System Admin

Re: Wireless router usually interrupted it signal

19-Dec-05 14:28

Dave Kreskowiak wrote:
Could this be because of your ISP?

No it could not. Because this router also has 4 port to share to a PC wich use RJ-45 connection. I already test it, while the connection of wireless disconnect the connection on RJ-45 port is working well at the same time. I will try move my router to far away from the monitor whether the monitor is turn off.

Thank you very much for your comment.

Mekong River13-Feb-06 5:37

Run batch file in IIS6 Win2003

13-Feb-06 5:37

Hi, now i also find the solution. I have check its website and found the solution in FAQ. There many people that have the problem like i describe above. The reason is because of i enable WEP security setting. When i enable this security it make the signal is heavy and easy to disconnect around 10mn. So in order to solve the problem, the company ask to disable WEP security and use the filtering option in the router which allow only computer which as the specific of MAC address to access the connection to the router.

Thank you very much for your support before.

VK-Link15-Dec-05 4:05

VK-Link

15-Dec-05 4:05

Hi - I am trying to run a batch file from the web, which worked well in windows 2000, iis5.

We migrated to Windows 2003, IIS6 - and now the same web page comes back with a 404 error message - page cannot be found.

These are more like cmd or exe files.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Re: Run batch file in IIS6 Win2003

VK-Link15-Dec-05 5:49

VK-Link

15-Dec-05 5:49

This article helped me solve the problem - only the cmd files. Still issue with .exe files.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/848968f3-baa0-46f9-b1e6-ef81dd09b015.mspx

Working of Windows Update

HakunaMatada13-Dec-05 22:16

13-Dec-05 22:16

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how Windows Update works? I mean how does it update the operating system, what type of files does it download and how the updates are seen in the Add-Remove programs dialog?

Anyone -- Help Cry | :((

Bikash Rai

Ray Cassick14-Dec-05 6:42

14-Dec-05 6:42

As far as I know the update files themselves are just Windows installer MSI files or exe files. They are downloaded to the machine and then run silently to install the update.

If the autoupdate wizard is activated the files are downloaded using BITS and then installed when you shut down and restart the system. If you have autoupdate activated you will see a new option on the shutdown screen that says 'install updates and shut down'.

I don't think there is very much magic here aside form the BITS implementation.

George Carlin wrote:
"Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things."
Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote:
If the physicists find a universal theory describing the laws of universe, I'm sure the a**hole constant will be an integral part of that theory.

My Blog[^]

HakunaMatada14-Dec-05 17:10

14-Dec-05 17:10

Yes I admit, read about the BITS implementation and its truly great, but the sad part, it doesn't work with winME and lower. Any free implemention similar to BITS but for WinME and lower?

Also, It does download MSIs, I think, but how the heck does it update the OS with MSIs. I want this in my own application but have no clue how to go about doing it.

Can you help? Sigh | :sigh:

Bikash Rai

Ray Cassick14-Dec-05 17:30

14-Dec-05 17:30

The problem there is that none of Windows desktop versions (95, 98, ME, SE) supported the concept of background services at all. All you had here were things that would run in the system tray.

The server OSes (Windows NT, 2000, 2003) and XP do support them.

I don't think there would be anything from stopping you from writing an app that does what BITS does and setting it up to run in the system tray. Well, nothing aside form the fact that some of the older OSes do not support the .NET run time an way.

Updating the OS is nothing new. The MSI file (or EXE file) gets run in a silent mode (no UI) and then you are prompted to reboot when you need to.

What is it that you are exactly trying to do here?

HakunaMatada14-Dec-05 17:58

14-Dec-05 17:58

Thank you for the prompt reply. Its people like you, willing to help others, which makes the programming world a better place to code in. Smile | :)

Well, I do know that the MSIs can be run in Silent mode using the /q option but how do you create an update for an application using MSIs? I googled and found out that patches for applications can be made (.msp) but to use an MSI means to reinstall everthing. Now how do I use an MSI to reinstall everthing with the applciation running? Also, I would not want to package the whole application in the MSI, just the updates or patches. Of course, I could just download the changed files and update the application, but I would like to do this through a MSI file or an installation file.

Can you help? Sigh | :sigh:

Bikash Rai

Ray Cassick14-Dec-05 18:16

14-Dec-05 18:16

Aw shucks

If you are creating the installer for your application part of that will have to be knowing how to handle cases where you try to copy a file over where one exists already and get an error showing that it is already in use. This is why installers tell people that they need to reboot after installing an update, to allow the files to be copied upon reboot before the application has been started up again.

This is typically done by the installer writing a small batch file on the fly that shows where files need to be copied (and from where - like a temp area) then placing a reference to the batch file into the Windows registry in the RunOnce key. The idea behind this key is that any executable file listed here is run on the next reboot, but Windows knows that (because it is called the RunOnce key) that once this file is run the reference to it is removed (so it is not run again, and again, and again...)

Doing all this is something that you need to manage in what ever tool you use to write your installations. Usually tools like Installshield and such handle this for you.

