In the process of helping a customer upgrade their remaining 5,000 desktops from Windows 2000 to XP, I have found a couple entertaining and frustrating issues with the upgrade process. First of all, this only applies to an unattended upgrade of...

So, I decided to get a powered CATV amplifier for my house to see if my loosing picture with Comcast was maybe just the box saying “weak signal”. Well, this has solved the issue of it loosing picture! But, we are still having to power down the settops...

So, I am off doing a desktop migration for a customer of approximately 5,000 desktops. Vista you ask? No, not that sexy. Just trying to help one of our core telco customers get everyone off Windows 2000 onto XP. And by the way, get in infrastructure in...

So, I am on a few distribution lists that pertain directly to my every day job. I have a few others that are nice to look at because there is interesting stuff. One of the hobby DL’s that I like to read is our “Pocket PC Users and Enthusiasts”, which...

As companies get acquired or you migrate off different platforms to AD, there can be quite a mess in terms of Domains and Forests. Lots of ambitious IT folks try and keep a handle on this and consolidate domains quickly as things change. This is a great...

I am working on an LCS design for a customer and saw that LCS’ Communicator Web Access shipped in December. I read the docs and discovered that it works a lot like Outlook Web Access (OWA) because it uses forms based authentication. I was surprised at...

I recently worked on another SharePoint project where we did unusual things with SharePoint. But, this time we actually used some of the core SPS functionality like search to index about 5,000 documents for a call center. We built out Production...

Stephen shares information about a virus attack timed for Jan 6, 2006

I just saw this tasty morsel from the press release at CES about Billg’ keynote: “Gates also announced a multiyear partnership with satellite TV provider DirecTV Group Inc. to get the company's satellite video directly onto Media Center-based devices...

Man, where do I start? December was absolutely nuts as far as work. I had “real” work to do for customers, training, vacation, holidays….phew. The absolute most exciting thing I did was we took my son on his Make-A-Wish trip to Disneyworld . As...

**Updated** I have gotten a lot of comments and questions internally at Microsoft because I offered to sell my UltimateTV boxes after switching to Comcast’s HD DVR ( Motorola DCT6412 III) about a month ago. I switched to Comcast because I have had...

This morning, Microsoft announced version 3.5 of the Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (the product formerly known as HVMC). The latest version of the solution incorporates new mobile synchronization capabilities, a variety of security enhancements...

I love coming up to Redmond or going out to Silicon Valley , and not because of the brain power harnessed in these locations. It’s all about the cars. I am a “car guy”, even though my personal cars are not that exciting. I joined Microsoft after the boom...

I am up in Redmond this week for training on our new High Volume Messaging and Collaboration (HVMC) release, v3.5. I got "nominated" to go to the training because both Gloria Alexander and Todd Luttinen, our resident Hosted Exchange experts, deserted...

Looks like I will be able to finally build a Media Center PC next year and have cable and HD content pipped directly to it. Microsoft and Cable Labs finally got it together to allow MCE to support cable cards. This was the final hurdle for me to adpot...

Many administrators have missed that there is a "hidden" third connection that can be made to Windows Server 2003 servers. I often work with system administrators that are swearing in their cubes because the two admin connections are used up and they...

Last week, I decided to take a few vacation days and fly out to Ogden, Utah to help my wife’s old company upgrade from Small Business Server (SBS) 2000 to SBS 2003. They are a small, 10 person operation that manufactures high end ski and board apparel...

I admit it, I am not the all-knowing Microsoft consultant I should be. The real truth is, our support folks have the best tools to diagnose problems a lot faster than I can muddle through things. I have had the occasion over the last few weeks to...

I just got back to Denver , and finally have a stable Internet connection. I was in downtown San Francisco , staying at the Renaissance Parc 55, and for the life of the SSTN Highspeed Internet provider, they couldn’t provide me with Internet in my room...

I sit here in the third floor of Macy's in dowtown San Francisco while my wife Deanna searches for clothes that can only add to the heft of our suitcases. I am about to write to the president of Macy's, thanking them for the generous and strategic placement...

I was messing around with LCS last night here in my lab. I had installed LCS a couple times and helped customers get up and running, but I am not an LCS expert. I was trying to duplicate a customer issue where I wanted to limit how certain users could...

I just saw that Major Nelson posted links to an interview with Jim Barber , Xbox Connectivity Program Manager. Jim and I worked as consultants about 3 years ago to make sure Xbox Live would work with DSL/Cable providers as well as home gateway/routers...

What the hell were they thinking? I sit here in a pub at the airport, eating a burger in front of a big TV that is tuned to ABC. We had been watching Brett Favre warmup and his stats, etc. Next thing we know, we are watching the extended remix version...

I got an interesting email from Charles Lenhard at Google wanting to know if I was interested in a position there. What's more interesting is that I have never met anyone from Google and only know a handful of people in the Bay Area. I really have no...

I stumbled across this issue a couple weeks ago, and Steve Riley clarified some of it for me. We have a really, really large project going with some new technology where securing the networks is a priority. We have run into the normal RPC challenges of...