How to make a USB Thumb-drive bootable

With the impending general availability of Windows 7 tomorrow.  I thought I’d share a Windows 7 trick (although I have heard it works on Vista too, I have not done it.

One of the handy tricks I have used for installing Windows 7 on all my machines in my house is to boot off a USB Thumb-drive (also known as flashdisk).  Not only is the Thumb-drive faster than the DVD drives in many of my computer, it helps me load Win7 on my Netbook as well!

The requirement on the target computer is that the BIOS is new enough to support booting from USB devices, usually there is a specific option for flash disk.

Just a warning that this procedure will wipe all the data on the thumb-drive to setup the bootable partition.

So here is how you do it:

1. Insert your USB thumb-drive into your machine, preferably a Windows 7 machine
2. Open the command prompt (Start, then run, then cmd.exe if you need that)
3. type in diskpart
4. Inside diskpart you’ll want to do the following
1. list disk (remember the disk number for they key, we’ll call this X)
2. select disk X
3. clean (WARNING: this will erase the whole thumb-drive)
4. create part pri (this creates a new primary partition)
5. select part 1
6. format fs=ntfs quick
7. active
8. exit
5. Close the command prompt window

At this point you can copy over ANY bootable DVD into the root of the thumb-drive, insert it into the target machine and then select to boot from the USB key (note, this requires the BIOS to support it).  Also, do not set your BIOS to boot from the thumb-drive first, otherwise you’ll get into an endless loop.  It’s best to use that “F12” ontime boot menu.

I use this not only to install Windows 7 on all my clients, but I also use it to install builds of Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Builds of Windows Home Server for testing.  It cuts down on wasted DVDs, being a little greener.

A visual guide is also over on dotnetwizrd.net – How to boot/install Vista from a USB flash drive

UPDATE: If you own a Netbook, Microsoft will help you create a USB flash-drive to make it Windows 7.

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Top Mac OS (OS X) Security Myths

CRN, a pretty active magazine in the small business space has a great article on what to watch out for when installing MACs into your business, or that connect to your business.  Most of it boils down to protecting the end-user from themselves.  I’m copying the article below, but here is the original article.

Mac OS X = Security?
You've heard the rumors: Macs are safer than PCs. Macs don't need separate antivirus software. Snow Leopard is the safest OS in existence. The list goes on and on. But how many of those claims are the truth and how many are just, well, myths? We explored fact vs. fiction, and here is what we came up with.

 

Myth 1: Macs Are Safer Than PCs
Thanks to aggressive marketing from Apple, Mac users often think they are impervious to the viruses, Trojans and numerous other assaults that have plagued Windows users for decades. Security experts say that if Mac users are less susceptible to attack, it's simply due to the fact that there are fewer viruses written for Macs than for Windows. That is rapidly changing, however, as Macs gain market share. Meanwhile, users who have the unfortunate experience of being attacked by information-stealing Trojans will likely have their systems compromised and their data stolen ... just like every other PC user out there.

Myth 2: Macs Have Fewer Vulnerabilities Than Windows
Not true. In fact, studies have shown that Macs actually have MORE vulnerabilities than their Windows counterparts, experts say. The reason? Constituting a "seek and ye shall find" phenomenon, it was simply a matter of attention, experts say. Some maintain that Apple's credibility in the security community increased as it gained traction in the marketplace. Others contend that a disproportionate amount of researchers in the field prefer Apple, and subsequently put their efforts into finding Windows' vulnerabilities instead. But once security experts began to seriously research Apple, the number of vulnerabilities increased exponentially, experts say. However, whether exploits target those vulnerabilities is another question.

"We can compare it to the situation with Internet Explorer and Firefox. Lots of people were saying that [Firefox] was so much more secure than IE," said Roel Schouwenberg, senior antivirus researcher for Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab. "It actually gained in popularity. Now all of a sudden a lot of vulnerabilities were being found in Firefox. I don't think you can underestimate the importance of market share."

Myth 3: Mac OS X Users Don't Need A Separate Antivirus Solution
Not so. Not even Apple says that anymore, even if it has downplayed the fact that users also should equip themselves with third-party antivirus software. There are just too many Mac Trojans and viruses out there that can evade Mac's built-in security systems -- and the numbers are growing.

