How to Recover Bitlocker Key for Windows 11

Posted by Rick on August 22, 2024 in Microsoft 0 Comment

How to Recover Bitlocker Key for Windows 11

Windows 11 enables Bitlocker by default. I’m not aware of any way to disable this, even though it can be annoying. But it protects your laptop data if it stolen. So… you know, keep it enabled if you have data you want to keep.

If for some reason you didn’t write down the 48-digit BitLocker key, or save it off to a text file on a USB flash drive that is locked away in a safe… You can go to several websites to find it.

By default it SHOULD be in this site:

https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey

But depending on the configuration of your organizations tenant (or if you’re still on Windows 10), it can also be in several other locations:

http://aka.ms/myrecoverykey

https://account.microsoft.com

https://myaccount.microsoft.com

https://mysignins.microsoft.com

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/account

How to fix: Failed due to unexpected error 80004005. No description is available

Posted by Rick on October 21, 2021 in OSX 0 Comment

How to fix: Failed due to unexpected error 80004005. No description is available

Background: This error message comes up in Mozilla’s Thunderbird when using an Google hosted email account (Gmail, or a Google hosted domain/mail server that piggy backs off go Gmail,). “Failed due to unexpected error 80004005. No description is available” is technically either a password or security error message.
Various forums have tried to troubleshoot this error message but failed in my case.

In my case, this is actually a common error message. I have 8 email accounts setup through Thunderbird. When I travel or work remotely Google frequently kicks back this error message when I connect to a new, unknown, wireless network for the first time. 95% of the time just waiting five or ten minutes “fixes” the error message. The other 5% of the time I have to go into the security settings for that specific email address, and tell it that yes, that is indeed me logging in.

What you need to do is instead turn on “less secure app access.” Occasionally Google will flip this as it tries to make your account more secure (which is good,) but it breaks Thunderbird.

To do this go into Security settings:

Then go to Less Secure App Access:

And turn it to “On” despite Google’s warnings.

This fixed for me!

Other troubleshooting steps I took:
– Re-entered the account password a billion times
– Told Gmail security that this is indeed my device
– Deleted (multiple) saved passwords for the account in Thunderbird’s Password Manager
– Changed the smtp server from smtp.googlemail.com to smtp.gmail.com
– Deleted the recreated the account in Thunderbird

How to: Enable disabled USB in Windows

Posted by Rick on June 22, 2013 in Technology How To's, Windows 0 Comment

How to: Enable disabled USB in Windows

Note: This assumes you have administrator rights on the Windows PC in question. Valid for all version of Windows I was able to test it on. (XP, 2000, Windows 7)

Note #2: This command edits the Registry. Doing so incorrectly can severely mess up your machine. If you do not feel comfortable editing the Registry, contact your IT department or local Computer Shop.

Some Virus and Malware will disable the USB ports in Windows to keep themselves from getting “cleaned” off the machine. Note that this does not affect the USB Keyboard or Mouse in any way.

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type “regedit,” and then click OK.
3. Locate, and then click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesUsbStor
4. In the right pane, double-click “Start”.
5. In the Value data box, type “3” without quotes
6. Click Hexadecimal if it is not already selected, and then click OK.
6. Quit Registry Editor
7.) Restart Computer

To re-disable, in step 5 use “4” instead.

If you do not have administrative rights to the computer, contact your IT department, or your local Computer Repair Shop.

How To: Change Mac Icons

Posted by Rick on June 4, 2012 in Apple, Technology How To's 0 Comment

How To: Change Mac Icons

Nothing says “Hands off! This is MY Mac” like a highly customized desktop.

http://www.pixelgirlpresents.com/icons.php?page=4&cat=mac

http://interfacelift.com/icons-mac/

Once you’ve chosen a Icon Set (or six,) unpack them to a folder on the desktop.

Right click then Get Info on the new Icon. At the top will be a picture of the Icon, highlight this then use to copy the Icon to your clipboard.

Go back to the folder you’d like to change, IE, your hard drive’s Icon. Right click on it, the go to Get Info. Highlight the Icon at the top, but use this time.

Close the Get Info window, and the Icon should change!

How To: Change DNS (and make web surfing faster)

Posted by Rick on December 31, 2011 in Technology How To's 0 Comment

How To: Change DNS (and make web surfing faster)

The Internet is so big now, and the average person has more bandwidth at home then existed in the entire world in 1980, that the biggest slow down in web surfing has become the initial DNS or Domain Name Service look up. DNS is the service that translates the human readable Domain Name of 1nova.com into the computer readable 173.236.191.132.

All ISP’s provide a DNS service of some sort that is usually automatically setup. By changing the default to faster servers, you can decrease the lookup time, and increase your web browsing speed. The first step to doing this is to download a program that looks for the fastest DNS near you.

namebench does exactly that.

Once you have a new DNS IP, follow the below directions. Note in the directions below that 8.8.8.8 are Google’s DNS servers. The actual numbers you want to use may differ.

Linux

In most modern Linux distributions, DNS settings are configured through Network Manager.
Example: Changing DNS server settings on Ubuntu
In the System menu, click Preferences, then click Network Connections.
Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select the Wired tab, then select your network interface in the list. It is usually called eth0.
To change the settings for a wireless connection, select the Wireless tab, then select the appropriate wireless network.
Click Edit, and in the window that appears, select the IPv4 Settings or IPv6 Settings tab.
If the selected method is Automatic (DHCP), open the dropdown and select Automatic (DHCP) addresses only instead. If the method is set to something else, do not change it.
In the DNS servers field, enter the Google Public DNS IP addresses, separated by a space:
For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844
Click Apply to save the change. If you are prompted for a password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
Test that your setup is working correctly; see Testing your new settings below.
Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.
If your distribution doesn’t use Network Manager, your DNS settings are specified in /etc/resolv.conf

Mac OS X

DNS settings are specified in the Network window.
Example: Changing DNS server settings on Mac OS 10.5
From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network.
If the lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of the window is locked, click the icon to make changes, and when prompted to authenticate, enter your password.
Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select Built-In Ethernet, and click Advanced.
To change the settings for a wireless connection, select Airport, and click Advanced.
Select the DNS tab.
Click + to replace any listed addresses with, or add, the Google IP addresses at the top of the list:
For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844
Click Apply and OK.
Test that your setup is working correctly; see Testing your new settings below.
Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.

Microsoft Windows

DNS settings are specified in the TCP/IP Properties window for the selected network connection.
Example: Changing DNS server settings on Microsoft Windows 7
Go the Control Panel.
Click Network and Internet, then Network and Sharing Center, and click Change adapter settings.
Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, right-click Local Area Connection, and click Properties.
To change the settings for a wireless connection, right-click Wireless Network Connection, and click Properties.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
Select the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and then click Properties.
Click Advanced and select the DNS tab. If there are any DNS server IP addresses listed there, write them down for future reference, and remove them from this window.
Click OK.
Select Use the following DNS server addresses. If there are any IP addresses listed in the Preferred DNS server or Alternate DNS server, write them down for future reference.
Replace those addresses with the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers:
For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888 and/or 2001:4860:4860::8844
Restart the connection you selected in step 3.
Test that your setup is working correctly; see Testing your new settings below.
Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.