For Windows XP, and Server 2003:

1.    Open C:\Documents and Settings\<PROFILE>\Local Settings\Apps\2.0
2.    Delete the contents of this directory.
 

For Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Server 2008:

1.    Open C:\Users\<PROFILE>\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0
2.    Delete the contents of this directory.

Support for Deltek™ Timekeeping

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/support-for-deltek-timeke/kpdjcbjokpineoagcakcocnhpdpifakf?hl=en-US

Corrects Deltek™ support in Google Chrome™

This tiny extension corrects a small incompatibility in the Deltek web-based timekeeping software. It enables the binocular dialog to work properly in Google Chrome™, including the Favorites category.

The original version was developed by Joe Rawlings at https://github.com/jrawlings/Chrome-Deltek-Support

The source code for this exact release is available at https://github.com/courtarro/Chrome-Deltek-Support

The authors of this extension are not affiliated with Deltek, Inc. or Google, Inc.

Deltek™ is a trademark of Deltek, Inc.

Chrome™ is a trademark of Google Inc. Use of this trademark is subject to Google Permissions

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-use-god-mode-in-windows-10/

God Mode is a handy way to access multiple Windows commands in one single window. Here’s how to use it.

God Mode is a special option long available in Windows that gives you quick access to most of the applets and commands from Control Panel. As such, God Mode–or Windows Master Control Panel–is a useful time-saver that can spare you from having to hunt through different windows and screens to find the Control Panel command you want.

God Mode has always been considered of greatest appeal to advanced Windows users and developers, but it can be helpful to anyone who would like an array of commands available in one single place. Since Microsoft no longer offers a convenient shortcut for Control Panel in Windows 10, God Mode can be a fast and easy way to access all of its core commands. How do you set up and use God Mode in Windows 10?

First, make sure you’re signed in to your Windows 10 computer with an account that has administrative privileges. By default, your own account should have the necessary rights. To double-check, go to Settings, select the category for Accounts, and then look at the setting for Your Info to make sure your account is designated as Administrator.

Next, right-click on any empty area of the Desktop. In the popup menu, move to New and select the command for Folder (Figure A).

Figure A

Right-click on the new folder and rename it to “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}” and then press Enter (Figure B).

Figure B

Double-click the icon, and a window opens with all the accessible commands. Notice that the commands are organized by Control Panel applet so you can browse through the various categories, including Administrative Tools, Color Management, Devices And Printers, File History, Internet Options, Programs And Features, Security And Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and User Accounts (Figure C).

Figure C

Alternatively, you can search for a specific command or applet in the God Mode window. Just type the keyword or term in the Search field to get related results (Figure D).

Figure D

When you see the command you want, simply double-click it to launch it (Figure E).

Figure E

Finally, you can change the name from GodMode to something else. Right-click on the desktop icon and select Rename to give it a new name. You can also move the icon to a different location, but the Desktop is probably the most convenient spot to house it.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/bipass-uefi-provided-product-key-to-install/a271067b-d655-4b46-8b52-b3f191b9370c?auth=1

Found a working solution… just in case anyone else runs into an OEM computer that has product keys embedded it the UEFI firmware.
The solution was very simple and easy to complete.    First you’ll need a copy of your original Windows 8 Professional DVD or an ISO of it.    You’ll also need an empty USB thumb drive 4GB or larger.
Using the steps on this website – complete the formatting of the thumb drive:

http://www.blogsolute.com/create-windows-8-usb-bootable-pendrive-uefi-boot/25988/

Then create a file named PID.txt (as described below).

http://www.blogsolute.com/windows-8-clean-installation-product-key-do-not-match/25990/

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Solution to this problem is very simple. If you are booting in Legacy boot then you can use Win7 USB/DVD Tool else for UEFI boot use the steps in Tutorial 1. In either was you are getting a bootable Windows 8 pendrive. the only difference between them is that, one is in NTFS other one is in FAT 32.

What we need to do

We need to integrate our serial key within the Windows 8 Installation Itself. So that there is no need for checking the BIOS for serial key. Lets see how to do it.

• Create a text file named PID.
• Open it and enter the values as shown in figure below.

• Here you need to replace the xxxx with your own serial key.
• save the file and copy it to F:\sources. Where F is my bootable Windows 8 Pendrive.

The next time when you boot using the Pendrive, you will be able to perform clean installation of Windows 8.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After many hours of banging my head against the UEFI firmware, the PID.txt solution works great.   When the windows installer find PID.txt, it uses that product code and ignores the one embedded in the computers firmware.
Be sure to complete the formatting of the thumbdrive for UEFI, its necessary for the secure boot requirements of many new PCs.    You could try booting in Legacy mode, but it wouldn’t work on my computer.

