March 2007 - Posts
A new virus has been released into the wild and is showing up in inboxes disguised as an IE7 update. Rather than showing up as an attachment, it is an embedded link in a Microsoft-ish image. The true nature of the virus has not yet been fully explained.
The file is actually a new virus called Virus.Win32.Grum.A, and security experts were still analyzing it Friday to see what it does. Sophos PLC said it can spread by e-mailing itself to contacts in a user's address book. The virus tampers with registry files to ensure it gets installed, and it tries to download additional files from the Internet, said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant for Sophos.
http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2007/03/grum.html
Check out the fun and adventure. Five fun filled adventures, with a sixth “coming soon”.
http://www.windowsvistaretail.com
In many situations, and for me out of the box, Windows Vista can rely on its Welcome screen and doesn’t require Ctrl+Alt+Del security login. Do you want to or need to enable this functionality on Windows Vista if you don’t have it?
Click Start | Run, type NETPLWIZ (assuming you are logged in as an Administrator).
Note: If you have not yet added RUN back to the Start menu, right click the start button, go to Properties, go to the Start Menu tab, click Customize. All of the options are in alpha order, so scroll all the way to the check the box for the Run command. I live by the Run command, so not certain why it wasn’t there by default.
The Advanced User Accounts dialog box should open. Click the Advanced tab, and in the Secure logon section, check the box that says “Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete”.
Registry setting:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Set DisableCAD to 0.
Great time out at MMS 2007. Thanks to Rod, Meg, Ron and April for the "Gadget Geek" award. I'll wear it proudly.
I also found out this week that Rod loves the "Do You See Me Now" game. Just ask him to play a round or two the next time you see him.
I hope everyone has safe travel back home. Great time seeing everyone again. Hopefully Vegas will be here before we know it.
David Letterman fans should recognize the name immediately. Flipping through People magazine on the flight back, I see he passed away March 19th at the age of 85. RIP.
I’m using GMail for most of my myitforum email distribution lists. I’m getting duplicates of just about all of them, and some are coming through from hours ago as if they are brand new messages. Is GMail having problems with POP3 access?
Seems to be the buzz word at MMS…are you techsexy?
Check it out here.
www.techsexy.net
You can register your email address to know when techsexy is unleashed.
Hungry for a hamburger in Houston? Need a phone number in Newark or an area code for Arcadia? How many calories are in that hamburger? Send a simple text message to
95483 (WLIVE)* and get the answers you want when you want them. Enter just a few characters on your phone to answer that burning question with Windows Live Search for mobile SMS.
- Find local businesses and call them with a single click
- Search residential listings to find people
- Get instant answers to questions
- Follow the financial markets
Immediate answers to everyday questions can be found.
Try it: Text 95483 (WLIVE)* with an example query below (do not include the quotes).
- Area Codes “Area code Detroit”
- Reverse Area Code “? 713”
- Country Codes “Country Code Japan”
- Dictionary Definitions “d erudite”
- Encarta Answers “? Population of France”
- Filename Answers “jpg file format”
- Stock Quotes “Q WMT”
- Health Answers “calories soda”
- Unit Conversions “cups in a liter”
- Calculations “15% of 48.75”
- Holidays “Mothers Day 2007”
- Music Answers “Who is U2”
That’s not all. Text “h” or “help” to 95483 to get more tips.
Stay on track with the world of Windows Mobile®, read up on Windows Mobile 6, and take a peek at the features new to the platform. This short brochure will show you how the new improvements to security, scalability, and manageability will soon make easier to make your mobile workforce productive. Download the brochure now.
Go here.
Download the Core Infrastructure Optimization Implementer Resource Guide and you'll get the resources you need to move your IT infrastructure from the Basic to the Standardized level. Included are the processes and tools for managing mobile devices, as well as foundational best practices for deploying and updating software and establishing security policies.
I’m sure time will tell, but we all know that the financial results of Palm were released and there were no sales mentioned. We’ll find out soon enough if the “large shareholder” revealed by CNBC will pan out. Now the Washington Post has reported that “Palm Inc. (PALM.O) remains a potential takeover target, with at least one strategic buyer interested in taking over the maker of the Treo smartphone, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.”
I’d sure like to know who these sources “familiar with the situation” are. No one has called it right at this point. Palm has got some great products forthcoming…stay tuned.
Great job by 1E, Microsoft, and myitforum.com for a heck of a party. Lots of awards given out (no purses this year), lots of food and drink, lots of great conversation, and a free XBOX 360 and Zune to a couple of lucky folks.
It was great to get to finally meet all of the behind the scenes folks who keep myitforum.com up and running. I realize Rod, Meg, and Ron have their hands full, but its very reassuring to see all of the other folks who do so much to keep this community thriving, and the competency levels of those involved.
I should also add that there were several that came up to talk to me tonight, and the first thing that was said was “I’ve wanted to ask questions but…”. I’m sure I speak for others that contribute to this community…please don’t hesitate to butt in and ask questions. If you recognize a name or a face, introduce yourself and ask away. This community is only as strong as those who continue to ask questions, and those who are willing to try and answer. It’s also great to put names with faces.
Rod has already tried to get the word out...more buttons to the party will be raffled off today. Make sure you stop by the booth and register!
TechSexy? Catch the wave (you had to be there). For the answer, ask Ed and April.
Always an interesting and entertaining presentation. After an entertaining top ten list:
* SMS 2003 Latest Releases
* Announcing HP Client Catalog for SMS
* SMS 2003 Quality Update
(call volume down)
* SMS 2003 and WMI
(WMI in Vista, new diagnostic tool available called Windows Diagnostic Tool 2.0)
* SMS 2003 SP3
(RC out now, RTM around the corner)
* SCCM 2007
(Simplicity, deployment, security, configuration)
* What's New in ConfigMgr 2007 - Beta 2
(MS needs your feedback so that they don't release a bad product)
-new SMS setup program, site system support for clustered SQL Server 2005, SMS Administrator Console, PXE boot, driver catalogs, DCM, internet based client management, MOF compiles on its own, multiple MOFs, new SMS Remote Control protocol
*ConfigMgr Server Roles (several new server roles)
* AdministrativeUI - New and Improved
- lots of TechSexy additions
* TAP Data
- 20 TAP customers, goal is 40000 nodes
- RDP (rapid development program) program now open sccmrdp@microsoft.com
* Designed for BIG campaign (www.designedforbig.com) - check it out.
* ConfigMgr2007-Designed for BIG
- 4.8M lines of code
* Customer Experience Improvement Program
-aka Software Quality Metrics (SQM)
* Around the corner
- SP1 of configmgr 2007 on the table 1st half of 2008
- R2 of configmgr 2007 2nd half of 2007
(softgrid, SQL Reporting Services, Forefront)
* ConfigMgr v5 planning under way
Congrats to Wally 15 years at MS, all on the SMS team
I’ve heard from a few of you over the last couple of days that you are attempting to use your PDA phones to check your personal email accounts, and your receiving email fine, but can’t send any. In most cases, the wireless carriers (Cingular/AT&T, Verizon, Sprint) block domains they don’t recognize, for instance Time Warner Roadrunner domains are not recognized by Cingular/AT&T.
In order to send from the device as well, you will need to modify the SMTP gateways used on your device.
Cingular – try cwmx.com as your SMTP server, no username or password
Verizon – try smtp.vzwmail.net, username is your 10–digit cellphone number followed by @vzwmail.net, and your password is the password you use (or create one) for vtext.com
T-Mobile – try myemail.t-mobile.com, username is your mobile phone number followed by :1, and your password is your web access password
Sprint PCS – try smtp.sprintpcs.com, user name is your Sprint PCS username and your Sprint PCS email password (go to Sprint PCS and register for one if you don’t have one).
These settings should allow you to send from your device.
Got out of the keynote on break and the line at Starbucks is longer than the restroom line. Hopefully this improves as the week goes along.
