Thursday, December 23, 2010

Free, Fast and easy tool for removing duplicate items from Outlook folders

With ODIR it's a snap to clean your Outlook folders by removing all duplicates. ODIR removes duplicates from Contacts; Calendar; Tasks; Notes and Email folders.
 
Using ODIR is very easy: select a folder and click the button Remove Duplicate Items. ODIR scans the selected folder for duplicates and MOVES all duplicates found to a subfolder ODIR_duplicate items. ODIR recognizes an item as a duplicate if all of the following properties match those of another item in the same folder:
  • Contact items:
    first name, last name, company name and email address
  • Appointment items:
    subject, location, start date and end date
  • Task items:
    subject, start date, due date and status
  • Note items:
    contents of the note (Body property) and color
  • E-mail or Post items:
    - received emails: the internet message ID (this is a unique identifier for each email received)
    - sent emails: email subject and the time the email is sent (PR_CLIENT_SUBMIT_TIME)
    - unsent emails: email subject only
ODIR 1.4 is FREE and doesn't contain Spyware or Adds! 
ODIR runs in all Outlook versions starting from Outlook 2000. ODIR does NOT run in 64 bit Office versions (no problem in Office 32 bit on Windows 64 bit).
Here's how to access ODIR in Outlook 2010:
Note for OsaSync users: removing duplicates is integrated in OsaSync so you don't need ODIR.

Technical support

In ODIR 1.4.3 this error is solved: error 13 type mismatch in findAppOnLogicalID. Due to this error no duplicates could be found in the Calendar folder.
Technical support is not available for ODIR because we offer ODIR free of charge. However ODIR problems are closely related to OsaSync issues so please check out the OsaSync technically support page. If ODIR doesn't start please follow the steps outlined in this support solution

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Tweak And Optimize System Performance With Mz 7 Optimizer

Mz 7 Optimizer is a system optimization suite that comes with almost all system-relevant, and performance-specific tweaks, options and tools to gain extra control over the system. It differs from previously covered variants, such as, True System Security Tweaker and Ultimate Windows Tweaker because it contains a huge array of tweaks which enable users to manipulate major system elements in any way they want. Be it registry backup, registry restoration, shutdown scheduling, network performance optimization, memory & processor management, system performance based options, security related tools, or game enhancement tweaks, it covers all in one simple & easy to use interface.

After the installation, it will prompt you to backup registry before tweaking with different system tools and changing other security or administration settings. Simply click OK to let it backup registry for you. Moreover, you can restore registry anytime and schedule the registry backup as per requirements.
Editor’s Notes: We do not recommend this tool for every PC user. It is developed for administrators and should be used with extreme care. Backing up the registry is one way to make sure nothing goes corrupt forever!
Once the backup is created, you will be safe to proceed. The main interface has a  navigation bar, containing tweaks for System performance, Generic Windows tools and options, Internet, Generic customization, and System security. Just select a category from the left side and it will list down all the respective options and settings which can be tweaked in the main window.
Mz 7 Optimizer
Under each category, you have further inter-related tweaks available. Take Windows Tweaks as an example, it offers Core System Tweaks, Startup Tweaks, and Shutdown Tweaks.
Besides being an tweaker, it encompasses a great deal of useful tools as well. From Useful Tools window, you can go for optimizing system for perfect gaming experience. And make use of Advance CPU optimizer, Smart RAM optimizer, PC cleaner, Windows registry defragmentation, and lot more.
600
Furthermore, it comes with an Ultimate Booster feature which can optimize various kind of system elements and performances. It lets user Clean temp files, Optimize Windows boot file, Defrag registry, and speed up Firefox in one go.
Mz Ultimate Booster
Overall, it is one powerful tweaker, considering the vast options and features it brings, you can add multiple types of performance enhancing and security layers to the system. It runs on all versions of Windows, testing was done on Windows 7 x86 system.
Download Mz 7 Optimizer

