Windows 7 Commands Every Administrator Should Know

PC troubleshooting is becoming less common in larger organizations, but consultants and techs in smaller shops still have to get their hands dirty identifying and fixing desktop problems. Oftentimes, troubleshooting Windows 7 means delving into the command line. Here are 10 fundamental Windows 7 commands you might find helpful.

1: System File Checker

Malicious software will often attempt to replace core system files with modified versions in an effort to take control of the system. The System File Checker can be used to verify the integrity of the Windows system files. If any of the files are found to be missing or corrupt, they will be replaced. You can run the System File Checker by using this command:

sfc /scannow

2: File Signature Verification

One way to verify the integrity of a system is to make sure that all the system files are digitally signed. You can accomplish this with the File Signature Verification tool. This tool is launched from the command line but uses a GUI interface. It will tell you which system files are signed and which aren’t. As a rule, all the system files should be digitally signed, although some hardware vendors don’t sign driver files. The command used to launch the File Signature Verification tool is:

sigverif

3: Driverquery

Incorrect device drivers can lead to any number of system problems. If you want to see which drivers are installed on a Windows 7 system, you can do so by running the driverquery tool. This simple command-line tool provides information about each driver that is being used. The command is:

driverquery

If you need a bit more information, you can append the -v switch. Another option is to append the -si switch, which causes the tool to display signature information for the drivers. Here’s how they look:

driverquery -v

driverquery -si

4: Nslookup

The nslookup tool can help you to verify that DNS name resolution is working correctly. When you run nslookup against a host name, the tool will show you how the name was resolved, as well as which DNS server was used during the lookup. This tool can be extremely helpful when troubleshooting problems related to legacy DNS records that still exist but that are no longer correct.

To use this tool, just enter the nslookup command, followed by the name of the host you want to resolve. For example:

nslookup dc1.contoso.com

5: Ping

Ping is probably the simplest of all diagnostic commands. It’s used to verify basic TCP/IP connectivity to a network host. To use it, simply enter the command, followed by the name or IP address of the host you want to test. For example:

ping 192.168.1.1

Keep in mind that this command will work only if Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) traffic is allowed to pass between the two machines. If at any point a firewall is blocking ICMP traffic, the ping will fail.

6: Pathping

Ping does a good job of telling you whether two machines can communicate with one another over TCP/IP, but if a ping does fail, you won’t receive any information regarding the nature of the failure. This is where the pathping utility comes in.

Pathping is designed for environments in which one or more routers exist between hosts. It sends a series of packets to each router that’s in the path to the destination host in an effort to determine whether the router is performing slowly or dropping packets. At its simplest, the syntax for pathping is identical to that of the ping command (although there are some optional switches you can use). The command looks like this:

pathping 192.168.1.1

7: Ipconfig

The ipconfig command is used to view or modify a computer’s IP addresses. For example, if you wanted to view a Windows 7 system’s full IP configuration, you could use the following command:

ipconfig /all

Assuming that the system has acquired its IP address from a DHCP server, you can use the ipconfig command to release and then renew the IP address. Doing so involves using the following commands:

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

Another handy thing you can do with ipconfig is flush the DNS resolver cache. This can be helpful when a system is resolving DNS addresses incorrectly. You can flush the DNS cache by using this command:

ipconfig /flushdns

8: Repair-bde

If a drive that is encrypted with BitLocker has problems, you can sometimes recover the data using a utility called repair-bde. To use this command, you will need a destination drive to which the recovered data can be written, as well as your BitLocker recovery key or recovery password. The basic syntax for this command is:

repair-bde -rk | rp

You must specify the source drive, the destination drive, and either the rk (recovery key) or the rp (recovery password) switch, along with the path to the recovery key or the recovery password. Here are two examples of how to use this utility:

repair-bde c: d: -rk e:\recovery.bek

repair-bde c: d: -rp 111111-111111-111111-111111-111111-111111

9: Tasklist

The tasklist command is designed to provide information about the tasks that are running on a Windows 7 system. At its most basic, you can enter the following command:

tasklist

The tasklist command has numerous optional switches, but there are a couple I want to mention. One is the -m switch, which causes tasklist to display all the DLL modules associated with a task. The other is the -svc switch, which lists the services that support each task. Here’s how they look:

