at hand in the form of Hpyerdesktop a utility that is designed for doing just the above tasks! It is very lightweight and pretty customisable too to some extent!

I guess the only disadvantage is that you are limited to only upload images to http://imgur.com but, really, imgur is not too bad providing that it is (or was) the main image hosting site for everything on Digg.

As far as I can tell Hyperdesktop is free (and possible still in beta??) and can be downloaded from the concise list of tools for imgur to suit everyone’s needs!