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  • SQL 2005 Events in UK from Technet team and others

    SQL Server 24 April 2007, Manchester: Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services At this event we'll look at SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence and the components and features that make up the Reporting Services platform. At the end of the session you should be able to create and publish reports to enhance your organisation's business knowledge. 31 May 2007, Reading: Advanced SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Find out about the advanced techniques for building reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and the Microsoft Visual Studio-based Report Designer. Other topics at this event include using the built-in expression language, report parameterisation and supporting multiple data sources. Receive a walk-through of sample reports and discover tips and tricks for using the Report Definition Language (RDL).
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jan 24 2007

  • Are your customers getting too much junk into Outlook - use this tool to tell Microsoft about it

    I saw this on the Technet Newsletter and thought it was worthwhile. Obviously you will have enabled IMF in Exchange on SBS 2003, so what else can you do? The Junk E-mail Reporting Tool lets you directly report junk e-mail to Microsoft and its affiliates for analysis to help us improve the effectiveness of our junk e-mail filtering technologies. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=53541292-ce94-4c5b-9127-b7d56f11b619&DisplayLang=en
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Nov 30 2006
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  • Cool backup e-mail when it has succeeded & tape changing scripts

    Hi guys, I just saw this and decided it is so awesome (as someone told me this one featured paid for an alternative backup product). Put simply, Marina Roos has documented a 2 minute process to add e-mail alerts when backups succeed. The details can be found at http://www.smallbizserver.net/Default.aspx?tabid=266&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=143 At the same time, I was asked in the forums about compression of tapes and I found Sean Daniels blog, which had a auto tape changing scripts in it. The article can be found at http://seanda.blogspot.com/2004/10/sbs-2003-backup-hack_05.html enjoy the new week ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Apr 24 2006
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  • Back to blogging on SBS 2008, Microsoft, Developer “stuff” and anything that interests me, including Star Wars!

    Well, I seem to have taken quite a break over the last couple of months.  Towards the end of the financial year I found myself cutting contracts right to the wire, including working with the legal teams until the small hours of the morning to get the orders in.  After that came two trips to the US – Houston for WPC and Atlanta for a Microsoft internal event.  At both these events I spoke with several members of the WESS team (Windows Essential Server Solution) about SBS 2008, licensing, usage scenarios, messaging and many other things.  The good news is that fantastic progress was being made and has continued.  I’m not sure I’m going to have anything gripe about come the launch!! I’ve also had some holiday too, in the UK and I have to say, without much sunlight Now I’m stuck in the “start of year” work, but I think I need to start shooting off quick entries. ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008 , Star Wars , Microsoft , Personal
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Sep 1 2008

  • Microsoft is making more of it source code available for others to look at (Microsoft opening up .Net Framework libraries)

    Back in the days when I was a developer, Borland allowed me to see all the tips and tricks inside their Windows libraries. It gave me insight and examples on how to "do" things that I could see them doing, but was unable to replicate. Well this is now happening with the .Net framework. Microsoft opening up .Net Framework libraries By releasing the libraries under its Reference License and Shared Source Initiative, Microsoft has made the .Net source code viewable but unmodifiable By Paul Krill Opening up to developers, Microsoft is releasing its .Net Framework libraries under the Microsoft Reference License, which allows viewing of source code but not modification or redistribution, the company said on Wednesday. The release gives developers the opportunity to better understand the inner workings of the framework's source code, Microsoft said. Microsoft's efforts fall under the company's Shared Source initiative, which allows for sharing of source code; Shared Source has been viewed as Microsoft's...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Oct 24 2007

  • Recent Business Contact Manager Questions and Answers

    I was just writing this e-mail back to someone who e-mailed me and I decided to blog it. - Is there a way to timestamp notes in Outlook by itself, or is the only way to get Business Contacts Manager? Everything in outlook has a timestamp, but obviously BCM has better facilities. You could write a short piece of VBA to add a time stamp button to the Notes form - Are the contacts stored in Outlook 2007 the same as those contacts stored in BCM or are they stored completely differently? Outlook contacts are stored in a PST file while BCM contacts are stored in a SQL database. To see the differences between the fields in contacts in BCM and Outlook, have a look at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/05/04/what-is-the-difference-between-an-outlook-contact-and-a-business-contact-manager-bcm-in-office-2007-contact.aspx - If the contacts are different, will other third party programs like Plaxo be able to update files based on BCM or only the Outlook contacts? It depends on how they are accessed – you would...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Aug 13 2007

  • Thanks Karl and Vlad in the international scene - both good guys, both staying on small business and both very sweet

