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.  

Windows 7, Vista and XP - David Overton's Blog

  • Do you want to understand more about Small Biz and Microsoft, meet cool people, influence and discuss our strategy

    OK, so the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is coming. As with many things in the MS International world, we have some firsts coming up. The WPC is always a huge event for understanding and changing MS strategy and networking with both key MS people and also key people in the community. This is also the time to hear from industry experts about the external influences on the market and how to take advantage and prepare for them. You may think this all sounds a big "la-de-da", but a little while ago at WPC someone asked Steve B in an open session why MS people had great demos, but our partners did not. Within 6 months we had added the Technical Demonstration Toolkit for partners to our offerings. You can have this impact if you ask the right questions too. We have a day in the pre-conference dedicated to Small Business, with a fee for non-SBSC members, but SBSC people get entry for free. More information on the conference can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference/ and it is already...
  • Patch Management on SBS and Windows XP machines - advice and best practises

    I was asked this in the forums, but I felt it was important enough to write about it both here and in the forum. Patch Management should be a key part of what you do. Patching is like car servicing - it can sometimes be put off a little bit, but failure to keep the oil and water up todate and without a regular service, things go horribly wrong. You MUST tell your customers this so they can choose how to pay you for this service. (they can always just call you in when things go wrong, but it will take longer and cost them more). Obviously patching is just one tool in yout kitbag for keeping systems secure - local and perimeter firewalls and anti-spyware and anti-virus software is also needed, as is good password and administrator policy. The best person to talk about patching is the now famous Susan Bradly, who is a SBS MVP and known as a Diva. Before I point you off to some of her blogs on it, I thought I would answer some questions often asked in this area: 1) How do you decide whether to patch or hold off? You...
  • Off-topic – Get a bit of Vista technology on Windows XP - Windows Media Player 11 (wmp11) beta

    I know this is off topic, but as a beta tester of Windows Vista, I have also been using the new media player to manage my music. The new ways of organising music and seeing what is in albums or podcasts has got easier. WMP also now handles pictures, which given the number of them I have, it is a nice change to see this functionality off of Media Center systems. So, to get the new UI, formats and ease of management, go have a look at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx Ttfn David
  • Do we know when Windows Vista will ship yet – answering the CTS arguments?

    I have just seen an article in which the conversations from CTS (16 shows on Vista and Office 2007 in 2 days) have been misrepresented. Since I was the Vista presenter, I feel the need to set the record straight, 1 st off, the site where this is all being so heavily debated: http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/5/15/3974 http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=75041 http://lifestyle.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=5570 (article) To clarify Vista and Office 2007 are coming, as per the PR announcements at the same time – there is no new delay . At CTS we were speculating when in January the launch might happen. The only timeline shifts were those already mentioned in the MARCH press release - http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/mar06/03-21WindowsVistaDeliveryPR.mspx There were several interesting highlights from that article which were either not accurate or misunderstood. Whether that is the joy of journalism or my mistake we will never know. Vista will ship for Volume License customers...
  • PTS-TV is now downloadable

    Hi guys, slowly our team are making snippets available about us and our roles. Tomorrow I record a session - probably about Vista and our partners. Anyway, if you go to http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv/ you can see all the sessions and download or stream the content. Now who says we do not listen and react to your feedback. ttfn David
  • Watch and listen about Vista and Small Business

    The PTS-TV videos have been updated and this time it is two takes (I can never do things in one take) about Windows Vista and how it delivers simple value to small businesses. The videos of the team, including mine can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv/ and the rss feed so you can keep up to date is found at http://blogs.msdn.com/ptstv/rss.aspx . Should you be super keen and desire only to watch the video, they are streamed from the following URLs (downloadable versions are available from the site above) http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv_daveoverton1.wvx http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv_daveoverton2.wvx Vista is currently available for partners who have Technet or MSDN today and will be available for everyone as a community technology preview later this month. For more Vista information go to http://www.windowsvista.com ttfn David
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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...
  • 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
  • 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...
  • 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
  • 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
  • .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
  • The key to Vista's success is a great product and some amazing ISV applications

    I have been having a chat with Vlad ( http://www.vladville.com/2006/06/vista-advertising-machine-starts-its-engine.html ) and he has made a really good point that Vista looks good, that it is beta, so should not be deployed in a live environment and that he needs some compelling apps. I happen to agree with him - it is beta, and therefore more sluggish and buggy than a final product, but on the apps front, there is soooo much to come. The view of public apps can be seen on http://www.seewindowsvista.com , but Mary Jane Foley has raised the question in http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1972444,00.asp and also points out that a different bread of ISV is coming to town and they are bringing Vista only or enabled apps that will help. Obviously the Vista benefits for Security, reliablility, ease of use and user safety will all be a major factor for many customers. I can't wait for the information on ISVs to continue to materialize over the coming weeks. ttfn David
  • How to install Vista inside a Virtual PC

    One of my partners was having problems installing vista inside a Virtual PC and I remembered the problem with Virtual PC not liking DVDs or ISOs > 2 odd GB, so my answer was to use Virtual Server. Having said all that, there is very good documentation at The Elder Geek on the process - http://www.theeldergeekvista.com/vista_00028.htm . I would add a couple of things – install using Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 beta – you will get a much better experience – and this is freely available too. Enjoy testing Vista and remember to let us know what you like / don’t like. Ttfn David P.S. for all vista downloads etc have a look at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista
  • subject area shortcuts

