Why are Tapes not Suitable for Backup

Tapes are meant for backup. Though invented long ago and not invented for backups, they are still suited for backups because of two things: Reliability and Cost per capacity. They are very suitable for an enterprise, large or medium.

There are some problems with tape backup that make it less suited for a causal, personal user or someone without dedicated, trained IT department.

1. Tape backups require tape drives. And tape drives come in varied specifications and types. You will be spoilt for options when choosing one.
   
   
2. You can not read tape backups on all computers. Suppose you require to urgently recover a data to a laptop. You can not do that easily. Two issues:
   Firstly, the tape drive may not be compatible with the target computer. It might require SCSI cards, exotic cables or drivers.
   Secondly, your only tape drive might be damaged by the same disaster that destroys your data. Imagine that your workstation is destroyed due to a power surge or lighting surge. Maybe your tape drive or SCSI card gets damaged too. Keeping a second tape drive ready or as spare is not for everybody's budget right?
   
   
3. It requires an up-front investment. You need a tape drive, a decent one will cost Rs. 15 to 20K. And you need to buy at least some 9 tapes to have full rotation.
   
   
4. You must rotate to benifit. You must understand and adhere to a proper tape rotation scheme to benefit from the tape backup solution. If you do not know what is stored where in a hurry, what use is it? If you do not swap the tapes properly, you will overwrite backups and may loose backup. Religiously rotating tapes requires trained staff. (If you can buy Auto-loaders, you are not the small biz, casual or personal user I am writing about).
   

So what can the small biz or personal users use for backup? In a few days...

This blog's just been negleted - not abandoned.

Sorry for not posting for so long. Will keep adding more content soon.

This Season, A Gift for your PC Too. #1: RAM

Want to boost the speed of your computer? Try adding more RAM. It is one of the first upgrades you should try on your computer.

A typical absolute minimum memory to have today is 512 MB. If you do lots of work on your computer - run lots of programs, browse the Internet with lots of tabs open etc, you should try a minimum of 1 GB RAM. If you are an advanced user, run latest software and can afford it, go for 2 GB RAM.

The First constraint is the maximum amount of memory that your motherboard supports. To find out your computer's limits, look up your computer's specifications. If yours is a branded computer like HP, Dell etc, you can easily find the information on their website. You can also contact their customer support for the information.

If you have an assembled computer, or if you are unable to get the information from your computer vendor, you can look up the information from your motherboard manufacturer's website. You can open up your computer and find the motherboard model number printed on the board itself. Then, look up the information on the motherboard manufacturer's website. Also make note of what and how many modules are already installed on the computer and how many slots are available / free.

For example, Intel® Desktop Board D845GRG supports the following memory configuration:

• Two 184-pin DDR SDRAM DIMM sockets
• Support for single-sided or double-sided DIMMs (DDR 200 and DDR 266)
• Support for up to 2 GB system memory

For latest Intel motherboards, click here. For legacy / archived Intel motherboards.

The Second constraint is the number of Available Memory Slots on your motherboard. Lets consider an example. Your motherboard has a total of 2 DIMM slots. You have one 256MB memory module already installed. That leaves you with just 1 more slot free.

If you need to upgrade to 512 MB, you can buy One 256 MB module. If you need to increase your system's memory to 1 GB, you have to buy One 1 GB module only. Leaving the old module intact, Your computer will have a net of 1GB + 256 MB: 1,280 MB memory. Or you could add just one 512 MB RAM and get a net of 768 MB RAM.

If your system does not have free DIMM slots, you may have to discard the old modules. (You may be able to readily sell them in the grey market).

HP Pavilion - Code Purple Error

Problem:

On HP Pavilion systems, while doing a full System Restore, during the first boot, Win XP says it has detected changes to the system configuration and will not proceed. It says you to contact HP Customer Care and says Code Purple. You have no option other than rebooting the system.

Cause - My Guess:

Microsoft's OEM licensing requires that the computers have a unique "tattoo" (an Build ID string stored on your BIOS memory) to which your copy of the operating system software is locked to. While creating the Recovery Partition for your system, during the OEM imaging process (process of installing OS and creating your OS copy on your Harddisk), the OS is locked to run only on a computer with your computer's tattoo. This prevents you from installing the software on another system (even from the same vendor with same specification).

You might be facing this error due to so many causes;

1. Your motherboard might have been replaced - either by your or HP Service.
2. Your motherboard is having a corrupt tattoo.
3. May be you are using the wrong Recovery CDs.

I came up on this error while recovering my HP Pavilion whose motherboard was replaced by HP Authorised Service. Wonder why they did not set the correct tattoo on the motherboard then? They knew while replacing the motherboard that I will not be able to recover my system didn't they?

