From http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941314

Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enables IT administrators to remotely manage roles and features in Windows Server 2008 from a computer that is running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1). It includes support for remote management of computers that are running either a Server Core installation option or a full installation option of Windows Server 2008. It provides similar functionality to the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack.

Windows Server 2003 support

Only the following tools support the management of Windows Server 2003:

• Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools
• Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools
• Active Directory Certification Authority Tools
• DHCP Server Tools
• DNS Server Tools
• Terminal Services tools
• Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools
• Group Policy Management Tools
• Network Load Balancing Tools

Install RSAT

To install RSAT, follow these steps on a computer running the final release of Windows Vista with SP1:

1. Download the RSAT package from Microsoft Web site.
2. Double-click the downloaded package to start the Setup wizard. Follow the instructions in the wizard to complete the installation.
3. Open Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Turn Windows features on or off under Programs and Features.
   If you are prompted to provide permission by User Account Control, click Continue.
4. In the Windows Features dialog box, select the remote administration snap-ins and tools that you want to install, and then click OK.
5. Configure the Start menu to display the Administration Tools shortcut. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Right-click Start, and then click Properties.
   2. On the Start Menu tab, click Customize.
   3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, scroll down to System administrative tools, and then select Display on the All Programs menu and the Start menu.
   4. Click OK.
6. For a complete list of tools included in the RSAT final package, installation instructions, and other help topics, see Remote Server Administration Tools Help in the Administrative Tools list on the Start menu.

Below is an email I sent out to our staff about why we’re blocking sites like Pandora, Last.fm, etc.

I feel bad about it. I didn’t like doing it, but it had to be done.

What?

A handful of your favorite audio streaming sites are now blocked.

Why?

Because I enjoy people being mad at me.

No, Really.

It’s a policy that’s been in place for a while, but some didn’t know and others have “forgotten.”

We rely on our internet connection for a lot of really important things to get our jobs done, including email, ServiceU, research, downloading, our connection to the FF office (& future offices), and of course Fellowship One and Check-In.

Our internet bandwidth isn’t unlimited. It’s like a pipe that can only handle so much water at one time. Audio & video streaming take up a lot of space in that pipe. It only takes a handful of people listening to Pandora or K-Love to slow our connection down to a crawl, and that can really interfere w/ legitimate business needs.

I’ll Find a Way

You probably will. Not every streaming audio site is blocked, and almost no video sites are (yet). There are legitimate ministry reasons to keep this stuff accessible. Just make sure that’s why you’re accessing it.

Viewing video clips or listening to audio clips is fine, providing it’s for your job. But please don’t stream internet radio or video for the fun of it.

What Can I Do?

Bring in your iPod, satellite radio, AM/FM, CDs, cassettes, records, or 8-tracks, or load up your MP3 collection to your computer and listen to iTunes. I’ll even help you.

But What About. . .?

If you’ve got a question, just ask.

 

Thanks,

 

Brett “you took my music away” Anderson

IT Director

Christian Life Center

3489 Little York Rd.

Dayton, OH 45414

937.898.8811 x254

These are the notes I used for the CLC-U class I co-taught at Christian Life Center

If you don’t have a copy of these files somewhere else, you should be losing sleep.

It’s not a matter of “IF” your hard drive will crash, but “WHEN”.  Current statistics show that one in every ten hard drives fail each year. 

What would you do if your computer crashed today?  Would you panic? Would you be willing to do whatever it takes to get your files back?  What are all those pictures, documents, music files worth?

Best Buy’s Geek Squad charges a $59 assessment fee, and data recovery starts at $259 with no guarantee of recovery.

In case you haven’t heard, Apple just released a groundbreaking new laptop – the MacBook Wheel.  Check it out.

Jott is one of those services that you wonder “Why didn’t someone think of this sooner?” It’s a service that allows you to use your voice to send emails, text messages, Twitter updates, etc. I’ve been using the free version for quite some time, but it looks like as of February 2 that will end.  Bummer. . .

The free version of Jott is going to end on February 2, CEO John Pollard told me today. The terrible advertising market, he says, means every customer has to pay their own way from now on. Customers will need to pay $4/month to continue the service, the current price for a premium account. This includes users of the Jott iPhone application.