tasklist -m

tasklist -svc

10: Taskkill

The taskkill command terminates a task, either by name (which is referred to as the image name) or by process ID. The syntax for this command is simple. You must follow the taskkill command with -pid (process ID) or -im (image name) and the name or process ID of the task that you want to terminate. Here are two examples of how this command works:

taskkill -pid 4104

taskkill -im iexplore.exe

Author: dfgdfg,

Categories: Administrator, Win 7 Command, Windows 7

Facebook deletes hacked Pages, ruins years of hard work

Businesses and individuals using Facebook Pages are getting booted off their fanpage with no way back on, and it's costing some of them money.

Typically, the administrator tries to access the Page, only to discover that someone else has managed to get admin privileges and then deleted their admin status.

Because they are no longer an admin of the Page, they have no standing with Facebook and no way of getting rid of the usurper and are usually told by the social network that the only option they have is to report it as "infringing or violating their rights" so that it will be deleted. But for many users, this is a difficult option to swallow after months, or even years, spent building up their fanbase.

Ali Naqvi, owner and director of 123vouchercodes.co.uk, lost his Page around three months ago at great cost to his business. He had 6,000

"We had 6,000 fans who were genuine followers interested in our updates and clicking away. The clicks brought in about 10 to 15 per cent traffic every month," he said. "My webpage does about 50,000 unique visits a month – it's not huge, but at the same time, whatever traffic is there, 10 to 15 per cent is a big chunk of that."

After months of trying to get help from Facebook, Naqvi has resorted to starting a new Page, but it's not a solution he's happy with.

"I've actually started a new Page already, but the take-up is slow," he said. "I spent two years building the 6,000 fan base and I've just started now so it's only a couple of hundred on there. It's not the same, it's not going to bring the same amount of traffic."

Many users believed that the original creator of the Page could never be removed as administrator, as stated in its own help pages, but Facebook denies this.

A Facebook spokesperson said that original administrators could be removed, adding that this had benefits for businesses because they could delete people who had left the company.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos Security, said this presented serious risks for businesses using Pages.

"I'm sure there are many people who run Facebook Pages who take the help page's word [on original creators] at face value, and believed it to be a safety net should anything ever go wrong. I certainly believed it to be true, which is why I was so surprised when I tested it for myself to find how simple it was to kick out the original admin," he said.

Without that safety net, someone outside the company could convince an administrator to give them access for marketing purposes or some other service and then take control of the Page, or any legitimate additional admins could have their computer hacked, resulting in everyone getting kicked off the Page, Cluley added.

"If you run a Page with a lot of fans that's a big problem – both for the fans (who might receive spam, malicious messages etc) and for your firm's brand," he said.

Other users who have lost their Pages have taken to the forums to vent their frustration at the lack of help from Facebook, and at the oft-quoted phrase from company that Pages "cannot be hacked".

The spokesperson also said that Facebook Pages could not be hacked and said the only way they could be taken over was if the email and password login were found out somehow, for example through phishing – which might be a little too much like splitting hairs for a lot of users.

"As long as the current administrators of a group keep their login details secure, keep their account enabled, and do not allow any suspicious people to become admins, then the group or Page will remain secure," Facebook said.

Naqvi said he had little interest in how his Page was hacked, but he wondered why, if a hacker had his Facebook login details, they hadn't taken over his profile along with his Page.

Facebook's spokesperson also said the site had a "host" of advanced tools to help people stay in control of their accounts, including login notifications, which let you save the devices you use to access your account, and "recent activity", where you can look at your recent activity and remotely close open sessions.

"Unfortunately, Facebook is not able to reinstate people as an admin for any group or page so, as always, we advise people to practice good online security," they said.

But Cluley said he didn't understand why it should be difficult for Facebook to reinstate original admins.

"After all, they presumably have a log of who originally created a page," he said. "Even if they aren't prepared to put in a system to do that – why can't they code Facebook to do what its help pages say it will do? Either block attempts to remove the original admin, or send a request to the original admin asking if they agree to be removed from their administrator role."

That would surely help prevent hijacks like this one taking place.

Author: dfgdfg,

Categories: Administrator, Facebook, Facebook page hack, Hacking, Security