"If you look at the Apple consumer base, and how they generally tend to think about security, the vast majority of Apple users will assume this is all they need," Schouwenberg said. "It's really nothing fancy and it can be easily bypassed."

Fortunately, there also are a number of antivirus offerings specifically designed for the Mac OS X platform.

Myth 4: The Antivirus Feature In Snow Leopard Is Enough To Protect Users
Or not. If anything, experts say, the antivirus feature lulls users into a false sense of security -- that is to say, even more than the one they already had. Apple turned heads earlier this month with the release of its Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, which touted that it came equipped with antivirus and additional security features. However, upon closer inspection, security experts said that the built-in antivirus feature was designed to block a whopping total of two -- yes, two -- Mac Trojans, despite the fact that researchers have detected dozens of malicious threats that target the Mac OS X platform. According to researchers at Intego, the built-in antivirus only scans files on a handful of applications, including Safari, Mail, iChat, Firefox, Entourage and a few other browsers, but fails to scan from other sources, such as BitTorrent or FTP files.

Myth 5: Most Mac Exploits Target The Operating System
No. Actually, experts maintain that most of the attacks targeting Mac OS X will exploit the Web browser, and ultimately, the user's behavior. As in any PC, the biggest threat typically starts with the user and quite often via e-mail -- falling for phishing sites, clicking on malicious links, surfing infected Web sites, etc.

And as with their PC counterparts, Mac Trojans are becoming more sophisticated and stealthy, frequently designed to steal information and evade antivirus software. This means that as Mac's market share further grows well into the double digits, users can only expect to see more Trojans, worms and other Web-based threats taking over their favorite machines.

"The main danger for Mac comes not from the operating system but it comes from the behavior of the user," said David Perry, director of global education for Trend Micro. "Falling for bad phishing Web sites, responding to ads on Craigslist -- that is enough so that the end user requires additional protection."

Myth 6: Apple Is Just Like Microsoft And Has An Army Of Security Henchmen
Er, no. In fact, the company's historic lack of emphasis on security issues has left Apple vastly underprepared to deal with the barrage of anticipated Mac malware coming down the pike. Experts contend that Apple lacks the necessary manpower to create and test patches on a monthly basis and still needs the extensive specialized team needed to develop significant changes to Mac OS X internals that would make the platform more resilient to sophisticated malware attacks. And security experts also emphasize that Cupertino needs to stay on top of security issues in its open source projects and third-party components.

However, Apple appears to be trying. In light of a groundswell of Mac OS X malware, Apple recently hired its first security guru, the former head of security architecture at One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Ivan Krstic, to oversee the security division at Apple.

Myth 7: Apple Needs To Implement A Monthly Update Cycle Like Microsoft
Not necessarily, security experts say. This is simply due to the fact that there still isn't the necessary volume of vulnerabilities to warrant a monthly update cycle. However, experts agree that Apple could definitely stand to address security bugs in a more timely manner. After all, there are more efficient ways to repair vulnerabilities than with a patch that averages 70 to 80 fixes every few months.

Meanwhile, Apple scrambled to repair a six-month-old critical Java vulnerability this spring after -- but only after -- researcher Landon Fuller published a proof of concept exploit exposing the flaw six months after it was first detected. Yowza.

However, Apple will likely consider a more frequent patch cycle as malware authors more frequently find ways to launch attacks that exploit its vulnerabilities.

Myth 8: Unlike Windows Viruses, Mac Malware Is A Recent Phenomenon
Actually, some of the first and most destructive viruses were initially written for Mac, experts say -- back in the 1980s when Mac still had sizable market share. Viruses for Macs dropped significantly in the mid 90s, along with Mac's market share and credibility in the marketplace. But the viruses have since experienced a resurgence as Mac gained popularity after 2001 with its Tiger, Leopard and now Snow Leopard operating systems.

Myth 9: There Is Only A Handful Of Mac Malware, And It's Pretty Benign
Granted, the number of Trojans and worms targeting the Mac platform does not even come close to the number for Windows platforms. That said, some of the current malware is pretty destructive. Last year a Mac Trojan swept from machine to machine, forcing users to download bogus antivirus software. Earlier this year, Mac users were pummeled with two variants of a Mac-only iServices Trojan distributed via pirated versions of Apple's productivity suite iWorks and cracked Adobe Photoshop CS4 applications. The Trojans later developed into a full-fledged global botnet that infected more than 40,000 Macs. And experts say that Mac users can expect to see more drive-by and browser attacks.

