Root Access

allquixotic

17:00

@Luke which would take effort

Sathya

something like this, labnol.org/software/mail-merge-with-gmail/13289 I believe ( cc @Luke )

@Diogo done, np.

r.tanner.f

Isn't sending username/pass through email a no no? (Not that I don't do it... Every day.)

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f yeah, you're supposed to tell them to type in your company's URL into their address bar (manually so they don't click on links in emails) then give them step by step instructions for how to obtain their username/password by entering a code provided in the email

over TLS with 2048-bit keys, of course

that's called IT Security, though, and most people don't have a clue about it

r.tanner.f

@allquixotic Ah, there's the rub...

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f where? where?!?!?

i've been missing it for a long time

r.tanner.f

17:02

TLS + 2048-bit keys, trololololol that's not happening in my shop xD

First I'll convince them to stop using WEP

Luke

sites.google.com/a/revolution-informatique.fr/… is a quick Google Search... But that's nto the one I saw

allquixotic

then you'll convince them to stop using WPA1-PSK with TKIP

Luke

@Sathya That's the one

allquixotic

then you'll convince them to actually use SSL/TLS

then you'll convince them to use 1024-bit keys instead of 256 or 512

then you'll convince them to make you the CEO

then you'll convince them to use 2048-bit keys

r.tanner.f

@allquixotic xD plan.

HackToHell

17:04

@r.tanner.f Why do you want to send a Ctrl+Alt+Del ?

Sathya

@HackToHell lots of reasons, I can imagine

r.tanner.f

@HackToHell 'er, it's handy? at the moment I want to log in as administrator to the xp box.

Suppose I'll have to just add admin to the login...

HackToHell

I was looking for something specific, thought of suggesting alternate key combos

cya guys

Luke

C ya

r.tanner.f

Yeah, I'm sure there's alternatives to everything I want to do with ctrl+alt+delete, but... meh. I'd also rather not install VNC.

Luke

17:06

Gotta love answering questions and not getting upvotes, just an Accept...

It will come :P

Graham Wager

@r.tanner.f Thought I'd keep my answer short and sweet ;)

r.tanner.f

@GrahamWager Mind if I add just a sentence? =D

Luke

@r.tanner.f Too late

Approved!

Graham Wager

If it's an XP box, you may be able to do it with the on-screen keyboard?

r.tanner.f

argh no luck >_< good idea though

Luke

17:10

AHK on the server?

r.tanner.f

@Luke ?

Luke

Autohotkey

Graham Wager

Hmmm, just saw your edit, ctrl-alt-end brings up the security screen on some OS'ses's and the question doesn't specify the destination OS

Luke

I'm thinking that AHK running on the server, so Windows 8 wouldn't see the key combo... Actually, I should answer that... Link?

allquixotic

If a 1.7 dBi antenna connected to a 26 dB booster (max. uplink power 446 mW) improves my signal strength from -75 dBm to about -60 dBm, then would a 5.2 dBi directional antenna (pointed in the ideal direction) give me much of an added benefit? Not sure if there is math that can convert between these units or if it's apples and oranges xD

Luke

17:17

Any reason why I can approve an edit if I see it on a question, but not through the Review queue?

allquixotic

(already asked in Electrical Engineering chat)

Graham Wager

@r.tanner.f Have to admit, I'm a little lost as to what you're wanting the CTRL+ALT+DELETE to do? Or what you're expecting it to do? :/

r.tanner.f

@GrahamWager Hmm... I'm trying to get back to a login screen, but this might not even be possible through Remote Desktop, huh?

well, wait, no... it should be

Graham Wager

I don't think it is, when you logoff it kills your remote desktop connection. If you're looking for fast user switching, I think you can get to that with Windows+L but again I'm not sure about over RDP

r.tanner.f

@GrahamWager Just locked my Windows 8 xD haha

Graham Wager

17:22

lol, hang on i'll try and find a way to send a remote WIN+L :P

r.tanner.f

I've already worked around the problem for my purposes, just figured I'd give people something to chew on for the contest :P

Graham Wager

could try running "rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation" on the remote computer, see what happens :) lol

your lock comment reminds me of IRC chat tho, where to fix anything IRC related, the answer was always Alt+F4 :P

r.tanner.f

ah-hahaha that killed the session. Nice.