You could also have the installer look to see if the application is it trying to update is running and then either warn the user to close it first and retry the install or just close it yourself and restart it when your installer is done.

Until Windows Vista arrives, no matter what you do you will always have to deal with files that are in use and figure out what to do. Vista will have some things in place to handle this a bit better so you should not have to reboot as much as you do now, but until then you are on your own as to what to do. Depending on what you are updating (user level application or a system service or device driver) you will need to deal with files that are in use.

Personally, if you are updating something like a system service you can always just tell the user that you have to stop the service to do the update, then use the SCM APIS to stop the service, install the new files and then restart the service. Just keep in mind things like user security levels (The person running the update might not have the same security access as the person that installed the service in the first place so you might not be able to do this.

When I do updates, if I am just updating one file I only write that one file to keep the installer small. I know other people that install an entire new version of the application and only change one file. Again, it is up to you.

Good luck...

HakunaMatada14-Dec-05 18:38

14-Dec-05 18:38

Hi Ray,

Thanks a mil. Smile | :)

Just one small question though. Supposing I update the application using the method you told me, and it replaces the file in question, will the update be visible in the Add-REmove programs list. Supposing I add a new dll file to the update which was not there during the original installation, will the original uninstaller be able to detect the addition of the new dll file and do a clean uninstall? I want the original installer to detect the changes made by the updates. Also is it possible to make the updates visible in the Add-Remove programs so that the updates can be removed by the user if he/she wants?

Lastly, I am using VS.NET 2003 and the installer I use is the one that comes with VS.NET 2003.

Sorry for the volley of questions and thanks for helping. Smile | :)

Bikash Rai

Ray Cassick14-Dec-05 18:51

14-Dec-05 18:51

The installer engine should be taking care of listing things in the add-remove programs list for you. That is what the installer engine in there for. Also, managing what happens upon un-install should be managed by that as well.

To be honest I have never looked into how the engine does it though so I am not sure how it knows what files to put back if you un-install an update that had replaced files.

I have seen some installers explicitly ask you where you want the originals backed up and then they create that folder and copy the original files there but I am not sure if that is just the fault of their installer engine or not.

If you make the updates visible on the add remove list then why worry about if the original installer will remove files that you added ad updates. Typically installers will NOT touch files, folders or registry entries that they did not put there. They do this to make sure that they do not inadvertently remove a file that they are not supposed to (like a users data file). This is how systems can get cluttered with 'stuff' after an application is un-installed. This is what system cleaners take care of.

HakunaMatada14-Dec-05 18:55

14-Dec-05 18:55

Thanks Ray.

Any idea about the AVG Antivirus and where it stores it scheduled update information.

Bikash Rai

Ray Cassick14-Dec-05 19:13

14-Dec-05 19:13

Nope, but I bet using Filemon from Sysinternals.com[^]and a few trys watching the update run I could find out.

Applications like that typically have their own custom updating schemes though. My quick guess is that they do one of the following:

1) Create a folder in user isolated storage, download the updates there and then put the files (uncompressing where needed) into the proper spots, then stop and restart their service...

2) Download the updated signatures and stuff into a temp folder in the temp directory and deal with them form there.

HakunaMatada14-Dec-05 19:23

PerfMon: Where are my counters?

14-Dec-05 19:23

Thanks Ray. You have been a great help.

Bikash Rai

Salil Khedkar12-Dec-05 23:49

Salil Khedkar

12-Dec-05 23:49

If you visit ‘Add Counter’ window in (WinXP) perfmon and select the ‘Memory’ performance object, you see several counters in the list below. Available bytes, Cache bytes and so on.

But for some reason my machine (WinXP) shows only one counter in this section. It happens to be ‘Available Mbytes’, only one entry. I have no idea where the others have gone. Frown | :(

I need to restore the default counters for ‘Memory’ performance object because I am working on a project which reads values of some of the counters I mentioned above. The code always fails on machine throwing an exception ‘instance name xxx is not valid for this counter category’

Can somebody help regarding what I can do to restore default performance counters? Confused | :confused:

Salil Khedkar [^]

Record user sending mail

Mekong River12-Dec-05 22:09

Re: Record user sending mail

12-Dec-05 22:09

Hi, in my small office use dial up networking to connect to the internet. But we use outlook express in order to send and receive mail. Because this computer are used by many people, what i want is to record the log of every sending and recieving e-mail. For example: Send From/To e-mail address, size of message, name of attachment file, subject and the period of sending or recieving e-mail. Is it possible to do that?

Saksida Bojan14-Dec-05 19:58

Saksida Bojan

14-Dec-05 19:58

You can use GMail service. You need to set options to allow POP trafic. And when you do it you can use gmail with outlog. To see email send and recived you need to log on gmail account with browser and look in Send folder and you cann look under all mail. When outlog download an email from gmail, then the mail would not be deleted but it would store in all mail.

ps: To store the message you need to configure POP server to store it.

Re: Record user sending mail

Mekong River14-Dec-05 20:30