Tag Archives: Software

BOIS Windows Serial Number

With the update to Windows 11 24H2, wmic is going away.
In many versions of Windows it has been possible to get the Windows serial number saved in the BIOS using the command:
wmic bios get serialnumber
This can also be done with PowerShell:
get-ciminstance win32_bios | select SerialNumber
So you can still get the bios key out of the bios from the command line.

Windows Update error 0x80092004 Windows 7 & 2008

Microsoft changed the signing of update packages for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 devices on the August 2019 Patch Day for the first time. The company signs packages only with SHA-2 since August 2019; it signed them with SHA-1 and SHA-2 previously but decided to drop SHA-1 because of known weaknesses.

Two updates need to be installed on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 systems so that SHA-2 signed updates are installed correctly:

  • KB4474419 — SHA-2 code signing support update for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008: August 13, 2019
  • KB4490628 — Servicing stack update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1: March 12, 2019

cab_XXXX Files in your C:\Windows\Temp Folder

You may have noticed the Windows TEMP folder filling up with cab_XXX files on systems, probably more servers than anything. It appears that makecab.exe is trying to zip CBS log files in the C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder, these files can be rather large and for some reason it’s unable successfully complete the operation, so it creates this cab file instead… every 30 minutes.

The only solution i’ve been able to find is to run the following two commands to clean up the files, the second line will remove the CbsPersist files that makecab.exe is trying to compress:

cmd.exe /c del C:\Windows\Temp\*cab* /Q
cmd.exe /c del C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\*CbsPersist* /Q

Windows 8.1 Update 1

Windows 8.1 Update 1 downloads, thats right you can download the updates now. Most of the changes in this update are designed to win back users who were unhappy with the interface changes mad in Windows 8 that are really designed for using a touch screen.

These updates must be applied in order:

  1. KB2919442
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919442-x86_94ee3d715e732ed28c64b8096327375a35f5d211.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919442-x64_f97d8290d9d75d96f163095c4cb05e1b9f6986e0.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919442-arm_506ed7113697c597c2859d295d562fa4311834ec.msu
  2. KB2919355
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919355-x86_de9df31e42fe034c9a763328326e5852c2b4963d.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919355-x64_e6f4da4d33564419065a7370865faacf9b40ff72.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2919355-arm_a6119d3e5ddd1a233a09dd79d91067de7b826f85.msu
  3. KB2932046
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2932046-x86_bfd8ca4c683ccec26355afc1f2e677f3809cb3d6.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2932046-x64_6aee5fda6e2a6729d1fbae6eac08693acd70d985.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2932046-arm_fe6acf558880d127aef1a759a8c2539afc67b5fb.msu
  4. KB2937592
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2937592-x86_96a3416d480bd2b54803df26b8e76cd1d0008d43.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2937592-x64_4abc0a39c9e500c0fbe9c41282169c92315cafc2.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/02/windows8.1-kb2937592-arm_860c83a0cccc0519111f57a679ae9f9d071315e5.msu
  5. KB2938439
    x86: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/03/windows8.1-kb2938439-x86_ac9aca7e41c8e818edbea0a8026189ee086f7aa2.msu
    x64: download.windowsupdate.com/c/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/03/windows8.1-kb2938439-x64_3ed1574369e36b11f37af41aa3a875a115a3eac1.msu
    ARM: download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/crup/2014/03/windows8.1-kb2938439-arm_4a536d9ddcd9993cbe4fbc309ebd50a18d65f954.msu
  6. KB2949621 – Sorry don’t have an address for this last one
    x86:
    x64:
    ARM:

Office 2013 KMS Client Product Keys

The following product keys can be entered into the product key field in your office application when your computer is joined to a Active Directory with a valid working KMS server. These keys are only for this scenario & are published publicly on the Microsoft Website.

Generic Volume License Keys for Office 2013

Product GVLK
Office 2013 Professional Plus YC7DK-G2NP3-2QQC3-J6H88-GVGXT
Office 2013 Standard KBKQT-2NMXY-JJWGP-M62JB-92CD4
Project 2013 Professional FN8TT-7WMH6-2D4X9-M337T-2342K
Project 2013 Standard 6NTH3-CW976-3G3Y2-JK3TX-8QHTT
Visio 2013 Professional C2FG9-N6J68-H8BTJ-BW3QX-RM3B3
Visio 2013 Standard J484Y-4NKBF-W2HMG-DBMJC-PGWR7
Access 2013 NG2JY-H4JBT-HQXYP-78QH9-4JM2D
Excel 2013 VGPNG-Y7HQW-9RHP7-TKPV3-BG7GB
InfoPath 2013 DKT8B-N7VXH-D963P-Q4PHY-F8894
Lync 2013 2MG3G-3BNTT-3MFW9-KDQW3-TCK7R
OneNote 2013 TGN6P-8MMBC-37P2F-XHXXK-P34VW
Outlook 2013 QPN8Q-BJBTJ-334K3-93TGY-2PMBT
PowerPoint 2013 4NT99-8RJFH-Q2VDH-KYG2C-4RD4F
Publisher 2013 PN2WF-29XG2-T9HJ7-JQPJR-FCXK4
Word 2013 6Q7VD-NX8JD-WJ2VH-88V73-4GBJ7

