I recently had a problem with a computer located over 300 miles away, it had a nasty malware infection and I didn’t fancy a 6 hour drive. Very often, it’s easier to blow-away a computer and reinstall the operating system rather than spending days scanning and cleaning trojans, viruses and spyware, but sometimes that’s not the easy option.

I started to think about the possibility of cleaning the machine remotely, but I’d need control over the computer whilst it was in safe mode.… well it would have to be safe mode with networking, at least. I often use VNC for remote control (its open source), but as far as I knew I couldn’t get it to run in safe mode with networking….or could I?

This is a guide to using VNC in safe mode (safe mode with networking). Tested with ultraVNC (www.uvnc.com) on Windows, haven’t tested with realVNC: -

1.    Get ultraVNC installed on the target computer. Make sure that you are able to access it; it needs to be installed as a service. You can talk someone through this over the phone. Yes, you may need port forwarding configured at the target site; but if it’s part of a WAN you won’t necessarily have to do this. VNC uses port 5900. Check VNC is working properly.

2.    Download Bootsafe; This is a utility that will allow you to restart the machine in Safe Mode , and Safe Mode with Networking (which is what you need to use). Remember if you restart the computer you won’t be able to hit F8 remotely! that’s why you need to use bootsafe and it needs to be on the target computer.

3.    Open the command prompt on the target machine (Start, Run, ‘cmd’)  and enter the following:

REG COPY HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\winvnc HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\winvnc /s /f

This adds a registry key that allows VNC to start and work in safe mode with networking.

4.    Run Bootsafe on the target computer; select ‘Safe Mode – Networking’, click on ‘Reboot’.

If all goes to plan then you should be able to connect to the machine after it reboots in safe mode with networking. Use ‘ping –t’ ; you can see when the machine reboots and when it comes back to life. VNC Safe Mode !

Yes, there are other ways that you can achieve remote control in safe mode, but this did what I needed it to do. There are paid tools like logmein and you can also try VNCscan (I couldn’t get it to work). I’ve since cleaned a couple of machines using the VNC Safe Mode method and it has been surprisingly effective. If you’ve got malware problems try ComboFix combined with malwarebytes.

Standard warning: Step 3 adds a registry key to windows. Editing the registry could damage your computer. Do not edit the Windows registry unless you are confident about doing so.

Since I received my new iPhone 3G, I’ve been wondering why Apple didn’t add an option for text message delivery reports to the iPhone 3G software (SMS delivery reports). Sometimes when you send a text message you just want to know that its been delivered properly! I used to have delivery receipts turned on permanently on my Nokias and was disappointed when I found I couldn’t turn on delivery reports with my first iPhone (running on vodafone).

Now that I have switched to O2 I’ve discovered that there is a way to get delivery reports for individual text messages! Although this isn’t the blanket solution (built in option) that I’d hoped for it is still useful when you want to confirm that someone has received your text message.

To request an SMS delivery report in the UK (O2) simply add *0# to the beginning of the text message and continue the message as normal. When the SMS is received a delivery report (delivery receipt) will appear as another iChat bubble on your iPhone; below your original message (you get a text message back).

SMS delivery report codes are different for each mobile network and each country. Some mobile networks do not offer SMS delivery report codes. These codes will work on other phones as well as iPhones. Here are some codes for other networks. You need to type the code before your text message, and its probably best to leave a space as some providers require this. They are also case sensitive:

UK Mobile Networks
O2 prefix *0#
Orange prefix RCT
T Mobile prefix *0#
Virgin prefix *0#
Vodafone – No code exists for Vodafone
Channel Islands; Jersey Telecom *0#

US and Australia Cell Networks
US T–Mobile prefix *noti#
Australia Three *not#

European Mobile Networks
Belgium Base prefix *N#
Belgium Proximus prefix *R*
Czechoslovakia o2 prefix YYYY
Denmark prefix *0#
Denmark Bibob prefix *KV#
Denmark Three prefix *NM#
Finland Sonera prefix *0#
Germany T-Mobile *T#
Germany Vodafone D2 prefix *N#
Germany O2 prefix *N#
Germany e-plus prefix *N#
Greece Vodafone GR prefix *#
Greece Wind prefix *0#
Greece Cosmote *0#
Holland T-mobile prefix NM#
Hungary T-mobile prefix *KV# or
Ireland O2 prefix *R*
Ireland meteor prefix *R*
Italy Wind prefix *n#
Luxembourg Tango prefix *0#
Norway Telenor k#
Poland PlusGSM prefix XYZ
Portugal Vodafone prefix *NOT#
Romania Orange prefix *NOT# or *NM#
Slovakia Orange prefix *?#
Spain Movistar prefix *N#
Spain Yoigo prefix *N#
Sweden Telia prefix *KV#
Sweden Comviq prefix KV#
Sweden Telenor prefix ##
Switzerland Swisscom prefix *NOT#

