VB MVP KenLin @HKSAR

How to Enable Past Intellisense Addresses for Other Profile in Outlook

kenlin — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 02:54:00 GMT

Some what I have problems on my original outlook profile and I have to create another one. I then found out that there is no intellisense addresses comes up when I am typing in To or CC. So I try to find a solution on how to solve it. I finally solved and I found this is good and you may also need it sometimes. And here are the way to solve it.

1) Close your Outlook
2) Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\%Username%\Application Datas\Microsoft\
3) There are files named, "[Old_Outlook_Profile_Name].NK2" and "[New_Outlook_Profile_Name].NK2"
4) Make a backup on "[New_Outlook_Profile_Name].NK2"
5) Make a copy on "[Old_Outlook_Profile_Name].NK2" and rename the new copy into "[New_Outlook_Profile_Name].NK2" (You may need to delete the original "[New_Outlook_Profile_Name].NK2" first)
6) Now you are ready to start Outlook

Bingo! It works great, right?

VS2012 Giveaway is not there this time

kenlin — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:54:00 GMT

Since VS2005, all Developer MVPs has 3 giveaway on the VS subscription. Some MVPs were giving it to public, some MVPs were giving to friends, some MVPs were giving it to memebrs of their local community. However, this time there is no such giveaway when VS2012 launch. Why? I don't know the reason. But I think, VS2012 which is targeting Win8 development and Microsoft should enourage developers to build apps to Microsoft Store. So I highly recommend tht MVP program could try to arrange this.

Visual Studio 11 is now rename to Visual Studio 2012, and is turning from Beta to RC

kenlin — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 03:24:00 GMT

Following Windows 8 is released its Release Preview, Visual Studio 11 is also having some changes since 1st June 2012. Now Visual Studio 11 is confirmed to be named Visual Studio 2012, and also it is now turning from Beta to RC. This means that it is going to be RTM. in my personal thinking, it might be released in the same date as Windows 8. So as a developer, you really need to catch up some changes on HTML 5 supporting in Visual Studio 2012, and also the Metro Development for Windows 8.

Don't forget to browse to Compare VS2012 Products Page to get their difference between the difference products of VS2012

Windows 8 Release Preview

kenlin — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 01:50:00 GMT

Windows 8 Release Preview is released and free download and install publicly in last week. You can download it, install it and feel it. Now it is changed into Release Preview, that means the release date is close. You can also have a look on the difference edition and their features, There will be 3 editions, Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 RT.

Feature name	Windows 8	Windows 8 Pro	Windows RT
Upgrades from Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium	x	x
Upgrades from Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate		x
Start screen, Semantic Zoom, Live Tiles	x	x	x
Windows Store	x	x	x
Apps (Mail, Calendar, People, Messaging, Photos, SkyDrive, Reader, Music, Video)	x	x	x
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)			x
Internet Explorer 10	x	x	x
Device encryption			x
Connected standby	x	x	x
Microsoft account	x	x	x
Desktop	x	x	x
Installation of x86/64 and desktop software	x	x
Updated Windows Explorer	x	x	x
Windows Defender	x	x	x
SmartScreen	x	x	x
Windows Update	x	x	x
Enhanced Task Manager	x	x	x
Switch languages on the fly (Language Packs)	x	x	x
Better multiple monitor support	x	x	x
Storage Spaces	x	x
Windows Media Player	x	x
Exchange ActiveSync	x	x	x
File history	x	x	x
ISO / VHD mount	x	x	x
Mobile broadband features	x	x	x
Picture password	x	x	x
Play To	x	x	x
Remote Desktop (client)	x	x	x
Reset and refresh your PC	x	x	x
Snap	x	x	x
Touch and Thumb keyboard	x	x	x
Trusted boot	x	x	x
VPN client	x	x	x
BitLocker and BitLocker To Go		x
Boot from VHD		x
Client Hyper-V		x
Domain Join		x
Encrypting File System		x
Group Policy		x
Remote Desktop (host)		x

Installing Windows 8 Consumer Preview Release

kenlin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:29:00 GMT

Microsoft released the second version of Windows 8 to public on 29th Feb, 2012. This version is named Windows 8 Consumer Preview. I try to install it onto the Virtual PC and configure 2Gb ram, 20Gb Virtual Hard Disk and DVD mount to theWin8CP ISO file. Like this,

And then I run the Virtual PC and getting a "golden fish" screen and then a blue screen with message,

