Cuball's WebLog

Front Page Server Extensions are finally Going?

Cuball — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 04:08:00 GMT

FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) 2002 Download Retirement
FPSE 2002 will be removed from the Microsoft Download Center on or about June 6, so if you anticipate needing these files, please download them before this date. The following programs will be removed in all available languages:

•	FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 (DMT Family IDs 5CC0A845-1884-4A16-A8CB-25D2F0815FA3 and EC000E2B-7617-4881-ACF2-5B14E051A9CA)
•	FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 Message Language Set for Microsoft Windows-based Servers (DMT Family ID F3B05D86-EA1C-4A6D-AE8A-E8203104E9AC).This extension allows the server administrator to customize the language in which FPSE messages appear.
•	FrontPage Server Extensions 2000 Message Language Set for Microsoft Windows-based Servers (DMT Family ID AFEAA469-C7A4-4090-9FB5-546C12BE23BA)

The following content will not be removed:

•	Service packs, public updates, and other publicly available patches
•	Documentation
•	The x64-compatible version of FPSE 2002 on Windows Server 2003: this download was recently released (January 31, 2005) to satisfy customer demand. Because the user can install FPSE 2002 on Windows Server 2003 using the original install media (which is still available to customers), removing the x64 download would essentially remove capabilities from the x64 version that are available in the x86 version. Therefore, this download will not be removed at this time.

Additional Vista Thoughts

Cuball — Wed, 31 May 2006 05:16:00 GMT

At the moment I am running Windows Vista Beta 2 build 5384 along with Office Beta 2 and all I can say is that Microsoft has quite a bit of work left to do before this product should be released. I am trying to do a simple search for Excel Spreadsheets on my machine and it is take a good 20-30 minutes for the machine to complete this task. I have 2GB of RAM in a machine that is running at 2.4 GHz which should be sufficient to run Vista. I am watching the explorer.exe in Process Explorer from Sysinternals http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html and it is consistently sitting at 80% or higher for the CPU utilization. As the search goes on I can see the SearchFilterHost.exe and SearchProtocolHost.exe run and turn off as well as verclsid.exe which runs under the Explorer.exe process tree. It appears that the search capabilities that are built in work but are dependent on something that is really slowing my machine down. This really needs to be fixed as soon as possible because this is the reason I have flushed the build every time I have loaded it onto my laptop. I may try and see if Office has something to do with this issue or if it is dependant on the present Vista Build. I do realize that this is consider the Ultimate build and that everything but the kitchen sink is in this build but the speed that Vista has reduced my machine to is something that is unacceptable. I will load the same Vista build 5384 and load Office 2003 to see if I have the same problem. All I can say is that this performance currently is enough for me to start taking a look at alternative Operating systems. There is no way that any other OS is this slow in operation. I would really like to see just a Professional Build of Vista and not this Ultimate crap, because that is just what it is currently.

Vista Beta 2 - Thoughts and Concerns

Cuball — Sat, 27 May 2006 22:08:00 GMT

I consider myself more than a typical user and when I loaded Vista for like the 4th time hoping that there was the ability to control somethings I have been dissappointed yet again. The UI in Vista is actually very nice and much of the information that given is very good. This damn User Account Control is about the most annoying thing I have ever seen in an operating system. I can delete a file without telling this User Account Control (UAC) that I want to delete the file. More confirmation on deletion of files. I can understand having this feature in the Operating system but I hope that there is some way to disable or stop this program otherwise you can be sure that Vista is not something I want to adopt. That is a step back for advanced users.

To date I have tried removing it from the registry, changing the local security policy as well as going into the Control Panel and under User settings and actually turn UAC off. When it does finally get turned off a lovely "Windows Security Alert" pops up in the bottom of the computer in the start bar. It tells me I am at rick and that I should turn it back on. Well I say F*)( off with turning it back on and same goes for the damn alert I get from Vista. If I cant turn this crap off what is the use of this OS?

