Alexander’s Blog

A lot of people use Secunia’s online software inspector to inspect operating system and software for insecure versions and missing security updates. Although you may not see older versions of Adobe Flash Player in Add/Remove Programs, Secunia’s inspector detects the older version and informs you of the risk. You can get rid of the older versions by following the technique described below.

Find out where the Flash Player ActiveX control is installed. Thanks to Secunia’s scan, it tells you exactly where the file is installed, as shown in the graphic below.

The file is called flash.ocx if you are using Flash Player version 6 or later. For version 5 or earlier it is called swflash.ocx.  Here are the default locations for the file.

C:\Windows\System\Macromed\Flash for Windows 95, 98 and WinME
C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Flash for Windows NT and 2000
C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash for Windows XP and Vista

Sometimes you may see the file name to be something like flash9b.ocx, so you might want to look for all files that end with extension .ocx. For example, you may find a file located at C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\Flash9b.ocx.

Keep in mind that there are still some other locations that these players are installed. For example, Dreamweaver installs it in the location where your Dreamweaver is installed, such as : Dreamweaver\Configuration\Plugins\NPSWF32.dll.

A lot of vendors want to install software on your computer either without your knowledge, or they bundle other “junk” software with useful products and it gets installed often without user’s knowledge. Both Apple and Adobe are notorious for their “junk” software installation. For example, you may also find a version installed with Adobe AIR in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\NPSWF32.dll. Why? Because Adobe bundles Adobe AIR with Acrobat Reader. Luckily, Secunia’s report will give you all the details you need. Here’s the step-by-step procedure to get rid of the old versions of Flash Player ActiveX controls.

Step 1

Locate the Flash Player version that you want to remove. Once you’ve located the file, use regsvr32 to unregister the ActiveX control. For example, to remove Flash9b.ocx, go to Start, Run and type regsvr32 “C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\Flash9b.ocx” /u. You should see the following message.

If there are other versions you need to do the same for all other versions. Remember to use quotes if there’s a space in the file path. For example, to unregister the DLL installed by Adobe AIR type regsvr32 “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\NPSWF32.dll” /u because there are spaces in the path.

Step 2

After the ActiveX has been successfully unregistered, locate the file .ocx and delete it.

Step 3

Locate the .inf file associated with the Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX control (swflash.inf) and delete it. In the Adobe AIR example I gave in step 1, I would delete the entire folder 1.0 under Versions.

Step 4

Restart the computer.

Once you’ve removed old versions successfully, you should run Secunia’s inspector again to verify the removal.

Based on what I see in various forums, there is a lot of confusion on setting up POP3 on Exchange Server 2007 in general. One common error that is mentioned a lot is:

550: 5.7.1 Unable to Relay

This is not the only scenario that you will see the above error. There are a lot of other scenarios as well. However, I will address one particular situation here.

Problem:

Users are unable to use Outlook 2007 or Windows Mail to send out messages (or reply to the messages they have received). They get the above error.

Explanation:

Here is the scenario:

You have a single Exchange Server 2007 running on a Windows Server 2003 Domain Controller. All the latest service packs and updates have been installed.

1. EXTERNAL USERS: You are able to receive e-mails sent to your POP3 accounts from the external users but you cannot send out e-mails to them, or reply to their messages. You get the “Unable to relay” error.

2. INTERNAL USERS: You are able to send & receive e-mails to other users on your internal network using POP3 from Outlook 2007, Windows Mail and OWA.

You are able to send & receive messages to internal & external users when using OWA because you are not using POP3 when you use OWA. This may be the temporary workaround that you are using because you can ‘t use POP3 to send out messages to external users.

Solution:

1. Go to Hub Transport under Server Configuration in Exchange Management Console.

2. On the Receive Connectors tab double-click the Default connector.

3. On the Permission Groups tab make sure that your Exchange Server has the following boxes checked:

- Anonymous users
- Exchange users
- Exchange servers

4. On the Authentication tab, make sure that you uncheck the box under Basic Authentication that says “Offer Basic authentication only after starting TLS.”

5. Restart Hub Transport service.

6. On the Outlook 2007 client go to the properties of the POP3 account. Click on More settings. On the Outgoing Server tab check the box “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication”.

If you are using Windows Mail then the option is available on the Servers tab. Go to the properties of the POP3 account and check the box that says “My server requires authentication.”

Again, keep in mind this is not the only solution to this error. There are too many other possibilities and it’s almost impossible to cover them all but I am addressing one particular situation that you may find helpful.

In SharePoint there are lots of different ways to perform a specific task. One day I needed to change the port number for a site that I am hosting on the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. I was told by someone that the only way to do that is to use STSADM tool. I figured I will find a way to change it in the GUI first and if that doesn’t work then I will try STSADM. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of deleting and recreating the site. Here’s what I found out I could do within the GUI to change the port number of a site without recreating it. Thanks to Jaap Steinvoorte for this tip.

