In my previous post, I mentioned that TechNet Magazine has their past issues available in HTML Help format (.chm) here.  If you navigate to that page (with a fully patched Vista or Windows XP box) and open one of the referenced files from directly within IE, you will get something that looks a bit like the following: "The address is not valid".

The reason for this problem is addressed in the following KB article: You cannot open HTML Help files from Internet Explorer after you install security update 896358 or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1

SYMPTOMS

After you install security update 896358 or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), you may experience one or both of the following symptoms after you click a link to an HTML Help .chm file in Internet Explorer:

• Topics in the .chm file cannot be viewed when you click Open instead of Save in the File Download dialog box.
• Topics in the .chm file cannot be viewed when you click Save in the File Download dialog box, and you then try to open the file.

CAUSE

Security update 896358 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 include changes to the InfoTech protocol that block the ability to view remote content. These changes were introduced to reduce security vulnerabilities in HTML Help. After you install 896358 or Windows Server 2003 SP1, files in the Temporary Internet Files folder are treated as content from the Internet zone. Therefore, files may be blocked when you click Open in the File Download dialog box. Additionally, after you install 896358 or Windows Server 2003 SP1, Attachment Manager may treat a downloaded .chm file as an untrusted file. Therefore, you may not be able to open the file. These effects are expected and intended effects of installing the security update and of installing Windows Server 2003 SP1.

RESOLUTION

Warning If you are prompted to open or to save a .chm file from a Web site, you should do so only if you need the file and if you trust the Web site that is providing the file.

In the File Download dialog box, click Save, and then choose where you want to save the .chm file. Then, use one of the following methods:

Method 1

1. Double-click the .chm file.
2. In the Open File-Security Warning dialog box, click to clear the Always ask before opening this file check box.
3. Click Open.

Method 2

1. Right-click the CHM file, and then click Properties.
2. Click Unblock.
3. Double-click the .chm file to open the file.

*Note: This problem (and resolution) is also covered in Chris Crowe's Blog.

Two months after my Fedora Core 6 install, I am giving the last test version of Fedora 7 a go.

"Don't you mean Fedora Core 7?"

Nope.  The Fedora folks have finally removed the distiction between Fedora Core and Fedora Extras (which I never entirely understood).  That should make it easier to add non-standard packages into the install...

The first obvious change is the splash screen on the initial boot screen.  I'm not sure what the clouds and balloon represent, but it looks somewhat nice.

Although I ran into weird graphical problems with Fedora Core 6 (due to the fact that it defaults to 24-bit color, which is not supported by Virtual PC 2007), I had to install in text mode.  Did Fedora 7 improve in this realm?

Nope... Anaconda starts, detects the correct video card, and then attempts to fire off the X Server.  At that point, HD activity ceases, CD activity ceases, and I am left with a completely black screen.

<sigh...> That sucks.

Hitting Ctrl+Alt+F1 drops me to the text mode installer, and I am able to continue installing (in text mode).  I tell you what... I am getting nostalgic for my OpenSuse install.  Graphics worked from beginning to end.  I selected the "Desktop" install, and 794 packages are on their way.  Good thing the Bean Scripting Framework is being installed!  I don't know where I'd be without it ;)

Rebooting after the install completes, and I am greeted with... you guessed it... more screwed up graphics!  Fedora really is my favorite distro (when running on hardware), but this install experience is pretty frustrating.

Alright... finished booting and video was still messed up.  I could see in the background that I was supposed to provide some sort of input, but I could not see what.  Hitting "Enter" repeatedly did not get me very far. 

I left for a while, came back, and could see a login prompt.  I logged in as root, and tried my SED trick to change the xorg.conf file to 16 bit color.  I then typed startx to fire up the X Server, and...

nothing.

black screen.

Looks like something within X11 needs to be fixed before Fedora 7 RTMs.  Right now it is not useable.  Ubuntu had its own blocking bug (an unmoveable mouse) during my install last week.

<sigh...> Enough experimentation for one night.  Off to bed...  Any recommendations on my next install?  I could go with Gentoo (although that tends to be a multi-hour-experience).  OpenSuse works great, Ubuntu 6 worked with workarounds (but I don't like the UI), Fedora Core 6 works with workarounds...

I'm ready for my next challenge!

Approximately 6 months ago, my computer started spontaneously rebooting, and I decided to replace the motherboard and Processor.  After researching processors online, I decided that the best bang-for-the-buck would be to pick up an Intel Core2 Duo 1.86GHz processor (I am not a gamer, but this is a quite decent proc with dual cores, 64-bit support, and Virtualization support.  Good deal!  At NewEgg and ZipZoomFly, the processor (by itself) ran approximately $200 by itself.

