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  • And another great thing about Windows Home Server - Vista gives instant searches on all files on the home server shares

    Someone asked today why Windows Home Server has the Windows Desktop Search tool on the box and the reply that came back I thought was worth of a blog entry. When you connect to a share on Windows Home Server (eg \\homeserver\music ) and do a search in the top right corner, then your Vista PC will search the WDS index and not the actual files, meaning that I can search by 400 albums for anything related to Disney in about 1/4 of a second :-) Nice! ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Home Server , Vista , Windows Desktop Search
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Oct 11 2007

  • More on how to use / develop with Silverlight 1.0 and the fact that users are itching for Silverlight 2.0

    I love content produced in Silverlight, in fact, not enough is happening with this technology in my personal opinion inside Microsoft (or at least, inside and coming out), however I have found a few resources worth mentioning. 1st up we have information on Silverlight 1.0 development by Dan Wahlin - My Latest Silverlight Articles - Dan Wahlin's WebLog : My Latest Silverlight Articles Over the past few months I've been writing articles for the .NET Insight insight newsletter covering various ASP.NET AJAX concepts. You can read those article here . I've wrapped up that series and have started writing about Silverlight 1.0. Each week a new article will be published and I'll update them here so check back. The articles are designed to be focused and concise and get straight to the topic without a lot of fluff. Getting Started with Silverlight Using Microsoft's Silverlight Control in a Web Site Understanding Silverlight's createObject and createObjectEx Methods Silverlight XAML Primer 1: Exploring...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Dec 13 2007

  • Security Discussion

    While many people poo-poo the site, have a look at the get safe online site – it does do the job that people are asking for. John and Peter raised some interesting points. Some customers just do not believe that security is a threat they have to pay attention to, or that it requires real management to fix. This is something we can start to work towards. We do have materials on bCentral.co.uk around security which is key for business and obviously the www.microsoft.com/security newsletters to our partners. I was also asked “how long should I wait before I apply a patch”. This is always a difficult question in the real world, but you basically have to weigh between – what is the impact if I don’t apply the patch and what is the worst case if I do. On the “If I do not” front, then the system could be compromised, data lost or the server turned into a bot. If it is really nasty, it could also gather information from the employees potentially impacting both the business and it’s staff personally. On the flip site,...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Mar 30 2006

  • Are you a student, got an e-mail with .ac.uk and want Office 2007 Ultimate Edition (got everything edition) for £38.95? You can legally own this at this price until 30th April 2008

    I posted on this a little while back, but I thought I would do so again: If you're a student with a '.ac.uk' email address , you can get Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for £38.95, an estimated 90% off the retail price. This is a fantastic offer, so make sure you go to http://uksbsguy.com/r.ashx?T which is a short cut to the site http://www.theultimatesteal.co.uk , but also has an ability for me to see how many people click it. Feel free to pass on to everyone who is a student in the UK and tell your friends not to miss out too! The offer closes on April 30th 2008. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Student , UK , Education , Office 2007 , Office , Office 2007 Ultimate , ac.uk
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Mar 18 2008

  • Open Office 2007 attachments to Outlook Mobile e-mail on Windows Mobile 5 or 6 - update released

    [updated on 4th December with UK English install instructions] As Steve would say, hat tip to Steve's blog . Microsoft Office Mobile 6.1 If you run Windows Mobile 5 or 6 and run Office 2007 (or get attachments from friends that do) this is a must have . You can now read Office 2007 file formats on your mobile device. More details from Jason :) [UK English Install] For those of us not in the US of A this install will complain about installing on our UK English (or other) devices. Fear not, go to the settings screen, move to region settings and change the language to US English. Ignore the prompt to reboot, run the setup on your PC. Once it is all finished it will need to reboot your device. Do so, set the language back to UK English and you now have an updated device. There is no English_UK install :-) ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Mobile , Office 2007
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Dec 4 2007

  • Livemeeting today @4:30pm for SBSC members on Vista and Office - by Jo Carpenter and David Overton - ask us the hard questions

    Howdy folks, I thought I would remind all those SBSC members about the Office and Vista webcast happening today - as it is a livemeeting it will be mainly demos, plus some nuggets on positioning the technology. This is one of my monthly technology webcasts that you are welcom to join. To register (you need to do this a little in advance to get the final link via e-mail), go to http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=118771191&Culture=en-GB and sign up. This is one of the perks of being an SBSC member. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jul 5 2006

