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July 2006 - David Overton's Blog
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  • Find all the Microsoft MVP and employee blogs around SBS 2003

    I just found this tool that lists all the MS & MVP blogs that relate to SBS - they can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalResults.mspx?ResultPage=1&Charset=iso-8859-1&BlogPart=Blog&BlogCategory=f9e5172a-da57-4efb-ac8d-3eebbfeecf1f or via the OPML File . ttfn David

  • Did you know that you can get all the security releases each month on a downloadable ISO?

    I didn't, but a quick search on http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=security%20iso&DisplayLang=en shows that since January you can download each months security patches as an ISO, carry it around with you and patch to your hearts content. ttfn David

  • Channel Business Says "Partners’ Vista marketing must drive solutions message"

    Having attended the [wpc] conference it was interesting to view this press coverage of the Vista message. It is true that Vista (and Office for that matter) will be marketted by Microsoft to both consumers and businesses alike. At the moment we are still building the messages for UK small businesses (We are running a technology adoption programme to get evidence specific for small business customers for the 1st time in the UK), but the article states that partners will need to think about customer solutions in their PR rather than just "safer, easier, faster" type messages. The campaigns will be based on our People Ready Business messaging and we will have materials for partners to use via campaign builder and other tools freely available to partners . ttfn David Related Links: http://212.21.97.148/magsites/cb/content/news/newsarticle.asp?CatID=12&ArticleID=1080

  • Finding device drivers for Windows systems

    Every so often someone asks me how to get device "xxx" working. Obviously the 1st stage to this is to finding the right device driver. Sometimes this can be hard to track down - one thing to look for is the hardare ID from device manager. The ID is made up of the bus type, vendor, major and minor ids. You can do a search for the vendor ID on the internet and once you have that, try their site for a device driver. This is sometimes a long winded process, but normally yields results. One alternative that I spotted today to this was the Microsoft Technet site for drivers . This site has both Microsoft controlled and non-affiliated sites that can help with the device driver searching. When Vista comes along, searching for device drivers will be an even bigger goal of the Update function that ships in the box. ttfn David

  • how to make accessing SBS web areas easier, so making the remote web workplace (RWW) access easier, or sharepoint etc

    I was having a look at the site on OMPL shaing (mine is up there) and I noticed that my blog had been shared by a few people, so I looked around and came across this from Javier an MVP. This post from Javier is entitled "Create easier-to-remember URLs for OWA, RWW and even Sharepoint" and it made me realise how great an this idea is. Just to add to this, I have a 3rd tool to add, which is ISAPI Rewrite, which I use for this site. From Javier's site: If you are running SBS you must know by now that you need to type http://something.yourdomain.com/exchange or /remote to access OWA or RWW from the internet. One issue that I often encounter is that users forget those URLs are (specially if the are technologically-impaired J ). So, what about giving your users simpler URLs? Like http://webmail.yourdomain.com for OWA and/or http://remote.yourdomain.com for RWW It is all so simple, go read his blog entry for more. As I said, he gives two ways to do this, my 3rd is to use ISAPI_rewrite to have lots more control. For this...

  • TechNet Security Postings for June

    New security features in Internet Explorer 7 (Beta 2) http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4979991 Learn about the new security features in the browser's latest version that help better protect your PC and personal information Microsoft Threat Analysis and Modelling Tool, Version 2.0, RC1 http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049706 The free Microsoft Threat Analysis and Modelling tool allows nonsecurity subject matter experts to enter already-known information, including business requirements and application architecture, to produce a feature-rich threat model. Along with automatically identifying threats, the tool can produce valuable security artefacts such as data control, component access control, and subject-object matrices as well as data flows and focused reports. Reduce Your Risk: 10 Security Rules to Live By http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049703 When you manage security you must strive to reduce unacceptable risk while keeping the impact on workflow of the organization and total cost of ownership of the infrastructure...