Let’s assume your current Web application is called WEBAPP1 and it’s using port 12345. Create a new Web application WEBAPP2 that will use port 22222. Extend WEBAPP1 using port 12345 without any host headers to WEBAPP2 using port 22222 with a host header. Delete the old WEBAPP1 using SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration site. You should now be able to use the new Web application with the new port number.

NOTE: If you are using ISA Server to publish the Web site you will need to update your ISA Server rule.

If you’ve configured your SharePoint site with a specific URL (host header), e.g. http://webportal and then later decided that you want to change it to another URL, such as sharepoint.seattlepro.com, you can use the Alternate Access Mapping feature of Microsoft Office SharePoint  Server (MOSS) 2007. Here’s how.

1. Start SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.

2. Click on the Operations tab.

3. Under Global Configuration section click on Alternate access mappings.

4. Click on Show All in the upper right-hand corner and then click on Change Alternate Access Mapping Collection.

5. From Select An Alternate Access Mapping Collection window, click the URL that you would like to change, e.g. http://webportal.

6. Click Edit Public URLs.

7. Change the URL listed in the Default box to the one you want. For example, change it from http://webportal to http://sharepoint.seattlepro.com.

8. Click Save.

9. The next step is to update the information in Internet Information Services (IIS). Start IIS Manager. In our example, we will assume you are running IIS 7.

10. Highlight the Web site whose URL you want to change.

11. In the Actions pane click Bindings (or right-click the Web site and select Edit Bindings).

12. Highlight the entry in the Edit Site Binding window and then click Edit.

13. In the Host Name box enter the new URL that you would like to use. For example, sharepoint.seattlepro.com.

14. Click OK, then click Close.

15. Go to the command prompt and run iisreset to restart Internet services.

16. You should now be able to use the new host header and access the site with the new URL (e.g. http://sharepoint.seattlepro.com).

NOTE: If your Web site needs to be accessible from the Internet and you are using Microsoft ISA Server, or another firewall, you need to make sure that you update the DNS server and the ISA Server rule that allows you to access the Web site from the external network. For example, you need to add a host record for sharepoint.seattlepro.com in a DNS server that is accessible from the Internet and add the URL sharepoint.seattlepro.com on the Public Name tab of the ISA Server rule that is publishing the Web site.

Using Alernate Access Mapping to Configure a Different URL for Internal Use

If you want to use a different URL for the intranet site internally (e.g. http//intranet), you can add that URL in step 6. On the Alternate Access Mappings page, instead of clicking on Edit Public URLs, click on the link Add Internal URLs. In the Add Internal URL box type the URL that you want to add, e.g. http://intranet, then click Save. You still need to go to IIS Manager and in step 13 add a Site Binding for intranet. Your site bindings will look like this.  Notice that you don’t need to type http:// in the Host Name box. Simply type the host header that you want to use (in our case its intranet).

Make sure you don’t forget step 15 after modifying the bindings. That’s it. Now your users can access the intranet site internally by typing http://intranet and externally by typing http://intranet.seattlepro.com.

This is one of many examples of how Alternate Access Mappings can be used in MOSS 2007. It demonstrates how the end user may type a different URL to access the site then the URL that is received by the Internet Information Services (IIS). With Alternate Access Mapping you can also associate multiple internal URLs with a single public URL, using one of 5 different authentication zones: Default, Intranet, Internet, Custom, and Extranet.

It’s no surprise that Microsoft is working hard on improving its search services. They’ve got loads of information on TechNet and MSDN sites that is searched by thousands of people each day. I heard that Microsoft has been working on its search for some time now so I figured it’s worth checking out. So, for the past 10 days I decided to use TechNet Search & MSDN Search exclusively to see if they are any good. Here’s what I discovered.

First of all, I should point out that both TechNet Search and MSDN Search are powered by Microsoft’s Live Search. However, that doesn’t mean that you should expect the same results from all three. They may be powered by the same engine but depending on which of the three searches (Live, TechNet, or MSDN) you use, the results you get are very different. Live Search results are more generic in nature, while TechNet and MSDN Search results are more targeted.

To prove this point do a search on a topic, for example Web Management Service on Live Search, TechNet Search, and MSDN Search. You’ll see exactly what I mean. Now, one might expect Microsoft to do a better job at searching their own Web site but that has not always been the case so people are naturally suspicious when it comes to using Microsoft’s search engine. Even the folks at Microsoft, at least in the past, have been using Google as their primary search engine. But that might be changing now. Microsoft has made some major enhancements in its search engine and I thought I should definitely take a closer look.

I decided to give TechNet/MSDN Search a try with an open mind. As I mentioned, I have been using it for the past 10 days and I must admit that I am impressed enough that I have added TechNet/MSDN Search to my primary browser (Mozilla’s Firefox).

