DavidOverton.com
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  • I have added more RSS feeds into the "Roller"

    Howdy folks, I have added a number of RSS feeds into the roller if you want to see what I think is interesting. This covers SBS sites, technology sites and the Partner (User) Group sites. Pop along to http://uksbsguy.com/roller/default.aspx to see them in action ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Mar 24 2006
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  • FSB want to work with SBSC & Partner Group Partners

    I have just posted a forum entry to http://uksbsguy.com/forums/183/ShowThread.aspx#183 as several members of the FSB have asked me about working together with SBSC members to present to their groups. The FSB has over 192,000 members, so a large opportunity and they are all small businesses. Interest is rising in the use of technology to solve business problems with key topics today being SBS, professional mail, remote working, sharing data, customer / contact management and general upgrade questions. I can put people in touch with the regional officers for the FSB if desired. They think they can provide a bas or 70+ people to joint events!! ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Mar 24 2006
  • More people blogging on the site - SBS Partner Group leaders

    Hello guys, I have invited the UK Partner Group leaders to blog if they desire on this site. For those who do, you can see all the leader blogs by going to http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/default.aspx?GroupID=4 or all the MS folks by going to http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/default.aspx?GroupID=14 , or all blogs together by going to http://uksbsguy.com/blogs . Susanne Dansey, the Kent leader has already made her 1st post, which can be found at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/susanne_dansey/default.aspx , while Time Long who runs the South Wales group has blogs at http://community.tigranetworks.co.uk/blogs/default.aspx Obviously these can all be found on RSS feeds too: Everyone's - http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/MainFeed.aspx SBS Leads - http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/MainFeed.aspx?GroupID=4 MS People - http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/MainFeed.aspx?GroupID=14 Susanne's - http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/susanne_dansey/rss.aspx Mine (OK, so the RSS link is long, so you can use the re-direct one too) http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/david_overtons_blog_more_technical...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Mar 27 2006
  • Tour of Scotland - 2 down, 1 to go and only shot once, but I think it is only a flesh wound

    Last night was my second Partner Group meeting in Scotland. I have seen the delights of Aberdeen (previously I had only seen the docs and this was a very interesting perspective on life) and the joys of Glasgow - I discovered that the local offices for many businesses appear to be the SAS Radisson Hotel which USED to have free wireless. On my 1st night we spent our time talking about the importance of training and Office and Vista. Then last night at Glasgow we spoke about training again (as QA were a guest for the night) and Security. While one person successfully tackled me on security I hope I got across the theme that security is simple if rules are followed. To follow up on these subjects, I thought I would do a quick "David" to each area. Many people tackle me with 2 questions on training: Why do I have to go get training before I sit an exam and Why can I not just do on the job training? I always get a bit ratty about the 1st one as my answer is that if you know the technology enough to sit the exam without...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Mar 30 2006
  • Dave Sayers posts on Patching Pain

    Dave Sayers is a great guy (most of the time), is part of the same team as me, but has a very strange hobby - he worries about security and patching. We have an item that is not too technical on the web site at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sales_and_marketing/pts-press/articles/patching_pains.aspx Worth a very quick scan for the more salesy people :-) ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Mar 31 2006
  • Off topic - This is awesome - BBC plans for internet & Vista

    Hi guys, this is something that truely knocked me out - check out the next gen of BBC with Windows Vista - site found at http://blog.mix06.com/virtualmix/archive/2006/03/17/BBC_demo.aspx and the video is linked through the video files forum on the site http://uksbsguy.com/files/18/videos/default.aspx ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Apr 1 2006
  • 2nd Partner Group lead now blogging on the site

    This is just a quick note to say welcome to Ian Watkins who is the London Partner Group lead and also a recent SBSC member. Ian is now also blogging on the web site. His blog can be found at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/ianwatkins/default.aspx or the RSS feed at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/ianwatkins/rss.aspx . Ian joins Susanne with her blog at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/susanne_dansey/default.aspx or the RSS feed at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/susanne_dansey/rss.aspx . Look out for more soon. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Apr 3 2006
  • Blog moving

    My blog will be moving to the new address of http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/default.aspx and the RSS feed will become http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/RSS.aspx on the 9th April. Until then, continue to use this feed
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Apr 3 2006
  • Microsoft in the community and Susanne Dansey as a case Study

    Hello there, while looking at what Microsoft is doing in the UK as a responsible member of the community I noticed the following entry with Susanne in the picture. It turns out that Susanne has helped us with the information. Her story can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/citizenship/stories/susanne.mspx , and it mentions her site http://www.sbsbpi.co.uk and of course her blog can be found at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/susanne_dansey/default.aspx on this site. Finally, if you want to know more about Microsoft and the UK community, go have a look at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/citizenship/default.mspx ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Apr 4 2006
  • Off-line site

