Blogs

I am working on the train on my way to the Nottingham Ignite Tour and while on the way say this in an old Microsoft Download Notification mail . Some websites check what make and version of web browser you are using before deciding what to send you in the way of HTML etc. This is all very good and often leads to a great user experience with the website, unless the website does not know how to deal with IE7 and then throws a bit of a wobbler. If you meet a website like this, then this utility is for you: User Agent String Utility Version 2 This utility opens an Internet Explorer 7.0 window that is configured to report its identity to Web sites as being Internet Explorer 6.0 for sites not yet configured to recognize version 7.0. ttfn David

It is funny. As people get more used to patching operating systems they seem to think that makes them bullet proof on the whole system, yet this is simply not the case. With Microsoft products people are used to patching them as needed to reduce the security risks on their systems. Others will sight that their systems are already secure and therefore don't need patching. I remember a few years ago watching the outcome of a Hackathon and the losing team lost not because of the OS security, but because of the application on top of it being unpatched and insecure. If you have an application that uses Oracle, check it is being patched and secured as in a single month Oracle have been known to release 40+ patches. Now before you go and pat yourself on the back for being so good at not having any Oracle systems, you might need to check your Windows applications are also patched. Fro the Windows patch story, look at One-fifth of Windows apps go unpatched - down from 28% last May, but still need to be careful Survey...

I promised it a while ago, but it is finally here. Jedi Master Simon Hutson has finally documented the quick process of getting Mappoint services and MS-CRM working together. All the details including a downlaod are located in his blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukcrm/archive/2006/05/04/590006.aspx ttfn David

This is something I have thought long and hard about and as such I have to caveat things by saying this is my opinion and that I am no more informed than any other member of the public or IT community. Having said that, I have done my time as a Windows Developer and even once worked on emulation systems such as Wine. These protections will be coming to all OSs - so Vista, Longhorn, SBS - all of them! I really think this is some of the worst mud slinging I have seen in a long time and much is wrong! So what have I seen in the Press. McAfee and Symantec have complained that they want the ability to ignore the APIs in Vista and bash at the Kernel directly for security services. However, Kernel code has to be signed for the integrity of the system. Microsoft will not stick to the rules above and will gain advantage by using unknown APIs That the security prompts and center can not be turned off That Microsoft is right to make these changes and want to increase the integrity of the system As someone who once worked...

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).

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

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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...