Alexander’s Blog

The Internet offers wide appeal to people with disabilities. But many of those same people find it frustrating or impossible to use a handheld mouse. Software developed at the University of Washington provides an alternative using one of the oldest and most versatile modes of communication: the human voice.

Vocal Joystick detects sounds 100 times a second and instantaneously turns that sound into movement on the screen. Different vowel sounds dictate the direction: “ah,” “ee,” “aw” and “oo” and other sounds move the cursor one of eight directions. Users can transition smoothly from one vowel to another, and louder sounds make the cursor move faster. The sounds “k” and “ch” simulate clicking and releasing the mouse buttons.

Versions of Vocal Joystick exist for browsing the Web, drawing on a screen, controlling a cursor and playing a video game. A version also exists for operating a robotic arm, and Jeffrey Bilmes, a UW associate professor of electrical engineering, believes the technology could be used to control an electronic wheelchair.

Read the rest of the story and watch the video here.

I recently ran into this situation where I had to configure a Windows XP computer located on an internal network behind a Windows Server 2003 running Routing & Remote Access service to connect to a Cisco VPN. After installing the Cisco VPN on the client the computer was not able to establish a VPN connection from the internal network. However, outside the internal network the connection worked fine. The Windows Server 2003 was configured as a router and the Windows firewall was enabled. I noticed that the firewall was not configured to forward the port required to establish a Cisco VPN connection. I configured the proper port (TCP port 10,000) and the client was able to connect successfully.

I should point out that this scenario doesn’t apply to only the situation I just described, it also applies to situations where computers are located behind a DSL or cable modem and are trying to use Cisco VPN client for VPN connectivity. The following procedure describes configuration of Routing and Remote Access on Windows Server 2003 to add a custom port for Cisco VPN. You should check your router documentation for specific instructions on how to configure ports on the router.

1. Start Routing and Remote Access management console on your Windows Server 2003.
2. Select “NAT/Basic Firewall” under IP Routing.
3. In the details pane on the right-hand side, right-click the network interface that is connected to the Internet and select Properties.
4. Click on Services and Ports tab.
5. Click the Add button and type a description of service, such as Cisco VPN.
6. Make sure that TCP is the selected protocol and then type “10000″ without the quotes in the Incoming port and Outgoing port boxes.
7. In the “Private address” box type the IP address of your external interface that is used to connect to the Internet. Do not use the IP address shown in the sample graphic because it is used only for demonstration purposes.
8. Click OK twice to close all boxes and exit the management console.

Your users should be able to connect to the Cisco VPN now. There is no need to reboot the Windows Server 2003.

The Windows Security and Directory Services for UNIX Guide focuses on the use of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server Active Directory directory service to provide centralized authentication and authorization services for users in a network that includes both UNIX-based and Windows-based computers.

The Windows Security and Directory Services for UNIX Guide provides guidance in selecting the best solution to meet the authentication and authorization needs of your organization. The guide also explains the best practices and the major issues that you are likely to face as you implement the solution that is most appropriate for your organization.

Click here to download this complete guide from Microsoft.

Most Windows XP computers run close to 80 services. You’ll be amazed how many extraneous services are running on a typical Windows XP computer that aren’t necessarily required for day-to-day operations. The list of services required on a Windows XP corporate client will differ from the services required on a home PC. On an average Windows XP computer you may only need to run about 20 services. Running fewer services will conserve memory and other system resources which will result in better performance, faster speeds, and more reliable operating system.

Here’s a list of various services running on a typical Windows XP computer and some advice on how you can tweak your system by properly configuring the services. For simplicity, we will only discuss Windows XP Professional (and not the Home edition of Windows XP). If you have a choice between running the Home edition or Professional, always choose the Professional edition.

There are lots of articles on the Web that document the type of Windows XP services tweaks listed in this article. Be cautious when you start implementing suggestions listed in any article, including the one you are reading. What works for me and for someone else may not work for you. If you are unsure, leave the service to its default setting. I’ve seen several articles on tweaking XP services but I do not agree with several of the recommendations listed elsewhere, so I came up with my own recommendations. One Web site called blkviper.com has devoted a lot of material to this topic and the information is much more accurate than the other Web sites. Even though his suggested actions may not totally agree with mine, you’ll find lots of additional useful information on his Web site, including XP Home Edition and gaming configurations.

Before we look at the services and discuss any details, you should document the status of all your current services. If you get unexpected results after tweaking your system, you should set the settings back to the original configuration. If you don’t feel comfortable with the description and the purpose of a service, consider modifying one service at a time and observe the system behavior before making massive changes to your operating system. You can access the Services Console either by typing services.msc at Start, Run or through the Administrative Tools folder.

You should be aware that when you disable certain services you may get errors in the Event Viewer. If the errors bother you, consider either setting the service to Manual or to Automatic until the error disappears. Along with the name of the service, the description, and the recommended action, you will also notice the short name for the service. This can be useful if you decide to script to disable or stop certain services. For example, create a script that disables all the unnecessary services on your corporate Windows XP clients. You may also stop, start, pause, or continue a service using the “net” command at the command prompt.

Caution! You should always backup your Windows XP computer before making any changes to the services. For more information check out the article Automated System Recovery and System Restore in Windows XP.

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Universal Groups in Windows Server can be useful. However, they also have a couple of drawbacks. One downside is that the Universal Group membership is kept in the Global Catalog servers. In a multiple domain environment, when a user try to logon to the domain the Global Catalog server has to be available to enumerate the Universal Group membership. This can be an issue when users are logging on in a remote site with slow or unreliable connection. Without the Global Catalog server they cannot logon. By caching the Universal Group membership on a Domain Controller in a remote site you can allow users to logon even when the network connection to the main office is down.

By default, the cached membership is update every 8 hours. Each refresh cycle can refresh hundreds of accounts at a time (500 accounts to be exact). You can modify the cached Universal Group information in the registry. Here’s the procedure.

1. Go to Start, Run, and type regedit.exe to start the registry editor.
2. Locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters.
3. On the menu click Edit, New, DWORD Value and enter one of the values that Microsoft has posted in a table in a TechNet article How the Global Catalog Works. It’s a lengthy article so I have posted the table here for your convenience. Press Enter after typing the entry.
4. Double-click the value you just entered and type a number from the Notes column in the table mentioned above in step 3.
5. Press OK and close the registry editor.