TIPS & TRICKS: ARD, AppleScript and Logging into a Remote Mac

Received this handy tip:

This script example shows how to combine AppleScript with Apple Remote Desktop's "Send UNIX Command" to enter a username and password at the login window of a Mac you control.

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_USERNAME"';
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke tab';
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to delay 0.5';
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_PASSWORD"';
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to delay 0.5';
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke return';

Replace the two strings with your username and password. Note: there are some single and double quotes in the script above, so edit carefully.

Not that I would enter in a password into a script permanently. But, for a quick run of the script using a dedicated account for this purpose could be useful when combined with other routines.

Thanks Tony! Happy Computing.

RANTS: HTC Android Phone Comes with Malware Pre-Installed

Straight-from-the-factory, Android mobile device from HTC comes with a bot client, a worm, and a password stealing tool. How do we protect ourselves when we can't even trust a brand new device to be clean? I've always been an advocate of wiping anything and everything before using it. It takes a bit more time to setup, but you'll be sure that you'll have a clean device from the beginning. Here's the full story:

http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/htc-phones-pre-installed-mariposa-bot-client-030910

TIPS & TRICKS: Vista and Multiple Simultaneous Network Connections

I've been observing Windows connection problems via wireless for quite some time now. I'm hoping this might be a fix for many of those problems. Basically, there are multiple connections to the same wireless network. This could, potentially, cause some confusion by the OS.

Vista has a wireless profile manager. However, there is yet another place where wireless connections are stored. This is the network location manager. This stores the previously used wireless networks even if a profile was not created. You should be able to find this under Network and Sharing Center > Customize > Manage or delete network locations. This will allow for the deletion (or merging) of duplicate network locations.

Note: I have not yet had a chance to test this with Windows 7. However, I suspect the behavior is similar.

Here's where I originally found this solution and the complete steps:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-500

Happy Computing.

UPDATE: Found it in Windows 7. In Network and Sharing Center, under View your active networks, click on the icon (not the text). The next window will be the Network Properties, where you'll find Merge or delete network locations. The follow the same steps as previously noted.