  • top sixteen lies of a ceo

    I was reading Guy Kawasakiblog entry on the top lies of CEOs and I realised how many of them applied to those "high flying" small business owner managers in a scaled down way, What I partcularly liked what the "what we wished they actually said" section: “I don’t know.” “Thank you.” “Do what’s right.” “It’s my fault.” How many times would a small business specialists life been saved if this was what they actually said to us instead of (perhaps the 17th lie) "I did nothing to it, it just started going wrong... I was not even here when it happened." And of course, that is probably what was said when this all started! ttfn David

  • Microsoft finally confirm that they are entering the media entertainment device arena - with the Zune

    http://www.billboard.biz/bb/biz/magazine/upfront/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002877378 This web site features an interview aroudn the Zune. Not much is really present in the article, except for the fact that it should ship this year, it will support wireless syncronisation, which could be used for wireless playlist and music swapping. Other places for info on the Zune include - https://www.comingzune.com/default.aspx and http://news.com.com/Microsofts+Zune+to+rival+Apples+iPod/2100-1041_3-6097196.html as soon as I hear more, I promise to tell all :-) ttfn David

  • ISA 2006 Release Candidate available

    This has been discussed in a few places - ISA 2006 is perhaps not going to offer enough to SBS customers , but if you want to have a look, then this is what you need: Download ISA Server 2006 Release Candidate Trial Software Test drive the new features and functionality by downloading the free trial of ISA Server 2006 Release Candidate Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 Enterprise Edition Release Candidate http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a7fd89a0-2f8f-4b71-8a37-efc05724c136&DisplayLang=en Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 Standard Edition Release Candidate http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7b040fed-64b0-4de9-9d99-bbcfa5779fa2&DisplayLang=en ttfn David

  • Vista Webcasts for July

    Using Built-in diagnostics in Windows Vista Monday, July 17, 2006 9:30AM - 10:30AM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032301591&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Windows Vista Deployment Overview (Level 200) Monday, July 17, 2006 1:00PM - 2:00PM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032301597&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Moving to 64-bit Computing with Windows Vista (Level 200) Tuesday, July 18, 2006 11:30AM - 12:30AM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032299835&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Security Features in Windows Vista (Level 200) Wednesday, July 19, 2006 11:00AM - 12:00PM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032301585&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Reliability Enhancements in Windows Vista (Level 200) Friday July 21, 2006...

  • Reading and storing everyone's e-mail and why I am glad I work for a small business

    I just saw this article at Wired and realised one of the benefits of working for a smaller organisation - this is not me I'm talking about, but you. One of the worrying quotes was: The survey gathered responses concerning e-mail security from 406 companies in the United States and the United Kingdom with more than 1,000 employees. In both regions, 38 percent of respondents said they employed staff to read or otherwise analyze outbound e-mail . In the United States, 44 percent of companies with more than 20,000 employees said they hire workers to snoop on workers' e-mail. Wow, not just the US, but the UK too. Now, should your customer be in the business where they do need to analyze mail, then of course SBS can help - for details on how to set it up, go have a look at the forum entry - http://uksbsguy.com/forums/thread/334.aspx for the answer - simple and effective. ttfn David

  • Fixes and Updates for Vista and Longhorn Beta 2 - Symantec Antivirus, IPSec / firewall race condition leading to memory corruption and activation problem

    Update for Windows Vista Beta 2 and Windows Codename Longhorn Server Beta 2 Install this update to fix application compatibility issues with Symantec Antivirus version 10.0.1.622 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0ce37fb9-b654-45e7-b006-e1728fe076ca&DisplayLang=en Update for Windows Vista Beta 2 and Windows Codename Longhorn Server Beta 2 Install this update to fix an issue where in the presence of Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) or Windows Firewall, a race condition can be hot on multi-processor (or hyper-threaded) systems causing memory corruption, leading to a system crash http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8cf0c2ec-6a31-46a6-8238-dff1b2eb2025&DisplayLang=en Update for Windows Vista Beta 2 and Windows Codename Longhorn Server Beta 2 Install this update to address an issue where you may be unable to activate the product and become blocked from logging in http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5d21d780-a0e6-42e5-b905-d3a6e702ac56&DisplayLang...

  • Would you like addresses and contacts in Outlook to have access to great Live Local Maps?

    Just spotted this one on the download list. If you want to get map information directly in outlook, visit the Microsoft mapping service (local.live.com) to download the outlook tool . According to the site this tool enables you to map your appointment and meeting locations directly from within Microsoft® Office Outlook®. Get driving directions, print detailed maps, find optimized trip routes, and estimate travel times. Receive reminders based on the estimated travel time. Even save details to view when you’re offline. It also allows you to send Outlook appointment location details to others—even those without the add-in. Finally you can quickly locate restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, gas stations and other points of interest near your meeting location and map the best route. ttfn David

  • Making vista more secure using PatchGuard and Address Space Location Randomisation

    For those really, really into making a system secure you will know that if a system is compromised, if done well, then the machine is owned by someone else. However, that does not mean that you can't make it hard for someone to "do it well". Today I was reading about PatchGuard that will make all this much easier. Amongst other things, it includes the ability to remove the ability to predict where a key piece of information will be in kernel memory. This is how things like Blaster worked - they could predict where key information was. This technology would skupper the route used by Blaster. ttfn David

