“Error Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library Error ” I then clicked OK and got a MMC snap in error and no Active Directory!!!

To fix this you need to browse to:

1. Logon As the user who is having the problem
2. Browse to: c:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\MMC
3. Look for a file called ”DSA” and rename it “DSAOLD”
4. Now try and open Active Directory again and all should be fine

Universal Serial Bus (USB) was developed and invented by Ajay Bhatt while working for Intel and is a specification to establish communication between devices and a host controller (usually a PC).  It was is intended to replace the many confusing varieties of serial and parallel ports.

USB can not only connect computer peripherals such as mice, keyboards, digital cameras, printers, personal media players, flash drives, and external hard drives – it can also power them!  For many of those devices USB has become the industry standard connection method.

Although it was originally designed for personal computers, it has become commonplace on other devices such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles. As of 2008 about 2 billion USB devices are being sold per year, and approximately 6 billion total sold to date!!!

Standard connectors?  Not always…

Despite its original simplicity many companies have adapted their own proprietary connectors, so not all your devices will use the standard formats.  Therefore we recommend you keep your original cables in a safe place.  Here are some images showing the standard connections:

Supported Operating Systems

Windows 98 was the first OS to support USB connections right out of the box. Since then, virtually every OS on the market is USB enabled. Support for Windows 95 has since been added and third party solutions have been created for support in NT 4.0.

Data Transfer Rates

• Low or Normal Speed        1.5Mbps
• Full Speed                           12Mbps
• High Speed                          480Mbps (USB 2.0)
• Super Speed                        4800Mbps (USB 3.0)

Note: Not all USB 2.0 devices are certified for High Speed transfer rates. Look for the USB High Speed Logo to ensure maximum capacity.

Did you know…?

Up to 127 devices can be added and controlled by a single USB port and your devices can be up to 30 meters away from the controlling computer system!!!

Riding for Cancer Research and Kirkwood Hospice (all sponsorship split 50:50). Part of the 18 team are two members of the Ancar B Technologies, Paul Binns and Andrew Barnes.

The challenge is 800 miles in 9 days across France from the Port of Calais to the Port of Bilbao in Northern Spain. Again we aim to raise money for Cancer Research and Kirkwood Hospice, both great causes and always in need of additional funds. At present we have 18 cyclists ready willing and most of them able to take on this ride along with a backup vehicle to support them. We are all paying our own way for Ferries, accommodation and transport so all donations go 100% to the designated charities.

Please help support our charities and allocate your donation to Andrew or Paul and leave a message of encouragement.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Port2Port

Port 2 Port Website

Much appreciated

Andy

1. Log onto the Small Business Server as Domain Admin
2. First make a backup fo this file:
   • “C:\program files\windows small business server\bin\webapp\remote\tsweb.aspx”
3. Open Notepad as Administrator (right-click, run as administrator)
4. Select file => open and open the following file:
   • “C:\program files\windows small business server\bin\webapp\remote\tsweb.aspx”
5. Once opened search for this line:
   • MsRdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.RedirectDrives = FALSE
6. You now need to modify this line so it says:
   • MsRdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.RedirectDrives = TRUE
7. Now Save the notepad and close
8. Finally log back into the Remote Web Workplace from any PC and the drive option will be available to be ticked!!

]]> http://www.ancarb.co.uk/blog/2010/06/03/how-to-allow-local-drive-mapping-when-using-sbs-2008-rww/feed/ 0 http://www.ancarb.co.uk/blog/2010/06/03/256-8bit-colour-mode-missing-when-using-remote-desktop-rdp-in-windows-7/ http://www.ancarb.co.uk/blog/2010/06/03/256-8bit-colour-mode-missing-when-using-remote-desktop-rdp-in-windows-7/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:51:04 +0000 rob.jennings http://www.ancarb.co.uk/blog/?p=197 Windows 7 comes with a new version of Remote Desktop which we have noticed no longer allows you to create connections with 256 (8bit)screen resolution.

If you need to create a connection using 256 (8bit) colour mode, follow the instructions below:

1. Open the Remote Desktop icon
2. Create the connection with the required details, computer Name, Username etc
3. Click the options button so you can see the Save option
4. Click the Save as option and Save this to your desktop
5. Open Notepad and then drag and drop the RDP icon onto the newly opened notepad
6. You will now see loads of text, search through untill you see “session bpp:i:16” (the end number could say 8, 24 or 32)
7. Finally edit this so it says “session bpp:i:8” and save
8. now if you double click the saved RDP icon it will connect in 256 (8bit) colour mode!!

• Copy you old NK2 file to %Appdata%/Microsoft/Outlook
• Make sure it has the same name as you outlook profile, to check this go to:

Control Panel => Double click “Mail” => Show Profiles => check what your outlook profile is called

• Now click Start => Run
• Type: outlook.exe /importnk2

This will now have imported all you rold addresses when you start to type an email, however they are not added to the “suggested contacts” list. You will also see you NK2 file has been renamed NK2.old

Well here you go!

Small Business Server 2003

• Post 25 – SMTP
• Port 80 – HTTP
• Port 443 – HTTPS
• Port 444 – CompanyWeb,
• Port 4125 – Remote Web Workplace, Remote desktop from RWW
• Port 1723 – VPN

Small Business Server 2008

• Port 25 – SMTP
• Port 80 – HTTP
• Port 443 – HTTPS
• Port 987 – CompanyWeb
• Port 1723 – VPN

This is caused by a little known issue in Vista where a certain key in the registry becomes corrupted, normally by a 3rd party registry cleaning program.

Anyway, don’t despair, the fix is below:

If your PC is part of a domain and has offline files setup follow Parts 1 & 2, if not head straight to Part 2.