Myth 10: Mac Users Will Surely Complain When Security Issues Become A Problem
Here's the thing -- experience is always the best teacher. Unlike PC owners, Mac users are simply not used to dealing with rampant malware, experts say. As a result, Mac users are much more likely than their Windows counterparts to underprotect their machines, or not protect them at all. PC owners acknowledge, in fact expect, that their machines will be riddled with security flaws, which leaves them susceptible to all kinds of malicious code. If their PCs are a little slow or erratic, most will simply download that antivirus upgrade they had been meaning to install and go about their day. Not so Mac owners, who often assume that they're perfectly safe, even when they're not. So the upshot is, Mac owners don't know what they don't know. And that could likely be the biggest mistake of all.

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Embedding Google Reader into Outlook

Today was I talking with Cody from EFluxDesign (A web design and search optimization company) about using RSS to follow different blogs for education, pleasure or whatever you follow blogs for.

While Cody only has one PC that he uses, following RSS feeds in Blogs is as simple as adding it to Internet Explorer, and then Outlook automatically picks those up and they show up right in the familiar Outlook interface. 

However, when using multiple PCs, you can find yourself reading the same blog post PC after PC after PC.  Google’s answer to this (I haven’t found one that’s run by Microsoft yet, suggestions?) is Google Reader.  Simply add the RSS feed into the reader and you have a simplified view.

The best part of it, is you don’t have to abandon Outlook.  You can have the Google Reader appear right inside of Outlook, here’s how:

1. Open Outlook and right-click on the RSS Feeds folder and choose Properties.
2. On the Home Page tab, choose to Show home page by default for this folder and change the address to: http://www.Google.com/reader/

  

Now when you simply click on the RSS feeds link, Google Reader will show up in this list and you can take advantage of only reading blogs once/PC, and all the data about what you read as well.  If you’re using Exchange 2007 or greater as a back-end, this setting will replicate around all of your PCs as well!

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Spotted! On Microspotting

Recently I’ve been talking to Ariel Stallings who works at Microsoft and realized that many preconceptions about Microsoft weren’t quite right.  As a result, she’s made it her mission to meet as many ‘softies as she can and post about them up on her Microspotting blog.

This morning Ariel decided to feature me on her blog, as well as my crazy Chinhuahua, Chico.  If you’re interested, you can read more about my interesting working environment at Microsoft.

Click here to read the article.

And click around if you’re interested in learning about other ‘softies who make the products you love!

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How to Add more Playlists to the HP EX485 MediaSmart Server’s Web Streaming Application

One of the most frustrating things for me when I first used my EX 485 HP MediaSmart server’s web-streaming application for my music was my playlists that I have in the Zune software don’t automatically appear here.

In fact, I couldn’t get them to appear at all!  I dropped them into the music share, I made new ones with Windows Media Player, both .wpl and .m3u and they still didn’t appear in the list.  Well, I finally figured it out and I wanted to share exactly what I did so I don’t forget, and in hopes that someone else might benefit from the same (wasting a little less time!).  If you have a simpler way, I’d love to hear it.  Comments are open!

Let’s say I want to move my “Favourite Albums” playlist.  Here is how I did it:

1. Browse using Windows Explorer to the location of your playlists.  They are “.zpl” files.  If you aren’t sure where this is, in the Zune software click Settings and then select Collection. Look at your music folders for where it might be stored.
2. Once you’ve found the .zpl file, copy it to a new location like your Desktop.  This can be an auto-playlist, or a made playlist, it doesn’t matter.
3. We’re going to need to change the extension on the file to one that Windows Media Player will read.  So if you haven’t already you’ll need to show the file extensions in Windows by using a Windows Explorer Window. 
1. Press Win+E to open Explorer
2. Press Alt to activate the menu
3. Under Tools select Folder Options.
4. Under the View tab, uncheck Hide Extensions for known file types.  (you can un-check this again after your finished if you don’t like the extensions showing)
5. Click OK and close Windows Explorer.  You will notice your Zune playlist will now be <name>.zpl .
4. Rename the file either by slow-clicking or pressing F2. Select the .zpl extension and change it to .wpl . 
5. Click Yes on the dialog that warns you about changing the extension. Notice the icon will change to one that is recognized by Windows Media Player.
6. Double click the playlist, and it should open in Windows Media Player.  I’m using Windows 7, so these steps will be for that version of Windows Media Player
7. Click the icon to drop the player into library mode.  I circled it in red for you:
8. Before we save the playlist, we have to remember that the HP MediaSmart streamer has a limit of 500 songs in a playlist.  Windows Media Player will tell you how many songs are in your playlist at the bottom of the “Now Playing” list.  Make sure this is < 500 before you continue.
9. Now we need to save the list as a .m3u file.  Again press the ALT key to activate the menu, and hover over File and click on Save Now Playing List As…
10. Choose the same location, the Desktop, just to keep things easy.  Then drop the Save as type box down and choose the .m3u one:
11. Change the extension on the file name to .m3u and save the file:

