Blog

Ext2/3 fs support for Windows PE Disc?

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:10:00 -0500

I found an interesting post and thought I'd share on adding ext2fs/ext3fs support by manually creating the files to make ext2fs ifs a plugin. Going to give it a go. Reply if you've tried this and had any sucess :)

New Forums

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:27:00 -0500

Ok, before I just had a Guestbook up for feedback other than in blog posts and I still do for those who don't want to register as a member on the site, but now I've decided to take it a step further. The forums on the site well be a good place to find/or give support and feedback.

Driver Backup/Restore Made Easy with Double Driver

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:15:00 -0500

Re-installing drivers in a fresh install of Windows is never a pleasant task. Its enough to haft to go find updates and re-install the software. What if you don't have the CD's for your devices anymore or you don't want to install the extra software they often include if its not needed? Last of all, you may have updated some of these drivers throughout the life of the current install, and may want to be able to restore updated drivers.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Most of the driver backup solutions are shareware now, but Double Driver is not. Freeware Double Driver is a driver utility capable of listing drivers on the system and backing them up so they can be restored later. In addition to structured folder backup, you can choose to have DD compress the drivers into a single compressed file or optionally create a self extract/restore exe.

Double Driver also comes standard in UBCD4Win, so you can backup your drivers from a non-booting copy of Windows. Never again worry about missing a driver and spend less time tracking software down for re-installs.

Site Updates & Compatibility Sword 2.3 Release

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:42:00 -0500

Today I've spent quite a bit of time working on DAD wiki. Documentation of Compatability Sword's command line options can be glanced over on Compatibility Sword's page now. I have re-uploaded all downloads except for FileDir2Prompt as zip packages so now you don't need 7-zip to extract downloaded files as promised. I have removed the long descriptions from CSword help message. It is my hope I'll have translation support for CSword in the future.

Anyway, speaking of CSword I have 2.3 finished.

Changes from 2.2 to 2.3

Don't know whats up with the random messages in W7/XP, so I think I've at least suppressed them. The errors are logged if logging is enabled but not displayed.
Run as user option only lists Administrators.
Support for recursive logging (uses random filenames)
Logging can be enabled anywhere in the arguments to Compatibility Sword and all arguments well be logged (before it didn't log anything before the /log switch in the arguments).
/savelog switch added. Same as /log except the log file is perserved rather than automatically deleted.
/hide switch added. Use to hide background utilities and other console applications from view.

Site Update

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:13:00 -0500

I realize not everyone may have 7-zip handy to extract downloads here, so in a few days time I'm expecting to have ~~self extracting files or~~ standard zip files up instead. With these you won't need 7-zip to extract, just simply tell it where you want the extracted files to be and you're done.

Compatibility Sword 2.2 Released

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:14:00 -0500

Another major release for Compatibility Sword.

Changes from 2.1 to 2.2:

Initial directory for application selected defaults to current application's directory. If no app has been specified it remains at system directory
Leading space is automatically removed now in application arguments when filling it with directory/application paths
You can select multiple files at the same time when filling application arguments
Use the more option to display large amounts of console output only a few lines at a time using the more utility. Automatically enables /keepopen for you.
New run as user options. This is so you can perform admin actions from a limited account on a system that doesn't have UAC or UAC is disabled. Before you had no choice on these systems but to run under an admin account. Now you do :)
New /user switch added to specify user at command line rather than using the user interface
New /password switch added to specify user password at command line rather than using the user interface (though for security reasons its better to use the user interface). If you are worried about security don't specify it (only the /user switch) and CSword well assume the /gui switch which well open up user interface and allow you to enter in secure manner before starting the process.
/gui switch added. This switch is useful because if you supply it you can have the user interface display instead of running the process immediately with any other specified options pre-filled.
/uacme switch added back. Well run Compatibility Sword in an administrative session.
/more switch added. Causes console output to display a few lines at a time using the more utility. Assumes /keepopen whether or not you specified it.

Also, I'm pleased to announce that CSword is also now available as a U3 installable package meaning you can install it on your U3 drive and have easy access to it from U3's launchpad menu easily regardless of when and where you need it. I expect to have a U3 package for TRT as well with the release of 3.0 when it is released, perfect for the traveling student.

Ok everyone, off to other things I go :)

TRT Development Update

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:43:00 -0500

Just to let everyone know TRT development is not dead, not by any means. I've been so busy with CSword and life in general which is probably one reason why its taking as long as it has to even post an update yet have a release for 3.0.

I have some good news and some bad news. I guess I'll start with the bad news...

