Install The GIF Support On To Your Windows Machine

More often than not, Windows users can get frustrated when they find that they can’t open up the files that have a GIF extension. GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format and Windows won’t be able to open these files if the graphic design program associated with these files got uninstalled from or has never been installed on your system. This will leave you in no man’s land for you won’t be able to access these GIF files stored on your computer without the help of that particular graphic design program. Luckily, it’s not difficult to bring back the graphic design program back to your system. Follow these instructions drafted by the Windows support and research crew to have your issues fixed.
Instructions
Microsoft Internet Explorer
o Pick out the GIF file from the folder where it is stored and access the "Properties" tab by right clicking on that file.
o Go to the "General" tab tag along to the "Change" tab.
o Launch the "Microsoft Internet Explorer" by hitting on the IE icon.
o Mark the check box that lies next to "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" and hit on the "OK" tab to imply the changes brought in.
Microsoft Paint
o As we did before, get to the GIF file and right click on it to bring on the "Properties" tab.
o Pick out the "General" tab move towards the tab portrayed like "Change".
o Launch the "Microsoft Paint" application by navigating to the "C:\Windows\System32" inside the "Browse" Windows and click on the "mspaint" tab twice to bring it in to the spot light.
o Leave a check mark beside the tab "Always uses the selected program to open this kind of file" and hit the "OK" tab to entail the modifications done.
Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery
o Go to the location where the GIF files are stored and click on a particular file and right click on it again to bring on the "Properties".
o In the "General" tab opt for the "Change" tab.
o Launch up the "Windows Live Photo Gallery" application on your Windows machine.
o Tag along the check box leaving behind a cross mark right next to "Always uses the selected program to open this kind of file" and tag along "OK" to bring on the changes made,
No more worries, all the GIF files stored in your computer can be now accessed. For more information, get in touch with the Windows tech support team.

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Interact Intranet: Automate the Extraction of Binary Profile Pictures for use in Active Directory

Active Directory can be used as a central repository for the storage of profile pictures.  This source can then feed email, CRM, intranets, messaging and other enterprise software.

Unfortunately, there isn't an out of the box way for users to add these photos directly to Active Directory (as far as I'm aware!) so some trickery needs to happen to get this all to work.

This blog post will explain how we extract user profile pictures from our Interact Intranet environment and then upload them to Active Directory.

Step 1: SQL query to identify users and their pictures

Microsoft recommends square profile pictures with dimensions of 96x96.  Interact conveniently already thumbnails pictures into preset sizes.  After testing, we found that their 4th size, 75px width, has sufficient clarity when used in Active Directory, which allows us to export pictures without the need for programatic image manipulation.  Note: If you do want to investigate image manipulation you might start with a library like ImageMagick.

select PERSON.NTUsername, ASSET_INSTANCE.BinaryData
from PERSON
INNER JOIN ASSET_INSTANCE
on PERSON.AssetID=ASSET_INSTANCE.AssetID
Where PERSON.NTUsername != 'ARCHIVED'
and PERSON.AssetID is not NULL
and AssetSize='4' 

Step 2: Export pictures to a file path

Below is the code that is triggered though a nightly job to extract the binary data from the database and convert it into files at the designed path.
Credit for this code, and pulling this project together, comes from coding ninja extraordinaire Matt Chiste from Integryst who was able to complete the development in less time than it took me to write the requirements!