Now we’ve got a .m3u file.  All of the above steps are to convert from either a .zpl file or a .wpl file as you see fit.  If you already have .m3u files, those steps can be skipped.

Now, as I mentioned above.  I dropped custom .m3u file into the music folder before, and it didn’t work.  The challenge here, is since the streaming app is running in the context of IIS, it’s access to the folders on the server is limited.  If you opened the .m3u file in notepad, you'd see that each music file’s location is referenced as “\\HPSERVER\Music\<Path to song>” .  IIS doesn’t have access to this.  So we need to reference from the directory that the playlist is going to be stored in.  I keep my playlists at the root of the Music directory, so we’ll do it this way.

To make the playlist readable by the Streaming application, we need to change the path to the file location:

1. Open Notepad on your computer.  I use Start, then Run, and type Notepad and press Enter
2. Drop the .m3u playlist you created into the notepad window using the mouse, you’ll see it has the path to the file as mentioned above:
3. Click Edit and then Replace.
4. In the "Find what:" box type in \\hpserver\music\ , in the Replace with: box type .\
1. .\ is a reference to the location of the playlist file of where you will place it on the server.  If you plan to put it in a folder such as \\hpserver\music\playlists, then you should use ..\ instead.  the period references the current directory, two periods represent one directory higher, three periods are 2 directories higher, etc. 
2. Don’t forget the \ at the end of each item, otherwise you may build an invalid path to the music file!
5. Click Replace All and the file should change to look more like this:
6. Save the file now using the File and Save menu in Notepad, then close Notepad.

Now we have a perfect .m3u file that won’t work from a client inside your network, but it WILL work from inside the media streaming web UI.  As the final step:

1. Copy the .m3u doctored file over to \\hpserver\music.
2. Log into your media streamer
3. Enjoy your familiar playlist from the Zune software, or any other application you use to create playlists.
1. You may have to wait for the TwonkyMedia server to recognize the new playlist and show it in the UI
2. Finally, the TwonkyMedia add-in periodically tests for new playlists, so it might not appear for a while.  The first one I did appeared in 10 minutes, the second one took a few hours.

Phew.  I think I broke a sweat on this one.  It’s not pretty, but it works, I now have my familiar playlists on my EX485 HP MediaSmart server, available for media streaming. 

I do want to ask, does anyone know a better way to do this?  I’d love to have Zune automatic playlists automatically update on the HP MediaSmart server, but this is just a huge process to try to automate.

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OEMs ratchet up the competition with SBS 2008!

it’s unusual for me to talk about prices and stuff on this blog.  But I wanted to call out some new competition in the market, get you thinking about buying from an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer).  When you’re purchasing Windows Small Business Server 2008, it’s always good to at least consider one of the major OEMs that offer it as a package with the hardware, such as Dell or HP.  Both of them are offering a bundle for as little as $1,299.  I’m sure some of you with bigger businesses will opt for some more beefy hardware, but that’s at least an amazing starting point.

The Official SBS Blog has some more information on these prices and why you should consider SBS 2008.

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How to Make a Shortcut Always Launch as Administrator / UAC

Since the User Account Control (UAC) was introduced in Vista, and improved in Windows 7 I’ve been looking for ways to optimize ways around it, while still being able to keep it on for safety sake.  This is shown by my previous post on how to always launch a program as elevated. 