The bad news is I started over :p Why? Well, things were starting to get into unorganized matter again and a build was already greater in size than I would have liked. I came up with some new ideas for the program and have since started with a new GUI as well. I well have screenshots later when its somewhat functional.

The good news? Well... remember when I said quick test edit/test from explorer would go away? Nope! It's going to be there. I also said there wouldn't be selected import but there well be if all goes well.

Anyway, there's your update. I well be hitting the ground running with more active development on TRT shortly as CSword is pretty stable at this point.

Providing remote support easily for friends or family using TeamViewer

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:28:00 -0500

Have you ever needed to do remote support for someone? A friend? Maybe your grandparents that live 3,000 miles away? Well... I think I've found the best tool for the job so here's my review of it.

Recently for this purpose I had used a tool known as CrossLoop. This tool's very useful indeed, so much so that its even been included in ubcd4win as a plugin. However, TeamViewer has some extra perks that I was delighted to find out about. They are:

Completely portable for the support person thanks to the portable version available from portableapps.com. CrossLoop has to be installed.
A single no install download for the user (The "Quick Start" version of the application) you're supporting. Just have them run it and in a few seconds you're looking at their desktop. With CrossLoop you haft to guide them over the phone with the install proccess. That's something relatively simple for us techies, but not so much for those we are helping.
Secure connection is made automatically without manual configuration using SSH/SSL technologies
Drag and drop files straight to remote system's desktop
It is UAC W7/Vista friendly
You are not bothered immediately upon startup to register a user accont and don't need one
They have a test service so you can try it out to see if you like it
The connection was a lot more reliable

For these reasons I decided to make the switch. Crossloop's not too bad until you start dealing with UAC on newer Windows systems and whenever a prompt comes up you get disconnected. With TeamViewer it even allows you to press the continue button in those prompts from your computer with of course no disconnecting.

Support (Full) version screenshot in Windows:

Quick Start version screenshot for those you help in Windows:

Not only is it free like Crossloop is, but they also offer a server version of the product, where system admins can setup unattended servers for 24/7 remote access. The remote support application supports both Windows and Mac users and for using from a Linux box they've got web access via flashplayer in your favorite web browser. You can even customize a version of the quick start application with personal tuch such as custom text/instructions and perhaps a company logo. Their business licenses are actually somewhat decent too, but I image most of you reading this would like to try it at the personal level first which is fine being completly free for non-commerical use.

Find out more about TreamViewer at teamviewer.com and obtain a portable full version from portableapps.com utility category if the one they've got on their site doesn't work.

Compatibility Sword 2.1 Released

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:46:00 -0500

Major release today... Compatibility Sword 2.1 is ready :)

Changes from 2.0.0.2 to 2.1:

Minor UI modifications and some extra tweaking to use fewer resources
Fixed a bug where working directory was ignored for applications
Added make system command in the UI
Inital directory for application selection starts in system directory
CSword now checks system directory for applications if you omit the path to them (before it just checked current directory and root of the current directory only)
CSword automatically tacs on file extensions if omitted. Right now it only recognizes standard executible extensions and in this order: *.exe, *.com, *.bat
Added /sys switch which opens a new command window elevated in system directory
Added /sysdir switch. Works the same as /dir except it opens system directory
Added /lappdatadir switch. Works the same as /dir except it opens user's local application directory (so you don't haft to go hunting it down and disabling hide hidden files/folders in explorer if you don't want to)
Added /log switch. Comaptibility Sword's now got logging ability :)! Now you and I myself can see what CSword's up to in the background and providing me with a log when you have problems may help me fix something if there's a bug I've overlooked.

I'd highly recommend updating if you've got an older release. Now time to start putting some effort into TRT :)

Compatibility Sword 2.0.0.2 Released

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:35:00 -0400

2.0.0.2 corrects an issue with applications automatically assumed to be console applications when elevated that appeared in CSword after drag and drop functionality for console applications was added in 2.0.0.1. Some additonal fixes/enhancements:

Relative path "\" is correctly recognized now. Before it would just open the current directory instead
Title on the GUI indicates when CSword is in an administrative session

Enjoy! :)

CSword News & CSword/FileDir2Prompt Tutorials Updated

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:01:00 -0400

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've updated all the tutorials relating to Compatibility Sword and FileDir2Prompt. You can rest assured that the examples given are now accurate to CSword 2.x usage. I well probably be posting yet again another build. I've noticed that because of the changes made to enable drag drop console application usability like was present in FileDir2Prompt that when you use the GUI CSword automatically assumes you want to run a console application when you choose to elevate it regardless of whether keep open is selected or not. This automatically creates what may be an unwanted command window for graphical applications. I'll be working on that and few other minor tweaks.