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Vision

Vision


Boot Disk Mirroring Using Solaris Volume Manager Software

Posted: 05 Dec 2010 12:27 AM PST

Applicable OS Version: Solaris 9 Operating System (OS), Solaris 8 OS with Solstice DiskSuite 4.2.1 Software with Patch 108693-06 (SPARC Platform Edition)
Note: I do not guarantee that this will work as it is for every one. Please tweak as needed.
The following steps might have used random controllers and targets. They might vary from host to host.
Also, it's a good idea to mirror across controllers instead of mirroring across the same controller and still having the controller as a single point of failure.
1) Important precaution:
Copy /etc/vfstab and /etc/system before you go ahead:
cp -p /etc/system /etc/system.orig."date"  cp -p /etc/vfstab /etc/vfstab.orig."date" 
In case /etc/system gets messed up, we can still use the command boot -a from the OK prompt and specify by using:
/etc/system.orig."date" 
2) Make sure that you have an extra disk to mirror the root disk and there is no data on it.
3) Create a small slice of 25 Mbyte (10 Mbyte is also fine) for storing volume databases on the "rootdisk" and label the disk.
If you don't have any space on your root disk, create a small slice by deleting and re-adding swap space.
Make sure that there is not a lot of activity on the box while you do this.
3.1) To list your swap, use: swap -l
(It's good if you have more than one slice configured as swap.)
3.2) Execute:
swap -d swap-name ( /dev/dsk/c?ct?d?s?) 
Change your partition table to incorporate a new slice by reducing the size or cylinder length of the swap partition.
3.3) Execute:
swap -a swap-name ( /dev/dsk/c?t?d?s?)  
4) The VTOC (volume table of contents) on the root disk and root mirror must be the same. Copy the VTOC using prtvtoc and fmthard.
# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c?t?d?s2 | fmthard -s - /dev/rdsk/c?t?d?s2 
5) Create metadatabases on the small slice created on rootdisk:
# metadb -f -a -c3 c?t?d?s6 (Slice 6 is my small slice here) # metadb -a -c3 c?t?d?s6 (Slice 6 on rootmirror) 
6) Now we can create a mirror for each and every slice in the partition table.
For root or / partition:
# metainit -f d10 1 1 c?t?d?s?   # metainit d20 1 1 c?t?d?s?  (create a md d0 and attach one submirror) # metainit d0 -m d10   (set up system files for root (/) metadevice, that is,       changes to /etc/system and /etc/vfstab) # metaroot d0   # lockfs -fa (clear improper file locks on all mounted UFS file systems)  
7) Naming convention for other metadisks follow. (Note for those who are new to this software: We will not do metaroot and lockfs steps on other file systems.)
The submirrors will be named d10d20, and so on.
In d10, 1 is the submirror number, and 0 is the slice number.
If we have swap on partition/slice 1, we would do this:
# metainit -f d11 1 1 c?t?d?s1  # metainit d21 1 1 c?t?d?s1  # metainit d1 -m d11 
8) Repeat for as many file systems you have on your boot disk.
9) Make changes to your /etc/vfstab. The md entry for root will already be updated by the metaroot command.
A sample copy of /etc/vfstab looks like this:
#device device mount FS fsck mount mount #to mount to fsck point type pass at boot options # fd - /dev/fd fd - no - /proc - /proc proc - no - ##/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s1 - - swap - no - /dev/md/dsk/d1 - - swap - no - /dev/md/dsk/d0 /dev/md/rdsk/d0 / ufs 1 no - ##/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s7 /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s7 /export/home ufs 2 yes - /dev/md/dsk/d7 /dev/md/rdsk/d7 /export/home ufs 2 yes - ##/dev/dsk/c1t1d0s3 /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s3 /opt/uc4 ufs 2 yes - /dev/md/dsk/d3 /dev/md/rdsk/d3 /opt/uc4 ufs 2 yes - swap - /tmp tmpfs - yes - 
10) Configure your dump device using dumpadm.
11) Make the following entry in the /etc/system file, in the mdd info section:
set md:mirrored_root_flag=1 
When the root disk becomes unavailable, the database copies stored on the root disk are also unavailable.
Solaris Volume Manager software expects more than 50 percent of the databases to be available to boot up normally or else it may complain about the insufficient number of database replicas. The preceding change is made in order for Solaris Volume Manager software to boot up with at least 50 percent of the copies.
12) Execute:
sync; sync; init 6 
13) Once the system comes up, attach the other submirror:
# metattach d0 d20 
(Note: It's "metattach" and not "metaattach")
# metattach d1 d21  
and so on.
14) To see whether the FS syncing is done or not, do this:
metastat | grep progress  
15) Determine the device path to the boot devices for both the primary and mirror:
ls -l /dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0 /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 Dec 23 17:51 /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 -> \    ../../devices/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@0,0:a lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 Dec 23 17:51 /dev/dsk/c1t1d0s0 -> \    ../../devices/pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/sd@1,0:a  # eeprom "nvramrc=devalias rootdisk /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@1,0  devalias rootmirror /pci@1c,600000/scsi@2/disk@0,0" 
(Please note the change "sd" to "disk" in using ls -l output.)
# eeprom "use-nvramrc?=true" 
You can also change the boot-device values so that the system tries to boot from the mirror in case one of them is not available.
# eeprom boot-device="rootdisk rootmirror net" 
16) Once the syncing is complete, test your system by removing the root disk.