Read more at TechCrunch.

I can’t say I’m really disappointed.  Microsoft Live OneCare was never a product that I recommended to anyone.  It seemed to be a good deal – $50 for installation on 3 computers.  But the reviews of the product were always lukewarm at best.  In a cut-throat market like anti-malware, you need to do better than lukewarm or people will always pick a free product with less features.

In June of 2009, Microsoft will phase out OneCare in favor of a free anti-malware program code-named “Morro.”

From eWeek:

According to Microsoft, Morro will be architected to use minimal computing resources to make it amenable to low-bandwidth scenarios and less powerful PCs. The trade-off for the smaller footprint is that it will not have some of the nonsecurity features found in OneCare, such as printer sharing, Microsoft officials said.

Read the eWeek article.

Well, at least for a day or two.  A Washington Post investigation led to the shutdown of a major hosting company on Tuesday that some estimates say could have been responsible for up to 75% of all spam volume. I’m sure It’s just a matter of time until the spammers relocate, but enjoy it in the mean time!

McColo Corp., the San Jose-based company that was cut off from the Web by its upstream Internet providers two days ago, hosted a staggering variety of cybercriminal activity, according to researchers familiar with its operation. Other than spewing out huge quantities of spam — by some estimates, at times up to 75% of all spam — McColo hosted the command-and-control servers of some of the biggest botnets, hosted child pornographic sites and domains that hustled users for money by scaring them into thinking that their PCs were infected with massive amounts of malware.

Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend.  Does anyone really understand why we observe this antiquated and controversial practice?  It has been around since the 1800s and apparently had significant value then.  Here’s Benjamin Franklin’s rationale:

. . .if people adjusted their schedules to earlier in the day during summer months, when day length is longest, an immense sum of tallow and wax could be saved by the ‘economy of using sunshine rather than candles. . . *

I’m just as much for saving tallow as the next guy, but what is the value today?  There are varying opinions as to the current effectiveness and value of DST.  However, current research shows that there is not much benefit, if any.  In fact, a paper from the University of California, Santa Barbara concluded that daylight savings actually increases electricity demand. Surely the US Department of Energy has better things to do than worry about springing forward or falling back.  Why not just scrap the whole thing?

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/10/24/saving-daylight-but-wasting-electricity/?mod=yahoo_buzz_blog

*http://www.nber.org/tmp/15483-w14429.pdf

Slydial is a new service that lets you leave a voicemail on a mobile phone without ever having the mobile phone ring.  You automatically go straight to voicemail.  I know I have made calls that I hope go to voicemail so I can avoid a conversation.  Although the whole concept of Slydial is rather deceitful and makes me a bit uncomfortable, I can see myself using it occasionally.

From TechCrunch:

The service allows users to call any mobile line and go directly to voicemail, without the awkward conversation. Their phone will actually display a missed call from your original number, but they won’t have a chance to answer it.

To use the service, dial 267-SLYDIAL (267-759-3425), and enter your contact’s number (note: this isn’t a toll-free call). Slydial works with all US wireless carriers, and users can make the initial call from either landlines or mobile phones. And, if you really hate talking to people, you can make an account on the company’s website and use a contact list to leave voice messages from your computer.

Slydial seems like a service that is ripe for abuse, but it’s still great to have (I just saved it to my contacts list). Sure, it’s devious and impersonal, but at least it isn’t a text message. And voicemail is dead anyway, isn’t it?

Today a user submitted a support request and was very frustrated.  She was using Outlook 2003.  Every time she attempted to create a new email message, either from scratch or when replying to someone, she received the following error:

This form requires Word as your e-mail editor, but Word is either busy or cannot be found.  The form will be opened in the Outlook editor instead.  An OLE registration error occurred. The program is not correctly installed. Run setup again for the program.

Here’s the solution:

Shut down Outlook.

Go to Start, then Run.  If you don’t have Run on your Start menu, press the Windows key & R together.

Type “regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\ole32.dll” (without the quotes) and hit Ok.

The bad system file should now be re-registered.  Create a new email message and make sure the issue is resolved.