Installing TightVNC from the command line on Windows

Download TightVNC and then run the command below. In the example, it is assumed that the file is located in C:\ and that the file was unblocked after downloading.

c:\> "tightvnc-2.8.27-gpl-setup-64bit.msi" /quiet /norestart ADDLOCAL="Server,Viewer" VIEWER_ASSOCIATE_VNC_EXTENSION=1 SERVER_REGISTER_AS_SERVICE=1 SERVER_ADD_FIREWALL_EXCEPTION=1 VIEWER_ADD_FIREWALL_EXCEPTION=1 SERVER_ALLOW_SAS=1 SET_USEVNCAUTHENTICATION=1 VALUE_OF_USEVNCAUTHENTICATION=1 SET_PASSWORD=1 VALUE_OF_PASSWORD=p@$$w0rd SET_USECONTROLAUTHENTICATION=1 VALUE_OF_USECONTROLAUTHENTICATION=1 SET_CONTROLPASSWORD=1 VALUE_OF_CONTROLPASSWORD=p@$$w0rd

Change p@$$w0rd to the desired password

Reference:
https://www.tightvnc.com/

How to change default font in Freeplane

I like my font to be monospace like below for my Freeplane document.

To change Freeplane's defualt font, do Format | Manage Styles | Edit styles

Then change Font of whole core | Font Family to say Consolas

Installing TIghtVNC using Chocolatey

TightVNC is a graphical-sharing software that works in many platforms like Windows, Linux or OSX. To install TightVNC on Windows using Chocolatey, do:

c:\> choco install tightvnc -y --installArguments "VIEWER_ASSOCIATE_VNC_EXTENSION=1 SERVER_REGISTER_AS_SERVICE=1 SERVER_ADD_FIREWALL_EXCEPTION=1 VIEWER_ADD_FIREWALL_EXCEPTION=1 SERVER_ALLOW_SAS=1 SET_USEVNCAUTHENTICATION=1 VALUE_OF_USEVNCAUTHENTICATION=1 SET_PASSWORD=1 VALUE_OF_PASSWORD=p@$$w0rd SET_USECONTROLAUTHENTICATION=1 VALUE_OF_USECONTROLAUTHENTICATION=1 SET_CONTROLPASSWORD=1 VALUE_OF_CONTROLPASSWORD=p@$$w0rd"

Where:
p@$$w0rd - the administrator password that will be used for the TightVNC application

References:
https://www.tightvnc.com/
https://chocolatey.org/ 

Unblocking zip or exe files download from the internet or non trusted zones

When you download a zip file or an executable file from the internet using IE, Edge or Chrome on Windows, more likely than not the file will have it zone identifier in the alternate stream of the file. This information is used by Windows to determine if the file was downloaded from the internet and it can apply certain level of security precautions for the user.

In some instances, files/installers with zone identifiers will not install properly. There are multiple ways to check if the file have zone id. You can use streams, like so:

c:\> streams64.exe tightvnc-2.8.27-gpl-setup-64bit.msi

And this would spit out something like:

streams v1.60 - Reveal NTFS alternate streams.
Copyright (C) 2005-2016 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

C:\temp\tightvnc-2.8.27-gpl-setup-64bit.msi:
   :Zone.Identifier:$DATA       163

Or just plain PowerShell, like:

PS c:\> Get-Content -Path .\tightvnc-2.8.27-gpl-setup-64bit.msi -Stream Zone.Identifier

Which will actually dump more interesting information like the referrer URL and where it was downloaded, like:

[ZoneTransfer]
ZoneId=3
ReferrerUrl=https://www.tightvnc.com/download.php
HostUrl=https://www.tightvnc.com/download/2.8.27/tightvnc-2.8.27-gpl-setup-64bit.msi

There are multiple ways to remove or unblock the file. Using streams, you can unblock like:

c:\> streams64.exe -d tightvnc-2.8.27-gpl-setup-64bit.msi

This would spit out something, like:

streams v1.60 - Reveal NTFS alternate streams.
Copyright (C) 2005-2016 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
 
C:\temp\tightvnc-2.8.27-gpl-setup-64bit.msi:
   Deleted :Zone.Identifier:$DATA

Or use the File Explorer, so right click and hit on Properties of the file, then check Unblock (see below) and it on OK button.

