Category: Software

Firefox and Thunderbird Addons Special

Some little Special about my most beloved and used Addons for Firefox and Thunderbird!

Firefox:

Adblock:
Adblock is one of the most well known and widely used tools. It does what it says: Blocking Ads, Popups and such.

Bugmenot:
Bugmenot is an integration of the Website www.bugmenot.com into the Firefox.
Bugmenot is an service on which you can add own login data to Forums and Websites which everyone else can use to login.
So, you don't need to register on every website to gain access.

Compact Menu 2:
Duplicates the menubar on the toolbar as a menu of menus.
Great for Eee PCs!

Download Statusbar:
Shows up a little bar in the statusbar instead of the big and unhandy "Downloads" thingy popping up. Really nice and better looking.

deviantAnywhere:
Does check up your Deviantart Account regularly.

Fireftp:
An fully fledged FTP Client. This saves you from installin another WSFTP or CuteFTP or whatelse.

LiveHTTPHeaders:
Useful if you develop shell scripts which use curl to login.

ProxyButton:
Does quckly turn proxy on and off.
Hints:
To install you need to turn check security off.
Enter about:config and add an Boolean Key "extensions.checkUpdateSecurity" with 0
Then install: http://downloads.mozdev.org/proxybutton/proxybutton-0.3.1.xpi
To use the proxy tool on startup, create a link to firefox.exe and end it with
-proxy 1 (to enable proxy) or -proxy 0 (to disable proxy)
http://proxybutton.mozdev.org/

TabMixPlus:
Does improve TabBrowsing with Firefox.

WOT:
The Web of Trust. Now thats important!
This cool tool checks up the website you're visting wheter theres some "un-nice" entry about it in its database.
Entries to this Database can be submitted after registration at WOT.
So you can acctually warn other Users from Phising and untrusthworthly shops and so on.
Should be installed on every Firefox and can also be configured as child-protection.

Xmarks:
Formerly Foxmarks is an Tool which can synchronize all of your Firefox Bookmarks from Home, Work, Laptop - etc.
You'll never ever come to the point of "Damn, I only saved this favorite at Work..".
It can also be configured that for example your Work PC does only get an special "Work" Folder, while the rest of the clients are getting the full data.
Additionally, Xmarks can synchronize the Password Database of Firefox.
Well, thats I thing I haven't tried and won't. Use KeePass to store and carry your Passwords securely!

Thunderbird

ContactsSidebar:
Does add some sidebar to your Thunderbird which contains the contacts like in Outlook Express.

Lightning:
An huge Calendar Application. Powerful!

MoreFunctionsforAdressbook:
Does add fields for things like Birthdate into the Adressbook.
https://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/morecols-en.html

Provider for Googlecalender:
Does include your Calender at your Googleaccount. Very useful if used with Lightning

Thunderbirthday:
Does create an Calendar from the Birthday Entries from your MoreFunctionsforAdressbook enabled Adressbook - for Lightning.

Backup Data, Website and Mysql

Well, If it comes down to a simple Homenetwork - and a PC crash, normal situation is following: You're mostly dead in the water.
Why?
Because most ppl don't backup their data on a regular basis or do it wrong.
Actually, there are 3 kinds of pepole:
a) The person who doesn't backup
b) The person who *thinks* does a backup - but does it wrong
c) The person who does a backup and stops after a while because he is too lazy... and experiences a crash...

Well, I myself count am Type c) - I did backup for example my E-Mails in Outlook Express - but stopped after a while, and a year later I got a really big crash.
So, today, I use Thunderbird ( 😉 Thats plus, ain't it? ) and I do backup at least weekly - or on an "ohmygodthatcouldturnoutbadithinkishoulddoanbackupNOW!" basis.
And because I got three computers already in my network which does need backup and updates on an daily basis, I built myself an little nice Dual Atom based Server.

But thats another story.

So, here the best tools for backing up your data and my personal notices to that, have fun and take care!

