http://www.mrtweak.com Windows network, systems, and software Administration Tips & Tricks Tue, 08 May 2007 07:50:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Microsoft and IT consulting company Unisys are offering a free demo of Exchange Server 2007. This is well worth it to evaluate the big changes and some improvements in this new version of Exchange and Outlook Web Access (OWA). The trial is only 5 days long, but all that's required to ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/free-trial-of-exchange-server-2007-hosted-by-microsoft-and-unisys/ For years HP has been adding expiration dates to some inkjet printer cartridges so they can't be indefinitely refilled. There was even a lawsuit contending every HP inkjet printer since 2001 was affected by the expiration. The problem generally only affects printer users who refill their cartridges, but I've run ... http://www.mrtweak.com/laptop-and-desktop-hardware/stop-expiration-of-hp-inkjet-printer-cartridges/ I've always wondered if most hosting companies even care about supporting their customers when traffic surges hit. A recently Dugg article "How Not To Deal With A Digg" makes it worth revisting those thoughts and putting up a bit of math to support that shared hosting companies are concealing a ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/iis-server/dugg-or-slashdotted-why-shared-web-hosting-is-a-scam/ Mrtweak.com is being moved to a new server this weekend (Jan 27th & 28th). Please excuse any downtime as the new DNS destination propagates. http://www.mrtweak.com/news/mrtweakcom-server-transfer-excuse-any-downtime/ The Recovery Console is an incredibly powerful tool at times when a Windows system boots straight into a blue screen (of death) error or viruses/spyware have even made the system unusable in safe mode. Unfortuantely it's hard to use for several reasons. Firstky, Microsoft doesn't, to my knowledge, provide complete ... http://www.mrtweak.com/it-customer-service/consulting-tips/recovery-console-reference-to-solve-blue-screen-at-startup/ Anyone who's a Windows Vista beta tester probably knows it already, but Windows Vista probably isn't going to ship "on time". Everyone knows why (bugs, bugs, bugs), but Robert McLaws makes some great observations in "Vista Needs More Time" and compares the buggy Vista Bets 2 with Visual Studio 2005 Beta ... http://www.mrtweak.com/users-usability/windows-vista-shipping-or-slipping/ I've started doing a lot of development lately and been shopping for an MSDN subscription. I happened to run across an academic copy of Visual Studio 2005 Professional with an MSDN Pro subscription, for just $1. While I may not be able to take advantage of the deal, maybe someone ... http://www.mrtweak.com/useful-websites-and-software/visual-studio-pro-with-msdn-subscription-just-1-for-students/ After at least one person's My Document's folder was encrypted by the Archiveus virus the BBC is reports that the password has been cracked. In case you ever need it the 30-character password that is used to hold files for ransom is mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw. While it's less and less likely for PC ... http://www.mrtweak.com/anti-virus-anti-spyware-desktop-security/password-to-archiveus-extortion-virus-is-found/ MIT's Media Lab demo'd prototypes of their $100 laptops today, May 23rd. Here's a photo gallery of the OLPC $100 laptops that are targeted at children in developing nations ...and they're some sweet little machines. Putting aside the issues of black- and gray-market sales of these systems the whole rest ... http://www.mrtweak.com/laptop-and-desktop-hardware/first-pictures-of-100-mitolpc-laptops/ Seen any "Delivery Status Notification" messages lately? With many companies (especially AOL, GMail, and Yahoo) upgrading mail servers or updating their spam filters frequently we've seen a big increase in how many outgoing emails are returned to us. Still, it could be your own SMTP, DNS, or anti-spam settings that ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/outlook/diagnosing-exchange-delivery-problems-with-smtp-status-codes/ Any need to run the new Internet Explorer 7 Beta to test a web app or other project? Problem is that IE 7 doesn't officially support a standalone mode anymore and installing it removes IE 6.x - so you may be giving up a working IE browser for a buggy ... http://www.mrtweak.com/network-and-internet-configuration/run-internet-explorer-7-beta-without-installing-it/ Wireless USB and PCMCIA (PC Card) adapters now available are very similar in performance. There is little reason, other than personal preference to choose one over the other. There is good reason to choose a laptop with a built-in Wi-Fi adapter over an external option, so if you're considering saving ... http://www.mrtweak.com/laptop-and-desktop-hardware/choosing-external-wi-fi-adapters-for-laptops-usb-pcmcia/ Have you implemented software restriction policies in Active Directory only to find that they stop working a few months later? Initial investigation may show the executable to still be blocked in the Group Policy - while the same executable now runs just fine on user desktops. This is because Microsoft's ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/service-packs/when-windows-software-restriction-policies-stop-working-new-software-versions/ The newest Microsoft security fix MS06-015: titled "Vulnerability in Windows Explorer Could Lead to Remote Code Execution" breaks "My Documents" access and features in IE, Office, Explorer, nVidia, Roxio, and several other 3rd-party applications. The official hotfix for the security fix is Microsoft KB article #918165 and lists the symptoms below ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/service-packs/ie-office-explorer-or-nvidia-errors-microsoft-hotfix-for-security-fix-ms06-015-kb908531/ Microsoft has just released Virtual Server 2005 R2. The software is central to Microsoft's planned server system, so grab the free download of Virtual Server here. Surprisingly, Microsoft has also announced support for virtualizing Linux in the Virtual Server 2005 system. Currently supported flavors of Linux include Red Hat ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/microsoft-frees-virtual-server-2005-and-adds-linux-support/ Recent spyware and trojans hide behind Windows' own protection for open files, while many of the new antivirus, security, and even PC-cleanup programs that are supposed to fix those also leave behind processes and open files. All of those may cause repeated "Access Denied" and "Sharing Violation" errors. Solving the errors ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-third-party-programs/utilities-to-delete-a-file-on-restart-working-around-access-denied-sharing-violation-and-spywaretrojans/ Running low on drive letters on the Windows server? Tired of splitting tons of semi-related data between separate drives or of having to deal with folder-by-folder permissions? Of reinstalling the OS when the primary partition gets full? ...think like a UNIX admin and use Windows mounted drives to create a heirachical ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/forget-windows-drive-letters-and-full-drives-use-mounted-drives-from-nas-or-san/ From Windows 95 to Windows XP & Vista the "Unhandled Exception 0x80040707" error message, pictured below, typically occurs during the installation or update of PC software. The error code is typically associated with the installation program InstallShield, which software vendors wrap around their own software packages so they can install ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/service-packs/windows-error-0x80040707-caused-by-installshield-and-windows-dep/ Always looking for a better way to manage my business' help desk queue, about two weeks ago I bought a copy of the AxoSoft OnTime 2006 software after a $495 to $5 price cut was posted via Robert Scoble. OnTime is designed as a bug tracking system, but Steve Richard's ... http://www.mrtweak.com/it-customer-service/running-a-helpdesk-queue-with-axosofts-ontime-2006-software/ Mr. Dell Support Tech., It's not possible to manually force full-duplex or half-duplex settings on ANY gigabit ports from ANY manufacturer. Yes, those same ports can still be forced to 10Mbit or 100Mbit full-/half-duplex, only 1000Mbit speed doesn't support it. No, Dell switches have not been "revised" since your training - they ... http://www.mrtweak.com/network-and-internet-configuration/cant-force-full-or-half-duplex-on-a-gigabit-switch/ While upgrading Windows 2003 servers to the new R2 feature pack, we brought a newly-imaged Windows 2000 test server into the main domain as a backup while one or more Windows 2003 servers were upgrading. About 2 days after we started the upgrades we noticed some unexpected email non-delivery (NDR) ... http://www.mrtweak.com/network-and-internet-configuration/email-or-routing-issues-with-mixed-windows-20002003-domains-does-your-firewall-support-edns/ Informal "rules" to make MashupCamp more constructive are pictured on the ZDNet's article Around the MashupCamp fire. I love their "Law of Two Feet" ...the basic priciple being to "learn, contribute, or move on to something new". It's simple advice that can help keep any IT department, Help Desk, or ... http://www.mrtweak.com/it-customer-service/help-desk-attitude/keeping-it-productive-learn-contribute-or-move-on/ As I said in a previous remote desktop reboot article, it's worth getting to know the default Microsoft tools because they're always around when everything else is crashed or broken. Here are two additional methods of rebooting a remote PC that has been accessed via Microsoft's Remote Desktop client (RDC). The ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/remote-desktop-terminal-services/remote-desktop-protocol-more-remote-reboots-without-script-or-executable/ Microsoft's newest antispyware package was just released. This is beta 2 and it's now branded "Windows Defender" instead of Microsoft Antispyware - download Windows Defender beta 2 here. The biggest changes in this new release appear to be to the program's interface, with a lot of simplification and streamlining. Dwight ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/microsoft-antispyware-beta-2-officially-released-as-windows-defender/ The new Windows Server 2003 R2 operating system upgrade is a bundle of several separate feature-packs with Windows Server 2003 SP1. This is supposed to mean that W2k3 R2 is compatible with everything that ran correctly on the SP1 version of the OS. However, a quick round of testing is ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/windows-server-2003-r2-same-software-compatiblity-as-sp1/ This secure, NOC-style, home network isn't just a geek's dream network, but a great example for small businesses. The distribution of hardware and software across several inexpensive servers (or Mac mini desktops with a few upgrades in this case) is a far better use of the small IT ... http://www.mrtweak.com/server-hardware/great-configuration-complete-inexpensive-small-business-network-servers/ A question about repairing Outlook .PST files on another forum was followed up with several questions about the file-size limit of Outlook 2003's new .PST (Unicode) format. More details than you're likely to need are below: An Outlook 2003 .PST is capable of going way beyond 2GB in size (details below). ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/outlook/repairing-outlook-2003-pst-files-and-size-limits/ Managing remote computers (and even local computers only as far away as the office next door) via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) tools is both incredibly easy and a big time saver. The biggest limitation of using the Remote Desktop Client (RDC) to manage remote PCs is that it disables the ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/remote-desktop-terminal-services/remote-desktop-protocol-easy-remote-reboots-without-a-script-or-executable/ A recent upgrade to Crystal Reports XI (CRXI) showed, yet again, why I'm never happy with the Crystal Reports system. We're largely stuck with it though because of its inclusion in so many custom and commercial .NET apps. Crystal Reports XI - "Failed to retrieve data from the database" when using ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/sql-server/crystal-reports-xi-and-mysql-fixes/ Two new updates for Microsoft Outlook and one of them is a pretty important security patch. The security patch fixes another "remote code execution" hole that allows a special form of file attachment to run itself from inside Outlook. Rather than rehash the technical details I'll comment that this is a ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/outlook/new-outlook-security-patch-junk-e-mail-filter-update-and-out-of-office-feature-request/ Apparently Symantec was installing its own rootkit with installations of Norton SystemWorks. They created a folder, called NProtect, hidden from Windows Explorer and Micorosft's APIs (in other words, it was in the regular filesystem but Windows and any software that ran correctly under it couldn't see the folder existed). While ... http://www.mrtweak.com/anti-virus-anti-spyware-desktop-security/symantecs-systemworks-installed-a-rootkit-of-its-own/ It is possible to create a situation where someone sending a meeting request will receive a "Message not delivered" response from a user who was not originally invited to the meeting. This is an uncommon message to receive because meeting requests and the use of delegates are relatively uncommon. Specifically, this ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/outlook-meeting-request-results-in-an-error-message-after-user-is-deleted-from-active-directory/ Microsoft Office 2003 and XP have create the "local installation source" (LIS) folder during installation on individual PCs. The LIS is a hidden folder that holds ALL of the files necessary to setup, restore, and add features to the installed version of Office. During the last step of Office installation ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/office-2003/change-path-of-office-installation-files-to-stop-file-not-found-error-on-update/ After setting up a new instance of IIS on a Windows 2003 test server I found that I could connect to it via the WAN and other machines on the LAN but the server itself would't display the new website. Both IE and FireFox displayed "Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)", with ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/iis-server/fixing-a-bad-request-invalid-hostname-400-error-on-windows-iis/ The new shell (aka: command or DOS prompt) built for Windows Vista is available from Microsoft downloads for Windows XP: Monad XP download. Assuming everyone hasn't already been scared off by Microsoft and picked Perl, this is the first time Microsoft is pulling together its motley spread of scripting languages ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-scripting/windows-vista-monad-shell-now-available-for-windows-xp/ A new security exploit for Windows, attached to .WMF files, is floating around the 'net, Security Focus currently has limited details on this zero-day expoit, ID'd as BID 16074. The bug is capable of remote code execution - which means it can be used to install any virus, trojan, rootkit, ... http://www.mrtweak.com/network-and-internet-configuration/windows-security-exploit-in-wmf-files-list-of-domains-to-block-at-firewall/ Visual Studio 6.0 is no longer available from the MSDN library. Visual Basic 6.0 only has until June 30th, 2006, before it's gone too. There's a note from MS's Federal Developer Team about it. Microsoft, as part of the Java/anticompetitive business practices lawsuit settlement with Sun, must stop distributing any time-of-lawsuit ... http://www.mrtweak.com/it-customer-service/visual-studio-60-no-longer-available-to-msdn-subscribaers-get-visual-basic-before-june-30th-2006/ Our network runs Exchange 2003 with SP2, the application-level firewall ISA 2000, and now Windows Mobile 5 devices (which I'm not happy about) trying to connect via the new TCP/IP Activesync 4. The ISA server passes Activesync 4 traffic to those shiny, new Windows Mobile 5 devices (I could see ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-mobile-devices/exchange-2003-sp2-bugfix-applying-policies-to-windows-mobile-5-through-isa-2000/ We're running Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphones in my office now and I'm not happy about it. Any other IT managers working at legal or accounting firms can understand the frustration of being unable to stop technophile partners from bringing in new technology. With many partners asserting their "ownership" the firm ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-mobile-devices/windows-mobile-50-activesync-4x-issues-microsoft-taking-a-while-to-get-it-right/ Ben Edelman gets to decide what is spyware and what it isn't. That's actually a good thing. Normally the only people deciding what spyware-adware-malware-grayware really is are anti-spyware vendors; many of whom have fake anti-spyware programs or just plain backtracked on blocking some programs. In Ben's case he's opposed to any ... http://www.mrtweak.com/anti-virus-anti-spyware-desktop-security/detailed-and-trustworthy-adware-research-and-news-from-ben-edelman/ As functional as Outlook is, I do get tired of Alt-Tabbing through my open programs just so I can fire off an email about something in another program or project. ...create a few duplicates of the Outlook shortcut in the Quick Launch bar and add the Outlook command-line switches shown ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/outlook/create-outlook-task-shortcuts-simplify-with-command-line-switches/ An earlier article on using Windows Server disk quotas received a shocking number of readers. There are a lot more admins paying attention to these making-life-easier tasks than I expected, asking about disk quotas is one of those simple questions that many sysadmin interviewees somehow missed. I've always figured Microsoft ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/export-and-import-windows-disk-quota-settings/ Microsoft has released AntiSpyware, beta 1.0.701 which extends the AntiSpyware beta period to July 31st, 2006. The new version is noteworthy for including the ability to remove the half-witted Sony rootkit and for probably being the last version of AntiSpyware before the name is officially changed to "Windows Defender" - ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/new-microsoft-antispywarewindows-defender-version-released/ Anyone with a fancy new laptop having trouble connecting a wired network connection when out in the field? If it's a new Dell laptop, they've added a power-saving feature that doesn't work right. The new "feature" is supposed to turn off the NIC when the laptop power & a network cable ... http://www.mrtweak.com/laptop-and-desktop-hardware/new-dell-laptops-disable-wired-nic-dont-turn-it-back-on/ Are emails sent from a Smartphone taking several days to be delivered? Several settings need to be just right - but it's an Exchange 2003 error and not a Smartphone problem. An email sent from a Smartphone and addressed to a domain outside the organization via Exchange 2003, with an SMTP ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-mobile-devices/smartphone-emails-taking-days-to-be-delivered-its-an-exchange-error/ As I've griped about before: two databases on one server is a bad idea. Virtualization and watered-down heavy iron hardware make for exceptions to this, but it's a setup to use tons of RAM and throttle specific OS systems if you run multiple instances on one server. All that being said ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/sql-server/upgrading-to-sql-server-2005-new/ The MSDE, Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine, is a stripped down version of SQL Server used as a backend in a number of software packages (some major examples: Symantec Backup Exec, McAfee's ePolicy Orchestrator management console, and Microsoft's own Small Business Accounting package). With a license for free re-distribution and the ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/msde-database/manage-msde-2000-databases-with-sql-server-express-2005/ Windows DFS is supposed to do all sorts of useful things in a domain, like reducing mapped drives, acting as an online backup in the event of downed servers, and caching files locally so WAN usage doesn't spike (see Microsoft's DFS Infrastructure marketing info). for Windows DFS basics and setup ... http://www.mrtweak.com/windows-servers/windows-dfs-not-mirroring-large-files-change-default-4gb-buffer-size/ SharePoint offers both workflow and organization in a completely free software package. Unfortunately, in the hands of most IT shops the tool is an open-ended invitation to waste time. Software development teams have not only capable developers, but design and user interface specialists. Lacking those skills great sysadmins and great shell-scripters ... http://www.mrtweak.com/software-microsoft-desktop-programs/sharepoint/sharepoint-templates-can-be-shortcuts-to-save-development-time/