Lair360 Blog

Version: 11.1
Revision: 12 Build 8.1

Microsoft WGA without class action status!

Yesterday, I’ve heard this news from somebody else! They told me that there was a lawsuit that is trying to sue Microsoft for adding “Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)” anti-piracy patch onto Windows XP users and disguised it as a high priority update in “Windows Update Center”. Nonetheless, if it had been given “class action status,” this could allow anyone who had owned a copy of Windows XP disk, then, they would have been able to join the lawsuit without hiring a lawyer. So, in my own judgment, this anti-piracy patch, it sounds very dodgy. It also acts like a monitoring software and eats all of your computer resources at boot-up! Even worse, it may retrieve sensitive data and send them back to their headquarters for analysis. Therefore, I would recommend everybody to keep an eye on “WGA” connections and block it from accessing your network.

Copyrighted By Lair360

Version: 13.3a
Revision: 54 Build 122

Create a bootable USB installer for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux or Ubuntu

Introduction: when I was maintaining my Deviantart profile, I was a little bored with the image that I’ve uploaded or deleted. So, I began to surf the web with “Google” search engine. But, guess what?
I just typed some random sentence into the search bar… for some reason, there are four links that appeared straight on the screen!

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1.] WinToFlash – this portable application was randomly found on the search engine. Therefore, it looks very useful for anyone to create a portable version of Windows XP / Vista. However, this application will only create these operating systems and install them into a non – CD drive computer. So, for those who is into Linux, Ubuntu or boot Windows from a USB drive, then, please skip this part and stick your eyes onto the second part.

Supported Operating Systems.
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Windows XP Home Sp2+
Windows XP Professional Sp2+
Windows 2003
Windows Vista Sp1+
WinPE / BartPE (Windows Bootable OS)
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Notes: for inexperience users, I would advice you to use: “The Windows Setup Wizard” which is shown when you have / had execute the program. Also, this application is only built for installing Windows onto a computer without a CD drive.
Get it in your head already…

The source can be download from here: http://wintoflash.com/home/en/
Mirror: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/WinToFlash.shtml

2.] WinBuild – this application is also a USB Windows creator. So, you can use this application to create a portable version of Windows XP / Vista (Live). However, you’ll need to be connected to the internet to create a Live Windows XP CD.

When you’re all done with the downloads, you can begin by slapping in your Windows / Vista disk into your cd-rom drive. However, your motherboard must support: “booting from the USB”. Without this setting, your Live Windows XP will not boot!

Supported Operating Systems.
————————————–
Windows XP Home Sp2+
Windows XP Professional Sp2+
Windows Vista Sp1+
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The source can be download from here: http://winbuilder.net/
Mirror: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/WinBuilder.shtml

3.] UNetbootin – this little application is a little small. But, it packs things together like a bulldozer! Anyway, this program allows you to create Live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions from Windows or Linux. So, for those who is a big fan of Linux Mint, Fedora and ect. Then, you’re on the right software!

Notes: if you haven’t got a distribution, you’ll need to go into the author’s website and download their ISO image. So, what are you waiting for? Get cracking and download one of these for your USB stick!

Supported Operating Systems.
————————————–
Windows XP Home Sp2+
Windows XP Professional Sp2+
Fedora 10+
Ubuntu 9.0+
Linux Mint+
Ect…
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The source can be download from here: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Mirror: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/UNetbootin.shtml

4.] Ubuntu Live USB Imager – this handy tools was found by random typing and searching. But, its very odd! The author’s website is using dyndns.org as a secondary domain…

Anyway, this is another software for Ubuntu users and fans alike. But, it will not support Linux!
So, please and please pay attention to the author’s instruction manual!!

Supported Operating Systems.
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Ubuntu 9.0+
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The source can be download from here: http://phatwares.dyndns.org:8080/contentUUDownload.html
Mirror: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/Ubuntu-Live-USB-Imager.shtml

Finally, if there is any bugs, glitches or crashes. Please don’t SPAM my inbox!
All you need to do is click on the author’s link and report your problems to them…

Have Fun!

Copyrighted By Lair360

Version: 12.1
Revision: 32 Build 11

How to disable services and drivers – Recovery Console

Introduction: If your computer has a faulty “System Service” or an “infected driver”, there is a high chance that your Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware or Firewall will be disabled by a suspicious malware, or experiencing some conflicts between systems’ services and / or corrupted drivers. However, there is a greater chance that your service or driver is preventing you from starting a system in Safe Mode. So, the only way to work – around this problem, you’ll need to use “Microsoft System Recovery Console”.

Notes: this guide is only for users who had / have a copy of “Windows XP CD”.
For those who doesn’t have it, please obtain a copy of “Windows XP”, it’s cruical if you want to keep your computer alive…instead of reformatting your computer, if your computer had lost a boot file or something. But, for now, this article will only give you parts of the recovery consol command. These command is useful if you want to disable hidden drivers… especially fake drivers (malware).

Tutorial *1: Since Recovery Console have limited syntax, they do behave differently from many of their ‘command line’ counterparts. But, the most useful parts for disabling a driver, outside of Windows is very ideal, as you’re not tampering any parts of the core – files. ie: System32, host, userinit and many more.