Databackup:
Rsync
Rsync is the most widely used backup tool in the unix world. And it does also come in an windows flavor!
The best thing about rsync? It does only transfer file changes, and not a stupid "folder-to-folder" copy.
Rsync is a client-server based tool. So the best idea is to install the server on an "real" server with some nice RAID5 System,
and let the client do the work on for example your windows xp machine. Oh, by the way: There is no problem in having
an unix/linux rsync server and an windows xp client. Works out all the way. But thats not the only thing you can do:
You can also install the server and client on the same pc and use it to make backups from your usb stick to your harddrive (for example).
Rsync: http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/
DeltaCopy (Windows Rsync with Gui): http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp

FTP / Webbackup:
FtpSync
If you're the poor kind of person which does host its Website with an "you-get-no-shell" hoster like I am, you need to backup your Website in another fashion as rsync:
FTPSync seems to be the perfect solution because it only transfers changed files, it does reduces the amount of "for backup used bandwith" by a big deal. (I myself host about 600 mb now on files, pictures and other things - and this little guy is really an helper) FTPSync does run on Windows 2000 and above. It can use scripts / ini Files which allow FTP-To-FTP Sync, as well as FTP-To-File Sync. So, also useful if you build up your Website on your Homeserver and want to commit the changes.
FtpSync: http://www.cyberkiko.com/category/FTPSync.aspx

Mysql Backup:
Mysqldumper and phpMyBackupPro
As already mentioned, no shell access is a hard thing for an Website Administrator. Especially when it comes to Mysql Backups - called Dumps. Well, yes you can use phpMyAdmin to Dump these Files - but there is a maximum php execution time which does sometimes corrupts your backup - in case the database has grown too big.
In this case there are two tools which will help you: Mysqldumper and phpMyBackupPro. First: They both do backup and restore. That said, what are the main differences? a) Mysqldumper has the advatage of using multiple mysql logins, as given away by most hosters (you get for example 3 databases, and everyone got another login name and password - its more secure and you can use it and share it with other projects). b) phpMyBackupPro is easier to configure in terms of cronjobs, so automatic backups as Mysqldumper. Which of these tools you use is your choice, and depends on the features you need.
Mysqldumper: http://www.mysqldumper.de/
phpMyBackupPro: http://www.phpmybackuppro.net/

Tipp: You should use the Mysql Backup Tools in conjunction with FTPSync to Backup your complete account.

PXE Boot Bart PE

As I have been using PXE now for the last days, I wanted to build myself up some nice PXE Images to load from the Network. And the one thing I wanted for sure, was an Bart PE PXE Boot. So I searched the Net, found two really good guides ( Guide 1, Guide 2 ) and I am going to rewrite these Guides now here to set you up with an 100% working tutorial on "How to PXE Boot Bart PE".

What you need:
- tftpd32
- BartPE / PE Builder
- Windows Server 2003 CD with SP1 (IMPORTANT! WITHOUT SP1 IT WON'T WORK!)
- Syslinux (optional)

We do start with the file preparations:

- Creating the BartPE CD
Copy your Windows Server 2003 SP1 Cd onto your PC (lets say C:\win2003),
install PE Builder and start it. Enter C:\win2003 as source,
tell him to create an Iso Image called BartPE.iso and hit start.
Congrats, you just created yourself an BartPE Boot CD with an Live Windows XP!

- Preparing Boot Files
You now need to grap the needed Files like Bootloader and Stuff.
So create an new folder and go get these Files from C:\win2003\i386:
NTDETECT.COM, SETUPLDR.EX_, STARTROM.CO_, STARTROM.N1_, RAMDISK.SY_ und RAMDISK.IN_
After you copied them, you need to extract them.
Open up an cmd Shell, cd to the folder with the copied Files and extract them all with the usage of
"Expand -r Filename" (or Expand -r * should work as well)
You now need to rename some files.
- setupldr.exe should be renamed to NTLDR
- startrom.n12 should be renamed to startrom.0
Next thing is you need to create a textfile with the name winnt.sif with the following content:

[SetupData]
BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"
BootPath = "\i386\System32\"
OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=BartPE.iso"

And thats it with file preparation.
You can delete the files SETUPLDR.EX_, STARTROM.CO_, STARTROM.N1_, RAMDISK.SY_ und RAMDISK.IN_.
All the others are going into the tftboot Folder of the next step.

- Setup up the tftpd32
Easy as hell. Download, unzip.
For example C:\tftpd32
Create the folder tftpboot within that.
And now to the config. There are actually two working configurations:
One with the usage of the pxelinux.0, and one without it.
Which flavor to use is your choice.
Difference: With pxelinux.0, you can build up an boot menu, without it you just only boot BartPE.

