aTV Flash (Black) 2.0 from FireCore Released

If like me you have the aTV 2 and it is jailbroken then you will probably already know what FireCore's aTV Flash (Black) is, FireCore is proud to announce that Version 2.0 of the aTV Flash (Black) is now available for all you guys and girls that purchased it, it can be downloaded from their site, or you can update on the Apple TV through the Maintenance --> Manage Extras menu.

The All New Library
The new library feature is awesome it will automatically sort all of your media for you even if they are not all in the same location, and automatically organize all your movies , TV shows and Music into easy to navigate catagories.
If you however dont like the new setup you can still use the old way of working as its still there as an alternative option

Sync Options (trakt.tv)
If you have more than one aTV in your house and you have them all jailbroken you will find that the videos that you have watched on one aTV dont show that you have watched them on the other aTV's with this new sync feature it automatically updates all aTV's in the house of which videos you have watched, this is great if you cant remember what episode of your favorite tv show you are upto.

Here is the changelog of the new features that can be seen in the new version.

Full changelog

• Added all-new Library View
• Added integrated media search
• Added trakt.tv 2-way syncing
• Added Last.fm scrobbling
• Added genre/artist based playlists
• Added Recently Added display option
• Improved handling of WTV files
• Improved handling of DVD audio tracks
• Improved AFP connections
• Improved filename recognition
• Improved subtitle handling
• Resolved various navigation issues
• Resolved rare DVD playback issues
• Resolved rare subtitles positioning issue
• Many other minor improvements and fixes

If you're already running a version of aTV Flash (black) you can update right on the Apple TV through the Maintenance --> Manage Extras menu. The new 2.0 version is also available through the Downloads tab in your account.

This will not work on the new aTV 3 but it is in the works for when the new aTV has been jailbroken

You will need to have iOS 4.4 or later on you aTV for this to work

Top 5 Free Windows Programs

Here are my recommendations for the Top 5 Free Programs for your windows computer.
I am a firm believer in everything free and i havent paid for a number of applications for as long as i can remember, below is my list of recommendations for you

1. AVG Antivirus
AVG has been around for a long time and is a well established provider in the market for Antivirus software, i have never paid for any Antivirus software one because its over priced and two the applications that you get in the paid for versions you dont need and they will only slow your computer down. i have used AVG for about 5 years it has never let me down and its free to use. Follow the link below to download it for free

Click here to download AVG Free

2. Malwarebytes
In my blog post which is here i tell you where to get malwarebytes and how to install it, this program is awesome it picks up all the crap that most antivirus programs dont see. this is because about 95% of virus's on computers these days are not actually virus's at all they are what is known as Malware or Spyware, traditional Antivirus programs will only pick up some of these programs as being malicous, this is why i recommend having malwarebytes installed along side your Antivirus and run the two of them daily if need be but generally i would run them once a week to get rid of the junk that you accumulate wjilst surfing the net.

See my Post here about Malwarebytes

3. VLC Media Player
If Like me you have lots of different types of media from MP3's to Videos in all different formats you will already know that Windows Media Player just doesnt quite cut it, if you are wanting a program that will play all your media and more then VLC is the one stop shop for all types of media, if it doesnt play in VLC then it probably wont play anyway, i have used VLC since i started downloading media off the internet, its a great little application and there are many more features of it than just a standard media player.

Click here to download VLC Media Player

4. Open Office
We All know that Microfot Office is way Overpriced and doesnt come preinstalled on your shiney new computer 9 times out of 10 you will either get the 60 day trial or the home student edition which is usually missing the programs that you need, Open Office is the Free alternative to the entire Microsoft Office suite and it can even open all the documents that have been created within Word, Excel and all the other programs, there are a few pre-requisits that you need to have in order to isntall Open Office but these come with the installer itself.

Click here to download the Open Office Suite

5. IrfanView
IrfanView is a image Editing program that allows you to open a wide variety of images and includes lots of features for editing your photgraphs which include the following, Thumbnail option, Painting, slideshow, toolbar skins, fast directory browsing, batch conversion/editing, multipage editing, file search, change color depth, scanning, cut/crop, IPTC edit, capturing, lossless JPG operations, effects, watermark image option, ICC support, EXE/SCR creating. This program does just as much as what some top priced applications do and its all for free.

Click here to download IrfanView

Cisco IOS - MOTD, Exec and Login Banner

There are a few banners that you can have on your Cisco router, Login Banner, MOTD (Message of the Day) and EXEC Banner.

These banners have been put onto a Cisco 857 Rotuer but the code should work on most cisco routers that have the CLI.

Message of the Day (MOTD) - Shown before the login prompt. For temporary messages that may change from time to time, such as “Router1 down for maintenance at midnight.”