For now, we are going to concentrate on these commands…

a.] listsvc
b.] enable
c.] disable

1a.] listsvc command is used to list / show all installed system services and device drivers on a system. In order to disable a service or driver, you need to know its name. You can determine its name by running this command. However, as the list gets longer, you’ll need to type this command: Cls (Clears the screen).

1b.] enable command is used to enable a particular system service or device driver.
The syntax for this console command is…

enable <service> [StartType]

Valid options for start_type are as follows…
——————————————–
SERVICE_BOOT_START = Driver or service loaded into memory during initial system boot (required to start the operating system)
SERVICE_SYSTEM_START = Driver or service loaded during normal operating system startup.
SERVICE_AUTO_START = Driver or service configured to Auto-Start. Starts when the operating system starts up.
SERVICE_DEMAND_START = Driver or service configured to Manual Start. Starts as a result of action taken by individual user or an application.

1c.] disable command is used to disable a faulty driver or service, that is preventing the system from starting.

Notes: when you run the “disable” command, you need to use the following syntax…

disable <service>

Now, you know the basic! But, please print this off as a guide, or as a backup…

Thank you for your support!

Copyrighted by Lair360

Version: 32.1b
Revision: 11.1 Build 66

How to increase the size of the swap file on Windows XP

Introduction: when I was playing Socom Confrontation, the server chucked me out for no reason; my machine always froze, when I am playing online! This drives me insane!! So, I decided to switch off my PlayStation console and write an article about “Windows XP swap files”. That is right…pretty old school…way back, when Windows 98 introduced this “virtual memory swap file” settings.

Tips #1: if you have external disk drive, you can divide the “Pagefile” between your physical disks (not partitions!) to speed up its performance. Select the required disk from the Drive list, write the sizes in the initial and maximum boxes, and then click Set. Repeat this for all the required drives.

Tips #2: for best performance, please don’t set the initial size below the minimum “recommended” size, under “Total Paging” file size for all drives.

Tips #3: to determine your preferred “Pagefile” size, you should monitor your system and see how much RAM and virtual memory it consumes.

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Method #1: Editing Memory Management – registry library
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1.] Click Start >> Run >> Type: regedt32.exe >> Click “OK” and continue.
2.] Wait for the dialogue box (registry library) and look for this directory…

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

3.] Double-click “PagingFiles” (REG_BINARY). The entry should appear as: “X:\pagefile.sys 500 500” or something like that…

Notes: The first “String Value & X” is the location; the second is the “Minimum Size”; and the third is the “Maximum Size”.

Registry string format: Location > initial size > maximum size

4.] When you’re done, just double – check the values and click OK.

5.] Exit the “Registry Library” and Reboot your systems.

6.] Finish!

Method #2: Editing Memory Management – system property
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1.] Click Start >> Right click on “My Computer” >> Select: “Properties”
2.] In “System Properties”; select “Advanced” tab and click Performance, “Settings”.
3.] Wait for the second box to appear. After that, just click: “Performance Options”; select “Advanced” tab and click Virtual Memory, “Change”.
4.] Wait again, for the third (Virtual Memory – settings) dialogue box. Then, you’ll need to alter your system’s “Initial Size” and “Maximum Size”

Tips: for best performance, you’ll need to set the “Initial Size” and “Maximum Size” in equal number. In other words, the number should be identical!

5.] When you’re done, just click “OK” and accept the changes.

6.] Reboot your system and do whatever you want…

7.] Finish!

Copyrighted By Lair360

Version: 22.1d
Revision: 13 Build 122

How to use – Trend Micro HijackThis

Introduction: this article was commissioned by John Gardner, from Spain.
He would like to learn the basic of this software: Hijackthis, so that he could use it to remove a suspicious malware, virus and other forms of rogue software.

1.] If you haven’t download this application, please click on these links and grab a copy of this software.

Link 1: http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis/download
Link 2: http://filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/
Link 3: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Trend-Micro-HijackThis.shtml

2.] Extract the application or install it from your hard drive. After that, just execute the software and you’ll see a dialogue box appears.

3.] Now, here is some basic rules…

Option one – “Do a system scan and save a log file”
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If you think that your computer is infected by a rogue applications, or, experiencing slow internet connections. But, don’t know which file to delete? Then, you’ll need to click on the first options, and post the log file for the specialist, so that they could give you a proper removal procedure.

Option two – “Do a system scan only”
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This procedure will only perform a system scan and it will be useful if you want to remove a specific malware, virus and other sort of nasty infections.

Option three – “View the list of Backups”
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If you made a mistake, you can use this option to recover your important files and anything else which is valuable to your operating systems. However, there will only be records (for recovery) if you had removed a specific file.

Notes: the rest of the other options is only for advance users! There will be another tutorial for that specific area. But, for now…just read this article if you’re a beginner!

4.] Select “option one” and save a log-file for the specialist to check and instruct you to remove a specific file, folders or directories.

5.] Wait for the scanning engine to complete and there will be a “HijackThis” notepad file for you to save. Just click on “File >> Save As” and the log-file should be saved for upload.

6.] When you’re done with the specialist (Hijackthis assistance), just follow their instructions and use “option two” to remove these infections. However, you might want to remove these infection in “safe mode”. But, its your choice…

Notes: you’ll need to tick each box for the removal and click: “Fix checked”. After that, just reboot your computer, so that the application can remove them. However, a lot of the strings, files and applications are harmless – you’ll need to be extra cautious!

7.] Done!