But first basics tftp config:
- start tftpd32.exe in C:\tftpd32
- Server interfaces chose your NIC
- Press Settings

Settings:
Base Directory: C:\tftpd32\tftpboot

Global Settings:
TFTP Server [X]
TFTP Client [ ]
SNTP Server [ ]
Syslog Server [ ]
DHCP Server [X]
Syslog Server: [ ] Save syslog message

TFTPD Security: None

TFTPD configuration:
Timeout (seconds) 3
Max Retransmit 6
Tftp port 69
Local ports pool (nothing in here)

Advanced TFTPD Options:
[X] Option negotiation
[ ] PXE Compatibility
[X] Show Progress bar
[X] Translate Unix file names
[ ] Use TFTPD32 only on this interface
[ ] Use anticipation window of 0 Bytes
[X] Allow ´\´ As virtual root
[ ] Hide Window at startup
[ ] Create “dir.txt” files
[ ] Create md5 files
[ ] Beep for long transfer

Press Ok.

Go to the DHCP Server tab and enter following Details depending on your Network configuration:

IP Pool starting adress: Should be +1 of your NIC IP if you got no other PC in your network
Size of Pool: Choose yourself how many clients you want to get in there. I picked 20, get no problems with leases...
Boot File: Depends on wheter you install with or without pxelinux.0. If with, you enter there pxelinux.0, if without the right thing is startrom.0
Rest: Set it appopriate to your network - and Press the big long "SAVE" Button!

Copy the files from - Creating the BartPE CD and - Preparing Boot Files Step into the tftpboot Folder.
You should have there by now:

NTLDR, startrom.0, startrom.com, ntdetect.com, winnt.sif, ramdisk.sys, ramdisk.inf, BartPE.iso

Now lets start with the real thing, only do ONE of these both things:

- without pxelinux.0
Really Easy: Just be sure that you set DHCP Boot file to startrom.0. And thats it!

- with pxelinux.0
A little bit more challenging, but still easy:
Extract the Syslinux-3.11.zip
Get the file menu.c32 from com32/modules, copy to the tftpboot
Get the file memdisk from root Folder, copy to the tftpboot
Get the file pxelinux.0, copy to the tftpboot
Create an folder in the tftpboot with the name pxelinux.cfg
Create an file in the folder pxelinux.cfg with the name default (no File ending and such) with following content:

DEFAULT menu.c32
TIMEOUT 300
ALLOWOPTIONS 0
PROMPT 0
MENU TITLE PXE Boot System
label pebuilder
MENU LABEL ^1: BartPE starten
KERNEL startrom.0
label BootNormal
MENU LABEL ^Boot Normal
LOCALBOOT 0

Be sure that you set DHCP Boot file to pxelinux.0

And thats it.

Note that you can integrate many programs into BartPE! Check out their website.
And do also note: It takes RAM on your client PC!
Normally you should be Ok if your RAM is not smaller than the BartPE.iso + 64 MB.
So don't over do it 😉

Have fun, and thanks for the both guidelines, without them I would have never figured that all out!

Notes:
- You should be able to build BartPE also with an normal Windows XP CD (if it should be higher than SP1), but you still need the Bootfiles to come from Win XP Server SP1 Package (you can download that for free from Microsoft) (Never tested that way!)
- One did set "Anticipation window of 50000 bytes" in the Advanced Tftpd Settings and said that I would speed up tftp transfer. Well, for me, it did just kill the whole process. So I DO NOT recommend that - but maybe its only a flaw in the current tftpd version, so I keep that still in here as note.
- If you use Windows Server as DHCP, these settings has to be set for your scoop: -003 Router (gateway IP), -066 Boot Server Host name (tftp server ip) -067 Bootfile Name (pxelinux.0 or startrom.0)
- Keep an eye out for filenames upper and lowecases if you use Linux / Unix as server! (everything writen lowercase execept NTLDR and BARTPE.ISO)

MozBackup and RocketDock

Two really useful pieces of programming code:

MozBackup does Backup your Thunderbird, Firefox, etc Installations (even with commandline parameters (use it with rsync!!!)) under windows.
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