With Windows 7, there is a super fast way to do this.  I use the command prompt a lot, probably because I’m always looking at IP addresses, routes and other networking items that are just easier for me to do in a command prompt.  As you probably know, I use AutoHotKey to make Win+C open a Command prompt window for me, but that only opens it in non-administration mode.

On the Start Menu, I have another command prompt that opens in Administrator mode.  To do this do the following:

1. Right-Click on the item you want to always launch as administrator, and go to properties.
2. On the Shortcut tab, click on Advanced.
3. Check the Run as Administrator check box

Now each time you click on this link, the shortcut will always launch under administration mode, and you no longer need to right-click and choose run as administrator, which is far more clicks!

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Testing AutoDiscover using Outlook

A while back on this blog, I discussed how Outlook AutoDiscover works and how it aids in mailbox configuration on the client side.  I also went into detail on a service the Exchange team provides to troubleshoot remote connectivity.

But I wanted to inform you of a handy troubleshooting tip that sits right on your desktop (provided you are running Outlook!)

In the notification area of the task bar (near the clock) there is an Outlook Icon( ).  This icon is your access to troubleshooting AutoDiscovery.  Here’s how:

1. Hold down Control and then right click on the Outlook Icon, you’ll get two new options in the menu that you wouldn’t normally see if you were just simply right-clicking. Those options are Connection Status and Test E-Mail AutoConfiguration. The second one is the one we want, click on Test E-mail AutoConfiguration.
2. Type in the user you want to check E-Mail address and password and click Test

When the test launches you’ll get a bunch of results, reading through the results you’ll be able to determine what’s broken and where.  For example, here is mine that is fully functional:

Here is what you might see if the ports aren’t open on your router, or your SRV record is miss configured:

Play around with it, get use to it and use it to troubleshoot what’s going on with your remote Outlook over the Internet connections.

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Help Configuring your Router for Remote Access

Windows Home Server and Windows Small Business Server 2008 depend heavily on the router protecting your network to allow remote access to your server while away from the home or office.  Both servers will attempt to use UPnP to automatically configure the router and keep it up to date, but on many routers, UPnP fails, or the router is reset etc.  As a result, sometimes it’s the right thing to configure your router manually to ensure it just always works, regardless of if a UPnP call fails.

For this, I have recently been alerted to a great Wiki on HomeServerLand that goes through the UI for a bunch of common routers.  Click here to find that Wiki database. While the database is designed for Windows Home Server, such that it creates DHCP reservations for the server on the network (Windows Home Server is configured with a Dynamic IP address on the Local Area Network (LAN) ).  It also talks about how to configure a port, which is all you need for Windows SBS 2008.

Each router model listed has step-by-step instructions on how to configure both the DHCP exclusions and the port mappings.

To modify these steps for Windows SBS 2008, simply ignore the DHCP reservation steps, and instead get the IP address of your server by typing ipconfig at the command prompt on the server.  The “IPv4 Address” is the address of the server you’ll want to give the router.  Remember for SBS you need 80 and 443 (same as Home Server), and also 25 for email, and 1723 (if you plan on using VPN).  Port 4125 is only used in Windows Home Server and SBS 2003 (the previous version of SBS).

And while you’re in your router configuration UI, make sure you turn the Wi-Fi security to WPA or WPA-2.  Remember, WEP is easy to crack, and isn’t considered secure.

Again, it’s the Remote Access Router Configuration Wiki

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Digital Lifestyle: What’s all this Tweeting About?

Well, I’m back with another Digital Lifestyle corner post.

Today’s Topic is about Twitter and social networking.  I often witness the debate, “to Twitter” or “not to Twitter”, so I thought I’d take some time today to explain why I Twitter, and most importantly, how I tweet.

Think of Twitter as individual 140 character real-time updates.  Each 140 character update is called a “tweet”.  In fact, there is no reason for me to hash out all the basics here, as I have discovered this amazing beginners guide to Twitter Speak.  The key thing to remember, is if you’re updates are not locked, then it’s an update to the world.  Let me dive right into how I use Twitter.

I’ll be the first to admit, when I first signed up for my account at Twitter, and got a feed of updates from friends, I was a little underwhelmed, it wasn’t until I started using additional applications combined with Twitter search, that Twitter became useful to me.  Being able to get up to date information on topics that I care about and socializing with other people who care about the same topics is pretty powerful.