Other Mobile Networks
Vodacom / Mtn prefix  rrr
Singapore SINGTEL prefix #R#
Brasil Oi prefix *N#
Brasil Clario prefix *N#
Israel Orange prefix NM#
India Vodafone prefix *NOT#
Qatar Qtel prefix *N#
Maxis Malaysia *N#
Egypt vodafone prefix *VF#
Egypt Mobinil prefix *NM
India Ideal prefix YYYY
India Vodafone prefix *NOT# or *N#
Lebanon MTC Touch prefix *N#
Angola Unitel prefix *N#
Algeria Djezzy prefix *N#
Indonesia telkomsel prefix *N#
Indonesia Satelindo prefix R#
Serbia Telenor prefix *!#
Serbia MTS prefix *!#
Croatia T-Mobile prefix *r* or *r#
Croatia VIP prefix !
Turkey Turkcell prefix *N#
Bangladesh Grameenphone prefix YYYY
Bangadesh banglalink prefix *n#

If you have other codes, please post them in the comments and I will add them. Thanks!

Procuring an iPhone 3G on launch day is absolutely as hard as you might imagine. It’s been a rollercoaster of a week, an experiment to see what people will go through to get their technology fix. I was lucky, but many weren’t.

“ Monday July 7th, 8am. New email; O2 now accepting preorders. 8:34am my order is placed, I have a confirmation email. iPhone 3G will be delivered on Friday before 10am.” …was that too easy?…..

Monday

O2’s website worked flawlessly when I used it, but for many it just collapsed. Users were left wondering whether their order had gone through, and were pulling their hair out. By the afternoon the website was closed to pre-orders. iPhone 3G sold out.

Tuesday & Wednesday
Tuesday and Wednesday saw fever pitch speculation over on the O2 forums. Many users had orders in-progress, some [seemingly] failed orders were suddenly appearing, and others were having orders randomly cancelled. We weren’t happy lambs.

The mood was lifted when orders started to change from “in-progress“ to “complete”. I had a sudden addiction to the O2’s order status page and the refresh button.

Thursday
By Thursday we were flapping, many orders were still “in-progress”. Speculation was growing. Why hadn’t our order status changed? did O2 actually have enough stock to fulfill it’s preorders?

I spoke to O2 customer services on three separate occasions during the week and their staff were always polite and helpful. They reassured me the iPhone would arrive on launch day and I wouldn’t be disappointed.

By 5pm on Thursday it was clear it wasn’t going to happen. A final call to O2 confirmed it; they couldn’t fulfill my order and weren’t sure when they would be able to. Their website was talking about availability “by the end of the summer”.

Carphone Warehouse To The Rescue: At 5:15pm I phoned Carphone warehouse and explained my plight. It was a long shot. Their reply? “No Problem”, they would have an iPhone 3G delivered tomorrow …… and do you know what?…… They weren’t joking. I placed an order at 5:15pm on Thursday and received it at 8:30am Friday.

Thoughts
It’s been a difficult week for O2. Nobody is entirely clear how many preorders they took, but there were a lot. Many have criticised O2 for raising expectations and dashing them. It was always going to be hard for O2 to cope, but IMHO their order system should have been capped. They should only have accepted pre-orders for phones they could deliver. But could anyone really have coped with the insatiable demand? probably not.

“Was the iPhone 3G worth it?” don’t ask silly questions!

UPDATE: I’m disappointed to hear that my Carphone Warehouse order may have been fulfilled at the expense of other CPW users who ordered on Monday! in the same way that my 8:30am order with O2 on Monday was passed over for later orders placed at 1PM. Come on guys its not that difficult!