Could not open requested SVN filesystem

If you are trying to access a project in SourceForge using an SVN client and you see something like "Could not open requested SVN filesystem" then it is possible that the project's SVN access is not enabled. See this link on how to enable SVN. Note that you need to have admin privileges to a particular project to enable SVN.

~TS

Enable SVN access to Sourceforge project

SVN repository is not enabled by default when creating a project in SourceForge. To enable SVN is easy. Go to the summary page, see below for sample screen shot, then hover to Admin tab.

You should see the screen below, then just enable "The following box should be checked to enable Subversion" and Update and off you go.

Enjoy!

TS

Sourceforge links of interest

Some useful links for SourceForge users.

Quickstart Guide to Subversion on SourceForge
Recommended Software Configuration - this includes how to configure SVN clients, cvs and many more.


~TS

Powertools free software

Vitrite is a tiny utility written by me, Ryan VanMiddlesworth, that allows you to manually adjust the level of transparency for almost any visible window. It works by utilizing a feature present in Windows 2000/XP (and all later incarnations) for variable window transparency.



WinSpy++ is a handy programmer's utility which can be used to select and view the properties of any window in the system. WinSpy is based around the Spy++ utility that ships with Microsoft Visual Studio.


~ts

Video Capture

Debut is a simple, easy to use video recorder that lets you capture video files directly on your PC using a webcam (video camera), or capture device (from video). This software can also capture and record almost anything that can be played or displayed on the computer screen. The program saves the video on your hard drive as avi, wmv or many other file types. ~ts

Assigning keyboard shortcut for "Remove Last Icon" in FreeMind

Freemind is a mind mapping application. Latest version can be found in http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page, it was at version 0.9.0 beta 14 when I wrote this document.
I really like this application and the design is quite intuitive. Since this program is still in beta there are rough around the edges. Like say setting the keyboard shortcut for removing the last icon for a node is not working.
What I am going to do here is to document how to get this one functionality working. By default (at least for 0.9.0 beta 14) "Remove Last Icon" is assigned to "BACK_SPACE" key. But for some reason it is not working.
Here are the steps on getting this guy working:
1.) Extract a copy of mindmap_menus.xml. For zip installation, this can be found in <Extracted_Dir>/lib/freemind.jar. I used 7-zip to extract the file. Tough 7-zip's website didn't mention that it supports jar files it is capable of handling the file type successfully. Jar is pretty much the same as zip format which is supported by 7-zip.
2.) Using a text editor, I am using wscite, add the following line.:
<menu_category name="icons">     <menu_action field="removeLastIconAction"  key_ref="keystroke_remove_last_icon"/></menu_category>
This should in line 138 for 0.9.0 beta 14
3.) Merge back the file into freemind.jar. Again you can use 7-zip to do this.
4.) Restart FreeMind. Note here that "BACK_SPACE" is still not working. In this case I don't how to make this work with this key. But in this exercise, we will re-assign it to Ctrl+D.
5.) Re-assign the key to Ctrl+D. Open auto.properties. This file can found in C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\.freemind. Add the following line to this file:
#start to copy from this line
keystroke_remove_last_icon=control D
#end here.
6) Restart Freemind again. It should be working by now.
You might be interested on how to determine the "field" part of  mindmap_menus.xml. For most cases it can found in the source file http://sourceforge.krugle.com/kse/files/cvs/cvs.sourceforge.net/freemind/freemind/freemind/modes/ControllerAdapter.java staring line number 165.
Happy mind mapping!!!
~ts

Creating Windows icon using GIMP

Windows application icons normally used in an application is a multi-page icon. One is 16x16 at 4bpp and 32x32 that can be set as high as 32bpp. Creating an icon in GIMP is a easy a creating a new graphics document. Set the background to transparent and size to 32x32. On the first layer, add 16x16 and on the second layer add 32x32 picture. Save the file as .ico and select 4bpp for 16x16 image and 32bpp for 32x32. That should be it and off you go, you know have a nice looking Windows icon.