Your Own Updates

I struggled a while here on what I was going to update.  I mean I work from home so updates such as “I’m at my desk” or “I’m still at my desk” is just not that exciting.  I essentially use Twitter now to follow people, and update people on technology and such that I find interesting, or useful.  To me the most important thing to realize is you have 140 characters to say something interesting.  When you do that, your followers increase, and you’re more interesting.  I try not to reply to people about private conversations, unless it’s useful to the general public.  If you decide to join, or do already, here are some tips (albeit for Facebook, it still applies) about how to avoid being annoying.

I post a lot of URLs to my Tweets, with a limit of 140 characters, it’s important to use a URL shrinker.  Most of the Twitter applications will do this for you, but you can also go to many different places to shrink your URL, my place of choice is TinyURL, which will take something that can be > 140 characters and make it quite small.  Think of it as a forwarding service.  You send your reader to one place and they turn around and send them to the correct place on your behalf.

Who you Follow

This is where I think Twitter gets very interesting.  You can follow specific people, or searches.  You’ll need to be careful here, I find it’s super easy here to get information overload here by following too many people who’s updates are not useful.  I tend to keep it to a short list of key people who have interest to me.  I often follow someone, and after a day, remove them from my follow list.  I’ve also noticed that on Friday people tend to Tweet who they like following, so if someone is particularly interesting, sometimes I check out who they follow.

Following searches is just as important as following people.  On Twitter, people tend to use search tags, or “Hash” tags as they are called, such as “#WHS” (For Windows Home Server) or “#SBS08” (for Small Business Server 2008).  These allow you to generate searches on these hash tags and view common themes about specific themes.  I also follow #yyj, which is my airport code for my closest city, and #seahawks, although this is more beneficial during a game.  ;o)

One of the places where Bing and Google are currently lacking is this life search.  There is a site I found for Bing called “BingTweets” where you can search for something and get instant Tweets next to your search:

I use the instant search to keep tabs on what I care about, such as where I life (what am I going to do on the weekend, I can just search for what’s going on in #yyj.

Here is an example from today, simply by following #yyj,  Yesterday my town was considering a $200,000 investment in a 2 week Olympic Games party.  My wife said it was all the controversy yesterday (as I knew already from yesterday’s tweets).  However, I’d already read a tweet from a news source in town that said they had opt’d for the $50,000 viewing screen, which was widely accepted by the public.

Applications

I’ve tried a number of applications, including Twhirl, Opera, Witty, Blu and Seemic, but my application so far of choice is TweetDeck.  I’m a little disappointed it uses Adobe Air, as I dislike installing infrastructure pieces for applications, but it works well, and does what I need.  TweetDeck allows me to easily see everyone that I follow, and either reply or forward (re-tweet) their message, people who mention my me, my direct messages, and all my searches in one window. 

TweetDeck also supports some key features that I need.  Multiple Personalities is one of the key features for me.  Working for Microsoft I also can Tweet on behalf of @WindowsSBS and @WinHomeServer, so it allows me to easily jump between accounts, or post to multiple accounts at the same time.  Additionally, as you may have read in my last digital life corner post, I have a few PCs.  TweetDeck allows me to create an account with them and keep my searches and columns in sync between PCs.

As a note, Seemic desktop had similar (and in some places flasher and cooler features) than TweetDeck, but it drank the RAM as if it was going out of style, which doesn’t work for my netbook.

Extending Your Twitter Experience

Twitter is super accessible, you can configure it to send updates via SMS to your phone (US & Canada only I believe at this point), and you can also text twitter to send an update if you’re on the move.  You can also point your mobile browser to Twitter’s mobile page if you want to quickly check your friends on the go without the SMS.

Additionally, if you’re looking for a bit more with Twitter, like pictures and video, sign up with TwitPic, or TwitVid, allowing you to put links to videos or pictures in your tweets!  Since pictures are similar to 1000 words, maybe you can use this to expand beyond 140 characters.

Final Note

I’ve been asked a lot of times “Why do you use Twitter”, and I want to officially answer that question with “to stay up to date”.  I keep track of my friends around the globe, I keep track of changes in my home town, things to do where I currently live, trending issues, problems and exciting things to do with the products that I sell, and just all together engaging.  It’s like a public IM conversation, just like Blogs can be considered a public e-mail. 

