Hiding Windows User Accounts

Interested in creating a hidden local maintenance account for a Windows box? Is easy to do, just go to the registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList, create a new dword and name it the exact same as the account you want to hide. A value of “0” hides the account and a value of “1” displays it at the welcome screen. That’s all it takes. This works the same on a Vista or Win7 box.

Welcoming a new author!

RighteousHack welcomes our newest author, habanero_joe to the blog. Habanero_joe brings years of IT management and hands-on experience to our blog. When asked about himself he simply states that he “Enjoys candle lit dinners and long walks on the beach.” I pretty much have zero questions left after that.

We look forward to the insight and experience that habanero_joe brings to our humble site. We have imported all of habanero_joe’s posts from his Blogger site so that our readers can enjoy his previous posts. You can view his previous blog here.

–himuraken

VMware View Launch Tour

Woke up nice and early this morning in lovely Tampa, FL for the VMware View Launch Tour. I have been playing around with various virtual technologies for quite awhile now. What I haven’t used at all is any form of VDI or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. In my ever evolving quest to learn all that I can, I signed up for the View Launch Tour so that I could learn more. The event was informative overall, even though the presentations from VMware and Dell contained the usual sales pitches. VMware focused on View, ThinApp, and related technologies while Dell gave a full demo of the Dell EqualLogic SAN. This is the third or fourth time that I have seen a demo on the Equal Logic and I am always impressed with the simplicity of the system. Anyways, desktop virtualization is a rapidly expanding sector in the virtual world and is well worth a look.

You can find additional information on the tour here: VMware View Launch Tour

–himuraken

Calling all Ubuntu fans

This week I joined the Ubuntu LoCo Florida Team and participated in last night’s team meeting (via IRC).  Seems like a great group of people AND an excellent way to get more involved with Ubuntu (and really any Linux).

In addition to the IRC meetings, there are scheduled meetups to perform various activities such as installing networks for youth homes/schools, bug testing, documentation writing, and just plain fun. Anyone out there enjoy bar-b-que and beer???

I look forward to greater involvement!

If you have no idea what IRC is and need a Linux client to get started, I recommend xchat (sudo apt-get install xchat)

For more information and to join:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeams
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=225
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FloridaTeam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat

– habanero_joe

IRC Client for BlackBerry

Looking for a no-charge BlackBerry IRC client? (or any J2ME device) I was and found jmirc. It is fairly basic and I feel that the interface is sort of clunky but it gets the job done. Current version is 0.96.

One of the nice features is that you can create profiles for various IRC host, channels and/or nicknames.

“This project started as a fork of Sverre Valskrå’s WLIrc but eventually led to be a complete rewrite project. Its aim is to be as small and lightweight as possible still trying to maintain the ease of use and all needed features. At the same time it tries to be some kind of hybrid implementing all the most useful features from other clients.”

Main info page: jmirc.sourceforge.net

Blackberry download: jmirc.sf.net/beta/jmIrc.jad

– habanero_joe

Android Apps You Need

I am still buzzing with joy over my recent Android phone purchase. The Android Marketplace has proven very useful, I have found many useful apps and wanted to share a few worth trying out.

1. Listen – This Google app is a must have if you listen to podcasts. Forget the old days of downloading them and syncing them to your mobile/DAP. With Listen, you subscribe, download, and stream right from your phone.

2. Seesmic – This great little app is for those Twitter users on the go. After installing and logging into my account, I was able to perform all of the tasks that I expect from a Twitter client. Simple and intuitive.

3. NewsRob – If you are a Google Reader user you probably are familiar with using GR from your mobile browser. It isn’t any fun. NewsRob is simple, fast, and free. With numerous options for reading and syncing, this app is great.

4. Advanced Task Killer Free – The name is pretty self explanitory, it kills running processes. This is especially useful on the Android operating system which seems to leave everything running in the background even though you think that you exited.

5. TorrentFu – This app is excellent for controlling Transmission and other torrent clients. Uploading, starting, pausing, and all the other basic controls are available. A neat feature is the ability to search for torrents right from the phone and submit them to any of your configured profiles for downloading. There is also a built-in barcode scanner which converts barcodes into torrent searches. Perfect for those times in the movie/music aisle.

6. Katawa – Web comics! If you are a fan of XKCD, Indexed, Dinosaur Comics, and the like, this app is for you. It pulls the latest strip on demand.

There are many others… far to many to list actually. Anyways, I hope that this short list helps out new Android users.

–himuraken