Aaron Tiensivu's Blog

This new package creates a mouse scheme called "XsX - Alpha Blended with Shadows" on installation.

This is practically identical to the original package, except that a mouse shadow has been added to the actual cursor files.

Why was this done? The option of Enable pointer shadow does not function for 32-bit RGBA cursors in Windows XP and Vista.

The shadow effect was added by yksyks from the DonationCoder.com forum - read the original forum discussion here.



You can download the brand new package here.

No need to worry about manually installing any .inf files. Just run the program and follow the prompts! I embedded the Vista UAC elevation manifest so that limited rights users under Vista are properly prompted for elevation.

If you downloaded the Xmas edition of the XsX cursor package on Xmas day, you most likely downloaded a file named xsx-alphablendedcursors-v1.1.exe. I fixed this soon after by editing the original blog post and filename to xsx-alphablendedcursors-setup-v1.1.exe. You might be wondering why I would do something like that.

The main reason is due to UAC heuristics built into Vista. If you launch a program with "install" or "setup" somewhere in the name of the executable, most of the time Vista will ask you if you would like to run the program with elevated rights. I say "most" of the time because application builders can override this behavior if they want, which brings me to the overall reason of this post.

If you ran the original Xmas release as a standard user under Vista, the installation of the cursors would fail due to a lack of permissions to write to %windir%\Cursors.

Even though UAC heuristics are nice, if you rename the package to not include 'setup' in the filename, we are back the original issue. I figured I would use this as an opportunity to show people how to fix the problem a better way.

You can create a .manifest file to describe to the OS how to handle executables, among other things. Some people might remember using .manifest files to enable XP themes under XP for non-XP programs. With Vista, you can also tell the OS if the program needs administrative rights or not.



I wanted to keep everything wrapped up as single package, and I didn't want people to have to download more than one file. Instructing people to download a .manifest file didn't appeal to me. Thankfully, you can embed the manifest into the executable by using a program that is included in the Windows SDK, called mt.exe.

I was able to embed the manifest by running "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin\mt.exe" -manifest xsx-alphablendedcursors-v1.1.exe.manifest -outputresource:xsx-alphablendedcursors-v1.1.exe

The path to mt.exe will change depending on what version of the SDK you have installed. In my case, I have the Vista SDK (v6.0A) installed.

Using Resource Hacker, you can see that mt.exe has inserted the manifest file as a resource inside the executable.



As of a few days ago, I updated the v1.1 executable package to include the manifest file, so that normal users under Vista will be prompted for elevation properly, even if the setup file is renamed.

Hopefully people will find this information helpful, because you can use this technique as a 'shim' for abandoned/unsupported applications under Vista without using the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT).

If you want to read more about this or see other examples, check out the sites here, here and here.

I've seen this problem a few times and ended up uninstalling the Rescue and Recovery program out of frustration. Basically, from time to time, the tvtsched.exe process would get stuck in a loop and use close to 100% of the CPU.

The update to fix the issue is available from here, and applies to Rescue and Recovery versions 3.1, 4.0, and 4.1.

A few months ago, I blogged about a change in behavior of the Printer Spooler in Windows 2003 SP2 which can mark printers offline when they are actually online.

With KB 946198, you can restore the Windows 2003 RTM/SP1 behavior by setting the SNMPLegacy DWORD registry setting to 1, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print.

Please note that this only works after you apply KB 946198. The registry setting did not exist until KB 946198 came along.

Improvements

1. Improvements to package upgrade when importing upgraded sequences into the SoftGrid Server Management Console Snap-in.
2. Improvements to package downgrade operation.
3. Improvements to non-paged pool usage when sequencing large applications.
4. Improvements to sequencing of applications that use both Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.
5. Improvements to command-line parameter handling of virtualized child processes.

New capabilities

1. Microsoft SoftGrid now provides support for the MSI Utility for Microsoft Application Virtualization.
2. Microsoft SoftGrid now supports SoftGrid Server components running under WOW64 on 64-bit Windows.

Read more about the 4.1 SP1 Hotfix Rollup 1 from here and the 4.2 SP1 Hotfix Rollup 1 from here.

On a good note, a childhood friend is on CNN's site here (Walter Braunohler).
On a bad note, he is a spokesperson for the US announcing the death of one of his coworkers.

I was helping my father-in-law get on our home wireless network tonight and needed to find updated Broadcom drivers for his wireless adapter built into his HP/Compaq laptop.

Despite what the site might say for his laptop model, the most recent generic build of the 802.11b/g drivers seem to be located here. As usual, the "branded" OEM drivers are lagging behind, but the funny part is, this is coming from an HP page for wireless printers.

Even though they say they are for Windows 2000, they also include versions for Windows XP and Windows XP 64-bit.

Build date seems to be from late 2007 with a version code of 4.170.25.12.

Once the drivers were updated from a build from 2004 to these, and the WPA2 hotfix for XP was installed, things seemed to work very well.
WPA2 is excellent, especially combined with a RADIUS server.

Thanks to Luc notifying us in the original post - you can read about the fix/workaround here.

An official fix for the Family Safety binaries is due in January 2008, but in the meantime, you can download the registry workaround here.

If you are curious what the .REG file does, it is modifying the behavior of the Browser Helper Object's interaction with Explorer.exe.

Read about it here.