Recovering a Bad Sector Disk on the Solaris 9 OS

Posted: 05 Dec 2010 12:15 AM PST

A disk can start creating trouble if sectors on it are bad. We can try to verify and repair the defective sectors. For example, the following message shows that the block 100 is defective:
WARNING: /io-unit@f,e0200000...    Error for command 'read' Error Level: Retryable    Requested Block 243, Error Block 100    Sense Key: Media Error    Vendor ...    ASC = 0x11 (unrecovered read error) ... 
We can try to take corrective action by performing a surface scan analysis. First we need to unmount all slices on the defective disk and then invoke the format utility. (Note: This example shows only s0 mounted on target 2.)
# umount /dev/dsk/c0t2d0s0  # format 
When we are asked to select the disk, provide the number:
Specify disk (enter its number): 1 selecting c0t2d0: [disk formatted] Warning: Current Disk has mounted partitions. 
Now we should invoke the analyze menu and provide the parameters as asked:
format> analyze analyze> setup Analyze entire disk [yes]? n Enter starting block number [0, 0/0/0]: enter start block Enter ending block number [2052287, 2035/13/71]: enter end block Loop continuously [no]: y Repair defective blocks [yes]: n Stop after first error [no]: n Use random bit patterns [no]: n Enter number of blocks per transfer [126, 0/1/54]: 1 Verify media after formatting [yes]: y Enable extended messages [no]: n Restore defect list [yes]: y Create defect label [yes]: y  analyze> read Ready to analyze (won't harm SunOS). This takes a long time, but is interruptible with Control-C. Continue? Y    pass 0    ...    pass 1    block 100, Corrected media error (hard data ecc)    ...    Total of 1 defective blocks repaired. 
Now we have found the absolute block number of the defective block on the disk, and we will repair it.
analyze> q format> repair Enter absolute block number of defect: 100 Ready to repair defect, continue? y Repairing block 100 ...ok. format> q


Changing Hostname on RHEL

Posted: 05 Dec 2010 12:08 AM PST

1. Change the ^HOSTNAME line in /etc/sysconfig/network

2. Change the hostname (FQDN and alias) in /etc/hosts

3. Run /bin/hostname new_hostname for the hostname change to take effect immediately.

4. Run /sbin/service syslog restart for syslog to log using the new hostname.

A reboot is not required to change the system hostname.


Thursday, December 2, 2010

Vision

Vision


Understanding /proc/cpuinfo

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 02:27 AM PST

Example:

$ uname -r
2.6.18-8.el5

How many physical processors are there?

$ grep 'physical id' /proc/cpuinfo | sort | uniq | wc -l
2

How many virtual processors are there?

$ grep ^processor /proc/cpuinfo | wc -l
4

Are the processors dual-core (or multi-core)?

$ grep 'cpu cores' /proc/cpuinfo
cpu cores       : 2
cpu cores       : 2
cpu cores       : 2
cpu cores       : 2

"2" indicates the two physical processors are dual-core, resulting in 4 virtual processors.

If "1" was returned, the two physical processors are single-core. If the processors are single-core, and the number of virtual processors is greater than the number of physical processors, the CPUs are using hyper-threading. Hyper-threading is supported if ht is present in the CPU flags and you are using an SMP kernel.

Are the processors 64-bit?

A 64-bit processor will have lm ("long mode") in the flags section of cpuinfo. A 32-bit processor will not.

flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8legacy ts fid vid ttp tm stc


Changing IP address

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 02:02 AM PST

The following steps may be used to change the IP address of a Solaris system.

