Unlock the Full Potential of your Linksys Router Using DD-WRT Tech Talk

Jun 30, 11:04 PM
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Are you sick of the limited features your router offers? Well I was, that is, until I discovered DD-WRT. DD-WRT is a third-party developed firmware released under the General Public License for wireless routers based off a Broadcom chip reference design. This firmware offers many advanced features that are not currently available through the OEM firmware. Some of these features include: OpenVPN, Dynamic DNS, VLAN’s, QoS Bandwidth Management and Wireless Mac Filters to name a few. You can find out if your router is supported here and for a full list of features check here

Choosing the Right Firmware:

Choosing the right firmware depends on what your needs are and also on what type of hardware you want to install it on. Most users will use the Standard version while others might use the VOIP or VPN builds. For a list of differences check here. Some routers might require a special version of the firmware also known as the Micro and Mini builds. To see if your router requires a special version you can check the supported devices list under the DD-WRT version required column.

Installation:

Although their website contains a lot of useful information I found it kind of confusing trying to figure out how to install it on to my router. Eventually I found the install guide on the wiki site.

Installation is fairly simple, but this is still an advanced procedure and could brick your router if not done correctly. If you do not have a spare router and/or cannot afford to lose this one DO NOT INSTALL. Even though there is a minimal chance you could brick your router, it might not be worth it to the typical end user. But for me having the features of a multi-hundred dollar router in a router I paid $60 for is well worth it. I will cover a quick rundown of the installation since depending on your router the installation method could vary.

So the Basic install goes as follows (Not for Buffalo devices):

1. Log Into Routers Web GUI
2. Restore Router to Factory Defaults
3. Log back into the Router’s GUI using address 192.168.1.1 User: admin PW: admin
4. Browse to the Firmware upgrade page
5. Click browse and choose the DD-WRT .bin file you downloaded
6. Click Upgrade
7. A new page will open confirming the upload was successful
8. Wait about 5 minutes before clicking continue.
9. Log into the new DD-WRT GUI with the User: root PW: admin

And that’s it! You’re running DD-WRT Firmware. Eventually I will write a guide on using some of the advanced features of the firmware but you’re on your own for now.

How to disable the Win key Tech Talk

Feb 16, 09:02 PM
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To disable both Windows keys perform the following:

1. Start the registry editor (regedt32.exe)
2. Move to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout
3. From the Edit menu select New – Binary Value
4. Enter a name of “Scancode Map” and press enter
5. Double click on the new value and set to 0000 0000 0000 0000 0300 0000 0000 5BE0 0000 5CE0 0000 0000 Do not type the spaces, I only include them only to help you view the data
6. Click OK
7. Close the registry editor and reboot the machine

Once the machine has restarted the Win key will no longer work.

You can automate this by placing the command in a regini file, create the file remove_win.ini with the following contents

\Registry\Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout Scancode Map = REG_BINARY 24 0×00000000 0×00000000 3 0xE05B0000 0xE05C0000 \ 0×0

To then run the script enter the command

To re-enable the Win key delete the “Scancode Map” value you created.

There is also this:

http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/disable_windows_key/

How to disable ctfmon and wmpnetwk Tech Talk

Feb 13, 03:04 PM
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If it always starts up when you boot your computer, you can try removing it in start up
1) go to start menu —> click run
2) type msconfig
3) select the Startup tab
4) find those two processes and uncheck it
5) after clicking OK, your computer will need to reboot

If the above doesn’t work, you can disable those processes in “services”
1) go to start menu —> click run
2) type services.msc
3) scroll and find “Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service”
4) right click and choose “properties”
5) In the “general” tab, change the startup type to “disable”
6) Ensure the “service status” is stopped.

Do the same thing for ctfmon but look for “advanced text services” and if you can’t find it in services.msc do the following:
To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time:
1) go to Control Panel
2) select Regional and Language Options
3) select the Languages tab
4) click the Details button
5) select the Advanced tab
6) check the box that says “Turn off advanced text services.”

I recommend doing the msconfig first and see if that helps.