One of these always useful links to have - I just changed to a new laptop a couple of weeks before Christmas, and the default LCD display was somewhat fuzzy even with ClearType turned on. If you didn't know, you can use an online tool to optimise the cleartype settings here . There's also an XP Powertoy...

There's an interesting case study recently published on the Microsoft UK web-site for HMV who are using Microsoft Technologies to support both their physical stores and online store. You can read more here . (Just also noticed it was mentioned in the latest TechNet Flash email newsletter - to receive...

As I mentioned a little while ago , TechNet Magazine subscriptions were free (to US based people though). Although there's something in the pipeline to make the magazine available in the UK, the good news is that you can read the full content online now at www.technetmagazine.com . There's lots of great...

I've always had an interest in Operating System internals, and have just finished reading the in-progress research document on a new operating system called "Singularity". The research work is being done by Microsoft Research, and the aim of this OS is to examine what a new operating system would look...

Just got news in my inbox that all the US Virtual Labs for both Technet and MSDN are running on Virtual Server 2005 R2 which I thought was kind of cool. If you haven't had a chance to play with the online labs - you should. There's lots of labs which get regularly refreshed, and more importantly...

Thought you'd like this one if you live in the UK at least. Check out this page on microsoft.com, where there is a huge pricing discount for TechNet Plus subscriptions. If you purchase TechNet Plus directly through that site (ie not through a partner) from now until the end of the year, there is close...

Just noticed a promotional combination offer running in the UK for a Windows Server System Solution aimed at mid-sized businesses, combining a number of core technology components including Window Server 2003 Standard Edition, Exchange 2003 Standard Edition and MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition. The good...

Always a co-incidence. I was writing a script a few days ago which essentially is a Technorati "pinger" for blog updates. I was writing it at home, and it was working fine. I forwarded it to a few colleagues, and wasn't expecting them to tell me that while they were physically on the Microsoft corpnet...

Just came across this yesterday. If you are a TechNet subscriber, changes to the online site have been made which makes organising your subscription much easier through the introduction of the TechNet indexes. You can find this at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/index . In this Septembers shipment...

I was following up a couple of queries with people about desktop deployment last week, and noticed that the Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment was updated a few weeks ago to version 2.5. Rather than re-gurgitate info that other people have already been more on the ball about, take a...

Gilles Vollant of WinImage fame contacted me a few weeks ago to have a look at the latest beta of WinImage. I've been playing with it for a while now and it's been acting flawlessly. Why would this be of particular interest to me? One very good reason - the beta supports mounting VHD (Virtual Hard Disk...

This is fairly well publicised if you look around the Internet, but not in a single place that I could find. Hence, more for my own reference once I blow this beta build away, I'll want to get back to where I am. Certain sites don't recognise IE7 in the User Agent detection coding, and you may need to...

You may have noticed, if you've been downloading anything recently from microsoft.com, that with the exception of security updates, you now have to install an ActiveX control. Windows Genuine Advantage went live on 25th July after some 10 months of beta use as a global anti-piracy initiative. If you...

<wear type="flameproof"> Jeffrey R. Jones, the Director of the Microsoft Security Business Unit has recently completed the fourth and final part of his column on Security Management. It makes interesting reading and worth a spare 15 minutes for a scan through.... Part one discusses Windows...

The Microsoft IT Forum 2005 web-site is now live to take registrations. The agenda is being formulated now and will be going live in the next few weeks. This is a major event for IT Professionals in Europe (or even further in many cases) with many high-profile speakers, plus an optional full day of in...

I was attempting to install Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 on my laptop a week or so ago, and struggling to work out why the MOM installed kept saying that the pre-requisites for installing MOM weren't up to scratch. Specificially, it was complaining that SQL Server 2000 SP3 or later was not installed...

There are a few "known" hacks to determine if a program is running under a Virtual Machine, unfortunately none of these supported by Microsoft. The most common one is the WMI query to find the motherboard manufacturer - if it is Microsoft, then, as of today at least, given that Microsoft don't manufacture...

I must learn more about Wiki's - it's not something I've been inclined particularly to look at in any great depth, but they are a great way to collaborate and share information about just about anything. Having just found a Wiki on Group Policy, it had to be worth blogging. It can be found at http:/...

As much as a bookmark blog as anything else so I know where to find it. You may have seen the malicious software removal tool come down through WindowsUpdate/MicrosoftUpdate. What I didn't know was that a version with the latest updates is released on the second tuesday of every month, and can be run...

If you're now looking at 64-bit Computing on the Windows Server System, there's lots of information out there, if you know where to look. For developers, there a slew of webcasts available including ones for migrating, optimising, compatibility, and insider tips to name but a few. There's also some...

This weekend, I was playing around yet more with my home infrastructure, "dogfooding", so to speak. One of the things I wanted to get running was Windows Sharepoint Services SP1 (the baby brother of Sharepoint Portal Server). However, I've pretty much run out of memory on my struggling servers here to...

The Branch Office Infrastructure Solution, or BOIS (which is far too easy to mis-type if you've worked in computing for a lot of years - think about it) has been released. The BOIS guidance and tools are designed and structured to address the needs of large organisations and enterprises in designing...

As for the capability (now expired) to stop Windows XP SP2 being delivered through Microsoft Update, now a similar toolkit is available for download from Microsoft.com to block SP1 for Windows Server 2003. It is critically important to realise that the blocking capability is temporary. After 30th March...

You would think that this would be something fairly simple to do.... Well, think again, unless you know. In the scenario I was trying to get working, there are essentially three servers involved - a domain controller running Windows Server 2003, a single Exchange 2003 Server and an ISA 2004 Server. ...

While on the subject of patching here is the home page for the newly released Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), the next generation of SUS. To find out more about patching, management and securing your networks, have a browse through Eileens or Steves blog. WSUS is a patch and update component...