DST patch for your smartphone

New instructions for patching your mobile devices for DST are out here. Including:

Windows Mobile users who do not connect to their PC

For users that do not connect to PCs, there is an update file (CAB) available to make this update. (Note: there are a number of ways to install a CAB file and below outlines a popular method). If you synchronize your Calendar using Microsoft Exchange Server, contact your system administrator to make sure your Exchange Server has the correct DST files installed. If you do not use the Calendar function on your Windows Mobile device, proceed to step 2. Using the Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile browser on your device, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/default.mspx and download the Daylight Saving Time 2007 Update for Windows Mobile. This file will install the update directly on the device. On your device, navigate to the file you downloaded, and then click on it to install the update. If you are unable to access the link in step 2 on your device, open Windows Internet Explorer on your PC and download the link below to your PC. You will need to know if you have a Windows Mobile Pocket PC or a smartphone. (Don’t know? Here’s how to tell.) Pocket PC Daylight Saving Time 2007 Update for Windows Mobile Smartphone Daylight Saving Time 2007 Update for Windows Mobile After downloading the file, attach it to an e-mail and send it to an account you can access on your device. On your device, open the e-mail and save the attached file; on some devices, you may need to synchronize your e-mail a second time to download the attached file. Then navigate to the file on your device and click on it to install the update. IMPORTANT: To properly update the Daylight Saving Time settings, you need to manually change the time zone at least once on your device. To manually change the time zone on a Pocket PC: Go to Start > Settings > Clock & Alarms > Time tab. Change the current time zone to any time zone other than the one that is currently selected. Tap OK and tap Yes to save changes to the clock settings. Change the current time zone to the one you want to use. Tap OK and tap Yes to save changes to the clock settings. To manually change the time zone on a Smartphone: Go to Start > Settings > Clock & Alarms > Date and Time tab. Change the current time zone to any time zone other than the one that is currently selected. Click Done. Change the current time zone to the one you want to use. Click Done.

SCT is changing its name

The next version of the most excellent Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP (did we mention it is provided at no charge?)

The new name will be Windows Steady State, due out early summer. SteadyState makes it easy for people managing shared computers to keep their PCs running the way they want them to--and make sure they stay that way, no matter who uses them. Get all parents with kids with computers, and teachers, small/medium business owner, folks who do demos you know hooked up with this great tool for XP.

Watch an interactive overview, see an installation and configuration demo, review frequently asked questions,
download a copy of the handbook, and more. Note: Both demos require Macromedia Flash Player 7.0 or later. The Shared Computer Toolkit Handbook is a 1.18 MB .pdf document.

 Want more?

Read the FAQs

Read the case studies:

Everett Public Library

Learn how the Everett Public Library used SCT to protect their 66 shared PCs from security breaches and unauthorized system changes and how SCT allowed two PC support technicians more time to focus on helping the library grow.
XPS (188 KB) | PDF (161 KB)

Council for World-Class Communities (CWCC)

Learn how SCT helped the Council for World-Class Communities in Michigan save time and reach more students.
XPS (195 KB) | PDF (1681 KB)

West Virginia Library Commission

Learn how a library commission in West Virginia used SCT to save time while protecting 1,000 shared computers.
XPS (186 KB) | PDF (165 KB)

Meet the Family

SCVMM is part of the System Center "Family" - come meet us all at MMS.

SMS, MOM, SCDPM, SCRM, SCCP, PowerShell, and WSUS.

Virtualization is 2.0 - Who Knew?

In this eWeek article, John Humphreys, IDC's program director for enterprise virtualization syas "In the next 18 months, virtualization will enter a "2.0" phase. According to him,  virtualization will be a sought-after tool for companies looking to plan for business continuity and disaster recovery. He even gives a metric: "...about 50 percent of virtualization will involve HADR (high-availability disaster recovery)".

Zero Day Excel Exploit

Check the Security page for information on a zero day Excel exploit under investigation. They posted Microsoft Security Advisory (932553). Communicate the suggested actions ASAP:

Need Help Finding a Tutor for 10th Grade Honors Geometry

WARNING -this blog post is IT Pro content-free.  

Do online tutoring services work for high-schoolers? For some subjects better than others? Can technologies like IM and shared IE sessions facilitate tutoring?

Where in the heck can I find a good tutor for my 10th grader on honors geometry? If you have suggestions, please leave comments.

Thanks in advance.

Patch your smartphone for DST 2007

KB 923953 "How to configure daylight saving time for the United States and Canada in 2007 and in subsequent years on Windows Mobile-based devices" *helps* you patch up your smartphone to deal with the upcoming DST change.

WARNING: the fix is a reghack, so standard waiver applies. "Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk."

Loverly. You know how to hack the registry of your smartphone, right? Well, the KB give the .inf file your carrier is supposed to use to hack your phone :-(

Watch this space, I'll post if a user-friendly patch method becomes available on Technet.

If you haven't read up on the DST 2007 change, or planned to fix your desktops and servers, read this.

PowerShell: the DMZ of Interop

Windows PowerShell is shaping up to be the technology around which IT Pros from *nix and Windows worlds meet and build community (virtualization will be another, IMO). Check out Bill's post on PowerShell on Port25. Some nifty links there, such as:

Interview on Port25 with Jeffery Snover, Architect of PowerShell. 