"Your computer ran into a problem and needs to restart.
If you'd like to know more, you can search online later for this code: HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
It's collecting error info and will restart in: 0 seconds"

I wait and wait, the virtual PC does not restart. I try to turn it off and run again. The same happen. Why??? After searching online and found the follwing info which is a blog titled Running Windows 8 Developer Preview in a Virtual Environment writen by Steven Sinofsky, Head of Windows. And I think that it applies to Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Forum members are reporting success using a few products. Of the most popular options, our baseline assessment is as follows:

Functional:

Hyper-V in Windows 8 Developer Preview

Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2

VMware Workstation 8.0 for Windows

VirtualBox 4.1.2 for Windows

Non-functional:

Microsoft Virtual PC (all versions)

Microsoft Virtual Server (all versions)

Windows 7 XP Mode

VMWare Workstation 7.x or older

So then I try to install VirtualBox and configure the setting like this,

And then start running the VirtualBox VM. This time it shows the same first screen as what I have seen in running VirtualPC. And then the Windows 8 setup wizard comes up. It looks like the same as Windows 7 one. It ask you to select the Language, Time and currency format, Keyboard or input method.

Once you selected the options that you would like the Windows 8 to be, then you click the Next button. The next screen again, same as Windows 7, a button with "install now" shown.

After you press the "Install Now" button, the windows setup manager will display the mesage, "Setup is starting". The next screen shown, again same as Windows 7, and asking you for the product key.

After entering the given product key, you can press Next button to continue the Windows 8 Setup. The next screen is asking you to read the license terms and you must accept it before you can press the Next button to continue the installation.

Then the next screen shows. It ask you which type of the installation do you want. I tried to click upgrade but it then ask you to restart the virtual VM and it will prompt up the very first screen of the installation again.

So we should click "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)" option in this testing propose. I think that we could upgrade from Windows 7 after Windows 8 is RTM.

Then you can specify the disk partition that you want the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to be installed on, in my case, the only 20Gb disk in my Virtual VM.

After you selected the partition where you want the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to be installed to, you can press "Next" button. The setup wizard will the do the same as Windows 7, copying Windows files, Expanding Windows files, installing features, installing upgrades and Almost done installing Windows.

After that, the Virtual VM will reboot for the first time. You will see the "Windows golden fish" again. Then the Windows 8 installation wizard will continues and display messages to inform you that the latest situation of the setup process. So far, all of the screen I found out that they are pretty much the same as what I have seen in the installation of Windows 7.

The next screen I found, which is new to me, "Personalize" page is shown. It asked you to pick a color you like and the PC name.

After entering the PC name (someone mention that you cannot create the same name for a user same as the PC name. So don't just key in your wanted username as the PC name), the "Settings" page of the installation wizard comes.

I selected the "express settings" as I wanna try to finish the installation in the simplest way and try and feel the Windows 8. For advanced users, you may try to click "Customize" to do more difference settings with difference value.

The next screen, is asking you for the Microsoft account. What is Microsoft account, I guess it is the same as the Windows Live account or hotmail or live mail account. This is a new feature which is introduces with Windows 8. Using Microsoft Live account is an alternative way of creating and using Windows users to log on to the Windows 8. Using Microsoft Live account, you can share information, i.e., IE favorites, your PC looks and feels features....etc. So if you have multiple PCs and tablets, you can share all these settings. This feature of Windows 8 is working like a roaming profile features for Windows users.

You can also create a new Microsoft Live account with email address at this point. Or you can also skip Windows Live account this feature, click the last option to just creating a Windows user account. In my testing, I key in the email address of my personal Windows Live Account.

The next step is "Enter your Microsoft account password".

The next step is "Enter security verfication info". In this page, you have to select your country code and also your mobile number. I key in my personal phone number in this step.

After all these, Windows 8 setup can say to be going into the very last step and these are all the data that I have to key into. Now Windows 8 is going to create the user account and preparing the windows to be running in the very first time.

And the next screen is......READY!!! The new Microsoft Windows 8 Start screen displayed. Instead of traditional Windows Desktop, the new start up screen named Windows Start screen. The Windows Start screen is built using Metro style applications and designed for multi-touch usage. So if you have experiece on Zune, Windows Phone 7 or Windows Phone 7.5, you are already used to the screen usage, Now it is the same user interface in your PC.

You can click the Internet Explorer to open up the IE and browse the web page.

