"Have you had your knowledge time today ?"
(never forget to invest time in knowledge)
From this MS link, you can download an Excel spreadsheet with the full set of Group Policy settings shipped with Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, the spreadsheet includes separate worksheets for each of the .adm files.
It's really interesting because you can understand effectively how that policy affect the registry keys/values.
Have fun with them !!! 
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer download a security definition file from MS site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=18922 for english version) if the target computer hasn't got an internet connection you can manually copy this file into the MBSA folder.
This is the step by step procedure:
1) Download MBSA (Actual version is 1.21 released on 16 August 2004)
2) Install it on an internet connected computer
3) Launch it (it will download the last security definition)
4) Install MBSA on the target computer
5) Copy the file mssecure.xml from the first computer into the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer\ on the target computer
This useful tool can be launched from the command line, use mbsacli.exe -? for further details
Another workaround could be the usage of a SUS server.
An year ago I was looking for a way to monitor windows server (performances, services and event viewer) in a standalone environment (I was already using Nagios for more complex situation); I also found Windows Management Instrumentation and I was excited from its capabilities.
I didn't found OpenSource monitoring SW that use WMI and I had never experienced OpenSource development so I decided to start Healthmonitor development...
After one year of hard development I'm really satisfied for the program evolution, I added a lot of feature ant it become more stable; I received a lot of compliments and many people offers to help me.
Only 2 people gave me a good contribution and nobody support me with Paypal but never mind, I'll continue to do my best on this project !
I wrote this small batch file that add recursively Group1 to every "Document and Settings" subdirectories NTFS ACL, you can need it if you want to backup this folder with a user that hasn't got Administrators privileges.
for /R "C:\Documents and settings\" %%D in (.) do (
CACLS "%%D" /T /E /G Group1:F
)
Some time ago I discovered this Opensource Text Editor, I liked that I didn't need to install anything, I could just launch the exe file.
After some months experiencing many other features and I can say Notepad ++ has become my favourite free text editor and I suggest it to anybody !
FTP supports two modes:
Standard mode FTP clients first establish a connection to TCP port 21 on the FTP server. This connection establishes the FTP command channel. The client sends a PORT command over the FTP command channel when the FTP client needs to receive data, such as a folder list or file. The PORT command contains information about on which port the FTP client receives the data. In PORT Mode, the FTP server always sends data from TCP port 20. The FTP server must open a new connection to the client when it sends data.
Passive mode FTP clients also start by establishing a connection to PCT port 21 on the FTP server to create the control channel. When the client sends a PASV command over the command channel, the FTP server opens an ephemeral port (between 1024 and 5000) and informs the FTP client to request data transfer from that port. The FTP server responds to the request by using the ephemeral port as the source port for data transfer. When this occurs, the FTP server does not need to establish a new inbound connection to the FTP client.
To change the Internet Explorer FTP client mode:
1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click Internet Options on the Tools menu.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Click Enable Folder View for FTP sites.
Internet Explorer is an Active mode FTP client when you select the Enable Folder View for FTP sites option (no matter what the Use Passive FTP Option says). 
Firewall administrators may not want to use PASV FTP servers because the FTP server can open any ephemeral port number. Although Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Information Server 5.0 use the default ephemeral port range of 1024 through 5000, many FTP servers are configured with an ephemeral port range of 1024 through 65535. Firewall configurations that allow full access to all ephemeral ports for unsolicited connections may be considered unsecured.
You can configure both IIS 4.0 and IIS 5.0 to allow the ephemeral port range of 1024 through 65535.
For additional information about problems that you may have when you try to connect to TCP ports above 5000, click the number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q196271 Unable to Connect from TCP Ports Above 5000
I was tired 
of getting this event in the Application Event Log
Event ID: 37
Event Type: ErrorEvent
Source: WinMgmtEvent
Description: WMI ADAP was unable to load the PERFPROC.DLL performance library due to an unknown problem within the library: 0x0
I searched a lot and I understood what is happening and howto fix it ! 
