Rod Trent at myITforum.com

Internet.com just offered me a Toyota Prius!

rodtrent — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:07:08 GMT

Why?

They say…

You are receiving this email because you have registered for a tutorial, download, whitepaper, webcast, or have elected to receive information or offers from Internet.com. If you wish to be removed from future Internet.com Membership Alerts, please go to: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/membership_unsub.html

Spammers.

Is it time for a System Center Family version of SMS Installer?

rodtrent — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:01:49 GMT

The community seems to think so. But, will Microsoft listen?

http://www.myitforum.com/forums/m.asp?m=185433

Wireless USB – seriously!

rodtrent — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:28:38 GMT

http://www.myitforum.com/absolutenm/templates/IndustryNews.aspx?articleid=5594&zoneid=71

Sony recalls hazardous Vaio notebooks

rodtrent — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:17:40 GMT

Sony Vaio notebooks can cause burns…

http://www.myitforum.com/absolutenm/templates/IndustryNews.aspx?articleid=5593&zoneid=71

We’re a Wii family – but at $199, we may have to add a second console

rodtrent — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:16:51 GMT

And, Microsoft knows it…

History shows that more than 75 percent of all console sales happen after the price falls below the $200 mark. For millions of consumers who have been waiting for the perfect time to buy an Xbox 360 console, their moment has finally arrived. At $199, Xbox 360 is the most affordable next-generation console on the market, offering something for everyone with the most dynamic, interactive entertainment experiences available.

Read the rest…

Tools and Utilities with ConfigMgr 2007 in mind…

rodtrent — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:06:12 GMT

Thanks to those who took some time to put together a Wiki page specific to ConfigMgr 2007 tools and utilities! I made some minor modifications this morning for formatting issues, but it looks great!

http://www.myitforum.com/myITWiki/SCCMTools.ashx

Have a dream page of your own? The myITforum.com Wiki allows you to be creative and have instant success providing content and information to a large audience.

Check out the Wiki: myITforum.com Wiki

Dell TechCenter does not like Safari

rodtrent — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:58:23 GMT

The Dell TechCenter utilizes Wet Paint for their Wiki software. At the top of the pages they indicate that they recommend IE and Firefox. But, when it comes to Macs, they say this…

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 RTMs!

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:22:27 GMT

Trying to shed the “Softgrid" name, App-V RTMs. Note that Softgrid is only mentioned once in the entire App-V Team blog post.

http://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/archive/2008/09/03/microsoft-application-virtualization-4-5-rtms.aspx

Here’s what Chrome’s uninstall leaves behind…

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:01:43 GMT

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run:

Is GoogleUpdate.exe OK to keep on my computer, running at startup? One person thinks so…

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:36:28 GMT

My recent identification of a lingering Chrome installation file that continues to run at OS boot even though Chrome was uninstalled, brought on an interesting comment to the post that needs some clarification. Without researching further into the matter, or even asking any questions to further clarify the situation, this is the response…

Wednesday, September 03, 2008 11:16 AM by Paladin

Hey bonehead... googleupdate does not specificly belong to Chrome, so it obviously would not uninstall along with Chrome. www.file.net/.../googleupdate.exe.html

its no different than any other update process, like HP, Symantec, Windows, etc. If you had the google toolbar or the like then it was there before you installed Chrome.

On it’s own, the information in the post is definitely good and has merit. In certain situations it makes sense. But, in my case, further clarification would have shown that it doesn’t fit.

So, my response to the comment?

Hey, silly man. I have never installed the Google toolbar or any other Google app on this computer prior to Chrome. This computer was Google free until yesterday. So, you would think that GoogleUpdate.exe would uninstall when I asked Chrome to uninstall, wouldn't you? Shouldn't it at least, remove itself from the OS RUN key so that it no longer runs at startup?

I made this post hoping to get another response from the mysterious Paladin. We’ll see.

Google Chrome Setup properties

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:23:36 GMT

Setup file:

Setup File size:

Setup File Digital Signature:

Setup File Details:

Installs to: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application

File/Directory size:

Chrome user or not - watch out for GoogleUpdate.exe

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:25:59 GMT

To update Chrome, Google installs a startup app in the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run key in the registry.

The program is called GoogleUpdate.exe and it seems to run periodically and of its own volition. If you have Chrome installed, check your processes for this app running.

The interesting thing is that if you uninstall Chrome (which I have gladly) GoogleUpdate.exe still runs in the list of processes (the screen shot above was taken AFTER I uninstalled Chrome). The Chrome uninstall only took a couple seconds, which surprised me considering how long Chrome actually took to install. Apparently, it didn’t really uninstall!

