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  • Loading Vista with SBS

    SBS is a great, stable product, so why go and throw in a bunch of broken software into the mix? Untested - yes, Vista and Office 2007 are beta, so known to have bugs that have not be resolved in them. OK, so the 1st rule is never run beta software in production, unless you are doing so for known explicit reasons. Vlad has posted on this a few times already. I also saw that the SBS team have made a couple of statements about Office and Vista and the bottom line is that there are some known issues and Microsoft is addressing them. Also, looking on one of the forums, there are a few questions people are asking , so be warned. If you don't use the connect computer wizard, then joining a Vista PC to a domain is doable. You might have a few Group Policy problems, so I would check things like "My Documents" redirection and firewall settings. You will also get a few UAC prompts, but as Susan suggests , lead UAC on for your testing - the prompts should get less once the PC is set up and the latest builds of Vista should...

  • Getting SBS, Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), indexing and PDFs all working together

    While browsing Sean's Blog I came across this article on how to get PDFs to have a PDF icon in [WSS] and how to re-index the companyweb site to ensure they are properly indexed (as in the content too). I know some of the links go to older versions of tools, but I am sure you are all very clever, so can work out what to do. Bear in mind that for this to work, you need to be running SBS Premium so the SharePoint database is stored in SQL. I have not blogged on this yet, but will do so next week. ttfn David

  • Auto-reply tool for Windows live Messenger

    Simple tool - allows for automatic (a bit like out of office replies) to Windows Live Messenger. http://www.frameworkx.com/Frameworkx/software.aspx?id=205 ttfn David

  • WinFS - moving to SQL (Katmai) and then available to everyone - honest

    So there I was, reading about WinFS and the fact that it was going to be in Katmai - the next release of SQL and I was very happy with this when I read the blog and all the comments and discovered that the world and their dog was not happy with this. I was so concerned that I pinged Quentin who wrote the blog and got the right response from him - "when inclusion of part of WinFS into Katmai is completed, the technology will be in ALL versions of SQL, including the Express versions". Now before I go into more detail, what was WinFS always going to be? A way to store data alongside the filesystem (no, not to replace NTFS) and access it using all those nice database functions. How did people think the data was stored or where the database functions were going to be provided from? SQL of course, so having to load a cut down version of SQL Server onto the system was always what a WinFS install does - and will do, just you now load it via SQL Express rather than WinFS setup. I am sure some of the technical detail is...

  • Do you want to run through a series of self paced scenarios for Windows Vista and then send us feedback?

    I have just found this site - it is really quite good and will only get better. Simple go to http://windowsbeta.microsoft.com/vista/setup.aspx , tell it which version of Vista you are running (most likely 5384 - Beta 2) and then home button. On the left hand side a list of categories will pop up, but there is a HUGE amount to choose from. As an example, when I clicked security, this is the list: Security Internet Options Determine the privacy level you are using within the current security zone User Account Control When prompted, give permission for a program to continue Windows Defender Scan your computer using Windows Defender View items quarantined by Windows Defender Run Software Explorer to view all software running on your computer Windows Firewall Confirm that Windows Firewall is active and running Check to see if Wireless Portable Devices are unblocked by Windows Firewall the list of categories is long: (Recently Added) Application Compatibility Communications & Networking Ease of Access Entertainment...

  • 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...

  • Giving money to good causes - Warren Buffet follows Bill and Melinda

    One of the reasons I picked Microsoft to work for was that I felt the company had a goal stronger than "to make money for the shareholders", but also to actually do some good in the world. Bill Gates has announced that he is planning to slowly transisition to a part time role in Microsoft over the next two years to dedicate his time to the Bill and Melinda Foundation who have already given away billions to help those in need. (See http://www.gatesfoundation.com/AboutUs/Announcements/Announce-060615.htm for Bill's transition. For some astounding stats, look at http://www.gatesfoundation.com/MediaCenter/FactSheet/ - snipped from it: Number of employees: 241 Endowment: $29.2 billion Total grant commitments since inception: $10.5 billion Total 2005 grant payments: $1.36 billion Illustrative Grant Commitments United Negro College Fund , Gates Millennium Scholars Program - $1 billion The GAVI Alliance - $1.5 billion Malaria Vaccine Initiative - $258 million Save the Children , Saving Newborn Lives - $110 million United...

  • 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...

  • Were you at Office DevCon - the UK's 2nd Office Developer Dev conference - want to know more?

    OK, so DevCon has been and gone, but hopefully some of you got to see the event. There is a quick little video with people talking about the highlights on a small video . This all links from Darren's blog . One thing that it highlights is that people really enjoy playing with the product after seeing things. Jo is on the video and are many others, but again, some blogs to follow are: Office Rocker! Office 12 Watch (Office 12 is Office 2007) UK Office Pioneer Jo Carpenter's Blog Adventure Girl ttfn David
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  • How to put your copyright information and usage into Office Documents with the Creative Commons add-in

    Just a quick note to say that Microsoft have been working with Creative Commons to enable the use of their Copyright licenses and tools within Office. More info at Creative Commons can be found at http://creativecommons.org/ and the plug-in for Office can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=113B53DD-1CC0-4FBE-9E1D-B91D07C76504&displaylang=en ttfn David
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  • Chris Parkes talkes about BI which he says is "all employees within an organisation being able to access the right information in the right format in the the right time to better enable them to make sound decisions in order to do their job"

    Chris is a great guy at making difficult things sound simple. Besides getting his 5 year award at Microsoft, he talks about how he got into BI and then how he likes to help others through the use of BI. His blog is also very worth having a read at http://blogs.msdn.com/bidirectional/ . One of the things he gets very excited about is business scorecard manager too :-) ttfn David
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  • Steve Marsh talks about Office 2007 and why you should care on PTS-TV

