DavidOverton.com
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Blogs

  • Learn more about Office 2007 and Windows Vista at Microsoft UK's 1st community event for partners for these products

    As you might have gathered, I think Office and Vista are going to be very important for small business partners and customers. While I still have not had the chance to write everything up, I thought it important enough to tell everyone about this one day event to learn more. It is taking place at the Novatel in Hammership on the 20th June 2006 The agenda is as follows: 09.00 to 09:30 Registration 09:30 to 09:45 Welcome and introduction 09:45 to 10.45 2007 Microsoft Office system: talking with customers 10:45 to 11.00 Break 11.00 to 12.45 Windows Vista awareness and positioning overview 12.45 to 13.30 Lunch 13.30 to 15:30 Systems Integrator / Value-Added Reseller Track Aligning your organisation to the Microsoft Infrastructure Optimisation and (IW) Application Optimisation initiatives. Introduction to Information Worker Solution Services (IWSS) and Desktop Deployment Planning Services (DDPS). 15:30 to 17:00 Structured networking: your meetings 17.00 Finish From the mail, registration, summary of event etc: About...
  • See what Vista can do in a short minute or spend longer looking at features

    Ok, so Vista is a HUGE thing to start to learn about, but where do you start. Well, to see the product I would start with http://microsoft.mrmpslc.com/WindowsVistaPartner/Secure/vistafeatures_demo.html . It has a great quick vista demo. If you want to see more of the product, go have a look at http://www.seewindowsvista.com/ where you can quite literally see the product in action along with a number of videos and scenarios. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 9 2006
  • Where to start with Vista as a Small Business Partner (or in fact a partner of any size)

    In my previous post I mentioned how you can see Vista in action on the web, but how else does a partner start to get skilled in Vista? There are numerious resources. See if Vista will run on your machine - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/capable.mspx Download or order the product and "play" with it - the best way to learn about the product is by using it yourself and then note things you do not like - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx Have a look at the product features page - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/default.mspx Do the basic Vists 101 course - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/partners/ Read the Vista for partner information - noting that there is a small business customer scenario - http://microsoft.mrmpslc.com/WindowsVistaPartner/secure/scenarios.aspx Download the long Product Guide for XPS or Word See what XPS (a sort of off-line XML web based document that has great printing capabilities) by looking at the product guide in XPS format - http...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 9 2006
  • Are you only interested in Vista or Office information - here is how to get it on this site

    For Vista, I have registered the following sites: http://ukvistaguy.com and http://ukvistsguy.co.uk - these auto-redirect if you have nothing else on the address bar to http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/category/1003.aspx For Office, I have not registered any sites, but clicking the following link will take you to Office specific informaiton: http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/category/1004.aspx If there are particular areas of Office 2007 or Vista you want to see more info on, just let me know. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 8 2006
  • Do you want to see a great demo on how Windows SharePoint Services can work

    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/sharepoint/wss_overview.html It os a great 5 minute introduction to the lingo and out of the box simple capabilities of SharePoint Services. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 9 2006
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  • How do you get and fix the error - Microsoft Exchange System Attendant failed to add the local computer as a member of the DS group object 'cn=Exchange Domain Servers,cn=Users

    Another recent blunder when working on the "I Wonder what happens if...." type scenarios. What did I do, I moved the SBS machine in "Active Directory Users and Computers" from the "Domain Controllers" OU to the "SBS Servers" OU. The result was the following error in Exchange - move it back and all is happy :-) ttfn David Eventlog error for reference: Event Type: Error Event Source: MSExchangeSA Event Category: General Event ID: 9187 Date: 09/06/2006 Time: 07:47:52 User: N/A Computer: SERVER Description: Microsoft Exchange System Attendant failed to add the local computer as a member of the DS group object 'cn=Exchange Domain Servers,cn=Users,dc=OvertonHome,dc=local'. Please stop all the Microsoft Exchange services, add the local computer into the group manually and restart all the services.
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 9 2006
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  • Where to find sidebar add-ons (gadgets) for Windows Vista

    This is a very quick post - have a look at http://gallery.microsoft.com/ for a list of gadgets for Vista. More will be coming soon :-) Today we have a Sudoko assistant, 4 other games, two traffic (car) monitors and a scribble board. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 9 2006
  • Off-Topic - get the football results results live on your desktop

    Yes! The Soccer World Cup started yesterday! The Windows Client team contributes to this awesome event with the super cool Football Scoreboard. T his gadget enables you to track the teams and results in real-time. Don’t miss out on any important goal! The useful applet is part of the Value of Genuine initiative driving up compliance. It only runs if the user has a genuine Windows installed. Spread the word, let friends and family know about this great tool! Have a great World Cup experience with Windows Genuine Advantage! The applets can be found on: German download French download English download
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Jun 10 2006
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  • Using Office 2007 and lost a command - here is how to find it.