 

Create Windows 8 USB Bootable Pendrive For UEFI Boot

Earlier, with my old laptop in use and legacy BIOS, it was a piece of cake to format Windows using any kind of preferred media. I was never aware of this UEFI Boot Mode (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) until I upgraded to Alienware 14x. Nowadays, most of the new laptop comes bundled with Windows 8 OEM but there are times when you might prefer a clean installation rather than a recovery.

Why Choose UEFI boot mode? UEFI boot is faster than the conventional BIOS boot. The problem with UEFI boot is that it will not detect your pendrive when created by Win7 USB/DVD Tool or any other tool. This is because UEFI boot only recognizes FAT 32 and will not show up NTFS Partitions during boot selection. USB boot creation tools will format the Pendrive in NTFS before loading Windows 8 Files on it.

[alert-announce] Do Not try to perform clean install if you are not sure of what you are doing. For a basic user it’s really better to have the recovery partition. If you do not have an original Windows 8 Clean Installation Serial Key then do not remove Windows 8 OEM.  [/alert-announce]

Coming back to the topic, I decided to clean install Windows 8 with custom partition sizes and extract each Megabyte of space in recovery drives. Also, I wanted to dual boot Ubuntu using UEFI boot. So in this post I will Start with my experience, how did I proceed and what problems were faced. These tutorials will be given in parts and in proper sequence of the way I performed the tasks. And they are:

1. Create Windows 8 USB Bootable Pendrive for UEFI Boot.
2. Solve Windows 8 Clean Installation Product Key Do Not Match Problem.
3. Error 0xC004C008: Cannot Activate Windows 8 Using Already Owned Serial Key on new PC.
4. Dual Boot Windows 8 With Ubuntu 12.10 in UEFI Boot Mode.

So in this post, we will be focusing on creating UEFI USB Windows 8 bootable Pendrive. This is particularly helpful for people already using Windows 8 via update or Clean Installation with old BIOS ( legacy BIOS) but it was not the OEM version.

Once you are ready with the Pendrive (4GB atleast) and Installation ISO, jack it in and follow the given instructions. If you have an installation disk, then it can be used directly instead of ISO. Open Command Prompt and type:

• diskpart.exe – This command will open diskpart in another CMD Window. Below commands will be typed in diskpart window.
• list disk – With this Command you can view the list of storage devices. Select the pendrive, be careful!
• select disk 1 – With this command you are selecting the your Pendrive. In my case its 1 but it may vary if you have more than one internal storage disks or several pendrives jacked in.
• clean – Clean the selected partition.
• create partition primary – Set the partition as primary.
• select partition 1 – Select partition. Number depends on your disk usage.
• active – Make the disk active.
• format quick fs=fat32 – Format pendrive in fat 32.
• assign – It will automatically assign a letter to drive. Check the drive letter. In my case it was I.
• exit – This will the exit diskpart window.

Now that the pendrive is prepared, mount the ISO file. If you are already using Windows 8 then just right click on ISO image and directly mount it. You can use any mounting software for this purpose. Just notice the Mount Drive letter. In my case it was F. Now in CMD type:

• xcopy F:\* I:\ /s /e

This command copies all contents of the ISO file to USB pendrive. Instead of using command prompt you can use 7 zip and extract the ISO file directly to the Pendrive. Now you are ready with UEFI bootable Windows 8 pendrive. Before you can start the process, Go to BIOS and disable Secure Boot. Reboot saving the changes and on next start up bring up the Boot media Selection menu. Now you will see the boot USB option under UEFI. Select it.

So this sums up tutorial 1. In the next tutorial, we will see how to Solve Windows 8 Clean Installation Product Key Do Not Match Problem. Key mismatch problem will be faced only by users with OEM Windows 8.

 

Solve Windows 8 Clean Installation Product Key Do Not Match Problem

In my previous post, I wrote about how to make a Windows 8 installation pendrive bootable in UEFI mode. Now, if you were on an old laptop with UEFI boot which did not came pre-installed with Windows 8 OEM then you are good to go. But if your system came pre-installed with Windows 8 OEM then you will be facing loads of trouble. Well, its not that of a mountain of troubles. Its just that people like me, who bought new laptops are not familiar with the new things that have been introduced. They may be called as new features or even logical restrictions from my point of view.

