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Brian Tucker at myITforum.com

Microsoft Technologies & Blogcasting

July 2005 - Posts

  • First Thoughts on Vista....

    The beta has been a pain in the rear! I have fixed the NIC issue, but still have video driver issues. I will have to find another card at the office and see if I can get it to work properly. There are some interesting changes that I can see already.

    1. Changed start menu: Youo have to click on All Programs for it to open. This is nice because it does not cover the main menu. When it does open, it opens like a folder as shortcuts look like a directory tree.

    2. I noticed that when I open the Computer Management MMC console, I get a display with a progress bar that registers the console. Although I have opened it several times, I still get the notification.

    3. Internet Explorer has a whole new feel to it. More on that soon.

    4. There are Parental Controls in the Control Panel. I will have to look at this later. There is also more wireless and mobile options.

    5. Folders have a whole new look to them. More on that soon.

    Bottom line (and we had heard this) is that there is not much new to the eye. When I get the video issue fixed, I will share a lot more.

     

    Posted Jul 30 2005, 01:08 PM by Anonymous with no comments
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  • Windows Vista Blue Screen

    I just installed Vista onto a Dell Optiplex GX110 and had some problems. The display adapter was not detected, nor was the NIC driver. I would have thought that anything that would be detected by XP would be detected by Vista. Nope.... I have a 3COM NIC and a standard video adapter in the box. When I went to select the new driver from 3COM, it was not even listed in the list! 3COM is a very major player in the NIC industry. Why would Microsoft do that? I added the new video driver and it prompted me to restart the computer. When it rebooted, I got the blue screen. Where was the red screen of death???? After 3 attempts to reboot, I am doing a fresh install. I think the issue was because I did not delete the C:\ partition during setup. I did opt for a partition format. When it booted for the first time I had a dual boot machine and I don't think it likes it. This time I deleted the partition and we will see what happens. Stay tuned.....
    Posted Jul 29 2005, 06:47 PM by Anonymous with no comments
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  • Windows Vista Unattended Setup .XML

    I just got my hands on a copy of Windows Vista Beta 1. Looking at the files on the DVD (yes, you cannot use it without a DVD drive) it seems that the unattended text file is now in .XML format. Over the weekend I am going to edit the file as shown below and add the file to a floppy and see if it pulls the information just like the old .txt file used to. Expect to see a few blogcasts by Monday where I will show some of the new features of Vista.

    <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
      <settings>
        <component name="Setup">

          <!--The elements in this section contain elements for pre-populating end user information and personalizing the end user experience-->
          <UserData>
            <AcceptEula>yes</AcceptEula>
            <FullName ShowUI="no">User</FullName>
            <Organization ShowUI="no">Microsoft Corp.</Organization>
            <!--Using "*" as the computer name causes setup to provide a random computername-->
            <ComputerName ShowUI="no">Computer</ComputerName>
            <ProductKey ShowUI="no">XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX</ProductKey>
          </UserData>

          <DiskConfig ShowUI="no">
            <Disk ID="0" WipeDisk="no">
              <Partition Action="Modify" PartitionID="1" Label="" Letter="C" Format="no" Extend="no" />
            </Disk>
           </DiskConfig>

          <ImageInstall>
            <Image>
              <InstallTo ShowUI="no" DiskID="0" PartitionID="1" />
            </Image>
          </ImageInstall>

          <!-- The elements in this section contain details about joining a machine to a Domain and creating new user accounts on the local machine.-->
          <Security>
            <JoinDomain Username="ntdev\user" Password="cleartext" MachineDomain="ntdev"/>
            <!--This section allows for multiple user accounts to be created on the local machine. You can also add the Domain user as an administrator. Users accounts specified here will be added to the administrator group by default.-->
            <Accounts ShowUI="no">
            <!--If your password includes an "&" character then you must specify it as &amp; -->
              <Account Username="Administrator" Password="Blank&amp;999"/>
              <Account Username="ntdev\user" Password="cleartext" Group="Administrators"/>
              <Account Username="Power" Password="" Group="Power Users"/>
            </Accounts>
          </Security>

          <!--This element allows for a user created in the <accounts> section to autologon to the machine and run the scripts specified in the <RunOnce> section. -->
          <AutoLogon>
            <Logon Username="user" Password="cleartext" Domain="ntdev" Count="9999"/>
           </AutoLogon>

          <Hardware>
            <DisplayAdapter HRes="800" VRes="600" ColorDepth="16" RefreshRate="70" />
          </Hardware>

          <!--The elements in this section contain commands to execute the first time a user logs on to the machine. The executable runs in the context of the currently logged on user.-->
          <RunOnce>
            <Executable CommandLine="foo" Description="foo"/>
            <Executable CommandLine="bar" Description="bar"/> 
          </RunOnce>

        </component>
      </settings>
    </unattend>

    Posted Jul 29 2005, 02:35 PM by Anonymous with no comments
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  • Try before you buy...

