One tough cookie to crack

Last week I had a family member hit me up for some computer advice.  She said the computer was quite slow and really stopped working in a few areas.  Some sites simply would not come up.  Using Logmein.com (great free tool to help out in a pinch) to remote in, I started poking around.  I immediately saw an interesting icon at the bottom right that looked quite suspicious.  I proud it into view and asked our helpless victim what this app was because it appeared to be an anti-virus app, but was not one that I quickly recognized.  The app is called XP Pro Cleaner and is basically an app that reports that there is a virus on your PC and actually shows it "scanning".  Some quick Google searches showed that this app is all about getting the hapless user to put in their credit card and buy the full version.

Let me tell you that the windows update service disables along with any other antivirus software and at one point the service was gone completely.  At least I was able to get in and then back out via the internet, otherwise I'd be in trouble since they live several states away.

I won't bore you with the rest of what was next because there was a lot of trial and error, but basically I pulled resources from these web sites.  I did finally get Malware bytes installed and we were looking good.

http://malwaretips.com/blogs/xp-security-cleaner-pro-removal/

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-xp-security-cleaner-pro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxn9zTUMbig

http://guides.yoosecurity.com/xp-security-cleaner-pro-how-to-remove/

http://www.anvisoft.com/resources/remove-xp-security-cleaner-pro-virus-uninstall-guide/

Once that was complete, I got Microsoft Security Essentials installed.  And then I moved onto the automatic update issue. 

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/299297-cannot-turn-on-automatic-updates/

http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_update/cant-install-windows-updates-error-code-80248015/61f1309b-90f3-4c5f-bcc3-63440155577a

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2730071

This error came up as well "net start wuauserv the service name is invalid", more research revealed this script.

net stop bits 

net stop wuauserv 

regsvr32 /u wuaueng.dll /s

del /f /s /q %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\*.*

del /f /s /q %windir%\windowsupdate.log

regsvr32 wuaueng.dll /s

net start bits

net start wuauserv

wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow

As of last Thursday we are up and running and work can be continued without reloading this PC.  Quite frankly, I wouldn't have spent this much time on one of my personal PCs, but was very glad to help.  

Moral of this story: Don't download software that you don't know from whence it came.  

Trainsignal

I can't possibly explain how awesome this site is.  Even if you took just one video training course, that alone would be worth the $49 for the month of unlimited training.  Not only can you download their offline video view, but the slide deck is available as well.  Again, awesome all day long.  I've personally finished the vSphere 5.1 New Features and am currently working on VMware vSphere Performance Monitoring and will continue do to more as I work toward my VCP-DT or the VCAP5-DCA.


If you haven't done it yet, enjoy their free 3 day trial @ www.trainsignal.com.

My home lab

I know I've seen many blogs posting about their home labs and some have been highly impressive to say the least.  Below is my humble yet adequate lab setup.

My test lab setup

ESXi

Two Lenovo Desktops 7483AG2 Dual core 3Ghz

5GB and 16GB of memory

USB thumb drives for install

Open Filer Box

HP N40l Dual 1.5 GHZ Turion 8 GB RAM

Hard drives

1 250GB – OS and such

1 1TB – Lun1

1 1TB – Lun2

1 2TB – Lun3

One DC

1vCPU/1GB RAM

Virtual Center

2vCPU/2GB RAM

Nested virtual side running in VMWorkstation v 9 on my desktop which is an Intel quad-core Q8400 2.67 GHz with 8GB of RAM running Win-7.

Virtual Center

2vCPU/2GB RAM

ESX

2vCPU/3GB RAM

iSCSI Virtual Appliance

150GB into 5 30GB drives.

256MB RAM

Need some ideas of your own?

Scott Lowe wrote this article back in 2011 http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/blogs/lowe/news/build-your-home-lab-on-the-cheap-and-make-sure-it-works-160.html

Here are some great tips
http://www.vtagion.com/dos-donts-vmware-home-lab/

One from Global Knowledge - a leader in IT training and so much more
http://www.globalknowledge.com/training/whitepaperdetail.asp?pageid=502&wpid=994&country=United+States

I absolutely love Neil's "Another Home Lab"
http://www.neilkoch.com/blog/?p=102

One of my favorite guys to listen to is Paul @ tinkertry.com.  His vZilla was  quite awesome two years ago and still is worth a mention today.  He certainly has used this to his advantage in learning and "breaking" stuff.
http://www.tinkertry.com/vzilla/

Starting off with a bang! or "!"

I'm determined to get in shape.  I'm tired of my pants no longer fitting.  This is my second week on Weight Watchers and I blew it this week.  The first week I was all about losing weight.  But this week, after being sick, I made one excuse after another.  So this weekend I decided to stinking make a decision after my wife signed us up for the PF Chang's half marathon coming in January.  I'll be following Hal Higdon's half marathon training program.

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51130/Half-Marathon-Training-Guide

I will be participating in the Novice 1 area.

http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51131/Half-Marathon-Novice-1-Training-Program

I have run in a few 5Ks, but I'm out of shape again and have probably ran a total of 20 miles or so in the last 12 months.  However, today is the first day of that change.  I'll need to modify this program a bit because I need my rest day to be on Sunday not and will start this strict training next week.  For this week, I'll be running 2 miles everyday and that started today.


I am my worst enemy.

Cloud Cred and you.

As some are aware, if you've read my full profile, you'll notice that my career revolves around VMware and virtualization.  I follow many blogs and several podcasts, not to mention the folks I follow on Twitter and G+.  It can certainly be overwhelming at times.  While I personally know many people who are smarter than me, I came across this post about www.cloudcredibility.com and thought, "Hey, it's free, why not try it?" This is basically gaining points from knowledge or actions (called tasks).  While some are as easy as clicking on a link and watching a vid, others are a bit more challenging. (Nesting ESXi inside of VMware workstation)

I'm actually enjoying learning about new technologies simply by completing tasks and earning points by working within my own time frame.  Seems pretty easy at this point, but only time will tell I suppose.

Hopefully you're taking advantage of some of the free stuff they offer by completing tasks.  I don't think I'll complete the most and win the big prize of going to VMWorld 2013 for free, but that sure would be cool!

Marriage

Today marks the 19th year of my marriage.  It certainly hasn't been all bells and whistles, but it has been amazing!  My wife is everything that God had intended for me to have.  She completes me.

A new beginning or something else that I don't have time for?

Why in the world would I want to start a blog?  There are millions of blogs in the blogosphere and yet here I am typing out some thoughts.  What's interesting to note is how many sites are actually offering blogging opportunities.
Wordpress.com
Tumbler.com
Livejournal.com
Blogger (obviously)
Weebly.com (never heard of this one)

[Courtesy of http://snitchim.com/how-many-blogs-are-there/]

Many people take to Facebook and Google + for blogging and Twitter for a sort of micro-blog.

I then came across this site and if the numbers are true, they are staggering.

http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/

http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/social-media-user-stat-infographic/

I certainly want to give back to my community.  Perhaps one day I'll write something that someone else can use.  So I suppose you can add mine to the list of bloggers.