Windows Utilities

ZSoft Uninstaller 2.3 is the better and easier way to uninstall programs on your computer. Location and uninstalling a program with ZSoft Uninstaller 2.3 is as easy as clicking a button.

Data Security

Favorite: Cryptainer LE o Easy to use o Haven't tried other products yet. Cryptainer LE is software that can create multiple encrypted containers. It functions like any other drive (C: or D:) on your computer. Just drag and drop any file into the Cryptainer. It is automatically encrypted. It's that simple! Cryptainer files can only be viewed, accessed, browsed or modified by the user who has the key to open it. At other times it remains invisible. TrueCrypt - Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows XP/2000/2003 and Linux.

Virtualization, Emulator, Simulator software

Favorites:
VMWare Server 1.0.x
o When I need LPT1 and/or USB support
o Runs virtual machines compared with Virtual PC (except Vista)
o Need lots of network switch or to bridge more than one interface
o For cases where I need Linux on virtual machine


Virtual PC 2007 SP1
o When I need to run Windows Vista as guest OS with LPT1 support on Windows XP/W2k3/Vista hosts


Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
o When I need to run Vista guest without a need for LPT1 nor USB support
o When I need to run Windows XP SP3 guest without a need for LPT1 nor USB support
o This virtualization product is pretty fast but need to run on 64bit capable machines and on Windows Server 2008 64bit installation.


Virtual Box
o When I run on slow host machines
o When snapshot/revert is a must for my work
o Does not support more than one bridge in Windows.


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Bochs is a highly portable open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++, that runs on most popular platforms. It includes emulation of the Intel x86 CPU, common I/O devices, and a custom BIOS. Currently, Bochs can be compiled to emulate a 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro or AMD64 CPU, including optional MMX, SSE, SSE2 and 3DNow! instructions.

QEMU - open source processor emulator


VMware Player lets you evaluate new or pre-release software contained in virtual machines, without any installation or configuration hassles. You can also share existing virtual machines with colleagues or friends—just use VMware Player to run any virtual machine.


VMware Server is a free virtualization product for Windows and Linux servers with enterprise-class support and VirtualCenter management. VMware Server is a robust yet easy to use server virtualization product and is based on proven virtualization technology, which has been used by thousands of customers for more than six years.


VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.


Virtual PC 2007 is a powerful software virtualization solution that allows you to run multiple PC-based operating systems simultaneously on one workstation, providing a safety net to maintain compatibility with legacy applications while you migrate to a new operating system. It also saves reconfiguration time, so your support, development, and training staff can work more efficiently.



Virtual Server 2005 R2 is the next version of Virtual Server 2005, which was released October 1, 2004. Virtual Server 2005 R2 is the current shipping product and is now available as a free download. Virtual Server R2 provides customer improved performance, availability, and scalability in order to increase operational efficiency in server consolidation, application re-hosting, disaster recovery, and software test and development.


Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, allows you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a single physical machine. With Hyper-V, you can also efficiently run multiple different operating systems—Windows, Linux, and others—in parallel, on a single server, and fully leverage the power of x64 computing.

Programming Software and Tools

TortoiseSVN is a really easy to use Revision control / version control / source control software for Windows. Since it's not an integration for a specific IDE you can use it with whatever development tools you like. TortoiseSVN is free to use. You don't need to get a loan or pay a full years salary to use it.

Disk Utilities

Bart PE - create bootable XP cds with networking support. DriveImage XML- Image and Backup logical Drives and Partitions. SystemRescueCd - is a Linux system on a bootable CD-ROM for repairing your system and recovering your data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the partitions of the hard disk. It contains a lot of system utilities (parted, partimage, fstools, ...) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It is very easy to use: just boot the CDROM. The kernel supports most of the important file systems (ext2/ext3, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs, iso9660), as well as network filesystems (samba and nfs) ~ts