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data;
using System.IO;
namespace PicExporter
{
    class Program
    {
        static string connString = "Data Source=<redacted>;Initial Catalog=<redacted>;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=<redacted>;Password=<redacted>";
        static string cmdString = "select PERSON.NTUsername, ASSET_INSTANCE.BinaryData from PERSON INNER JOIN ASSET_INSTANCE on PERSON.AssetID=ASSET_INSTANCE.AssetID Where PERSON.NTUsername != 'ARCHIVED' and PERSON.AssetID is not NULL and AssetSize='4'";
        static string folder = "pics/";
        static string FILENAME_EXTENSION = ".jpg";
        static int FILENAME_INDEX = 0;
        static int BINARY_INDEX = 1;
        static string PROP_FILE = "picexporter.properties";
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.Out.WriteLine("START: " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
            // vars
            string filename;
            loadVars();
            // set up the connection
            SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connString);
            SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
            SqlDataReader rdr=null;
            try
            {
                // run the command
                conn.Open();
                cmd.Connection = conn;
                cmd.Parameters.Clear();
                cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
                cmd.CommandText = cmdString;
                rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                // iterate the users
                while (rdr.Read())
                {
                    // write to the log
                    Console.Out.Write("Extracting user: " + rdr[FILENAME_INDEX].ToString());
                    // get the byte array for the image
                    Byte[] b = new Byte[(rdr.GetBytes(BINARY_INDEX, 0, null, 0, int.MaxValue))];
                    rdr.GetBytes(BINARY_INDEX, 0, b, 0, b.Length);
                    // write rest of line to the log
                    Console.Out.Write(" (" + b.Length + "bytes)");
                    // check existing file
                    filename = folder + rdr[FILENAME_INDEX].ToString() + FILENAME_EXTENSION;
                    if (File.Exists(filename))
                        Console.Out.Write(" [UPDATE]" + Environment.NewLine);
                    else
                        Console.Out.Write(" [NEW]" + Environment.NewLine);
                    // user names prefixed with the domain will have a \ in them.  Need to make sure the full folder path is created
                    if (!Directory.Exists(Path.GetDirectoryName(filename)))
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("Creating Folder: " + Path.GetDirectoryName(filename));
                        Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(filename));
                    }
                    // write the file
                    FileStream fs = new FileStream(filename, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
                    fs.Write(b, 0, b.Length);
                    fs.Close();
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.Out.WriteLine("EXCEPTION: " + ex.Message);
                Console.Error.WriteLine("EXCEPTION: " + ex.Message);
            }
            finally {
                // close the connections
                if (rdr != null)
                    rdr.Close();
                if (conn != null)
                    conn.Close();
            }
            Console.Out.WriteLine("FINISH: " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
        }
        static void loadVars()
        {
            string propFile = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "\\" + PROP_FILE;
            string line, name, value;
            StreamReader file = null;
            // Read the file line by line
            try
            {
                file = new System.IO.StreamReader(propFile);
                while ((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        name = (line.Substring(0, line.IndexOf('=')));
                        value = (line.Substring(line.IndexOf('=')+1));
                        if (name == "connString")
                            connString = value;
                        else if (name == "cmdString")
                            cmdString = value;
                        else if (name == "folder")
                        {
                            folder = value;
                            if (!Directory.Exists(folder))
                            {
                                Console.WriteLine("Creating Folder: " + folder);
                                Directory.CreateDirectory(folder);
                            }
                        }
//                        else
//                            Console.WriteLine("ignoring property: name: " + name + ", val: " + value);
                    }
                    catch (Exception)
                    {
                        // ignore line without "="
//                        Console.WriteLine("ignoring line: " + line);
                    }
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.Out.WriteLine("ERROR READING " + propFile + ": " + ex.Message);
                Console.Error.WriteLine("ERROR READING " + propFile + ": " + ex.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
                if (file != null)
                    file.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317016

Step 3: Import pictures to Active Directory

The following powershell script runs through a scheduled job.  The job searches the folder we have extracted photos to for newly modified photos and then calls the script, which matches the filename of the photo to the network User Name and then uses native Active Directory APIs to add the image to the user’s profile.

