IT

I'm not sure how large this beta test will be, but it is always nice to see what is new out there.

https://et.symantec.com/signup/

Want to help the Vista team make sure that the Media Center Extender experience on the Xbox 360 is great?

You have an Xbox 360 connected to the Internet?
You have a PC capable of running Vista Ultimate or Home Premium?
You are over the age of 18?
You reside in the US?

If all of those are a "Yes",

Sign up here:
https://mscuillume.smdisp.net/Collector/Survey.ashx?Name=MCE_beta_recruit01

Originally spotted here: http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/05/19/Sign-up-for-the-Media-Center-Extender-for-Vista-Beta.aspx

Bumped into this on accident this morning but it has a nice web page describing this configuration option. I always set this to 'True' on any machine that is low on memory and poweruser machines.

This works in (I believe) any Mozilla product that uses the underlying core libraries, so for instance, it should/will work in Seamonkey, FireFox and Thunderbird.

I seem to get the best amount of savings with Thunderbird due to my hundreds of RSS feeds.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Config.trim_on_minimize

Excellent little webpage that is generated by the main DenyHosts server.

http://stats.denyhosts.net/stats.html

If you don't know what I am talking about with DenyHosts, check out http://denyhosts.sourceforge.net

I figured out one potential case where you will need KB 908521. I mentioned it earlier in the week about how it would randomly show up from time to time on some machines. On my laptop, I have WLM installed which includes DFS-R for Shared Folder support. DFS-R stresses RPC calls so if there is an error in there somewhere, it will be more likely to happen. If you want to run WLM without DFS-R running, disable the "Messenger Sharing USN Journal Reader" service, which I believe will shutdown the DFS-R portion of WLM. Ideally, you should just apply the KB 908521 patch and you will be all set.

If I uninstall WLM on an unpatched XP box, the crashes go away. So, even though I only have a small dataset so far, I'm just going to approve KB 908521 on the WSUS servers I control.

Unless my 3 existing appointments suddenly cancel, which I don't forsee happening, I won't be able to make it downtown for this one, but it is free and worth a trip if you have the time to check it out. It is at the Cinemark on 28th street which is not too far away from our office, (un)fortunately. I'd love to be able to register to win a XBox 360 but it looks unlikely.

Overview of the TechNet events program:
http://www.technetevents.com/

For the morning TechNet session, pre-register here:
http://tinyurl.com/elzb6

They will be covering, from 8am to 12pm:
Session 1: Implementing Security for Wireless Networks
Session 2: Responding to Computer Attacks
Session 3: What’s Next for Microsoft® Security?

An ISV 'Touchdown' meeting is happening at the same time, same place:

Overview of the ISV 'Touchdown' program:
http://www.touchdownbriefings.com/

Direct link to the Grand Rapids ISV event:
http://tinyurl.com/r4nxg

A Microsoft Connections event is also happening:

Overview of the Microsoft Connections event:
http://www.microsoft.com/connections

Direct link to the registration for the Grand Rapids Connection event:
http://tinyurl.com/kjjmm

We are a Microsoft partner, so I really wish we could make it down there, but we're frankly too busy right now to set aside time for meet and greets!

Since I'm on a DFS/RPC kick this morning, this link is very handy to have if you are having problems with DFS replication. The hotfix I linked to earlier this morning has been known to fix a few 'silent' DFS failures, so if you are relying on DFS for your business, I think you should install that fix ASAP to be on the safe side.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/storage/dfs/hotfixes.mspx

RPCRT4.DLL seems to have a bug that will make it crash under the right conditions. Some places will never see an error, other places will have crashes all day long. Either way, it is worth patching to avoid this error before you see it firsthand.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908521

If you are seeing problems, and this patch fixes it, please let me know. I'm personally trying to figure out what exactly triggers this error.

Wow! I remember back when WSUS didn't cover as many products as it does now. I setup a new WSUS server Friday night that I wanted to be an 'end-all, be-all WSUS server' and was a bit shocked at the amount of data it needed to download.

I really want a Smartphone as my next phone if anything for the Exchange features but this is also another compelling reason to get a Smartphone. CRM mobile client!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ea5a3566-7ec8-4afe-bbfa-91e7210c55c4&DisplayLang=en

The requirements overall don't look too bad - as long as you are running WM 2003, it seems like you are golden.

Good week for new software releases.

Quicktime 7.1: http://quicktime.apple.com

Process Explorer 10.1: http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/processexplorer.html

SiSoft Sandra 2007: http://www.sisoftware.co.uk

Process Explorer 10.1 has enhanced support for Vista now too.

Someday I hope to be a PowerShell MVP but first I have to finish my scripts!

A bunch of nice PowerShell (aka Monad) resources from the Program Manager Leonard Chung:

Here's a list of available resources for your learning pleasure:

Visit the main Windows PowerShell website:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/powershell/default.mspx

Download the latest version of Windows PowerShell and the Windows PowerShell Documentation Pack at Download Center:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads

Search for "PowerShell"
(Be sure to uninstall any old versions of Monad before installing the RC1)

Browse the Windows PowerShell script repository and
read up on Windows PowerShell script tips at Technet Script Center:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx

Create Cmdlets and Providers using the Windows PowerShell Developer reference on MSDN:
http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref12/html/N_System_Management_Automation.asp

Discuss Windows PowerShell with Windows PowerShell team members, Windows PowerShell MVPs,
and scripting enthusiasts in the scripting newsgroup microsoft.public.windows.server.scripting:

http://tinyurl.com/g34r8

Get the latest scoop on Windows PowerShell on the blogs by Windows PowerShell MVPs and team members.
Here's a list of some of the ones out there:

Windows PowerShell Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell

Arul Kumaravel's Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/arulk

Keith Hill's Blog: http://spaces.msn.com/keithhill

Lee Holmes' Blog: http://www.leeholmes.com/blog

Marc van Orsouw's Blog: http://mow001.blogspot.com

Thomas Lee's Blog: http://tfl09.blogspot.com

Read all about Windows PowerShell in its first published book.
Published by O'Reilly, this book is available to view online as well as for purchase in stores.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/msh

Ever since Windows Update v6 has gone live, I've seen a lot of systems that had Windows Updates turned off due to one simple fact. I complained about it during the beta but it was too late in the process to get it changed and I don't think it really was on the radar of the developers anyway. The annoying 'Updating your computer is almost complete. You must restart your computer for the updates to take effect." reminder that pops up constantly until you reboot. True, you can set the delay timer in the GPO but the upper bound on the setting is too low for my tastes.

I agree it is important for people to reboot to get the updates fully installed, but if it comes down to people disabling it due to how annoying it is, I think there should be a toggle for it. Today, I patched a Windows XP SP1 machine due to this problem. It had 76 updates waiting for it, including SP2.

You can short circuit the reminder by turning off the Automatic Updates service after you apply updates, but that is a bit of a hassle. A lot of times you have to wait until afterhours to reboot a machine you just updated.

It has been talked about before but I suspect people will run into this issue more as time goes on. It is a simple change/fix overall but if your Goodlink or Blackberry software has problems after installing a recent Exchange store.exe update, you'll want to verify these settings.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916803

Also worth checking out:
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/04/28/426707.aspx

Well this is unfortunate. Adaptec basically says "Tough luck!"

The link to their KB article:
http://adaptec-tic.adaptec.com/cgi-bin/adaptec_tic.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14212

Potential workaround (untested): Setup a Windows server that maps the Snap share, and then share out that resource from the Windows Server and point all your Terminal Server network shares to that machine. I'm surprised Adaptec doesn't mention something like that, but it seems like it would work. I may just find out in the next few weeks at a client site.