When flipping through the local Fry's ad, however, they were offering a boxed, retail Core2 Duo 1.86GHz (some processor) WITH a motherboard for $175.  This motherboard supported both DDR400 and DDR2, as well as AGP (sounds like a decent transition motherboard... my video card was an 8x AGP Radeon x700 Pro, and my RAM was DDR400.

The motherboard itself was an ECS (couldn't tell you the model...), but long story short, it appears that Fry's was PAYING me $25 to take that motherboard off their hands ;)

It has run decently for the last 6 months, although as you can see in the picture below, the memory performance was absolutely abysmal compared to everything else in the system.

I swapped out the two DDR400 sticks of RAM and put in a matched pair of DDR2 sticks, and the memory stayed the same.  I upgraded to 1.5GB of RAM, and still... memory performance remained my bottleneck.  I don't know what the deal was with the memory controller on this motherboard, but it was not doing what I needed.

I am quite glad that Vista has the Performance monitor built in.  Instead of relying on my "feelings" as to how fast the computer was running, I am able to tell at a glance whether performance has changed, and what component I need to replace to speed things up.

So... a few weeks ago, I decided to upgrade the guts again.  As mentioned in past posts, I tend to buy computer components when they are on sale.  Memory, which was REDICULOUSLY high when Vista came out has been dropping to ridiculous prices (2GB of name-brand DDR2 runs around $80), so I picked up 4GB of Kingston, and SATA Hard drives are crazy-cheap...  I wanted comfortably work with the 4GB of RAM, and 3rd party support for Vista x64 has advanced to the point where it is no longer painful to run a 64-bit Operating System.  Therefore, 64-bit support was an absolute requirement.  All new motherboards are PCI-Express, so I had to replace my motherboard.  In the past, I have had great luck with MSI and Asus motherboards, but after reading reviews, the motherboard in my price range with the features and reviews I wanted was a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev 3.3).  It supports the Core2Duo (with a faster FSB in case I ever upgrade my proc), Vista x64, PCI-E, SATA 3GB, 8-channel Audio Gigabit LAN, and the Intel 965/ICH8 chipset).  The one strange aspect of this motherboard is the fact that it has ONE IDE port.  I could either run my IDE Hard Drive and DVD-RW drive on the same IDE channel, or just switch to a SATA drive.  As I had several laying around my house, I decided to swap out the Hard Drive as well.  The video card (Radeon X700 Pro) was swapped out for a Radeon X1950 Pro.  I should probably start playing games... ;)

Long story short, I spent a Saturday afternoon performing surgery on the computer.  I now have Vista x64 Ultimate Edition up and running, and the computer has Teh Snappy. The one issue I ran into was restoring files from my 32-bit Vista into Vista x64, but the found the solution at the following blog post: Confused about restoring a file from a backup in Windows Vista? Read this!

End result:  Memory is now longer a bottleneck, and even processor performance improved on the new Motherboard!

1 pasty white Washingtonian Microsoftie

+

A new outdoor couch

+

An uncharactaristically sunny day in Washington

=

A sunburn so bad I can hardly move.  Ouch. 

TechNet Magazine is one of my favorite magazines (and the subscription is free if you are an IT pro).

This month's issue focuses on Security (my favorite), and has some of my favorite authors, inclusing Mark Russinovich, Jesper Johansson, and Steve Riley.  If you  want to save a tree, the articles are all available online:

Security

Inside Windows Vista User Account Control

User Account Control, or UAC, is one of the most misunderstood new features in Windows Vista. But its goal—to enable users to run with standard user rights—can solve many security issues. Get an inside look at the problems UAC is designed to address and see exactly how this new feature works.

Mark Russinovich

Keys to Protecting Data with BitLocker Drive Encryption

BitLocker serves two very important purposes: it provides both full-volume data encryption and a way to validate the integrity of early startup components before Windows Vista starts. Get an overview of how BitLocker works and see how it can help you protect your organization.

Byron Hynes

Exploring the Windows Vista Firewall

Mobility has changed computer threats and the techniques that guard against them. As laptops wander outside the perimeter and come back to the network, you need better ways to protect your systems. Find out how you can use Windows Firewall to protect your computers—on the Internet and on your own internal network.

Steve Riley

New ACLs Improve Security in Windows Vista

While ACLs haven't had a major overhaul, there are a number of important changes you need to know about when managing ACLs in a Windows Vista environment. Discover how 30 ACLs have changed to improve security, find out how they will impact your organization, and learn how to manage these changes in your infrastructure.

