I was recently approached by one of my colleagues with a dilema, he had to go round our 30+ servers and stop and start a couple of Sophos’s Windows Services.
Now, as you can imagine this was starting to look like a fairly large and mundane task. Which is when I came up with this little VBScript.
Using this script below, you can pass it a text file with a list of machines you would like it to perform the process on.
In the script below you will see a “” change this to your text file containing machines, full file path.
The format of the text file is one machine per line.
This script is by no means ‘bullet proof’ and could be enhanced easily with little time and effort. It could also be modfied to stop\start any services you like.
Const ForReading = 1
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile _
("", ForReading)
Do Until objTextFile.AtEndOfStream
strComputer = objTextFile.Readline
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colServiceList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_Service where Name='Sophos Message Router'")
For Each objService in colServiceList
errReturn = objService.StopService()
WScript.Echo errReturn
Next
Wscript.Sleep 20000
Set colServiceList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("Select * from Win32_Service where Name='Sophos Message Router'")
For Each objService in colServiceList
errReturn = objService.StartService()
WScript.Echo errReturn
Next
Loop
Despite the fact Windows 7 has been in circulation since before October 2009 there still appears to be no official support for the Microsoft Exchange System Management tools for the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Console applet (dsa.msc).
Luckily there is a work around to enable the installation of Windows Vista Exchange System Management tools on Windows 7.
All you need to do is, download a copy of the MSI from here extract the contents to a folder of your choice, and then run the following from the command line:
MSIEXEC /IESMVISTA.MSI /Q
Doing this will prevent the MSI checking that you are running Windows Vista and should install without any issues.
Restarting Active Directory Users and Computers should enable the add-on and you should now see the additional tabs as pictured in the screen shot above.
Simple really!
Todays ‘featured’ application is based on one of my primary mobile operating systems (iOS), and aimed towards either hobby plane spotters, anxious spouses or just general plane enthusiasts.
This application developed by Pinkfroot Limited, and is essentially a real-time air traffic radar!
Plane Finder using an overlay to Google Maps technologies to display live flight information based on parameters you set.
Initially Plane Finder will find you current position using your devices built-in location hardware. Then upon loading will display a radar type display of all known charted airlines right above and around your location!
But wait… The features don’t stop there.. In fact far from it! Using the standard pinch gesture you can zoom in\out and pan around the Google maps view, zooming out to track planes across the entire world all at the same time..
However, the sky’s a busy place, and finding that one particular plane that’s circling your current location could prove difficult. Which is where plane finders find and filter options come in.
The search window enables you to narrow down the sky’s traffic using the plane’s flight number or aircraft registration number, whilst giving you a brief overview of the planes originating and destination airports along with the planes model number.
If you would like to narrow your search/view down either further you can use the built-in filter options to specify details about the operator or plane you are looking for.
Once you have located a plane you would like more information about, tapping on it loads its details page:
This page also gives you the opportunity to set up ‘push’ alerts, for when the plane you have selected reaches a certain location or becomes visible/takes off. You can also view details of all the planes previous flights. Including originating and destination airports, actual flight path, approximate miles flown and flight number.
The details used by the application are obtained using ADS-B plane feeds, which all commercial planes use to transmit information to traffic control.
Plane Finder’s features include:
- Live moving planes
- Social Network Integration
- Flight path contrails
- Search by flight number or aircraft registration number
- Bookmark locations
- Aircraft illustrations
- Aircraft photographs
- Filter by airline and/or altitude
- Detailed flight information
- Technical flight information
The application is available in two flavours, there’s a limited free version and then a paid unlimited full version. Both available from the iTunes AppStore!
So in a complete switch from my blogs normal content todays post is dedicated to my very first trip to Wembley stadium!
Back in November last year my good friend Carly Bond invited me to a rugby match.. Something i’d never done before, an as I’m not really a sports fan It took me a while to decide if i was going to take her up on it. I am so pleased i did! It was a game between Leeds Rhinos and Hull, i entered the stadium completely impartial not knowing who i was going to support.. However, upon leaving i knew the Rhinos where the team for me! They just seemed to embrace the crowd more and appreciate the fans and their support!
That all seems like so long ago now! An although I’m mot yet a season ticket little would stand between me and a Rhinos game!
Back in the early days of my new found love for the team I’d have never thought I’d have been blogging about it on my way to Wembley to watch the mighty Leeds Rhinos take on Wigan.
The excitement in our convoy is something i’d struggle to put into words!
I can’t wait to truly soak up the Wembley atmosphere!
On a side note, I’d like to thank Carly Bond for inviting me to my first game, and providing me with the ability to attend many games across the season!
Heres to many more years as a Rhino’s fan! 
Apple have just released the first update in the OS X Lion series, version 10.7.1 update is available now using the built in Software Update facility. Or can be downloaded direct from Apple’s website using this link.
Before upgrading it’s always advised to ensure all of your backups are up to date, and many people suggest booting into Single User Mode when installing updates to ensure there are no issues with the update process.
The OS X Lion v10.7.1 Update is recommended for all users running OS X Lion and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability and compatibility of your Mac, including fixes that:
- Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari.
- Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out.
- Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections.
- Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion.
- Resolve an issue in which an admin user account could be missing after upgrading to OS X Lion.
For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4764.
The download is approximately 17.4 MB and is available now.
