Extra Topics (Joe’s Blog Site)

Gpedit.msc is a Group Policy editor in Windows which allows you to easily edit registry-based policy settings. Unfortunately, some Windows releases have incomplete and outdated policy entries, that’s why there are Administrative Template files (.adm files) used to populate user interface settings in the Group Policy editor.

Before, Windows users could obtain the recent .adm files by getting the latest service packs or operating systems. But now, you can simply download these .adm files to add or populate your Group Policy editor.

Download appropriate .adm files from this page.

If you forgot your Super Administrator password for your Joomla/Mambo, you can never recover your password because the passwords are hashed using MD5 algorithm. In other words, the passwords are encrypted.

However you can reset the value in the password field in the database. Set the password to a known value and then you may log-in using that new password. You can try to paste the following hash code to the password field. The password is ‘secret‘:

5ebe2294ecd0e0f08eab7690d2a6ee69

But to do this, you would have to find the field entry in the database. Some people have difficulty in locating the table or the database. That’s why I created a simple PHP script. All you have to do is to run the script from your server and it would allow you to specify your own password then it will automatically reset the password for you. You’ll have no hustle on finding the field from your database!

The script's interface to reset Joomla/Mambo admin password

How to use the script to reset your Joomla/Mambo password:

1. Download and unzip the package to your computer (adminreset.zip)
2. Upload the file adminreset.php into your server’s main folder where your Joomla/Mambo is installed.
3. Execute the script like

   http://yourserver.com/adminreset.php

4. Follow the simple instruction in the script.
5. After using the script, delete it from your server as other people might use it.

Did I emphasize that this script works for both Joomla 1.0.x and 1.5.x? Well it does…

Sometimes you’d want to use a different identity or alias when you join chat rooms in Yahoo Messenger besides your personal account. Most of you would probably try to create a new Yahoo id. But if you do so, that would mean you would have to sign out of your original account and sign in to your new account to use it.

Yahoo has a feature which allows you to create aliases within your existing Yahoo id/account. By creating aliases, you can hide your true Yahoo id in chat rooms. Why would you wanna hide your true id? Well for security reasons and to avoid spammers. In addition, you can use your aliases to chat or send message to your existing friends. They wouldn’t know it’s you because they would see your alias instead of your own account… (hehehe!)

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The User Account Control (UAC) is a feature which is new to Windows Vista. It can help you prevent unauthorized changes to your computer. It works by prompting you for permission when a task requires administrative rights, such as installing software or changing settings that affect other users. It is turned on by default and it is NOT recommended to be turned off for security reasons.

This is a good thing but it’s so annoying to most people and for me as well.
The reason why I’m making this article is because I’ve known a LOT of people who switched back to Windows XP because they are annoyed of this feature. They could have simply turned this feature off instead of replacing their Windows Vista.

How to turn off the User Account Control (UAC)

1. Click the Start Menu
2. Go to Control Panel
3. Open User Accounts and Family Safety (or simply User Accounts in Classic View)
4. Click “Turn User Account Control on or off” (type the Administrator password if prompted)
5. Uncheck “Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer”
6. Click OK and restart your computer to take effect.

Please note that this is a security feature, it is not recommended that you turn this feature off. Do this only if you know what you’re doing. Well if you’re willing to switch back to XP which doesn’t have this feature, then I think you probably know what you’re doing.