Jesper Johansson

Managing Hardware Restrictions via Group Policy

USB thumb-disk keys and other removable devices can make your personal life easier but your professional life harder. For improved security, you need a way to control what hardware devices your users are installing on their work systems. Now you can use Group Policy to control which devices they can use and which ones they can't.

Jeremy Moskowitz

4 Security Technologies Every IT Organization Must Have

Most businesses share similar security issues. In today's connected world, there are four general types of security tools that every organization absolutely must have. Find out what these tools are and explore how the technologies involved may work together in the future to create the ideal security solution.

Matt Clapham and Todd Thompson

A Powerful New Tool for Certificate Management

Certificates are a key component in your infrastructure— when one expires, productivity can come to a halt. If you rely on a Microsoft PKI environment, the new Identity Lifecycle Manager Certificate Management (ILM-CM) solution can help keep things running smoothly. Find out how this tool can help you improve authentication processes and reduce certificate management costs.

Kevin Dallmann

BTW, all past issues are available in compiled HTML Help format (if you'd like to read them offline) here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/htmlhelp.aspx

The show-stopping "mouse no-workie" issue when loading Ubuntu 7.04 under Virtual PC 2007 now has a workaround!

Courtesy of the comments at Arcanecode:

Use the RIGHT ALT + V to paste the below lines into Ubuntu. Much easier than typing it out.

1. Reboot in recovery mode by pressing ESC on the GRUB screen
2. wget http://librarian.launchpad.net/7583925/unsupported-patch-for-87262.sh
3. chmod +x unsupported-patch-for-87262.sh
4. ./unsupported-patch-for-87262.sh
5. reboot

Voila!  The mouse now works!

*Note: If (aka when) Ubuntu updates its kernel, the mouse will probaby stop working again.  Reboot and choose the patched 2.6.20-15 kernel from Grub.  I hope they fix this upstream!

My daughter has been learning some songs from "The Sound of Music" (the classic 1965 film starring Julie Andrews), and my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to rent the movie from Blockbuster so that my daughter could gain some context on the songs she was singing.

After cruising the aisles at Blockbuster for a few minutes, I could not find the movie, and stopped by the front desk so that they could point me in the right direction. 

It turns out that I had been looking in the wrong sections (Drama and Family).  I don't know if all Blockbusters have their movies categorized this way, but the one by my house considers The Sound of Music to be a Comedy.

If I recall correctly, despite some cheery tunes, the overarching movie theme involved the Holocaust, and ends with the Von Trapp family fleeing the country to avoid being captured by the Germans. How is that funny? 

There have been no shortages of announcements regarding software shipping slippages,including:

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/04/12/Viridian-and-Virtual-Server-Timing-Updates.aspx

and

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/05/10/viridian-features-update-beta-planned-for-longhorn-rtm.aspx

and digging into the history books

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5183385.html. 

This is by no means a phenomenon exclusive to Microsoft.  Apple recently announced that the next version of their OS (originally targeted for Spring of 2007) is being pushed back until October.

http://blogs.technet.com/seanearp/archive/2007/04/13/apple-we-feel-your-pain.aspx

How is this possible? you might ask... These are releases that will be responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Software Developers!  Can't Microsoft or Apple just hire a few more developers and throw them at the release?

In short, the answer is "no".

Shipping quality software on time, on budget, and with features that will encourage consumers to purchase your product is a problem that has plagued developers since the beginning of time.

Well, since the beginning of software development.

Within the realm of Computer Science/Project Management, there is a concept known as the "Mythical Man-Month", based off of the classic book of the same name released in 1975 by Fred Brooks.  Fred Brooks is a software engineer and computer scientist, best known for leading development of IBM's OS/360 Operating System.

The central theme of the theory is that "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later".  To quote the book:

"...when schedule slippage is recognized, the natural (and traditional) response is to add manpower. Like dousing a fire with gasoline, this makes matters worse, much worse. More fire requires more gasoline, and thus begins a regenerative cycle which ends in disaster."

From the Wikipedia description of the Mythical Man-Month:

"Assigning more programmers to a project running behind schedule will make it even later, due to the time required for the new programmers to learn about the project, as well as the increased communication overhead."

As such, Project managers are left with a touch choice...  They can

1. Push out the release date
2. Drop (or postpone) features
3. Lower the quality bar. 

Option three is NOT AN OPTION when you are developing Operating Systems, or software that underlies critical systems.  Would you like nuclear weapons or Power Plants controlled by software that was "Good enough for government work"? I didn't think so... 

