Secret command promt to fix EXE file assocation

There will be times when you lose the EXE file association.  That means that you cannot import a .reg to get the association back since it uses Registry which is an exe file. You cannot try VB or Batch script since all these methods use an application to run and that application itself is an exe.

Below steps show how to open a command prompt even when the EXE file association is lost.

1. Open Windows Task Manager by pressing CTRL+ALT+ESC
2. Click File Menu
3. Keep the CTRL button pressed and click on “New Task (Run…)” which will open a command prompt

Once command prompt is opened you can import a reg file by using “REG /import” command
The .reg file is available here: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

Install Windows 7 using USB

Go to command prompt and run the following commands:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 1 (The disk no. may vary)
CLEAN
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
ACTIVE
FORMAT QUICK FS=NTFS
ASSIGN
EXIT

Now you need to copy all the windows 7 source files to the USB either using command or gui.
You should now be able to install Windows 7 by booting with the USB.

Virus Removal

This is what I feel about the infections (viruses) today and the process I follow to remove the infections.

The infections are more of adware type promoting useless products and of course other types as well.

Common reasons for Viruses (and sub Genres) today are USB, Internet Explorer and Instant messaging applications.

USB is a major culprit behind any infection today . I suggest not to double-click external drives from the explorer since most of the drives have a autorun.inf file at the root directory of the drive. It has an entry to execute an application which is most likely to infect the machine.

Some symptoms of infections:

1. Registry/Task Manager/Folder options/control panel do not open. (You might get “Disabled by Administrator” error)
2. Cannot unhide files in spite of allowing to “show hidden files/protected files”
3. Applications not opening
4. “Open With” when you double-click drives (mostly with external drives)
5. Frequent error messages and system slowness

I use some free tools like Malwarebytes, Process Explorer etc. to get rid of the infections.

Process I follow to remove the bad guys.

1. Clean junk like IE cache and Temp files. I prefer to use CCleaner since it not only cleans the regular places where unwanted info is left over but also it supports other applications like Browsers, Office, Adobe, Zip tools etc.
2. Disable the unwanted or suspicious IE add-ons (Optional).
3. Disable System Restore (Optional)
4. Do a quick scan instead of a full scan using Malwarbytes. Quick scan removes infections most of the time. Spybot is a good tool but it takes quite a lot of time to scan.
5. Some viruses detect anti-virus/anti malware products and can disable or even stop the installation.
6. You can use the built-in Msconfig to disable start-up items.
7. Autoruns by Sysinternals is a mother of Msconfig gives you a very detailed information of auto-starting locations, what programs are configured to run during system boot up or login etc .
8. Process explorer by Sysinternals can give a detailed information of the processes running and much more which can help you troubleshoot a bit more. The below link is a webcast which talks about advanced malware cleaning (its old but still helpful)
   http://www.microsoft.com/emea/spotlight/sessionh.aspx?videoid=359
9. Honestly I have never seen or removed Rootkits but there some applications which might help to remove them eg RootkitRevealer by Sysinternals
10. Windows updates

Sysinternals Suite has some pretty good tools to nail down infections.

There are many Pre-installation Environment (PE) products which help you boot from a CD/USB etc which can be used to integrate millions of free and paid products into them (Including CCleaner, Malwarebytes etc).  You can download prebuilt products or even build it yourself using Bart-PE and other PE tools

These are some ways which “might” help you to get rid of the infections but of course there would be situations where you just have to reimage the machine.

Some free tools which might be helpful
Optimization and Cleaning

• Ccleaner – http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Malware, Adware & others

• Malwarebytes – http://www.malwarebytes.org/
• Spybot – http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html
• AVG – http://free.avg.com/in-en/homepage
• Avir – http://www.free-av.com/
• Avast – http://www.avast.com/index
• Clamwin – http://www.clamwin.com/

Preinstallation environment (PE) tools:

• Bart PE – http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
• Winbuilder – winbuilder.net
• Hiren – http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
• UBCD for Windows – http://www.ubcd4win.com/
• Ultimate Boot CD – http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Search files:

• Everything – http://www.voidtools.com/

Other tools:

• Autoruns – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
• Process Explorer -  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
• Sysinternals Suite – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

Symantec Endpoint – Windows 7 issues

Some issues I came across with Symantec Endpoint installation on Windows 7
Had to read many forums to get the solution, so I though I will put all at one place.

Method 1: The single setup.exe package does not install.

1. Extract setup.exe using a unzip tool (7zip – http://www.7-zip.org/ )
2. Run LUSETUP.exe(or LUUPDATE.exe) from the extracted folder. This installs the Live Update.
3. Reboot
4. Run Setup.exe which the is the actual application.

Method 2: The above method works most of the time. But if it does not, follow the below steps

1. Open Registry and change the following
   Before:
   HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\AppData
   value=%APPDATA%
   After:
   HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\AppData
   value=%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming
2. Reboot
3. Follow Method 1

Method 3: Sometimes the installation fails with no error. You might find a “Pending reboot” in event logs. Even after multiple reboots you still cannot install SEP, try the below steps:

1. Open the Windows Registry editor (regedit.exe) browse to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
2. Verify the following Reg Multi String value PendingFileRenameOperations exists under this key.
   Note: If you do not find the PendingFileRenameOperations value in the location above, this error message can be generated if there are pending changes in:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSetXXX\Control\SessionManager\PendingFileRenameOperations
3. Delete the PendingFileRenameOperations value from the registry
4. If HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\RebootRequired exists, Delete RebootRequired sub-key
5. Follow Method 1

Note: It is better to take a backup of these registry keys before making any changes.

Outlook 2010 – Multiple Exchange accounts in one profile

In outlook 2007 and older versions we had to create separate profiles for different exchange accounts.
The great news is that Outlook 2010 supports 3 exchange accounts in one single profile.

Let’s take an example

Let’s say we want to add 2 exchange accounts, First.Last1@domain1.com and First.last2@domain2.com
I will be using colors for the emails accounts instead of the actual names.

First.last1@domain1.com  
First.last2@domain2.com

What happens when you open Outlook – Will it ask for 2 different credentials ?
Yes.

Which account is used to send mails?
You get to choose from which account you want to send mails by clicking the “From” button in the new mail window

What happens when you send and receive – Which account does it refresh?
It will take the currently selected mailbox or mailbox under which you have selected a folder.
If you see the below screen shot … i have not entered the password for one of the accounts. The bottom bar is different for different accounts depending on which account is selected.

Some screenshots:

Showing two different accounts in the same profile

Showing list of accounts to select and modify settings

There are many more features and many unknown to me.

You can find some good info on: http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/archive/2009/08/25/multiple-exchange-accounts-in-outlook-2010.aspx
Check it out.