    Hi, for those who are after a quick way to find my posts on a particular subject area, I have created 4 shortcuts - they are: http://uksbsguy.com/sbs http://uksbsguy.com/wss http://uksbsguy.com/vista http://uksbsguy.com/office Do I really need to explain what each sibject area is? These will auto expand to the appropriate doverton blog categories. ttfn David
  • Tools I could not be without for using and managing Windows XP, Vista and SBS

    Following on from my previous post on crash dumps and the Tech-Ed presentation I thought it was worth quickly pointing out the tools I use on a daily basis: Process Explorer Taskmanager on steriods - see what services and threads are running - look at the real list of processes that take up cpu time rather than how Windows Task Manager does the trick FileMon Ever wonder what folder that temp file was put in, or what file is being looked for when something fails - this is hwo to find it RegMon Like Filemon, but for the registry - find out what si being read, written too, searched for etc. PendMoves Can't install something because the system has a number of pending "moves" - files it will rename on reboot - find out what they are and then you can do something about it if you want DiskMon See what activity is happening on your disk ttfn David
  • Find out just how much Malware Microsoft has seen and removed using our tools

    Malware and the like are nasty horrid beasties. You probably see the malware remover tools come down each month as part of your security updates, but never think about what it is actually doing? Well, some scary information is provided at http://virtualteched.com/archive/2006/06/12/74.aspx from Tech-Ed. What is quite frightening is the number of PCs infected, the number of rootkits and the fact that most still get there with the users consent. ttfn David
  • Links to Vista resources and a "new and improved reliability features" webcast

    Saw on an internal mail thread that a great webcast on new and improved reliability features of Vista can be found on Kevin's blog - http://blogs.technet.com/kevinremde/archive/2006/06/19/434332.aspx and the webcast itself at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032298849&Culture=en-US One of the nice thing on his page is a list of Vista Links on that link above. His vista specific content can be found by clicking on http://blogs.technet.com/kevinremde/archive/category/10069.aspx . In Kevin's own words " I had some technical problems mid-way through with a disconnected Virtual Server", but still very useful ttfn David
  • Off Topic - How not to retain customers - Someone wants to cancel their AOL subscription

    I just had tto post this. Microsoft sometimes gets a bit of a kicking about support, but things like the Official SBS podcast , changes to search on our http://support.microsoft.com site, people like me and even the huge SBS community have changed most peoples experience with our support. When I say this, you just have to laugh in amazement as to what was going through this guys mind? http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=5ff445af-bf5c-4c3c-9424-ff467ea97a87&f=rssimbot_us_default ttfn David
  • Security and some Myths debunked

    I used to spend my time dealing with security at a military scale for computer systems. I was not guarding anything in terms of weapons etc, just following process for protecting documents I was managing. If there was one thing that irked me was when people thought they were safe, but then did stupid things to completely undermine the security. For example, going in through the main enterence involved stringent security checks, but going through the side enterance the only check was on your car speed. My data was far less protected once physical security was compromised! Bring this into the world of computers and my role now, many people do things to enable them to feel safe - load A/V software, run multiple malware detectors, check the patch level on their firewalls, even if they are hardware filewalls, keep their systems patched, ensure the clients and servers are locked down with their own firewalls configured and managed by policy. I could go on, and of course you all do these things already, right? It was...
  • I Need you to comment on a blog - should the Technet guys run a seperate Small Business track?

    Hi folks, it is not often I put out an ask like this, but on Eileen Browns excellent blog she has the following around Exchange 2007 ( http://blogs.technet.com/eileen_brown/archive/2006/06/16/technet_events.aspx ): Exchange - going small or large? A lot of the questions I get when I'm out at the roadshow are about Exchange and what Exchange 2007 can do for organisations. <lots snipped> When I decided on the content this year, I went for topics that I thought would appeal to people wanting to know about up and coming technologies. An overview of the new features in 2007 Office System, Exchange 2007 and Vista, with the new features of Windows Server R2, and ISA Server too. But I reckon that 75% of the questions that I've had this week concern Small Business Server and various aspects of SBS architecture. So my question is...Should we include an SBS track in future events? and if so, what do you want us to cover on this potential SBS track? Should we deliver this event in conjunction with Partners at their...
  • Did you know that your small business customers want Windows Vista

    I know this has been discussed before and while I am on Paternity I am not authoring much in the way of content (not enough time), so simply adding things I am finding elsewhere, but this little gem was interesting. A recent web survey that I think, but am not 100% sure about, was NOT commissioned by Microsoft found the following: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=11414 Small shops (with fewer than 100 employees) who identified themselves as aggressive when it comes to platform upgrades were among the most avid projected Vista adopters, with 76 percent saying they would roll out within the first year of Vista release. Of respondents who said they plan on delaying a Vista rollout, 69 percent said they would rely on their PC refresh cycle to drive the transition . Overall, 46 percent of respondents said that new security features would be a factor in causing them to undertake a Vista rollout; the next most popular response was end of support for legacy Windows systems, at 28 percent. Only three survey respondents...
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(c)David Overton 2006-23