Weather Imagery

I work on a classified program for Lockheed Martin and our network is completely isolated from the internet. Therefore, I have two WSUS servers; one connected to the internet which harvests the updates and the second is on the classified LAN. Each day, I check for updates on the internet WSUS server and if anything new pops up, I export the metadata and copy the files to DVD.

Setting up the WSUS servers was easy. However, understanding how the two WSUS servers interacted was a different story. Here are a few problems I encountered but have since resolved:

If you are finding that the updates on your disconnected WSUS server are not downloading even after you have imported the metadata and copied the files to the server, check and confirm the following:

• The WSUSContent directory should be exactly the same on both servers. That is if on WSUS server #1 the directory path is C:\WSUS\WsusContent\ it should be the same on WSUS server #2. If you have the updates going to a different drive letter, then the metatdata in the database from server #1 will not point to the right place when you import it into WSUS server #2. You can run C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\wsusutil.exe help movecontent as a possible solution.
• Within the Update Services application, select Options=>Update Files and Languages and make sure “Store update files locally on this server” is selected, “Download update files to this server only when updates are approved” is checked, and “Download Express installation files” is NOT checked. The express files require communication with the Windows Update website and since your disconnected WSUS cannot communicate with it, all the update files cannot be downloaded. Makes sure these settings are the same on BOTH servers. You may need to re-download all the updates on the internet connected WSUS server to re-sync the files if you at one point had this checked and later unchecked it. You will then need to copy those files to the disconnected WSUS server.
• Within the Update Services application, select Options=>Update Files and Languages and select the Update Languages tab at the top. Make sure the same languages are checked the same on BOTH servers.

Obviously, you have to match the approved updates on the internet connected WSUS server with the disconnected WSUS server. But I did notice when you approve an update on the disconnected WSUS server, it appears as if the server has to download the updates from itself. If you click between one of the Update views and the Server Name where the “Updates needing files” count is displayed, it takes a few seconds to update.

Windows XP by default enables a feature called Fast Indexing. This is only useful if you frequently use the search option to find files or folders on your computer. Now, if you aren’t using this search capability every day there is absolutely no reason to have it enabled and it’s only slowing your computer down and taking up disk space.

Disabling fast indexing will not hurt your computer at all. You can also re-enable it at any time:

• Open up My Computer
• Right-click on your local disk (c:\)
• Select Properties
• Un-check Allow Indexing Service to index …
• Click OK

Depending on how fast your hard drive is and how many files there are, this could take several minutes. You may also see a few warnings about some files whose attributes could not be changed. This is normal and just select “ignore all”. If you later decide you want to re-enable this capability, simply go through the steps above and re-check the Indexing Service check box. It will again take a few minutes to re-index all the files on your PC.

The next part is optional. To disable the Indexing Service that runs in the background, follow the below steps:

• In the “Start” menu, choose “Run.”
• Type “services.msc” and press Enter.
• Scroll-down to “Indexing Service” and double-click it.
• If the service status is “Running”, then stop it by pressing the “Stop” button.
• To make sure this service doesn’t run again, under “Startup Type:”, choose “Disabled.”

Note, un-checking this box and stopping the service does NOT mean you cannot use the Windows search capability. You can still do so, but it will just run slower. But if you don’t search on a regular basis, then it is best not to have the indexing turned on so as not to needlessly consume system resources

One of the great enigmas of the Windows operating system has been the error reporting “feature”. When an application or process crashes, by default, Windows will pop up a message box prompting you to either send an error report or not to send an error report. If you chose to send the error report … well in reality, nothing good will ever come of it because in all likelihood the program that caused the error is not a Microsoft product. And why would Microsoft change their software to fix someone else’s problem? If it is a Microsoft application that crashes, it’s still highly unlikely that they will use this information to fix any problems. After all nothing is ever Microsoft’s fault. And can you imagine the amount of data that would be transmitted from all over the world from every PC connected to the internet when an application fails for any reason at all?