    They are like chalk and cheese when you 1st meet them. I'm not going to say how, but read their blogs and I know that you will know what I mean. Both have good business sense and both are nice to people they like (I count my self in this camp most of the time). Vlad is a little more outgoing with people he doesn't like , while Karl is more of an organisation basher when they do bad (I'm just sorry it was Microsoft). Both are amazing people and business people (yes, both, not just one or the other) and since they are over the pond, I am less likely to see them with any frequency compared to the many, many, many people this side of the pond. There are others, Susan B, Dean and even Jeff although we never got much time to talk. I hope to personally say "bye for now" to people in the UK. Karl recently said some amazing things about me and I wanted to publicly say thank-you. If you have met him, you will know that his is not the loudest man in the room, yet has insight enough to make everyone...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jul 16 2007
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  • Vista Webcasts US and on-demand

    Live Webcasts Microsoft Webcast: Maintaining Windows Vista Wednesday, January 24, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time On-Demand Webcasts New Microsoft Webcast: Best Practices for Deploying Windows Vista Original Air Date: January 18, 2007 Microsoft Webcast: Get a Head Start on Windows Vista Original Air Date: June 23, 2006 Microsoft Webcast: Introduction to Windows Vista Original Air Date: October 4, 2006 Microsoft Webcast: Optimizing Your infrastructure with Windows Vista, Exchange Server 2007 and the 2007 Office system Original Air Date: November 8, 2006 Microsoft Webcast: Planning a Successful Windows Vista Implementation Original Air Date: December 6, 2006 Source: IT Manager Connections: Build Business and Careers on the Microsoft Platform
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Jan 21 2007

  • Small Business Security Guidance (via Group Policy)

    These are a little old, as in published on 21st July 2006, but still great step by step guides on how to ensure that servers and clients connected to them are secure. They do not just look at SBS 2003, but also Windows 2000 & Windows Server 2003 server environments too. How to Configure Windows Firewall in a Small Business Environment using Group Policy.doc How to Configure Windows XP SP2 Network Protection Technologies in a Small Business Environment.doc Securing Internet Information Services 6.0.doc Link to Download details: Small Business Security Guidance ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Sep 17 2006

  • Windows Server 2003 Information updates (Group Policy, Federation, Virtual Machine Manager, Physical Security, Improving Performance)

    Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition (KB940122) The Microsoft Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer (GPDBPA) for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is designed to help you identify Group Policy configuration errors or other dependency failures that may prevent settings or features from functioning as expected. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=70e0edec-66f7-4499-83b7-4f2009df2314&DisplayLang=en Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer for Windows Server 2003 (KB940122) The Microsoft Group Policy Diagnostic Best Practice Analyzer (GPDBPA) for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is designed to help you identify Group Policy configuration errors or other dependency failures that may prevent settings or features from functioning as expected. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=3&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d47f11b02-8ee4-450b-bf13-880b91ba4566...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Sep 16 2007

  • E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" : Upgrading to SQL 2005 workgroup from SQL 2000

    Upgrading to SQL 2005 workgroup from SQL 2000 When upgrading from SQL 2000 to SQL 2005 workgroup there's a couple of things you should read up ahead of time... the first being the "official" upgrade guide . the second is the "Susan" version of the document that just covers the needed steps for upgrading SQL 2000 to SQL 2005. For more information, go to E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" : Upgrading to SQL 2005 workgroup from SQL 2000
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Oct 2 2006
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  • Great group leaders and Richard Evans, Tom Crosbie and Susanne Dansey moving on

    I love the small business community. Some days I hate it too. This year we have seen great strides forward, but the fear by me has always been how many people are driving it. Don't get me wrong - I think the community is amazing and more than capable at driving things forward for itself, but some pigs are more equal (driving) than others. This year there have been some stand-out heros, who have consistently provided feedback to Microsoft as to what more we should be doing to help. That is what I see easily. They also lead their groups, build the local community and put business opportunities in front of people around them. Three of those people have moved from group leaders to being back into community at large - and I am not sure that this has been recognised - both in terms of their efforts to the community and also the help they have given Microsoft. The three people are Tom, Richard and Susanne. They all did great things with their groups - taking them to new heights (other group leaders do this, but have...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Dec 13 2006
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  • How to patch your SBS 2003 system using hotpatching and not have to reboot this month (July)

    One of the bad things about the monthly patch cycle is that a reboot is often required. Now while 10-15 minutes of downtime is not a great price to pay for good security, this does work out at a system performance of 99.97% availability for 24x7 systems, so not exactly shabby. With Server 2003 SP1 came a technology that not many people have noticed, called HOT PATCHING - where an OS patch is applied without having to reboot the system, even though a normal patch would require a reboot. Not every patch can work in this scenario, but if you can reduce the issues, so be it. Looking at this month, many of the patches are for office etc, but there are 3 for Windows Server, of which 2 can be applied as hot patches. Teh one which can not is the DHCP one, so if your server is not using DHCP client, i.e. is using static IP addresses, then you do not have to rush to patch this. In this case, you can use hotpatching. Simple download the two downloads and run as below: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Jul 15 2006

  • Are you a Small Business Specialist, a SBS 2003 Specialist, a small business technology specialist or an IT Techy?

    I have met a whole bunch of partners over the last couple of weeks, all requesting different things, and it has got me thinking - are you / do you want to be a specialist or generalist and then do you want to be all things to a business, or a super capable techy? First off, if you are a generalist, then this honestly means that you are a "Jack of all trades and a master of none" - well either that or you seriously need to get some more sleep. I prefer working with people who specialise in a few areas rather than those who try to do anything. If you do want to appear bigger and have a broader skill set, why not try relying on your local community of SBSC partners and farm out things you don't know well to those you can trust and become amazing at the things you do. If you fear competition with these guys, it is worth remembering a couple of things. 1st off, there are 4m small businesses in the UK and around 500 SBSC partners - that works out at 8,000 customers each - do you really think you are all going to compete...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, May 30 2006

  • Sometimes I wish my brain was just 10% as capable as this

    I got this mail the other night that directed me to this video - it is of a Savant and the process he goes through to prove that he can "see" pi to 20,000+ decimal places and do amazing number feats (anyone do 37^4 in their head?). He was also able to perform other memory feats by turning what he saw into numbers. Bored, late at night having wound myself up with some programming issues, I decided to go stumbling through the web. The very first site was this Youtube video of a guy with an extra-ordinary brain. I think it’s ½ hour long, might be more – I just watched it from start to finish – but it is REALLY worth watching. Incredible. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4913196365903075662 I don't normally spend more than 5 mins on a site like this, but ended up walking through this video constantly amazed at his skill. Upon further investigation it turns out that this man, Daniel Tammet, has a book and blog site - http://www.optimnem.co.uk/ - possibly worth getting! ttfn David Technorati Tags...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 29 2007
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  • Happy Christmas - see the Santa Cam to see where he has been

    I Love Santa Claus!! I was thrilled to hear Jonathan Ross announce that he had entered British air space. You can see all the Santa cam videos at http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=26B9B2ACB4AAC849 . One that caught my eye was his visit to the International Space Station: ttfn and a Merry Christmas David Technorati Tags: Christmas , Santa Cam , Santa Claus
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Dec 25 2007

  • Sorry Tim, but the Exchange beta has been updated

    I should not poke fun at Tim - sorry mate. The Exchange 2007 beta 2 has released. It can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/beta2 and a nice news article about it can be found at http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3622081 . To find out more about the product, you need to go look at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/E2k7Help/e2715491-5b98-4d85-acc7-e038cf3f46ca.mspx?mfr=true The list of new features includes, however the unified messaging piece is key for me.: • Exchange Management Console The Exchange Management Console, one of two new administrative interfaces for Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, is based on MMC 3.0, and is required to install and manage Exchange 2007. The Exchange Management Console combines all of your management tasks into one user interface. By using the Exchange Management Console, you can manage all Exchange servers, recipients and organizational components within your Exchange Server 2007 organization. • Exchange Management Shell...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jul 27 2006
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  • Vista Events in UK from Technet team and others

    Windows 14 - 15 March 2007, Reading: TechNet Brings You a Two-Day Seminar in Association with John Craddock Hear real world experience from leading technical experts with a flair for presenting deep technical content in an engaging and informative style. John Craddock and Sally Storey are IT systems specialists who have designed and implemented computing systems, from embedded high-speed industrial controllers to distributed IT solutions. (This is a chargeable event, for which there is a registration fee of £360 +VAT) Windows Vista 31 January 2007, London: Windows Vista System Integrity Technologies Historically, operating systems have lived in their own little bubbles of trust. Every part of an operating system assumed that every other part was exactly what it claimed to be and performed only what it claimed it could do. Recent attacks, though, have shown that such implicit trust is no longer suitable for computers that connect to hostile environments. In this session, Steve Lamb introduces the security features...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Jan 23 2007

  • Longhorn Events in London and Reading in late May and early June

    23 May 2007, London: Web Administration Summit: An In-depth Look at Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 in Windows Server "Longhorn" Windows Server "Longhorn" delivers Microsoft's most powerful pipeline of web technology around the latest version of Internet Information Services (IIS). Far from a simple version upgrade, IIS version 7.0 is an extensible platform for more reliably and securely hosting Web applications and services that are easy to manage at scale. IIS 7.0 is a major enhancement to earlier versions, offering for the first time a componentized architecture with full extensibility, a single integrated pipeline for all IIS and ASP.NET processing, and a comprehensive administration tool to support powerful diagnostics and delegated management. This comprehensive one-day seminar will introduce you to many of the key improvements in IIS 7, including administration, security and troubleshooting. 12 June 2007, Reading: Overview of Windows Server codename "Longhorn" The...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, May 13 2007
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  • Halo 3 is Gold - so I post about the trailers and then see that it has released to manufacturing