I have seen plenty of other uses as well.  For example, our product teams are working on leveraging twitter to announce new things or problems with the product and how to go ahead and fix those.  If you’re going to consider corporate twittering, I suggest checking out HootSuite, which will allow multiple twitters to participate on the same twitter account without duplication.  I’d also highly recommend going against “Bots” to tweet for you, it’s obvious and people won’t listen, plus you never know what a Bot might re-tweet.  ;o)

A co-worker once told me that sending a tweet or reading a tweet is like tossing a stick in a large river.  Some people will notice you, and some won’t, and you shouldn’t feel like you need to start at the bottom of the river and read back.  Just plug in and unplug when you have time.

I hope to see you online in the future.

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How to Participate in the SBS 2008 Newsgroups

This morning I awoke to a mail in my inbox regarding participation in the Windows Small Business Server 2008 newsgroups.  Newsgroups are forums that are monitored by Microsoft Employees as well as Microsoft MVPs (or Most Valuable Professionals).  It’s a place where you can attempt to get free support before calling Microsoft, so you should know how to get into the Newsgroups.

First, point your browser over to the SBS 2008 Connect Webpage.  In the top left, you will see a link to “Newsgroups”.

From this link you can dive right in and start participating within the newsgroup.  But viewing on the webpage can sometimes be cumbersome.  Above the newsgroup list, you will see an “NNTP Setup Instructions” link:

This link will let you set your password for the newsgroups (this can take up to 5 hours to set in the system), and then give you instructions for configuring the newsgroup inside a newsgroup reader such as Windows Live Mail (Win7), Windows Mail (Vista) or Outlook Express (XP).

I usually like to change the options to download more than 300 messages at a time, and I always leave it running as to not miss anything.  When you set-up a newsgroup account, I’d recommend using an email address that a human could understand, but that doesn’t resolve directly to your mailbox to prevent “bots” from spamming you.  For example, if you’re email is foo@bar.com, then consider entering it as foo@online.bar.com, or foo@delete.bar.com.

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How to Prevent Interactive Logon using Local Policy

In some instances, a server is not a domain controller, it could be a Windows Client computer stuck in a corner of an office, or it could be a Windows Home Server, or some other type of windows machine.  The key thing here is that this computer is a sanctuary for data and usually accessed over the network, not by users logging into it.

By default, if you have a domain controller, such as Windows Small Business Server 2008, then disabling end-users from logging into such servers is done by default for you.  If you aren’t running a domain controller, you may want to ensure logon to the server is limited to just the administrators. 

To do this, you just have to change the local policy on this server.  Here’s how:

1. Log in as an administrator to the client computer, verify that you are an administrator (this step is important, because if you make a mistake here, you could lock yourself out of the server!)
2. Load up the local policy by going to Start, Run, and typing GPEDIT.MSC
3. Once the Local Group Policy Editor loads, navigate down to to Computer Configuration / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Local Policies / User Rights Assignment.
4. Select the Allow log on locally policy and remove the “Users” group from this policy and hit Apply

That’s it! you’re all finished.  Since this is local policy, there is no need to run a “gpupdate /force” to make it take effect.  Simply try to log in as a standard user account to the server again, and you’ll notice that access is denied, making your network more secure, even if you don’t have SBS!

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Digital Lifestyle: Syncing Your Digital Life

I’m starting something new: The Digital Lifestyle corner.

On Friday’s (when I have time), I wanted to write a blurb on some different types of technologies, how I use them and how they have made my life easier.  Plenty of times my wife complains that “computers slow her down”, but that’s not what computers, software and the Internet do for me, and I wanted to share my usage with different technologies in hopes that you can leverage computers to save you time as well, for the fun stuff!

Today’s topic: I want to discuss some software that has changed the way I use multiple computers.  “Sync”

I’m probably not a typical computer user in the fact that I use 4 computers almost daily, but I’m sure a lot of people use at least two.  I was talking to a friend the other day who has a desktop but wants to use a Netbook for taking notes at school, but then be able to work on homework using the bigger monitor and more powerful desktop.  Using Sync technology she need only have a hotspot at school to get those files home.  Ease of access *and* a backup! How convenient eh?