The opening keynote was given by Bob Muglia, Delivering on Dynamic Systems.
Microsoft's Promises:
* Manage Complexity
* Protect Information
* Advance the business
* Amplify the impact of your people
Bob discussed industry trends including mobile computing (diverse infrastructures), virtualization, and convergence.
He then discussed Dynamic Systems Initiative.
* Virtualized Infrastructure
* Design for operations
* Knowledge - driven management
http://www.microsoft.com/io
Virtualized Infrastructure
* physical platform
* operating system virtualization (viridian)
* application layer virtualization (softgrid)
* presentation layer virtualization (terminal services)
Windows Server Longhorn fits virtualization, including licensing, infrastructure, management, interoperability; and applications. Softgrid was getting a lot of play.
Jeff Woolsey then did a demo of Longhorn. It included virtual machine management, and integration with operations manager.
Bob then discussed design for opeartions which included personas, model types, and model examples. Models enable design for operations.
Bob then announed a partnership with EMC2, and Cisco to work on the next generation of models.
Knowledge - driven management was then discussed, which includes ITIL/MOF, operations management, incident management, and asset lifecycle management. he then showed system center family for middle market and enterprise customers.
Barry Shilmover then demonstrated SCOM (Systems Center Operations Manager). Pretty slick in this demo was problem path, the ability to drill down on issues. A video was then shown on how Carnival Cruise Lines uses MSCOM.
Also announced a network-aware service management with system center operations manager. Announced by Howard Elias of EMC2. the shared vision is end-to-end service visibility and control across information infrastructure. There will be an EMC Smarts bi-directional connector for SCOM 2007. Being built-in for future versions.
There is a commitment to SML and CML for design for operations, and ERP for IT.
Are you running Windows Vista? Have you tried the replacement for Outlook Express yet, Windows Mail?
Reports have begun circulating that the bug in Windows Mail could give a remote attacker access to the user's computer..
Microsoft is investigating reports of a vulnerability in Vista's Windows Mail.
Reports have begun circulating online that the flaw could give a remote attacker access to the user's computer. Windows Mail is an e-mail and newsgroup client that Microsoft built and dropped into its Windows Vista operating system.
"Microsoft is not aware of any attacks attempting to use the reported vulnerability or of customer impact at this time," said a Microsoft spokesman in an e-mailed response to an InformationWeek inquiry.
More here.
Do you believe the numbers? 20 million copies of Vista?
REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft
(MSFT) said Monday it sold 20 million consumer copies of the new Windows Vista operating system worldwide in February, but analysts said the data shed little light on the program's popularity during its first month on the market.
By comparison, Windows XP, Vista's predecessor, sold 17 million copies in the two months following its 2001 launch, Microsoft said.
"It's a stronger than expected start," Bill Mannion, a director of product marketing for Windows, said in an interview.
But given that the personal computer market has nearly doubled since XP launched, Vista sales "probably should be more," said Michael Silver, vice president of research at Gartner, a technology research group.
The analyst said 51 million PCs were sold to consumers worldwide in 2002; this year, the research group predicts 96 million consumers will buy a computer.
Palm has officially announced that an update to the Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system will be available for Treo 750 smartphone customers around the world later this year. The Treo 750 is available from carriers in the United States, Europe and Asia and remains a key part of Palm’s international expansion strategy to make Treo smartphones available to more customers. For Cingular/AT&T customers, the update also will facilitate High-speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) capability – allowing faster data-download speeds on 3G/UMTS/HSDPA networks.
“Palm continues to work closely with Microsoft to maximize the benefits of Windows Mobile and to deliver the best mobile experience to Treo customers,” said Joe Fabris, director of wireless solutions at Palm, Inc. “Our hallmark Palm experience combined with the benefits of Windows Mobile 6 on the Treo 750 will continue to deliver a great productivity tool for businesses across the country and around the world.”
