Windows - Uninstall SOPHOS End Point without the unlock password

Enable the Administrator user (if it's not already enabled).

Reboot your Windows system into Safe Mode.

Login as Administrator

Run services.msc
Search for the Sophos Anti-Virus service and click on it with the right mouse button.
From the context menu, select Properties and then deactivate the service.

Run regedit.
Go to the following location in the registry editor: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sophos MCS Agent and set REG_DWORD Start value to 0x00000004

Then, go to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sophos Endpoint Defense\TamperProtection\Config set the REG_DWORD values SAVEnabled and SEDEnabled both to 0.

Finally, go to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Sophos\SAVService\TamperProtection and set the REG_DWORD value to 0.

Reboot the system in normal mode.

Try the uninstall process, it will be need another reboot.

Synology - Setting a personal VPN with the NAS

Prerequisite: If you do not have a static IP, enable and set the DDNS on the SYNOLOGY NAS.

SETTING THE SYNOLOGY

• Install the package [VPN Server] in the Synology NAS.
• In my opinion (and for my needs) it's better to create only one VPN user and give the permision to fruition the VPN enviroment only to him. It's better that the password is very complex.
• Run it. In the left, from the group [Set up VPN Server], select [OpenVPN].
• Put a tick in [Enable OpenVPN server].
• Change the range of the Dinamic IP, if needed.
• Take note of the port "1194" and the protocol "UPD": it will be needed for setting the port forwarding in the Firewall.
• Click on [Export configuration] to have a zip archive content the certificate [ca.crt] and the configurations [VPNConfig.ovpn]

SETTING THE FIREWALL

Setting the firewall that's connected to the NAS, creating a rule with this parameter:
    name VPN
    protocol UPD
    local IP address [the IP of the NAS, it's better to give him a static internal IP]
    local port 1194
        (or range 1194-1194)
    WAN IP address ANY
    WAN port 1194
        (or range 1194-1194)

SETTING OPENVPN IN WINDOWS

From here, download OpenVPN and install it on the PC.
Run OpenVPN GUI as administrator.
Get VPNConfig.ovpn from the zip archive, edit it:
    replace YOUR_SERVER_IP with the public IP of NAS or the hostname registered in the DDNS service of your NAS Synology
    add those lines:
        auth-user-pass auth.txt
        route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 vpn_gateway 500
Put it in C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config
Ever in C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\config create a file named auth.txt
Edit it adding two lines: in the first one the user name created in Synology and in the second one its password.

CREATE AN AUTOMATIC TASK IN WINDOWS

Create a task in Task Scheduler with these rules:
    At log on, 
    start C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin\openvpn-gui.exe
    with those parameters --connect VPNConfig.ovpn

Linux - share DVD-ROM through the LAN

Prerequisite: Samba has to be installed and I suppose that the hostname of your PC is MyPC.

Create a directory in /media
   sudo mkdir /media/DVD
 
Modify /etc/fstab by adding this line:
   /dev/sr0 /media/DVD iso9660 defaults,noauto,ro,user,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
   (one line)

Add (or check if it is already there) those lines in /etc/samba/smb.conf
   [DVD-ROM]
      path = /media/DVD
      browseable = yes
      read only = yes
      guest ok = yes
      locking = no
      preexec = /bin/mount /media/DVD
      postexec = /bin/umount /media/DVD
      writable = no
 
Reread /etc/fstab
   sudo mount -a 
   (ignore the errors that appears: it attempts to mount some already mounted devices)

Restart Samba
  sudo service smbd restart

Put a DVD/CD into the drive and check the share:
   in MAC
      Finder > Go > Connect to Server...
         type: smb://MyPC and press enter
         Select Guest as user name
   in Windows
      Open the File Explorer
      type \\MyPC and press enter

Windows - W10 delete Grub settings

Scenario: You have installed W10 beside Linux (Ubuntu or Ubuntu based) but after this job, Grub disappear and you are not longer able to select the S.O. at the boot. 

• Start with W10
• Open a DOS prompt with administrator privilege
• execute this command:
• bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
• Restart your computer with a live Ubuntu distribution
• Open a terminal (Ctrl Alt T)
• Regenerate Grub with this command:
• sudo update-grub

Windows - search filename with tilde char in it

Search for the file with this string: file:~"*~*"

VirtualBox - compact or enlarge the VDI

Requisite: Windows 7 virtualized on Linux machine

To compact a VDI:

    Windows side:
        Download here the SDelete command. You need it because the normal deletion process removes only the index of the file deleted but doesn't zeroes the space occuped.
        Uncompress the archive and extract sdelete.exe
        From a Command Prompt: "SDelete -z c:"
            (This will take a long time)


    Linux side:
        From a terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T)
        cd [path_of_vdi]
        /usr/bin/VBoxManage modifyvdi [disk_name.vdi] --compact
            (This will take a long time too)

To enlarge a VDI:

    Linux side:
        cd [path_of_vdi]
        VBoxManage modifyhd [disk_name.vdi] --resize [size_in_MB]
            (example: for 40 GB, 40960 MB)

Windows 7 - doesn't print via Samba

Symptom

   Windows 7 refuse to print to a Samba shared printer, connected via Linux computer

 

Problem

    Windows didn't trust the print server's self-signed SSL certificate. 

 

My solution

•    Use Firefox to navigate to https://[servername]:631
•    It refuses. Trust the connection
•    Now Firefox can open the CUPS Admin webpage, so the SSL exception is working
•    Make note of the name of the printer to be installed
•    Go to Start Menu/Devices and printers
•    Click "Add a printer" / "add a network, wireless, or Bluetooth printer"
•    Click "The printer that I want isn't listed
•    Click the RadioButton next to "Select a shared printer by name"
•    Enter, in the text box, http://[serverName or lan address]:631/printers/[printer name] (printer name must be the exact name listed on the CUPS admin webpage)
•    Click next, and the printer should be ready to print