I primarily use two Sync technologies today.  Windows Live Mesh, and Windows Live Folder Sync.  Both have their pros and cons as I’m sure any other sync technology would.  Again, I am only covering what I have familiarity with, comments are open for other apps that you love.

First, Windows Live Mesh provides a number of different services.  Synchronizing files is it’s primary function, but it also provides remote desktop functionality and sharing with friends, family or co-workers as secondary functions.  I primarily use it to Sync my own files and folders.  Mesh can sync files between many different PCs, you can choose any personal folder on your system to sync with any folder on different PCs, and you can choose it to sync with your “Mesh Desktop”.  This is the best part!  The Mesh desktop is a 5GB store that you can throw data up to, so you can use the “Mesh Desktop” as your always-on PC.  Plus I bet it has better bandwidth than any of your home or mobile PCs, so once the data is synced with the “Mesh Desktop”, it screams down the pipe to your other PCs.  The limit here is of course the 5GB limit of space.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone, and you’re doing PC-2-PC sync, which is slower, and requires your PC to be on.

Currently with Mesh, I sync

• My Favorites.  Having my favorites the same on all my PCs is awesome, I can add a favorite on the couch watching TV at night, and it’s ready for me on my PC at the office the next day.
• A Wallpaper directory. Windows 7 will rotate desktops as part of the OS, so I sync my wallpaper (280 pictures) from PC to PC and have Windows 7 rotate these.  Once I drop a photo in on my home PC, I see it on my work PC a few days later, without making a change
• A Tools directory.  I have a directory that has a bunch of .reg files and .cmd files as well as some apps that I want to install on all of my PCs.  After installing Mesh, I’m set with everything else that needs to be installed all being local
• The Live Writer Posts Directory.  I blog from 3 of my 4 different PCs, so having all the offline posts sync is great.  Start it on one PC, finish it on another
• Collaboration folders.  I share some work with some peers around the Internet, and instead of emailing the file, we just drop or edit it out of the directory and the updates are handled and distributed to the peers.
• Mobile Pictures. I run the Mesh beta client on my Windows Mobile device, such that when I take a photo, that photo syncs to the cloud and my home PC almost immediately!

In addition to the sync, you can access your files from anywhere in the world simply by going to the Mesh Homepage.  If you’re not at your PC, but just need that tool, or that favorite, or access to that file you know is up there, just log in and download it directly to the PC you’re at!  And finally, Mesh let’s me Remote Desktop to any PC turned on to boot! (Although I wouldn’t say it’s as fast as remoting to your PC directly, or using a product like Windows Home Server or Small Business Server directly, but it works in a pinch!)

Ok, so here is my problem with Mesh, it uses between 45-100mb of RAM depending on what it does.  Between the “MOE.EXE” (Mesh Operating Environment) and the “MOEMONITOR.EXE”.  This is problematic for those Netbooks that are limited to 1GB of RAM.  Especially when you jump from your 250MB Windows XP footprint to your 550MB Windows 7 footprint.  After your applications, you’re a bit limited.  For that I jump over to Windows Live Sync.

Windows Live Sync was born from an older technology called FolderShare.  Live Sync is will synchronize files between PCs without the cloud back-end, so you are limited to at least one of your PCs being on for the sync to occur.  But you still get to sync between PCs and you can also sync with other peers or co-workers that are using Windows Live Sync.

The good news for Netbooks about Live Sync is the foot print (as I’ve monitored it over time) is less than 2 MB!, perfect for a Netbook running Windows 7!  I use it to sync my documents that I create on my Netbook and my favorites.  Thus meaning that if I add a favorite on my Netbook, Live Sync will update it on my home desktop, which will then use Mesh to toss it around all the other client computers.

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Microsoft in Real Life – Microspotting!

Today a friend of mine sent me a message about a whole new side of Microsoft that I hadn’t discovered before!  Microspotting.  Microspotting is a webspace run by a Microsoft employee, Ariel who runs around campus capturing life at Microsoft.

I’m still learning what I’m doing here, but Ariel and I have two things in common: we’re both geeks and we both like photography!

Microspotting is dedicated to de-bunking the rumour that Microsoft is just an Evil Empire, and exposing the people who are working their little tails off to bring you some of the best software in the world.  I say working your tails off, because it’s not as easy as it looks.

Head on over to her blog and website to learn more about the people who build the software that you make, what their passions are and where their inner geek lives.

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