Technology Upgrade Program

Posted in OS, SBS2003 at 8:08 pm by webmaster

Microsoft offered a “Technology Ugrade Program” where if you purchased Windows Small Business Server 2003 (SP1) during a certain period in 2006 you would be eligible to receive a free upgrade to Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 when it came out (October timeframe)

After supplying the Certificate of Authority and the original shipping invoice and my credit card number (Shipping charge) to a Microsoft representative in Oct 2006, I have finally received my upgrade.  Two days it will be Feb 1, 2007)

The upgrade consists of a single CD (Part # X12-01411) containing the R2 bits. 

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01.22.07

Default email account being switched from Pop to Exchange

Posted in Exchange at 1:17 am by webmaster

When using clients connected to a SBS2k3 domain do you find that if you try to set the default email account to a pop account the setting will revert back to the exchange account after a reboot?

Its easy to fix just create the following registry entry:

Key: HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SmallBusinessServer\Client Setup
Value Name: NoTransportOrder
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

This will need to be modified on every workstation in your domain that you want this applied to. 

This is great if you are simply trying to test something but I would not recomend this in a production environment.

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01.20.07

Understanding Security Events in Windows

Posted in OS, win2003, SBS2003 at 4:06 am by webmaster

The good folks over at the sbs2k  Yahhoogroup were discussing how to intrepret security events in the eventlog.  Since I *know* I will need this next week I thought I would take the time to note the nuggets of information posted.

Microsoft Article on Auditing User Authentication

•  http://support.microsoft.com/?id=174073

Logon/Logoff codes

• http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Logon-Types.html

 See Security Expert Randy Smith’s plain english encyclopideo on Windows security events

http://www.ultimatewindowssecurity.com/encyclopedia.html

Do you know vbscript?  Want to search the event logs under control of a script?  See a previous article I wrote on this subject. 

Another nice article on Security audit:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/midsizebusiness/topics/serversecurity/attackdetection.mspx

 

 

 

 

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Supporting SBS 2003 with WM5

Posted in WM5 at 2:46 am by webmaster

A Windows Mobile 5 phone is a great tool to help support Windows Small Business installations. 

 As of January 2007 here is a wishlist of the features I shopped for when purchasing a new phone:

• VGA screen   
• To make those Terminal Services sesions easier to use
• QWERTY keyboard 
• To make data entry easier
• Bluetooth
• To allow headset and gps operation
• WIFI
• Economical way to keep your phone synced up wirelessly
• GSM
• Unlocked GSM phone so I have flexibility when travelling.

I ended up with a HTC TYTN (SoftBank X01HT version).  This satisfied all of my requirements accept for the VGA screen.  I also ended up with a 2 GByte micoSD card (transflash) (Need at least 1GByte for Tom Tom 6) and a Holux GPSSlim 236 Bluetooth GPS Receiver. 

The Software I downloaded to the phone was the following:

• Tom Tom Navigator 6
• Help navigate to and from client sites using GPS
• Opera Browser
• Surf the internet using a browser that renders web pages better than PIE
• Smaato Cost
• Keep track of voice and data calls automatically (freeware)
• GSPlayer 
• Stream audi to your WM5 device (freeware)
• NoData
• Disbale data only service to your WM5 device at the touch of a button (freeware)
• WiFiFoFum
• Create coverage maps of WIFI hotspots using GPS and WIFI (freeware)
• AutoPostMedia 
• Take a picture and automatically post to any website (freeware)
• Push Email using Exchange
• Simple configuration provided you have the right ROM for your phone

Using a WM5 device to support your clients is definetly a time saver.  From simple tasks like navigating to client sites easily without getting lost to creating coverage maps that NetStumbler software can use, you will find that WM5 will increase your productivity.  Having the ability to sync your data wirelessly from anywhere anytime using a GSM (3G too) - esp. the email/calandar/contacts in Exchange is bar none the best killer ap. 

If you are like me and reside in Canada where there are no unlimited data plans, WIFI is my connection method of choice.  The NoData program provides you with a piece of mind that you won’t end up with a $1000 cell phone bill.   And of course lets not forget the terminal services client where you can login to workstations and server remotely from anywhere.  Although the small screen makes it a bit tough to navigate.

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01.14.07

Deploying Acrobat products with Group Policy

Posted in Uncategorized, OS at 2:26 pm by webmaster

The easiest way to deploy Acrobat products (including Adobe Reader and Adobe Professional products) is to use the tools provided by Adobe.

The foloowing table shows which products can be used for which versions of Adobe Acrobat.

1. Acrobat 8 products (Customization Wizard)
2. Acrobat 7 products (Installshield Tuner 7)
3. Acrobat 6 and prior (Installshield Tuner)

If you are famliar with deploying software by group policy then this process is relatively easy.  Simply use the tool  provided to create a custum installation file and then deploy it along with the .msi file.  For complete details on this process see Adobes documentation here.  Also see these references on Adobe Enterprise Deployment.

 

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