DavidOverton.com
This site is my way to share my views and general business and IT information with you about Microsoft, IT solutions for ISVs, technologists and businesses, large and small.  

June 2006 - David Overton's Blog

  • 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...
  • .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
  • 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
  • SBS vs Linux - don't take my work for it, listen to Vlad

    Linux... what an emotive word around Microsoft that is! I used to be a Unix/Linux boy, but there again, I used to be a Mainframe boy, and then a security boy... I have worn too many hats. I can see the things people like about all of these, but too often the discussion is religious rather than customer centre'd or factual. Howvever one more factual and yet spoken from the heart can be found at http://www.vladville.com/2006/06/sbs-vs-linux-the-response-from-email-battles.html Vlad tells it how he sees it. Rock on. ttfn David
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  • 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
  • How to find out what is causing a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) by using the kernel debugger tools

    Having had James take up an offer to find out what is causing his BSODs, her has now asked me how I found out which driver appears to be having the problem. While there is no substite for lots of debug work, a very simple process is to run the crash dumps through our debugging tool (full dumps are best, followed by kernel dumps and then finally mini-dumps). The first thing is to find the dump files - it will either be c:\windows\memory.dmp or mini-dumps under c:\windows\minidump. Find the file you want and copy it somewhere so you can examine it. Then get the debugging tools - http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx and download the x86 (32-bit) version. Once the tools are extracted, open a cmd window and go to c:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows and type kd -z c:\mydumpfile.dmp -v -y SRV*c:\websymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols . Wait for it to load and do an analyze. The debugger will open and if it has not done it already, type !analyze -v and see what drivers...
  • 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
  • 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.
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  • SBS Security - workstation and caller both point to your server and the error is about logon/logoff failure

    I recently created a FTP site to enable uploading of pictures for my blog entries by Word 2007 and suddenly I started getting lots of errors on my system. They took the form of: Event Type: Failure Audit Event Source: Security Event Category: Logon/Logoff Event ID: 529 Date: 09/06/2006 Time: 08:01:31 User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM Computer: SERVER Description: Logon Failure: Reason: Unknown user name or bad password User Name: calvin Domain: XXXXXXXXXX Logon Type: 8 Logon Process: IIS Authentication Package: MICROSOFT_AUTHENTICATION_PACKAGE_V1_0 Workstation Name: SERVER Caller User Name: SERVER$ Caller Domain: OVERTONHOME Caller Logon ID: (0x0,0x3E7) Caller Process ID: 564 Transited Services: - Source Network Address: - The reason why this error log scared me so much was because the security login was coming from my server. This made me think that someone had put something nasty on my box. It turned out with very little digging that this was actually the FTP service trying to authenticate, failing and therefore failing...
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  • 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...
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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...
  • Are you finding too many security prompts in Windows Vista - help us improve yours and others experience

    I love Windows Vista. One thing that opele complain about is the security prompts that come up when you run an administrative task. There are two things to say here. Firstly, this peaks while you are setting up the machine - adding applications and drivers etc, so give it a week before you pass judgement on it. Second, this is being improved. We have a great team who take all the feedback on this and they are looking how to simplify this for the RC1 and final product. If you want to find out more, pop along to http://blogs.msdn.com/uac/archive/2006/06/01/613098.aspx to see what the UAC (User Account Control) team have to say. ttfn David
  • Vista Beta 2 is now downloadable by everyone

    Just a quick note (due to the time), but if you want to order or download Vista, you can do so from here - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx . Previously this was limited to TechNet & MSDN subscribers. If you do want to download, please note the timings: Connection speed: Connection type: Approximate download time: 32-bit edition (3.5 GB) 3.0 mbps Fast Cable/DSL 4.5 hours 1.5 mbps T1 9 hours 768 kbps Cable/DSL 18 hours 256 kbps Cable/DSL 54 hours 56.6 kbps Dial-up 165 hours 64-bit edition (4.4 GB) 3.0 mbps Fast Cable/DSL 5.5 hours 1.5 mbps T1 10.5 hours 768 kbps Cable/DSL 21 hours 256 kbps Cable/DSL 64 hours ttfn David
  • Small Business Ignite tour in Scotland postponed - Hardware problems

    Guys, this is hard to do, but we have had problems with the machine running the VPCs for the Ignite Tour this week (which means Scotland). The result is that we would not be able to show any demos. While this is very undesirable, we have taken the decision to postpone them until we can get the hardware sorted and the people back in Scotland. Any thoughts, please feel free to leave comments, otherwise we will see you soon. We should have the issues resolved for the other dates published so far ttfn David
  • WHQL testing of servers (SBS or Compute Cluster Edition)