    Hi, I love the new interface on Office 2007, but I occasionally can't find something that I knew exactly where it was in Office 2003. I then saw this excellent blog posting on how to find things from Word, Excel and PowerPoint- using a web based tool you click on a pseduo Office 2003 interface and find out where it has gone in 2007. http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/05/30/610907.aspx ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 12 2006
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  • .Net Framework is the new name for .NetFX (will ship with Vista and work on XP & SBS)

    Just a quick one to say that what was .NetFX, and some would say confusing as to where this went compared to .Net Framework V2 has been changed to .Net Framework V3. Have a look at http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar for more information Should make for some great apps (yes, you will see them over the next few months) on Vista. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 12 2006
  • The key to Vista's success is a great product and some amazing ISV applications

    I have been having a chat with Vlad ( http://www.vladville.com/2006/06/vista-advertising-machine-starts-its-engine.html ) and he has made a really good point that Vista looks good, that it is beta, so should not be deployed in a live environment and that he needs some compelling apps. I happen to agree with him - it is beta, and therefore more sluggish and buggy than a final product, but on the apps front, there is soooo much to come. The view of public apps can be seen on http://www.seewindowsvista.com , but Mary Jane Foley has raised the question in http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1972444,00.asp and also points out that a different bread of ISV is coming to town and they are bringing Vista only or enabled apps that will help. Obviously the Vista benefits for Security, reliablility, ease of use and user safety will all be a major factor for many customers. I can't wait for the information on ISVs to continue to materialize over the coming weeks. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 12 2006
  • Using Windows SharePoint Services(WSS) to Answer - How do my staff improve information sharing?

    File Shares are a starter We are used to people using file shares – eg \\csa-srv-01\team documents , however finding files can get difficult using this form, so Microsoft suggest people use the intranet web site. Try going to your http://companyweb site and notice that you have a number if document stores. If you go to a store, you can upload a document to the store. This can now be searched if you are running SBS Premium edition, version control can be implemented as well as a limited flow control and check-in and check-out. Some say file shares are very easy, but you can use the companyweb a bit like a file share in 2 ways. One, when you get a file save box, try typing in http://companyweb in the filename box. You wll see your companyweb site, but through the file dialog. You can even make it that to save a file in these locations the users have to fill in special meta data (information about the file) before they can save, to make it easier to categorise or find files later. For some people, this is still...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 12 2006
  • How to install Vista inside a Virtual PC

    One of my partners was having problems installing vista inside a Virtual PC and I remembered the problem with Virtual PC not liking DVDs or ISOs > 2 odd GB, so my answer was to use Virtual Server. Having said all that, there is very good documentation at The Elder Geek on the process - http://www.theeldergeekvista.com/vista_00028.htm . I would add a couple of things – install using Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 beta – you will get a much better experience – and this is freely available too. Enjoy testing Vista and remember to let us know what you like / don’t like. Ttfn David P.S. for all vista downloads etc have a look at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 12 2006
  • Why Small Business Server 2003 is right for small businesses

    I have my 1 st Technet Article published in the news flash today. The article is below and it talks about why SBS is right for small businesses – for the “IT Pros” in the world – i.e. those who are technical by nature. To add a bit more to the article, I have included several links in this to pictures of the reports. Hello, My name is David Overton and I am the Head of Technology for Small Business in Microsoft UK. I spend a good deal of my time explaining the benefit of Microsoft Technology focused on the small business market. Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SBS) is a product that is perfect for those organisations who are looking for a single server that does everything in one box and meet the requirements of 75 users or less. In the one box you get Windows Server 2003 standard, Exchange 2003 standard and a host of SBS specific wizards and tools that ensure it is simple to install. What is more the price is less than that of Windows Server 2003. (Further wizard pictures for To Do List , Adding a User 1...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 15 2006
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  • subject area shortcuts

    Hi, for those who are after a quick way to find my posts on a particular subject area, I have created 4 shortcuts - they are: http://uksbsguy.com/sbs http://uksbsguy.com/wss http://uksbsguy.com/vista http://uksbsguy.com/office Do I really need to explain what each sibject area is? These will auto expand to the appropriate doverton blog categories. ttfn David
  • OFF TOPIC - Raise money for NSPCC (UK Childrens charity) while searching the internet using clickscount.co.uk

    I know this is s a small one, but if you go to http://www.clickscount.co.uk to try your internet web searches, you will rasie money for the NSPCC each time you click. Underneath is the MSN Search engine, which has improved hand over fist over the last few months, but it has got to be worth a try, even if it is just for MS related information. ttfn David
  • Tools I could not be without for using and managing Windows XP, Vista and SBS