A quick run down:
1. Install the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0.
2. In the Start menu, locate the Compatibility Administrator inside the ACT folder. Right-click it and Run as administrator.
3. In the left hand pane, right-click on the database under Custom Databases and select Create New, and select Application Fix.
4. Enter the name of the application you want to alter and browse to it to select it.
5. Click Next until you are in the Compatibility Fixes screen.
6. On the Compatibility Fixes screen, find the item RunAsInvoker, and check it.
7. Click Next and Finish.
8. Select File and Save As. Save the file as appname.sdb in a directory you will easily find it.
9. Copy the appname.sdb file to the Vista computer you want to alter the elevation prompt behavior on.
10. Click Start>All Programs>Accessories. Right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.
11. Run the command: sdbinst appname.sdb

It should display: Installation of "appname" complete.

It looks like this only occurs on heavily loaded servers but it is worth noting that there is a patch from McAfee for it already.
You can read the MS KB article on it here and read the McAfee article on it here.

The fix has been rolled into VSE 8.5i Patch 3.

When implemented correctly, the SNP is a win for performance and scalability. The SNP used to be an out-of-band download for Windows 2003 SP1 and then was integrated into Windows 2003 SP2. Unfortunately, most problems, especially related to Exchange servers, with SP2 have been due to buggy networking drivers.

In the past, the NDIS drivers were tied to one CPU. The SNP opens up processing to multiple CPUs. I suspect, but have no proof, that most of the problems we have seen with SNP has been due to older driver code not being very SMP safe. It reminds me of the nightmares I had with the SoundBlaster Live on multi-CPU machines under Windows 2000 and XP.

Anyway, as noted here, the Broadcom cards, which typically were the worst offenders, have updated drivers that finally have decent SNP support. You no longer have to 'cripple' your networking stack to keep your server stable.

A snippet from that updated post:
Previously I did not mention what network cards were affected, but the majority of the cases that we have seen have dealt with Broadcom cards or network cards that have a Broadcom chipset in them.

Broadcom has provided an update to their drivers and can be downloaded from here that helps resolves the issues with these offloading feature problems. To determine if you have the correct update, you need to check the version numbers to ensure they are 3.7.19 or later. Anything lower than that does not have the fixes in them. ExBPA is being updated with a new rule to detect if the Scalable Networking pack features are enabled on the server.

NOTE: Before updating directly from Broadcom's site, I would recommend checking with your Server manufacturer first before applying the update directly from Broadcom as this may affect your ability to apply updates directly from each vendor in the future using their integrated update utilities.

Currently there are only a handful of manufacturers that have updated the drivers on their sites, but over time, you will see the updates available for downloading.

I have personally dealt with cases that having the Scalable Networking features enabled with the latest drivers have not caused any connectivity issues to/from Exchange servers, so you can now take advantage of these features that may help increase overall network performance on your servers.

I was able to add this through the online chat support on dishnetwork.com.

As seen on FatWallet:

Deal details

To be eligible to receive Cinemax for the next 12 months for just a penny you have agreed to sign up for AutoPay with Paperless Billing. You will continue to receive Cinemax for 12 months for a penny until January 31, 2010 as long as you keep AutoPay with Paperless Billing. If you remove AutoPay with Paperless Billing you must call within 30 days to remove Cinemax from your account to avoid the $5 downgrade fee and to avoid paying normal price for Cinemax programming. Annual Cinemax for a penny does not package with other premium channels, such as HBO, Showtime, or Starz.

I've updated the XsX Alpha Blended cursor package with my time off for the holidays.
You can grab the updated package here.

The installation procedure is much easier! Just run .EXE and follow the dialog prompts. It asks if you want to install the cursors and if you want to set them as your current mouse scheme. VERY EASY!

Note: You'll want to run the program with Administrative rights or else the install will fail.

Changes

#1. It is no longer a 7-Zip self-extracting .EXE - this was the most problematic aspect of the original version.

#2. Through the magic of IEXPRESS.EXE bundled with XP and Vista, it is a self contained package that asks if you want to install the cursors, and if you want to set them as your current mouse scheme.

#3. I didn't include the normal cursors this time around. I am mainly testing this new deployment method. I am leaving the old .ZIP file around for those that want it. I do know there is one cursor missing for the normal cursors, but that was missing in the original package from 2001. If someone can create a replacement, I'll include it in the next version and give them credit.

Known issues

#1. Not an .MSI package. I have a 99% working .MSI package but the last 1% is a release blocker.

#2. If you run the .EXE, tell it to install, and the cursors are already installed on your PC, Windows will ask if you want to overwrite the cursors. I'm not too worried about that.

#3. No automated uninstall. The unreleased .MSI package has an uninstall routine. It is pretty easy to add uninstall entries for the current .INF/.EXE installation/uninstallation method.

Future plans

#1. Finish/fix the .MSI package so that it installs and uninstalls correctly.
#2. Create an uninstall routine for the .INF/.EXE version.
#3. Create a stub .EXE that calls SystemParametersInfo SPI_SETCURSORS to remove the AutoHotKey dependency.
#4. Include smaller versions of the icons for low resolution monitors.
#5. Include the shadow-enabled cursors if they let me.

Resources used to create this release

AutoHotKey
Portions of Farhan Ahmad's excellent AHK script
Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK)

For those wondering what I am talking about overall, see my previous entry here.

Many people use their computers for important work, but sometimes it is nice to kick back and get a little goofy. I can see many prank uses and legitimate uses for this software. Fun to play with.

Originally spotted on Matt's site.

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