Sure, I'm a Microsoft MVP, but even MVPs have to trudge across the other side of the technology field once in a while. Recently someone from our local Tampa Bay SBS user group asked which business related apps people were using on their iPad. In no particular order, some of the answers I received included:
The first five are remote access tools. What's on YOUR iPad?
Customer calls complaining about a clicking noise on his HP Data Vault X510 WHS server. I'm guessing it's either a bad disk or the fan. I bring the server back to the shop ... and sure enough, it's one of the disks that's making the noise. But, how do I determine which disk???
A quick search of the Internet and the WHS Home Servert SMART add-in comes to the rescue! I installed the latest version (1.1.36.6) and voila! it quickly identified the disk in question. This will be an add-in I will be installing on all my WHS servers!
I was working on a custom built Windows Home Server (not an HP or Acer) from a customer site that was not letting me log in or access it remotely. Once I got it set up on my workbench, I powered it up and logged in. When I went to start up the WHS console, the console displayed for the briefest of moments, and then it closed down. Checking the event log, I found an Event ID 5000 .Net Runtime 2.0 error. My first attempt tosearch for a solution indicated that a specific file might be missing. However, the file was on this server.
I then found this post that suggested the error might be caused by the date/time clock being off. Sure enough, the clock on the WHS box was set to Pacific TZ. I reset the timezone, reset the time, and voila, the WHS console started right up!
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) Anti-virus program has received a lot of good press since it was released in Sept 2009. I have been gradually moving my residential customers, friends and family over to it. One small problem I have noticed: at times the MSE engine will hog up quite a bit of cpu cycles. I recently found a blog post that said that adding the MSE folders to the list of files/folders in MSE to be excluded from scannng will help reduce the high CPU usage.
To add exclusions, click on Settings > Excluded files & locations, then click the Add button to add an entry.
For Windows XP, add the following exclusion:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials
For Vista/Windows 7, add the following exclusions:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials
C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Security Essentials
C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware
Hope this helps. Let me know if there are other folders/directories that should be excluded
iPhone users: from Network World this morning is an article addressing reported syncing issues to Exchange with the new Apple IOS 4.0 for the iPhones. The article points to a current workaround that is posted on Apple's site, and indicates a more "complete" solution is required or forthcoming.
The article goes on as to suggest that there is a further issue that is causing high network/usage spikes, and that this may force some companies to stop allowing iphones to retrieve emails!
Update: the Microsoft Exchange Team has addressed this issue from their perspective at their Team Blog Site.
I have been a huge fan of Windows Home Server (WHS) ever since it was announced back in January 2007. This past April (2010) Microsoft released a public beta version of the next version of the Windows Home Server product, code name VAIL. The big change (behind the scenes) is that VAIL operates in a 64-bit environment, and is based on the Windows 2008 R2 platform. For a more in depth list of features with VAIL, check out this post: http://homeservershow.com/the-windows-home-server-vail-feature-list.html
There are several hardware vendors (e.g. HP, Acer) that sell headless WHS systems (HP DataVault X310/X510, Acer Aspire EasyStore H340) . I have had great success in deploying these products, not in homes, but in businesses! As to VAIL, I recently did a headless, automatic install of VAIL to an ACER Easystore H340 that I had on hand. Thanks to Kevin Royalty who helped me with the "answer file".
Finally, be sure to check out the WHS Team Blog for up to date info on Windows Home Server VAIL.
Wordpress released version 3.0 earlier this month, and I'm just now starting to test it and check out its features.
I do not consider myself an expert web designer. However, I have create wed sites for customers over the last ten years. And I have always relied on Web site development tools. Early on, it was a product called Trellix, a software product developed by Dan Bricklin, the inventor of Visicalc. Later, Trellix was sold to Globalscape and renamed Cute SiteBuilder. I was heavily involved in providing technical support for this product (see CSBSupport.com), Several years later, Globalscape decided to discontinue the product, but I continued to use it for existing sites.
