Breaking and Entering

Hey Everyone,                                            

        So this week I was helping by discarding their unwanted electronics while removing any of their data from different sources. One of these such sources was a 500GB Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 2.0 external Hard Drive (WD5000HU1). So as I begin to get things setup, I noticed......no power! So, I reach out to them and they proceed to explain that during their move it has been LOST!!!! This basically makes the external hard drive a Electronic waste paperweight, which of course everyone should have on their home and office desks. So, after some quick research I found out that you can easily pick up a new power supply for $10-$15. However, I didn't feel like spending the money just to erase the data SO, this was going to be my next small project. For anyone facing this situation and they really like their external drive I recommend either purchasing the power cord or later on they could purchase a SATA to USB external enclosure to put the hard drive in. That being said, for those who either need a last resort or a taste of destructive fun, I decided to dig in to take this item apart.

So this model doesn't have any external screws holding the chassis together, it is just plastic tabs concealed by the cover. I took a small Flat-Head screwdriver and slowly pried open the small plastic interior section as shown, and moved to the top and bottom of the device. I completed one side of the device, then finished the other side.

Once I had the two pieces separated, I then slid them apart while occasional needing to seperate them when they catch.

Looking at the bottom of the hard drive I found the PowerBoard that connected to the hard drive allowing the device to connect through USB, and removed the two screws.

 

 

After the PowerBoard is removed, I then removed the interior plastic cover by swinging it around the hard drive like a door until it detatched from the drive. I then removed four screws holding the hard drive to the metal bracket.

 

 

And here are all the parts disassembled.

 

So, now I can place the SATA drive in a external enclosure or in a system and erase all the data as needed. My plan is to install this drive as storage for my new Windows 8 system but, maybe I'll end utilizing it some other way. In any case, I had fun tearing things apart and as always Be Blessed!



It's all about the Script.....VBScript that is...

Hey Everyone,

       Sorry about the late post this week. To be honest, starting on Friday last week my work has thrown a huge curve ball at me and I've been plugging away at it. Basically, they have been planning on upgrading some business software that is a hosted web based solution, and regardless of the questions we asked about preparations and client based changes, we were assured that everything would transition smoothly. We'll the go live date was Friday of last week and the bombshell went off that the links used for majority of our users had to be changed. Just to give you and idea of the scale, we're talking roughly a little over 300 users and not only do they have shortcuts in their favorites, they also have desktop icons. Now some of you may be thinking, no big deal, use group policy, do this, do that.. and forgive me for being short but, yes that would work and in part I did but, this isn't my forte and was a new challenge for me. So, introductions and background out of the way, I wanted to share my experience and what I was able to discover after researching multiple websites for solutions.

       Basically, I had 3 goals: my first goal was to remove the old website shortcuts on Windows XP and Windows 7 through all the users profiles to eliminate confusing and false error reports to the help desk. Secondly, I needed to update the link that was applied through group policy across our domain to point to the new link, and finally, I had to create a new shortcut for every user pointing to the correct address.

      So, the second goal was the easiest to address and was knocked out before the end of business on Friday. I hopped onto the group policy manager and edited the link that was already applied through group policy. The other two goals were the more difficult ones. Remember to keep the scale of deployment in mind, this is 300 users that need this link, and that have old links. My approach was to utilize a process that I was familiar with and which is actually my tech tool of the week. I utilized PDQ Deploy by AdminArsenal to distribute a batch file that creates the shortcut for me. Now covering PDQ Deploy is a bit out of the scope of this blog today but, I plan to cover it in a video tutorial.

Here's the batch file contents that was deployed to all of the desktops:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@echo off
REM Providing network location
:_Create
IF NOT EXIST "X:" (
  goto :_X32
) else (
NET USE X: /Delete
goto :_Create
)
:_X32
NET USE X: \\Server\Shared\Drive\Folder
IF EXIST "C:\Documents and Settings" (xcopy /Y "X:\Internet Shortcut Needed.url" "C:\Documents and settings\All Users\Desktop\*.*") ELSE (goto :_X64)
IF EXIST "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Internet Shortcut Needed.url" DEL "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Internet Shortcut Needed.url"
goto :_eof
:_X64
IF Exist "C:\Users" (xcopy /Y "X:\Internet Shortcut Needed.url" "C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop\*.*") ELSE (goto :_X32)
IF Exist "C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop\Internet Shortcut Needed.url" DEL "C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop\Internet Shortcut Needed.url"
goto :_eof