Solution #1:

You can let HP resolve the issue for you. Reports on the net indicate that they will do it promptly for you but it may take a few days. If your system is out of warranty, it is reported that HP may ask for a nominal service fee. (I have no first hand information on this).

I did not use HP Support to resolve the issue. I hit upon the problem at 9'o clock at night and the tech support guys had gone to sleep. Am not the type who waits for them to wake up - so I did my homework.

Solution #2:

If you want a DIY solution, and don't mind taking some effort, you can bypass this tattoo check yourself. Actually, it is very easy to do. I doubt that it is intentionally so!

When the OS first boots, It runs a batch file c:\hp\bin\ConfigCheck\CFGCHK.bat which does this:

c:\hp\bin\hpdmi r > dmiout.txt
python c:\hp\bin\ConfigCheck\run.py
del dmiout.txt
cd ..
rd /s /q c:\hp\bin\ConfigCheck


So, this is the batch file which insists on your computer having a tattoo! It runs c:\hp\bin\hpdmi to get your Bios String Build ID. Then there is the python script that hangs the system and displays the popup message. All you have to do is remove all the lines from the batch file and make it empty. Or do whatever else you want. (Like say Hi to you?)

Problem is, to edit the batch file you need access to the file and an editor. And your system won't boot up! Starting in safe mode does not work - it insists you to complete setup first.

So you need a bootable CD that lets you do it. You must be able to find many on the Internet but you need one that can read and write the XP NTFS file system on your hard disk. So your MS DOS boot disks are useless. You can use Ultimate Boot Cd, you can also try something from www.allbootdisks.com (I haven't tried them - tell me how it works).

You can also try removing the HDD, adding it to another XP/Linux computer as an additional hard disk and editing the batch file - Tell me if it works.

You need to use a boot disk, go to your system's C: partition, overwrite the edit the c:\hp\bin\ConfigCheck\CFGCHK.bat file and remove all the lines.

If you are using Ultimate Boot CD, you will have to keep in mind that the Linux distros on the disk do not seem to support the NTFS partitions. You will have to use their Avira NTFS4DOS Personal tool under File system Tools menu. On my system, AVIVA crashed when I did a DIR! So I had to overwrite the file from the command line without using the DIR command like this:

ren c:\hp\bin\CFGCHK.bat c:\read.txt
copy con c:\hp\bin\CFGCHK.bat
@ECHO OFF
(Press Ctrl+Z to save file)


The c:\read.txt copy is for you to read later, if you are interested. Now reboot the system and enjoy.

For more info, see this blog post: Code Purple — The Compaq/HP Booby Trap

Preventing your Kids from viewing Porn Sites

You are a parent and want to prevent your kids from viewing sexually explicit materials, sites relating to violence and other such bad stuff on the Internet. You have two options:

1. Develop a meaningful, strong relationship with your kids. You should be their trusted, very good friend. I believe this is the most important way, if not the only way, to protecting your kids from online hazards. It is not something you can do overnight. (You can't download and install a relationship with your kid instantly.)

Teach the kid what's appropriate and acceptable and what is not. Teach them the consequences of the bad stuff. Make sure they are aware of the predators on the net and train them to keep away.

Try being with the kid when they are online - if possible, at all times. Place the computer in a location visible to all members of the family.

If you are trying to prevent your kid from viewing inappropriate sites without providing moral support and vaules to them, you will be playing a loosing game of cat and mouse (or cop and thief) with your kids. How many computers does your kid have access to? At home, his friend's homes, schools, browsing centers (Internet cafe)... And don't forget the cellphones.

2. You can use technology to some extent - which I believe does not provide a great, meaningful solution. It can only be a backup to your parenting approach - a sort of a safety net.

Anyway, One best example I can think of are Norton Internet Security's Parental Control. It is part of Norton Add-on Pack available as an add-on to Norton Internet Security or Norton 360. Another option is CyberPatrol - 14 Days Trial Available, $40 / Year. Check this review also.

These filtering solutions are not very reliable either. They do allow access to some sites with inappropriate content. Some can be circumvented too.

Remember, you can use such tools to prevent your kid from watching inappropriate sites only if you are more computer savvy than your kid - a situation that is nowadays becoming unlikely.

A Virus that Spreads through USB or Removable Disks

Using Pen Drive or USB Flash Drive or Memory Cards etc? Beware of this AHKHeap-A virus. It does some pretty crafty dirty tricks! All you need to do to be infected is to just plug it in!

You will be infected if you insert an infected removable disk on your computer and let it Autoplay, if you double-click the Drive Icon, or double click a folder that you created earlier!

So what should you do? So what happened?

