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.  

September 2006 - David Overton's Blog

  • IIS7 & Vista information

    Jonathan Goodyear Marks IIS7 as the "Difference" in Windows Vista There are many cool features in Windows Vista that might make one developer happy over another. For President of ASPSoft Jonathan Goodyear, though, it is clear he sees ... http://forums.iis.net/1392889/ShowThread.aspx#1392889 Shipped! RC1 Out-the-Door! Learn from the all-new Updated IIS7 Articles Windows Vista Release Candidate (RC) 1 is out the door with a fresh new build of IIS7. This is an exciting time for the IIS team as we draw near the full release i ... http://forums.iis.net/1391795/ShowThread.aspx#1391795
  • Microsoft's Office 2007 Word team are blogging

    http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/ ttfn David
  • Windows Vista Team Blog : It's Official: Windows Vista RC1 Is Complete

    Again, fingers still missing on left hand, so just a quick one to say that RC1 has started the shift out the door. Expect to see if on the official sites over the coming hours and days. Lots of new features, the platform to build and certify applications against and start the serious hardware testing for too. ttfn David Link to Windows Vista Team Blog : It's Official: Windows Vista RC1 Is Complete
  • More Vista Gadgets

    I just popped along to http://gallery.microsoft.com/Results.aspx?vista=la... and saw that there was a number of Vista gadgets, 24 in total. For an RSS feed of the last 10, go to http://gallery.microsoft.com/rss.aspx?r=1&q=&l=1&s... ttfn David
  • Short chance to offer feedback on the Vista Security Guide

    The Vista Security Guide will be released to Beta on September 6 th exclusively through Microsoft Connect. It will be available to anyone who signs in at https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=820&InvitationID=VSG-P74P-BFTH&SiteID=14 . The Beta period will extend for just three weeks, during which we’ll be accepting and triaging bugs and comments. To support this Beta release, the development and program management teams will deliver a LiveMeeting on Wednesday September 6 th . Details are below. We want to welcome as many customers and partners into the Beta as possible to gather the most feedback and ensure that we ship a customer-driven solution. With that in mind, feel free to forward this information to anyone you think might benefit from attending the session. We’ll be describing the guide, how we developed it, the best way to use it, and one really cool new tool that can save lots of time in the test and deployment phases. We will also take questions at the end of the presentation...
  • What is the Demo Showcase and how do you use it?

    I have a mate at work, Chris, who has always been a good and clever egg the whole time I have known him. He is also very passionate about partners getting the right level of support as well as liking Stoke City, but something's just have to be forgiven. One thing he has got a bee in his bonnet about this year is the Demo Showcase, which we will be using for all our demos going forward for a while. If you have been to an ignite tour, that was based on an early version of the Showcase DVD set. Chris has been a prolific blogger on the subject - this is a great tool for you to use, so look at: Whoever heard of the Demo Showcase for the People Ready Business? The Demo Showcase Line Up What Does the Demo Showcase Look Like (Physically)? What Does the Demo Showcase Look Like (in Reality?) The Demo Showcase Team Tactics ttfn David
  • What does the bCentral "Flexible Working Solutions from Microsoft" mean to you as a partner?

    I just opened up the latest newsletter from bCentral - if you don't get them, you should as hundred of thousands of people in the UK read the bCentral site and access this information. And if you were not sure, bCentral is the one stop shop from Microsoft for UK small businesses to find information on anything from finance to marketing (with a bit of technology in the middle). Anyway, while reading it, the top article was: Top tips to flexible working The benefits flexible working can bring to your business are significant. With the right technology, a flexible culture truly enhances the way you work because customers are better served and your employees are better looked after. For ten top tips to flexible working, download our free guide. Download the guide >> I thought, this looks interesting - the guide is a fantastic starter to explaining what the benefits of flexible working are for small businesses, so a simple read, and potentially mailing it to key prospects and customers would be top of my...
  • UK Partner Technical Specialists... Who are they, who were they?

    So I WAS a PTS and now there is a different team, but Susanne has blogged on it, so go read her blog on who they are now and learn what I used to do :-) I am obviously above being part of that elite group, but I am still here for the community. They do cover a wide range of technologies and solutions from Microsoft, so they are a great place to get information, visit blogs and see what is what. If the PTS do not cover the technology you want, then as a member of SBSC you get access to managed newsgroups (which means you get prompt answers from MS people and the community). Now, the photo on the left is a bit old, but we were having a nice time out on the town - so much so that we had a drink or two - and I studiously took the photo, so I am not in it. My head was so muddled that when they found Keira Knightley in the bar, they got her autograph on someone's hand and rather than going downstairs with a camera and taking a snap, I snapped the autographed hand !! ttfn David
  • What do the Stone Roses, Chris Parkes and the Demo Showcase have in common? Apparently small business solutions that come in fours!!

