Thursday, 26 June 2014

Manually set FreePBX timezone

Check here for the correct timezone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones​

SSH into the server

Run the following, with the relevant TZ database timezone. In this example, Europe/London

​ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/London /etc/localtime
Then, edit /ect/sysconfig/clock
nano /etc/sysconfig/clock

Change the line to the correct TZ timezone:

ZONE="Europe/London"

Save the file

Run to check all is now correct:
date

Reboot the server

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Join a wireless network before login

Export the existing wifi setup

​netsh wlan export profile %SSIDName% folder=c:\temp
XML files of the existing connections will be exported to c:\temp. Find the one you want all users to access. You need to modify the to false and enter the wireless key.

You will end up with something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<WLANProfile xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com/networking/WLAN/profile/v1">
<name>Best Network</name>
<SSIDConfig>
<SSID>
<hex>42657374204E6574776F726B</hex>
<name>Best Network</name>
</SSID>
</SSIDConfig>
<connectionType>ESS</connectionType>
<connectionMode>auto</connectionMode>
<MSM>
<security>
<authEncryption>
<authentication>WPA2PSK</authentication>


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How to reset a network card in Windows

Open Control Panel
Click Hardware and Sound
Click Device Manager

In Network Adapters, find the LAN card you want to reset – this is often something like:
  • Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
  • Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller
  • Intel PRO/1000MT Network Adapter
Right click on the adapter and click Uninstall
You will be warned that this will remove the device from the system – ensure that ‘Delete the driver software’ is *not* ticked if this is shown

Note: Clicking OK will disconnect your remote access session if you are connected!

Click OK
The icon will disappear, and the network adapter will be disabled
At the top of the device manager list, the PC name is displayed
Right click this PC name and select Scan for hardware changes

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cdr_mysql.c:203 mysql_log: Cannot connect to database server localhost


When restoring FreePBX from backup, you may find the CDR database is not updated. This is because the cdr_mysql.conf file is not overwritten by the restore, and so the password for the CDR database is incorrect.

You can resolve it like this:

SSH onto the server
nano /etc/freepbx.conf

Find the lines:

$amp_conf['AMPDBUSER']  = 'freepbxuser';
$amp_conf['AMPDBPASS']  = '3098SADFSLa';​​


Copy the password, quit nano

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Countdown to End-of-Support for Windows XP

Support for Windows XP ends
On April 8th 2014, Microsoft will end support for its decade-old Windows XP. This means, you will no longer receive security updates, fixes or online technical support for PCs still running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003. The security and privacy implications of this event could have significant impacts on your business, so if you’re running either of these products you should plan to take action soon.
As a precaution, we would recommend all our clients to consider upgrading to the latest supported operating systems such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Customers migrating to these platforms will benefit from enhanced security, broad device choice for a mobile workforce and higher user productivity.
Why upgrade now?
  1. No support: Microsoft support, including online and phone-based technical support, will end. As a result both Jaytag and any other IT support company will not be able to properly support Windows XP.
  2. Security Risks: Critical security updates will stop, making machines much more vulnerable to viruses. Hackers are waiting to take advantage of this insecurity. If your computer gets a virus your machine will not only not perform properly – it may shut down entirely. Moreover, you are at risk for losing files and having your personal and business information stolen. Anti-virus software will also not be able to fully protect you once Windows XP itself is unsupported.
  3. Compliance: Businesses that are governed by regulatory obligations may find that they are no longer able to satisfy compliance requirements e.g. PCI compliance.
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Has your router been cracked wide open?

linksys router smashed
We have had a number of customers report recently that their internet browsers have been hijacked. Quite simply, this means that when they try to browse to a website, such as google.com they are redirected somewhere else.
These websites that are displayed often ask for Adobe Flash player to be updated, or inform you that a virus scan needs to be completed on the computer.
These sites are not genuine. In fact, the reason that the pages are shown is because the settings on the internet router have been changed by a 3rd party.
More information about this security vulnerability is available here: http://www.isssource.com/routers-hacked-via-email/
This of course is extremely worrying, as it means an outsider has successfully accessed the computer network, and may in future try to infect connected computers with viruses, or otherwise attempt to illegally access data.
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How Cloud Storage Could Help Your Small Business

Cloud Storage is the term used to describe using an online facility to store your information. These are usually operated by a third party company using data centres and there are a number of different operators providing it such as Dropbox, Skydrive, My Secure Backup, and Google Drive.
Cloud storage is an increasingly popular concept, and many small businesses are embracing it to help them. But how can cloud storage help a small business?
One popular use of cloud storage is to store your important documents such as databases, spread sheets or client projects. By doing this, it doesn’t matter if your computer breaks down, is stolen, or the file is otherwise lost; you will be able to successfully retrieve it from your cloud. You can usually set up an automatic synchronisation, so that when you save a document to a certain folder in your PC, the cloud storage facility you use will pick it up and automatically save it there too. Alternatively if you log onto your cloud storage remotely from a remote device or there web site you can upload/maintain documents and these will automatically synchronise/update on your home computer.
It is also a secure way of storing your information. You can change privacy settings of the documents so that it can only be accessed by yourself, people listed, or people who you pass the link to. This allows you to share it with people if you need it, or stash it away in a private folder if it isn’t something you want to share.
The cost of cloud storage can be considerably lower than other solutions, with many companies offering you a small amount of start-up storage for free, with higher amounts becoming available to you for a small fee, often on a monthly subscription basis.
So lets take a look at the four services I previously mentioned and see what they have to offer:
Dropbox 

Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage facility which comes with an initial 2GB, which can be expanded to fit your requirements.
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Windows Server updates failing – Error 80072EFD

You may have found that your Windows Server won’t update via Windows Updates Services and the following error message is displayed on screen.

error2 

One issue which causes Windows Updates to fail with error 80072EFD is if the Windows Server is pointing at itself or another Server on the network to find the updates.

To check this click Start > Run > type “regedit”, and accept the UAC prompt to continue.

regedit 

Now navigate to HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate.

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Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Windows XP Recovery Console – KB310994 download

To manually install the Windows Recovery Console, you have to have the necessary updates. It seems Microsoft have removed the link to the recovery console that used to be linked to from here.

This makes running tools like ComboFix for example, quite difficult.

I’ve sourced the files (at least for SP2 and up) they are mirrored here:

windowsxp-kb310994-sp2-home-bootdisk-enu.exe – For Windows XP Home SP2 and newer.
windowsxp-kb310994-sp2-pro-bootdisk-enu.exe – For Windows XP Professional SP2 and newer.
To install for combofix use, you can download the file to your PC and drag and drop onto the combofix.exe file, as detailed here.

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