When having problems connecting to the LAN or Internet the following terminal commands may clear the problem.

Reset IP stack; Winsock catalog and firewall

netsh int ip4 reset
netsh int ip6 reset
netsh winsock reset
netsh advfirewall reset # beware resets rules to default

Restart computer to effect changes

Renew IP address

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew

If losing network after sleep check adapter settings under “Power Management” to ensure the interface is not powered down to save energy.

Continue Reading

After battling for days trying to install Windows 10 AU on my Vbox Windows 10 Guest I ended up with an unbootable machine and no where to go!

To solve the problem and to at least get back my activated copy the following worked for me:

1. Download the latest Windows 10 AU update ISO from Microsoft
2. In Vbox Manager Settings > Storage add downloaded ISO as an optical drive
3. In Vbox Manager Settings > General >

Continue Reading

This method should work for most Windows stand-alone programs.

This example shows how to transfer a legacy program called ACT! v5.0

• On the target PC use Windows to Create a Restore Point to backup the target Registry
• Connect drive to target PC to access backup of source machine for the purposes of this example we will call it drive g:
• On the target PC using Windows Explorer set View Hidden Files and System Protected files.
• On the Desktop (target machine) create a folder called “ACT”

Continue Reading

To fix battery not charging do the following

• Open Device Manager
  • Select Batteries > “Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery”, right click and select Uninstall
  • Select Action > “Scan for hardware changes” to auto install the MS battery controller
• Reboot system (optional but may be necessary in some cases)
• Unplug battery charger and let the battery charge fall to below 90%
• Plug in the charger – you should see it charging again and go up to 100%

Continue Reading

For those who want to know all the details here is a document which explains how this RFC 5961 flaw can be exploited:

http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~zhiyunq/pub/sec16_TCP_pure_offpath.pdf

The fix itself:

net.ipv4.tcp_challenge_ack_limit = 999999999

which is appended to

/etc/sysctl.conf file using a text editor

and applied with

sysctl -p

Most importantly a command to show if your Linux OS is patched already – I had to trawl quite a bit to find this https://community.centminmod.com/threads/linux-tcp-flaw-cve-2016-5696-allows-hackers-to-hijack-net-traffic-inject-malware-remotely.8304/

sysctl -a | grep ack_limit
net.ipv4.tcp_challenge_ack_limit = 100

As you can see from above it was set to 100 on my desktop running Ubuntu 14.04 with all the updates on 18/08/16.

Continue Reading

No Start Menu when you click Start button and right-click not working on Taskbar program launch icons.

Try clicking on on Notifications icon (bottom RH corner) and toggle off Tablet Mode

The Windows SP1 Convenience Rollup (WSCR) updates a clean copy of Windows SP1 from  Feb 2011 to May 2016. Further updates are then installed as normal

Steps

1. Install a clean copy of Windows 7 SP1
2. Install April 2015 Servicing Stack Update from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369 and click the appropriate “Download the package now” link
3. Go to http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=KB3125574  and click the Install button at the bottom of the page; click Yes and click the Add button for your version of Windows from the 3 choices shown.

Continue Reading

The examples given change the user’s home folder from Michael to John.

In case of mistakes and recover data you may have missed make an image backup. Additionally create a restore point to backup the registry.

Method 1 – create new user and delete the old one

The recommended approach. It’s a bit sledge-hammer but is reliable and has the benefit of cleaning up the user profile.

1. Create a new account called John using Control Panel or Windows 10 PC Settings >

Continue Reading