But wait, where is the desktop? what if I am a developer and I need to open Visual Studio? You can found and click the Desktop Metro to open the Desktop screen. (Well, will there be a Visual Studio Metro in the coming version? ).

You can press "Windows key" on your keyboard to go back to your Windows Start screen. You can also pass "Alt+Ctrl+Del" to the Virtual VM to display the same screen as pressing "Alt+Ctrl+Del" in Win7, you can switch user, lock, sign out and open Task Manager, you can also turn off the PC.

If you choose Sign Out, the welcome screen will comes. This is also the default screen in the next time you turn on your PC.

By pressing "Alt+Ctrl+Del" again, you will see your login screen again.

MSSQL Server 2012 Sample DB

kenlin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:18:00 GMT

I am sure that everyone might have a need to use MSSQL Server Sample Database in every version. And now you could download the sample database for MSSQL Server 2012 too. All you need to do is browse to CodePlex and download it. It is an offical product. You may get the following files,

Adventure Works DW 2012 Data File
Adventure Works Multidimensional Models SQL Server 2012
Analysis Services Tuorial SQL Server 2012
Adventure Works Tabular Mode SQL Server 2012
Adventure Works Internet Sales Tabular Model SQL Server 2012
Adventure Works 2012 CS OLTP Script
Adventure Works 2012 OLTP Script
Adventure Works 2012 CS Data File

Don't wait and go download it.

Adventure Works for SQL Server 2012 from CodePlex

Visual Studio 11 Beta can be downloaded now.

kenlin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 03:27:00 GMT

Visual Studio 11 Beta is ready for you. Now you can download it from browsing http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads and also can download from MSDN Subscriber Downloads .

There are some compatibility with previous releases. I think the main points are,

.NET 4.5 is an in-place update of .NET 4
You can install and Use Visual Studio 11 Beta alongside Visual Studio 2010.

Also, there are some upgrade paths planned ready for Developer Preview / Beta / RC / RTM later on.

Supported:
- Upgrade from .NET 4.5 Developer Preview to Beta
- Upgrade from .NET 4.5 Beta to Release (RTM)
- Upgrade from VS11 Beta & .NET 4.5 Beta to RC
- Upgrade from VS 11 RC & .NET 4.5 RC to RTM
Not Supported
- Upgrade from VS 11 Developer Preview to Beta
- Upgrade from VS 11 Beta to RTM

Because the download available now is the Beta already. So the installation are ready for you to upgrade from Beta to RC only. You may have to uninstall it and install RC. But once RC is ready and after you installed RC. You could direct upgrade from RC to RTM.

MSSQL Server 2012 is released. Are you ready?

kenlin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:58:00 GMT

MSSQL Server 2012 is released. There are 6 editions, Enterprise, Business Intelligence, Standard, Web, Developer and Express. You could compare the features in the following link, http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/sql-2012-editions.aspx

If you would like to learn more about it, you could attend the Virtual Launch Event. http://www.sqlserverlaunch.com/ww/Home

Solved on LoaderExceptions with Entity Framework

kenlin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 07:06:00 GMT

After getting the System.Reflection.ReflectionTypeLoadException when I am developing with Entity Framework for few weeks, I google a lot and found out a helpful related blog and now I solved my problems.

After following what he mentioned and showed out the real informations from the exception, I figure out that there is a internal developed dll in my project's bin directory, but I never reference it into my project. And this dll is running with another dll from a vendor. The problem never comes up for 2 weeks since I remove that internal developed dll from bin directory. I never expected or think about a "non-reference" existing dll will cause out the problem. Anyway, I hope the rest of the developers who are facing the problem, please read the follow blog, try to implement the code in Global.axas. And I hope the detail information could help you find out what is really going wrong in behind. Cheers~~~

[From Ken Cox] Fed Up With System.Data.Metadata.Edm.ObjectItemAssemblyLoader

‘Retrieve the LoaderExceptions property for more information’ when using EntityDataSource

kenlin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:33:00 GMT

I recent start a new project in VS2010. My Vs2010 version is v4.0.30319 RTMRel. I created a ASP.NET AJAX Web Project. I am using ADO.NET EntityDataSource and bind the data from SQL 2008 into a gridview on a page. I then found out I keep getting this error when viewing the page in browser (my browser is IE7, v7.0.5730.11IS),

If I compile and browse the page in 10 times, I get at least 7 times of this error. GOD. OK, I then do a google search. And found the following useful link,

I am not going to list all useful link here. But I can tell, LOTS of developer are facing the same happening. And the following are some suggestions that people reported it works but some also reported it does not work at all.

some report that changing the .NET Trust level to High could fix it
Rebuild the edmx model
Change from debug mode to release mode in the project configuration
Change from website project to web application project
never use one EntityDataSource to more than one control
turn off indexing on the project folder
Install ADO.NET Data Service v1.5 CTP2 (WHAT? I cannot install CTP into server..)