  • Office Live is here for testing in the UK

    I am cheating as this artwork is all from the Office Live Website. You can go and claim your own domain and web site for free by going to http://office.microsoft.com/en-GB/officelive/default.aspx . This is an amazing solution for those customers who are too small for SBS or want as much as possible off premise, or want hosted solutions, but don't want full Exchange. Have a go!! ttfn David FREE Attract new customers Get started on the Web for FREE Create a professional Web site Learn more FREE Sign up now FREE .co.uk domain name for the first 10,000 UK customers Compare services Generate repeat business Create a professional Web site Organise your customer information online Share documents with online Workspaces Learn more Free during Beta Sign up now FREE .co.uk domain name for the first 10,000 UK customers Essentials = FREE during Beta, then £11.95 per month * * price excludes VAT Stay on top of your business Create a professional Web site Manage your projects and tasks Organise your customer information online...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jan 18 2007
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  • Partner Training - Selling Vista and Office to small businesses - Better Together: Microsoft Office 2007 & Windows Vista For The Small Business

    I’m working my way through mails on the train, saw this, so decided to quickly post it through while on the move. Enjoy The course will help Microsoft partners understand more their small business clients, their pains and their goals; and why 2007 Microsoft Office Small Business and Windows Vista Business are essential products to their businesses. It will also help the partner become more familiar with the overall features, functions, and benefits of 2007 Microsoft Office and Windows Vista as they pertain to their Small Business clients. https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/register.aspx?publisher=3&courseid=1871 ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Feb 21 2007

  • System Center Virtual Machine Manager web casts - 18th to 20th June

    I have just seen these, register if you want to know more. Event ID: 1032343756 Title: Microsoft Virtual Server Install and Configure Walk-through Microsoft is presenting new information to help you learn the tips and tricks to install, configure and operate Microsoft Virtual Server SP1. You'll be able to watch live installation steps and ask questions with virtualization expert Allen Stewart. Date: 06-18-2007 from 8:00 am to 9:30 am Pacific Registration Forward Link: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6924611 Replay URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/msevents/view?id=1032343756&role=attend&pw=NFTRD66 Event ID: 1032343760 Title: Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager Install and Configure Walk-through Microsoft is presenting new information to help you learn earn the tips and tricks to install, configure and operate Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager with Microsoft Virtual Server SP1. You'll be able to watch live installation steps and ask questions with virtualization expert Allen Stewart...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 11 2007

  • One-fifth of Windows apps go unpatched - down from 28% last May, but still need to be careful

    I like Secunia as an organisation. They present huge amounts of data that you can then pick into if you disagree with it. For example, ZDNet recently said that 2007 saw more serious security flaws for Apple OSX compared to Windows using the information provided by Secunia's web site. They also run a scan on people's PC to determin how good/bad they are and while things have improved - it is again too easy to be one of the people throwing things saying "I'm alright because I run Windows Update or applied Service Pack 1". One-fifth of Windows apps go unpatched Updates are available, but users haven't installed them, says Secunia December 28, 2007 (Computerworld) -- One in five applications installed on Windows PCs are missing security patches, a Copenhagen-based vulnerability tracker has reported. According to Secunia APS, more than 20% of the applications scanned by its Personal Software Inspector (PSI) utility were open to attack because available fixes for security flaws had not been...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jan 16 2008

  • Do you remember the Matrix - the "Blue Pill" - well someone has developed a scary security rootkit using the VM technology in AMD & Intel's chips for Windows x64, Linux etc

    Some may know that my history includes a bit of serious security IT work. Having said that, it also includes mission critical systems work and even part of my degree was on system security, but that is what you get for sharing a flat with someone doing a security degree. Anyway, the e-week article discusses a process to make the "undetectable" rootkit using virtualisation technology. A very interesting read and a sign of scary times in the future for security subsystems. OK, I thought about it a bit more and discussed it on im with Susan Bradley and perhaps some of the old questions come into play. Can a user with standard admin rights get infected? Could you have an anti-rootkit hypervisor to test and ensure that the "right" hypervisor is running? Once this beasty was in, detection would be very hard, however, for it to get ontop your machine - this could be just like every other rootkit today - needs admin clearance, so don't say yes to it!! ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 29 2006

  • Kids TV Quiz, Original artwork and Times Online. Take the 15 question Quick and see who you are - I was Dangermouse and there is also the ability to win some Dangermouse original artwork!!

