$ ls -lah /usr/bin/rs*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 fitzsimj None    0 2010-01-11 13:40 /usr/bin/rsync
-rwxr-xr-x 1 fitzsimj root 349K 2010-02-19 11:20 /usr/bin/rsync.exe

I had a mysterious, empty rsync file next to rsync.exe in my /usr/bin folder. Deleting the rsync file fixed my problem. I have no idea where this came from.

This led me to ime_func.ahk, which appears to be an AutoHotkeys script which uses DllCall to access Imm32.dll, the Input Method Manager library. I believe that this script was intended to manipulate the state of the IME language bar.

As near as I can tell, this AutoHotkeys script targets an older implementation of the IMM library. Some of the methods used are now only listed for Windows Mobile platforms.

I began experimenting with ImmGetContext and ImmGetConversionStatus. ImmGetContext always returned a hIMC value of NULL.

On the Developing IME-Aware Multiple-thread Applications MSDN page, the following is stated (bold highlight added):

The IMM includes thread identification checking that determines if a calling thread is the creator of a specified input method context handle (HIMC type) or window handle (HWND type). If the thread is not the creator of the handle, the called IMM function fails and a subsequent call to GetLastError returns ERROR_INVALID_ACCESS.

Additionally:

• A thread should not access the input context created by another thread.

• A thread should not associate an input context with a window created by another thread, and vice versa.

So, it appears that cross-process IME manipulation is forbidden.

$ vim Documents/passwords.gpg

"Documents/passwords.gpg" [Incomplete last line][converted] 7 lines,
2547 characters
Press ENTER or type command to continue

Pressing enter simply resulted in gibberish, likely the raw data of the encrypted file.

The solution was to turn on vim’s filetype plugin processing:

:filetype plugin on

To make this setting persistent, add it to your ~/.vimrc file.

@echo off

REM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
REM  Set the following variable to the ffmpeg.exe path on your system.
REM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
set FFMPEG_PATH="c:\tools\FFmpeg\ffmpeg.exe"

REM make sure the user provided an argument.
if NOT "%~1" == "" goto ARGS_OK

REM bad arguments, print error and exit.
echo.
echo    Usage examples:
echo       mp3toaac.bat file_to_convert.mp3
echo       mp3toaac.bat *.mp3
echo       mp3toaac.bat some_directory\*.mp3
exit /b 1

:ARGS_OK

REM use for/in so that we can accept individual files or wildcards.
for %%i in ("%~1") do %FFMPEG_PATH% -i "%%~i" "%%~ni.aac"

echo.
echo Done.

exit /b 0

Interesting elements of this batch file:

• Use of for/in in order to accept both filenames and wildcards.
• Use of %~X to strip parentheses from a filename variable.
• Use of %~nX to strip the extension from a filename variable (i.e. retrieve the basename).

Terminology Notes

My terminology assumes that you are connecting to a machine on your home network, which is protected by a firewall. However, the diagrams and commands are valid regardless of whether the remote network is at home or not.

Additionally, I use RDCHOST to represent the local name or IP of your RDC server within the home network, and my_home_ip to represent your home IP address as visible from the Internet.

Prerequisites

• Depending on network configuration, port-forwarding may have to be configured on the firewall.
• An SSH client (e.g. Cygwin’s OpenSSH for Windows) must be installed on the local machine.
• An SSH server (e.g. Cygwin’s OpenSSHD for Windows) must be present on some machine within the home network.
• SSH keys must be generated and deployed appropriately.

SSH Command Syntax

ssh -C -N -L localPort:destinationHost:3389 proxyHost

• localPort is the port on localhost through which you wish to connect.
• destinationHost is the Remote Desktop host, as it appears on the home network.
• proxyHost is the host running SSHD, through which you will tunnel.

Configuration 1: Discrete Servers

This configuration has the firewall port-forward SSH to a server on the home network, which proxies the connection to the RDC server:

                       +-----------[ Home Network ]---------------+
                       |                                          |
localhost <----> Home Firewall <---> SSH Server <---> RDC Server  |
                       |                                          |
                       +------------------------------------------+

Command line:

ssh -C -N -L 6009:RDCHOST:3389 my_home_ip

Configuration 2: Combined RDC & SSH Servers

In this configuration, the RDC server also has an SSH server, and the firewall port-forwards directly to it:

                       +------[ Home Network ]-----+
                       |                           |
localhost <----> Home Firewall <-----> RDC & SSH   |
                       |                Server     |
                       +---------------------------+

Command line:

ssh -C -N -L 6009:localhost:3389 my_home_ip

Configuration 3: Firewall as SSH Server

In this configuration, the firewall acts as the SSH server, proxying the connection directly to the RDC server on the home network:

                       +----[ Home Network ]----+
                       |                        |
localhost <----> Home Firewall <---> RDC Server |
                  & SSH Server                  |
                       |                        |
                       +------------------------+

Command line:

ssh -C -N -L 6009:RDCHOST:3389 my_home_ip

Additional Suggestions

Rather than specifying the IP address of your home firewall, I suggest using DynDNS to get a dynamic DNS entry.