Compatibility Sword as a system command and relative paths

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:16:00 -0400

Probably not the most useful thing but I'd thought I'd point it out. You can use relative paths in command prompt like ., .., or \ as a directory with Compatibility Sword. Watch the directory open up for you in a new command window. You might even be able to use variables which is great, say in batch programs. Pretty useful when you need to do tasks that require mutliple windows. I was going to add this functionality through some additional switches but apparently Windows does it for us.

Quick breakdown for us that don't mess around with command prompts too often:

. = current directory

.. = parent of current directory

\ = root directory of the drive of the current directory

So here's what I'm thinking... wouldn't it be cool to have a way to open a new command prompt window that would be elevated from the current directory in the command window you forgot to elevate? Thanks to Compatibility Sword and Windows playing nice this is quite easy.

You'll need Compatibility Sword 2.0 or later for the following to work correctly. Drop Compatibility Sword in your c:\windows\system32 directory or in 2.1 or later click the "Make System Command" link in the user interface. All done! Now to use...

csword . /uac

Simple enough right? You can toss out the /uac switch if you just want another window. CSword's now a system command, which means you can just refer to it as csword ... in command prompts or csword at a run dialog/creating new shortcuts regardless of directory that you may be in. It'll make it much easier to write batch files that use CSword to carry out application compatibility tasks as well. Any user (including non-admin users) well be able to use it (since everyone should have at least read access to the system32 directory).

CSword 2.0.0.1 Released

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:08:00 -0400

News for XP users - 2.0.0.1 released. Compatibility Sword 2.0.0.1 corrects an inability to use the GUI to select a custom date when used in XP. This was not an error in the software itself as custom dates from the command line were tested and worked. This was due to XP not handling some condition checking that disables some admininistrative actions in the GUI correctly that's in place so CSword runs smoothly.

Some additonal changes have been made as well, thanks to everyone who provided feedback:

"Cancel" option changed to "Exit" to be less confusing
Some keyboard shortcuts have been added
Applications passed to CSword as command line arguments with no additional parameters are now automatically assumed to be console applications you would like to see the output from so a new console window is created. This is to bring back drag drop functionality for applications from the past FileDir2Prompt project. If you need to pass other paremters such as compatibility mode, elevation, working directory, etc you still need to specify /keepopen to treat the app as a console application.
Fixed running without any directory/app specified from command line

Compatibility Sword 2.0 Release

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:32:00 -0400

I've been working mad over the last 3 days and for success it has been. I'm very pleased to introduce to everyone Compatibility Sword 2.0. Though such a short-time to its existence it has been carefully re-designed and tested to not only past functionality, but additional new features as well as features that have been ported from former project FileDir2Prompt. You can expect much easier operation, none of the path bugs that FileDir2Prompt was a faiilure for, and less of an intimidating interface all around.

Changes from 1.5 to 2.0:

Complete re-write/GUI re-design.
Smaller size for greater portability compared to previous versions of Compatibility Sword and FileDir2Prompt... and they're both one tool now!
Non-UAC equipped or disabled Windows system friendly
Automatically disables actions that would require you to be an admin if you don't have admin rights to perform them on a Non-UAC equipped or disabled Windows system.
If the folder/app you want to run is in the current directory or in the root of the drive of the current directory, just type its name (No worries about typing full paths anymore!)
Switch syntax changed. Switches and their arugments are separated by a space rather than an = sign.
Added /dir parameter that functions like FileDir2Prompt's /dir parameter did. /adminapp parameter wasn't ported over due to current /uac parameter in CSword which does the same thing.
Added /keepopen parameter for use with console applications to keep command windows open like FileDir2Prompt did.
Multiple application parameters with spaces can finally be passed through the command line correctly to the application you wanted from CSword. When you wanted to accomplish this before you had no choice but to use the GUI.
Removed /app parameter. Now you just enter the filepath without it.
Removed /uacme parameter. Compatibility Sword can now do everything with at most a single UAC prompt. No more 3-4 UAC prompts everytime something needs to be changed that requires admin access. If you still want to run an admin session of CSword though you can do so by specifying "csword.exe csword.exe /uac".
Removed profiles. Doing that allowed to me concentrate on the most important parts to whats now a well working release and reduced clutter on the GUI. If you want to save settings you can still do so though in the form of commands to CSword using scripts/batch files.