Over a year ago, I decided to check out other web development solutions, both free and $$$ versions. I tried Joomla for awhile, but never quite got the hang of it. I eventually settled on Wordpress, and overall, have been very happy with it, even though several of my MVP peers do not recommend Wordpress because of the ease of code developersa to write PHP insecure copde. But that's for another post!
Meanwhile, if you are interested, check out the Wordpress 3.0 blog post, which includes a video of the new features.
This is from the "Wow, this is free?" department. Have you ever needed to edit an image with Photoshop, but you were on a computer without Photoshop? Your wait is over, as there's a solution for you. It's called Pixlr Editor. Not only is it free, it's web based, so there's no software to install. The toolbar is nearly identical to Photoshop.
And, if that's not enough, if you only need to do basic photo editing, they also have Pixlr Express. Can you say "Photoshop Lite-Lite?". Give it a try!
Oh by the way, it does require Flash 10, so if you are on an iPad, I guess you are out of luck.
We all have had customers who have been hit with one of those fake anti-virus programs, that turn out ot be malicious malware. Trend Micros has put out a whitepaper entitled "Unmasking Fake AV". Check it out!
When cleaning up crapware from a workstation, my two primary "go to" solutions are Microsoft Security Essentials and MalwareBytes. I will run these both logged in as the user, as will run quick scans initially. If it finds enough things, I will then reboot into Safe Mode, login as the administrator, and run full scans until nothing is found.
Today, I had a computer that Malwarebytes and MSE both identified and cleaned up issues on. However, soemthing just didn't seem right, and the computer was still acting --- can I say --- wierd? I decided to download SuperAntiSPyware, as I know plenty of people rely on it. Guess what? It found another 146 issues on this computer!
Yes, I know some of you will tell me to flatten this computer and reload Windows from scratch. And I may do so. Right now, I'm interested in trying to learn what things each of these solutions will find or not find.
In case you missed it, the old Microsoft newsgroups are being replaced by the new Microsoft Web Forums. For Small Business Server (SBS), we have a single Small Business Server forum that will be used for SBS2003 and SBS2008 issues. So come on over and check it out!
Was it really 25 years ago that the first registered domain name (Symbolics.com) happened? What a trivia question. There is a web site (naturally called http://www.25yearsof.com/) that celebrates this occasion.
March 14th is ithe official holiday for Pi! I wish I could take credit for the following, but I cannot. It comes from CNN and Elizabeth Landau - http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/13/pi-day-and-american-pi/
Pi is the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle. Celebrate it on Saturday, March 14! In honor of Pi Day, March 14 (because it's 3/14, like 3.14), I came up with the basis for this song, inspired by Don McClean’s 1971 song “American Pie,” when I was in high school. Feel free sing along with that tune.
American Pi
by Elizabeth Landau
A long, long time ago, it was one December when I thought I'd found the end of pi.
And if I'd had some batteries, my efforts would have surely pleased
That math fair judge, and that's no lie.
But tests and papers made me shiver with every paper they'd deliver.
More bad news in chemistry,
Just needed that time to study.
I can't remember if I cried when I realized that I hadn't tried
Before something clicked off deep inside
And then, my calculator died.
CHORUS:
So why, why can't I calculate pi
I just want to see the numbers 3.1415
And if that's all, then let's keep it alive
'Cause my calculator seems to have died.
My calculator seems to have died.
Did you write the law of sines, or draw two perfect parallel lines
Without a ruler helping you?
Can you still use a protractor, or find just one imaginary factor
Of a polynomial of order 2?
Well I had a TI-83 when a great misfortune came to me
The screen began to blur - I couldn't even find my curve!
I was a lonely teenage computer freak,
My pencils were chewed but my glasses were sleek,
And the future was looking pretty bleak
The day my calculator died.
[CHORUS]
Books, eraser, graphing paper, I was just a young number chaser
Searching for the holy grail.
Like Archimedes, Ramanujan, and Gregory, Leibniz, van Ceulen,
I could approximate, but then I’d fail!
My calculator was in a daze,
It just wouldn’t run on new AAAs.
The math fair was in an hour
And I was still out of power.