    I was invited by Russell Singler of the The Animation Art Gallery to go look at TimesOnline for a quiz and competition to win some of his artwork . I found a discount code for the next ten days that gives 10% off of his work and this fun quiz ( www.timesonline.co.uk/kidstv ) Good grief! You really are Dangermouse Have you been known to loiter around a particular post box in Mayfair? Your character bears a striking resemblance to DM himself, the Chief, the greatest super hero in the world, that most debonair of rodents with the mysterious eye patch. You're obviously as brave as a lion, or even a white mouse. You're as cunning as a cat, (or a white mouse). And you can even do impressive yoga poses while balancing on one finger. Whilst you may be the best thing in the secret service since 001, you're not shy in letting people know all about your dazzling skills. What you really need is a timid assistant to boss about – oh shush Penfold… For the 10% discount at Russell's store, which includes some...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Jan 12 2008
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  • Site Updated as opinion of Government body said the site was too Microsoft

    I know I work for Microsoft and never hide the fact, but this site is not about "Isn't Microsoft Great", it is about offering tips and advice on technology and how it impacts ISV's and small businesses. The opinions here are mine and NOT MICROSOFT's. So I've changed the background and removed the SBSC logo (as much as it hurts me as I have earned it privately outside of Microsoft) and stated up the front that this is not an official site. I hope you like the new look -the background is a paint effect of one of my Antigua holiday photos and the graphics on the top left are simply a PowerPoint set of graphics saved as a png file. Amazing what you can do with PowerPoint. Anyway, hope the site looks OK. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Aug 18 2007
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  • Longhorn beta 3 (the next version of Windows Server) is available to download

    OK guys, so this is NOT Cougar - don't expect a beta of this for a while - I will post when we are getting closer, honest - however if you want to get a taste of where the product is heading too, then download Longhorn. For real flavour, you might want to get the 64-bit version as this is what you will be running with SBS v.next. Source: Microsoft Windows Server code name "Longhorn" Home ttfn David Technorati tags: Longhorn , 64-bit , download , beta 3
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Apr 29 2007

  • 10 tips on how you and your customers can easily market their business

    Hi, so one of the often asked questions is "How do I take my business to market without spending a huge amount". While I don't have all the answers, this question is often asked and I have seen answers on both www.bCentral.co.uk - THE UK destination for Small Businesses, but I also saw this article on the US MS site - http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/customer_service_acquisition/10_low_cost_ways_to_market_your_business.mspx?xid=c0007 - it has the top ten tips that we recommendations and by simply going through the guide and asking your customer "Would you consider doing this", you can start to get the grey matter going. In fact though, don't ask the question above, ask this one - it becomes easier to clear the fog around the benefit of technology "What would be the impact on your business if you did X?" - and try to get that impact down to a financial statement - this is your budget :-) Of note, the Marketing pages on bCentral are not all about product and can be found at http://www.bcentral...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Mar 12 2006

  • Microsoft AntiGen Products - could these be for SBS customers - only if they have one of the Volume License types, but that is becoming easier too

    AntiGen is a great set of products for providing security technologies. Some of these come in very price competative and feature rich. For example, for spam, smtp and a/v filtering the US price is $1.25 per user per month. For more info see below Microsoft Releases Antigen E-Mail Security Products http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049691 On June 6, Microsoft announced the release of Microsoft Antigen e-mail security products -- including Antigen for Exchange, Antigen for SMTP Gateways, Antigen Spam Manager, and Antigen Enterprise Manager -- available to customers July 1, 2006. Microsoft Antigen products help business protect their Exchange, Windows-based SMTP gateway, Live Communications Server, and SharePoint servers from viruses, worms, spam, and inappropriate content. Read about new product features http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049723 or download the new 90-day trials http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049724 to see how Antigen can help protect your messaging and collaboration servers. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jul 3 2006

  • Back from Holiday - lots to do, holiday snaps

    Hello everyone - I'm back, as they say. I managed to fill my inbox while away, so stopped getting mail on Friday. I do have lots still to process, so it will be a little slow. If you want to see the photos, pop along to http://uksbsguy.com/photos/sailing/default.aspx ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Apr 24 2007
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  • Microsoft Virtualisation technologies and roadmap days

    44SE003 - Microsoft virtualisation technologies and roadmap 1 Day, 23 Mar 2007, Reading 44SE003 - Microsoft virtualisation technologies and roadmap 1 Day, 26 Mar 2007, Edinburgh 44SE003 - Microsoft virtualisation technologies and roadmap Summary This event focuses on giving you a thorough overview of Microsoft’s current technologies and future strategy in virtualisation, to prepare you for what you can do now and what you should plan for in the run-up to Windows Server Virtualisation. Overview Microsoft’s vision and strategy for virtualisation Why Microsoft? Drilldown: Virtual Server Drilldown: SC VMM Drilldown ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Fri, Mar 9 2007