  • Change the host's IP in /etc/hosts for the change to take effect after reboot. If you are using Solaris 10, you must also change the host's IP in /etc/inet/ipnodes for the change to take effect after reboot.
  •  Run ifconfig interface ip_address netmask broadcast_address for the IP address change to take effect immediately. The netmask and broadcast_address should be specified if you are using variable length subnet masks (VLSM), but may be omitted otherwise.
  • If you are using variable length subnet masks (VLSM), add the host's network number and subnet mask to /etc/netmasks.
If the new IP address places the system on a different network:
  • Place the host's new default gateway in /etc/defaultrouter
  • Run route add default new_gateway for the new default gateway to take effect immediately.
  • Run route delete default old_gateway to delete the old default gateway from the routing table.


Creating a Flash archive

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 01:29 AM PST

1. If the root disk is encapsulated by Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM), unencapsulate it before continuing.

2. I recommend booting to single-user mode, as you generally do not want to include NFS mounts or other file systems mounted in later run levels as part of your Flash archive.


#reboot -- -s
3. Create the Flash archive.

flarcreate -n name -a author -S -c archive_name
eg: flarcreate -n "Solaris 9 image" -a "shiroy" /var/tmp/sol8.archive

Notes:
flarcreate will not determine the size of the archive beforehand when using the -S flag. Personally, I have seen flarcreate take an inordinate amount of time calculating the size of the archive.The -c flag enables archive compression via the compress command.

4. If applicable, re-encapsulate the rootdisk with the vxdiskadm command. Reboot the system for the encapsulation to take effect.


NixCraft – Linux Administration

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 01:21 AM PST

Here is a great Linux Admin blog with plenty of content for the both the beginner and the advanced Linux Admin. The name of the blog is nixCraft and it has been in my RSS reader for a while, and I wanted to share with you a couple of the scripts and links that I pulled out and have used.
The first is a quick and easy MySql database backup that you can put in cron to backup your MySql database. Many open source projects use MySql and it always pays to have a backup especially when upgrading, so take a look at this post called backing up your mysql database server.
The second script is a rsync replication script that we can use between a couple of clustered web servers. The script is called resync backup replication script.
And the last example is for the beginner administrator. This post identifies a number of Unix/Linux commands and cheat sheets that was worthwhile to the new administrator.
If you are into Linux from a support or development perspective than I encourage you to take a look at the nixCraft site as I am sure that you will find something useful.


Friday, November 26, 2010

Vision

Vision


How can I create a disk partition on a disk that is greater than 2TB in size?

Posted: 25 Nov 2010 08:46 PM PST

  • The fdisk command only supports the legacy MBR partition table format (also known as msdos partition table)
    • MBR partition table do not support disks greater than 2.1TB, and therefore fdisk is also unable to create partition tables on these devices.
    • Note that some older versions of fdisk may permit a larger size to be created but the resulting partition table will be invalid.
  • The parted command can create disk labels using MBR (msdos), GUID Partition Table (GPT), SUN disk labels and many more types.
    • The GPT disk label overcomes many of the limitations of the DOS MBR including restrictions on the size of the disk, the size of any one partition and the overall number of partitions.
    • Note that booting from a GPT labelled volume requires firmware support and this is not commonly available on non-EFI platforms (including x86 and x86_64 architectures).

    Procedure:
  • Use the parted tool to access the partition table of the device:
    # parted /dev/sdj Using /dev/sdj Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands. (parted)
     
  • Once at the parted prompt, create a GPT label on the disk:
    (parted) mklabel Warning: The existing disk label on /dev/sdj will be destroyed and all data on this disk will be lost. Do you want to continue? Yes/No? Yes                                                                  New disk label type?  [gpt]? gpt                                           (parted)
    Note: This will remove any existing partition table and partitions on the device.
  • Use the print command to show the size of the disk as reported by parted.  We need this later:
    (parted) print                                                              Model: Linux device-mapper (dm) Disk /dev/sdj: 5662310.4MB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: gpt  Number  Start  End  Size  File system  Name  Flags
     
  • Create a primary partition on the device.  In this example, the partition will encompass the entire disk (using size from the step above):
    (parted) mkpart primary 0 5662310.4MB
     
  • Unlike fdisk, you do not have to write out the partition table changes with parted.  Display your new partition and quit.
    (parted) print  Model: Linux device-mapper (dm) Disk /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-gpttest: 5662310.4MB Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B Partition Table: gpt  Number  Start   End          Size         File system  Name     Flags  1      17.4kB  5662310.4MB  5662310.4MB               primary         (parted) quit                                                              Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary.
     
