Blogs

I recently fell of the back of a boat which resulted in my faithful Samsung Omnia being written off.  Since this was a personal phone, I decided to upgrade to a Nokia Lumia 800 as it looked like a fab phone.  I have so far not been disappointed, however I hit two problems. The first was that my SIM was not a micro-sim. I contacted Virgin who told me they were very soon to launch a micro-sim, but not yet.  I bought a 30-day sim from Vodafone in the short term, but then discovered that I could trim the current SIM to fit by following the detailed instructions at http://www.solutios.com/simcutting/ .  All has been happy until my wife asked about sending MMS pictures from her phone.  When I tried to do it from mine, I discovered that it kept on failing with an error and asking me to try again.  This has been the second challenge that I have had with the phone! Searching the web found many frustrated people, some who had resorted to resetting their phones to factory defaults to get things...

Version 2 of Sync for SkyDrive [9th March 2013] A new version of the application is now in the Windows Store. You can find details of it here . Thank-you for your interest in Sync for SkyDrive. Following all the feedback from version 1, I’ve finished version 2 and submitted to the Windows Store. When it is released I will update this with store location. The tool is not free, but it is at the lowest price point I can make for the Windows Store (from the UK). The purpose of the tool is very simple, to enable you to synchronise chosen folders from Microsoft SkyDrive to a Windows RT (or Windows 8) device. While I would like this to be something that happened automatically, the processing time required does not fit into the Microsoft allowed timings for a Windows RT/8 device for battery consumption, so this is still a “user initiated process”. While Windows 8 has a synchronisation tool for the desktop, Windows RT does not, so here is my offering in this space. How does it work The tool scans chosen...

I got my daily update from the Register today to read about the sad loss of the journalist Guy Kewney .  I met Guy on several occasions in my work with SBS 2003 and I remember his desire to understand how it impacted people and their ability to have a happy successful business.  He occasionally contacted me on IM and I particularly remember one phone call when I was at a conference in Miami and he was having network problems.  The call took nearly 2 hours as we walked through the setup of SBS and then resolved the networking issues.  It was baking for me which is why I remember it, but Guy patiently worked through each issue until he had a system fit for review.  I’ve only worked with 2 or 3 journalists over the years who showed dedication to getting the information right rather than doing something very quick.   Guy, you will be missed. David

I have had someone ask me about POP3 mail and Outlook 2007 wiht Yahoo mail, so here is a walk through. Go to the tools menu and select Account Settings. press New selected the top option filled in my details and clicked next let it finish processing job done Going back to Account settings screen I see that the settings are not quite the same as the details at http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/mailplus/pop/pop-36.html Clicking More Settings the last tab needed some changing from the screen on the left to the screen on the right that is it - SSL based login and e-mail working ttfn David Technorati tags: yahoo mail , Outlook 2007

I get asked this question quite often, so I thought I would point out the download location for the tool to make files work between Office 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007. Just to cover off some details - Office 2007 can save in Office 97-2003 file format as well as the new Open XML and PDF file formats. Using this download, files can be opened and saved in Office 2007 format in Office 2000 and later. Of special note is that if you are using Microsoft Office XP or 2003 you MUST install all High-Priority updates from Microsoft Update before downloading the Compatibility Pack . Also, if you don't have those Office programs, but you have the viewers (Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003) then you can use the pack to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074 . Also Note: If you use Microsoft Word 2000 or Microsoft Word 2002 to read or write documents containing complex scripts, please see http://support...

From the http://blogs.technet.com/kevin_beares/archive/2007/11/07/windows-server-centro-is-officially-unveiled-and-has-a-new-name.aspx a small amount about Centro and the tech beta. This is produced by the same team who build SBS 2003 R2 and SBS Cougar. More on those next year. Windows® Essential Business Server is the new Microsoft server solution for small to medium businesses, with 50 to 250 client computers in their organizations. Windows®Essential Business Server offers a standardized server configuration that is designed to meet the needs of most midsize businesses. The configuration is optimized to meet the currently recommended practices for networking, security, collaboration, and remote access. The tightly integrated Windows Essential Business Server simplifies setup, migration, and licensing for Microsoft infrastructure server products that a midsize business uses most frequently. Most network services and resources are managed through a single Windows®Essential Business Server Administration Console...

It has taken a while to get there, however this project is now complete. I’ve managed to write a tool that keeps my SkyDrive and my Windows RT slate in sync. I’m now going through the process to publish this in the Windows Store for all to use and enjoy. [updated 8th Feb 2013] I've received a lot of feedback about the colours, gradient fills, rounded corners etc. I am working on a minor update that will change the colours and then a major update that completely change the layout, work on a folder by folder basis. [updated 12th Feb 2013] To see what the next version will look like and the feature changes, please look at my change log post . [updated 25th Feb 2013] The next version has finally been submitted to Microsoft. Details can be found here . What does the tool do? The tool scans a chosen set of folders on your hard disk and compares these to a corresponding set on SkyDrive. It then notes any where the file date or size is different, or where they only exist on one system (either as an updated...

