Have you ever wondered what you are giving up when you buy that new HDTV.

Well I haven’t jumped on board yet with the whole HDTV set yet because I can’t exactly afford a new TV at the moment. Plus I’m trying to wait for the price to come down some more, seeing as it just dropped almost 50% I thought I would start to do a little research being as it is tax season and all.

So I was curious if a have a 32” standard TV now will a 32 in HDTV be the same size?

The answer is: NOPE!

This website has a great explanation and chart for those of you that are ready to jump in.

http://www.screenmath.com/

DailyTech has posted a 7-step workaround courtesy of Paul Thurrott (via Microsoft internal documents) on how to perform a clean install with a Windows Vista Upgrade DVD. Per Microsoft's new licensing requirements for Vista, users are required to install a Windows Vista Upgrade from within Windows XP and to make matters worse, the Windows XP license is forfeited. The process may be tedious, but few will argue when they compare the price differences between the upgrade and retail versions. Here we go:

1. Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.
2. When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next" and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.
3. When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.
4. Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.
5. This time, type in your product key when prompted.
6. When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.
7. Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.

News source: DailyTech

posted originally

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=37711

Logitech Harmony 659 Universal Infrared Advanced Universal Remote

I never thought that I would get away with spending $90 on a universal remote control for my home entertainment. Heck I figured my wife would say NO WAY! Well she let me buy it after I talked her into it though she was not happy with me. Such is life in marriage I guess.

We had the remote 2 days and my wife told me it was wife approved and well worth every penny we spent.

Anyway about 2 months ago I ordered the Logitech Harmony 659 Universal Infrared Advanced Universal Remote. This thing is sweet. I was able to get all of my devises to work. Heck my receiver is a Sony from 1994. Getting it to work on any universal remote is always a task. But this time it wasn’t.  

Ok let me explain how this remote works. It connects to your computer via USB 2.0. Once connected it has software that goes out to the internet and gets all of the access codes and control settings that it needs for the devices that you enter. I presently have 7 devices programmed into it. Ok so you say so what I have 20 in mine. The coolest feature on this remote is the activity buttons. The activity buttons are basically macros that allow you to easily start your favorite activities with just one press of a button. It took me about 10 min to get all of my activities setup. After I got everything setup I decided to go and test it to see if everything worked. I found that almost everything worked but I was missing a few buttons. Well that wasn’t a problem because this remote is also able to learn buttons from your old remote.

Example of one of my macros

1.      turn on the tv and set it to channel 3

2.      turn on the vcr (for passthough)

3.      turn on the DRV

4.      Turn on the Receiver

Ok so now I can watch tv.

But on most remote controls you have to push the receiver button to change the volume on the receiver and the DVR button to change the channel etc….

Not with this remote.

It sets the volume control buttons so they change the volume on your receiver.

It sets the channel buttons so that it changes the channel on the dvr.

It turns off all of the buttons for the vcr since it is just a passthough and it does the same for the tv since it is just displaying the picture.

The other great thing this remote has is a help button that will try and fix a problem.

Say you pushed the watch tv button. On my system that requires the following

1.      turn on the tv and set it to channel 3

2.      turn on the vcr (for passthough)

3.      turn on the DRV

4.      Turn on the Receiver

Ok now what happens if one of the kids walks in front of the remote and blocks the IR signal and the DVR or the VCR doesn’t come on. You press the help button. It asks you if each device is on and if you say no it will turn it on.

Very sweet.

There are lots of over goodies with this remote but I will stop here.

So if you are in the market for a new universal remote control and you want one that is wife approved I recommend this one.

Watch a demo:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/demo/US/EN,crid=2084,contentid=8865,sh=1

Best price I found was at NewEgg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16880100710

Here is the latest info i recieved from My TAM this morning.

(Thanks John)

*************************

There have been several new developments today for Daylight Savings Time.  The latest ETA for a public product matrix is in the next day or two, when this new version is published I will continue to send this update and include the list for your convenience.

Please let me know if you need additional information on any specific product, hotfix or tool.

New Highlights

·        The Outlook Time Zone Update Tool has been released here.

·         Register for the public Webcast on Feb 2nd at 1:00pm PST for the new Exchange and Outlook tools: Elizabeth Scott (PUM Exchange) and Aime Mitchell (Principle PM Outlook) present the requirements and considerations you should be aware of when using the new tools and discuss the most common scenarios that Exchange Administrators could face in getting ready for the change.

·         Visual Source Safe is affected KB has been published 1/26/07 (KB931804)

·         Groove 3.1: The product group is working on documentation of the issue and an announcement.

·         Visual Studio: More information upcoming

·         C++ CRT: It is impacted and KB article is in the works.

·         The main DST site on micrsoft.com (http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007) was updated over the weekend to include:

o        BizTalk Server requires updates.

o        Detailed guidance on order of updates (involving OS updates, Exchange, and calendar rebasing). This includes an explanation of the importance of rapid succession of steps regarding Windows OS updates and applying calendar update tools to minimize the chance of incorrectly shifted meetings.

o        Projected availability of Outlook/Exchange calendar update tools.

o        2007 time zone update for SQL Server 2005 Notification Services and for SQL Server 2000 Notification Services

·         LiveMeeting Service (the hosted services will be automatically updated in mid-Feb through March by Microsoft – the console/client will not need to be updated)

·         Exchange Server 2003 SP1 will now be supported for an updated version of the Exchange CDO patch to be released shortly

·         Version 2 of the OS DST patch will be released soon which includes the addition of several timezone updates for other countries

·         DST Hotfixes for products in Extended Support can now be purchased for $4,000 (for all hotfixes in this category; currently Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000)

·         Technical assistance for DST related cases will be no charge

·         Additional public Webcasts are being planned for the next few weeks to provide additional guidance

List of DST 2007 Related KB Articles

·        Preparing for daylight saving time changes in 2007 - http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007

·         Windows

·        2007 time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems (KB928388)

·        How to configure daylight saving time for the United States in 2007 (KB914387)

·        Support Webcast:  Deploying Microsoft Windows 2000 updates for daylight saving time changes for worldwide use (KB930688)

·         Exchange/Outlook

·        Update for daylight saving time changes in 2007 for Exchange 2003 (KB926666)

·         Patch Order guidance (we will include guidance created with MSIT in a future update) here

·         Outlook Update Tool overview and Outlook Update tool FAQ (here)

·        Further details and scenarios for Outlook ‘rebasing’ tool (KB931667)

·         Outlook tool scheduled for release end of January – public documentation on Office Online here.

·        Appointments appear off by one hour when you use Collaboration Data Objects to obtain calendar information from Exchange Server 2003 (KB924580)

·         SQL: 2007 time zone update for SQL Server 2005 Notification Services and for SQL Server 2000 Notification Services

·         SharePoint: Update for Windows SharePoint Services (KB924881)

·        Windows CE:

·        How to configure daylight saving time for the United States and Canada in 2007 and in subsequent years on Windows CE-based devices (KB923027) 

·        U.S. daylight saving time changes in 2007 do not occur on the correct day on Windows CE 5.0-based devices (KB921095)

·        Windows Mobile: How to configure daylight saving time for the United States and Canada in 2007 and in subsequent years on Windows Mobile-based devices (KB923953)

Windows Vista Gaming Performance

PCPerspective takes a long hard look at Windows Vista gaming performance. How much will Vista impact your gaming? Systems using both ATi and NVIDIA video cards are used for testing, the results might surprise you.

