May 2007 - Posts

Blake Morrison's Bio
31 May 07 06:50 AM

I am a Support Engineer on the Platforms Performance team in Irving, Texas. I started working at Microsoft as a Contingent Staff employee in September 2005, then joined the full time ranks two months later. In my free time (which isn’t much) I split my Read More...

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Filed under: Team Bios

Basic Debugging of an Application Crash
29 May 07 05:23 AM

One of our common issues is troubleshooting application crashes (for example, the Print Spooler or a third-party application). These crashes usually result in the infamous Dr. Watson error. First, let's discuss terminology. A crash is when something experiences Read More...

Postedby CC Hameed | 12 Comments    

Filed under: debugging, troubleshooting

Basic Troubleshooting Toolkit
25 May 07 06:00 AM

In our previous post on Preparing to Troubleshoot we referred to several different tools and basic troubleshooting questions. In our upcoming posts we will be discussing several troubleshooting techniques, so this seemed like an ideal time to discuss Read More...

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Filed under: debugging, troubleshooting

Windows Vista & Remote Assistance
22 May 07 06:11 AM

Windows XP introduced a new feature called Remote Assistance that enabled XP users to help each other over the Internet. Helpdesk personnel were able to view and even share control of their network users machines using Remote Assistance. However, with Read More...

Postedby CC Hameed | 16 Comments    

Filed under: vista, troubleshooting

SQL and the Working Set
18 May 07 05:54 AM

Here's an issue we've been seeing more and more of on the Performance team lately concerning SQL 2005 and Memory Management. The issue gets reported as: "Windows Memory Management is trimming the SQL Working Set." When you review the event logs, you'll Read More...

Postedby CC Hameed | 6 Comments    

Filed under: architecture, memory management, troubleshooting

What's going on with my Pagefile?
15 May 07 05:02 AM

This is a follow-up to our Processes consuming high amounts of virtual memory post from January. Pagefile issues are something we deal with frequently on the Performance Team. We have had several cases in the past few months of customers reporting pagefile.sys Read More...

Postedby CC Hameed | 10 Comments    

Filed under: memory management, performance, troubleshooting

Understanding the IE User Agent String
11 May 07 05:12 AM

Today we're going to discuss the IE User-Agent String - a term with which more administrators are becoming familiar since the launch of IE7. The User-Agent string identifies your browser to the server hosting the site that you are visiting. This allows Read More...

Postedby CC Hameed | 5 Comments    

Filed under: appcompat, internet explorer, troubleshooting, two minute drill

Don Geddes' Bio
10 May 07 04:02 PM

I began my career at Microsoft in March of 1999 as a Windows NT generalist working late night shifts (aka - the Platforms 24x7 team.) At that time, we supported everything Windows related, hence the “generalist” nature of the job. Later that same year, Read More...

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Filed under: Team Bios

Aurthur Anderson's Bio
08 May 07 01:03 PM

I am a Support Escalation Engineer for one of the Platforms Performance teams in Las Colinas, TX. I joined Microsoft in July of ‘98 after serving in the Marines for 4 years where I was a 4066 – Small Computer Systems Specialist. I supported Windows NT Read More...

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Filed under: Team Bios

Slow Large File Copy Issues
08 May 07 06:38 AM

From time to time, customers will call in to report "performance problems" that they are having when copying large files from one location to another. By "performance problems", they mean that the file isn't copying as fast as they expect. The most common Read More...

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Filed under: performance, troubleshooting

Aaron Maxwell's Bio
07 May 07 01:37 PM

I am the Technical Lead for one of our Performance teams in Las Colinas (Irving), TX. I joined Microsoft as a contractor on the Enterprise Messaging Team (fancy wording for Exchange!) in 1997, and was hired full-time in 2000. I am the proud owner of a Read More...

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Filed under: Team Bios

Tim Newton's Bio
04 May 07 11:25 AM

I have worked for Microsoft since 1997. I started doing basic consumer Windows 95 support but rapidly decided I would rather work with enterprise customers in a server environment. I have been here on the Enterprise Platforms Support Performance Team Read More...

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Filed under: Team Bios

CC Hameed's Bio
04 May 07 10:13 AM

I joined Microsoft as a Support Engineer on the Performance team in September 2005. Prior to that I spent a couple of years working the late night shift on our Platforms 24x7 team. Working for Microsoft was always a dream job - so I am living the dream! Read More...

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Filed under: Team Bios

Windows Vista - Point & Print
04 May 07 05:52 AM

Here on the Perf team, we deal with quite a few printing issues. An issue we've had a few calls on since the release of Windows Vista concerns the changes made to the Point & Print functionality. Point & Print is a Windows feature that enables Read More...

Postedby CC Hameed | 4 Comments    

Filed under: vista, printing, troubleshooting, GPO, security

Windows Vista - Intro to Search
01 May 07 07:50 AM

One of the pillars of Windows Vista and Longhorn is to enable users to find information quickly. This includes documents, email, media and web pages a user might have browsed. Effective searching and browsing requires an infrastructure to index content Read More...

Postedby CC Hameed | 5 Comments    

Filed under: vista