Aaron Tiensivu's Blog

I'm venting a little right now because no one is around and this is my only outlet. What a pisser. My uncle that has been battling lung cancer finds out last week that he is also battling colon cancer, which is now the size of a grapefruit in his abdomen. It is wrapped around too many things so they did a bypass of the tumor and plan to do radiation on it.

Well, today or last night, he had a heart attack and arrested pretty badly. I don't know if it is a coincidence or not but I had a lot of bad dreams last night. They brought him back and he's in the ICU now. I don't know much more than that, other than my mom is going down there right now to visit if she can.

I was just at his daughter's wedding last weekend. He is (was?) such a cool guy. I hate losing family members. I really haven't until recently.

His son is in Iraq now. He's in the Air Force as a bomb specialist. His daughter ended up writing the White House months ago to see if they could delay his deployment until a few days after her wedding. He was initially scheduled to go back out to Iraq a week or so before her wedding. Needless to say, it was important for her to have her whole family there. I'm very grateful that they came through on her request.

That is all for now.

Check out what has been fixed and download the update here.

Mostly bug fixes but it looks like they snuck in a new feature:
"You cannot specify a configuration file to use with BDD 2007. The update rollup enables a new parameter in BDD 2007 that lets you specify an XML configuration file. The configuration file describes the settings that the Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) should migrate and the settings that USMT should not migrate."

Originally spotted the announcement here.

Noteworthy update from Michael Niehaus at Microsoft: "We also can now take care of MSU files when importing OS patches so that you don't need to do this manually."

You no longer have to manually extract Vista updates for your images! Hooray!

This might be good to know/have if your Office Communicator / Speech Server is stuttering for no good reason with Windows 2003. The Vista KB/hotfix is located here.

SYMPTOMS
You record audio by using a USB microphone on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or that is running Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, or Windows Vista. However, you find that the quality of the recording is poor. For example, there may be gaps or pauses in the recording. This problem occurs on a computer that is using 4 gigabytes (GB) of RAM or more.

Having trouble with 'Point and Print' with Vista? This KB/hotfix might be for you!

SYMPTOMS
Consider the following scenario. A shared printer is hosted on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer. On a Windows Vista-based client computer, you use the "Point and Print" feature to connect to this printer. In this scenario, the printer does not work correctly.

CAUSE
This problem occurs because registry information for the printer is overwritten on the Windows Vista-based client computer. This registry information is replaced by the registry information for the Windows Server 2003 version of the printer driver. Windows Vista does not correctly merge the dependent registry files.

This is a Vista hotfix. The Windows 2003 server is behaving correctly.

Vista pre-SP1 hotfix collection as of 06-12-07:
I've concentrated on the non-critical updates that don't always show up on Windows Update.
Sidenote: I wish Microsoft hosted a page like this.

A good portion of these are wrapped up into one package with Autopatcher.

Add-ons

KB 927853
NetMeeting 3.02 - A hotfix is available to install NetMeeting 3.02 on computers that are running Windows Vista

KB 928439
PowerShell

KB 929470
Visual Studio 2005 SP1 – Vista Update

KB 917607
WinHlp32.exe - The Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) program is no longer included with Windows operating systems starting with Windows Vista

NTBACKUP - Windows NT Backup - Restore Utility

Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 (ActiveSync for Vista)

Core OS

KB 933272 - Updates Kernel!
The system time lags when you restart a Windows Vista-based computer that supports High Precision Event Timer

KB 932590
Windows-based applications that use the TZ environment variable may not work as expected because of changes to DST

KB 930979
You may receive a "Stop 0x0000007E" error message after you enable the BitLocker Drive Encryption feature in Windows Vista

KB 930955
Moveuser.exe is incompatible with Windows Vista and is replaced by the new Win32_UserProfile WMI functionality

KB 929777
Error message when you try to install Windows Vista on a computer that uses more than 3 GB of RAM: "STOP 0x0000000A"

KB 931573
You may be prompted to activate Windows Vista on a computer on which Windows Vista was already activated by a Volume License or OEM installation

Core OS subcomponents

KB 932246
March 2007 Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update

KB 931099
An update is available for Windows Defender on Windows Vista

KB 931174
Update for the Windows Vista Customer Experience Improvement Program

KB 928089
The computer may respond very slowly as the Phishing Filter evaluates Web page contents in Internet Explorer 7

KB 929735
You may not find the file that you want when you use Advanced Search to search by date and you use a non-Gregorian calendar format in Windows Vista

KB 930857
An update is available for Windows Error Reporting in Windows Vista to make sure that problem reports are sent only after you have granted permission

KB 929761
When you run Wusa.exe together with the /quiet option to try to install certain software packages on a Windows Vista-based computer, the installation fails (important for SMS/BDD)

KB 907306
Web Folders / WebDAV update (important for Sharepoint)

Windows Update 7.0.6000.374 (x86, x64)