NewsGator Powershell Provider (my favorite RSS reader): http://www.codeplex.com/NewsGatorPSProvider

Powershell Analyzer: www.powershellanalyzer.com

Expose SharePoint as a filesystem: http://www.codeplex.com/PSSharePoint

‘Powershell Week’ webcasts, virtual labs, and ‘labcast’ - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/webcasts/ps.mspx

30 days left to help kids by searching

Looks like they may have extended to this deal to March ;-)

* For each search originated from this page between January 8th, 2007, and March 31st, 2007, Microsoft will contribute $1.00 to Children's Hospital on behalf of Team Seattle, up to $25,000.

original post: 

Hi, I found a way to support Seattle's Children's Hospital by using Live Search, from Microsoft. Just search from http://teamseattle.live.com between Jan 8, 2007, and Jan 29, 2007, and Microsoft will contribute to Children's Hospital though their alliance with Team Seattle. Launch a search from TeamSeattle.Live.com, it will load a gadget into your browser which will track your searches, and pay Children’s $1 per search for every search from Live.com.

Why 1TB disks will force you to embrace virtualization.

Jerome Wendt, president and lead analyst with DCIG Inc, shares an interesting perspective to day - Why 1TB disks will force you to embrace virtualization.

"...low-cost network connectivity does not translate into simpler and lower costs of storage management. If anything, it has the opposite effect...

As companies SAN-connect more of their servers using lower-cost Ethernet connections, their storage provisioning and data migration problems will become more acute. This will force many companies to re-evaluate network-based storage virtualization's value proposition and why it now makes sense, whereas just a few years ago, its risks outweighed its rewards."

He is speaking about Enterprise IT, but I just bought a .5 TB NAS device for my home network a few days ago for <US$200. Granted, I am an early-adopter type, but how long before virtualization moves from the data center to the living room? Leave comments.

VM Optimization

You may have read that you can improve the performance of most VMs by using SCSI instead of IDE disks. All well and good, but, uh, where are the instructions on how to do that if you already created the VM with IDE drives?

Thanks to Nelson, the instructions are here in the download center: Virtual Server 2005 – IDE to SCSI Virtual Machine Migration

This whitepaper describes tips and methods to help you migrate your Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 virtual machine from IDE to SCSI bus. You can increase overall virtual machine performance in most scenarios up to 20% by using SCSI virtual hard disks instead of IDE.

Enjoy. If these instructions are helpful, leave feedback and I will make sure it gets to Nelson.

Others who downloaded Virtual Server 2005 – IDE to SCSI Virtual Machine Migration also downloaded:

1. Business Desktop Deployment 2007
2. Configuring Active Directory to Back up Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption and Trusted Platform Module Recovery Information
3. Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals Add-on for Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Edition
4. Extended Security Update Inventory Tool
5. Windows Vista Security Guide

Free Windows Server Virtualization Calculator

The new *free* Windows Server Virtualization Calculator helps you forecast licencing costs for your virtualization initiative. Budget those bits!

The Calculator helps you estimate license costs in two ways:

• you can enter the number of servers by processor (socket, not core) count with the average number of virtualized instances of Windows Server that will run on each server.
• you can enter the processor (socket, not core) count and number of virtualized instances of Windows Server for each individual server.

The calculator is pre-populated with the US dollar Open agreement Estimated Retail Prices for Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition and Datacenter Edition, but you can also customize ith with your organization’s prices for more accurate estimates.

Are you prepared?

Today is the 6th snow day in the Seattle area this school year. Are you prepared for an emergency? Here's a good (free) PDF list to print out and check through.

Another good prep link: http://www.govlink.org/3days3ways/

If a picture is worth 1K words, how many words is a blogcast/screencast worth?

If you could make the choice for all IT Pros for Microsoft enterprise management products, would you choose:

1) traditional text-based help on the box

2) traditional tex-based help on the box supplemented with blogcasts/screencasts (see below for examples) for the most complicated issues/sceanarios/features

3) just 'casts

Why? Leave comments.

Example screencasts/blogcasts:

Jeff's:
Windows Vista Screencast: Aero Interface
Windows Vista Screencast: Search
Windows Server 2003 R2 Upgrade Blogcast
Windows Server 2003 R2 Blogcast: Part II: Installed Components

Kleefy's:
WinPE Driver Addition
Windows System Image Manager
Windows Deployment Services Overview

Bonus question: 'casts audio tracks are pretty easy to localize, much easier (therefore faster) that text. However, would you want to see screens that are in English, with a localized audio track, or would you be willing to wait a longer time in order to get a new 'cast that shows the screens in the same language as the audio? Why? Leave comments.

What I'm trying to get feedback on is what is the best way to learn an enterprise management software product? Take a look at Jason's video on how to juggle, and think of the time required to get all that down in words. More efficient for you to learn new stuff if we switched to screencasts?

How to uninstall IE 7 from XP SP2

I install and uninstall a lot of software on my laptop in the course of my work. Sometimes, stuff happens, and I can't be sure what the problem might be. Standard advice from support in these case is "pave it" meaning uninstall and reinstall the app to see if that fixes the problem.

Recently, IE7 has been throwning the same Onfolio error message at me every 15 mins or so.

In case you need it, here are the instructions for uninstalling IE7 from Windows XP SP2 from kb 917964:

If Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) is installed on the computer

If Windows XP SP2 is installed on the computer, uninstall Internet Explorer 7. To do this, follow these steps: