WinSCP program for Mac

WinSCP is a great program for Windows that will give you a GUI interface to manage files on a remote server when all you can use to connect is SSH. Having grown fond of this program a colleague was sad to find there was no version for MAC. After playing with several different options, they ended up settling on using the FireFTP extension for Firefox and connecting via SFTP to the remote server. To setup FireFTP to use SFTP on the MAC you need to do a few things first.
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Good Routine for Spyware and Viruses Removal

Here is a list of things you can do to help diagnose and fix problems associated with viruses and spyware.  Hopefully you have been running an anti virus program and have been keeping it updated, if not then these steps can probably help fix a spyware/virus problem.

1. Go into Add/Remove programs, and remove all unwanted entries, and toolbars.  If you are not sure what something is, google it.
2. Go into MSConfig (got to RUN and type: msconfig)>, go to startup tab, remove all unwanted and suspicious entries.
3. Download Ad-Aware free edition (DO NOT INSTALL YET)
4. Download Spybot S&D. (DO NOT INSTALL YET)
5. Download Hijackthis (DO NOT INSTALL YET)
6. Download ccleaner (DO NOT INSTALL YET)
7. After all of these are downloaded, turn off  the System Restore feature then reboot into safe mode (hit F8 before the Windows screen). Read the rest of this entry »

How to control Windows with Apple Remote Desktop

If you do not want to use the Microsoft Remote Desktop application as detailed here. You can do the following to allow you to control Windows via Apple’s Remote Desktop application.

Install RealVNC Server (www.realvnc.com or www.tightvnc.com) on your Windows PC.

Once installed it will appear in the tray area of the taskbar or in your program files, select options and set a password, and adjust any necessary settings.

Now on Apple Remote Desktop you can connect to the Windows PC via the IP address. You will have remote control and view capabilities but no other Apple Remote Desktop features such as remote install.

Quickly Restore a SQL Server Database

If you frequently need to restore other peoples DB’s for testing here is a quick way to do so in Microsoft Sql Server.

1. Open your Sql Server manager
2. Create a new database (note the names and locations of the created files)
3. Select the newly created DB and select Restore.
4. Select from Device and choose the backup file to restore.
5. Make sure you are overwriting the new database you created, usually quite apparent, look at the path.
6. Check the log file and database name, modify where needed to the new database and log files (usually under logical name)
7. Hopefully once set, you can restore the database, proceed hopefully, if not check the error and modify accordingly.
8. Now you likely need to take ownership of the DB, run the following on the newly restored database to give it sa ownership:

   exec sp_changedbowner 'sa','true'

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WMV Playback on MAC

There are many options for what to use to play WMV files on OS X. The first of these is Flip4Mac which is a plugin for Quicktime. With Windows Media® Components for QuickTime, by Flip4Mac™, you can play Windows Media files (.wma and .wmv) directly in QuickTime Player and view Windows Media content on the Internet using a Web browser. Here are 2 links
Link #1
Link #2
cellent option is VLC player for MAC (this is my favourite media player):
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