I just want to remove this Damn enhancement and not have to deal with it. My mother might like it as well as the security experts, but all I can say is that if I can get rid of it I will find a new Operating system. I am sure I am not the only person to think this way and it will only get worse. The thing that made PC's cool back in the day was the ability to customize everything if you choose to. Microsoft is making the OS pretty and functional out of the box, but the advanced user is going to move on from this OS for the simple fact that customization has become so hard and Microsoft is now making my decisions for me. Vista is looking like a Mac more and more, Please tell me its not so. I think that most Mac people are full of the same stuff they try to shovel when they talk about how great their Mac is. Mac users are drones stuck in a glass jar and unable to change a huge amount. The gaming field is always changing with some OS's and the in others the field is set. Mac is set and Vista is going to be set as well from what I can see. I know that I am putting Microsoft in a Damned if you do and Damned if you dont situation, but why cant the OS allow me to turn something off at the Registry level or the local security policy level and the change just goes into effect and does not tell me that I am might be a risk.

If I want to do something stupid and then have to rebuild my box because that change I made last crashed the system fine let me do it. If Microsoft wants to continue to get people to adopt their Operating Systems customization needs to be a part of it. When I turn something off I dont need a damn security alert coming up permanently on my machine I just want the machine to do what I want it to do.

Ramped up and ready to go.

Cuball — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 07:12:00 GMT

In the next few weeks I will be writing about several things here on what I am going to be working on. I wanted to let others know what those items where and in case they wanted to tune in.

At the moment I will working on a

Exchange 12 TAP
"Live" Server 12 TAP
SharePoint Version 3 TAP
Vista TAP
Virtual Server R2

I am sure that some of what I will say will be good and informative others parts may just be me complaining about hot something integrated poorly together. Either way any feedback you have on your experiences would be helpful and as well if you have any questions let me know and I will try to answer the questions as well. Look forward to talking to you.

Bloggers to meet in the Seattle Area

Cuball — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 05:28:00 GMT

I have been blogging for a little while but not at a rate of many of the people that will be attending http://www.jeffsandquist.com/SammamishBloggerMeetupAnyone.aspx in Sammamish. I would love to find out how others find the time to remember to Blog in the first place. I always find things that I would like to Blog about but then never seem to find the time.

Well Hope to see you there if you can make it.

SOA tool kit

Cuball — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 22:00:00 GMT

Implementing Service Oriented Architecture has a good example which can be found here.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/overview/benefits/cstrial.mspx

You can order the Connected Systems Business Kit at the link below.
The kit includes:

•	Presentations and videos describing connected systems for business decision makers, architects, developers, and IT professionals.
•	Generico, an extensive SOA-blueprints based, end-to-end sample application showing a typical enterprise implementation of SOA.
•	Technical training materials.
•	Microsoft Enterprise Development Series white papers.
•	Customer and analyst evidence.

https://microsoft.order-7.com/connectedsystems/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=MSTrialandEval&category%5Fname=Connected+Systems&product%5Fid=099%2D93177

Microsoft RSS Feed to the nth Degree

Cuball — Thu, 26 May 2005 22:52:00 GMT

Microsoft has launched a rather large initiative to make it easier for administrators to know when new KB articles have been written on a particular technology. Take a look at this link here to see which technologies have been RSS enabled.

http://support.microsoft.com/selectindex/?target=rss

Windows Based Hosting 3.5 releases

Cuball — Wed, 18 May 2005 08:32:00 GMT

Press Release today that the next version of the solution released http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/may05/05-17WBHSolutionPR.asp

To get more information on the subject go http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/solutions/windowsbasedhosting.mspx

Most of the areas that were added where Two applications DotNetNuke and Telligent Community Server which is .Text's older brother which weblogs.asp.net and the Windows Based Hosting Forumns are based on.

Support for Windows Server 2003 SP1 is now available for the solution. I hope that they have tested the problem with MOM 2005 that is out there http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;898921

If not that could be a problem.We shall see I am going to the first seminar being held in Redmond to see what it is all about.

Server 2003 R2 Beta 2 Released

Cuball — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:41:00 GMT

Windows Server 2003 R2 Beta 2 is just released and available on Betaplace for beta testers. The public download will be avaiable very soon.

Nice page with all the ports Windows Uses

Cuball — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 22:25:00 GMT

For those out there that are always trying to find out what ports each application uses this document is good to reference. I know there are some that eat, sleep, and sometimes even drink port numbers, but this just makes it easier to reference this and memorize other things that I need at the moment.