Sathya

0

Q: Learning the Trouble Shooting of My Labtop & In

my labtop was working properly then out of the blue, it stops letting log on to internet. It reads that I have a network cable not plugged in properly. First off I.m on a labtop 2nd I don't have a cable that I know of. So plez can you help me fix this problem.

wireless-networking

wat.

r.tanner.f

@Sathya Gross.

Graham Wager

17:27

@r.tanner.f well it got me past the level 2 barrier so all good ;)

Luke

You can't "switch users" via RDP, without disconnecting and reconnecting though, @GrahamWager

You can use the RUNAS command though

Bob

@Einstein MS Word mail merge. Do a dry run first to make sure you have it right.

r.tanner.f

Oh wow, this sucks... I was using this as a reference machine to build a Windows XP image... turns out the Dell recovery disk didn't wipe the HDD, just deleted the old Windows folder. -_-

Luke

@r.tanner.f That sucks... Serves you right for using Dell :P jk

allquixotic

TRWTF is Dell

r.tanner.f

17:40

If I had a nickel for every time @allquixotic said TRWTF about the place I work... :P

@Luke But yeah pretty much. Can't say I'm a fan of Dell.

Luke

TRWTF?

r.tanner.f

Yesterday I had to call them about a monitor that died. They asked me for my computer's service tag. I was like, uhhh... It's a monitor. She got all cranky and asked me again for my service tag. >_> So I asked which service tag from one of the five Dell machines sitting at my desk she wanted.

TRWTF = The real WTF

Graham Wager

@Luke Yeah I didn't think so, but it's been a rather long time since I've been playing with XP...and technically the question didn't refer to XP in it's original state :P

Luke

That's how I experimented the first time

allquixotic

@Luke thedailywtf.com

> I'll just leave this here... For the lazy, it's a definition of MsoTriStateEnumeration, which is a tri-state Boolean with 5 possible values of which only two are supported. Just let that sink in for a while so you can appreciate the awesome WFTery of it.

tri-state = 3. Number of possible values = 5. Number supported = 2. Uh, it's a boolean...?!?!?!

Wooglin

17:58

@allquixotic It's good that Microsoft has kept it in future versions too... msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff860737.aspx

allquixotic

@Wooglin for backwards compatibility, right? I'm surprised they didn't reserve a sixth value for future use and then use it to represent "maybe" in Office 2013.

If Cell.Font.Bold = msoMaybe Then InputBox("Do you want the font to be bold or not? Make up your mind!")

2

slhck

Woah. I'm being nostalgic again. Has anyone ever played games from a Microsoft Entertainment Pack?

allquixotic

@slhck Yep - Windows XP Plus Pack!

Wooglin

@slhck msoMaybe

slhck

@allquixotic No, I mean the old stuff. Maxwell's Maniac, Dr. Black Jack, etc

allquixotic

18:03

oh... I don't know

I wonder if they all had easter eggs in them?

slhck

►

@Wooglin "msoMaybe"?

Wooglin

It was a joke relating to the topic @allquixotic and I were discussing right before yours.

slhck

Then nvm :P

Wooglin

Ahh... SkiFree.

I had forgotten about the dead trees that catch fire when you crash into them.

slhck

haha

r.tanner.f

18:08

@Wooglin I'd forgotten about ski free

that was a good one...

Sathya

@slhck yep

@Wooglin <3

slhck

And then there was Hover…

►

I used to play that all day long

Wooglin

...Well. There goes my afternoon of productivity. ski.ihoc.net/#download

r.tanner.f

OMG Hover. Wow... My younger brother and I used to play that game all the time. That brings back a lot of memories.

Sathya

there's skifree for iOS ( & Android too, i believe)

Pipe dream, chips' challenge were the ones I used to play a lot :-D

allquixotic

18:17

Hover? Wasn't that, like, one of those brand new cool 2000s-era games that actually used all of your new Pentium's 60 MHz?

Einsteins Grandson

is there any way how to ge to GOOGLE ENGLISH?

slhck

@allquixotic Probably, yeah!

allquixotic

@EinsteinsGrandson google.com/ncr

Sathya

Jezz ball too

Einsteins Grandson

when I hit Google.com, it redirects me to google.cz

ok ,thank you

slhck

18:18

@Sathya Chip's Challenge was one of the best, yeah :D

allquixotic

I can't puzzle out what ncr stands for so I assume it stands for the same thing it stands for in Fallout 3.

