Get your own IPv6 address range

I recently decided to learn about IPv6 and signed up to get my own IPv6 address range. It's all free and your learn loads in the process.

Just visit http://www.tunnelbroker.net sign-up and get learning about IPv6!

They provide a free PPTP VPN tunnel service so you can set your laptop to have its own static IPv6 address no matter where you're connecting to the internet from. Plus you get free DNS management and rDNS too!!!

I have to say, it's pretty cool to be able to give my laptop a static forward and reverse AAAA record.
Oh and if you do it soon you might get a free T-shirt too. Just make sure you put in your correct home address details and T-shirt size in the personal details section. It's all to aid promoting the switch to IPv6.

How to set proxy settings for the LocalSystem and NetworkService accounts

Sometimes you need to set the proxy settings for the System account or NetworkService account on a server. There's a super easy way to do this using bitsadmin.

Set accounts to use a static proxy server with exclusions:
bitsadmin /util /setieproxy localsystem MANUAL_PROXY proxysrv:8080 "<local>;*.consoto.com"
bitsadmin /util /setieproxy networkservice MANUAL_PROXY proxysrv:8080 "<local>;*.consoto.com"
bitsadmin /util /setieproxy localservice MANUAL_PROXY proxysrv:8080 "<local>;*.consoto.com"


Set account to use proxy.pac file:
bitsadmin /util /setieproxy localsystem AUTOSCRIPT http://contoso.com/proxy.pac
bitsadmin /util /setieproxy networkservice AUTOSCRIPT http://contoso.com/proxy.pac
bitsadmin /util /setieproxy localservice AUTOSCRIPT http://contoso.com/proxy.pac

Just replace the blue bits with your own organisations servers and pac file addresses, then run the commands for the relevant accounts you want to change from and administrative command-line window.
More info can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa362813(VS.85).aspx

SafeNet ProtectDrive - using the 16-bit boot loader

We've started using SafeNet ProtectDrive for encrypting all our XP laptops (and Bitlocker for all the rest that are using Windows 7), and occasionally we've found that one or two laptops refuse to get past the 32-bit vxBios boot loader screen. For whatever reason that it happens the temporary way around this is to press the shift key whilst the system powers-on and the 16-bit boot loader will kick in and let you in.

Unfortunately the administration guide for ProtectDrive does not explain how to make the 16-bit boot loader a permanent choice for the few machines that just can't handle the 32-bit loader. So after contacting support and getting the answer I thought I'd post here how to do it to save someone else waiting the usual 6 hours or so before America wakes up and responds to the support query.

To make the 16-bit boot loader the default option when using ProtectDrive all you have to do is boot the machine up using the temporary method (pressing shift whilst it boots) then after logging in drop to the command line and run "setpb /16" from the Tools folder on the original installation media. That changes the mbr to the 16-bit version.
You can also run "setpb /32" to switch back to the 32-bit loader too.

Hope that helps someone!

Direct Links to get Adobe Flash Player and AIR

Adobe have changed things, again, and now you can't get the flash players for IE and FireFox (et al.) as easily as you used to if you don't want to use the terrible DLM system they impose on you - which doesn't work with proxies (fantastic job guys).
And what's the point of a download manager for something that's less than 2MB in size? Idiots.

When you go to get the flash player you'll find the link that used to be at the bottom of the install page which gave you the direct link to the .exe for installing has now vanished. You must go to the troubleshooting page instead, and it's near the bottom of that.

Here's the troubleshooting page: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html

But you don't need that necessarily as the following links are likely not to change since they are generic.
Latest Flash player for IE: download
Latest Flash player for FireFox, Chrome, Opera, etc.: download
Latest AIR player: download

Hope that helps someone :)

Here are the links if you want to keep them somewhere:

http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe
http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/win/download/latest/AdobeAIRInstaller.exe

Hybrid, New Album: Disappear Here

Slightly off the usual topic of my blog - but I am obsessed with the band "Hybrid" (thanks to my friend Dave who originally introduced their music to me) and I have just discovered that they are releasing a new album on 29th March 2010 called "Disappear Here".

The album is available to pre-order on Amazon and there's a really good teaser for it on their site (www.hybridsoundsystem.com).

First impressions... AMAZING! Hints of their original and best quality work with lots of drum and base and their usual thick globules of classical. Fantastic. I can't wait for the release date!

Signing a freeware un-signed app for a Symbian phone

When you install an app on a Nokia phone these days it won't install unless it's been signed with a trusted certificate. Problem is you have to pay to get a certificate you can use to allow anyone to install software. That's why you get a lot of free software for Nokias at the moment that you just can't install because they haven't been signed.

So how do we install the software?! The only easy solution is to get a certificate that only works on your phone, and is locked to your phone's IMEI number. The easiest way to do this is to use a free site in China that will give you the bits you need.

1. Go to http://cer.opda.cn/en
2. Click register at the top right
3. Fill in the details and register
4. Once you've registered click the "My Certificate" link at the top and log in
5. Now click the orange "Apply cer" button near the top right
6. Fill in the details, the only bit that matters in this page is your IMEA number (get it using *#06# on your mobile), the rest of the fields are to help you identify your certificate
7. After clicking the button you'll go to the My Certificate page where you certificates get listed. It'll show your newly applied for certificate and that it's in the 'apply' stage
8. Now go down the shops or play your favourite computer game and wait a few hours. It took about 3 hours for my first one to get approved. Perhaps they're running the system on a 486 or maybe it's a manual approval thing, either way it takes a while. I've heard it 'can' take 24 hours sometimes. So keep coming back every few hours. The site will time our after a little while so you'll need to log in again.
9. When your certificate is approved you will be able to click the "Signing" link on the certificate line that's been approved. You can then upload your .sis file that you want signed and then download a signed version.

Easy! Pity the Symbian Foundation or Nokia couldn't make it that easy.