It was the right decision to push back the Longhorn/Vista releases. It was the right decision to push back OS X 10.5 if the code was not ready, and it was the right decision to postpone a few of the features within Viridian (aka Windows Server Virtualization).  Windows Server Virtualization will serve as a long term platform upon which many many many servers will be installed.  There is no room to ship code that is "maybe good enough".

To reiterate what WILL be coming with the first release of Viridian:

• 64-bit GUEST support
• Hardware-based virtualization
• 64-bit hypervisor
• WSV Server Core Role
• Large virtual machine memory support
• Clustering (both guest-to-guest and host-to-host)
• Geo-clustering
• Volume Shadow Services (VSS)
• Virtual SCSI
• Network Load Balancing

While Live Migration will not make the first release, you will still be able to host cluster the Virtual Machines, with a downtime of less than 5 seconds (depending on the speed of storage and amount of memory assigned to a virtual machine).

P2V and V2V will be part of System Center Virtual Machine Manage (SCVMM)

Not shabby...

And just to clarify, the features that have been postponed have...um... been postponed.  Not dropped.  They will come in a subsequent release once they can be fully tested to the quality bar demanded by Microsoft.

BTW... this is now my 100th post to The Sean Blog (not counting my initial "Hello World" post).  Just to check and see if anyone is actually reading what I write, I have a copy of Gears of War for XBox 360 to the first person that emails me and asks for it.  Use the "Email" feature at the top right of the blog...  :)  Good luck!

*Update: Stephen was the first to email.  Congratulations!!!

I have to imagine that when the OpenSolaris release team decided on a launch strategy, that they sat around a table and discussed:

How can we go out of our way to make the download of the install ISO the must painful, frustrating, experience possible?

As there are some sharp folks working at Sun, they utterly succeeded at their goal.

You must:

• Register at their page (Download)
• Click accept on the licence agreement
• Check 3 boxes (for all 3 parts of the download that is inexplicably separated)

• That launches the Java Download Manager (with advertisements), which downloaded the 3 parts of the ISO at a whopping 10-12 KB/s.  All other downloads come down at 400-500KB/s, so I don't know why the Sun download was so glacially slow.  Part "b" of the ISO failed to download 5 or 6 times over the course of a week before it eventually downloaded successfully.

• Next, we have the command-line-driven join of the ISO parts.

Finally... a week after I intended to start the review, I can start the installation in Virtual PC.

No GUI install for Solaris... text based install it is!  Java, apparently, is a critical component of the install.  It is one of the first things that load:

At some point, it tried to load a GUI, but the video resolution went wonky, and eventually I was dropped back in to the text-based install:

After an incredibly long timeout (5+ minutes) while OpenSolaris attempted (unsuccessfully) to reach a DHCP Server, we reach the HD formatting dialogue.  YOO MUST HAS SKILLZ to format your own drive.  I'd better go with the Auto Layout option...

Apparently "Auto Layout" didn't have the "advanced system administration skills" needed to format the drive:

Apparently I had breezed by the following screen, where I had to manually partition the drive, before Auto Layout could format it:

There we go... now Auto Layout can give me a friendly File System layout.  <sarcasm> This is the kind of screen I'd like my Grandma to end up at while installing an Operating System </sarcasm>. 

For the next 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the installer chugged along.  Only after COMPLETELY installing all files did I receive an error message stating that Solaris could not install with only 512MB of RAM (as much as I had allocated to the virtual machine).  I am flabbergasted as to why Solaris would wait until this point in the game to do a prerequisite Sanity Check. Fortunately, as this was a Virtual Image, I was able to shut down the virtual machine, allocate the required 768 MB of RAM, and start the image back up.

Leading me to... the messed up video display.  To be honest, I could probably reboot into single user mode, modify the X Server config, and maybe get video display to work.  The network card does not work either, and I have spent the better part of two whole days working on this.  I am going to give up as I have better things to do...  At present, OpenSolaris does NOT get The Sean Blog Seal of Approval :)

Two new management packs for System Center Essentials 2007 (SCE) and System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Opsmgr):

Windows Vista Client Monitoring Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007

The Windows Vista Client Monitoring Management Pack is built on the Windows Diagnostics Infrastructure in Windows Vista that detects, diagnoses and tries to resolve hardware and software problems. Information and analysis on the issues that the system detected are collected by the MP through an agent on the client and sent to OpsMgr where this data is converted into health state, alerts (if need be) and processed for aggregate reports. The MP monitors the following areas:

• Disk reliability and utilization 
• Memory reliability and utilization
• System performance 
• Runtime performance
• Bootup performance
• Shutdown performance
• Sleep performance
• Resume performance

And surfaces information in these areas by:

• Raising individual alerts when there are impending catastrophic failures 
• Raising trend-based alerts on significant changes to any OEM or computer group in one of the monitored areas
• Health monitors giving an in-depth view of the health of individual machines with knowledge articles to guide the admin. 
• Reports giving a landscape view of the health of all monitored clients in all the monitoring areas

Microsoft SMS 2003 Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007

The Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 Management Pack provides proactive monitoring of your Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 environment. It includes detection and monitoring of all SMS 2003 servers and dependent services, alert driven state, topology diagram, performance and backlog monitoring and configuration, performance and availability reports.
Feature Summary:

• Detects all SMS 2003 server computers and site systems. 
• Monitors the starting and stopping of all SMS 2003 services, including critical dependent services such as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), Internet Information Server (IIS), and Microsoft SQL Server. 
•  Provides alerts for SMS service stops, service failures, performance thresholds, status messages, and site system status.
•  Presents the state of all roles and computers in the SMS 2003 environment. 
•  Provides a topology diagram that displays site, site server and site system relationships along with health status. 
•  Monitors processing rates. 
•  Monitors backlogs of discovery data records (DDRs), software inventory, hardware inventory, status messages, and software metering on both primary site servers and management points. 
•  Monitors core system resource usage. 
•  Includes tasks that enable users of the Operations Manager Operations Console to diagnose and resolve problems on remote computers through the use of SMS Administrator Console.
• Configuration, availability and performance reports. Monitors the performance trends of many SMS performance counters.

Just booked my hotel...  I will post more information on my schedule (once I have one), but I would LOVE to meet up with any of you that will be at WPC.

July 10-12 in Denver, CO

http://www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference/

What’s waiting for you at Worldwide Partner Conference?

• Hear from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other leading executives on how to position your business to take advantage of Microsoft strategies and overall vision in Conference Keynotes.
• Dive deep into the latest solutions with Hands-On Labs and Sessions, taught by industry experts.
• Celebrate your successes using Microsoft products & solutions at the Microsoft Partner Program Awards Luncheon and Ceremony.
• Gain even more knowledge and resources by arriving early and attending the Pre-Conference Events & Activities on July 8 & 9.
• Use WPC Connect to network with Microsoft and other partners that can unlock new opportunities for your business. Over 10,000 meetings were scheduled at last year’s conference.
• Last but not least, don’t miss a huge Partner Celebration that will close the conference on July 12 at world famous Coors Field!

If you are going, what are you looking foward to?  Any particular events/sessions/parties?  What are you looking forward to from Microsoft and/or the Partner Program this year?  I'll forward on any feedback that I get.

System Center Essentials is one of the coolest products coming out of Microsoft this year (IMHO).  If you are running the IT Shop for a small or midsize business, you really need to pick up a copy.  Supporting up to 30 Servers and 500 Clients, SCE handles monitoring, Software Distribution, Patching, Reporting, all in one package.  Read more here.  If you are a try-before-you-buy kind of person (and who isn't?) The following will help you out (Couresty of Björn Axéll)

1. Download the pre-configured VHD from Microsoft. This is a pre installed and configured environment that you can use for testing.
2. Try the System Center Essentials Virtual lab. Here you can test the product  without doing any installation. You can also follow a couple of scenario documentation to get un understanding of how the product works.
3. Download the Evaluation of System Center Essentials and test to install it on your own.

You can also:

• View key features in action
• Read the Frequently Asked Questions
• Download and read the white paper on Managing Critical Applications and Infrastructure with Essentials 2007
• Download and read the white paper on Desktop Lifecycle Management with Essentials 2007

Ever wanted to get your feet wet with Business Intelligence, but didn't want to go through the steps of installing SQL Server, finding some sample data, figuring out how everything works...?

The TechNet team has put together a series of Virtual Labs that you can play with for 90 minutes at a time (and you can do so as often as you would like)

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/traincert/virtuallab/bi.mspx

You get a downloadable manual and a 90-minute block of time for each module. You can sign up for additional 90-minute blocks anytime.

