I will be attending the Microsoft MVP Global Summit from November 1-5, 2015. This will be my 12th Summit, and I look forward to renewing contacts with other MVPs, as well as Microsoft product managers, and to provide feedback on Microsoft products and technologies.
Details as to what will be presented and discussed is under strict NDA (non-disclosure agreement), so I cannot share any such information. More later!
Back in January 2015 I started testing and using Splashtop Business as a remote control/support replacement for LogMeIn, which was getting too expensive for me. Splashtop is not my primary remote control solution, but I needed an alternative to LogMeIn for specific on-demand situations.
For the most part, I have been very happy with Splashtop. It does what I need it to do —
And with their Version 3.0 release which just came out, they now support multiple concurrent connections, and have redesigned the Splashtop Business window interface for easier use.
My only complaint with Splashtop had been some occasional slow performance when remoting into servers. We resolved that issue earlier this month (see blog post).
It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles with products like ScreenConnect, LogMeIn Central, and others – but the price is right ($60/year) for my needs!
I have been using a Lumia 920 phone for almost 3 years now, and love it, in spite of a few quirks. I have been anxiously awaiting news of a Windows 10 phone.
On the heels of releasing Windows 10 operating system back in July, Microsoft did announce the Microsoft Lumia 950/950XL Windows 10 phones. Both phones will come with a 20-megapixel camera. The 950 will have a 5.2” screen size, and the 950XL will be 5.7”. AT&T has already announced that will carry the phone.
However, availability of these phones are still up in the air.
But wait … there’s more!
Surface Phone Next?
News is slowly coming out that Microsoft may release a new Windows Phone next year that may be marketed as a Surface Phone, rather than a Lumia. Attachments could include a pen and a mini-attachable keyboard.
Read more at the Latin Post.
Here’s how I fixed the 0x80004005 error when trying to install KB3093266 —
First, I’m still getting used to the Windows Update interface in Windows 10. If you don’t know how to get to it, click on the Windows icon in the lower left, then click Settings, and in the window that displays, you can click on Update & security.
This morning I ran Windows Update on my computer. I clicked to select (check) the “Check online for updates from Microsoft Update” and then clicked the “Check for updates” box.
It identified a Cumulative Update for Windows 10 – KB 3093266, which it tried to install. However, the update process failed, giving me the 0x80004005 error.
I was able to fix it so it would install with these steps:
Obviously, YMMV …
I stopped using LogMeIn during the past year due to their huge price increases. I have access to Teamviewer through MaxFocus for my managed customers. But I still wanted a remote connection solution for my other customers.
I eventually selected Splashtop Business, both for its ease of use and low price. It works great for what I need to do – quick remote access to a computer, supports multiple monitors, and has a built in file transfer capability.
I very rarely use Splashtop on a server, but I had need to do so recently due to an issue while reinstalling Teamviewer on an SBS 2011 server.
I connected fine, but the refresh rate of the video screen was horrible, and almost totally useless. I dug around and discovered that Splashtop requires more video memory than what most servers provide, due to the way Splashtop does it’s video refresh.
The workaround solution is to disable hardware acceleration (see Splashtop support article).
Right click on an empty part of the desktop, then click Screen ResolutionHowever, there’s one problem: if Splashtop is not refreshing your screen properly, how do you do the above steps?
What I found that worked is that as I did each of the above steps, I immediately closed my Splashtop connection, and then reopened it, and found that the screen was at the next step.
One final note: Splashtop now has a newer solution that does not require turning off hardware acceleration. that involves installing a mirror driver. But this solution also requires you to reboot the server. I will try this out at a later time.