07 Jun 10 PDF conversions from Office Applications vice versa

Normally, we use PDF because they act like a photographic memory of a document and very much portable. From security point of view, they are secure, compact and do not execute anything. Above all, it can be viewed freely and fast. So, as far as I am against with Steve Jobs, I think Adobe is going onto right direction.

My professional involves giving support and I just wanted to share with you some of the adobe services.

Anyway, if you want to convert PDF files into text files or html files. Here are quick ways to do so, this is actually for those who mainly use email to transport files and documents.

* For conversion to plain text, e- mail the PDF file to pdf2txt@adobe.com
* For conversion to HTML, e-mail the file to pdf2html@adobe.com

All you need to do is, just simply attach the file and send to the email address above, if your conversion is successful, it will return with successful file and replied mail. It’s just as easy as chips.

For those who obtain files via Web Browsers, I think this would be more suitable method. Just go to

Online conversion tools for Adobe PDF documents

It is actually an online conversion tools that are already available on the Internet.

And another product I wanted to introduce after I tested several free PDF creators and readers, I finally have my say to all those free PDF creators/writers version. And I finally pick

Nitro PDF for reader and writer module. It is compact, about 22.6MB only, yet it has several great stuff that can simply match Adobe Acrobat Professional in many ways. Of course, you can’t beat Adobe Acrobat Professional, but isn’t it fantastic when you spend nothing and can use almost as same as Adobe product. So, basically you can do everything about PDF with these applications and email address, because it’s really working out well with me.

Thanks for reading.

Tags: compact, conversion, doc, docx, Linux, Mac, pdf, security, tips, Windows

25 May 10 Avira AntiVIR tips for all Windows OS

Many people love Avira AntiVir software. It’s comprehensive, It is awesome and it is easy to use. There is only one huge drawback from the software, the free version’s annoying message that is popping up so frequently every time we update or use the scanner.

So, as usual, I had to look around online and see what is the solution for this problem and I got it fixed. I am very happy with this and I wouldn’t want others to miss as well.

Windows 2000 / Windows XP Pro

• Go to Start > Run.
• Type gpedit.msc and click OK.
• Navigate through User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
• Double click “Don’t run specified Windows applications”.
• Enable it and click show.
• Add “avnotify.exe”.
• Click OK on all open windows.
• Restart your computer and it is done .

Alternate:

• Start > Run: secpol.msc (You can also access this program through ‘Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy’ this is useful if it is easier the location of this rather than the file name)
• Right click “Software Restriction Policies,” Choose “New Software Restriction Policies.” (Skip this step if there are subfolders in Software Restriction Policies already.)
• Right Click “Additional Rule” folder > New Path Rule.
• Where it says Path, Type the path of avnotify.exe on your computer, or use the Browse button to find it. (On XP64 using a default install of Avira, the path is: (C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe)
• Make sure the “Security Level” Dropdown menu is selected as “Disallowed”
• If you would like to make sure it went through correctly, open the Additional Rules folder, and verify the path and security level.
• Oh, enjoy after you restart your computer..

———————————————————————–
Windows XP if you have multiple users or using AD

• Boot into Safe Mode.
• Log into an account with administrator privileges.
• Open [driveinstalledon]:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic.
• Right click on avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security > Advanced.
• Click on Edit-> Traverse Folder / Execute File-> deny-> OK.
• Repeat for all users.
• Reboot your computer normally.

another alternative solution is

• Run the command “cacls “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Avira\Insertpath\avnotify.exe” /e /d Everyone” to change the rights without restarting. Everyone can be exchanged with another user account when needed, but it is not totally guaranteed compared to do for all the users.

———————————————————————————————-
Windows 7 or Windows Vista Business/Ultimate
1. Open the control panel through Start > Control Panel.
2. Go to Administrative Tools > Local security policy.
3. Click on Software Restriction Policy > Action > Create new restriction policy.
4. Right-click, and go to additional rules > new path rule.
5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\ and double-click avnotify.exe.
6. Set the security level to Disallowed.
7. Click apply and OK. Restart the computer.
——————————————————————————
Windows Vista Home 64-Bit

• Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avnotify.exe for the current version, 9. For earlier versions, go to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe.
• Right-click avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security.
• Under the group or username SYSTEM, click edit.
• Put a checkmark under the DENY column for “read and execute”.

———————————————————————————–
Windows Vista Home 32-Bit
1. Go to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avnotify.exe for the current version, 9. For earlier versions, go to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic\avnotify.exe.
2. Right-click avnotify.exe and go to Properties > Security.
3. Under the group or username SYSTEM, click edit.
4. Put a checkmark under the DENY comlumn for “read and execute”.
——————————————————————————-

So, that is all about it, I must admit, I got this from various sources, blogs and forums, I am sorry if this looks unethical to some of the software developers, but I think if we really love particular software, we always buy it. It applies for me at least. On the other hand, this is quite a big of annoying with too much pop-ups. So, my recommendation is “Please buy the license edition” if you like what they offer in FREE version. That is how software companies can survive as well. I embraced all the people who are using free or limited version compared to using pirated versions.

Any comments or suggestions, you are always welcome to leave so.

Have a good one.

