Some viruses now are messing with your file associations making it hard to open programs, such as your Web browser so that you can download and install an anti-mailware program, or even open the cleaner application itself. It's usually simple to remove the changes made when in a registry editor, but since Regedit.exe and other editors are executable files, you can't easily open them either!

Below is a registry fix that I have found useful to have on hand to easily reset the .EXE file association back to it's normal state so that you are no longer prevented from running programs.

Repair EXE Registration.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\secfile]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\secfile]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\shell\open\command]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe]
@="exefile"
"Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"

Importing this registry data file will remove any custom edits that any malware makes to your .EXE file associations in the HKCU area and then sets the file association open command back to normal. From there you should be able to open your malware cleaning tools.

We recommend that you copy the registry data file to a local disk on your computer prior to running due to the fact that newer versions of Windows will often by default not allow you to import a .REG file if you run it from a network share.

Screensaver Operations, an application for Microsoft Windows systems that allows you to perform configurable actions after a computer has been left idle for a specified amount of time (e.g., log off, shut down), is now available in Windows Installer format (MSI) so you can easily install it or deploy it through Group Policy or other means.

Click Here for More Information and Download

We've just relased the initial version of a free tool, called Screensaver Operations, for Microsoft Windows systems that allows you to perform configurable actions after a computer has been left idle for a specified amount of time.

Features include:

• Log off user, shut down or restart computer, or run any process when left idle
• Optional warning message allowing users to cancel out
• Can be configured & enforced via registry & Group Policy Preferences
• Highly customizable with many easily configurable options such as delay time and custom messages
• Colors can be adjusted to match your organization policies
• Great replacement for the outdated Windows Exit Screen Saver Tool (Winexit.scr)
• Windows Vista & Windows 7 compatible
• Supports both 32-bit & 64-bit Windows operating systems

Click Here for Details and Download

An update to our File Searcher by Owner utility has been released, bringing it up to version 1.1.0.0. This tool can be used to search for local or network shared files and folders by a local or domain user or group. In addition to some minor adjustments and textual changes, you can now browse or search for users and groups on your computer or within a domain.

Click Here for the ChangeLog and Download

I just wanted to post a sample batch file that shows you how to detect the running version of Microsoft's Windows operating system in case you need to run specific commands based on which OS the batch file is run on. Read on for the sample code.

Here are a couple VBScripts that you can use to shut down computers if no one is logged on at the time the script is run. This is useful if you want to make sure computers are shut down at the end of the day, but don't want to shut them down if someone is logged in and working. The difference between the two scripts is that one would be run on the local machine(s) that you want to shut down, while the second script can be run from one computer and will attempt to shut down all computers in a specified Organizational Unit (OU). You can use the Task Scheduler to run either of these scripts at a specific time of the day or week.

Obviously, you could also cut out the parts that test to see if someone is logged on if you don't want or need that check

Both of these scripts use the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service and should work on any version of Microsoft Windows from Windows 2000 up and possibly Windows NT, Windows 95, & Windows 98 with the WMI CORE 1.5 distributable.

Continue on for the VBS code...

Here is a simple VBScript that you can schedule to run nightly that will clean out files and folders in a selected path older than a specified number of days. Maybe you have a shared temporary working space for documents or a location where scanned or faxed documents are dropped. This VBS script will ensure that these locations don't get clogged up or overly cluttered. Read further for the code...

A minor update to our File Searcher by Owner utility has been released, bringing it up to version 1.0.1.0. This tool can be used to search for local or network shared files and folders by a local or domain user or group. New features include:

• Search by Security Identifier (SID)
• Version checker

Click Here for the ChangeLog and Download

The Grim Admin is happy to announce a free tool, called File Searcher by Owner, for Microsoft Windows systems that allows you to search for files and folders based on the owner of the object. Since this feature has not been built into any version of Microsoft Windows, prior to this tool you would have to run some crazy command-line hacks like dir /q /s | find /i "domain\username" or try to create your own custom batch file, a rather tedious task.

File Searcher by Owner is a simple to use utility that allows you to search for local or network shared files and folders by a local or domain user or group. Features include:

• Support for UNC paths
• Export to comma-separated (CSV) file
• Preserves right-click context menu for files & folders
• Portable and lightweight

Click Here for Details and Download

Often it is useful to create a listing of when accounts in a Microsoft Active Directory organizational unit (OU) are set to expire. For example, if you plan to lower the time between forced password changes, it is good to know which accounts may be affected by the change. You can open the outputted file from our sample VBScript in Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc and sort and recalculate dates based on the new maximum password age. Read further for the example code and output format...