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=832017

Now available MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition Evaluation Software

Cuball — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 22:42:00 GMT

If you where thinking about trying to monitor a small group of machines less than 10 and do it cost effectively you should go and take a look at this.<here>

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Workgroup Edition helps you

Identify high-priority problems quickly without being an IT infrastructure expert.
Understand the root causes of infrastructure issues.
Resolve complex, time-consuming infrastructure and application problems rapidly with expert guidance.

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003
Other Software: Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE), or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition

Intelligent Message Filter Update

Cuball — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 01:18:00 GMT

This update to the Intelligent Message Filter SmartScreen™ filter contains updated
spam characteristics that improve the ability of Intelligent Message Filter to block
unsolicited commercial e-mail messages, also known as (AKA) spam.
You must have Intelligent Message Filter installed to install this update.

The filter update for Intelligent Message Filter requires the following software

Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003, Windows® 2000 Advanced Server,
or Windows 2000 Server. For more information about Windows updates and
service packs, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=22453
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. For more information about Exchange updates
and service packs, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=21573
Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter. To download Intelligent Message
Filter, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=28649

If you are looking for the Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter
Deployment Guide original then go<here>

Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter is a product developed by Microsoft
to help companies reduce the amount of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE),
AKA spam, received by users. This guide explains how to deploy and configure
Intelligent Message Filter in your Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 organization.

SMS2003 Troubleshooting Flowcharts

Cuball — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 00:56:00 GMT

The following SMS 2003 Troubleshooting Flowcharts can help you troubleshoot
SMS 2003 during the course of your day-to-day administrative tasks.

If you are trying to understand better, how a specific SMS process operates
you can go to two different places to get the information.

Download all the flowcharts <here>
To view them individually without downloading them all you can go <here>
As well, you may want to look at the other documentation for SMS located <here>

Network Sniffer identifier

Cuball — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 00:29:00 GMT

Promqry can accurately determine if a modern (Windows 2000 and later) managed Windows
system has network interfaces in promiscuous mode. If a system has network interfaces in
promiscuous mode, it may indicate the presence of a network sniffer running on the system.

Promqry version 1.0 usage Queries system(s) for interfaces running in promiscuous mode

To query local system's interfaces run:

promqry.exe

notes: returns zero if any interfaces found in promiscuous mode

-returns 1 if no interfaces found in promiscuous mode

-returns 99 if error encountered

-np and -nv options are not valid for local query

To query a remote system's interfaces run:

promqry.exe remote_IP | remote_name [-nv]

notes: returns zero if any interfaces found in promiscuous mode

-returns 1 if no interfaces found in promiscuous mode

-returns 99 if error encountered

-nv means no verbose output, only reports errors and systems with interfaces in promiscuous mode

To query a range of remote systems' interfaces run:

promqry.exe start_remote_IP:end_remote_IP [-np] [-nv]

notes: start_remote_IP must be lower than end_remote_IP

-np means no ping before query

-np only valid when querying range of systems

-nv means no verbose output, only reports errors and systems with interfaces in promiscuous mode.

Download Here
To get a GUI version of the product you can go Here

New Windows Update is close

Cuball — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 23:09:00 GMT

It seems that Version 5 of Windows Update has had a short life. Version 6 will be going into beta sometime in the next month. What is interesting to me is that many are suggesting that this version is to help keep unlicensed products from being able to update their product. There are quite a few that were hoping that finally customers and users alike would be able to go out and patch more than just Windows. I guess keeping the illegal copies of XP is more important than making the service friendlier to users.

It makes you wonder if Microsoft has the right mindset concerning what features are more important to the customers. Microsoft seems more concerned about the bottom line. I can see the value in making this service keep illegal copies from being able to update but I would think that it would be a secondary thing to add after you had a central update location rather than a handful of sites of where to go to get my updates. None of them are the same for one. When I go to office update it requires me to plug my CD back in just to update a personal machine. You would think that Microsoft would have a better way of doing this. Inovate Inovate Inovate Inovate.

Reference http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Preps_Next_Windows_Update/1106855668