I decided to take the retail version of Windows Vista Ultimate, got the latest drivers from both AMD and NVIDIA as of Friday and began to spend my weekend testing. What is important to note here is that my intention is NOT to compare the ATI Radeon cards against NVIDIA GeForce cards -- rather it was to compare the gaming experiences provided by ATI and NVIDIA on both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Summary

This Support WebCast will help you understand how Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office Outlook are approaching this transition. It will provide more details about which versions of Exchange and Outlook versions are affected. The WebCast also talks about the requirements and considerations you should be aware of when installing the fixes. It will also discuss the most common scenarios that Exchange Administrators could face in getting ready for the change.

Details

The WMI Diagnosis Utility -- Version 2.0

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d7ba3cd6-18d1-4d05-b11e-4c64192ae97d&displaylang=en

Thanks  Anand Upadhyay for the suggestions.

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cstauffer/archive/2007/01/24/managing-read-receipt-requests.aspx

Chris Stauffer <><

My son is a Tiger cub in the BSA. We got to take part in our first derby over the weekend. The tiger scouts are not allowed to shape the car at all because they are not allowed to use power tools for safety. I wasn’t in scouts as a boy so this is all new for me as well. I decided that I wanted to be an assistant Den leader so that I could get as much out of scouts as my son. I figured if I was the leader it wouldn’t be as enjoyable the first year because I would be required to do a lot more, the funny part is I have to go thought just as much training as the den leader, Anyway enough about me hehe.

Start

Finish

My Son’s car won 3^rd place in his den of 9 tiger scouts. He was so excited. Now he has his first trophy and we are going to make a shelf as a project to display it on J

I decided since we couldn’t shape the car we would make the most of this. So for I got him some cool decals and put them in his stocking for Christmas. Then I went to the local BSA store and bought a driver kit. I took him to Wally World (Wal-Mart) and had him pick out the model paint kit that he wanted and we picked out the spray paint color that was the shiniest. He decided to go with Gold.

So here is the car.

We called it the “Golden Dragon”

Just remember this dad’s even if you are a geek like me you can have lots of fun with your kids and Scouts is a great way to have Father and Son time J

Anothr Update for this blog post

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cstauffer/archive/2007/01/24/new-itmu-hotfix.aspx

The hot fix is not available because it was replaced by 927891

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891

There are still question as to whether this applies to ITMU RV3 

Well i finally got around to updating my Personal website since comcast took over.

here is the link if anybody wants to see it

 http://home.comcast.net/~flukstercds/

This update is for this post:

 http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cstauffer/archive/2007/01/24/new-itmu-hotfix.aspx 

I got this from my TAM this morning.

These are not available for public consumption just yet Chris.  It won’t let me download them.

it also looks like it is related to ITMU RV2 because it references the old cab file.

After some discussion on the message boards at MYITFORUM about read receipts I decided to do some research into the problem. I forwarded a few ideas to Rod and I also tried to resolve it my self on my end.

I started using this suggestion about 5 hours ago and it seems to be working nicely.

"Is there any way to selectively enable/disable the read receipts option?"

You can control it either by recipient or by keywords in the subject or message body. All you need to do is create a "Check messages after sending" rule.

1.      Open the Rules wizard Select the option to create a blank rule

2.      Choose 'Check messages after sending' from the rules dialog.

3.      Select the conditions you want to check for and enter the criteria.

·         I selected Though the Microsoft Exchange Server

     Note: You may also need to add exceptions for some groups or subjects. See pic below.

·         This way it only puts read receipts on my inner office email and nothing else J

4.      Choose 'notify me when it is read' as the action. 

5.      Enter exceptions, if needed, and save the rule.

Now every message you send that meets the conditions you chose will include a read receipt request.

Got this hint here: http://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2005/20050203.htm

Updated:

Ok a final solution was found

here it is. 

It seems MS has release another hotfix for SMS that has to do with windows installer 3.1 and ITMU utilizing 100% of CPU.

FIX: When you run Windows Update to scan for updates that use Windows Installer, including Office updates, CPU utilization may reach 100 percent for prolonged periods

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916089

I thought ultimate was suppose to be like $400 or something like that?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/ultimate.mspx

 Newegg has it for $199

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116213