Get CSword 2.0 today and start noticing the difference for yourself :)

FileDir2Prompt Future Confirmed

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:20:00 -0400

At this point I'm considering the merge offical. FileDir2Prompt is in the proccess of being integrated with the full re-write of Compatibility Sword. At this time 1.3 of FileDir2Prompt well remain available for download. Other than some confirmed bugs it should still work correctly for the time being until Compatibility Sword 2.0 can be completed and uploaded. Thanks to all who gave feedback and contributed to this decision. If you would like to see some screenshots of the completed GUI you may do so here.

Future of FileDir2Prompt

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:58:00 -0400

Ok, if you read my last software development post you might have noticed some of the problems I've been having, paticulary with C# string formatting syntax causing a majority of the bugs I'm finding.

That said, I was working on the next release of FileDir2Prompt but I have been debating whether or not I should merge FileDir2Prompt with the re-write of CSword with no profiles. Since I don't use C# for CSword this would eliminate the workarounds and constant debugging of errors due to C#'s limitations. It'll make for one neat system utility. So what do you think? Drop a comment. Without it I may assume the ideas good and I don't want to totatlly rule out others opinions. I am planning on beginning development on CSword with the merge this weekend if everyones ok with it.

Ensuring up-to-date files accross computers and storage media using the builtin Windows Briefcase

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:57:00 -0400

Some of you might have noticed it before - the "Briefcase" option in the New menu you get right-clicking in a folder or on the desktop. In this tutorial I'll explain what Briefcase is briefly and describe how to use it so you can always be sure to have your files when you need them.

Windows Briefcase goes as far back as Windows 95 and the days of floppies. Before all your polished sync toys of today came about Briefcase was the tool of choice for syncing files between a computer and a floppy.

Though such an old feature of Windows, its still pretty nice to know about and use, especially if you perfer builtin tools over having third-party tools. Because its a feature of Windows you can accurately use it regardless of whether or not you have admin rights on the machine you're working on. I perfer it because of its simplicity.

In modern terms you can use it to sync files between computers and storage media. I use it all the time for example to sync office/work related files between my desktop, laptop, and flash drive, so I can be sure to have access to those oh so important files whenever needed.

Lets say you got a desktop with your files and you would like to start syncing the files to your flash drive to have on the go. First you well want to create a new briefcase on your flash drive. Double click on it and you'll get a brief introduction. Click Close. Now Briefcase works best when you sync folders (though you can sync individual files), so I would open the parent folders. Right click drag on the folders you want in the briefcase. You need to drag them to the briefcase, so you need two explorer windows up. When you get there release and select the "Sync Copy Here" option. This well copy all of the folders to the briefcase.

Now whenever you want to update briefcase it is a very simple proccess. Open the briefcase once more in explorer -> Briefcase -> Update All. This well pop up a dialog showing you all the revisions and recommended sync actions to take. You can change actions if you want by right-clicking on the action by the pair you want to change, and when you're ready you can procceed with the update. The update proccess well work both ways. If you've made any recent changes to the version in the briefcase on your flash drive the version on the desktop well be updated and vice versa. Files in folders are deleted and created automatically if you've synced folders.

As the modern introduction message you get in Vista points out for briefcase, briefcase could be used also syncing to other computers. Its actually a good alternitive to the "Offline Files" feature Microsoft rips out of the home editions of Windows that some of us could have benefitied from. The drawback is you must sync manually, where offline file syncs can be setup to sync across a network with another computer hosting the synced folders on login/logoff automatically. One could actually do the opposite of what I said above too - creating the briefcase on the flash drive that is, and instead create two briefcases on both their laptop and desktop computers or as many computers as they've got, keep the synced orginal folders on the flash drive, and whoa! Ability to sync a set of folders and their updates across all your computers using your flash drive.

So when you want simple, give Windows Briefcase a try.

Software Development Updates & Ideas

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:32:00 -0400

I've been working hard on the next versions of TRT, FileDir2Prompt (yes already... what can I say?), and most likely CSword when I get the time. This post is more or less just the typical update but I do have some ideas I wanted to run by everyone to get their say. I'll start off with the updates and than go into some of the ideas I've got lined up.

Test Readiness Tool:

TRT development is very slow but I am starting to make some lead way on the editing features. Less than half of the program is done at this point I'd say thanks to some serious debugging I've been doing trying to get around limitations/bugs in .net that have been haunting me over the last couple of months.

FileDir2Prompt:

I am working on the next release sooner than I would have liked (again, limitations/bugs in .net - might I say never use C# for programs that require filepaths to be inputted... its a nightmare). In general though, 1.3 is pretty well done. Some of the bugs I've found you probably won't notice but if you do just a heads up I'm working on them. I've got about half of those problems taken care of at the moment. The release well be later though unless users need a corrected version imediately as I'm working on some additional features too.