OK, as a very basic home/office user I may be happy to use my laptop without making any sort of changes to it. Changes are with respect to hard disk partition, clean installation, dual booting with Linux etc. So whats the rescue when we fall in trouble? What if I need my custom partitions on hard disk and hate to see the recovery drive taking up almost 10 GB of my valuable hard disk space. The only answer that I could figure out was to play with all possible settings in BIOS and UEFI mode and keep trying.

[alert-warning] Please DO NOT remove pre-installed Windows 8 OEM if you don’t have a genuine Windows 8 Serial Key separately. [/alert-warning]

My ultimate aim was to dual boot Ubuntu 12.10. For the same purpose I had to perform a clean installation as Ubuntu was not appearing anywhere with Windows boot option. So, I needed a clean installation of Windows 8 with Secure boot disabled.

The experiences I gained after wondering on several forums and trying various methods myself will be presented in form of different tutorials as given below. There may be other optimized solutions but these steps are tested by me and they work.

1. Create Windows 8 USB Bootable Pendrive for UEFI Boot.
2. Solve Windows 8 Clean Installation Product Key Do Not Match Problem.
3. Error 0xC004C008: Cannot Activate Windows 8 Using Already Owned Serial Key on new PC.
4. Dual Boot Windows 8 With Ubuntu 12.10 in UEFI Boot Mode.

Tutorial 1 is good enough for people installing Windows 8 in UEFI separately (no pre-installed Windows 8). People with Windows 8 OEM will face a irritating error if they just make a Windows 8 UEFI bootable using Tutorial 1 and boot computer directly with it. The error is:

” The product key entered does not match any of the Windows images available for installation. Enter a different product key ”

This error will just appear before you can even type your actual genuine Windows 8 serial key. there is no other option left other than cancelling the Installation. This error will occur in all new systems coming with pre-installed Windows 8. It does not matter at all whether you are booting from Legacy BIOS or UEFI.

Reason behind Windows 8 product key entered does not match error?

The reason is pretty simple. The serial key to the Pre-installed Windows 8 OEM is integrated within the BIOS. So whenever you are trying to clean install Windows 8, it will automatically seek the serial key in BIOS. Now, you have a retail Windows 8 copy and the serial key stored is for Windows 8 OEM. Hence the serial key Mismatch error.

Solve Windows 8 Clean Installation Product Key Do Not Match Problem

Solution to this problem is very simple. If you are booting in Legacy boot then you can use Win7 USB/DVD Toolelse for UEFI boot use the steps in Tutorial 1. In either was you are getting a bootable Windows 8 pendrive. the only difference between them is that, one is in NTFS other one is in FAT 32.

What we need to do

We need to integrate our serial key within the Windows 8 Installation Itself. So that there is no need for checking the BIOS for serial key. Lets see how to do it.

• Create a text file named PID.
• Open it and enter the values as shown in figure below.

• Here you need to replace the xxxx with your own serial key.
• save the file and copy it to F:\sources. Where F is my bootable Windows 8 Pendrive.

The next time when you boot using the Pendrive, you will be able to perform clean installation of Windows 8. In the next tutorial I will be covering Error 0xC004C008 faced while activating Windows 8.

http://www.ncol.net/how-to-set-internet-time-on-windows-server-2008-r2/

To configure an internal time server to synchronize with an external time source, follow these steps:

1. Change the server type to NTP. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
   2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
      \Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type

   3. In the pane on the right, right-click Type, and then click Modify.
   4. In Edit Value, type NTP in the Value data box, and then click OK.
2. Set

   AnnounceFlags

   to 5. To do this, follow these steps:

   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
      \Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags

   2. In the pane on the right, right-click AnnounceFlags, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, type 5 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      

      Notes

      • If an authoritative time server that is configured to use an AnnounceFlag value of 0x5 does not synchronize with an upstream time server, a client server may not correctly synchronize with the authoritative time server when the time synchronization between the authoritative time server and the upstream time server resumes. Therefore, if you have a poor network connection or other concerns that may cause time synchronization failure of the authoritative server to an upstream server, set the AnnounceFlag value to 0xA instead of to 0x5.
      • If an authoritative time server that is configured to use an AnnounceFlag value of 0x5 and to synchronize with an upstream time server at a fixed interval that is specified in SpecialPollInterval, a client server may not correctly synchronize with the authoritative time server after the authoritative time server restarts. Therefore, if you configure your authoritative time server to synchronize with an upstream NTP server at a fixed interval that is specified in SpecialPollInterval, set the AnnounceFlag value to 0xA instead of 0x5.
3. Enable NTPServer. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
      \Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer

   2. In the pane on the right, right-click Enabled, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
4. Specify the time sources. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
      \Services\W32Time\Parameters

   2. In the pane on the right, right-click NtpServer, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit Value, type Peers in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      

      Note Peers is a placeholder for a space-delimited list of peers from which your computer obtains time stamps. Each DNS name that is listed must be unique. You must append ,0x1 to the end of each DNS name. If you do not append ,0x1 to the end of each DNS name, the changes that you make in step 5 will not take effect.

