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Archive for Windows – Page 16

TechEd 2012 Sharepoint Presentation

by KW · Comments (0)
Jun 11 2012

I finally attended my first Microsoft TechEd conference this year. All I can is “Wow”!

I was asked to speak and facilitate a Birds of a Feather session on the topic of “Advanced Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint 2010”. the room was standing-room only (SRO) – over 100 people.

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The specifics of this session was listed as: “In this session we discuss advanced SharePoint architectures with specific highlights on service applications, cross-farm services, multi-tenants, and architecting search for performance. We examine pain points from the participants in the group and discuss possible strategies to overcome challenges.”.

To say I was a bit nervous and intimidated is an understatement. But what a great time it was. I really enjoyed talking and speaking with so many people from a wide variety of businesses and technical backgrounds.

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Click on the link above to view the video of the entire session.

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Categories : Conferences, News, Servers, Sharepoint, Windows
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Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA)

by KW · Comments (0)
May 25 2012

In the SBS world, I primarily install and recommend Dell servers. Dell’s OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) is a required install on every Dell server I manage.

You can locate and download the latest version of OMSA here. The download executable file is just under 200MB in size. Once it is downloaded, go ahead and install it. It will create a C:\OpenManage directory.

To start things up, click on the setup.exe program under C:\OpenManage\Windows folder. The first thing it will do is run a pre-requisite check. You will want to review the pre-req screen and address any specific issues.

I did this on an existing Dell T310 recently, and it reported that the firmware level for my Perc 6/I adapter did not meet minimum version requirements.

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The pre-req report provides a link provided, which will reported both my current driver and firmware levels installed, and what levels (at a minimum) were required.

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In this case, upgrading the Perc 6/I firmware requires a reboot of the server. After rebooting, restart the OMSA setup.exe, and after the pre-req scan completes, click on the Server Administrator button on the lower right to begin installation of OMSA. Installation proceeds and completes in just a few minutes.

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Once the installation is completed, you will want to add OMSA to your quick launch taskbar – icon image

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When you start up OMSA you will get a warning about the website’s security certificate. Click to continue for now, and start exploring your server.

P.S. be sure to clean up things by deleting the OMSA download file and the C:\OpenManage install directory

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Categories : SBS, Tools, Windows
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Windows Defender Offline

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 27 2012

Microsoft recently released Windows Defender Offline (WDO), which is a standalone CD/USB bootable rootkit/malware scanner program. If you have a computer that will not start up properly because of malware, try WDO.

WDO is essentially the new name for the Microsoft’s Standalone System Sweeper (MSSS).

There are separate versions of WDO for scanning 32-bit and 64-bit systems. From a “good” computer, download the appropriate version of WDO and run the executable. It will prompt you to install it on a CD, create an ISO image, or create a bootable USB stick. You can then use the CD/USB on the infected computer.

WDO can be used to scan Windows XP (SP3), Vista, and Windows 7 systems.

My recommendation for I.T. technicians is to grab two USB sticks, and install the 32 bit version on one, and the 64 bit version on the other, and keep them in your toolkit.

One nice thing with WDO is that if the infected computer does have internet access, when you boot up WDO, it will go out and look for updated definition files.

Finally, you may find Microsoft Resources and Guidance for Removal of Malware and Viruses helpful.

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Categories : Malware, Security, Windows
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Skydrive 25GB Upgrade

by KW · Comments (0)
Apr 23 2012

If you have a Microsoft SkyDrive account, you can increase your maximum storage capacity from 7GB to 25GB for free. Just go to your SkyDrive account and click on ‘Manage Storage’.

If you do not have a SkyDrive account, create one for free, and it’s possible that you too can upgrade your storage from 7GB to 25GB.

I cannot say for certain, but I believe this free upgrade will be available through the month of April.

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Categories : News, Skydrive, Windows

Disabling SSLv2 for PCI-DSS Scan

by KW · Comments (0)
Mar 23 2012

Are you running a Small Business Server (SBS) or a Windows Home Server (WHS)? If so, chances are you have forwarded port 443 (SSL) on your router or firewall to point to your server in order to utilize the Remote Web Workplace (Access) feature of these servers. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) requires certain standards to be in place if you are processing credit card information. One of those standards is that SSLv2 is deemed unacceptable, and you will fail a PCI scan if its enabled.