:_eof
REM Remove Network Drive
NET USE X: /Delete
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In case you're not familiar with scripts let me walk you through this. The first section checks if a drive is mapped to the drive letter 'X:', if so it disconnects the drive to assure it is available. If the drive doesn't exist, it jumps to :_X32. The first thing we do is map a drive to the network share that I stored the Internet shortcut, and assign the drive letter 'X'. It then checks to verify if this system is a Windows XP system by checking if 'C:\Documents and Settings' exists, if it does, it copies the Internet shortcut to the All Users profile on the desktop, which assures every user on the system now has the new link on their desktop. If it doesn't exist, it skips to :_X64. Continuing the process that 'C:\Documents and Settings' exists, it then checks the all users profile to see if the old icon exists on the desktop, if so it deletes it. The process is then complete and calls :_eof to cleanup and exit. :_eof disconnects the mapped drive since it is no longer needed and the user may require the X: drive for other functions. The :_X64 functions in the exact same manner however, it checks to verify it is a Windows 7 system and checks a different folder structure.

I don't know if this was the easiest way to deliver the shortcut but it worked for me. I had this process deployed by early morning Tuesday. Here was now the most difficult task, removing the old shortcuts in every users profile. Here's how I accomplished that task:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dim fso, f, f1,strPath1,strComputer
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set network = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
strComputer = network.ComputerName
Set strPath1 = fso.GetFolder("\\" & network.ComputerName & "\c$\Documents and Settings")
'WScript.Echo "strPath1: " & strPath1
Set f = strPath1.subFolders

For Each f1 in f
If fso.FileExists(f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut.url") Then
  fso.DeleteFile (f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut.url")
End IF
Next
For Each f1 in f
If fso.FileExists(f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-2.url") Then
  fso.DeleteFile (f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-2.url")
End If
Next
For Each f1 in f
If fso.FileExists(f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-3.url") Then
  fso.DeleteFile (f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-3.url")
End If
NEXT
For Each f1 in f
If fso.FileExists(f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-4.url") Then
  fso.DeleteFile (f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-4.url")
End If
NEXT
For Each f1 in f
If fso.FileExists(f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-5.url") Then
  fso.DeleteFile (f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut-5.url")
End If
NEXT
WScript.Quit(0)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I used active directory and deployed this script to all of my Windows XP systems. This script starts by defining all of the variables needed in the script. It then assigns the computer name to strComputer, and sets the path using the computer name and path to the location of user profiles. The 'For Each' command then runs through each profile deleting the Internet shortcut specified. I have multiple 'For Each' commands to address multiple variations that the old links could be titled as.

The Windows 7 script is the same way just with different paths. Here is a sample to compare the differences:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dim fso, f, f1,strPath, strComputer
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set network = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
strComputer = network.ComputerName
Set strPath = fso.GetFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\Users")
'WScript.Echo "strPath: " & strPath
Set f= strPath.subFolders
For Each f1 in f
If fso.FileExists(f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut.url") Then
  fso.DeleteFile (f1 & "\Desktop\Internet Shortcut.URL")
End IF
NEXT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well that's it, I don't know if that was the best solution but, that's what worked for me. What would you have done differently to solve this problem? Be Blessed!

Still trudging along

Hey everyone,

      Blessings to all this week, I'm currently still been working on more video tutorials to give people some visuals to follow along with. I'm trying to decide if it is better to capture multiple tutorials at the same time or start and finish one tutorial. Either way, progress is still being made. I updated this weeks Tips, and hope that they are put to great use, I know they've helped me abundantly. This week, I plan to start adding some information to the forums about applications I use, technologies I plan to cover, etc. I hope to get some feedback on things needing to be covered and if there are other products that people find useful that I haven't listed. Well, I guess that's it for now.

Be Blessed!

How To Wipe your Hard Drive

Hey everyone,

Below is my first vidwo tutorial showing you how to utilize Darik's Boot and Nuke v.2.2.6(BETA) to securely wipe data off of hard drives. Leave any comments and subscribe as I roll out more tutorials and reviews. Be Blessed.