    Here is the link to the Microsoft Trial home page. One stop downloading for almost all Microsoft products.
  • Windows Vista Beta

    I don't like the name at all, but I am looking forward to testing it when I can get my hands on it. Here is a link to the “Red” screen of death. I'm interested to see what other changes are in the beta version. I would like to see the “All Programs” on the Start menu moved. It always seems to be in the way when I navigate. I would also like to see a few applications built into the OS. How about .NET framework and AntiSpyware just to name a few? Whoever knows how to get the beta version on the 3rd, send me an email with the link.

     

    Posted Jul 25 2005, 10:23 AM by Anonymous with no comments
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  • The Fix: .WMV Files do not Display Properly in Firefox

    I use (for the most part) Front Page 2002 to build my website. I noticed that .WMV files that were on my pages did not display for Firefox users. When you add a video file to a web page in Front Page, the code looks like this:

    <img border="0" dynsrc="2005TechEdVideo5June7(KR).wmv" start="fileopen"></p>

    In order to have Firefox properly display the video, you need to remove the line of code from above and add this in its place:

    <object type="video/x-ms-wmv" data="./msftevents/Contrib/Kremde/2005TechEdVideo5June7(KR).wmv" width="350" height="270">
    <param name="fileName" value="http://www.blogcastrepository.com/msftevents/Contrib/Kremde/2005TechEdVideo5June7(KR).wmv" />
    <param name="autostart" value="1" />
    <a href="./msftevents/Contrib/Kremde/2005TechEdVideo5June7(KR).wmv">Can't see the embedded media?  Download the file.</a></object>

    You will need to change the width and hight to match the video size and you are ready to go. The great thing about this is that now the viewer can pause, stop, fast forward and all the other features just as if it was in Media Player. It gives a nice finished look...

    I am in the process of changing all the pages to allow Firefox users the ability to watch the videos. Should be done in the next day or so.

  • The Terrorism in London Continues?

    Just read the post about 3 more possible terrorist acts in East London this morning. With all the effort they have made to find the people responsible for the last attacks, it's just terrible that it may be happening again. Keep watching the news and lets hope that nobody is hurt this time. This is an initial report that just came out, so not 100% sure what's going on yet...
  • A Change of Color......

    Since the beginning, some have commented that the colors on The BlogCast Repository were a bit tough on the eyes. So, I have decided to try and make some changes. If you would, please let me know what you think by sending me an email. I have also changed the layout of the pages where you see the video. My hope is that this is easier on the eyes and it simply looks better. I am more than happy to take suggestions that you may have.

    The New Look: http://www.blogcastrepository.com/msftevents/Index.html

    Email me: btucker@blogcastrepository.com

  • Kevin Remde's Last TechEd 2005 Video

    Kevin has uploaded his final video from last month's TechEd 2005. He's getting pretty good with his editing.... I'm going to have to get some of his secrets.
  • Firefox gives me headaches too....

    There have been numerous discussions the last few days about which is better, Internet Explorer or Firefox. Rod and Chris both have valid arguments (can you tell I don't want to get in the middle). Aside from all the security issues for each product, I have yet to hear anyone mention Firefox's lack of compatibility with websites. Ever notice when you use look at a website in IE and then in Firefox it sometimes looks screwed up? Take a look at my site with both browsers. You cannot even view the videos on the pages. That's why you can click on the titles to bring up the video in Media Player.

    Now, who builds a new browser that is not compatible with all the things that look right in IE? If Mozilla wanted to do something cool, build a copy of IE and add all the new flavors on top of it. The ONLY reason I use Firefox is to troubleshoot the look and feel of my website. I also think it's funny that Mozilla tries to recruit people to complain to website owners to make their site compatible with their product. In my opinion, that's poor....

     

  • "Blogcast" Term not Widely Adopted?

    Scoble posted about various terms people use such as podcasts, blogcasts and others. He comments, “Other groups call them blogcasts, but that term hasn't been accepted outside of a few small groups yet.” Um, hey Robert... if the term “blogcast” is only known by a small community, then how is it that an average of 83 countries hit The Blogcast Repository each month and the numbers continue to rise?

    Now, granted there may not be a million hits a month on the site, but at least the name Blogcast is getting around and it's only a matter of time before it equals or exceeds the podcast. Just a matter of time.

  • Rod's Adobe Pains......

    I have been reading Rod's posts on how much he dislikes Adobe and I want Rod to know that we care. This should make ya feel better Rod. Just sing along...

  • BlogCast: SMS error: Hash does not match expected

    Here is a short BlogCast that shows what to do when a SMS 2003 package does not download to the SMS client as expected. The CAS.log file will show an error line that starts with “Hash does not meet expected”. There are a few scripts I use from Jim Rothe and Corey Becht to fix the problem. Check out the BlogCast here!
  • Do you have experience with Office 2003 multiple language deployments?

    I received an email today from a gentleman asking me to do a BlogCast on how to configure the setup.ini for Office 2003 multiple language deployments. I have never deployed anything other than english and would probably not be the best person to make such a video. If anyone knows the proper procedures, this would be a great Blogcast to create knowing that someone is looking for it. If you make the BlogCast, upload it to the repository and let me know that you made it so I can forward the information to the person requesting it.

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