Windows Mobile 6 paired with Exchange Server 2007 will deliver email enhancements such as HTML-formatted email messages, the ability to set an out-of-office message remotely, and live links to Microsoft SharePoint documents. Also, the Treo’s color touch screen makes line-of-business applications easier than ever and allows users to take full advantage of new mobile versions of Microsoft Office Outlook, Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint. Microsoft’s Direct Push Technology continues to be available out of the box, giving Exchange users fast, automatic wireless updates of their email, calendar items, contacts and tasks without additional third-party software or fees.
Samsung has recently released a software update for the BlackJack, which is recommended to be installed. This update should enhance roaming capabilities, especially Internationally. In addition, there are cosmetic user interface changes (several icons have been changed) contained within the update. The update will take about 10 minutes to complete if the system is already set up. For detailed instructions on how to perform the update, see below.
|
IMPORTANT NOTICE |
|
If you selected the "Software" link from the SGH-i607 (BlackJack) page and reached article regarding the Update for your BlackJack but were not taken to the End User License Agreement (EULA) page for acceptance and download of the file, it is because there is a PopUp Blocker is enabled on your system. Please temporarily disable any PopUp Blockers that you have in order to download this file. The PopUp Blocker can be enabled again after the download is complete.
- Click here to go to the SGH-i607 (BlackJack) page
- Select the Software link from the grey right-hand navigation box. Note: Popup blockers must be disabled or the file will not download.
- Accept the EULA and click the Download button.
- Click Save and save the file to a specified location.
|
If you have a Cingular Blackjack, go here for the
instructions.
Great welcoming expo at MMS 2007! I honestly think the myitforum booth was the most crowded booth in the place. The giveaways, which included an XBOX 360 and 4 sets of books went over extremely well.
I’ll have to admit though that it was the myitforum party buttons that caused the stir. I got to the Expo at 5:30 when it started and it was like being at WalMart for the day after Thanksgiving sale. I’d call it a flat out stampede to get one of the lucky 200 buttons available. Congrats to Rod, Meg and Ron for a very successful opening night.
I went down to check in to MMS 2007, and stuck inside this big piece of luggage they gave us to carry things around in was a flyer marked “Viva Las Vegas!”, Welcome to Las Vegas Nevada
On the other side of the flyer it read, “Microsoft Management Summit 2008 April 28–May2, 2008”
Guess we know what that means…
As most of you know, when you purchase a Pocket PC, the CD-ROM includes a version of Microsoft Outlook so that you can use it to sync with your device. HP has just issued an advisory that it will no longer put Outlook on the installation CD.
DESCRIPTION
The Getting Started CD that comes with each HP iPAQ manufactured after March 2007, will not have the Microsoft Outlook setup on it.
Symptoms:
Microsoft Outlook setup is not available on the Getting Started CD that is shipped with every HP iPAQ manufactured after March 2007.
SCOPE
This update applies to all the HP iPAQs which are manufactured after March 2007.
RESOLUTION
Microsoft Outlook is not provided on the HP iPAQ Getting Started CD and must be purchased separately from Microsoft. Customers can go to office.microsoft.com and follow the on-screen instructions to purchase the available version of Microsoft Outlook.
Customers can follow these two steps to check whether Microsoft Outlook is installed on their PCs:
1) Click Start > All Programs.
2) Verify if Microsoft Outlook exists in the list of programs on the PC.
ORLANDO, FL – March 26, 2007 – Today, at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association’s (CTIA) WIRELESS 2007®, High Tech Computer Corp. (TAIEX: 2498; “HTC”), the world’s leading provider of Microsoft® Windows Mobile®-based smart devices, announced the expansion of its product portfolio to include two new groundbreaking computing devices that focus on providing users with the definitive mobile computer experience.
The HTC Shift brings the full power of Windows Vista and advanced wireless connectivity into an innovative and compact design that is sure to create a new paradigm for mobile computing. The HTC Advantage delivers extreme portability that leverages the mobile office strengths of Windows Mobile 6 and advanced wireless connectivity in one of the smallest mobile computer designs available.
