April 2005 - Posts

• Project Visine - Time to get the Red Out!

  If you have been attached to Novell because you like the fact that you can hide shared folders, now you can do it with Windows Server 2003 with SP1. Service Pack 1 allows you to install a new program that will let you choose to hide folders on a specific share or on the entire server from users that don't have access. Access-based Enumeration is a great feature and I can see it become a standard on all your server shares. There was a previous release where you had to enable this via a command line, but this version simply adds a new tab to folders which are shared. Watch the short Blogcast to see how it works. You can download the utility from Microsoft's web site. Now you can get rid of the red “N“ in your environment! Posted Apr 29 2005, 12:24 PM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Active Directory, Windows, Blogcasts

• Will anyone be posting their MMS 2005 presentations online?

  For those of us that did not have the pleasure of being there live to watch all the presentations, does anyone plan on making them available? I'm sure Rod would be happy to host it for you on his server, but if not, let me know and I will host it. Either way, it would be great to see the slides. Posted Apr 25 2005, 10:01 AM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Systems Management

• Blogcast: Using the Profile Wizard to Capture Office Configurations

  If you have Office 2003, you should download the Office 2003 Resource Kit. One of the applications in the resource kit is the Profile Wizard. This application will make a backup of all your Office application's configuration settings and save it to a single .ops file to restore from. If you already have Office 2003 deployed into production, you can use the .ops file to either standardize or customize the workstations after deployment. The application may not seem like much on the surface, but has a lot of potential if you think about it. Below is the command line I use in the Blogcast. The command line is generic and the path will need to be modified based on your server name and sub folders. If you have any questions, just let me know! \\ServerName\ShareName\OptionalFolder\proflwiz.exe /r "\\ServerName\ShareName\OptionalFolder\New Settings File.OPS" /d Watch the Blogcast! Posted Apr 22 2005, 09:11 PM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Blogcasts

• Steve Lamb keeps his promise

  I mentioned earlier today that Steve had some great things to say about Blogcasting. Seems that Steve decided to make his first Blogcast! See what Steve has to say about “Creating a non-privileged account in XP SP2”. Steve emailed me today and said he was going to do one soon, but geezzz that was quick. So, let's try that again... Hey Steve, when will you do your NEXT blogcast? LOL Posted Apr 22 2005, 04:34 PM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Windows, Blogcasts

• Steve Lamb said it better than me

  Steve is a IT Pro Evangelist in the UK and posted about Blogcasts and their importance to the communities. I have tried to word it several ways, but I think this is the best I have seen. Hey Steve, when will we see your first Blogcast? Posted Apr 22 2005, 08:22 AM by Anonymous with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Miscellaneous, Blogcasts

• AltaVista Provides a Free Language Translation Tool for your Blog

  Since we have visits from all over the world, it only makes sense that we add a little code to our blogs so people who do not read english can still get the information they need. Click the link and get the code! This will translate your entire blog to another language, very cool! Posted Apr 22 2005, 08:12 AM by Anonymous with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Miscellaneous

• Microsoft Blogcasters are Setting the Pace!

  Michael Kleef has been doing a GREAT JOB with his blog and blogcasts. He posted a 3 part series on Windows 2003 Server VPN Quarantine. Kevin Remde has also uploaded a blogcast on some demos he never had time to share during his Microsoft webcast the other day. Click HERE to see the full webcast! Posted Apr 21 2005, 11:15 AM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Active Directory, Windows, Blogcasts

• Blogcast: Active Directory Saved Queries

  This is something that I recently decided to do since all my AD searches were basic “finds”. If you have a Windows 2003 Server, you can do a few things more when it comes to saved queries than you can with Windows 2000. I strongly suggest you know what it means to “Raise the Domain Functionality Level“ BEFORE you do some of the queries! Watch the BlogCast to find out more! Posted Apr 19 2005, 09:56 PM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Active Directory, Blogcasts

• Modified SMS 2003 Advanced Client Download

  Many of you are aware that I modified the Client.msi and I created a Blogcast on how to do it. To save you the time of editing the Client.msi, you can now download it! The ModClient.MSI will set the SMSSITECODE=AUTO property and increase the cache to 1000 MB. Please make sure you test it before production use!! The MSI is running on thousands of computers without issue, but you should still test it to make sure you know it works for you. This is the SMS 2003 SP1 Client.msi. You can use it just as you do the regular Client.msi. I renamed it so you know it's not the original file. Posted Apr 19 2005, 09:13 AM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Systems Management, Downloads

• Blogcast: Active Directory Schema Classes & Attributes: Additional Account Info Tab