IDE/SATA

KB 932079
Power consumption may be slightly more than expected on a portable Windows Vista-based computer that uses a SATA hard disk that does not support Host-Initiated Link Power Management

KB 933578
An Ultra DMA Mode 5 device may perform only at the speed of an Ultra DMA Mode 2 device after you swap devices in Windows Vista

KB 930194
A computer uses an SiI PATA chip does not recognize an attached optical drive as a drive that supports recording after you install Windows Vista

KB 931263
Disk enumeration optimizations are disabled on certain Windows Vista-based computers that are using a hot swappable drive bay

KB 928253
SATA optical drives are not available after you start a Windows Vista-based computer

Networking

KB 934202
You experience slow performance on a Windows Vista-based computer after you establish a VPN connection

KB 933872
The default gateway setting is lost when you wake a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep

KB 933340
You cannot use a remote access server to apply DHCP options to a Windows Vista-based computer

KB 935755
You cannot access a shared network resource that is hosted by a Windows Vista-based computer if the SMB request packet exceeds the MTU size

KB 933664
Error message when you try to connect to a shared resource from a Windows Vista-based client computer: "A device attached to the system is not functioning"

Multimedia

KB 929615
You may not receive audio in the desired language when you use Windows Media Center to view television in Windows Vista

KB 932649
You may experience poor video quality when you use interlaced mode on a Windows Vista-based computer

KB 929399
Subscription services cannot extract metering data when the services try to synchronize metering data on a client computer that is running the Windows Media Format 11 SDK

KB 936825
Secure Digital (SD) rollup package

KB 932988
Files from a Canon EOD 1D or 1DS camera may be corrupted after you use Windows Photo Gallery or Windows Explorer to edit the file metadata in Windows Vista

KB 929762
You receive a Stop 0x9F error when you wake a Windows Vista-based computer that is connected to an IEEE 1394-based device

Power Management

KB 935783
When you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep, you may experience unexpected behavior from a USB device

KB 934429
The "Allow hybrid sleep" option is intermittently missing from the Advanced Settings tab of the Power Options dialog box in Windows Vista

KB 928135
A Windows Vista-based computer stops responding when you resume the computer from hibernation

KB 925528
You may experience problems after you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation

KB 929577
A Bluetooth device may no longer work correctly when you wake a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep

KB 925255
Power consumption increases when you run a WPF-based program that runs an animation in Windows Vista

KB 929685
A high definition audio device may no longer work after you resume Windows Vista from sleep or from hibernation and then restart the computer.

USB

KB 936824
The Safely Remove Hardware feature and the Windows Explorer "Eject" command do not work correctly with an Apple iPod that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer

KB 934796
Error message on a Windows Vista-based computer that is running a USB composite device: "STOP 0x000000FE"

KB 934633
When you connect a USB multifunction printer device to a Windows Vista-based computer, a 2nd instance of the printer object is created, and the 1st instance no longer works

Read more about it here and the fact that you no longer have to register for them. Nice.

You can download the cmdlets directly from here.

Grab the RTM (non-beta) release here.

The short list of additions, interesting to me, since the last release:
1. Support for hardware-assisted virtualization technology (AMD-V and Intel VT)
2. VHD Mount command-line tool and APIs
3. Support for additional guest and host operating systems
4. Virtual SCSI fix for Linux guests
5. VMRC ActiveX control and Internet Explorer security zones
6. New VMRC client option to enable video stretch in full screen mode

I'll write more about this when I have more time but essentially the low level kernel filters that come with McAfee are not very cluster aware. If you seem to have a lot of excessive I/O and/or contentions on your SAN, make sure you exclude "\Device\HarddiskVolume*" from scanning if you do not want McAfee scanning on a particular SAN drive.

Real world example of why this is important: Exchange information stores on a SAN. Most likely you have already excluded the logical drive paths to the information stores, but if you check the VirusScan On-Access Scan Statistics, you will notice a lot of activity on "\Device\HarddiskVolumeXX\EXCHSRVR\MDBDATA\*".

Why is this bad? It is a great way to corrupt your information store due to .LOG files getting yanked out and put into quarantine, and is practically the equivalent of the old "scanning the M: drive" problem that a lot of people using Exchange 2000 had, except much more dangerous.

Also noteworthy, any version of 8.0i before patch 11 has a very nasty non-paged pool memory leak that can and will eventually take down a server given enough time. The behavior will vary depending on the role of the server but typically you end up with event logs from the Srv source complaining about not enough memory available.

It makes sense if you think about it. It is actually a small black and white "Microsoft" image. Even if the link has some type of compression, you will get better 'real world' results with a JPG due to the non-compressability of most JPG images.

Read more about it here.

Handy "update" for the small mom and pop shops that rely on NTBACKUP for backups and restores. I often wondered why NTBACKUP never logged an event log about media full status. If you need this functionality, you can now get it by requesting hotfix 925694.