But I can tell, they are all not working for me after I follow them all. So, WHAT IS HAPPENING? What is Microsoft ADO team doing? Any solution? I really want to know too cause I am facing this problem as well. Hm....OK, I am in Data Access Insider mail list, I will fire up this question to the mail list and hope someone from Data Access Team in Microsoft could tell me the answer and I will come back to you once I got the answer from them.

MVC Performance in IIS - Part II

kenlin — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:51:00 GMT

Last 2 weeks, I run MVC training kit to IIS 7.5 and was trying to figure out the baseline for the performance tuning for my project. I tested 3 Scenarios,

S1) Hosting MVC 1.0 Training Kit in Application under Default Website
S2) Hosting MVC 1.0 Training Kit in New Website with port 8081
S3) Hosting my company's MVC Project in New Website with port 8082

And their result of max throughput on Default Page is around,

R1 Result Screen Shot

R2 Result Screen Shot

R1) ~200/sec
R2) ~2980/sec
R3) ~410/sec

This time, I tested in more scenarios,

S4) Moving MVC 1.0 Training Kit to root of Default Website
S5) Hosting MVC 1.0 Training Kit in Application under New Website with port 8081
S6) Hosting my company's MVC Project in Root of Default Website

And their result now are,

R4 Result Screen Shot

R5 Result Screen Shot

R6 Result Screen Shot

R4) ~225/sec
R5) ~2650/sec
R6) ~170/sec

OK, let me group the result in a table and so we could view all results more clear.

	In Root	In Application
MVC 1.0 Kit in Default Website	~225/sec	~200/sec
MVC 1.0 Kit in New Website with port 8081	~2980/sec	~2650/sec
Company MVC Project in Default Website	n/a	~170/sec
Company MVC Project in New Website with port 8082	~410/sec	n/a

Now the results are showing that
1) The performance will be gained about 10% if you move the MVC project from Application under website into root of website.
2) The performance will be gained in a range from 240% - 1325% if you move the MVC project from Default Webste to New Website.

MVC Performance in IIS - Part I

kenlin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:55:00 GMT

Recent, I am focusing on MVC/.NET/IIS performance because of my job duty. I have to try and running load test in order to get the number of max thoughput, so that I could figure out a baseline for the web projects in my working company. I then setup a computer to host IIS with MVC projects. Here is what I get,

Hardware:

Web Server
CPU: Core 2 Due E8400
Ram: 4Gb DDR2-800
OS: 64-bit Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
Data: SQL 2008 Express Edition (for training kit data) + XML files (for my project data)

Client Computer
CPU: Dual-Core E5300
Ram: 4Gb DDR2-800
OS: 32-bit Windows 2008 Enterprise Edition SP2

Test tool
Apache JMeter v2.3.4 with Java Runtime v6.0.200.2

Scenario One

Hosting MVC 1.0 Training Kit
Hosting as Application in Virtual Directory in Default Website
Separate Application Pool from default website
Testing with 100 threads, 500 threads, 1000 threads and 1500 threads
Max thoughput
- Default Page: ~200/sec
- About Page: ~190/sec
- Customers Page: ~73/sec

Scenario Two

Hosting MVC 1.0 Training Kit
Hosting in New Website
Separate Application Pool
Max thoughput
- Default Page: ~2980/sec
- Customers Page: ~388/sec

Scenario Three

Hosting MVC 2.0 project in my working company
Hosting in New Website
Separate Application Pool
Max thoughput
- Static data from class: ~410/sec
- Opening XML data file: ~274/sec

Interesting, this is the first time I try to do some benchmark. And I found out the performance between "Virtual Directory under Default Website" and "New Website" is hugh. It is 15 times difference. I tried to look around and still cannot figure out the reason. I will come back here later when I have some updates.