“The introduction of the HTC Shift and Advantage continue HTC’s long history of innovative, precedent-setting devices,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC. “These new devices bridge the gap between being mobile and being in the office, giving customers new choices for how they work, communicate and live.
With nearly a decade of experience designing and building pioneering smartphones, HTC is extending its mobile convergence leadership into a new mobile computing category created by the introduction of the HTC Shift and HTC Advantage. The company is now doing for mobile computing what it did for mobile phones, adding powerful functionality and advanced connectivity in compact and innovative designs.
HTC Shift
Unveiled at CTIA, the HTC Shift combines the power of Windows Vista with an innovative QWERTY-based keyboard design and 3G-connectivity. The days of compromising productivity for portability are gone. The HTC Shift provides all the power, functionality and connectivity the busy professional needs in a sleek design that is half the size and a fraction of the weight of what they lug around today. Similar in size to a couple of DVD cases, the HTC Shift comes with Windows Vista Business, includes a brilliant 7-inch widescreen touch display and a 30-gigabyte hard drive. Packed with advanced connectivity, the HTC Shift features high-speed global connectivity with Tri-Band UMTS/HSDPA, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. A multimedia maven, the HTC Shift leverages Windows Media Player 11 to provide easy access to music, videos and photos.
“The HTC Shift is combining the power of Windows Vista with advanced connectivity in a sleek mobile computer design,“ said Bill Mitchell, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Mobile Platforms Division. “HTC and Microsoft have been innovating on smartphones for years, so it is exciting to see them bring that experience and innovation to mobile computers.”
HTC Advantage
Developed from the ground up to be extremely portable, the HTC Advantage liberates the traveling executive from their bulky notebook PC. The HTC Advantage packs powerful productivity features into a unique and innovative design that is small enough to slip into a jacket pocket or purse. Based on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6, the HTC Advantage includes Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile for quick access to email, calendar and contacts and Microsoft Office Mobile enabling the creation and editing of Microsoft Office documents. The HTC Advantage includes a thin, magnetically connected QWERTY keyboard and advanced connectivity with Tri-Band UMTS/HSDPA, Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi. In addition, the HTC Advantage enables powerful navigation capabilities with built-in GPS navigation. Other features include:
- 5-inch VGA touch display
- HDD 8GB, ROM 256MB, RAM 128MB
- miniSD™ card slot
- HTC VueFLO™ for easy navigation
- 3.5mm Stereo audio jack
Pricing and Availability
The HTC Advantage will be available through Amazon.com and other retailers this summer. The HTC Shift will be available in the US and Europe in Q3 2007. Additional details, including specifications, pricing and availability will be announced when available.
Read this post from Kevin Daly…
I've been promising an update to my Pocket PC blogging application ("Diarist") for about a year now, but naturally I've been delayed by life, work, laziness and so on.
The biggest delay was actually sorting out in my own mind what how I wanted to take advantage of .NETCF2 and how I'd handle trying to provide a good experience on both Windows Mobile 5 and up, and earlier versions.
What I ended up doing in that respect was using WM5-style menus for all forms other than the main entry form. The main form however configures its menus depending upon the OS version (it goes as far as displaying or not displaying a publish button, since I've replaced this with a SoftKey-enabled menu item for WM5 & 6). One of my obectives has been to enable users of Windows Mobile 5 and later to do as much as possible without the stylus - if they have hardware buttons mapped to Soft Keys, that should be pretty much everything.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've had to abandon Blogger support: I just couldn't keep up.
On a brighter note, I've added the following:
- The ability to add Technorati tags
- The ability to perform XML-RPC pings against certain servers (still to be tested)
- More options on context menus (Cut, Copy and Paste on all of them, and on the main form also Paragraph, Bold, Italic and Underline - hopefully this will save having to hunt for these through the menu system)
- The ability to save copies of blog entries (posted or unposted) locally on the device, and retrieve them for subsequent editing or posting.
- Tentative support for extra form factors (subject to testing).
- The ability to provide a local name for a blog to identify it more easily (you might for instance have multiple blogs which all have your name as their title, and want to distinguish between them).