Login - Shown before the login prompt but after the MOTD banner. For
permanent messages such as “Unauthorized Access Prohibited.”

Exec - Shown after the login prompt. Used to supply information that
should be hidden from unauthorized users.

I have all three banners on my rotuer the MOTD banner, Exec banner and Login Banner, i did this just for an example of how to create them and also because they look great.

They are really easy to do, follow the steps below to enable the banner you want to put onto your router.

Exec Banner
Login to your router via console cable or via telnet
Type enable and then enter
Then you need to go into config mode by typing "conf t" and enter.

Type banner exec $ (the $ can be replaced by any symbol but you must not use it in your banner as it is used for symbolysing the end of your banner).
I save my text that i want to input in a notepad file first, so that i can manipulate it easier then i copy and paste it in line by line.

When you have finished make sure that you put in the $ symbol or the same symbol that you used in the start of the code and press the enter key followed by "end" to exit config mode then "wr" to write the config back to the router.



MOTD Banner
Login to your router via console cable or via telnet
Type enable and then enter
Then you need to go into config mode by typing "conf t" and enter.

Type banner motd $ and the press enter (the $ can be replaced by any symbol but you must not use it in your banner as it is used for symbolysing the end of your banner).

I save my text that i want to input in a notepad file first, so that i can manipulate it easier then i copy and paste it in line by line.

When you have finished make sure that you put in the $ symbol or the same symbol that you used in the start of the code and press the enter key followed by "end" to exit config mode then "wr" to write the config back to the router.




Login Banner
Login to your router via console cable or via telnet
Type enable and then enter
Then you need to go into config mode by typing "conf t" and enter.

Type banner login $ and the press enter (the $ can be replaced by any symbol but you must not use it in your banner as it is used for symbolysing the end of your banner).

I save my text that i want to input in a notepad file first so that i can manipulate it easier, then i copy and paste it in line by line.

When you have finished make sure that you put in the $ symbol or the same symbol that you used in the start of the code and press the enter key followed by "end" to exit config mode then "wr" to write the config back to the router.

Annoying Popups and General Crap on your computer.

Do you ever get popups and general crap on your computer, i have just the program for you, its FREE yes FREE !!!!! and it works, just as long as you remember to keep it up to date, its called malwarebytes and can be found at http://www.malwarebytes.org.

If the site does not look as the image above then you will more than likely have some fake antivirus software already installed ( you may need to get the download files on another computer) if it does look like this one above then click on the "Free Download" button, you will be taken to another site which keeps the installer file, normally the CNET Downloads site, and download the setup file.
Once it has finished downloading then you just need to run the file and install it onto your computer
double click on the setup file and select English as your language and click on OK.
 
You will now be told what version you are installing, the version i have in the images is 1.62.0.1300, Click on the Next button.

Make sure that you check the two boxes to accept the license agreement and also accept that you will only use this program for non-commercial use.

Then hit the next button

Hit the next button again

Keep the Default install location and then hit next again

Hit the next button again

Leave the default settings again although you could choose to create a Quick Launch Icon (this is the little icon next to the Start button)

Click on the Install Button

To enable it stays free please make sure that you un tick the Enable Free Trial box and leave the other two ticked and click on finish.

Let it update and then once it has finished the program will open up itself.

Once it has open simply choose a Quick Scan and then press the Scan button and wait for it to finish

If you have any crap in there it will come up and tell you like the image above to remove them tick the box next to each one and then hit the Remove Selected Button and you will be Malware free.

If you still feel like you have crap on there then repeat the process again and Remove and Reboot.

Cisco IOS - Tips

If you have a Cisco 857 router and a vpn setup, you may notice that you can connect to the vpn but may not be able to connect to servers and other resources internally, i had a problem where i wanted to be able to connect to my server from both externally and internally when on my vpn.

To achieve this you need to setup Bypass NAT and attach it to your ACL

I did this by doing the following.

I first setup my ACL so that i had access to the local network when on the VPN

access-list 100 deny ip 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255 192.168.5.0 0.0.0.255
access-list 100 permit ip 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255 any
access-list 110 permit ip 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255 192.168.5.0 0.0.0.255

Make sure to add the deny statement first.

I also added a 3rd access-list number 120 for matching ip address's for the route-map i was about to create 

access-list 120 permit ip 192.168.2.0 0.0.0.255 192.168.5.0 0.0.0.255

Once i had this in place i setup a Route-map and named it Bypass-NAT

route-map Bypass-NAT deny 10
match ip address 120
!
route-map Bypass-NAT permit 20

Once i saved all the above settings i then added two more extendable entries into my firewall as per below

ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.2.120 5800 122.***.***.*** 5800 route-map Bypass-NAT extendable
ip nat inside source static tcp 192.168.2.120 5900 122.***.***.*** 5900 route-map Bypass-NAT extendable

I added in my route-map for this to be accepted you have to put in your external IP, once you have put in the rules connect to your VPN and try to connect to the server check to see if this works, then also disconnect and try connecting back to the server but this time using your external IP address. the above rule is for me to connect to my laptop using VNC which works on the private IP when on the VPN and also the Public IP when im not on the VPN.

