Microsoft

I have been running this for a few weeks now and the updated search engine does not "hammer" your hard drive like the earlier versions.

This will update the built in search engine/index engine inside Vista (x86 / x64). I highly recommend this update - please give it a test drive. Please note that the Vista updates will also work for Server 2008.

There are preview versions available for Windows XP and 2003/Home Server that will eventually replace Windows Desktop Search 3.01.

You can read about the Windows Desktop Search 4.0 Preview release here.

The official description of this new version from Microsoft:

Windows Search 4.0 lets you perform an instant search of your computer. Windows Search 4.0 helps you find and preview documents, e-mail messages, music files, photos, and other items on the computer.

The search engine in Windows Search 4.0 is a Microsoft Windows service that is also used by programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. You can use this search engine to index a program's content and to obtain instant results when you search in a particular program.

Windows Search 4.0 includes the following improvements:
1. Support for the Encrypting File System (EFS)
2. Reduced affect on Microsoft Exchange when you index e-mail in online mode, and there is no local cache (.ost)
3. Support for indexing online delegate mailboxes
4. Support for client-to-client remote query to shared indexed locations
5. Improved indexing performance (I have noticed quite a difference)
5. Faster previewer updates for Windows XP
6. Per-user Group Policy settings
7. Windows software updates for Watson errors
8. Enterprise Group Policy settings

I'm now an MCITP: W2K8 Enterprise Admin, and MCITP: W2K8 Server Admin.

Update: As you can see from the comments left on this entry, I was wrong on what these tests actually are. I forgot that there were tests I took in late 2007 that WERE the upgrade tests for MCSE 2003. These tests are specifically for the Microsoft Certified IT Pro designation for Windows 2008.

More information: 70-646 and 70-647

I originally downloaded this last Sunday and updated my Pinnacle device with the new software update. I still can't get 64-bit support working for video, but it does seem to sync to my component output of my Dish PVR much faster on startup.

If firmware version is any indication of how many builds have happened between the old release and this release, check out these numbers:

Hava 1.7.3 firmware version: 229.262
Previous firmware version: 180.151

You can download the new release here.

Dan Cunningham's Workstation Migration Assistant (WMA) is a visual wrapper for the User State Migration Tool, designed to simplify the capture / restore process for end-users, and at the same time being highly configurable so that it can be customized to suit different organizational needs.

Some of the features included:

#1. The ability to migrate via a pre-defined network storage location, external USB drive, or user-specified location. USB drive detection is automatic, and you can decide whether drives below a certain size are ignored (ie, memory sticks)

#2. An optional Hard Disk Health Check that will run a CHKDSK prior to capture and fix errors if any are found

#3. An optional Encryption using a pre-defined company encryption key, or per-user customised encryption (for highly sensitive data that can’t be stored on a server without being encrypted)

#4. The ability to use different configurations for “XP Only” (XP > XP) migrations or standard (XP > Vista and Vista > Vista) migrations

#5. Automatically run pre and post-capture / restore scripts and programs (very useful to further configure machine settings)

#6. Migrate domain only accounts, or domain and local.

Grab it here.

Spotted originally here.

Hyper-V Manager MMC download - x86 / x64

Originally spotted here.

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Vista SP1 for x86-based Systems and x64-based Systems

The best part: Group Policy Management Console!

Having issues with getting Vista SP1 installed? Select the option for Unlimited installation and compatibility support at no charge until March 18, 2009 - here.

Originally spotted here.

Despite what you might hear from the Vista haters, every SP1 install I have done has gone very smoothly. The only one I had problems with was due to a thermal cooling problem with a CPU fan. As much as I would have liked to blame that on Vista SP1, it was a hardware issue.

I took a chance on a piece of hardware that I did not know much about, but it has ended up being a great addition to our house this weekend. I've always wanted to get a Slingbox to transcode anything that is located in our living room. During a recent Woot, the Pinnacle PCTV To Go HD Wireless showed up as a viable alternative to the Slingbox.

I've always known that Pinnacle software is, uh, shall we say, not always the greatest in code quality, especially when it comes to Vista support. I took a chance on it because the PCTV To Go HD Wireless is merely a rebadged Hava Wireless HD, without the TV tuner built-in. The device showed up on my doorstep this past Friday.

I spent Friday night unboxing and flashing the kernel to the latest release from Pinnacle's site, which as of right now is 180.151-64. Apparently the "-64" part indicates whether or not you have 32MB of flash or 64MB of flash. I ended up installing the client software on practically every PC in the house, which either runs XP SP3 32-bit or Vista SP1 32-bit. I couldn't get the video portion of the Hava software working on my Server 2008 64-bit install, but I wasn't expecting it to work.

Although it would have made a boring screenshot but a cool YouTube video, I was RDP'd into every system in the house from my PC and all of them were "watching TV" across our wireless infrastructure. No dropped frames. It was actually quite amazing. The five Buffalo APs in our house performed flawlessly.