Rocketdock is one of these new stylish docking bars as known from MacOS X. Together with the addon "Stack Docklet", this thing is REALLY useful to get your shortcuts organized and handy under windows (2000, xp, vista, 7)! ^.^
http://rocketdock.com/

Enjoy and have a great day,

Nico

PXE Boot Acronis True Image Home 11

Files needed:
- smartdrv.exe
- TFTPD Server
- pxelinux.0
- memdisk

- Download and unzip TFTD Server, create Folder “root”.
- Start TFTP Server
Settings:
- Server Interface: Choose the right NIC
- DHCP Server:
Start Pool: 192.168.2.40
Size of pool: 4
Boot File: pxelinux.0
WINS/DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
Default Router: 192.168.2.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0
->> Press Save
- Under "Seetings"
Base Directory to the created "root" Folder
TFTP Security "None"
PXE Compatibility
->> Press OK
- Copy memdisk, pxelinux.0 and smartdrv.exe to the root Folder
- Also copy kernel.dat and ramdisk.dat from the Acronis Resuce Disc into the root Folder
- create pxelinux.cfg Folder within root
- create File with Name “default” (no .txt or such!) with following stuff inside:
LABEL acronis
KERNEL kernel.dat
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.dat vga=791 ramdisk_size=32768 acpi=off quiet noapic
- Connect the Laptop to the Network, choose PXE / NIC as Bootmedia in the BIOS.
- Let that thing boot to PXE and enter acronis at the boot: prompt
- Have fun!

Orginal taken from: http://www.networkcomputing.de/aus-dem-testlabor-linux-pxe-server-fuer-restore-mit-true-image-bereitstellen/seite/2/?no_cache=1

The DHCP Settings are important as well!
Also set firewall to off!

PXE Install of Windows (without Floppy, without CDRom)

Files needed:
- smartdrv.exe
- TFTPD Server
- pxelinux.0
- memdisk
- menu.c32

- Download and unzip TFTD Server, create Folder "root".
- Start TFTP Server

Settings:
- Server Interface: Choose the right NIC
- DHCP Server:
Start Pool: 192.168.2.40
Size of pool: 4
Boot File: pxelinux.0
WINS/DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
Default Router: 192.168.2.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0
->> Press Save
- Under "Seetings"
Base Directory to the created "root" Folder
TFTP Security "None"
PXE Compatibility
->> Press OK

- Copy memdisk, menu.c32, pxelinux.0, bartdisk.IMA to the root Folder
- create pxelinux.cfg Folder within root
- create File with Name "default" (no .txt or such!) with following stuff inside:

DEFAULT menu.c32
TIMEOUT 300
ALLOWOPTIONS 0
PROMPT 0
MENU TITLE PXE Boot System
LABEL BartBoot
MENU LABEL ^Bart Network Disk
kernel memdisk
append initrd=bartdisk.IMA
LABEL BootNormal
MENU LABEL ^Boot Normal
LOCALBOOT 0

- Create an SMB Share in an Folder of your Choice. I took the Folder D:\PXE and did share that as pxe
- Create Subfolder for every Windows Version you want to share. I created the subfolder tabxpsp3
- Copy the i386 Folder from the Windows CD to that Folder
- Do also copy the smartdrv.exe into the i386 in your pxe/subfolder/i386
- Start tftpd
- Connect the Laptop to the Network, choose PXE / NIC as Bootmedia in the BIOS.
- Let that thing boot to PXE and go through everything with just default settings.
- Fidsk: Delete All, than Create Primary Partition with all Space (minus 1000 MB), create extended Partition with the space left - and logical Partition in that
- Reboot
- This time, only accept normal default settings until an "Idetification Settings" comes up. Fill out and enable lmhosts option
- In the empty pad enter IP Adress of your SMB Server TAB Name of the Server. For example: 192.168.2.39 ATOM, and press ALT+X to save and leave
- Format: format c: and format d:
- net use x: \\atom\pxe
- cd tabxpsp3\i386
- smartdrv
- winnt (/T D:)

Orginal taken from: http://www.lockstockmods.net/2008/04/26/easy-way-to-pxe-boot-windows/

Problem solutions if you can't connect to the SMB Share via net use:
- Do install Netbios Protocol on your SMB Server NIC and restart
- Make sure your Servers Name ain't longer than 8 characters
- As well as the Name of your share