  The Windows 2003 Server Resource Kit has a .dll that will add a new tab to all your user accounts. The tab is called “Additional Account info” and has a few interesting items. The Active Directory schema is not something one should play around with, but adding the Microsoft acctinfo.dll will give you the added tab without problems. The schema is basicly made up of classes and attributes. Classes are like containers, such as a user account. Attributes are the fields in the properties of the user account. You can create new classes and atrtributes based on your organizations needs, but I would leave that to a developer. There are a ton of attributes already available to you by default in the schema, you just need someone to write some code to make them visible. Watch the Blogcast to get a very basic look at the classes and attributes in the schema. You will also see how to add the acctinfo.dll to the registry and what that new tab does. If you do not want to download and install the Windows 2003 Resource kit to get the .dll, you can download it here. Maybe the resident myITforum MVP's Dan Thomson or Ron Crumbaker would be interested in showing us how to write the code so we can add some other attributes. I think it would be interesting to learn how to do it. Posted Apr 14 2005, 09:58 AM by Anonymous with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Active Directory, Blogcasts

• Blogcast: How to Silently Deploy the April 2005 Security Updates to WIndows XP Workstations

  Every organization deploys the patches differently and I hope this is only one example of many on how to deploy the patches. This example shows how to deploy the April 2005 updates to Windows XP SP1 and SP2 workstations silent with a 5 minute countdown. I have not configured the MSN Messenger update, Office update or Exchange update in this example.   DSUW: IE Update Switch: /q:a Windows XP Switch: /norestart /quiet   Package command line: PatchInstall.exe /g:336 /z:s /s /q /c:5 /t:60 /m:"PatchAuthorize.XML"   The Blogcast is long and the audio cuts out just after the base configuration for some reason. The portion without sound shows how to look at the logs on the client and also what the end user sees during and after the install.   Watch the Blogcast!   Posted Apr 13 2005, 11:20 PM by Anonymous with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Blogcasts, Patch Configurations

• Would anyone like to make a SMS blogcast on the April 2005 Patch Release?

  I have my configurations for the updates tested. Not too bad this month! I had it done in under 60 minutes and I will be posting the configurations tonight. I will be doing a blogcast showing the DSUW configurations, command line configuration and advertisement settings. Since I am sure we all have different requirements, I would be interested to see a blogcast on how others do theirs. If you are interested in giving it a shot, upload it to The Blogcast Repository. Posted Apr 13 2005, 12:26 PM by Anonymous with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Blogcasts

• Need to Communicate Audio MMS 2005 info to your blog without a Computer?

  Check out this cool site: http://www.wombatnation.com/phoneblogger/  “PhoneBlogger is a tool for publishing to a blog via a phone call. PhoneBlogger is an automated voice application that first asks you for info about which pre-configured blog you wish to post to. After collecting the necessary information, PhoneBlogger records your audio message. Finally, it posts a blog entry that links to the recorded audio.” I have not tried it, but seems cool if it works! Posted Apr 12 2005, 04:00 PM by Anonymous with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Miscellaneous

• April 2005 Security Patch Configurations

  I will be posting my configurations for this month's patches when they are available. I would like to have a section on my blog where we can all post our command lines and other configurations on a monthly basis. This will allow people to copy our work to make their patch deployments easier and also a place to share our experiences. When you have completed your testing of this months patches, please comment your findings so other people can see how we do it. I have created a new category on my blog called “Patch Configuration” and plan to update it every month. Posted Apr 12 2005, 11:48 AM by Anonymous with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Systems Management, Windows, Patch Configurations

• Patch Tuesday and Windows XP SP 2 Auto Update

  First, the new patchs for this month will be released in a few hours. When they are posted, you can read about them here. Second, make sure you are ready for XP SP2. Today is the day, read more below. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2aumng.mspx Introduction UPDATE: Time is running out! Please note that the mechanism to temporarily disable delivery of Windows XP SP2 is only available for a period of 240 days (8 months) from August 16, 2004. At the end of this period (after April 12, 2005), Windows XP SP2 will be delivered to all Windows XP and Windows XP Service Pack 1 systems. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) contains major security improvements designed to provide better protection against hackers, viruses, and worms. Windows XP SP2 also improves the manageability of the security features in Windows XP and provides more and better information to help users make decisions that may potentially affect their security and privacy. Because of these significant improvements, Microsoft views Windows XP SP2 as an essential security update and is therefore distributing it as a “critical update” via Windows Update (WU) and the Automatic Updates (AU) delivery mechanism in Windows. Microsoft strongly urges customers with Windows XP and Windows XP Service Pack 1-based systems to update to Windows XP SP2 as soon as possible. What is the purpose of this mechanism? While recognizing the security benefits of Windows XP SP2, some organizations have requested the ability to temporarily disable delivery of this update via AU and WU. These organizations have populations of PCs, upon which they have enabled AU. This is done to ensure that these PCs receive all critical security updates. Since SP2 will start to be delivered to PCs running Windows XP or Windows XP with SP1 via AU starting on August 16, these customers would like to temporarily block the delivery of SP2 in order to provide additional time for validation and testing of the update. In response to these requests, Microsoft is providing the following guidance, resources, and communication vehicles to meet the needs of these customers. Posted Apr 12 2005, 11:41 AM by Anonymous with no comments Filed under: Windows