    Chris, who I previously mentioned the other day, has been up to his old tricks. Not only does he think that the Demo Showcase is an amazing tool for everyone to be able to show and tell how a computer solution can solve real business problems, but he has done an amazing job of describing exactly what is in the kit for the small business partner. The small business demos cover a wide range of technologies, but everything is built using 1 SBS Virtual PC and one XP client VPC. This means that showing things like mobile devices and how they work is much easier than just showing 1 person a PDA or mobile phone. It also enables you to show accounting solutions, CRM etc and each one comes with an amazing script that you can change to suit your needs and they are even tailored to who you are talking to, be it the owner manager or the sales people, etc! For more info, pictures and the ability to leave comments, pop along to The Demo Showcase & Small Business & The Stone Roses ttfn David
  • Two Windows Vista events next week in London and Reading

    11 September 2006, London: Windows Vista System Integrity Technologies Windows Vista will ship with several new system integrity technologies, including code integrity, secure start-up, service hardening, mandatory integrity control and Internet Explorer protected mode. In this session, Steve Lamb explores how these technologies work to thwart malware's attempts to take over your computer. 14 September 2006, Reading: What's New in Administering Vista? In this session, we will examine Group Policy functionality improvements that have been made with Windows Vista. We will describe the new and updated features and how these help to alleviate the problems that were present with previous versions of Windows. ttfn David
  • Updated templates for Windows SharePoint Services V2 (WSS)

    Again, writing blog entries while on train, but from the Microsoft Download Notification mail I see the following: Windows SharePoint Services Applications Template: Project Team Management The Project Team Site application for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services provides a central location for the project manager and team to collaborate during all phases of the project lifecycle from initiation to close-out. Windows SharePoint Services Applications Template: All Templates (English) This download contains all downloadable application templates in the English language for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services. ttfn David
  • Got SBS 2003 R2 and need to update it to the current version - look at this KB

    http://support.Microsoft.com/kb/923432/ SYMPTOMS The initial release media for Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 contains the wrong version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). This update installs the correct version of the affected Exchange Server 2003 SP2 files. Different versions for some of these files can be found in other folders on the server. For this update, only the installation folders in the following table apply. Note This update applies to you if the version level of any of the following files is 06.05.7638.1. This update does not apply to you if the version level of all the following files is 06.05.7638.2. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924000/en-us This article describes the steps that you must take to upgrade the initial release media of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 (Windows SBS 2003 R2) to include the final release version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition ttfn David
  • Financing help from Microsoft for customer - partners can finance the whole deal, services, software and hardware - get the 1st 6 months for £50 per month followed by 36 monthly payments

    Buy now pay later '6/50' promotion from Microsoft Financing This attractive low-start offer will help drive adoption of new product releases, providing you with a simple, compelling way to sell IT solutions, including software, hardware and your own services. Customers pay just £50 each month for the first six months, and the loan balance is then paid in 36 monthly installments. Financing is available for the complete Microsoft solution, not just the Microsoft product elements. This is not always the most competitive rate a customer can get, but it is extremely useful especially when the rates the customer has been offered is not so good. ttfn David
  • Do you want to help your customers use more of Office and value your advice more?

    This is a fab tool - for example, the page has: Inside Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Stop the Press -Microsoft Office Excel 2007 - making working with numbers easier than ever! Where minutes are kept and hours are wasted Well-planned and organised meetings can be very useful. However, not all meetings leave attendees feeling like their time has been well spent! Internet Explorer 7 RC1 Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) RC1 is now available with new features. Download it today! Making the most of Virtual Meetings with Live Meeting Transform the way you operate at work Get more done in meetings Edit Data quickly Instead of using the formula bar to edit the contents of a cell, you can edit directly in the cell by double clicking it. View archive Have a look for much, much more. ttfn David
  • Save as PDF download for Office 2007 on the net for download

    This little feature was hotly debated as to whether any legal action would occur when Microsoft shipped it, but the download is now on the web. details on where to download are below, but lets talk about the use of this in a business context. While some people have said this is a nice feature why should anyone really care about it. Well, lets this of the uses of PDFs (I know we could discuss XPS, but most people know PDF, so PDF it is). Anyway, PDFs are often documents sent out in "final" form, such as an invoice, contract, purchase order, etc. Many smaller organisations want to send out these final documents, but the only option for them was to send a word document or excel spreadsheet. While these are as universal as PDF in terms of people being able to read them, they could also change them which is bad for those documents that you don't want people to change. Enter the Save as PDF feature - now you can send them documents which without some out of the ordinary methods, are now read-only. To get the download...
  • Do you need to edit XML files

