1. Open Default Programs from the Start Orb on the affected computer.
2. Select Set Your Default Programs and then choose Internet Explorer (Set this program as default) and Microsoft Outlook (Set this program as default).
3. Next open the registry (regedit or regedt32), navigate to HKLM/Software/Classes/.htm/@ (AKA Default) and change the value there (most likely “ChromeHTML” to “htmlfile”).  Do this also for HKLM/Software/Classes/.html/@.

P.S. In my case, the afflicted computer was Windows 7 on a Windows Server 2003 domain (2K domain functional level).  To fix the registry problem I turned on the Remote Registry Editing service on the afflicted computer and then remotely edited the registry as an enterprise administrator (for some reason, the local administrator on the afflicted computer did not have the requisite permissions).

Twist off a cold one; you’re done!

Server setup command line:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe” –ttl 12 -vvv –color -I telnet –telnet-password videolan –rtsp-host=0.0.0.0:5544

To Setup a new vod:
telnet localhost 4212
new Test vod enabled
setup Test input movie.avi

To launch VLC and request the VOD:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe” rtsp://192.168.13.10:5544/Test

Issues:
1. The streamed video is intermittently jittery/jerky (streaming 1 or streaming 10; it doesn’t seem to matter).
2. I can’t see what I’m typing in the telnet session.

Notes:
In case it matters, I did all this in Windows 7 from an elevated command prompt (run as administrator).

Update: Whitson Gordon’s Browser Speed Tests.

First, be sure you have a working and updated virus scanner.  Most PCs come with a trial antivirus (AV) software preinstalled, such as Norton AV or McAfee.  These trial AV programs are typically good for somewhere between 1 and 3 months; after that, they want ~$50 to continue their protection for an additional 12 months (and then again every 12 months or so after that; this is normal and justified).  If you’re on a tighter budget you could opt for a free AV program such as Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.Microsoft.com/securityessentials), Grisoft AVG Free Edtion, or Comodo just to name a few.  Just be sure to uninstall your previous AV before installing a new AV (one sheriff per town please).  Once your AV is installed, be sure that it is up-to-date.  They all have an “update” button somewhere; click it and follow the instructions, rebooting if necessary to complete the update.

Next you’ll want to update the operating system.  For most of us, that’s Microsoft Windows 7.  The great news is that updates from Microsoft for Windows 7 are free; the bad news is that it can take quite a while (hours sometimes), and you’ll want to do the Microsoft updates repeatedly until it tells you that there’s nothing left to update.  You can find the Microsoft updates by clicking the Start Orb (bottom left corner of the screen), selecting “All Programs” and then clicking on “Windows Update”.  In the window that appears, look to the top left corner, and just below “Control Panel Home” you’ll see “Check for updates”.  Click this in order to refresh you computers awareness of all current updates that are available from Microsoft.  This will usually take just a minute or two.  After your computer has found updates, just follow the instructions provided in the right portion of the screen to install them (rebooting as requested by your computer; if no request, then don’t worry about it).

Last, you’ll want to update your high traffic internet applications: Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Flash (http://www.Adobe.com), Microsoft Silverlight (http://www.Microsoft.com/getsilverlight), and Java (http://www.Java.com).  These softwares are responsible for displaying a substantial portion of the content that you download (D/L) from the internet, and, as such, are often the first line of attack for viruses and infected trojan-horse type web sites (websites that deliver bad content underneath seemingly good content; this happens all the time to very good websites that are unfortunate enough to get broken into).

You’re done!  You’ve taken reasonable precautions to keep your computer clean.  However, if you’d like a little added protection, you can use clean up and antimalware programs once you’ve finished your browsing session.  Two that I like are CCleaner (http://www.Piriform.com/ccleaner) and Malwarebytes (http://www.MalwareBytes.org).  Both have free and pay versions available.  I’ve always been happy with the free versions, but the pay versions require less maintenance and they’re relatively inexpensive (~$30).  As always, make sure the software is up-to-date every time you use it.  Every time!

Part 2 – BSOD
Now that I’m connecting the Vista Ultimate 64 bit guest OS to a domain I get a BSOD when rebooting (which is necessary to join the domain).  It only happens once and only on the reboot to join or leave the domain.  The domain server is also a guest, Window Server 2008 Standard 64 bit.  Otherwise it works fine.  The BSOD may be an IRQ_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL error, but I’m not sure as I goes by pretty quickly.

Part 3 – BSOD
Now that the computer is on the doman, I get a KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR when shutting down the Vista guest computer.

Microsoft does have an App Store named Microsoft Store, and it’s been around for some time now (at least since Windows Vista), but it is severly lacking in selection and features.  The Microsoft App Store could sell software, store that software in your account, remember your installation key codes, backup your application data, provide critical application software patching, and backup your general PC data.  They could even upgrade/reinstall your OS.  Are they headed there with the Azure platform?  I’m not seeing an Azure App Store in the tea leaves yet.  I want a single place to shop for all software PC; I want a Microsoft Mall.

5/14/2011 Update:
http://www.WindowsStore.com – It doesn’t exist yet, but Microsoft Kitchen has some plausible information on the upcoming Windows 8 OS and the included application store.

dsquery group -name Finance | dsrm -noprompt

I don’t think I’m alone in wondering how the search functionality in Windows 7 works. I know Microsoft is trying to make files easier to find and reduce complexity, and I’m sure that it works really well for a lot of users. Microsoft also provides a tutorial (this is probably only one of many) on how to use their search: Tips for Finding Files.  However, after following the tutorial, I’m left with some questions.  For example, I never see the “Advanced Search” button, and the “Contents” button allowing me to search the contents of files only appears occasionally.  Further, I’m never sure when the search is complete as additional items appear in the results well after the green progress bar has apparently finished and disappeared.  I know the old Windows XP search interface is gone and I should learn to use the new Window 7 search interface, but I don’t like it.  I find myself wishing for grep or some other similar utility.

Searching the Contents of Files

As it turns out, Windows 7 has grep, but they call it findstr.  If you’re familiar with the command line then you’ll like this; if not, you’ll still like it because it seems to work.  For those of you that want to learn more, try “findstr /?” as this will produce a pretty nice help page (and maybe you can even get “find” to work; I always get “Access Denied” error messages).  If you just want to find stuff, here’s the command:

findstr /S /L /I /M “string-to-look-for” path-to-look-at

This will perform a case insensitive search, in the specified folder and all sub-folders, and tell you the files that it finds. There’s a lot more options than what I’ve used here, but I like this particular set of options because they’re easy to remember.  Just know that string-to-look-for must be in quotes and cannot have any spaces.  From there it’s up to you to recognize the path, find a way to open the file, and find what you’re looking for, but at least you know what file to look in.

Searching the Names of Files

Finding files by name is straight forward too, and also requires the command prompt.  If you remember DOS you’re going to love this:

dir /S *name-you-wanna-find*

This will get you every file in the current folder and all sub-folders with the name you want to find as part of the whole file name.  Be sure there’s no spaces in the name you’re looking for and keep the asterisk at the beginning and at the end.  This even searches hidden folders, but not hidden files, so if you’re file has the hidden attribute set, you’re out of luck here.

Lastly, if you’re ready to get really serious, try the Windows Power Shell, but that’s for another time…