P.S., the above number of the max thoughput are just for reference. They might be up or down with difference hardware and applications installed. In my testing, Server CPU is running up to 100% already. So the bottleneck may be SQL service in same machine, network loading, Machine is not a "REAL" server hardware....etc.

Where is AdminPak in Windows 2008 and R2 ?

kenlin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:52:00 GMT

If you have been administering your Windows 2003 environment from XP or Vista, you have probably installed Adminpak.msi. Well, with the launch of Windows 2008, adminpak has disappeared.

That is now known as RSAT. (Remote Server Administration Tools).
RSAT contains the following tools:

Role Administration Tools:

•Active Directory Certificate Services Tools
•Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
•Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
•DHCP Server Tools
•DNS Server Tools
•File Services Tools
•Network Policy and Access Services Tools
•Terminal Services Tools
•Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

Feature Administration Tools:

•BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools
•Failover Clustering Tools
•Group Policy Management Tools
•Network Load Balancing Tools
•SMTP Server Tools
•Storage Manager for SANs Tools
•Windows System Resource Manager Tools

The following tools are fully supported for managing computers running Windows Server 2003:

•Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
•Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
•Active Directory Certification Authority Tools
•DHCP Server Tools
•DNS Server Tools
•Terminal Services Tools
•Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
•Group Policy Management Tools
•Network Load Balancing Tools

Installing Active Directory Domain Services Tools on a member server that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2
You can use the following procedure to add the Active Directory Domain Services Tools component of RSAT to a member server.

Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about default group memberships at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=150761.

To install Active Directory Domain Services Tools on a member server

1.Open Server Manager. To open Server Manager, on the Start menu, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.
2.In the console tree, right-click Features, and then click Add Features.
3.In Features, expand Remote Service Administration Tools and Role Administration Tools:

a.On a Windows Server 2008 member server, expand Active Directory Domain Services Tools, and then click Active Directory Domain Controllers Tools.
b.On a Windows Server 2008 R2 member server, expand AD DS and AD LDS Tools, expand AD DS Tools, and then click AD DS Snap-Ins and Command-Line Tools.

4.Click Next, review the installation information, and then click Install.
5.If you are prompted to restart the computer, restart it before you continue with the next step. Click Yes to restart the server, or click No to restart the server later.
6.After the server restarts, on the Installation Results page of the Resume Configuration Wizard, click Close. The Active Directory Domain Services Administration Tools are available on the Administrative Tools menu.

Installing Active Directory Domain Services Tools on a computer that is running Windows Vista with SP1
Windows Vista with SP1 does not ship with the RSAT installation file. You must first download the appropriate RSAT installation file. For instructions and links to the download locations for the tools, see article 931314 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=116179).

Installing Active Directory Domain Services Tools on a computer that is running Windows 7
Windows 7 does not ship with RSAT installation files. You must first download the RSAT installation file. For instructions and links to the download locations for the tools, see Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167131).

Must read articles when get starting with Hyper-V

kenlin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:54:00 GMT

Recent I have to setup a Win2k8 R2 with Hyper-V role enabled, this is my first time to try Hyper-V. There is only one NIC in my machine. After enabled Hyper-V role, I found out that the Network Adapter now becomes 2 Network Adapter. A new Virtual Network Adapter has created. I then found out that the "physical NIC" only have "Microsoft Virtual Network Switch Protocol" is enabled. All my other service, settings are moved to the new Virtual Network Adapter. And you will found out that there are 3 connection types from the Virtual Network Manager, they are "External", "Internal Only" and "Private virtual machine network". And an option "Allow management operating System to share this network adapter". This option is only applied to Win2k8 R2 Hyper-V. So you could not found this option in Win2k8 Hyper-V

I then browse to internet, search around and found out few very good articles that you must read before you get starting with Hyper-V. You should read them if you are first hand on Hyper-V and then you could get to know more about the change from VMware WorkStation / Virtual PC/ Virtual Server.

Understanding Networking with Hyper-V
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/01/08/understanding-networking-with-hyper-v.aspx

How does basic networking work in Hyper-V?
http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/06/16/how-does-basic-networking-work-in-hyper-v.aspx

Configuring Virtual Networks
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816585.aspx

Process Explorer v12.01 has released

kenlin — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:36:00 GMT

For those who has attended my speaking session ( Windows 7 Performance Investments by MVP Ken Lin) on Day 2 morning in TechDays 2009 @ HK, you may have seen that I have installed and run this tools in order to show what processes are running in my machine. This tool is a very good tool to show all the processes than Windows Task Manager. The unique capabilities of Process Explorer make it useful for tracking down DLL-version problems or handle leaks, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work. For IT Professionals, you may found out what processes and what files are running in your windows. For Developers, you may check if any of your dependcies dll is running properly with your developed applications.