I’m currently scouring my computer to see what other remnants of Chrome were left behind.

So, what does Google want with my computer? Sounds like Spyware to me.

When launching the Configuration Manager Console you may receive the error "MMC Cannot Initialize the Snap-in"

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:11:42 GMT

From the SMS and MOM blog:

Issue: When launching the Configuration Manager Console you may receive the error "MMC Cannot Initialize the Snap-in".

You may also notice that when launching MMC manually (Start -> Run -> MMC) and trying to add/remove the snap-in, the System Center Configuration Manager snap-in doesn't even show up in the list.

Lastly, when looking at the ConfigMgrSetup.log on the root of the C:\ drive of the machine where ConfigMgr Console was installed you may see the following entries in the log:

<date time> Registering C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.ResourceExplorerConsole.dll
<date time> Cannot InstallUtil C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.ResourceExplorerConsole.dll, error code -1
<date time> Registering C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.WqlQueryEngine.dll
<date time> Cannot InstallUtil C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.WqlQueryEngine.dll, error code -1
<date time> Registering C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.Console.dll
<date time> Cannot InstallUtil C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.Console.dll, error code -1

These are all indications of a failed install of the Configuration Manager Console.

Troubleshooting: To get more details on the failure, run the .Net framework InstallUtil.exe program to try and install one of the above mentioned DLL files as follows:

C:\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.0.50727\installutil.exe "Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.ResourceExplorerConsole.dll" /logfile=C:\inst.log showcallstack

where Drive:\ is the drive letter for your Configuration Manager Console install drive letter. The path to the InstallUtil.exe will vary depending on the version of .Net framework installed on the machine where the admin console was installed. The example above is for .Net Framework 2.0 SP1

The command above created a log file C:\inst.log which showed the following information:

Begin Log Excerpt:
Running a transacted installation.

Beginning the Install phase of the installation.
See the contents of the log file for the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.ResourceExplorerConsole.dll assembly's progress.
The file is located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.ResourceExplorerConsole.InstallLog.

An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
   at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
   at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
   at System.Int32.Parse(String s, IFormatProvider provider)
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterLib.GetStringTable(Boolean isHelp)
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterLib.get_NameTable()
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterLib.get_CategoryTable()
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterLib.CounterExists(String category, String counter, Boolean& categoryExists)
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterLib.CounterExists(String machine, String category, String counter)
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.Initialize()
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter..ctor(String categoryName, String counterName, String instanceName, Boolean readOnly)
   at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter..ctor(String categoryName, String counterName)
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.SmsSnapInInstaller.CounterExists(String counterName)
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.SmsSnapInInstaller.BuildCounterInstaller(Boolean forUninstallOperation)
   at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.SmsSnapInInstaller.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
   at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
   at System.Configuration.Install.AssemblyInstaller.Install(IDictionary savedState)
   at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
   at System.Configuration.Install.TransactedInstaller.Install(IDictionary savedState)

The Rollback phase of the installation is beginning.
See the contents of the log file for the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.ResourceExplorerConsole.dll assembly's progress.
The file is located at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager Console\AdminUI\bin\AdminUI.ResourceExplorerConsole.InstallLog.

The Rollback phase completed successfully.
End Log Excerpt.

Cause: The information above tells us that the cause of our issue is a problem with the performance counters on this machine.

Resolution: To resolve this issue rebuild the performance counters on the machine. Rebuilding the performance counters should allow the Configuration Manager Admin Console to properly install and open.

Please make a backup of the registry on the Windows machine before rebuilding the performance counters.

For Windows Server 2003, you can use the following command to rebuild all Performance counters including extensible and third party counters, type the following commands at a command prompt. Press ENTER after each command:

1. cd \windows\system32
2. lodctr /R

NOTE: /R is uppercase.

NOTE: If you are running a Cluster or Datacenter product, you must fail over the node to refresh the counter list after doing the preceding steps for both base counters and extensible counters.

NOTE: Running this command, does not rebuild the extensible performance counters added by third party software/servers.

NOTE: On systems that are running applications that add their own performance counters, such as Microsoft Exchange or SQL Server, the .ini file that is used to load the performance counter may not be located in %Systemroot%\System32. These .ini files can usually be found under the applications folder structure.

Windows Server 2003 rebuilds all the counters because it reads all the .ini files in the C:\Windows\inf\009 folder for the English operating system.