I've reached the stage where most features are known to work, so I'll do some more testing over the next week or so and release it once I'm happy everything's OK (as OK as I can tell).
PS. The new version will be called Diarist 2, and can be installed side-by-side with the original, which I encourage you to do (that way if you don't like it you've still got the old version).
If you don't already have .NET Compact Framework 2.x installed (the 2 bit is crucial), you'll need to download it from Microsoft - I'll provide a link to the download page with the release.
I'm looking forward to now being able to devote some time and energy to projects which have nothing whatsoever to do with blogging.
Well, I’ve been working off of a second drive for the last couple of weeks with Windows Vista/Office 2007/IE7 loaded on it. Same laptop, just a different hard drive. I just put my Windows XP SP2/Office 2003/IE 6 drive back in to check to see if I had moved all of my data over.
My laptop seems to run much faster, and much better, all of the apps, with the older versions of the Microsoft software. Office 2003 and IE6 seem to run much faster on my laptop. I use Quicken 2007 and the R4 release of Quicken 2007 seems to have broke the program on Vista. I had to uninstall, and reinstall the out-of-the-box version to get it to work, so even Quicken appears to be running much better on XP. My printer, scanner, fax machine also work with my XP drive, but there are no drivers yet for my Windows Vista drive. So while I couldn’t print or scan (I was copying data to a USB drive and using another computer for scanning/printing), I was getting used to some of the new features in Vista and thought this was the direction I needed. I also couldn’t attach my digital camera, or my digital camcorder because the drivers have not yet been updated. I was taking several additional steps to do the same functions to edit the pictures or video we’d taken.
I’m not sure now after a couple of hours of consistent use back on my XP drive that I’ll put my Vista drive back in. I seem to be enjoying having full functionality of my laptop back, rather than only having pieces that work while I wait for company’s like Canon to get their act together.
Well, 3rd quarter results for Palm were posted, the CEO and CFO were asked numerous times about the purchase, all they said was “no comment”. Thursday has come and gone, I guess the “large shareholder” that went to CNBC missed the boat. By how much is the question.
The Windows Mobile team as blogged explaining why the name change for Windows Mobile 6.
It partly reads:
The marketers had a tough problem here that they needed to solve. The problem was that we were distinguishing our two products with the names “PocketPC" and "Smartphone,” but the rest of the world was using the term “Smartphone” for things that we were calling “PocketPCs.” We kept having conversations that went like this,
Customer: “I tried to put this Smartphone software on my device and it didn’t work.”
Us: “You have a PocketPC, not a Smartphone. You need to use the PocketPC version of the software.”
Customer: “No I don’t. I have a Smartphone. It even says so on the box.”
It was clear that we had to get rid of the names “PocketPC” and “Smartphone.” But we were facing another problem. Over the last few years we’ve been consistently making PocketPC more and more like Smartphone. We’re going to continue on this path and, eventually, the only difference between them will be that one has a touch screen and the other doesn’t.
Interestingly, I’ve had the same confusion when it came to Palm Treo’s. They have always marketed their Treo’s as “smartphones”, and only recently began remarketing as “smart device”.
Catch the full explanation here.
Add Direct Push Technology from Microsoft to your Treo 650 smartphone and combine Palm's award-winning ease of use with an email and calendar solution that'll keep you up to date and in touch on the go.
Always up to date
Respond to your day as it unfolds, with your corporate email delivered directly to you.
Right place, right time
Stay on top of all of your appointments, even when they change at the last minute.
Accept, decline, balance
Keep a sane work schedule. Accept or decline meeting invites right from where you're standing.
Organized in one place
Use one application, VersaMail(R) software, for your business email and up to seven other accounts.
Global address lookup (GAL)
Find who you're looking for in an instant. Access your company directory wirelessly and address an email just by typing a few letters.
This software download requires VersaMail 3.5. If you don’t already have it on your Treo 650, you will have to purchase it along with the Exchange ActiveSync Update to receive the benefits listed here.
Visit the Palm store here and get it for $2.99.
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