I knew that I was running out of time
A new formula would have been sublime
But all that I could do was rhyme
The day my calculator died.
[CHORUS]
“We know it’s not the pi you eat, this pie’s a far more delicate treat
And it can be so much fun.
Well, Pi is a movie, Pi’s a perfume,
The digits of pi could fill a room,
But could ever find the very last one?”
And although this poem was nice and sweet
In my heart I knew it couldn’t compete.
The other kids had proof.
I felt like such a goof!
And, as I sat down I felt disgraced,
Like I had just gotten a pie in the face.
I knew that I had really lost the race
The day my calculator died.
[CHORUS]
I met a guy in Period 3 who seemed like he could help me
At least he didn’t turn away.
My calculator looked so sad, but I know this kid of course was glad
To make me feel worse on Pi Day.
He said, “I can’t believe you were so dumb.
All you need is a new lithium.”
I asked, “What do you mean?”
He wouldn’t even come clean
And tell me there’s another set of batteries besides the quartet.
So until I get some, and it resets
I think I’ll eat some pie.
So why, why can't I calculate pi
I just want to see the numbers 3.1415
And if that's all, then let's keep it alive
But my calculator didn’t really die!
I haven't decided how often I will do this, but I thought to myself: "Myself, why don't you blog a bit about what you do as an I.T. & Microsoft MVP professional here in Tampa, Florida". Yeh, it sounds a lot like Julie-Julia. I will try to stear clear of politics, taxes, religion and recommended movies (although the Julie-Julia movie was REALLY good!). And, as the song goes ... "Promises, promies, I'm all through with promises...".
So, after the ball dropped to welcome in 2010, I was anxiously awaiting the email from Microsoft to indicate whether or not I was approved to be an MVP for this coming year. That email arrived at 8:51AM (Florida time). This is my 7th consecutive year as an MVP, but nothing is ever a given. As Microsoft writes: "This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Small Business Server technical communities during the past year."
As I reflected on privileged I have been to be selected as a Microsoft MVP for seven years, I had several thoughts. One was: what was I going to do to raise the bar and be a better MVP this year? The second was: how can I grow my business this year? These two thoughts do not specifically overlap each other. Being MVP may help get some business, but customer relationship is key. And having a successful I.T. business in no way guarantees that I will be an MVP next year.
Ok, that;s all the time I have ... back to cleaning up viruses from a new customer's computer! Until next time, here's to a happy and successful 2010 to everyone!
On Jan 1, 2010 I received my email from Microsoft announcing that I was selected (again) as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the Small Business Server. This is my 7th year for this award, and every year it is both am honor to be so acknowledged, and at the same time a mystery. A mystery?
People ask me: what do I need to do to become an MVP? I tell them to just be themselves. I've never done anything more than that myself. That's why it's a mystery to me ... that somehow the effort I put into supporting, testing, assisting and promoting the SBS product in the marketplace and in the technical communities makes a difference. I'm not the smartest or the fastest (or youngest) person around. But, once I find something I know to be of value and worth, I'm ready to jump in with both feet.
Many of you know me when I did a "Song of the Week" for the SBS community. I started doing these song parodies because I was getting frustrated by too many people in the SBS newsgroups taking too many little things seriously, and I felt a little humor would help. I still make up songs, almost daily, but I don't get much of a chance to put them down in writing. Perhaps in 2010 I wil be able to do some more.
As I was getting dressed this morning, and trying to psych myself up to be ready for this first work day of 2010, I found myself thinking about blogs. Everyone blogs these days ... whether to get noticed by others, to share your opinions with others, to pass on information to others, or simply to help one another out. Whatever your purpose, the bottom line is that blogging is one method of Communication with the world around you. It is truly an amazing thing.
As I was preparing for the day, I was thinking of the recent Julie & Julia movie, and how Julie's life took on a whole new dimension because of an idea to cook all of Julia Child's recipe in a year and blog about her adventure. Life is a daily adventure, and I hope and pray that 2010 is a successful and happy one for everyone.