For more information on rebuilding the performance counters see the following Knowledge Base article:

300956 How to manually rebuild Performance Counter Library values - http://support.microsoft.com/?id=300956.

For Windows XP machines, the LODCTR /R switch does not work the same as Windows Server 2003, however the performance counters can be rebuilt manually per the above article, or you can also attempt to restore the most recent backup of the PerfStringBackup.ini by running the following command:

lodctr /r:PerfStringBackup.ini

NOTE: Running this command, does not rebuild the extensible performance counters added by third party software/servers.

NOTE: On systems that are running applications that add their own performance counters, such as Microsoft Exchange or SQL Server, the .ini file that is used to load the performance counter may not be located in %Systemroot%\System32. These .ini files can usually be found under the applications folder structure.

After you have completed this procedure, you must re-add the extensible counters from the list of services. Before you do so, however, you must identify the .ini file that is used to load the counters:

1. Open a command prompt window.

2. At the command prompt, type cd %Systemroot%\System32, and then press ENTER.

3. At the command prompt, type findstr drivername *.ini, and then press ENTER.

4. Note the name of the .ini file for each drivername in the list.

5. At the command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER: lodctr inifile where inifile is the name of the .ini file for the driver that you want to reload.

For example, if you want to reload the ASP driver, the list that you noted in step 4 shows that Axperf.ini is the .ini file for the ASP driver (axperf.ini:drivername=ASP). Therefore, to reload the ASP driver, type lodctr axperf.ini at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

6.    Repeat step 5 for each .ini file in the list.

7. Restart the computer.

After rebuilding performance counters on the machine, reinstall the Configuration Manager Console. At this point it should successfully install and open.

New OpsMgr 2007 KB Articles for 8-24 through 8-30

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:10:33 GMT

Sys Center Ops Mgr 2007 SP1
956240 - The SQL Server process may consume lots of CPU resources on the server that hosts the Operations Manager 2007 database after you make Operations Manager 2007 configuration changes
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Ops Mgr 2007 SP1
954903 - The Monitoringhost.exe process may consume all the CPU resources when a large amount of performance data is created by using a managed data source module in System Center Operations Manager 2007
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Ops Mgr 2007 SP1
954948 - The audit collection service (ACS) fails when the ACS is configured for a grooming retention policy that is greater than 256 days in System Center Operations Manager 2007 Service Pack 1
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Ops Mgr 2007 SP1
956184 - Alerts are issued from the MOM Active Directory Management Pack after you install an Operations Manager 2007 SP1 agent over a MOM 2005 agent on a domain controller that is running a 64-bit version of Windows
Published - New

New and updated ConfigMgr 2007 KB articles

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:08:55 GMT

Sys Center Config Manager 2007 AL
955126 - The SMS_Executive service process (Smsexec.exe) in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 may crash if you have Intel AMT-related software installed
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Config Manager 2007 AL
955388 - Error message when you use the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1-based Configuration Manager Configuration Manager console to check software distribution point settings
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Config Manager 2007 AL
956337 - System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 is unable to remove AMT user ACLs during the provisioning process for AMT 2.x computers
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Config Manager 2007 AL
955955 - A task sequence that contains many packages may take longer to run after you install System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 or hotfix 949225
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Config Manager 2007 AL
954718 - You cannot use the Out of Band Management console in Configuration Manager 2007 to connect to computers that use versions of Intel AMT that are earlier than version 3.2.1
Published - New

-----

Sys Center Config Manager 2007 AL
955355 - A distinguished name that contains more than 100 characters and that is discovered from Active Directory for an AMT host causes the SMS_EXECUTIVE service to crash in System Center Configuration Manager 2007
Published - New

New SMS 2003 KB

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:08:17 GMT

Sys Mgmt Svr Ent Ed 2003 EN
954347 - You cannot delete the package from a distribution point of a child primary site from a central site in Systems Management Server 2003 after you install the hotfix in Knowledge Base article 936465.

IE8 gets mixed up with slow connection pages

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:27:20 GMT

If a page you are accessing takes too long, according to IE8, it throws up the following screen…

I know that the specific page I am accessing is generally slow due to the several factors, but IE8 times out long before it should. There has to be a setting or tweak somewhere that allows IE8 to wait longer prior to timing out, because as shown in the page it displays, it really could confuse those users who may think they’re Internet connection is down.

Google Chrome Crashes with All Tabs

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:19:15 GMT

Software:

Google Chrome Browser 0.2.149.27

Tested:

Windows XP Professional SP3

Result:

Google Chrome Crashes with All Tabs

Problem:

An issue exists in how chrome behaves with undefined-handlers in chrome.dll version

0.2.149.27. A crash can result without user interaction. When a user is made to visit

a malicious link, which has an undefined handler followed by a 'special' character,

the chrome crashes with a Google Chrome message window "Whoa! Google Chrome has crashed.