I have been using this for as long as the UK SBS GUY site has been around (it is how the admin mails get to me at Microsoft), but when I went looking for the "how to do this" blog item, I could not find it. After much searching of my blog I resorted to searching live.com and there was the article - not mine, but the one I used. http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/MF015.html It is very common for some of your users to express an interest in having their mail delivered to a mailbox that is external to your organization. For example, the user is going to be working away from the office and would like their mail to be delivered to their Hotmail account. Another request might be to have their mail delivered to a different person altogether So I can finally give them the credit they deserve. ttfn David Technorati tags: forwarding mail , exchange , sbs 2003

You may well have missed this on Microsoft Press Pass, but I think all partners should read this and work out if there is even more opportunity for them. It was introduced under a title that might not have caught your attention: Microsoft Charts Its Software Services Strategy and Road Map for Businesses Company introduces “Online” services and Microsoft Office Live Workspace, solutions that combine client, server and services offerings to deliver connected computing options for people and businesses. REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 30, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today laid out the next phase in its strategy for online services, offering a road map for new offerings that synthesize client, server and services software for people and businesses. These offerings will combine elements of client-based programs with software that runs large servers and new services delivered over the Internet. The offerings announced expand Microsoft’s existing portfolio of software plus service solutions — solutions that weave together the best...

[Updated] I thought I would share two facts that show me just how good the take-up of Windows 7 will be. I was in York yesterday and while sat in the pub one of the ladies working there told me about her new laptop and just how fabulous it was with Windows 7. I’m not used to people telling me how great a product is from the “other side” of the bar. The second was when I started looking at the switch from Windows Vista and Windows XP on my web site – Over 20% of all visitors now are using Windows 7. I've updated the figures until 28th November 2009 I hope you have as much fun with Windows 7 as I am and the bar lady is. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows 7 , Windows , Microsoft

I've had to tell a few people about this recently, so I thought I should actually write a blog post on this.  The options are very simple and easy. Buy Windows 7 on DVD and use or buy a 4GB (or larger) USB Stick and then make a USB stick bootable and copy the files to the stick.  Details on how to make it bootable can be found here - http://www.techmixer.com/install-windows-vista-from-bootable-usb-flash-memory-drive/ .  You literally copy all the files from the DVD to the USB stick for this to work. To do this, enter this command into the run box (press Windows-Key + R) or a command prompt window - robocopy d:\ e:\ /s - this assumes that the DVD drive is D: and that the USB stick is E: - change them as required. Buy Windows 7 as an ISO from the Microsoft store ( http://emea.microsoftstore.com/uk/ ) and use the Microsoft tool from http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool to copy this to a USB stick (as mentioned above) buy a USB DVD Drive (not my preferred option) I hope this helps.   David...

I’ve been asked this question several times, so I thought I would share my thoughts. I don’t regularly work with the Windows Intune team at Microsoft as this is not my role, so this is purely my opinion, not in any way endorsed by Microsoft. To start off with, I think Windows Intune makes sense for a company whenever they are considering a cloud based Management strategy. Windows Intune also has the benefit of providing you with Windows and Microsoft anti-Malware software for your computers, so it is a way to get up to date, stay secure and manage the computers. Having said all of this, there are times when Windows Intune makes perfect sense. Smaller organisations have a range of choices to deliver systems management from Microsoft, which they need to pair with security and desktop software updates to deliver a solution the same as Windows Intune. There are also all the options available to larger organisations, but the options tailored for SMEs are functionally rich at a lower price point. These include...

I saw the news about Silverlight and the things that struck me was that it was a) cross platform and b) provided a fantastic experience. You can also use the Expression tools to build this stuff. So much was I impressed by the stuff that I have hosted it on my server for you to see what is there. To find out more go to Microsoft Silverlight It does pretty graphics, movies, effects like turning pages and more. If you install the runtime (you must have .Net 3.0 installed - i.e. native on Vista and installable for Windows XP) then pop along to http://uksbsguy.com/febctpsamples to see the demos. To get started you need to do some downloading (click below for Windows or http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/asp/downloads.aspx for Windows and MAC): System Requirements and Installation Instructions There are a number of blogs on this product and they can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/asp/blogs.aspx . It is also worth noting that the Silverlight web site ( http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight ) will...