Process Explorer does not require administrative privileges to run and works on clients running Windows XP and higher (Including IA64) and servers running Windows Server 2003 and higher (Including IA64).

On 1st, April 2010, a newer version, Process Explorer v12.01, has released. It fixed some bugs and added some new wishing features. You can obtain equivalent command-line tools, Handle, ListDLLs and other useful tools at the Sysinternals Web site.

The XPS Essentials Pack has been updated to support Windows XP Service Pack 3

kenlin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:58:00 GMT

The XPS Essentials Pack installer (available via www.microsoft.com/xps) does not currently support Service Pack 3 (SP3) of Windows XP.

To enable XPS support on Windows XP SP3, you can install the XPS Essentials Pack prior to upgrading to SP3.

In the end of Oct 2008, XPS team has released a new updated. This update fixes a problem with the installer where it failed to recognize a newer version of Windows Imaging Component (WIC) that is included in Windows XP SP3. Also included is an update to the latest version of the XPS Print Path, as well as including a number of improvements to the print path, this update corrects an issue with the components previous included in the essentials pack that prevented component servicing.

To download the installer see http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/viewxps.mspx.

P.S. You cannot get this download from http://www.mircosoft.com/download.

Good tool to find any accounts with Application SPNs.

kenlin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:25:00 GMT

I recently discovered a phenomenal tool for listing the SPNs. You can find the VBScript on Microsoft's website below:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/solutions/spnquery.mspx

Using this tool, you can locate any accounts with Application SPNs as follows (you can name the VBScript whatever you like):

C:\cscript queryspn.vbs App123*

Running the script above will list out all the accounts (with all their SPNs ) with SPNs that begin with "App123"

Windows Azure Services

kenlin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:26:00 GMT

Windows® Azure is a cloud services operating system that serves as the development, service hosting and service management environment for the Azure Services Platform. Windows Azure provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale, and manage Web applications on the Internet through Microsoft® data centers.

To build these applications and services, developers can use their existing Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 expertise. In addition, Windows Azure supports popular standards and protocols including SOAP, REST, and XML. Windows Azure is an open platform that will support both Microsoft and non-Microsoft languages and environments. What is the Azure Services Platform?

Embrace the new .NET Logo!

kenlin — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:39:00 GMT

There is a new logo for .NET now, so it is change

from into

The following are the blog from the .NET Team about the new logo.

Why did we do it?

We needed a logo that was in sync with the key values that we want .NET to stand for: consistency, robustness and great user experiences. We also wanted a logo that conformed to the design principles that are driving Microsoft’s brand identity evolution and is reflected in newer brands such as Silverlight, Surface and more. Finally, we needed a logo that is more strongly aligned with the portfolio of brands that .NET is most strongly aligned with: Silverlight, Visual Studio and the AppPlat server products.

The result is a design we refer to as the “wave.” The design is strong, simple and distinctive. The suggestion of the letter ‘N’ in the design will become instantly recognizable over time as shorthand for the .NET brand name.

It's one of many things we're actively doing to renew our commitment to the future around the overall Rich Platforms we have today.

Hope all have fun at PDC2008 and you'll see glimpses of what I mean there ;)

Onwards and embrace the new .NET logo!

IE8 Beta is officially launched!

kenlin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:08:00 GMT

IE8 Beta is officially launched in the MIX08. And you may download it and try it now. Here is the email from the IE team,

As of 12 pm today, we officially launched IE8 Beta!! Please check out Dean Hachamovich (IE General Manager) in the MIX08 keynote. To download IE8 Beta 1, please click here. Please read the Release notes and the IE8 Readiness Toolkit which will give a detailed description of the features. We would like to introduce to you our feedback form, which allows you to submit bugs directly to the IE team! Before submitting an issue, please search for your bug. If you find your bug, please rate the bug which will give us an idea of how many people have run into the same problem. Please only rate bugs that are important to you. If you do not find your bug, then submit a feedback form with the details of your bug. We have made several updates to the IE8: Technical Beta Program available on connect. Please check it out! Best regards, The IE Team