  • July SQL Webcasts

    SQL 2005 Webcasts and Virtual Labs SQL Server 2005 is data management and analysis software that delivers enhanced security, availability, and scalability to mission-critical data applications—while making them easier to develop, deploy, and manage. Choose from a wide range of live and on-demand webcasts. Or take part in a virtual lab, which allows you to cut your teeth on the new platform by experimenting with its different capabilities. http://www.microsoft.com/sql/eval/webcast.mspx?wt.mc_id=sql.ad.01037 Free SQL Server 2005 Training Whether you are interested in database administration, database development, or business intelligence, you can access the E-Learning topic you want, when you want it, and learn at your own pace. Each lesson includes hands-on virtual labs and offline functionality. In addition, you may consider taking a free Microsoft Skills Assessment to help you meet your Microsoft SQL Server 2005 training goals. You'll receive a learning roadmap with additional skills resources including instructor...
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  • Power cuts due to the weather

    Folks, while the server is on a UPS now, the internet conenction seems to be more sensative to the lighting and thunder outside :-) Hopefully the server will not be down too often. ttfn David
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  • Web site layout changes – temporary while site is upgraded

    I have just updated the site to a beta of the next version of Community Server which means the nice theme I normally use has stopped working. I will look at why next week, so again we are back to the "old" style of interface. Ttfn David

  • tell me and others what is a good post in the blogs

    Hi folks, have you noticed that some blog entries have a star rating - did you know that you can let me know what is good/useful and bad/undesireable by simply clicking on the stars - lets see some ratings going on!! ttfn David

  • Do you wish you could see what you were looking for in documents, mails etc - now you can as search and find are improved

    You may have noticed that enabling people to find the right piece of information has become a bit of a religious event within Microsoft. Search tools to date include LookOut Windows Desktop Search aka WDS MSN Search Live Search Vista However things have continued to improve with these engined and Office 2007. For example, you can be inside Outlook, type a word in the search bar and within a fraction of a second have returned to you all the mails, calendar items or contacts that have that word in. You can even type something like "from:David received:last week" and get the mails from me that I sent last week. One nice featrue is that a nice yellow highlighter pen will show you where in the mail etc the magical words are, so finding them becomes easier. Obviously the new search engine in Vista / WDS will find documents searching the content itself. I then saw this post, saying that the same process can be delivered from inside a document , so highlighting all the nice words you were looking for - makes...

  • What will Vista look like if you don't have an ace graphics card (ala many machines bought over the last 3 years with less than 64MB graphics RAM)

    I saw this over at the Windows Vista blogs and realised that the original graphics for people withotu higher end graphics were really not up to scratch. Looking at the site, you can even see a nice example of "glass" and the new standard theme side by side. hurray! ttfn David

  • Microsoft provides a guide as to what benefits are available to partners

    This is a great little tool . It enables partners of all levels (Registered, SBSC, Certified and Gold) to see clearly the benefits they can get.

  • So what is new and exciting (such as easier admin) in IIS7 (IIS in Vista and Longhorn), find out here

    The .NET Show: IIS 7.0 Scott Guthrie and Bill Staples provide some details on what IIS 7.0 is, describe new features, and demo how much easier IIS 7.0 is to use and administer. 100k - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2f497db8-06fb-4d30-a00b-abfed571fe9c&DisplayLang=en 300k - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=09f5aefa-b5d2-4568-8edd-50b39912f0da&DisplayLang=en Mobile - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1c6878d1-bebb-4e63-ad89-6768c9881fb8&DisplayLang=en ttfn David

  • June Technet Articles on Vista

    Ask the Experts: How Windows Vista Delivers IPv6 Prepare for the next generation in networking with this look at how Windows Vista will allow for more advanced applications and networks with Internet Protocol version 6. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/network/ipv6wv.mspx Enterprise Networking with Windows Vista This article provides a high-level overview of Windows Vista enterprise networking technologies. This article does not discuss consumer networking scenarios http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/network/entnet.mspx Joining a Windows Vista Wireless Client to a Domain http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/network/wifi/vista_bootstrap_wireless.mspx Active Directory Schema Extensions for Windows Vista Wireless and Wired Group Policy Enhancements http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/network/wifi/vista_ad_ext.mspx Windows Vista Step-by-Step Guides for IT Professionals http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=311f4be8-9983-4ab0-9685-f1bfec1e7d62&DisplayLang...
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(c)David Overton 2006-23