    OK, so I just posted about the trailers and now the product is finished according to this "mag" Halo 3 is Gold : Next Generation - Interactive Entertainment Today, Video Game and Industry News Halo 3 is Gold The fight is ready to be finished: Halo 3 has gone gold and is heading to manufacturing. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Halo 3 , Xbox 360
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Aug 31 2007
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  • If you want to get prepared for administrating future systems (Exchange 2007, Windows Server 2008) you will need to learn PowerShell - Techworlds PowerShell review

    I saw this and thought I would post here. Microsoft Windows PowerShell 1.0 review Is Microsoft’s new tool a power shell or an egg shell? By David Cartwright, techworld List price:Free Pros: Brings Windows scripting into the .NET era, allowing you to do far more than you could with VBScript. Cons: The syntax will take you some getting used to – an IntelliSense equivalent would be a nice touch. Buying advice: Getting PowerShell is a no-brainer. It’s a no-cost scripting tool that you’ll find a use for before long, so it makes sense to get a copy now and get to grips with it a bit before you have to start using it in anger. "If you’re used to DOS batch files, VBScript scripts or Unix shell scripts, you’ll find this experience next to useless when trying to get to grips with PowerShell. The syntax is like nothing I’ve ever come across (and I’ve used all three of the above extensively)" "This said, it’s not the hardest thing in the world to get used to. It’s just a case of learning the keywords and, most...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 4 2007

  • Exchange and Unified communication - Blogs and News

    This is an extract from the TRM blog which can be found here http://blogs.technet.com/trm/ . I have removed the KB article list and some items which I don't think are relevant to small business / ISV partners, however the full info can be found on the blog page too Unified Communications Partners Rally Around Microsoft Unified Communications Software Q&A: Microsoft partners discuss how and why they are taking advantage of the company’s unified communications platform to meet the needs of customers and tap into a US$45 billion market opportunity. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/oct07/10-16uclaunch.mspx Exchange Team Blog http://msexchangeteam.com/default.aspx Outlook Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/default.aspx Unified Communications Team Blog http://blogs.technet.com/uc/default.aspx This content is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties express or implied, as to the information in this document. If you are a customer of Microsoft, please refer to the terms...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Nov 5 2007

  • Windows Vista Security "Guide", why Jim Allchin doesn't use Anti-Virus software for his son and why some people just don't want to have improved security unless you pay them for it.

    OK, so I saw that the Vista Security Guide ( http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsvistasecurity/archive/2007/01/05/windows-vista-security-guide-1-2-released.aspx ) had been updated - it is worth knowing more about the security model in Vista, how we protect against some threats and how it might impact your applications (eg if a non-admin application wants to send UI information to an admin one), Group Policy, Settings etc. Now, while security is important, so are the basics, like turning on the auto-updates, firewalls and anti-malware software. Well, MS now supplies a great anti-spyware product built into Windows in the form of Defender and the firewall can now be configured on outbound comms as well as inbound if you want, but no AV in the product. So, you need a 3rd party AV product (or Windows OneCare)... well, Jill Allchin, who delivered the Vista project for all of us does not use one for his son's machine.... http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/12/19/windows-vista-and-protection-from-malware...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Feb 4 2007

  • Zune Prototype published

    This is such a screaming laugh - " Silberbauer Says " have a published a picture of the Zune. Enjoy, but don't come whining to me that it is not like this when it is delivered!! ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Aug 2 2006
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  • Fair and honest appraisal of the browser wars - Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape and Firefox

    I am someone who likes the best browser for me. While I have often tried other browsers, I have always come back to IE based ones. I say IE based ones as I was a Avant and Maxthon user for a good 2 years until IE7 came on the scene. I loved tabbed browsing and those browsers gave me that. The discussion can be found at the CRN web site and does an amazing job of describing the browser wars and talking about who won each round. What might surprise many is that MS has not won many, but does have a large base now and the verdict is open for the next round. For the record, I now use IE7, I still get tabbed browsing and quick tabs and I have not yet had a site I could not browse, so that is great. I LOVE the new security features - protected mode and anti-phishing technology. I save trees with the "about time" feature of shrink to fit for printing and when I start the browser, it opens up the 8 pages I want it to in tabs, so no longer choosing which page will be my homepage, I have 8. (as it happens, they are Valdville...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Sep 17 2006
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