Sathya

@allquixotic "no country redirect", iirc

imma head off, cya folks

Einsteins Grandson

I thouhgt Googl.com will stay Google.com forever

r.tanner.f

cya

Einsteins Grandson

they are really idiots

changing it

Google already knows which sites I want to visit

the fact that I am in France doesn't mean that I want to go to Google.fr

allquixotic

18:22

@EinsteinsGrandson it uses IP geolocation to detect where it thinks you are based on what your ISP is

Einsteins Grandson

i know

allquixotic

it is pretty dumb but you can change it either by storing your language preferences as a persistent cookie, or by just setting your homepage to google.com/ncr

Einsteins Grandson

the thing is i use more than 5 computers every day

and in every single PC there is more than 2 browsers

IE, FF, Opera, Chrome...

so it's not possible to change it all the time

5 times a day

...

Zero Stack

afternoon all

r.tanner.f

I briefly used a VPN service and got stuck in a foreign Google. I couldn't help but feel like a lost American tourist look for the "Help me!" sign somewhere, or anything in English, because they know I'll need it...

slhck

18:26

It sucks… I use Google for research, so I want English information, but whenever I want local information, I need it in German.

Worst part is getting to some German programming forums instead of SO

Zero Stack

With the proper syntax, just double clicking on a .reg file, should enter it into the registry (windows 7) correct?

slhck

@ZeroStack yup

Zero Stack

@slhck hmmm... because i did a search in my registry to see if it was added and no go lol

You don't need to specify 'Computer' in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\... correct? Otherwords you can just say HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\...

avirk

@slhck superuser.com/questions/484148/…

I have the same issue on Windows 8

so I should have to just edit the tag or I can ask the separate one?

slhck

@avirk Hm, if it's exactly the same issue I wouldn't create a separate question for it. You could place a bounty on it, maybe. Adding the Windows 8 tag seems okay IMO.

avirk

18:39

@slhck Putting the bounty, If I got the answer myself can I award it to myself in that case?

r.tanner.f

lol

slhck

@avirk You can't award a bounty to yourself, no. meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/16065/…

avirk

@slhck :(

slhck

@avirk Stop caring about rep :P

2

avirk

@slhck na, I'm just asking about that. I hit the rep cap today too so no worry about that, after all it will provide me a tile :P

slhck

18:42

@avirk True. Congrats on hitting the cap!

avirk

@slhck thanks :)

@slhck superuser.com/users?tab=reputation&filter=week

I'm on 2nd position with Windows-8 tag :P

slhck

Nice!

/cc @kronos :P

KronoS

19:09

@slhck that's right. I'm the devil of windows.

allquixotic

@KronoS Gill Bates? Is that you?!

avirk

@KronoS I have posted a new answer today on your old question, have you seen that?

Luke

@allquixotic Why did you send me to a site like that... I won't be able to work anymore

allquixotic

@Luke what site?

Luke

The Daily WTF

allquixotic

19:19

oh. LOL

you can't stop reading it?

error'd is pretty funny, and the feature articles usually either prompt a chuckle or an eyeroll

avirk

2

A: Is it possible to use the IE10 App without making Internet Explorer the default browser?

Unfortunately there is no way yet for this. You have to live with curse of MS. I think they don't want to let the user easily launch their favorite browser's with this limitations. While there are many lack of feature in IE-10 and one of the big are that the modern UI/Metro version of IE-10 do...

r.tanner.f put the bounty for that but no way to run that :(

Tom Wijsman

19:45

@avirk Do you have a recent version, this used to be a bug in a very old version. But let me guess... Firefox?

Shimmy

19:56

Hi folks
I just installed Win8 on my desktop, and I'm so disappointed.
What's hard for me is to get used to the new environment and all the missing buttons etc.
I'd like to remove the metro-style part from the system and use just the regular desktop as I used to do so far.
Is there a way to do this?
Please share your experiences

anyone in here?

allquixotic

@Shimmy yep, just also multitasking

Shimmy

what do u mean by multitaskin

allquixotic

I don't think you can totally "remove" the metro part, but Stardock's Start8 app should give you a start menu button that mimics Windows 7's

I mean I'm working at the same time as I'm in here so I didn't see your message right away.

Shimmy

i dont mind getting used to new things

as long as ppl tell me its successful

cuz if its crap i wont bother learning it and im just gonna downgrade back to win7

?