    While I was away in Amsterdam my SBS box crashed twice, so I took the server offline today to run a lenght memory and hard disk test - neither returned any results, but the system appears to be crashing from random hardware issues - I will update you with hwo I diagnosed it soon. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Apr 8 2006
  • Blog moved to new URL and redirection in place against old URL

    Hello, I wanted to move my blog to an easier URL, and I have done so - the new URLs are: RSS - http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/rss.aspx WEB - http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/default.aspx Atom - http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/atom.aspx However when looking at the logs for the site, lots of people were trying to access via the old entries, so I have put in place a simple re-direction piece of software that re-writes the URL from the old to the new without yopu having to know. Once the new URLs take over in popularity I will remove this software. Obviously I would like you to change your Favourites and Reader software as soon as possible. For those who are interested, the re-direction software can be found at http://www.isapirewrite.com/ and the 1 line I had to put into their httpd.ini file was: RewriteRule (.*)david_overton_blog_more_technical(.*) $1doverton$2 Not exactly difficult to manage and that changes the longer name to the shorter one whereever it is found. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Apr 9 2006
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  • Susanne has gone for the split personality

    Now you all know how great a community leader Susanne is (and if not, better go find out by seeing here community site at http://www.sbsbpi.co.uk ) and that she has her blog on this site, well she has now struck out on her own as well - have a look at her posts on http://www.uksmbgirl.co.uk/blog/ ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Apr 10 2006
  • Jo Carpenter from Microsoft joins the blogroll

    Hello everyone, as you may know my workload has got a bit silly, so I have the pleasure in announcing that Jo will be assisting me in the land of Small Business. She will specifically be focusing on how Office (2003 & 2007) works for small business. Her blog can be found at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/jo_carpenter/default.aspx or the RSS feed at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/jo_carpenter/rss.aspx . Say welcome and start asking her questions :-) ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Apr 11 2006
  • What a great post by Vlad - arguing about Microsoft and the changing market

    Not thta I wish for this to turn into a "look over there" type of blog, I read the article http://www.vladville.com/2006/04/your-potentialour-passion-they-took-r.html at Vlad's site (he also does the podcasts at www.sbsshow.com . Anyway, I am always telling people the market is changing and he talks about this - we need to constantly find new business models. very much worth a read :-) ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Apr 12 2006
  • SMBNation photos from Susanne

    Expect more photos to surface, but Susanne has put some some up on her personal blog (did you know she has 3). Anyway, photos of the gang - http://spaces.msn.com/susannedansey/photos/ . Just don't ask why it looks like I am hopping in one of them - it was one of those timing shots. I forgot my camera, so no photos from me. Expect to see other photos linked on the site soon. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Apr 12 2006
  • Do you want to pre-register for info on the upcoming betas

    I just came across this place to register for info on betas via Technet. It may well be worth signing up. Since I already run Office 2007 & Windows Vista, I can wholeheartedly say these are great productivity tools. Exchange 12 has so many fabulous features that I can't wait. The down side is that Exchange will not ship for SBS until after Windows Server Longhorn, which means we will have several months of Exchange 12 shipping and the only way to add it to an SBS environment is via an additional server, x64 enabled. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/beta/preregister.mspx is the link you need to go see. ttfn David
  • GPRS sync of CRM data to mobile now available

    When we launched MS CRM, the world was wise and fair and rightly said that CRM was great for customer relationships, but perhaps only fair to good for the gentle, overworked sales person on the road. To this end, various ISVs brought out tools that would enable PDAs to work with MS CRM. Microsoft took this feedback on-board and indeed a new CRM client was born, which would enable PDAs to work, but somehow lacked one special ingredient. While PDAs did indeed sync with MS-CRM, a wireless of through PC connection was required, making the concept of true PDA only sales people a mere dream for many. Finally Microsoft has accomplished the desires of many. Hail, we have a new CRM client, one that "goes mobile" and can do so without a wire to a PC or even a WiFi (although these can be used), for finally the GPRS is not a dream, but a tool to provide syncronisation for PDAs to MS-CRM. If such a venture is just what you were looking for, then you can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=EA5A3566...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Apr 13 2006
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  • Fixing SMTP Issues

    Do you find yourself struggling to fix SMTP issues with your Exchange set up? If so, give this tool a try and things might look much better for you. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=BC1881C7-925D-4A29-BD42-71E8563C80A9&displaylang=en ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Apr 13 2006
  • Do you want to understand more about Small Biz and Microsoft, meet cool people, influence and discuss our strategy