There were 3 reasons I bought the device:

#1. I like watching TV after everyone else goes to sleep, but our living room TV is "loud" and can be heard practically everywhere in the house. With this transcoding whatever would normally be shown on our main TV, everyone else can sleep peacefully.

#2. The kids have PCs in their rooms but do not have any TVs. Some might consider this a good thing, but it would be nice if they could watch their recorded programs off the Dish PVR in their rooms. This is exactly what happened this weekend after I had everything installed. Sabrina and Juliana woke up to full screen TV streaming on their computer LCDs. The Saturday morning cartoons happened to be streaming at the time.

#3. When everyone is watching a DVD on the main TV, sometimes I want to watch something else in the living room. With the way I have things setup, the device streams whatever component output is coming out of the switcher box. This way, the kids and my wife can watch a DVD on the TV, and I can watch the Dish, either TV1 or TV2, or play the Xbox on my laptop full screen. Neat!

Things I've discovered over the weekend:

#1. Sabrina's PC stops streaming TV after a few hours due to a memory leak (I suspect) in her video card driver under XP. Her PC is the only XP PC left in the house, other than my Thinkpad 240. I just received a free copy of Vista Ultimate at the recent Server 2008 launch event, so her PC might be upgraded soon. I want to tap into the Media Center aspect of this device anyway.

#2. I'm having way too much fun with this thing. I had low expectations due to how much the price had been reduced from the original retail price, but it works great so far.

#3. It seems to stream RTSP so you are not limited to the Hava/Pinnacle player program. It is also supported by SageTV, which seems to provide much higher video quality than the included clients.

#4. The IR Blaster included works great with my Dish PVR. I can change channels from any PC.

Overall, I like it. If anyone out there has any other tips or tricks for this device, please let me know.

Just a quick note because someone asked me if the Zune software works under Server 2008. I tried it out as an experiment. I don't own a Zune but the software seems to install and run just fine under Server 2008 64-bit.

I am assuming the 32-bit Zune software will run under the 32-bit edition of Server 2008 also.
If and when I get a Zune, I know I can at least use it under Server 2008.

Changes include:
#1. Full support for Windows Server 2008 and Vista Service Pack 1
#2. Additional Actions including Configure DHCP, Authorize DHCP, Configure DNS, and Configure ADDS
#3. New scripts that will automate the installation of Mass Storage Drivers for Windows XP/2003
#4. Ability to use a WSUS server for the Windows Update script
#5. Improved performance for the PXE Filter for SCCM 2007 unknown computer support
#6. Improved documentation including a new Quick Start Guide for SCCM 2007

Download MDT 2008 here or the update for BDD 2007 Update 2 here.

Read more about it here.

Make sure you exclude .VHD, and .AVHD files from being scanned because it can and will cause file lock issues/contention between your AV scanner and/or the Hyper-V services.

Ditto can be said for VMWare .vmdk files.

Some people are running into this issue with the new Hyper-V beta and it will error out with an error that will not typically lead you down this path while debugging the problem.

For instance on my external drive, I have a folder named "Virtual Machines" and I exclude the whole directory tree. That might be a bit excessive but it tends to prevent problems.

Guest OS support additions (integration components):
Windows Server 2003 (x86) SMP, Windows Vista SP1 (x86) and Windows XP SP3 (x86)

Improved performance:

1. Performance fixes for scalability and throughput for workloads.
2. VMs using pass-through disks will see a substantial performance improvement.
3. Installing Hyper-V VMs via network (RIS/PXE/WDS) is greatly improved.

You will want to read over KB 949219 before blindly updating your Beta VMs to RC VMs. I personally have run into some issues trying to import my older VMs into the new build.

The main Hyper-V website, which also is not online quite yet, is going to be located here.

From the announcement here, you can find more information on the new build.

Update: You can download the x64 build here and x86 build here. Release notes here.

A hotfix is available to add Compound TCP (CTCP) support to computers that are running Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP. CTCP aggressively adjusts the congestion window of the sender to optimize TCP for connections with large bandwidth-delay products. These products include Video on Demand for Windows Server 2003 and for Windows XP.

Note: CTCP support was introduced in Windows Vista and in Windows Server 2008.
Personal note: I'll be adding this to my XP VMs, 2003 VMs, and standalone machines that are at home because CTCP has proven to be a win, performance wise, for my Internet connection.

Once the hotfix is applied, ensure CTCP is enabled by checking the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\TCPCongestionControl. It should be set to 1 as a DWORD to enable.

I'll keep it short and sweet.
x86 here, x64 here.
x86 help update here. x64 help update here.

Just install it. Trust me.

Elan has a great writeup on using iSCSI in a lab environment for Exchange 2007 SP1 SCC with Server 2008. I won't steal his thunder, so it is best just to read his post here.