    Following on from my previous post on crash dumps and the Tech-Ed presentation I thought it was worth quickly pointing out the tools I use on a daily basis: Process Explorer Taskmanager on steriods - see what services and threads are running - look at the real list of processes that take up cpu time rather than how Windows Task Manager does the trick FileMon Ever wonder what folder that temp file was put in, or what file is being looked for when something fails - this is hwo to find it RegMon Like Filemon, but for the registry - find out what si being read, written too, searched for etc. PendMoves Can't install something because the system has a number of pending "moves" - files it will rename on reboot - find out what they are and then you can do something about it if you want DiskMon See what activity is happening on your disk ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jun 21 2006
  • Find out just how much Malware Microsoft has seen and removed using our tools

    Malware and the like are nasty horrid beasties. You probably see the malware remover tools come down each month as part of your security updates, but never think about what it is actually doing? Well, some scary information is provided at http://virtualteched.com/archive/2006/06/12/74.aspx from Tech-Ed. What is quite frightening is the number of PCs infected, the number of rootkits and the fact that most still get there with the users consent. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jun 21 2006
  • Links to Vista resources and a "new and improved reliability features" webcast

    Saw on an internal mail thread that a great webcast on new and improved reliability features of Vista can be found on Kevin's blog - http://blogs.technet.com/kevinremde/archive/2006/06/19/434332.aspx and the webcast itself at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032298849&Culture=en-US One of the nice thing on his page is a list of Vista Links on that link above. His vista specific content can be found by clicking on http://blogs.technet.com/kevinremde/archive/category/10069.aspx . In Kevin's own words " I had some technical problems mid-way through with a disconnected Virtual Server", but still very useful ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 22 2006
  • Some information on things like backup and deleted items bin in WSS V3

    I was browsing over at http://msmvps.com/blogs/thenakedmvp/archive/2006/06/07/100040.aspx and noticed the entry on WSS V3. Something you can do is fire up a Virtual Server on a test box and play with WSS V3 - it has some nice features. Another thing to blog on after I get off paternity ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 22 2006
  • Still want more leads from Microsoft - another pointer

    I am often asked this question. The answer of course is made up of many things, but the things I find help are: Be seen in the right places - get your SBSC qualification - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sbsc Ensure that when you click on your link on the " Find an IT Consultant " link and enter YOUR postcode, that your site tells small business what YOU can do for THEIR business, not just what IT you sell Profile yourself so others can find you through other Microsoft Tools - http://blogs.technet.com/msppuk/archive/2006/06/09/434457.aspx Use whatever Microsoft advertising is available to you - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sales_and_marketing/campaigncenter/default.aspx Go on a solution sales skills course - http://www.microsoft.co.uk/events/eventdetail.aspx?eventid=8400 Look at the other MS resources available to you - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sales_and_marketing/benefits_diagram/default.aspx Work with other local partners to make life easier for all IT vendors around you - http://www.sbsbpi...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 23 2006
  • Off Topic - How not to retain customers - Someone wants to cancel their AOL subscription

    I just had tto post this. Microsoft sometimes gets a bit of a kicking about support, but things like the Official SBS podcast , changes to search on our http://support.microsoft.com site, people like me and even the huge SBS community have changed most peoples experience with our support. When I say this, you just have to laugh in amazement as to what was going through this guys mind? http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=5ff445af-bf5c-4c3c-9424-ff467ea97a87&f=rssimbot_us_default ttfn David
  • Security and some Myths debunked

    I used to spend my time dealing with security at a military scale for computer systems. I was not guarding anything in terms of weapons etc, just following process for protecting documents I was managing. If there was one thing that irked me was when people thought they were safe, but then did stupid things to completely undermine the security. For example, going in through the main enterence involved stringent security checks, but going through the side enterance the only check was on your car speed. My data was far less protected once physical security was compromised! Bring this into the world of computers and my role now, many people do things to enable them to feel safe - load A/V software, run multiple malware detectors, check the patch level on their firewalls, even if they are hardware filewalls, keep their systems patched, ensure the clients and servers are locked down with their own firewalls configured and managed by policy. I could go on, and of course you all do these things already, right? It was...
  • Link to my commonly viewed blogs

    Hi folks, I am sure I have missed a few people out, but I finally added the list of common blogs and sites I visit. To get to the information, click the "links" button in my blog, or go there directly by clicking here . ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 23 2006
  • Susan B has a system that keeps crashing - my take on why - crash dump analysis on SBS

    http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2006/06/22/102538.aspx I started writting this as a simple comment on the site, but it got so long, I have blogged the entry here. Susan, Since your crash dumps show 2-3 different error codes - a different one each time, my 1st suspicion would be hardware - have you run the MS memory diagnostic tool on the system otherwise, check for recent driver updates. If you need a 1hr course in debugging, have a look at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2006/06/21/627.aspx . However we have not had a single instance of your large crash appear through our crash database - I checked, and the crash appears to be in a very well used and known piece of code, the classpnp.sys driver, which hales to NT4 for classic PNP support. Failing that, time to call PSS. If you were to do nothing but run kd -v -y SRV*d:\websymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols -z memfile.dmp on each dump you will see the different crash locations. Lots of different locations normally points to h...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Jun 23 2006
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