    OK, so the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is coming. As with many things in the MS International world, we have some firsts coming up. The WPC is always a huge event for understanding and changing MS strategy and networking with both key MS people and also key people in the community. This is also the time to hear from industry experts about the external influences on the market and how to take advantage and prepare for them. You may think this all sounds a big "la-de-da", but a little while ago at WPC someone asked Steve B in an open session why MS people had great demos, but our partners did not. Within 6 months we had added the Technical Demonstration Toolkit for partners to our offerings. You can have this impact if you ask the right questions too. We have a day in the pre-conference dedicated to Small Business, with a fee for non-SBSC members, but SBSC people get entry for free. More information on the conference can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference/ and it is already...
  • Win prizes for telling us about how you have improved your customers' solutions

    Hello again, One of the common conversations we have is around how some SBS implementations are very poorly done. Then, the quality partners, often Partner Groups or SBSC members re-implement the solution to much higher standards. Microsoft has a competition to reward those excellent designs now – details found at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/technet/designit/default.mspx . This is the design IT competition with entries required by 3rd May. There is also a charity entry piece there too. Prizes include: Winner The winner from DesignIT will be awarded a trip to the Ice Hotel in Sweden for two people Runners up The four finalists that are runners up in the public vote will be awarded either: An Xbox 360 A Creative Zen (MP3 Player) A Smartphone A Media Centre PC The ten shortlisted designs will be exhibited in the DesignIT exhibition commencing 30 May 2006. The exhibition will be held at the Arndean Gallery, London ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Apr 15 2006
  • The Power of the Wizards

    Many of you know that I am a Star Wars fan (anyone seen my avatar?), but you may also remember me telling everyone to "Use the wizards, Luke, use the wizards" over 3 years ago when explaining that SBS can help make life easier. Today, when playing catch up on a number of blogs, I noticed this article from Susan Bradley that said all I wanted to say / have been saying: http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2006/04/08/89925.aspx A blog worth reading, and I especially like the start: Well..actually more likely.. once you screw up the box so much .. you learn yourself why there are some wizards you should just never bypass..... and the biggie... the granddaddy of the wizards that you should not bypass unless you want me to personally hunt you down... is the basic install wizard of Small Business Server in the first place. HandyAndy's web site has the screen shots..but make your life and your customer's life easier by letting the box install everything as it wants to be laid down by that SBS installer. I don't care...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Apr 18 2006
  • Leave, holiday, R&R, time off, painting the nursery or Vacation - I will try to take some

    Hello, it is that time of year for me where I need to take some time off to do family things, namely build and paint a nursery – I have a wonderful daughter and baby number 2 is due to arrive mid-June, so I am shortening the distance I will travel to Partner Groups and trying to make sure I remember what 6 hours unbroken sleep feels like as I know this will change. So, this week will be light on reports as I take my leave, although I am sure one of two items will pop into my head before Friday :-) ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Apr 19 2006
  • UK SBS GUY & Gals site (uksbsguy.com) up down and round and round

    Howdy, I have seen plenty of system failures over the last two weeks and while some nice new hardware is due to arrive soon, I will be moving the whole system to a virtual server environment on another box that has been a stalwart. If you see the site down, it will almost certainly be rebooting - I have identified it two a couple of drivers (either NTFS.sys or my AV provider) - once it is virtualised, it will remain so until new hardware arrives. One thing I will do is fully document the process I took to move from physical to virtual without the use of an Enterprise Server (which is required to use the MS provided tools). More blogs posts soon - once hardware issues are off my mind. thanks David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, May 2 2006
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  • David Overton at the East Anglia Partner Group (Sometimes known as the Cambridge SBS User Group)

    Hi folks, just a quick note to say that on the 9th May I will be in Cambridge talking on a number of subjects at the group. More info on how to sign up can be found on the group site at http://www.sbsbpi.co.uk/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=41 . The agenda will include a 1st sight of the Small Business Ignite content, then a Q&A session around anything Microsoft and the groups should discuss. I look forward to seeing you there. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, May 4 2006
  • Windows Vista, Office 2007, Sharepoint, Community and others at the May Kent (SBS) Partner Group on 23rd May 2006

    Susanne has asked me to attend the Kent Partner Group and talk on a number of subjects. The best I can do is May 23rd, so this is when I will be there. As always I expect the discussions to be lively, but we will cover for sure the up & coming technologies as well as some tried and tested areas, such as SharePoint, licensing and anything else you need to chat about. For more information, have a look at http://www.sbsbpi.co.uk/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=22 See you there David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, May 4 2006
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