The Performance Library Dredger thinks that the library is invalid, even though the counter works properly.
To resolve the issue, open a CMD prompt and type:
winmgmt /clearadap or winmgmt /resyncperf -p
(where p
This simple but really important tip explain how can you use the switch /console (e.g. mstsc /v:servername /console) to connect to the console instead of opening a new remote session.
It's really usefull when both the 2 sessions (for remote administration mode) are busy and you need urgently to connect remotely; or let's image you're installing a a patch remotely and you lose the connection, you can recover the installation logging on console without loosing steps or getting broken installation errors !
I'm experiencing a problem on a Omnibook 6000 with Windows XP Professional; after installing MS Service Pack it continue to hang up !!
The only solution is to change processor drivers from PIII to Standard Processor*, losing all of the benefits of the ACPI features (power saving. speed-step, etc).
Other people got the same problem but nobody found a solution, see here for details.
* Open Device Manager select processors then select P3 and update the driver. There are 2 drivers available Processor and Processor intel P3. Choose Processor and reboot.
Php-Stats is a comprehensive Web site statistics analysis script written in Php/Mysql from italian developer.
I haven't used it for my site yet but the demo is really interesting !!
It's not released with GPL license 
but it's free for non-commercial use.
All details can be found on Php-Stats Site
After 2 intense months I'm able to release the newer version (1.9 stable) of Healthmonitor !
Many new features are available, all the details here.
Today I was involved creating a Windows Live CD and I was wondered how can I create a SP2 patched Windows XP.
I found some articles speaking about Slipstreaming: the process of including patches into a software installation; using this method I create my own updated Windows XP CD that I will use with BartPE.
What do I need ?
1) a copy of WinXP CD
2) a CD burner with CD creation software (in this example I use Nero Burning Rom 6)
3) Isobuster (http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/)
4) a copy of Service Pack 2
The update process (slipstreaming) is very easy:
- copy Windows XP CD to hard drive (in my example D:\CD-XP)
- extract SP2 running WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe -x on a folder (in my example D:\XP-SP2)
- start the update process D:\XP-SP2\i386\update\update.exe /s:D:\CD-XP
Now I need to create the Bootable CD
In order to extract the boot loader from the original Windows XP CD using ISO Buster
- select Bootable CD, extract Microsoft Corporation.img to D:\CD-XP.
Before start burning I need to set some parameters in Nero Burning Rom
- in the boot tab: insert the previous .img file, enable Expert Settings, choose No Emulation, and change the Number of loaded sectors to 4
- in the iso tab: set the option Do Not Add ";1" ISO file version extention and set the File Name Length to Max of 31 Chars (ISO Level 2)
- in the label tab: keep the Volume Label the same as on the original Windows XP CD
For everybody who want to follow my instructions, I suggest to use a CDRW
Vittorio
I just try MSN Web Messenger, it's great !
I love MSN Messenger and I think this new feature will make it a killer application for IM.
I was prying around MS Research Site and I found this interesting article that explain a simple method to detect if there are hidden files installed by stealth programs such as RootKits, Trojans, and Keyloggers.
Basically it create a list of all the files when operating system is running (and stealth sw can make them invisible) and then it compare it with a list created when the system was started from a Live CD distribution.
This paper explain what is NETBIOS over TCP/IP, how it relates to the security in Windows 2000 and give some hints about TCP Port 445.
Basically if the server has NBT enabled, it listens on UDP ports 137, 138, and on TCP ports 139, 445. If it has NBT disabled, it listens on TCP port 445 only.
I just found a free second level domain registration service on www.dot.tk !
Dot TK is a joint venture of the Government of Tokelau (I didn't know that it exist this place in the South Pacific Ocean) it's communication company Teletok and Taloha, Inc., a privately held company.
The Government of Tokelau has appointed Taloha, Inc. as the exclusive registration entity and they provide this service for FREE !
I registered www.vittorio.tk and I redirected it to my personal site on free space.