Very cool "add-on" application for BDD. Tired of having an unsorted application list? Go download the application referenced here.

Side-note: Now that the BDD Source Code is on MS's site, I'm almost tempted to implement this natively.

Solution? Turn on UAC, install shared printer.

Read more about it here.

Injected blew me away when they opened up for Fu Manchu in 2002 in Ohio. I quickly picked up Burn it Black, their debut album. Riffy rock with great production from Butch Walker.

I didn't know it at the time, but that album would become the soundtrack for my trips from Grand Rapids to Troy every weekend for the next few years to see the girl that would eventually become my wife. Our first pseudo-date was a day after the show in February 2002.

Unfortunately, like all good bands, the label they were on didn't know how to market them. On a good note, it looks like the follow up album to Burn it Black may see the light of day, although it probably won't have any of the original members except D Grady.

You can read about the news here.

Real rock music seems to be making a comeback, so if anyone owns a label out there, I would seriously get in touch with D Grady about this album.

Update: Looks like the video for "Faithless" from the Burn it Black album is on YouTube here. If you like the song, go out and buy the album. There isn't a bad song on it.

This was the first show I saw at the "new" Intersection in Grand Rapids.
I had seen many shows at the old Intersection in the 90s and early 2000s, including Letters to Cleo, Zwan, Expanding Man, Killing Heidi, Tonic, and many others that I am forgetting.

I was impressed how well the ventilation system worked at the new location. For someone allergic to cigarette smoke and a lifelong asthmatic, I didn't have any issues.

Porcupine Tree has always been a band that has been hard to review for music reviews and for fans to describe. I hate trying to pigeon hole them into a specific genre but most of the time they get lumped into the progressive rock category. I don't necessarily agree with that, because I don't consider myself much of a prog rock fan but I am quite a Porcupine Tree fan. For instance, I'll probably never go to a Rush, Yes or Dream Theatre show. Great music, just not my style.

The audience mix was interesting. An even blend of old and young, which is a great demographic, because it shows that good music transcends generations.

I admit I am a bit of a late comer to the band, after hearing Shallow from Deadwing on the radio driving home from work one day in 2005. It was one of those moments where the hair on the back of your neck stands on end. I had to figure out who this band was. A few years and many albums later, I have a pretty good picture.

The show overall was excellent. The softer songs translated very well to a live setting, and the harder edged songs really had a dynamic and energy that only a live show can provide. Most of the songs had a multimedia display that played behind the band during the show that really added to the event. You can tell they put a lot of effort and thought behind their music. Even though the albums have quite a lot of production to them, they were able to pull off live renditions with very little aid of prerecorded material. I don't go to shows to see exact replicas of the albums or for a lip-sync extravaganza.

With the amount of talent in this band, there is no reason they are not playing the Van Andel or Palace, but maybe I am a little greedy when I say I am glad I am still able to see them in a small venue. I tend to avoid enormodome shows like the plague due to how impersonal they are.

Like the audience, the set list was a mix of old and new. All of Fear of a Blank Planet was played.
Steve Wilson noted during the show that Fear of a Blank Planet was a concept album about ADD. After many listens, I can definitely see that.

Personal highlights of the show for me were: Open Car, Mother and Child Divided, Lightbulb Sun, and of course, the 18 minute long Anesthetize. The song has 3 distinct parts and I never notice that it lasts 18 minutes while listening to the album. Considering that the album is about ADD, I find that a bit amusing.

Songs that never clicked with me on album but clicked for me live were: My Ashes, Sleep Together, and Halo. I have a new appreciation for all three songs now.

After the show, I was able to get a poster signed by all the band members. I'm going to hang it somewhere near my desk at home. I will take a picture of it and my ticket sometime soon and post them.

A preshow interview with Steve Wilson can be found here.

A good discussion about the Grand Rapids show can be found here. I ended up not wearing my Happycat shirt. I wore a green shirt I had bought at Walmart about a half hour before the show that said "I rock out because it is what I do!". I didn't want to go to the show in my professional work clothes but didn't have any T-shirts in the car, so the $5 el-cheapo shirt had to suffice. I didn't want to break the PCU movie rule and wear a Deadwing tour shirt.

A collection of pictures from the show, not mine, can be found here.

Setlist:
Fear of a Blank Planet
Lightbulb Sun
My Ashes
Anesthetize
Open Car
Gravity Eyelids
Drown With Me
Sentimental
Blackest Eyes
Half Light
Sever
Way Out of Here
Sleep Together
Even Less
Mother & Child Divided
Halo

In summary, go see these guys live and buy the albums!

Downloads for Windows XP, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit, and others.
Release notes for Catalyst 7.5

Utility to add Thinkpad (and other mobile) support.

Also, if you follow Autopatcher at all, May 2007 Full release is finally out.
Great for getting machines up to date with patches, offline, without a WSUS server.