Generic Volume License Keys for KMS and Active Directory activation

Support for Windows 2000 Ends

Today is the day that support for Windows 2000 ends, this means that basically no more patches if your still using it, also Microsoft probably don’t give a hoot about you as you haven’t bothered to replace your OS in 10 year. Of course there aren’t many people still using Windows 2000 so this probably wont mean much at all.

If you want to know more see the Microsoft Support Life-cycle Policy FAQ.

Why ConvertXtoDVD is the Best


Lots of people out there ask what the best tool for convert those movie files you have on your computer to a playable DVD, well lets cut to the chase I think it’s ConvertXtoDVD. Now lots of people are going to say there are other programs out there that are free or better but if you want just point and click conversion then ConvertXtoDVD is the way to go.

Now I’ll be honest if I was burning a DVD that contained multi videos, say something of an Episodic nature I like more control over the menus produced so I might use something Like NeroVision, however the price you would pay for that is basically NeroVision is slow and doesn’t handle everything. The main and primary reasons I like ConvertXtoDVD is that it handles MKV files, and supports Subtitles.

Features of ConvertXtoDVD

  • Video formats supported include: avi, divx, xvid, mov, mkv, flv , mpeg1, mpeg2, mpeg-, nsv, dvr-ms, ts, ifo, vob, asf, wmv, realmedia, rm, rmvb, and ogm
  • DVD Menu creation from Templates possibility to add background video, image or audio, have chapter and audio/subtitle menus
  • Fast and quality encoder, typically less than 1 hour for converting 1 movie, and supports Multi-Core processors!
  • Built in features that allow you to burn strait to DVD after encoding completes
  • Custom and automatic chapter insertion
  • Ability to join files that are in multiple parts including joining subtitles in multiple parts
  • Audio formats supported internal and external: AC3, DTS, PCM, OGG, MP3, WMA
  • Subtitles files supported internal and external: SRT, .SUB/IDX, .SSA with color and font selection, and supports tags like italic, bold
  • Video output for video standard (NTSC, PAL), TV Screen (Widescreen 16:9, Fullscreen 4:3) and DVD Resolution (Full D1, Boradcast D1, Half D1, SIF), or choose automatic for all choices listed above.
  • Also convert video from NTSC to PAL or PAL to NTSC
  • Video resize-pad/cropping and de-interlacing options

Download a free Trial or Buy a Copy Now

OpenTTD 1.0.0 Released

It’s finally happened OpenTTD 1.0.0 has been released, this means that all you losers without a copy Transport Tycoon Deluxe can now play with out needing the original game using the new open graphics. The rest of us can still use the old graphics because we have the game. (So there)

OpenTTD is modelled after the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe game by Chris Sawyer and enhances the game experience dramatically.

In March 2004 OpenTTD 0.1 was released. Hardly a month later in April 2004 OpenTTD 0.2. And today, six years later… OpenTTD 1.0.0. It was a lot of work, hundreds of thousands of translations, tens of thousands of commits, thousands of graphics, hundreds of patches, dozen of sounds and musics, and one goal. How many people contributed? Dozen of artists, translators and developers, hundreds of testers and bug reporters, and also the thousands of players. Looking at the readmes and credit sections only gives a small hint. Some of those who were main contributors left long ago, and there are only a few who know them all and talked to them once via IRC or the forums. But if you consider all contributors, including those of the used libraries, and the external artists of OpenSFX… Well, then most likely not every contributor actually knows OpenTTD.

So in the end, what was most fun in the past 6 years of OpenTTD? Playing? Contributing? Modding? Talking? Or just taking part in a large crowed moving in one direction? One direction? Well, at least in bigger scope. But in more detail there were quite some parties involved in the process. Sometimes pulling in the same direction, sometimes maybe pulling in slightly different ones. Let’s just mention some of the projects around OpenTTD which influenced it in this or that direction: The various integrated builds and patchpacks, first of all the MiniIN. Then the first Town Growth Challenge, TTDPatch, #openttdcoop, Goal Servers and the big patches (Subsidiaries, YAPF, YAPP, CargoDist, 32bpp & ExtraZoom). And not everything which made it into main trunk was happy sunshine, just to mention the first approach to Path Based Signalling, or the attempts around the AI.

But when looking back, most turned out fun. Thank you!

You can get your copy of OpenTTD below:
Download