Restart now?". It lies in dealing with the POP EBP instruction when pointed out by the

EIP register at 0x01002FF4.

Proof of Concept:

http://evilfingers.com/advisory/google_chrome_poc.php

Taking the lid off Google Chrome

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:05:22 GMT

If you're interested in Google Chrome, but are wondering if its something worth your time, the myITforum.com bloggers have been busy testing the new Google-released web browser. Take a look at what they've had to say so far...

Google Chrome – a couple instant annoyances…

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:48:03 GMT

Chrome did not find and import ALL of my IE bookmarks. Believe it or not, it did not import any of my myITforum.com bookmarks. I *knew* they didn’t like us. BTW: re-importing using the toolbar option didn’t help.
In full-screen mode, Chrome *takes over* the screen real estate, i.e., I allow my Taskbar to hide under the screen when not in use – and sliding my cursor to the bottom of the screen does not allow the Taskbar to slide in front of the Chrome window. I’m still looking for a tweak in the app for this. Hmmm…I take that back. Chrome doesn’t allow the Taskbar to work even when it is in *any* mode. It basically disables hiding the taskbar. -- and there’s not clear fix for this.
70MB footprint. What???

I wonder how long this will be in Beta. Google is notorious for keeping something in beta for the seeming life of the product. I guess that’s a good way to continue making excuses for major bugs.

UPDATE: Hmmm…the taskbar slide appears to be working all of a sudden! It’s magic! I’ll watch this to see if it happens again.

UPDATE 2: OK…nevermind. I can duplicate it. Interesting bug.

The pictorial Google Chrome installation…

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:40:53 GMT

The Chrome Installer:

The Welcome Message:

Customizable Settings:

The Import from IE:

First Launch:

About Google Chrome:

Options Pages…

Google Chrome is live…

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:31:00 GMT

http://www.google.com/chrome

‘tis the month to learn about Microsoft Online Services – for business

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:57:50 GMT

Microsoft is hosting a number of WebCasts in September that talk directly to their plans for supporting your business online.

So, without further ado…here’s the semi-official R2 announcement…

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:39:09 GMT

The sporadic communications through blogs and such over the past week or so about ConfigMgr 2007 R2 being RTM’d, I believe, has forced Microsoft to announce R2 publicly a little earlier than they wanted to. Originally meant for Wednesday (tomorrow), the announcements from Microsoft are now starting to roll in.

The System Center Configuration Manager team would like to announce that the following has been Released To Manufacturing (RTM).

Download an evaluation version of ConfigMgr07 R2 from Microsoft Download Center.

Regards,
The Configuration Manager Customer Team

And…here’s the blog announcement we’ve been waiting for…

http://blogs.technet.com/smsandmom/archive/2008/09/02/now-available-microsoft-system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r2.aspx

Deep dive audience profile of myITforum.com

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:32:10 GMT

For those interested in such things, we’ve posted a page on the site that helps advertisers get a better overall picture of the audience they reach when communicating through myITforum.com:

http://www.myitforum.com/aboutus/myitforum_audience_profile.asp

Google’s public launch of Chrome scheduled for today…

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:12:37 GMT

http://www.myitforum.com/forums/calendar.asp?eventid=223&calDate=2008-09-02

More heads rolling at VMWare

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:40:02 GMT

Is the Microsoft virtualization onslaught the cause?

http://www.myitforum.com/absolutenm/templates/IndustryNews.aspx?articleid=5575&zoneid=71

Dave talks about Google’s Chrome browser – makes a comment I like…

rodtrent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:16:49 GMT

From Google Chrome: Why?, Dave makes this comment:

“It's like the cereal aisle in the grocery store. Rather than trying to bring things together, they're fragmenting even more.”

This is a sensible statement that could takes on a whole other meaning when you apply it to community.

The Application Virtualization article to end all articles

rodtrent — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:25:28 GMT

InfoWorld has produced a great article for anyone who wants to get up-to-speed on Application Virtualization:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/08/21/34TC-appv-extreme_1.html

IE8 Beta 2 touted as a faster browser. But is it?

rodtrent — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:15:36 GMT

From a personal perspective, watching the time it takes for new tabs to load and then for the new pages to load in the tab, I’m a bit disappointed in the speed of IE8. Even Maxthon, which uses the IE8 rendering engine is much faster opening new tabs and web pages.

My experience from testing Firefox 3.0 a while back, indicates that it is still the fastest browser available. However, constant browser crashes and web site incompatibilities kept me from thinking seriously about using it long-term.

So, that said, speed isn’t everything. Still, the IE8 team needs to do a better job improving the speed and performance of IE8.