Adding TechNet/MSDN Search to Your Browser

You can add TechNet/MSDN Search to your Internet Explorer browser by clicking on the link Get our search on either TechNet Search or MSDN Search page. You could also use the drop-down box in the upper right hand corner but using the Get our search link is much quicker. The TechNet Search is shown in the screen shot below. You will be given the option to make TechNet Search your default search by checking a box. Unlike other vendors, like Apple, who forces you to install iTunes, even if you were only interested in installing QuickTime, Microsoft was kind enough to let us decide what we want to do……simply add the search or add it and make it the default.

If you are using a Firefox browser, go to TechNet Search or MSDN Search page and then click on the drop-down button in the upper right-hand corner. You will see the option Add “Search Msdn”, as shown below. Don’t forget to first go to the Search page or else you will not see TechNet or MSDN listed in the drop-down box.

Cool Features

I discovered several nice things about TechNet/MSDN Search that are worth mentioning. You have the ability to refine the search by topic or source, which I really like. The auto complete is yet another useful feature (Google refers to this feature as Suggestions). I am also pleased with the overall speed at which TechNet Search displays the results. However, compared to Google I believe Microsoft is slightly behind in this aspect, but not by much. The lack of ads is another major reason why I decided to make TechNet/MSDN Search my preferred search for Microsoft-related topics. Do I prefer Live Search over Google? No! Not yet at least. Do I like TechNet/MSDN Search enough to use it and to recommend it to my students and other colleagues for Microsoft-related searches? Absolutely!

Room For Improvement

There is definitely room for improvement. The refinements could use some refinement. Autocomplete is good but needs to get better. The areas that Microsoft needs to work on the most to become a serious player in the search business are quality/relevance of hits and speed. One thing that I would like TechNet/MSDN Search to do is to offer better hits when searching for error messages. Unfortunately, when I used Event Viewer error messages in my search the results were disappointing. Another thing I would like Microsoft to improve upon is that the Search needs to be more forgiving and flexible. I discovered that unless you type the words in a way Microsoft Search expects, you may not get good results.

Let’s look at some specific examples. While working at a client’s site, I used copy and paste to search for an Event Viewer error message “Security policies were propagated with warning. 0×57:The parameter is incorrect.” TechNet Search found no results, while Google had dozens of hits and I found the answer on the very first page. At another time I was searching to find an answer with an issue in Exchange Server 2003. I typed “Exchange 2003 last logon by field”. TechNet Search had 49 hits but none of them were really relevant because I didn’t use the words “logged on by.” The first two hits on Google were pertinent. But when I typed the words “Last logged on by”, Google came up with several hits and the hits were okay but TechNet’s search results were excellent with far better results. That’s what I mean by TechNet Search not being too forgiving. Hopefully, over time these issues can be corrected.

One of the major challenges that Microsoft faces is to convince the general public that Microsoft’s Search is a viable contender in the industry and therefore it deserves a serious consideration. TechNet and MSDN’s enhanced search is a good place to start.

NOTE: TechNet/MSDN Search is designed to search information only on Microsoft’s Web sites and therefore ideal for searching only Microsoft-related technical data. You might want to keep that in mind when you compare it to Google or other search engines. If you want to search the entire Internet, Microsoft offers Live Search as an alternative to Google and Yahoo.

Conclusion

Overall, I am quite impressed by Microsoft’s efforts to enhance TechNet/MSDN Search. There are several reasons why I find TechNet/MSDN Search more appealing than Google for Microsoft-related topics.

Among other things, TechNet/MSDN Search:

- Has a cleaner look and feel
- Is fairly fast (but could use some improvement)
- Is very readable
- Is quite easy to use
- Contains links for the next page(s) on top (in addition to the bottom)
- Lets you refine searches by topic or by source……very cool!
- Let’s you add RSS feed with one click of an RSS feed button
- Unlike Google, no distracting ads plastered on the search result pages

Obviously, at this stage I haven’t used TechNet/MSDN Search for very long and my findings are based on a relatively short time frame of experience but here’s what I find very interesting. When Microsoft gets serious about something, watch out! There are numerous examples that can be cited. Internet Explorer was not a serious contender in the days before the browser war began. Netscape, the only player in town at one time, is now only mentioned in the history books. Why? Because Microsoft got serious about its browser.

Going back even further in time, Microsoft had hoped that NetBEUI would be the protocol of choice for everyone. When the rest of the world didn’t like Microsoft’s idea and TCP/IP also became the protocol of choice for the Internet, Microsoft got serious and made tremendous improvements to the TCP/IP protocol suite. Since then perhaps Microsoft has made more improvements to the TCP/IP stack than anyone else in the industry. It’s this “getting serious” business that should be noticed. Sure, there are other signs that you can point to (like efforts to acquire Yahoo) that one might think that Microsoft is willing to invest heavily to compete with Google in the search war. But it’s what Microsoft has done with the TechNet/MSDN Search that makes me want to believe more that Microsoft is really getting serious about this search business. Talk is cheap, actions speak louder. And that is bad news for Google.