The error reporting does you or your computer no good. It won’t recover an unsaved data you may have lost and it won’t make the application work any better the next time you run it. So why not disable it? Well, you can and here’s how you do it:

• Open Control Panel
• Click on Performance and Maintenance
• Click on System
• Then click on the Advanced tab
• Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
• Select Disable error reporting
• Click OK
• Click OK

The next time a program encounters an error it can’t recover from, it will simply disappear which is exactly what happens after you are prompted to send off or don’t send off an error report. Except now you don’t have to wait for a report to be generated and information about your computer won’t be sent out over the internet. This will in no way, shape or form have any affect on any program you run. Everything will run exactly as it did before.

Email is almost a necessity nowadays. Very few companies and business can survive without this form of communication whether it is emailing a simple message, travel itinerary, purchase confirmation, forgotten passwords or a whole gamut of other things. If email consisted of only text messages and no file attachments it would be virtually harmless. The thing that makes email dangerous are those file attachments and the recipients not understanding the consequences of double-clicking an executable file.

The problem with email and why viruses, trojan horses and worms are so dangerous is that it offers a very easy medium for hackers to spread their malicious code. It preys on people who don’t understand what an executable file is or what it can do. In short, an executable file is code which can be written a whole multitude of programming languages, that runs locally on your PC. Once run locally, it can do whatever it was designed to do, which might be displaying a picture, installing malware, deleting files, installing a program to capture and record key presses to remember passwords and account numbers and then email the results to the hacker. The code can do anything the creator wants; benign or malicious.

Below is a list of file extensions which are considered executable by the Windows XP operating system. You should never double-click, run or save any file with the extensions listed below unless you are expecting the file attachment and it is coming from someone you know. Just because someone you know sends you a file doesn’t mean it’s safe. Their computer could have easily been hijacked and the hacker is sending his malicious code to all people in your friends address book; that being you.

Below is a list of file extensions that are associated with executable code. You do not want to save these files, double-click them, or execute them because they could easily contain malicious code:

ADE – Microsoft Access Project Extension
ADP – Microsoft Access Project
BAS – Visual Basic Class Module
BAT – Batch File
CHM – Compiled HTML Help File
CMD – Windows NT Command Script
COM – MS-DOS Application
CPL – Control Panel Extension
CRT – Security Certificate
DLL – Dynamic Link Library
DO* – Word Documents and Templates
EXE – Application
HLP – Windows Help File
HTA – HTML Applications
INF – Setup Information File
INS – Internet Communication Settings
ISP – Internet Communication Settings
JS – JScript File
JSE – JScript Encoded Script File
LNK – Shortcut
MDB – Microsoft Access Application
MDE – Microsoft Access MDE Database
MSC – Microsoft Common Console Document
MSI – Windows Installer Package
MSP – Windows Installer Patch
MST – Visual Test Source File
OCX – ActiveX Objects
PCD – Photo CD Image
PIF – Shortcut to MS-DOS Program
POT – PowerPoint Templates
PPT – PowerPoint Files
REG – Registration Entries
SCR – Screen Saver
SCT – Windows Script Component
SHB – Document Shortcut File
SHS – Shell Scrap Object
SYS – System Config/Driver
URL – Internet Shortcut (Uniform Resource Locator)
VB – VBScript File
VBE – VBScript Encoded Script File
VBS – VBScript Script File
WSC – Windows Script Component
WSF – Windows Script File
WSH – Windows Scripting Host Settings File
XL* – Excel Files and Templates

Every once in awhile, it’s nice to capture an image of something on your computer screen, save it as a file and email it off to someone. I frequently have my mom do this when trying to figure out a particular error she is receiving on her computer. When the error appears on her screen, I have her take a screen print, save it as a file and send it to me via email so I can take a look.

The great thing about this capability is anyone that has Windows XP can do it. All you have to do is press Alt+Print Screen (the Print Screen button is usually just to the right of the F12 button on a standard keyboard). Strangely, you won’t get any indication that anything has happened when you do this.

But the image has temporarily been stored on a virtual clipboard. Now we just need to paste that image into a program and save it as a file.

There are many applications out there one can use to paste the image into, but I just tell my mom to use Paint. It’s a simple little image editing program that comes with Windows XP and it’s perfect for this sort of thing. To open Paint, click Start => All Programs => Accessories => Paint. Next, select the Edit option at the top and click on Paste (or ALT-V will paste the image as well). You should now see the image you captured. To save the file, click File => Save As … and in the drop-down menu that says “Save As Type”, choose JPEG. Pick any file name you want and click the Save button.