    After a conversation yesterday about WHQL testing and servers I have put a document on the process. While the same tool is used, there are different requirements depending on what test is being run, so for example to certify a server you need a number of desktops. I have posted the file at http://uksbsguy.com/files/12/amd_day/entry540.aspx ttfn David
  • Real servers versus a DUD aka "Dressed up Desktop" for SBS use

    While I was at AMD yesterday I heard a term that is very useful to describe a really bad piece of hardware used to build a server - DUD - dressed up desktops. You know what they are - PCs that are desktops without any of that key server tech - do you know of one - let me know. As a minimum I would want to see the following in a decent SBS server: x64 CPU to enable migration to SBS Longhorn edition RAID disks to survive a disk failure - I'm not going to ret religious if they are SCSI or not, but remember that Domain Controllers turn off disk caching unless you have a SCSI like controller, so can have a big impact on performance 2GB of memory min - this is just me, but why skimp at the outset - if you are not going to start at 2GB, then please make sure there are free slots for an upgrade Descent power and cooling Backup capability of some form 2 NICs (even if you only use one - the option is there) Quality brands - don't save £5 and spend the next 3 years regretting it AMD do a great line in quality parts and have...
  • Use safety.live.com to give your customers PCs a quick health check - Anti-Virus, clean up & clutter removal and general tune up

    This is a great tool that you can easily get your customers to run themselves if things are looking a bit poor on their system. Simply go to http://safety.live.com and asn them to run a full scan, or a protection, clean-up or tune up scan. Note, it can take quite a time. ttfn David
  • Site usage statistics now published, plus the tool I wrote can be yours

    Once upon a time I was known as a hacker - not because of my ability to break into NASA computers (no, I have never done this), but because I am quite skilled at taking something someone else has started and hacking it around to do more. My site stats for May were produced by taking the vb.bet web analyzer starter kit and enhancing it. To see what I have produced, go to http://uksbsguy.com/usage_report/may06 . If you want the code, ping me and let me know. It is good to see the site usage going up too :-) ttfn David
  • Customizing companyweb WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) site

    While I was writting up my demos from the SB Ignite show I found ths site that has two great hands on labs: Learn How to Customize Windows SharePoint Services These training courses are Hands-On Labs Online (HOLO) and use live software. Each course provides a student manual that you can download and print: Windows Small Business Server 2003 - Customizing Windows SharePoint Services—Part 1 This course covers the following: Using the Small Business Server Company Web site Working with Lists and Document Libraries Windows Small Business Server 2003 - Customizing Windows SharePoint Services—Part 2 This course covers the following: Adding Functionality by Using Web Parts Using Dynamic Web Templates to Create a New SharePoint Site ttfn David
  • Small Business Ignite Tour presentation posted

    I have posted the event presentation to the files section - http://uksbsguy.com/files/12/small_business_ignite_tour/default.aspx . This is a Office 2007 file, but converters are in the notes so you can open in Office XP or 2003. The demos last for 40+ minutes at the events, so if you want to book onto your local one at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/training/ignite/default.aspx ttfn David
  • Do you want access to beta software and cheaper support calls to Microsoft - use Technet then

    A Technet Plus subscription includes two free support calls to Microsoft - that makes the kit cheaper than the calls themselves - and then you get a bucket full of disks to try our software - including BETA software, which to date you have not seen in the action pack. OK, so Vista and Office betas will ship in the action pack, but if you want to see any others, or download them more frequently - get the Technet Plus pack. Info on the UK Technet Page can be found on http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/default.aspx . P.S. There are many ways to get a discount on the initial purchase too, so ask me to send you a piece of advertising and you can get 20% off (it sells for <£400) or talk to the people at www.sbsbpi.co.uk and they can help you get even more off. ttfn David
  • Print to PDF and XPS to be a download feature for Office 2007, make sure you get it

    Hi, I don't follow the legal ups and downs of most products, but one of the nice things people like about Office 2007 is the ability to create PDF files. I now read in the news (so this is not an official annoucement from Microsoft) that to reduce the potential for legal moves, the PDF & XPS functionality will be a download. More information can be found at http://news.com.com/Office%2C+Vista+changed+in+wake+of+Adobe+threat/2100-1012_3-6079519.html ttfn David

(c)David Overton 2006-23