If you had inserted your removable drive on some computer infected with the AHKHeap virus, when you create a directory on the removable drive, say "test", the virus converts the folder into a system, hidden folder. Then, it creates an application with the same name - test.exe. The trick is that the test.exe application that is created has an icon that exactly resembles a folder!



In the above screenshot, you see a folder named MicrosoftPowerPoint. But actually, its a virus and not a folder! See the Properties page for it below:

Its an EXEcutable file! (Type of file: Application). How come it looks like a folder? Simple. It has its icon set to look exactly like a folder!

When you plug the removable drive to another PC and try to open the folder by double clicking it, the virus exe file runs and infects that computer too. You don't get to see the real folder because it has attributes set a system, hidden.

It even sets the Autoplay.ini file to start the viral executable. So if your Windows stupidly runs the executable as soon as you plug in the removable drive, you are infected. See the Autorun.ini contents:

[Autorun]
open=MicrosoftPowerPoint.exe
shellexecute=MicrosoftPowerPoint.exe
shell\Auto\command=MicrosoftPowerPoint.exe

Another interesting thing is that the virus disables "Show hidden files and folders" option. Go to Explorer, click Tools Menu > Folder Options > View Tab. "Do not show hidden files and folders" option will be checked. Try changing it to "Show hidden files and folders". If your computer was infected, you will not be able to save the changes! You have to re-set the option from the registry. Go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL and set CheckedValue to 1. Now, you can change the setting to show all files and folders.

What can you do to prevent this virus? DO NOT AUTOPLAY removable disks! If you shared your removable disk among computers and if you think there is any chance that those computers infected, do not open folders that are on the removable drives by double clicking them - use the [+] sign on the explorer's folders pane. Better still, use the command prompt if you know how to.

Do not trust drives that belongs to others.

What is the payload of this virus? It stops you from accessing orkut and youtube and displays its signature dialog box that says orkut is banned and reportedly produces strange sounds :) !

The virus does this: it creates a directory c:\heap41a and sets up a key in the registry so that it auto-starts (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run). Then, it infects each and every removable disk you insert into the computer.

How to remove the virus from your computer?

Read these articles: 1 2

First, you have to kill the viral processes running as svchost under your user name. To do this, press Ctrl+Alt+Del and open Task Manager. There will be svchost processes running under SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE or NETWORK SERVICE. Leave them alone. If you find any svchost process under some other username, right click it and select 'End Process Tree'.

Then remove the start-up hooks from the registry. I found them in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run. Its better if you search for "heap41a" in the registry. Remove any viral entries you find.

Then, you have to remove the virus from your hard disk. Use Command Prompt. c:
cd \
dir /a

If you find heap41a directory, you have to delete them. First, you have to un-protect them.
attrib -s -h heap41a
cd heap41a
attrib -s -h *.* /s /d
del *.* /s

You should now be able to delete the heap41a directory. If you are unable to, there are more protected files in it - Remove them using attrib -s -h filename and del filename.

Then, reset the Show Hidden Files Option as said earlier. (Go to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL and set CheckedValue to 1).

Now, you have to clean your Removable Drives. Make sure you don't re-infect your system when you do this. When you insert the disk, make sure Windows does not autoplay any executable. You must not trigger Auto-play on the drive by right-clicking the drive icon. You must not also double-click applications that look like folders.

The best way to clean the removable drive is to Quick-format it. If you need to try to recover some data from it, try this:

Go to the command prompt. Do a dir /a and see if there are any suspicious executables or hidden folders. Delete them all. Repeat them for any sub-directories. Delete autoplay.ini.

My AVG with latest updates (Sep 17 2007) was unable to recognise all of the executable - though it did catch many. For example, it did not recognise the c:\heap41a\svchost.exe! Makes me wonder how much you can trust them!

Prevention is Better than Cure

When it comes to antivirus, its my opinion that it should be better used for prevention of an infection rather than to cure an infected system.

Ideally, you should install the antivirus software as soon as you install the operating system and before most other programs. More importantly, you should install the antivirus before you connect your system to other systems via a LAN or the Internet - before Viruses, worms and Trojans get a chance to infect your system.

Someone who administers 200 computers told me that AVG Antivirus is useless and they were being let down. On discussion with him, I found out that they tried to install antivirus software after a computer was suspected to be infected. Most systems were not updated with security and critical updates and had vulnerabilities dating back to 2002! And none had firewalls turned on. Every single system was used routinely with administrative accounts.

No wonder he feels that antivirus solutions inadequate. I advised him to follow a minimum security procedure: Windows Updates, Early Antivirus installation, giving non-admin accounts for day to day usage, firewall configuration etc. Security is a habit, it seems. Lets see if things improve.