Cannot Open an Anonymous Level Security Token in IE

Recently I had an issue in Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bit, when logging into a web page. Every time I logged in with the correct credentials it would flash and NOT open the secure page. The credentials were correct and the same page opened correctly on another computer.

Upon investigation I found the following error. This was found in the bottom left hand corner of the status bar in Internet Explorer.

"Cannot open an Anonymous Level Security Token"

Using Local Internet Connection While Connected to a VPN

Occasionally work has to be done "out of hours" by IT Professionals to avoid disruption to users. Sometimes this can be done from a remote site with our feet up, a hot cuppa and an episode of friends. During these times, nothing is more valuable than a VPN connection to your workplace. It gives you connectivity to everything on your network as if you were sitting in your office. All you need at home is an internet connection and a computer. Both of which all IT Professional's tend to have.

I am not going to take you through the configuration of the VPN at either end. We are going to assume that your VPN at work is configured and that you have a connection setup on your home PC.

One of the main problems we encounter while using a VPN is with general local web browsing. Connected to a VPN your computer will try and use the same web connection that your PC at work uses. This can prevent your local browser from displaying the latest footie results.

Using Large external USB Drives on XBOX 360

Like millions of other PC users I have hundreds of video files that I have created or acquired over the years. These are always available to me to play on my computer any time I like. However, on occasions I like to kick back and watch these on my big screen TV.

I can do this in several ways. Burn the files to DVD and play them though my DVD player, which is a waste of discs and RW's tend to be unreliable. I could connect my computer to my TV via a HDMI cable or use the Media Centre Connector on my XBOX 360. However both requires my Computer to be running and in the Media Centre option, my Xbox as well, along with my TV. My computer is pretty hefty and uses a 750 WATT power supply. It is NOT light on the electricity bill.

My alternative option is to use an External USB Hard drive from the USB port on my XBOX 360 console and navigate with my Media Centre Remote Control.

Simple File backup with Robocopy

One of the main issues when using any computer is regular backup of your precious data to protect against corruption and accidental deletion. Microsoft has always provided their "Windows Backup" utility and it is generally very good for full system backups and restores.

But what if you want to backup just your personal data or certain files or folders and not others? What if you just want to restore one particular file? There are plenty of third party tools that will do the job, but some can be rather expensive. Besides, why buy what you already have.

Supplied in Windows Vista, 7, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2, as well as the previous resource kits is a utility called "Robocopy." This is a small command line based tool (a bit like XCopy) that can be scripted and configured with exceptions, to copy selective data either once or on a schedule and even write to a comprehensive log file.

Delete a Service from a Windows PC/Server

Occasionally when removing software, services remain installed on the PC/Server that are no longer required. These can be removed with a simple procedure.

First you will need to make sure the service is NOT running, by checking in the "Services" console. Stop the service if it is running. Then you will need to get the "Service Name" by viewing the service's properties.