Compatibility Sword

As promised saved this for the last of the post. So my idea... I would like to remove profile features form Compatibility Sword. Why?

Makes the program a lot easier to troubleshoot and maintain for me
Simplifies the GUI, which is kinda overcrowded and may be intimidating for some

However...

Its not a big loss I think, because perserved settings can somewhat still be achieved anyway via using the command line with a script/batch file or shortcut. What do you think? Please do let me know if you feel differently. I havent started the project for next release yet but well very soon.

FileDir2Prompt 1.3 Released

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:23:00 -0400

FileDir2Prompt bug free (hopefully) :)

Changes from 1.2 to 1.3:

Fixed relative path . to open with the correct directory when elevated (under certain circumstances the system32 directory was used instead). So now as illustrated in the relative paths tutorial on FielDir2Prompt "filedir2prompt . /adminapp" should work correctly.
GUI now correctly handles elevation of root directories.
Added "/dir" command line switch - opens a new explorer window when you want to browse the current directory using Windows explorer.

If you have 1.1 or 1.0 still you well definetely want to upgrade.

Connecting to the printer of a Linksys print server without print server utility - part 1

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:16:00 -0400

Ok, so you've setup your print server on your own (or you cheated using my tutorial) after some fun hours downloading this and installing that. You've got everything working on the computers on your network but you notice that you have company sometimes that may want to have access to your printer. Do you go through the boatload of trouble you went through before? Somewhat, but this ways nicer cause you don't haft to install the print server utility on their computer. There's also some other advantages I can think of:

Forget the Linksys Windows only software. Using this method you should be able to use your print server in other OSes other than Windows. In addition its one less thing you haft to worry about starting up when you start Windows, which may speed up startup time.
I discovered while doing a test print that this did not "occupy" or give exclusive connection of the print server to your computer, which means other people may be able to scan per say while you print/use other exclusive features of the printer or vice versa, so you can do some multitasking too.
This should prevent the default printer troubles you were having if you want to use this on a computer that has a local printer you want as the default. However, there is some cons you should be aware of. You well only be able to print using this method, not fax, scan, or read memory cards. Make sure that the local printer can provide these functions if you need them.

Now on to the good stuff. First you need to install the correct drivers as instructed for your printer in my tutorial. You should also know the IP address of your print server. You don't need to setup a psudo printer since you're not installing print server utility. You well use the OS way of adding new printers to setup a new printer that does "RAW" printing to the print server. This is why its OS independant (great for us Linux and Mac users that were left out - thanks Linksys).

For this tutorial I'll be talking about setting up the printer in Windows (in Vista since that's what I got up at the moment), but it should be possible to do the same thing in other OSes.

First, open the Printers folder (you can find this in your start menu or in control panel...you can also type printers into the search box of the start menu).
Right-click or double-click the "Add Printer" object.
In the first page you want to select the option to setup a network printer. If it starts looking for network printers hit "Stop" (the print server doesnt advertise its services) and than click "The printer that I wanted wasn't listed".
Select "Add a printer using the TCP/IP address or hostname" and than click next.
In the hostname or IP address field key in the IP address for your print server and click next.
If you get an error, than sorry, this trick probably won't work for you. If you don't, and the correct port wasn't detected for RAW printing automatically, you may get a "Additional Port Information Required" page. In this screen do not attempt to guess the correct device type. Select the custom option and check settings to make sure the "RAW" option is selected under the "Protocol" group box. Don't add any additional settings. Simply verify RAW is selected. Click next to continue.
In Windows at this point it'll try to automatically find the correct print driver. Even with it installed it probably won't auto-detect it. In this case you get a "Install the printer driver" screen, where like when creating the psduo printer before you need to manually locate the correct driver from the list of manufacturers and their models.
If you get the "Which version of the driver do you want to use?" screen the first option should be fine. On some computers though I got errors. If you get an error try again and select the replace option and than next.
Now you should be at a page where it asks you for the name you want to give the printer and you can make it the default printer too if desired. Click next.
Now it'll actually install the printer. This may take a few seconds, maybe longer.
On the final screen you can click print a test page if you want. When you're done click Finish.

Here's a quick walkthrough of steps in the add printer wizard:

Now your friend or yourself can print to the print server freely without print server utility and on any OS hopefully. While this is all well and good I'd still recommend having at least one computer on your network installed with the print server utility as mentioned in the previous tutorial, so you can access other features of your printer if you need to such as checking ink levels, scanning, reading a memory card, or using the printer diagnostic utilities.