  • You can now create a filesystem on the device /dev/sdj1


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Vision

Vision


How a Web Browser Works?

Posted: 16 Nov 2010 07:55 PM PST

Add caption


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

“Bluebirds” installer on LG GH22NS50 DVD-RW


LG GH22NS50 DVD-RW. LG GH22NS50 sticker.
This is the LG GH22NS50. We’ve started stocking these at work – just the next low-cost SATA burner option for us. Except it comes with a nasty surprise, and that surprise is Bluebirds.
Bluebirds 'disc' shown in My Computer.
It’s some kind of drag-to-disc software included with the drive. Not on a CD, of course; it’s hacked into the drive’s firmware, and shows up when there’s no disc in the drive at all. Which means that every time you close the tray with nothing in it, you get prompted to install it, thanks to Windows helpfully autorunning it.
It’s not really a malicious program. It just sits in your system tray until you close it or uninstall it (Control Panel -> Add/remove programs, in XP). It’s probably even helpful, for the few people who let it sit around long enough to find out. I haven’t seen anyone do that yet.
Way to go, LG; not only does your drive automatically try to install an unwanted program on your customers’ computers, but you’ve changed a fundamental thing about how CD drives work: If there’s no disc in the drive, it should be empty and that’s the end of it. You’ve changed how it behaves, and that fills us with false and misleading knowledge.
It’s as bad as when ISPs used to rebrand Internet Explorer as being “provided by [some telco]“; none of my customers could ever understand that IE was just a program on their computer and nothing to do with their ISP.
Anyway, the fellow who started this forum thread has the solution – there’s a firmware update for the drive that removes the Bluebirds installer, along with the fake disc-in-drive thing. Not to steal his thunder or anything, but I wanted to complain too. :)
Firmware update for LG burner.
The firmware updater orders you to remove the disc from the drive before running the firmware update, which is the most passive-aggressive thing I’ve ever seen a PC program do. You have to eject the drive and let it sit there poking its tongue out for 30 seconds while you erase the Bluebirds part of its brain.
I’ve uploaded the program to my /static/ folder, so there’s another place on the internet for it to be found:
You might want to read that forum thread anyway. The utter lack of official information from LG about this is disturbing.
Obviously this just removes the installer and auto-runner from the drive; if you’ve clicked yes to install it, you’ll have to uninstall it from your computer as well. I don’t recall seeing it in Control Panel; there’s a link in the Bluebirds folder in your Start Menu to get rid of it.
Update 30/9/09: There’s a separate version for the Lightscribe-enabled GH22LS50; that can be found here:
LN01 firmware update for LG GH22LS50 (Lightscribe) DVD-RW: http://tim.id.au/static/GH22LS50_TL01.exe (2MB)
Update 7/1/10: A few commenters here run Linux or BSD or something else that isn’t Windows; I don’t currently have a practical way to experiment with it myself, but one commenter successfully reflashed his drive using Crossover Linux. They offer a fully-functional 30 day trial here, and I recommend trying that if you possibly can.
If you seriously have no way of flashing it yourself though, any little PC shop ought to be able to do it for you for a small fee – if you visit the place you originally bought it from they may do it for free if you complain logically enough. At my work we pre-emptively reflash the drives before they go out because we couldn’t stand the thought of selling them with the Bluebirds crap still in them.
Update 23/5/10: A commenter has informed me of the new 02 version of the firmware for both of these drives. It took me a good 30 minutes to track down both of them, thanks to every region-localised website LG operates containing the full product page of each and every product they’ve ever made, but the respective support pages only showing the products most relevant to that region. I still have no idea where the Lightscribe version of this drive is meant to have been sold, but it’s sure not any country I’ve heard of.
Anyway – well-deserved plug here for Firmware HQ. If only companies would properly support their own products, we wouldn’t be so utterly reliant on the goodwill of sites like that. The Lx02 firmware apparently adds support for Windows 7, although I don’t recall having problems with it at work…
LN02 firmware for GH22NS50: http://tim.id.au/static/GH22NS50_TN02.exe (2MB)
LS02 firmware for GH22LS50 (Lightscribe): http://tim.id.au/static/GH22LS50_TL02.exe (2MB)

Procedure to clearing the ConfigMgr (SCCM) client local cache (CCM cache) -Resolving Disk space isssue

Essentially the client cache is a temporary download location for software, applications and software updates that are deployed to a clie...