KronoS

@shimmy I prefer the metro UI instead of Win7 now. And I was a big win7 fan.

allquixotic

20:03

@Shimmy Why do you care what other people think about it? Try and use it, and if it doesn't work for you, or seems like it's too much effort to use it, you don't have to. Other peoples' opinions have absolutely no bearing on that. Someone might love it (a Microsoft employee, for example) and someone else might hate it more than anything in the world. So what?

Put a little effort into figuring out the new UI paradigms, and if it's too frustrating or too unnatural for you to get used to it, then you don't have to use it. It's as simple as that.

UI always comes down to personal preference, which is defined by (a) how accustomed to the user interface you already are (from prior experience); and (b) how easy it is for you to learn the things that you aren't already familiar with (discoverability).

There's no such thing as an objectively good or bad UI. Some people claim there is, but they're wrong. The best UI is the one that is easiest for each individual person to use, even if someone thinks it's inefficient, or cluttered, or too big, or too small, or too busy, or too austere, or too fancy, or too plain, or requires too many clicks, or doesn't have enough features. It's what works for you.

Shimmy

@KronoS @allquixotic It's interesting.

I don't know how to navigate between apps in the metro style etc.

@KronoS do u use a touch screen?

im used to win7 and like it very much

i do like the win8 desktop design better, the new win explorer etc.

but im use to right-click on "computer" on my desktop and go to device manager

and many other menus and options that now i have to look em up and figure out where is their new location

another interesting point

at the beginning after emigrating from xp

i thought win7 sucks

i thought i should give it a try and i quickly adapted and today i hate xp

xp is like win311 for me

but now i feel different

as allquixotic mentioned earlier it feels very unnatural to me

r.tanner.f

I've gone from XP to Win 7 to Win 8 in the past year... Gotta say I won't go back from Windows 8 now either. Metro is a little clunky, yeah, but the rest of it is pretty slick.

Shimmy

besides i like when i have everything in front of me, so everything is accessible with as less mouse clicks or button presses possibl

allquixotic

20:20

I wonder how many people have purchased Windows 7 Ultimate at retail price $219.99 one day before the release of Windows 8? lol

Daniel Beck

20:36

@allquixotic Can't they upgrade for $40 or so? Maybe that one day made that much of a difference that it was a good idea even though they knew about the release...

allquixotic

@DanielBeck If you buy a new Windows 7 computer from June 2 2012 through like, January 2013, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99

But if you bought one on June 1 or earlier, or have a Vista or XP machine, you are ineligible for the promotion

I was just curious if anyone was really dumb enough to say "Windows 7 Ultimate is the latest operating system available, so I'm going to buy a retail copy" and then go oh crap tomorrow

because Microsoft's store site is really, really, really, really quiet about Windows 8 Pro unless you specifically look for it... it just doesn't play very prominently into the site design and it doesn't say a lot about the pre-order other than the fact that you can

Daniel Beck

blogs.windows.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/07/02/…

allquixotic

oh ok, so that's a separate upgrade SKU for if you don't qualify for the Windows 7 PC upgrade

so there are three strata: full price $69.99 if you have no copy of Windows XP or Vista or 7 (e.g. Linux boxes); $39.99 if you have a Windows product key from XP or later; and $14.99 if you bought a new computer with Win7 preinstalled on or after Jun 2

Daniel Beck

It seems. Didn't know about the $15 offer. That's quite common though, otherwise sales would just dry up in the months before the release.

allquixotic

windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-US/Home/ProgramInfo

@DanielBeck unfortunately that doesn't work with hardware :P when Intel was trying to release Ivy Bridge, they still had a ridiculous amount of unsold stock of Sandy Bridge computers, and all the vendors were going absolutely insane with the thought of all the lost profits on the "previous gen" hardware that wouldn't sell, particularly after Ivy Bridge was out.

they ended up deliberately delaying Ivy to give them time to sell off Sandy Bridge stock

also during that time, you could buy an extremely affordable, high-end Sandy Bridge laptop.... which was obsoleted days/weeks later, but oh well, at least it's high end and semi recent

Daniel Beck

20:43

Any idea why so many were left? Low sales?

allquixotic

@DanielBeck well, yes, there was a lull in the economy at the time (still is) and a lot of peoples' tech budget was (and still is) being poured into mobile devices -- tablets, phones.