Continued Developments

Happy Friday Everyone,

     Still working on the finally touches of the first video tutorial, and if you haven't noticed yet I've made several additions to the Blog. On the right side of the page =====>> You'll find two weekly tip posts. Every week I'll update these tips with a new tech tool and tip, so keep coming back to stay updated. I've also created a forum at the bottom of the blog which allows the community to post a help request, ask for consulting advice, provide feedback on the Blog and forum, as well as make suggestions on topics to discuss or suggestions for new tutorials and reviews. Lastly, for those who find it convenient to follow my blog through e-mail, I added a special section just for you!! :-) Below the Tech News section on the right column, there is a spot to "Follow by email". More developments and ideas on the way! Until next time, Be blessed.

Update:: Apparently, comments were not enabled for visitors, and restricted. I opened up the comments as well as adjusted the timezone to Eastern. Apologies to any readers that experienced any issues with these items.

Replacing LCD Display in Compaq Presario CQ56

As I mentioned in my previous post, today I worked on my sisters laptop to replace the LCD display. Apparently, in the middle of the night, my sister decided to use her laptop as slippers and not only cracked the display but also the corner of the top chassis.

Here's some pictures of what it looked like before I replaced the display. 

The screen is cracked in an arc so all of the light blue is caused by the crack.

 

I thought it was funny because it almost looked like the laptop was frowning, especially when the dark purple and black was along the entire crack.


The one thing I found hilarious is how difficult it was to match the laptop with getting the right part. It was almost like they were trying to prevent me from repairing it, LOL. Unlike most manufacturers, this system didn't have the serial number or Part Number on the bottom of the laptop, nor in the system OS for the best I could tell. After some Internet research, I discovered how to pull up the system information (by pressing the function key (FN), and Escape (ESC), then off the serial number I had to do more research to
discover the exact part I needed, which is (CQ56-115DX) for those who could find it helpful. We purchased the part from Vivo Technology using Amazon for around $60, and I plan on making them my goto company for any other system repairs that come up. Here's there link http://www.vivotechnology.net/ , check them out for some quality products.

Okay, so here is the crazy thing about this repair. I do not understand why manufactures design systems where it is difficult to replace simple components. In MOST systems, the display can be replaced by simply removing the screws along the edge of the display, the Dell laptops I typically work on our very easy to access....not so with this system. Compaq/HP designed this system where the screws are behind the backside of the chassis and cannot be accessed without risk of striping the screws. I had to disassemble the entire laptop just to remove the screws holding the display chassis together, check out the pic.
 


After removing 7-keyboard screws, 10 chassis screws, hard drive access panel and two chassis screws underneath that, memory/wireless access panel and one screw, removing the keyboard and a screw underneath it, then disconnect the data cable for multiple devices i finally had access to remove the hinge just enough to access the screws in the display chassis.



Finally, I switched the display and put everything back as it was, with no "spare" parts. ;-)



Ta DA!!! It's all beautiful again!!



My sister was thrilled to have her laptop like new again and saved a lot of money in the process. For info on all the steps needed to replace the display or other parts on the Compaq Presario CQ56 check out this link that I used as a reference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amNT9XdBpN0

Until next time, Be Blessed.

Greetings!!

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for checking out my blog. I'm SkyFire815, and I'm the tech guru looking out for you! I decided to create this blog to post helpful tips, tutorials, and reviews that address tools, tech news, and new technology. I also plan to provide a space that readers can seek technical help and advice, as well as leave suggestions on things they would like covered.

Later today, I'm going to post my latest experience replacing a Laptop LCD Display that has been cracked, right now the screen looks like it is frowning, LOL!! :-)

I have several videos that I'm working on, to post in the upcoming weeks. This weekend, I'm going to post a tutorial video on how to confidently and securely wipe (aka. Blank or Zero) a hard drive, with a very easy tool. A few weeks later, I plan to link one of the more in-depth videos which is a hands-on look at Windows 8 metro interface with IE10, and Office 365. I have a lot of plans for the blog, and I hope that people find it helpful and informative, until then Be Blessed.