If you are interested in upgrading your Vista computer to Windows 7, here are the supported upgrade scenarios:
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From Windows Vista (SP1, SP2)
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Upgrade to Windows 7
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Business
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Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate
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Enterprise
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Enterprise
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Home Basic
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Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate
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Home Premium
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Home Premium, Ultimate
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Ultimate
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Ultimate
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Amongst all the Windows 7 activity, you may have missed the news that Microsoft released their latest free consumer level anti-virus / anti-crapware solution, named Microsoft Security Essentials. I've started installing it on some consumer systems to see how it performs.
But it got me to thinking about prior antivirus offerings that Microsoft has released. So, I put together a short list. Hmmm .. wonder what was going on in the years between1994 and 2003!
1993: MSAV - Microsoft Anti-Virus for DOS, originally developed by Central Point
1994: MWAV - Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows, also developed by Central Point
2003: Microsoft purchases antivirus software from GeCad and Pelican
2005: Microsoft AntiSpyware - based on code from Giant Antispyware
2006: Windows Defender - Microsoft renamed Microsoft Antispyware to Windows Defender
2007: Windows Live OneCare
2009: MSE - Microsoft Security Essentials, codename Morrow
I have been testing and doing presentations on Windows 7 for over 6 months. With Windows 7 officially release, it was time for me to step up to the plate, and move my production workstation over to Windows 7. This is the same workstation that I wrote about two years ago when I made the switch from XP to Vista.
So last night I took the plunge and did an in-place upgrade (IPU) of my Vista Ultimate desktop to Windows 7 Ultimate. Yes, I know there are those who will say that a wipe and clean is the only way to do it (see my blog post about it). However, my experience is that there will be lot's of people who will want (or need) to do an in-place upgrade, and the only way for me to give it a thumbs up or down was to do it myself.
OK, so how did the upgrade go for me? In one word -- FANTASTIC! The in-place upgrade went smoothly. And all my favorite and important applications are running flawlessly. So, I can wholeheartedly recommend an IPU if all prerequisites are followed. Is a wipe and clean preferred? You betcha. But an IPU can be very successful.
UPGRADING TO WINDOWS 7 IN THREE EASY STEPS:
System: Dell Optiplex 745 / 2.2Ghz Intel 6400 Core 2 / 4GB memory / 250GB primary C: drive
- Run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, and fix whatever is identified. For me, there were a couple of program and utilities (like iTunes) that needed to be uninstalled ahead of time.
- Backup your system. For me, I did a backup to my Windows Home Server, and I did a second backup using StorageCraft ShadowProtect. Why two backups? Because I firmly believe you can't have enough backups!
- Upgrade to Windows 7. Since this was an in-place upgrade, you run the upgrade straight from Vista. Please note: the upgrade process will take several hours to complete.
P.S. You may find your upgrade process hanging up during the "Expanding Windows" phase. Apparently different things may or may not cause this, including a bad DVD. Some people suggest putting the Windows 7 installation DVD onto a thumbdrive, which I may try for my next upgrade,
Windows 7 Rocks!
Windows 7 hits the street today. Find out if your PC is ready for Windows 7 by running the free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft. If your computer is already running Windows Vista, it should run Windows 7. And there are many reports of people doing successful in-place upgrades of Vista to Windows 7.
With the official release of Windows 7 just a day away, many will be asking: can or should I do an in-place upgrade (IPU) from Vista to Windows 7? Based on recent comments and feedbacks from many of my fellow MVP's, I can summarize my answer as follows:
1. Everyone agrees that doing a clean reload of Windows 7 is always preferred over an in-place upgrade.
2. However, there is also a strong concensus that an in-place upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 works very, very well
Some words to the wise:
1. Be sure to do a full image backup of your system beforehand. Those of you with Windoes Home Server, that job is as easy as clicking a button.
2. If you take the first approach (reformat/reload), be sure to utilize the terrific Windows Easy Transfer (WET) utility and backup all your data files and user settings on your Vista computer first. WARNING: Be sure you use the version of WET that comes on the Windows 7 DVD, and not the one that's already installed on your Vista system.
Windows 7 rocks!
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