• Business Intelligence: Excel 2007 PivotTables and Analysis Services
• Business Intelligence: Using Business Scorecard Manager 2005 and ProClarity for Performance Management
• Business Intelligence: Building Integrated BI Solutions Leveraging SQL 2005 and Office 2007 Servers
• Business Intelligence: Building Analytic Applications with ProClarity
• Business Intelligence: Report Builder
• Business Intelligence: Integration Services
• Business Intelligence: Service Analysis
• Business Intelligence: Data Mining
• Business Intelligence: Business Scorecard Manager

There are a TON of other labs available here:

TechNet Virtual Labs by Product:
Antigen
BizTalk Server
Enterprise Search New!
Exchange Server New!
Forefront Security New!
Groove Server New!
Identity Integration Server (MIIS)
Internet Information Services (IIS)
Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server
Live Communications Server
Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) New!
Office System Updated!
SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2000
SharePoint Server Updated!
Systems Management Server (SMS) New!
Windows Mobile
Windows Rights Management Services (RMS)
Windows Server 2003 & R2

TechNet Virtual Labs by Topic:
Branch Office
Business Intelligence New!
Identity and Access (IDA)
Microsoft Search Solutions for the Enterprise New!
Secure Messaging and Collaboration
Security New!
SQL Server 2005 Upgrade
System Center Solutions New!
Windows Scripting

Just saw the following over on the Computerworld article:

And the Windows Vista Network Map -- which may be the best networking feature Microsoft has ever introduced into Windows -- won't work properly with XP PCs. They won't show up properly on the network map, if they even show up at all.

The fine folks at Computerworld are not quite right... Windows XP computers WILL show up on the network (once you install the software that allows them to do so). *Update... I didn't see that there were 3 pages in the Computerworld story.  They do cover the steps below.  My bad...

Courtesy of this TechNet Article:

Network Map in Microsoft® Windows Vista™ diagrams the connections between network devices to help you troubleshoot connectivity problems. Network Map uses a discovery protocol called Link-Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) in order to query the other devices on the network to determine how the network is organized. Computers running Windows Vista include the software components that implement the LLTD protocol. For other devices on the network to be placed on the map, they must have a discovery protocol enabled that can respond to the mapping computer's requests.

Solution

For computers running Windows XP to appear on the Network Map diagram, you must download and install the LLTD Responder component. With the LLTD Responder, a computer running Windows XP can respond to other Windows Vista computers on the network that are attempting to create a network map.

To install the LLTD Responder to a computer running Windows XP

1. Download the update for Windows XP from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=70582
2. Run the update on the computer running Windows XP that you want to appear on the Network Map.
3. On the Software Update Installation Wizard, click Next.
4. On the License Agreement page, read the license agreement, and if you agree to the terms, click I Agree, and then click Next.
5. On the final page of the wizard, click Finish.
6. If you are prompted to do so, restart your computer.
7. After your computer running Windows XP restarts, generate a new Network Map with the computer running Windows XP included.

Courtesy of Trika on the Certification team:

With the myriad of new Microsoft products that were recently released and the follow-on certifications that come with these changes, I wanted to make sure that you were aware of the corresponding certification changes and additions that are being planned.  Below are a series of certification meetings that will discuss the various certification aspects of Longhorn, Vista, Exchange 2007, and SQL 2005.  Also below are some additional certification resource links for further information.  I encourage you to schedule yourselves for the sessions and be prepared for these certifications.

Upcoming Meetings

Protecting the Integrity of Microsoft Certification

May 23, 2007

7:30 A.M. Pacific Time or 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time

Review of Windows Vista and Exchange Server 2007 Training and Certification

May 30, 2007

7:30 A.M. Pacific Time or 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time

Introducing the Windows Server “Longhorn” Certification Roadmap

June 13, 2007

7:30 A.M. Pacific Time or 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time

1 Year In: The Microsoft Certified Architect Program

June 20, 2007

7:30 A.M. Pacific Time or 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time

Recordings from recent Live Meetings

Find recordings of past MCA-led live meetings on the MCP home page.

• 2007 Office System Certifications for IT Professionals and Developers
• Windows Server Certifications Overview
• Exchange Server 2007 Certifications
• SQL Server 2005 Certifications
• Update on Windows Vista Certifications

Although pricing hasn't yet been disclosed, Microsoft has announced a new phone that will go toe-to-toe with the iPhone.  On an unrelated note, I wonder how much we have allocated to the "funny video" budget...  ;)

Video: Microsoft's oPhone

I'll keep telling myself that... 

An update on the Viridian (Windows Server Virtualization) features and ETA can be found here:

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/05/10/viridian-features-update-beta-planned-for-longhorn-rtm.aspx

The News.com take:

http://news.com.com/2100-1016-6182852.html?tag=tb

<sigh...>

The Debian site is not particularly easy to navigate, and I went in circles a few times before finding the download page that I was looking for: http://www.debian.org/releases/etch/debian-installer/.  The full DVD install is comprised of THREE 4.4GB DVDs.  Apparently the kitchen sink is included with Debian :)

It looks like the release date was April 7th, so this should be pretty up to date... let's see how the install goes!