Part 1 – Disable Offline Files:

1. Open the control panel
2. Click on the offline files icon
3. Click “disable offline files” (if it says “enable offline file” click this the click apply then click “disable offline files”)
4. If you get any UAC prompts click continue then click “OK”
5. Finally restart you PC

Part 2 – Amending the Registry

1. Determine your Vista version, 32 or 64bit – Click start, right click Computer, selected properties and check system type on the right
2. Download the “VistaFolderGlitch32.rar” or “VistaFolderGlitch64.rar ” file (depending Vista version)
3. Extract the contents of the RAR archive (use WinRar from www.rarlabs.com) to your desktop
4. Finally run the file, OK the security warning and any UAC messages.
5. Finally reboot the computer and all should be fine

Hosted Sage solutions are not a new concept. For years companies have outsourced their Sage solutions to data farms just like SAP users.

However, due to technology advances and licensing models introduced and developed over the last 24 months, hosted Sage solutions are becoming a much more viable solution.

Ancar B Technologies has been working with major UK Sage Partners in deploying Hosted Sage Solutions for several years in physical environments. However, due to developments in virtualization technology, we also offer solutions within a Private Cloud.

Cost Reductions

Microsoft in recent years released a licensing model that allows companies to “Rent” Microsoft licenses based upon monthly usage which allows for low cost deployment of hosted services and has created the increase in deployment of such services.

Unfortunately, Sage still operates a policy where the software has to be owned by the user outright for its deployment.

So, with the cost savings with Virtualization and the Microsoft License Agreements, the initial Capital Expenditure is reduced to the costs associated directly with the procurement of the Sage software.

Sage 50 to Sage 1000

Don’t forget Sage 200 and Sage Line 500 either! They can all be hosted remotely. Sage 50 can be deployed in a single virtual server config using Server 2008 and Remote Apps to offer extremely cost effective solutions. These are hosted within Ancar B’s “Customer Cloud”.

Larger deployments of Sage are hosted within Private Clouds dedicated for each customer, offering high data security and availability.

Hosted Sage ERP, CRM and ACT!

The benefits don’t just end with the Account ranges. With all the applications now turning into Web Services, the Sage ERP, CRM and ACT! solutions can also be deployed in a virtual or cloud environment.

Read more about Ancar B Technologies Hosted Sage Solutions.

What is it? In brief, backscatter is the influx of Non Delivery Reports (or NDR’s) into a victim’s Mail Server (or MTA).

What is an NDR?

Mail Transfer Agents support a service called Delivery Status Notification (DSN) which allows end users to be notified of  the status of an email, such as the successful or failed delivery of email messages.

A non-delivery report is a status message sent by the recipient or interim email server that informs the sender of a email message delivery failure. There are several issues that can trigger an NDR, the most common are when the recipient of the message does not exist or when the destination mailbox is full.

Smarter Spamming?

Email servers offer a simple measure against SPAM by only accepting emails that have a valid source domain.

i.e. The domain exists.

Spammers are aware of this and have a simple way of bypassing this check which is to mimic email addresses from a valid domain.

Spammers use several methods for harvesting email addresses from the web. One method is the use of “Web Spiders”. Spiders crawl the Internet and web sites for email addresses that can be added to a database to be both a recipient, and used as a valid email address for sending spam.

From SPAM to Backscatter

So now you’re in the database, you’re likely to be targeted for the receipt of SPAM, and unfortunately it’s likely that a Spammer is going to use your email address at some point to send a batch of SPAM emails.

Even though you’re not the true source of the emails, you are the legitimate owner of the “Senders” address. As such any Non-Delivery Report is going to be returned to you.

So depending on the frequency of abuse, or indeed the size of the attack, you could potentially about to receive thousands of Non-Delivery Reports thanks to a spammer.

Can it be stopped?

Unfortunately it is easy to mimic someones email address, however there are measures to firstly prevent you being the source of such a violation, and secondly reduce or prevent the influx of backscatter.

The “Sender Policy Framework” or SPF have introduced additional DNS Records (SPF Records) that allow you to specify who is allowed to send email from your domain (Mail Servers). This way, if an email is received by a mail server from a source other than defined in your SPF record, the connection will be dropped and the email will not be processed.

Note: Googlemail, Hotmail and Microsoft are already implementing policies whereby if an SPF record does not exist, your email may be rejected.

Other options include disabling all catchall or wild-card mailboxes. When this feature is disabled the spammer has to match your exact email address and not your domain, so your mail server will not be accepting non-delivery reports for email addresses which do not exist on your mail server.

It is also recommended that you configure your mail server to reject during SMTP transmission rather than bounce email messages which cannot be delivered. Email servers such as Microsoft Exchange, Postfix, Sendmail and Qmail have patches to improve the behavior to create less backscatter.

A better solution

Using an external host to relay and filter your inbound email can prevent the receipt of SPAM and Backscatter, as well as reduce the loads generated by SPAM on your local mail servers.

Be low are a few more resources to give a little more information on the subject.

The Backlash!

The source of a Backscatter attack is no the SPAMMER, but it is the servers that are not configured to reject emails for invalid email addresses. These servers, although they’re the victim of an actual SPAM attack are now being listed on a UCE Blacklist (http://www.backscatterer.org/), which in turn gets your outbound email rejected due to your server being listed on a Black List.

As you can see, it is important to configure your email and DNS services correctly to ensure your neither the subject of a backscatter storm, nor listed unknowingly in a Blacklist.

Other Resources

Open SPF – http://www.openspf.org/
SPF Record Creator – http://old.openspf.org/wizard.html
Microsoft Sender ID Framework - http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/content/technologies/senderid/wizard/
Reducing Backscatter on Exchange – http://www.avianwaves.com/Blog/default.aspx?id=31