Anonymous LDAP bind with CSVDE

Not too long ago I had to work with an LDAP directory that did not support authenticated binds.  I needed to use CSVDE to export some information out of it and then have it imported into a database before it eventually would end up in AD.  The default help (CSVDE.exe /?) does not show any syntax for doing an anonymous bind.  I did quick search on the internet and didn’t find anyway of doing it either.  I did find this post showing how to do it with LDIFDE though.  Well what do you know it works with CSVDE too.  Just add  –a “” * to your command line this will bind anonymously to an LDAP directory. Or you can use –a “” “” and it won’t even prompt you for a password.

Windows 7 Start Menu Search shows nothing….

I have been using Windows 7 a my primary machine since it was released and the absolute best most used feature is the Start Menu search.  I cannot live without it.  I use it for searching for files, as a replacement for the “Run” box in XP, and searching for applications in my Start Menu.  I probably use this over 150 times a day.  Very rarely do I scroll through my Start Menu looking for the application I need.  My work habits have me running many different small applications during the course of my day so having all these shortcuts on the taskbar or on my desktop is not productive.  I just hit the Windows key on my keyboard and type the first few letters of what I am looking for and Windows narrows the list down for me.  Quick, simple and easy. 

So when it just randomly stopped working one day not only was I annoyed it took me a lot longer to get anything done.  When I would search for the application I need or tried to run a command (regedit.exe or notepad for example) I would get just a list of categories and no results. 

After searching the Internets for a while I found a lot of people with the same problem.  Turns out Microsoft has issued a hotfix for this in KB article 977380.  You can install the hotfix or you can delete the registry key referenced in the KB article.  For some reason when I tried to request the hotfix I was only getting the option for the x86 version of Windows 7 and not the x64.  Since my workstation is x64 I just deleted the registry key and restarted. 

Now I can get back to being productive!