Instead of downloading the DVDs, I downloaded the 160MB Net install CD ISO.  Text install again... good times!  I chose all the defaults, and soon reached the partitioning wizard.  Why doesn't Debian verify that it can reach an installation server on the network before formatting my drive?

Debian then installs the core packages.  I'm guessing that these are from the install ISO as I don't think we have hit the internet yet...

Aaahhh... there we go.  A prompt to hook into a network mirror.  I would have expected this a bit earlier...

First mirror (debian.org) failed, as did the kernel.org mirror.  Third mirror finally worked, and I headed to bed with visions of a fully installed OS when I awoke in the morning.

As I was running a little late to work today, I didn't get a chance to check progress until this evening, over 20 hours later.

The install appears to have hung, as the progress bar is not moving (and there is no HD or Network activity).

A distro that doesn't even complete installing before locking up does NOT earn the Sean Blog seal of approval.  3rd Distro in a row that will not install successfully (while older versions of most of these distributions install just fine).  We're going backwards here!

On to OpenSolaris...

Sun has several things going for them:

• A candid, pony-tailed, blogging CEO
• A KICKASS filesystem
• Some REALLY unique out-of-the-box initiatives (that ironically enough come in... er... big black boxes)

I haven't played with their servers or their processors, so I can't opine on that front, but I can add to my list of *nixes running Virtual PC.  Yes, that star in the last sentence was intentional.  Solaris is a YOOONIX (Unix) variant, and not Linux.  Let's see how it fares in Virtual PC 2007!

The install DVDs can be downloaded here: Download.  First off, registration is required.  Oh well...  Once on the download page, the first sentence is as follows:

After downloading and unzipping segments, follow these instructions: Reconstruct the full DVD image, by using the cat command (UNIX systems) or the COPY command (Windows systems). The correct syntax is: -cat file1 file2 file3 > file.iso or -copy /b file1 + file2 + file3 file.iso

That would match up with the download options that follow.  For some reason, they have broken a single DVD ISO into 3 separate parts.  In this age of 5+Mbit Cable modems and Fiber to the Premises, this is completely unnecessary.

I soon find out why the install DVD is broken into 3 segments.  It is so that Java can launch and I can download through their proprietary Java-based download manager. (AKA unnecessary step part deux). 

Goody... the download manager also comes with advertisements.  I'm getting that warm "community" feel already, and I don't even have an ISO sitting on my desktop yet. ;)

Speaking of which... how about that amazing download speed?  Looks like I won't be able to finish this review tonight!  I'll post my progress so far and pick up when the download completed (it's looking like Saturday folks ;)

Seriously.

When I saw the phone number 123-4567 on the Caller ID this evening, I knew that I was going to be in for some fun.

Me: "Hello?"

<silence>

Me: "Hello-o, is anybody there?"

<click><pop><throat clear>

Telemarketer: "Good Evening Sir, you are on the short list to receive a Camera Phone"

(Short List?  Really?  That's the best pickup line the telemarketer could muster?)

Me: "Just a second..."

<handing the phone to my 4-year-old daughter>

Me: "Honey, it's Grandma on the phone.  She wants to talk to you!"

Daughter 1: "GRANDMA!!!"

My first daughter talked on the phone for a minute or two, before the telemarketer convinced her that she needed to talk to Mommy.  I intervened, and handed the phone to Daughter 2, and told her that Grandma wanted to talk to her. After my second daughter shared her day at school with "Grandma", we handed the phone off to my 3 year old son, who got a big kick out of describing what we were having for dinner.

To her credit, the Telemarketer stayed on the line for over FOUR minutes, trying to convince them that she needed to talk to mommy.

Good times  :)

The SR 520 bridge crosses Lake Washington (a large lake separating Seattle to the West, and the Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond to the East).  The 520 Bridge has been around a while, and the State is looking to rebuild/replace the bridge, add light rail, and generally help one of the biggest traffic bottlenecks in the area.

I don't know of anyone in Washington that would not like a bigger, wider, more easily traversed bridge across Lake Washingon.  That is why I am somewhat curious as to why the Washington State Department of Transportation has decided to release some horror films showing the disasters that would befall the bridge if we suffered high winds or an earthquake.  We get it!  Traffic would suck more than it already does!  Put it up for a vote already!  ;)

Consider the following scenario. You have an Apple iPod that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer through a USB connection. Then, you disconnect the iPod from the computer. In this scenario, the data on the iPod may become corrupted.

This problem may occur if you use one of the following methods to disconnect the iPod:

• You use the Safely Remove Hardware feature in the notification area to disconnect the iPod. Then, you disconnect the USB cable.
• You use the Eject command in Windows Explorer to disconnect the iPod. Then, you disconnect the USB cable.