Disabling SSLv2 requires a simple registry edit. I have tested this with both SBS and WHS. Copy and paste the following lines into a empty text file, and aftersaving it, rename the text file to use a .reg suffix (e.g. disable-sslv2.reg).

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\PCT 1.0\Server]
“Enabled”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\SSL 2.0\Server]
“Enabled”=dword:00000000
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Categories : SBS, WHS, Windows

Workstation Goes to Sleep Unexpectedly

by KW · Comments (0)
Mar 23 2012

I recently encountered a situation with a Dell workstation that would unexpectedly go into hibernation (sleep mode). This occured even though I had gone into the power profile settings and turned off both hibernation and sleep mode. I had also turned off the power save mode on the NIC card. And there was no UPS software installed on this workstation. I was out of answers.

A tip of the hat to my fellow SBS MVP’er, David Nickason, who provided the solution. He said that he has seen this on several Dell workstations. He went on to say that simply turning off hibernation doesn’t always work, and you need to actually disable it. How do you do that? With the powercfg command.

To disable hibernation on a workstation, open up a command prompt in Administratror mode, and type: powercfg /hibernate off

r, which was to not only turn it offis to open up a command prompt.identified the solution.I love the Remote Web Access (formerly Remote Web Workplace) available in the Small Business Server (SBS) platform since SBS2003.through SBSRecently I’ve had a couple of workstations at different offices

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Categories : Windows

Connecting Windows 8 Beta to SBS

by KW · Comments (0)
Mar 06 2012

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Win8 CP) was released for public beta testing on Feb 29, 2012. If you wish to test a Windows 8 client to an existing SBS 2008 or SBS 2011 server, there are some known issues. They include:

  • A warning message will be displayed when joining Win8 CP to SBS 2011 standard
  • Win8 CP cannot join SBS2008 via http://connect
  • Win8 CP cannot get updates via WSUS on SBS2011Standard and SBS2008

Please check out the Official SBS Blog for more details on these issues, and workarounds.

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Categories : SBS, Windows

Windows 8 Beta Available

by KW · Comments (0)
Feb 29 2012

Yes, the first public beta (preview) of Windows 8 is now available for download and testing. This version is designed for touch screens and tablets, but will work on computers that still used the old-fashion keyboard and mouse!

Microsoft has prepared a 34 page Windows 8 Product Guide (pdf) that describes Windows 8 and its features in more detail.

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Categories : News, Windows

Malwarebytes Database Version Numbering Change

by KW · Comments (0)
Dec 23 2011

Today I was updating Malwarebytes on a customer computer, and for a moment I thought I had a rogue version of Malwarebytes. That’s because the version number associated with their database definition file had a completely different naming structure.

But a quick visit to the MalwareByte’s Forum and I discovered that they had indeed changed how they identify and name their database version!

The old format for the database version was a 4 digit number, like: 8229
The new format is an 8 digit number, like: 9111122309

According to the forum post, the version number breaks down as 9yymmddvv, where
9 = indicates this is the new version format
yymmdd = the date of the veersion (111223 represents Year 2011, Month December, Day 23)
vv = the version update for that specific day (09 indicates this is the 9th update for Dec 23, 2011)

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Categories : Malware, News, Windows

Virtual CD/DVD Drive

by KW · Comments (0)
Mar 08 2011

In today’s world of high speed downloads, burning physical CDs or DVDs is becoming as antiquated as the floppy drive. After downloading an .iso file, I much prefer to copy the contents of the iso file to a bootable USB drive.

To access the contents of that iso file, you need a tool like Slysoft’s free Virtual CloneDrive that allows you to mount and access the .iso file as if it was a physical CD/DVD. They posted version 5.4.5.0 on Mar-6-2011.
Once installed, right click on your .iso file, click ‘Open with…’, and then select ‘Mount Files with Virtual CloneDrive’.

For instructions on creating a bootable USB drive and copying the contents of your iso file to the usb drive, see Charlie Russel’s blog post on the subject.

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Categories : SBS, Windows
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