5. Select the poll interval. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
      \Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpClient\SpecialPollInterval

   2. In the pane on the right, right-click SpecialPollInterval, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      

      Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for the number of seconds that you want between each poll. A recommended value is 900 Decimal. This value configures the Time Server to poll every 15 minutes.

6. Configure the time correction settings. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
      \Services\W32Time\Config\MaxPosPhaseCorrection

   2. In the pane on the right, right-click MaxPosPhaseCorrection, and then click Modify.
   3. In Edit DWORD Value, click to select Decimal in the Base box.
   4. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      

      Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for a reasonable value, such as 1 hour (3600) or 30 minutes (1800). The value that you select will depend on the poll interval, network condition, and external time source.

   5. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
      \Services\W32Time\Config\MaxNegPhaseCorrection

   6. In the pane on the right, right-click MaxNegPhaseCorrection, and then click Modify.
   7. In Edit DWORD Value, click to select Decimal in the Base box.
   8. In Edit DWORD Value, type TimeInSeconds in the Value data box, and then click OK.
      

      Note TimeInSeconds is a placeholder for a reasonable value, such as 1 hour (3600) or 30 minutes (1800). The value that you select will depend on the poll interval, network condition, and external time source.

7. Close Registry Editor.
8. At the command prompt, type the following command to restart the Windows Time service, and then press Enter:

   net stop w32time && net start w32time

• Go to the classic Control Panel
• Go to Programs & Features
• Select Add or remove Windows features in the sidebar
• Make sure Support for SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing is checked.

 

https://www.siteground.com/kb/how_to_disable_all_wordpress_plugins_directly_from_database/

You can easily disable all WordPress plugins directly from your database. This is useful when you have problems with your WordPress installation, such as not being able to log in to the admin Dashboard, or having blank pages on the website.

If you don’t know which is the database used by your WordPress website, you can check the DB_NAME variable in the WordPress configuration file – wp-config.php. This file is usually located in the document root directory of your application and can be opened via the File Manager in cPanel.

To disable all plugins, go to phpMyAdmin in cPanel and select your WordPress database from the menu on the left.

Browse the table wp_options and find the option active_plugins. Click the pencil icon to edit the table. Its content will vary, depending on what plugins you have enabled. For example, if you have the Akismet and Hello Dolly plugins enabled, the code there will be:

1
a:2:{i:0;s:19:”akismet/akismet.php”;i:1;s:9:”hello.php”;}
To disable all plugins, simply delete the code and click the Go button to save the change.

Please note that this table may have a different prefix instead of wp_. You will see the correct prefix of the database once you access the phpMyAdmin tool and select the the WordPress database.

Disabling the plugins in this way will not delete them from your WordPress application. They will simply be deactivated. You can easily activate them from your WordPress admin area at any time.

https://help.one.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005593985-Disable-WordPress-plugins-in-phpMyAdmin

Step 1 – Access your database in phpMyAdmin

Step 2 – Click wp_options

Step 3 – Locate the plugins

Step 4 – Disable plugins

Normally you manage your WordPress plugins from the dashboard in wp-admin. Sometimes it can be useful to disable the plugins from phpMyAdmin, for example when you have problems with your WordPress site and are unable to login to your WordPress administration.

Disabling the plugins doesn’t remove them from your WordPress installation. You can re-enable the plugins again from your dashboard.

---

Step 1 – Access your database in phpMyAdmin

Read our guide on how to access your database if you don’t know how to do this.

---

Step 2 – Click wp_options

In the menu to your left, click wp_options to open the options table.

Note: The table can have different prefixes, in this example it is www_. If you have used the 1-click installer the prefix is usually the location of your WordPress site.

---

Step 3 – Locate the plugins

Find the row called active_plugins. It is usually located on page 2 in the options table.

---

Step 4 – Disable plugins

1. Click the field option_value for active_plugins
2. Remove all content and press enter to save.

Your plugins are now deactivated. If this didn’t solve your issue, you might want to manually change your WordPress theme