    If you need to edit XML files, this is the tool for you: XML Notepad 2006 that is it, enjoy ttfn David
  • Microsoft acquired Win Internals (SysInternals.com)

    http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jul06/07-18WinternalsPR.mspx This is a bit of old news, but I have not reported it. There has always been a set of amazing tools that were usable to diagnose inside Windows, they were sold from a company called WinInternals, who then produced a set of free tools on the web site http://www.sysinternals.com . These tools I normally use are below. I use them for those questions like "what file is failing to load", or "where is it looking in the registry" or "what process is using all the CPU". Filemon This monitoring tool lets you see all file system activity in real-time. MoveFile Schedule file rename and delete commands for the next reboot. This can be useful for cleaning stubborn or in-use malware files. PageDefrag Defragment your paging files and Registry hives! PendMove See what files are scheduled for delete or rename the next time the system boots. Autoruns See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system...
  • Want to understand more about BitLocker (drive encryption) in Vista and how to set it up?

    Vista has loads of features, but for those small businesses who think that spending the small amount extra to get Software Assurance for the Enterprise version or Ultimate Edition to get the disk fully encrypted, so that even with physical access to the machine the disk is still unreadable, this is the info you need. I don't see all small businesses needing this, but for those that do, here is how to set it up and understand what it is doing. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=90c3a9c7-e324-404d-afad-e8f52885419d&DisplayLang=en ttfn David
  • Want to understand the details about Windows Vista's changes to the network stack, IP6, diagnostics etc

    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/netw... will be your answer. ttfn David
  • how up with technology (E-typed) is your neighbourhood (or Britain's digital tribes)

    I love the User Experience Trends Blog that covers all sorts of weird and wacky things, but saw this and just had to comment on it. UCL have mapped the country and put postcodes into technology usage. I didn't agree with mine, so added the feedback. Anyway, here is the item from the blog: Classifying by technology use Britain's digital tribes revealed . "Households in Britain can be classified into 23 "e-types" depending on their access to technology, say researchers. E-types include mobile explorers, the e-committed and rational utilitarians. [...] Every postcode in Britain has been assigned a classification which people can check online to see if they agree with the researcher's analysis. "What really emerges is that almost all of the types have some interaction with technology," said Professor Paul Longley, who led the study at UCL. "In a sense we are all digital now"" ttfn David
  • Vista could create 50,000 jobs in Europe

    Recently there has been discussion about Vista in Europe around security - some to-ing and fro-ing around if there will be a requirement to ship a version without security features. While all this stuff has been going on, there has also been some discussion around the impact of Vista on the European economy. Vista could create 50,000 jobs in Europe | Tech News on ZDNet European Launch of Windows Vista is on Track ttfn David
  • Small Business Security Guidance (via Group Policy)

    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
  • Small Business Security Guidance (Windows Clients and Peer to Peer networks)

    These documents are slightly old, as in published in late July 2006, but very much worth a read and a potentially useful as a checklist for those customers without servers in their environment. Protecting Client Computers from Network Attacks.doc Securing Remote Clients and Portable Computers.doc Securing Windows XP Professional in a Peer-to-Peer Networking Environment.doc Link to Download details: Small Business Security Guidance ttfn David
  • Windows XP SP1 support is ending in October

    Support Ends for Windows XP Service Pack 1 http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5159878 Effective October 10, 2006, support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) will end. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide any incident support or security updates. To enhance the security of your computer and to continue receiving updates, we recommend upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). To learn more about this upgrade and the free technical support provided to download and install the service pack, visit the Web site http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5159908 . You know the answer, if your customers are not on XP SP2, time to move them up. ttfn David
  • Running SQL Server on Microsoft Windows Server Longhorn or Microsoft Windows Vista

    Most people do not run SQL on their Windows client PCs, with the exception of MSDE. Windows Vista will not support MSDE (aka SQL 2000), so applications dependant on SQL will need to be moved to SQL Express, which in simple terms is SQL 2005 MSDE on steroids. I have checked and Microsoft will be releasing updates to it's packages that are supported on Vista to move them to SQL Express. Obviously, if you are looking at Vista, check with other 3rd parties to ensure they are doing the same. More details can be found at Running SQL Server on "Microsoft Windows Server Longhorn" or Microsoft Windows Vista . ttfn David

(c)David Overton 2006-23