  • Microsoft Packaging for Vista and Office 2007 Revealed - Gizmodo

    I just like the pictures - cool looking packaging :-) Microsoft Packaging for Vista and Office 2007 Revealed Microsoft, planning to lure you into using Windows Vista and Office 2007 for the rest of your life, today reveals the packaging for the upcoming products, going with a rounded design reminiscent of a 1950s toaster. Let's let the Microsoftians damn us with their faint prose: Designed to be user-friendly, the new packaging is a small, hard, plastic container that's designed to protect the software inside for life-long use. It provides a convenient and attractive place for you to permanently store both discs and documentation. The new design will provide the strength, dimensional stability and impact resistance required when packaging software today. Our plan is to extend this packaging style to other Microsoft products after the launch of Windows Vista and 2007 Office system. Take a look at close-ups of a couple of the new boxes, after the jump. – Charlie White Announcing New Packaging [Windows Vista Blog...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Nov 9 2006

  • MSDN free events for September 2007 (.Net 3.0 & 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008)

    I just saw these in my inbox (post holiday processing) and thought I would pass them on. 19 September, Edinburgh : MSDN - Introduction to .NET Framework V3.0 (& sneak preview of v3.5 changes) 20 Sept 07, Bradford : Introduction to .Net Framework V3.0 (& sneak preview of v3.5 changes) 25 Sept 07, Reading : Building Dynamic Web Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 26 Sept 07, Birmingham : OVERVIEW OF VISUAL STUDIO 2008 AND .NET FRAMEWORK 3.5 27 Sept 07, Bristol : OVERVIEW OF VISUAL STUDIO 2008 AND .NET FRAMEWORK 3.5 ttfn David Technorati Tags: MSDN Events , .Net 3.0 , .Net 3.5 , Visual Studio 2008 , Developers
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Sep 3 2007
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  • We say that Heroes happen with the '2008 products - see what has been registered by heros so far

    I found this great web site where you can see 150 case studies that are presented in the form of a book with stories in it. Some are a bit slim on detail and others are good. You might enjoy reading it - http://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/portraitgallery/start.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2008 , Visual Studio 2008 , SQL Server 2008 , heroes
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Feb 28 2008

  • What is in Office Accounting for accountants... well, multiple account views, sharing, customisation and more, but it is not an practice management solution

    I saw that someone said on one of the online forums that there was not anything in Office Accounting for Accountants. I beg to differ. This product is not something that offers anywhere near the same capabilities of someone like Iris for Practice Management - it is not designed to do so, it is aimed at small businesses who want a simple to use accounting package and then a tool for accountants to simply extract and manage data from it. I am not an accountant, but Microsoft offer several areas for Accountants with Office Accounting: Ability to customise the product to brand it for a specific organisation, such as an accountant, ISV or partner Ability to monitor several people's accounts from the one place and gather updates via an secure online process (through Office Live) Client sends accounts to accountant, continues using them and then the changes are synchronised back from accountant without data loss Run payroll for multiple clients Single Journal entry with VAT that spans multiple dates, customers and...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sun, Nov 25 2007

  • Microsoft Office Live is coming to the UK - domain name, website, branded e-mail - hosted by Microsoft

    If you have a customer who wants these capabilities, but does not have the resources or cash to buy it, then Office Live could be quite amazing for you. Microsoft Office Live is coming - what is it Today, more than ever before, an Internet presence is indispensable for small businesses. That’s why Microsoft is introducing Microsoft Office Live — a set of affordable business productivity services designed to help you grow your business more easily by establishing a professional presence online. Microsoft Office Live will provide your company with its own domain name, Web site, and company-branded e-mail accounts for free. Additionally, Microsoft Office Live will offer you and your employees expert business management applications, such as customer, project, and document management tools, and a security-enhanced private Web site — affordably managed and maintained by Microsoft — where you can work together and share information with your employees, customers, suppliers, and contractors. If you’re not at the stage...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Sep 28 2006

  • Getting Windows Mobile V5.0 working with SBS 2003

    OK, so I did not realise we had actually written this up, but at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=62797 is the document you need to help you do this. One quick point to make, with Windows Mobile 5.0 you can no longer turn off Certificate Checking, so you will need to buy a certificate that matches one of the roots on the phone - and this list can be changed by each carrier, so do your homework!! Windows Mobile V5 also has the always-up-to-date functionality that people often ask for, so this is just another reason to sell these solutions. Just to add a bit more spice, I also run ALK's Co-Pilot GPS routing tool on my phone - something the "other" devices are not really good at :-) ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Mar 13 2006
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  • How to submit your templates to Microsoft for inclusion in the Office Template site

    I saw this and thought it was amazing. If you have a template that is good and you want to make it available to others, simply package it up (save it without personal information in it) and pop along to this site ( https://services.office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/submission.aspx ) to post it. I like this - power to the people!! ttfn David Technorati Tags: Office 2007 , Templates , Community
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Sep 4 2007
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