Aleksandar's computer workshop
Let's see what Aleksandar was fixing today.
My findings, tips & tricks related to computers, internet, programming and other stuff I was working with.

NetStumbler under Vista?

May 17, 2008 09:06 by Aleksandar
You don't have Netstubler with you or it does not run on your Vista notebook?
For quick and dirty situations you can do bit of war driving with Vista, too!

Go to a command prompt, type
netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid
You will get all available networks with enough details mostly not available in Vista GUI.

It looks like this:

Other alternatives are:

Vistumbler
URL: http://www.techidiots.net/project-pages/vistumbler
Vistumbler is a netstumbler like program for Vista (or later...maybe).

Features
* Find Wireless access points - Uses the Vista command 'netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid' to get wireless information
* GPS Support
* Export/Import access points from txt file
* Export access point GPS locations to a Google Earth KML file
* Open Source ( AutoIt Scripting Language - http://www.autoitscript.com )
* Change column order, column title, and column width in the 'vistumbler_settings.ini' file
* Change search terms in the 'vistumbler_settings.ini' file. This means Vistumbler should be able to work with other languages. Change searchwords to what they are in the another language, Search terms can be found by running 'netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid' in a command prompt

Inssider
URL: http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider
Inssider is a Wi-Fi network scanner for Windows Vista and Windows XP. Although NetStumbler, the most popular Wi-Fi network scanner, is free, it hasn't been actively developed for years. We heard complaints that NetStumbler doesn't with Windows Vista and 64-bit Windows XP, so we decided to build an open-source Wi-Fi network scanner designed for the current generation of Windows operating system.

Features
* Works with internal Wi-Fi radio
* Wi-Fi network information (SSID, MAC, data rate, signal strength, security, etc)
* Graph signal strength over time
* Open source (Apache License, Version 2.0)


Using NSLOOKUP for DNS Server diagnosis

March 11, 2008 16:28 by Aleksandar

Nslookup.exe is a command-line administrative tool for testing and troubleshooting DNS servers (also known as name servers).

To use Nslookup.exe, please note the following: 

  • The TCP/IP protocol must be installed on the computer running Nslookup.exe 
  • At least one DNS server must be specified when you run the IPCONFIG /ALL command from a command prompt.
  • Nslookup will always devolve the name from the current context. If you fail to fully qualify a name query (that is, use trailing dot), the query will be appended to the current context. For example, the current DNS settings are att.com and a query is performed on www.microsoft.com; the first query will go out as www.microsoft.com.att.com because of the query being unqualified. This behavior may be inconsistent with other vendor's versions of Nslookup, and this article is presented to clarify the behavior of Microsoft Windows NT Nslookup.exe 
  • If you have implemented the use of the search list in the Domain Suffix Search Order defined on the DNS tab of the Microsoft TCP/IP Properties page, devolution will not occur. The query will be appended to the domain suffixes specified in the list. To avoid using the search list, always use a Fully Qualified Domain Name (that is, add the trailing dot to the name).


Nslookup.exe can be run in two modes: interactive and noninteractive. Noninteractive mode is useful when only a single piece of data needs to be returned. The syntax for noninteractive mode is:

nslookup [-option] [hostname] [server]

For example to check all MX records (email servers) for GSMBLOG.COM domain you have to type this:

nslookup -type=mx gsmblog.com

 and it will return something like this:

Server:  speedtouch.lan
Address:  192.168.0.254

Non-authoritative answer:
gsmblog.com     MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail.gsmblog.com

mail.gsmblog.com        internet address = 194.30.175.198

Or to validate the SPF (TXT) record you can use this command:

nslookup -type=txt gsmblog.com

it will return this:

Server:  speedtouch.lan
Address:  192.168.0.254

Non-authoritative answer:
gsmblog.com     text =

        "v=spf1 ip4:194.30.175.0/24 a mx -all"

More details:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/200525

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Using-NSLOOKUP-DNS-Server-diagnosis.html


My favorite password manager

February 29, 2008 21:24 by Aleksandar
KeePass is my favorite password manager. I'm using it for few years now on Desktop and Pocket PC.

In short: free, safe, easy, handy and must have tool!

For more details http://keepass.info/features.html


This copy of Windows is not genuine --> How to disable or uninstall the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications or WGA

February 29, 2008 21:16 by Aleksandar
If on your computer pop up a dialog that says
This copy of Windows is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this
issue. This computer is no longer eligible to recieve select security upgrades from Microsoft. To protect your copy of Windows, you must click Get Genuine now.

you just got "verified" by Microsoft.

To fix the issue you have few options.
Except going to shop, buying new Windows CD and reinstalling Windows you can also try one of these methods:

Save text below into c:\removewga.cmd and run it. Note, close all your applications first because your PC will be restarted when script complete:

move %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.dll %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.old 
move %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.exe %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.old
Regsvr32 %Windir%\system32\LegitCheckControl.dll /u
regedit /D HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\WgaLogon
regedit /D HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\WgaNotify
shutdown /r /t 120
Or try manually as explained here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921914
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Windows-Genuine-Advantage-Notifications


Good luck!

Warning!!!
Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. I cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Use this tip at your own risk!

Tags: ,
Categories: Windows
Actions: E-mail | Permalink | Comments (0) | Comment RSSRSS comment feed