Microsoft and Apple engineers worked together to find the root cause of the problem, and as of today, a fix is available.  Get the update here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936824/en-us (or wait until May 22nd, when it will be available on Windows Update).

The Hotmail team has released some pretty funny videos to celebrate their official release.  As a dad, I identify strongly with the Suspicious Male ;)  You can catch the rest of the series up on MSN Soapbox thanks to Robert.

Video: Live Hotmail - Date

If so, then you are probably familiar with Ethereal (now WireShark) for packet monitoring.  If you haven't played with Microsoft Network Monitor (Netmon.exe) since you tried it briefly in your MCSE 2000 course five years ago, I would strongly recommend taking another look.  It has been re-written from scratch, and has some pretty awesome features. 

The NetMon blog covers what we added in version 3.0 here: http://blogs.technet.com/netmon/archive/2006/09/27/459474.aspx

Best practices for using Microsoft Network Monitor (Netmon.exe) to capture packets can be found here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/812953

Just a few short months after the release of version 3.0, however, 3.1 has just been released to Beta.  Signup to downloat at https://connect.microsoft.com. New features include:

• Wireless (802.11) capturing and monitor mode on Vista - With supported hardware, (Native WIFI), you can now trace wireless management packets. You can scan all channels or a subset of the ones your wireless NIC supports. You can also focus in on one specific channel. We now show the wireless metadata for normal wireless frames. This is really cool for t-shooting wireless problems. See signal strength and transfer speed as you walk around your house!
• RAS tracing support on Vista - Now you can trace your RAS connections so you can see the traffic inside your VPN tunnel. Previously this was only available with XP.
• Right click add to filter - Now there's an easier way to discover how to create filters. Right click in the frame details data element or a column field in the frame summary and select add to filter. What could be easier!
• Microsoft Update enabled - Now you will be prompted when new updates exist. NM3.1 will occasionally check for a new version and notify you when one is available.
• New look filter toolbar - We've changed the UI related to apply and remove filters. You can now apply a filter without having to UN-apply it first.
• New reassembly engine - Our reassembly engine has been improved to handle a larger variety of protocol reassembly schemes.
• New public parsers - These include ip1394, ipcp, ipv6cp, madcap, pppoE, soap, ssdp, winsrpl, as well as improvements in the previously shipped parsers.

3 new betas (and polished ones at that!) released today.  I will cover them in the order that I use them.

Windows Live Writer

Using it right now!  This is actually one of the slickest Windows Live apps.  Works great for posting to your blog, whether it is Windows Live Spaces, Community Server, WordPress, TypePad, or Community Server). You can also extend Windows Live Writer with custom plug-ins from Windows Live Gallery. 

New features of this beta of Windows Live Writer include inline spell checking, the ability to add categories, table editing and easier image insertion. 

Download it here: http://writer.live.com/

Windows Live Mail

I know, I know... Microsoft is suffering from E-Mail client overload.  However, Windows Live Mail is the successor to all our consumer-oriented clients (Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and previous versions of Windows Live Mail desktop).  The UI is much prettier, and is aligned with what's being adopted across Windows Live.  Windows Live Mail will allow syncing with Windows Live Hotmail, serving as a client-to-service bridge.  The first beta of Windows Live Mail will offer:

• Offline mail 
• Windows Live Hotmail account aggregation 
• Additional account aggregation for POP3 and IMAP mail accounts 
• RSS feed aggregation 
• More advanced photo-sharing capabilities 
• More advanced search via integration with Windows Desktop Search 
• Additional safety measures (AV scanning, anti-phishing, anti-spam protection across aggregated accounts for customers who do not have an AV product) 
• Additional integration with Windows Live services including Windows Live Spaces

Also... (and don't tell anyone) it works GREAT with Gmail (although if you have 1.5GB Gmail, you are in for a long sync time ;)  Just type in your GMail address and password, and Windows Live Mail takes care of all the account setup automagically.  Very nice!

Download it here: http://get.live.com/betas/maildesktop_betas

Windows Live Messenger 8.5

Windows Live Messenger 8.5 presents a brand new look-and-feel that's more in tone with Windows Vista.  While this update largely affects the back-end, it also adds several new emoticons and integration with Windows Live OneCare Safety Center.  You can expect performance enhancements in there as well.

To be honest, I have my fair share of IMing at work (half my team is across the pond), and I tend to crave face-to-face interaction.  But feel free to download so that you can ROTFL w/ UR fREndZ!

Download it here: http://get.live.com/betas/messenger_betas

Make sure to give feedback on any of these betas at http://feedback.live.com. Brandon's take is available here.