also, for people who just surf the web and use Word, a Core 2 is more than enough for them

my enterprise's IT department "preyed" upon the situation with the heinously low Sandy prices during that transition period and bought us all new boxen to replace our aging Core 2s with low-end Sandies. They're faster, but not tremendously faster, and still very weak compared to what I have at home... but the price point I hear was amazing

combine volume pricing and discounts and the vendor was all too eager to get them out of their warehouses

Shimmy

so do u guys like win8 better than win7?

and im talking about desktop use

allquixotic

@Shimmy haven't installed it yet, because the final isn't out

Shimmy

\no touch screen

r.tanner.f

* sigh * They use our AS/400 as a file server, then wonder why it's slow ~_~

allquixotic

21:02

@r.tanner.f TRWTF is "using" an AS/400 for anything other than a weapon with which to destroy burglars/robbers/psychopaths

rig up the AS/400 rack with a catapult/leverage system which rapidly tips over the rack, crushing the victim standing in front of it

that's putting old hardware to use

r.tanner.f

21:22

I suppose the only other options is to move it to our other file server though =\ Which is Windows 2000

Luke

Windows 2000 Server = <3

r.tanner.f

@Luke You like?

Luke

:)

r.tanner.f

The other day it decided it wasn't going to go any faster than 2MBps, and that was that. Also it holds the AD roaming user profiles. That wasn't a very fun day...

Luke

I run it

r.tanner.f

21:24

Ohhh, really? Any idea why it would do that 2mbps thing? =D

Luke

I use it for cadets, but that's to host about 100 PDFs and a 10 MB MS-Access file

Not a clue... Dying network card?

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f Win2K is the last version of Windows not to phone home to Microsoft when you enter the product key... that's a fairly compelling reason to keep using it as long as possible, although hardware support for even semi-new hardware is severely lacking

2

r.tanner.f

I'll keep that in mind when I'm building my digital bug-out fortress.

Luke

21:39

That's why I love it!

And it runs in VMs so well!

Oliver Salzburg

22:28

Yay :D superuser.com/badges/28/famous-question?userid=36744

Luke

"There are only two things to worry about, either you are healthy or you are sick. If you are healthy, then there is nothing to worry about. But if you are sick there are only two things to worry about, either you will get well or you will die. If you get well, then there is nothing to worry about. But if you die there are only two things to worry about, either you will go to heaven or to hell. If you go to heaven,

then there is nothing to worry about. And if you to go hell, you'll be so darn busy shaking hands with your friends you won't have time to worry!

"

Journeyman Geek

23:19

@r.tanner.f: try seeing if this works superuser.com/questions/491925/windows-8-shortcut-keys-via-rdp/… for sending C-A-D to a remote desktop

Oh, never mind, someone else tried it

r.tanner.f

23:45

@JourneymanGeek Yeah I had surprising amount of people trying to figure that one out

It turned out to be unnecessary anyway, which is probably why it was removed

I can't actually think of a good reason I'd need a ctrl+alt+delete, there seems to be a workaround for everything

allquixotic

they're phasing out ctrl+alt+delete in favor of gestures anyway, though. eyeroll /sarcasm

mouse gestures if you don't have a touchscreen

r.tanner.f

If ctrl+alt+delete died I wouldn't be too sad, it feels like a crutch anyway... "Our OS crashes looooots lets put an interrupt in and call it good m'kay?"

allquixotic

they also dual purposed it as a "security" feature for logging in >_>

on enterprise desktops at least

r.tanner.f

Yeah I never understood how that works

I don't feel any safer logging in with ctrl+alt+delete

allquixotic

i think it was somewhat of a security feature back before Windows had a concept of "secure desktops" (physically separate window system with different input drivers and display framebuffer, etc) which makes it impossible for userspace programs to latch into it and either keylog your password or log on "for you" automatically

because it's always been completely impossible to trap Ctrl+Alt+Delete with the Windows API; the key combination never makes it to a window message because the OS snatches it up out of the kernel rather than propagating it into userspace

so by making you press a key combo that could never be pressed nor caught in a user program, it's sort of a safety valve and in that way a security feature, because ONLY a manual user at a keyboard can press it

unless you write a kernel mode driver that pretends it's a keyboard but really is just a conduit to userspace to accept key presses

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