Tags: 2000, 2003, ads, advertisement, annoying, avira, nagging, pop up, upgrade, vista, windows 7, xp

24 May 10 How to find Make, Model and Serial Number on your computer or server

Well, as I have mentioned before, I would introduce another category on my blog, because my profession is actually sometimes linked with computer tips and tricks. I was thinking about naming tips and tricks and now here it is.

Nowadays, all over the world, we no longer use much of clone computers, because brand name computers are as cheap as clone computer. Moreover, branded ones can customize the specifications so easy, some companies even offer you online customizations. Anyway, having a computer means we sometimes run into some computer and hardware/software issues more or less & it is important to know the make, model and serial number of the hardware components of the computer to provide to the supplier or the company. Because sometimes you are at remote connection or lost your labels on your machine or calling to customer support, you will more or less need to identify what product or model is you are referring to.

This applies only in Microsoft Windows machines

1. In the command dos prompt… (start) and (run) and type “cmd”
“wmic bios get serialnumber”

In addition, You can use the command “wmic csproduct get name” to retrieve the local computer model or brand in same command DOS prompt.

2. Using a vbs script: you can use notepad in your windows and Save as “getSN.vbs” after you copy and paste into notepad that’s bold letter below. And then after you save it, just double click it to display on your screen.

On Error Resume Next
Dim strComputer
strComputer = InputBox(“Enter the name of the computer:”)
Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:” & “{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\” & strComputer & “\root\cimv2″)
Set colSMBIOS = objWMIService.ExecQuery (“Select * from Win32_SystemEnclosure”)
For Each objSMBIOS in colSMBIOS
MsgBox strComputer & “: ” & objSMBIOS.SerialNumber
Next

Well, that’s all about it, it’s pretty neat and useful for me. I know people will need to use this command because it will come in handy one way or another. Oh, Another reminder, this is only for windows based computer. Below are the operation systems that are applicable to commands and script above. Hope you find this blog post useful and I too hope to post more useful stuff like this in the future as well.

Above commands and script are applicable in.

• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems
• Windows Server 2008 Standard
• Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V
• Windows Web Server 2008

Tags: computer, model, Number, serial number

21 Apr 10 Windows XP System Restore

System Restore Problem arises sometimes especially when you had virus cleaned up or scanned.

Regarding your “system restore” unable to check, you may try the following.

To boot in to Safe Mode:

1. Go to Start>> Turn off computer>> Restart.
2. When you see the Computer Logo screen, please press F8.
3. Using the arrow keys, highlight the option ” Safe Mode  or Safe Mode with networking” , then press Enter.

To enable/disable system restore:

1. Go to Start>> Control Panel
2. Double click the System icon
3. Select the System Restore tab
4. Place a checkmark in the box titled: Turn off System Restore on all drives. To turn the feature on, remove the checkmark.
5. Click OK

It is pretty easy but sometimes we just missed the fact that we can use SAFE MODE to restore and fix alot of things.

Tags: safe mode, xp

02 Apr 10 How to remove autorun.inf virus and Search Engines

This post is probably not suitable for my blog but I was hoping people will find this useful when they have a similar problem with me. I actually wanted to say that I am very pleased with Yahoo! Answers with this issue.

Needless to say, my computer was infected with autorun.inf which will auto run their affiliate file name called affi8l.exe. Fortunately, my anti-virus program could find out easily the exe file and remove it right away though I cannot remove autorun.inf and that file has been annoying for a few hours. So, I finally do web search and after 6-7 search engine results, I must admit it was pretty much disappointing as I could not find the correct solution. I was about to feel Google is no longer dependable on search results. And at the eighth link, I finally found the solution on Yahoo! Answers, and that answer was in fact easier to find in Yahoo! search engine. My point is, Yahoo! sometimes provides better search results and relevancy despite Google has been the number 1 search engines for ages.

So, I will directly quote from Yahoo! Answers referenced to here. Thanks to the original person who answered this perfectly.

You can boot up your PC in safe mode command prompt.

unhide the autorun.inf
c:\attrib -r -s -h autorun.inf

rename it the autorun.inf to txt
c:\ren autorun.inf to autorun.txt

create a FOLDER call autorun.inf to prevent re-infection
c:\mkdir autorun.inf

find out the virus file name
c:\type autorun.txt

It may show something like this

[AutoRun]
open=virusname.exe
shellexecute=virusname.exe
shell\Auto\command=virusname.exe

unhide the virus
c:\attrib -r -s -h virusname.exe

remove the virus
c:\del virusname.exe

del the autorun.txt
c:\del autorun.txt

Keep the autorun.inf folder to prevent future infection

Below is quoted from the website “Virus Removal Guru”

Affi8l.exe is a dangerous file which creates activities on a user’s computer which may be highly undesirable. This file is totally unsafe.

Type: Trojan Virus (Click Here To Learn More)
Location: C:\Affi8l.exe (Click Here To Learn How To Locate)
Risk Level: Moderate (Learn More About Risk Levels)

Affi8l.exe has been identified as a computer virus. The file is generally bundled with another trojan virus, herss.exe, and additional files which include cvasds0.dll, cvasds1.dll, and cvasds2.dll.

As a conclusion, nowadays, search engine world is pretty much monopolized and we don’t seem to bother about it. And this is probably one of the very few times I gave credits to Yahoo! Search in past 9 years.

Tags: google, search results, yahoo