param($Identity,$Path);
# Import a .jpg into Active Directory for use as the Exchange/Outlook GAL Photo
# For best resultsL <10kb files, 96x96 dimensions
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.Admin
if (!$Identity)
{
    throw "Identity Missing";
}
if (!$Path)
{
    throw "Path Missing";
}
if (!(Get-Command Get-User))
{
    throw "Exchange Management Shell not loaded";
}
$User = Get-User $Identity -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if (!$User)
{
    throw "User $($Identity) not found";
}
if (!(Test-Path -Path $Path))
{
    throw "File $($Path) not found";
}
$FileData = [Byte[]]$(Get-Content -Path $Path -Encoding Byte -ReadCount 0);
if($FileData.Count -gt 10240)
{
    throw "File size must be less than 10K";
}
$adsiUser = [ADSI]"LDAP://$($User.OriginatingServer)/$($User.DistinguishedName)";
$adsiUser.Put("thumbnailPhoto",$FileData);
$adsiUser.SetInfo()

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How to Set Password on Your Windows XP

Windows XP is the most popular operating system in the world. It has got a number of unique features, which make it a favourite to all. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it is the release of Windows XP that made Microsoft the world’s favourite OS provider. Windows XP support also assists us with a lot of supporting software that make our jobs easier.
Security Features
Another important feature of windows XP is that, it secures the data of its users efficiently from threats like viruses and unauthorised use by others. Windows XP support includes firewall and other options to protect from various malware and the most laudable security feature that makes your computer ultra secure from unauthorised use is the setting up of passwords.
If you are using Microsoft Windows XP Home or Professional versions, you can set password to keep your computer account safe and secure. But if there is only one account in your Windows XP, that doesn’t really demand setting up of password. However, if there are multiple accounts, you will need to set up password for your account. Try the following steps to reset the password of your computer account.
Steps to Follow
• First, you have to reboot your computer and keep pressing the F8 key while rebooting the windows. You will get access to the Windows Advanced Options Menu.
• You can see the Safe Mode option in the Windows Advanced Options Menu. Using your computer keyboard’s arrow keys navigate to Safe Mode and press Enter key.
• Go to Start menu of your computer and click on Run to open another window.
• In the field provided in the new window, type mmc and click OK so as to access the Microsoft Management Console.
• By clicking the small + symbols on the left hand side of the window, you can increase the number of Local Users and Groups.
• In the expanded Local Users and Groups, click on Users.
• Then right click on the Administrator and click on Set Password.
• Set your password there and save it. Now that you have set up your administrator password, your account cannot be accessed anymore without entering the right password.
Hope the steps to set administrator password was helpful. Set one now and secure your PC.

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Hide Content Based Upon Iframe Parent

Some web sites use iframes to display information from other web servers.  This is a practice that is generally frowned upon yet is a necessary evil sometimes.

I work on an employee intranet where we need to display content from another internal server.  The problem is that sometimes our employees access the site from off of our domain where they don't have access to the internal server.  To get around this issue I've created an extremely simple javascript snippet which can be added to the page to hide the content and display a message to the user explaining why they can't see the content.

I'm posting it here as a reference for myself and in case someone out there needs something like this!

<div id="whatever">Your content</div>

<STYLE type=text/css>
   .hidden { display: none; }
</STYLE>

<script type="text/javascript">

   function referrerCheck()
   {
      var mapReferrer = document.referrer;
      var mapDiv = document.getElementById('content');

      if(mapReferrer=="http://this is the URL calling the iframe")
      {
         mapDiv.className='unhidden';
      }else{
         mapDiv.className='hidden';

      }
   }

   referrerCheck();

</script>

How it works:

1. All of this code goes onto the page which calls the iframe.
2. The div at the top is where your iframe goes - what you want to hide if folks are off the domain.
3. The style section sets the stage for what you want to happen if folks are off the domain.  In this case we want to not display the entire div.
4. The javascript runs the referrerCheck() function which grabs the document.referrer which is the page that calls the iframe.
5. The getElementById functions gets the div object so that its class can be manipulated.
6. The If condition then determines whether or not the referrer is on or off domain and sets the class accordingly.

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