    PTS-TV has been very, very busy with several videos released over the last few days. I have just noticed that Steve Marsh has finally spoken about Office 2007. I have previously blogged about Office, and also added several blog sites to watch on my links page . Steve can be found on the normal PTS-TV page . You can also keep up to date with PTS-TV via the RSS feed . Having said that, watch Steve Marsh tell it how it is about Office 2007 and also see other posts on this site here . To watch Steve directly, either stream it or download it (46mb). Also, even though Steve has come through the Microsoft Graduate Scheme (as is post Uni, worked for me for a year and now is a fully fledged team member alongside myself) he has managed to catch my disease of saying "So" too many times. Finally, he called me a "Big person", something I need to have a chat to him about, although while on paternity leave I have been eating chocolate at all hours recently, so he might be very right. ttfn David

  • Want to see Windows Mobile 5 working ala the SB Ignite Tour in your own demo environment

    The Funboy ala Chris has published this step by step guide to using the Windows Mobile 5 emulator with SBS to learn the WM5 funky functionality. Perhaps the most annoying thing is that the reason I fly to Boston for the World Wide Partner Conference is to demostrate part of the new People Ready Business Demo DVD mobility demos, including the stuff Chris has painstakingly documented . There is a huge amount of learning in Chris's page, so don't be thinking you can skip it. One further piece of software I would load onto this demo is to load Mobile Admin toolkit. When loading this on SBS, it will create a 2nd default web site which you will basically not be able to access. I then went to IIS admin, gave it a host header of MobileAdmin and made it available on the internal network. To access the admin tools I then access http://mobileadmin/mobileadmin . There might have been a security issue with the folder - can't remember, but I am sure you are all capable of ensuring the folders have the right permissions for...

  • Susan B has a system that keeps crashing - my take on why - crash dump analysis on SBS

    http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2006/06/22/102538.aspx I started writting this as a simple comment on the site, but it got so long, I have blogged the entry here. Susan, Since your crash dumps show 2-3 different error codes - a different one each time, my 1st suspicion would be hardware - have you run the MS memory diagnostic tool on the system otherwise, check for recent driver updates. If you need a 1hr course in debugging, have a look at http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2006/06/21/627.aspx . However we have not had a single instance of your large crash appear through our crash database - I checked, and the crash appears to be in a very well used and known piece of code, the classpnp.sys driver, which hales to NT4 for classic PNP support. Failing that, time to call PSS. If you were to do nothing but run kd -v -y SRV*d:\websymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols -z memfile.dmp on each dump you will see the different crash locations. Lots of different locations normally points to h...

  • Still want more leads from Microsoft - another pointer

    I am often asked this question. The answer of course is made up of many things, but the things I find help are: Be seen in the right places - get your SBSC qualification - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sbsc Ensure that when you click on your link on the " Find an IT Consultant " link and enter YOUR postcode, that your site tells small business what YOU can do for THEIR business, not just what IT you sell Profile yourself so others can find you through other Microsoft Tools - http://blogs.technet.com/msppuk/archive/2006/06/09/434457.aspx Use whatever Microsoft advertising is available to you - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sales_and_marketing/campaigncenter/default.aspx Go on a solution sales skills course - http://www.microsoft.co.uk/events/eventdetail.aspx?eventid=8400 Look at the other MS resources available to you - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/sales_and_marketing/benefits_diagram/default.aspx Work with other local partners to make life easier for all IT vendors around you - http://www.sbsbpi...

  • Link to my commonly viewed blogs

    Hi folks, I am sure I have missed a few people out, but I finally added the list of common blogs and sites I visit. To get to the information, click the "links" button in my blog, or go there directly by clicking here . ttfn David

  • Site look and feel updated

    I found some amazing site themes at http://japan.communityserver.info/ and have updated the default site with this. If you wish to change it back, click http://uksbsguy.com/user/EditProfile.aspx and select the site theme of "default for CS2.0". You might also notice the Posts on this site Zoom Cloud showing you a cloud of the keywords mentioned on the site. See the site in it's full glory at http://uksbsguy.com 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...

  • 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

  • Some information on things like backup and deleted items bin in WSS V3

    I was browsing over at http://msmvps.com/blogs/thenakedmvp/archive/2006/06/07/100040.aspx and noticed the entry on WSS V3. Something you can do is fire up a Virtual Server on a test box and play with WSS V3 - it has some nice features. Another thing to blog on after I get off paternity ttfn David

  • Windows Live Messenger (was MSN Messenger) is now released, final and ready

    Do you IM people? Do you want to share files with them, have voice and video conversations, even call from your PC to a real phone at the end? Then Windows Live Messenger is for you. Get it at http://messenger.live.com . From the website: Call their phones. Call their PCs. Call your friends' mobile or landline phones. It's great value within the UK or internationally. And calling someone's PC is always free. See them on the screen Show and tell: get a webcam and start a video conversation within minutes. Share stuff Set up a Sharing Folder with a friend. Drop in photos and other stuff, as much as your computer can handle. See it even when one of you is offline. A network of millions Tap into the world's largest IM network, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Soon: talk to your Yahoo! friends, too Soon you'll be able to use Windows Live Messenger to talk to your friends who use Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. The world's largest IM network is getting even bigger. 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • More on how to debug a crash (BSOD) from the dump file, or want some amazing Windows diagnostic and support tools

    I was not at Tech-Ed this year, but people like Susan Bradley and Vlad Mazek were. While they blogged on lots of interesting subjects, one that I thought I would bring up would be the how to examine a crash dump file. This was presented by Mark Russinovich who runs the amazing www.sysinternals.com site. To see the Tech-Ed presentation, go to http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032298075&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US ttfn David
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(c)David Overton 2006-23