I have also used these settings on my work Cisco 881 Router.

MYOB Printer #5 Error

I was using MYOB Premier V19 the other day and when i went to print something and this error came up.

It was an easy fix all i had to do was to check that the default printer was set to a real printer and not a PDF printer or a network printer with a UNC path, once you have set the default printer close down MYOB and open it again, it should work this time.

Outlook Disconnected from Exchange Server

The main issue that i have come accross when outlook is disconnected is that the exchange database is not mounted, this usually occurs when the server has been rebooted and it hasnt succefully re mounted the database to check this firstly RDP into the exchange server, login with the admin username and password.
Click on start and then select Exchange Manangement Console

Once it has opened you will need to click on Microsoft Exchange On-Premises > Organisation Configuration > Mailbox

On the first tab you will see Database Management and the databases listed as the picture above, if the Mailbox Database is not mounted it will say either (Unknown or Dismounted) in the Mounted column, to mount the database you need to select the Mount Database option from the menu on the right hand side (this appears where Dismount Database is in the image below) then choose the database and select ok.

You should then ask the Users to close and reopen outlook for them to get onto their emails.

Granular restore using CMDlets in sharepoint 2010

This one is a very simple task, if you have ever come into work one day and your sharepoint server has decided to crap itself (Its a Microsoft Product they usually do at some point), you may need to do a command line restore of your backups
Login to your Sharepoint server via RDP or if you can get to the terminal itself then jump on the keyboard and open up the Sharepoint 2010 Management Shell.

Type the following text into the CLI (restore-spsite -identity http://site to restore to -path \\the backup file you want to restore.bak)

Then Press the Enter Key
You will be asked to Overwrite the existing site that is currently there Choose Y and hit enter

More than likely it will come back with an error stating that the site already exists and cant be overwritten like the image below

What we need to do is force the overwrite to do this simeply add -F to the end of the script like below
restore-spsite -identity http://site to restore to -path \\the backup file you want to restore.bak -F and press Enter

It will then ask you to Overwrite again so press Y and Enter again and the restore will start

It will take a while if you sharepoint sites are pretty large like mine are, just leave the window open in the background and when it has finished it will tell you as per the image below.

Sharepoint "Additions to this Web site have been blocked."

I was at work the other day when i recieved a call from one of my colleagues, they informed me that they could no longer make changes to a sharepoint site, all staff had access to edit and post new items.
I loaded up the site and the first thing i loaded up was the permissions options for the site, straigh away i noticed there was something wrong as my login was the sharepoint farm admin and all i could see was the image below

I initailly thought that someone had changed ther permissions for everyone, i went to the public document library to try and upload a file and i saw the image below.

I did a quick google search but that came up with millions of pages none of them linking me to what i was looking for, i soon relaised what it was, i noticed on the server that for some reason my backups for the sites were still running, they should have finished over night which led me to believe that they had stopped working for some reason, as soon as i saw this i knew what the problem was, the site had become locked for editing.

I connected to the Sharepoint server via RDP and opened up Central Administration, from there i went into Application Management then to Site Collection Quotas and Locks, i selected the Site Collection at the top and changed the option from Read-Only to Not Locked and clicked on OK and the site was working as normal again.

This problem usually appears when the backups are either running or have failed and let the Read-Only flag on the site.

MAPI was unable to load the information service gsync.dll issues with outlook and Google Apps Sync

Google Apps Is an awesome free service (up to 10 Email address's) for business email, there are tons of features that you can normally only get with an Enterprise level System like Microsoft Exchange, except its all hosted in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection.

I have myself moved over to Google Apps and found it to be a very good service, i am used to using the Gmail interface as i have had a Gmail account since it was first introduced back in 2004 when a friend invited me to check it out, but most people are familiar with the Microsoft Outlook setup and this can still be used with Google Apps although there are a few steps you need to follow in order for your newly created mailbox to load up next time you reboot your computer or close and reopen Outlook.

This works for both Outlook 2007 and 2010, on windows platforms i have not tested with Office for MAC.

1) Click on Start and right-click "Computer" and choose properties

2) Click the "Advanced system settings" tab


3) Click Advanced Tab
4) Click "Environment Variables"

5) In the lower box, double-click "Path"

6) remove the \ at the end of the google app sync directory (you may also see google apps migration instead)
7) Click "OK" until all of the dialogs are closed
8) Open Outlook