--Personal Guidance--

Windows 2008 continues

2008-07-20T18:08:00.000+08:00

I will be evaluating Windows 2008 features and the security part of it for my work.Will post my finding here..I have read the Hyper V and it is like a microsoft answer to VMWARE Ex Server but the vmware offering is still way better..many are saying the hyperV is like a rushed/half baked product.Give Microsoft some time and i am very sure they will have some really good virtualization stuff.

In the mean time, back to work :(

Windows Server 2008

2008-03-28T00:01:00.000+08:00

time to download a trial from microsoft and test it out...will be busy downloading and playing with it to test out the new features..:)

I only know it comes with IIS7(support php) and some hyper V things..(need to find out more)..i wonder what else is new.hmmm

Anti Virus Software review 2008

2008-03-23T20:17:00.000+08:00

I dont know if this is old news to you.

just to share with you if you having trouble choosing the anti virus software.
http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Msn messanger worm

2008-03-23T20:14:00.000+08:00

busy for the past few months with my personal stuff...
will be back posting with more finding soon...beware of the msn messenger worm spreading around now..it will send msn message to your friend in your name.and the link will ask for msn login credential of your friends..

Impress with AVG

2007-12-26T15:05:00.000+08:00

Was never a fan of AVG until few days back...(Read my previous post).

The pop-up is gone for good with the Help of AVG Free Edition...Fantastic....!!!

Disappointed with Mcafee Security Center(AOL Edition)

2007-12-23T16:27:00.000+08:00

Was utterly disappointed with the Mcafee Security Center(AOL Special Edition)...
My system was infected with adware..(stupid advertisment keep telling me my system is infected with virus,pls click here to solve it) and i tried cleanig it with Mcafee.Tried full scan on normal operation and safe mode..nothing found.Installed Adware 2007 also nothing found.

Decided to give AVG(free edition) a shot...BANG it found 5 virus on my system...and it manage to delete them off....i will monitor my system now to see if the pop up still comes up.

For the time,mcafee will be in my blacklist...I dont know if there is any difference between the Mcafee paid edition and the AOL edition.I have used both before and there look the same to me except the AOL wording.

I am glad AVG has save my day of reformatting.(HOPEFULLY)...

WinXP SP3

2007-12-13T21:17:00.000+08:00

Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been delayed again and again.Finally it looks like a date is gonna be set(First Half 2008)..
Does it mean Windows Vista is still not living up to its standard that XP users still "love" their XP so much that they are reluctant to change to the eye candy filled Windows Vista.
We shall wait and see what other security hole and patches are being patch up this time with SP3...:)

Free Anti Virus

2007-12-11T18:28:00.000+08:00

Presenting the

Mcafee ViruScan Plus- Special Edition from AOL

This is a special edition in collaboration with AOL.all you need is to sign up with AOL and you get to use the full feature Anti virus for 1 Full Year...Where can you find a sweeter deal than this?..

http://safety.aol.com/isc/BasicSecurity/

New MSN Messenger Trojan Spreading Quickly

2007-11-20T22:28:00.000+08:00

An MSN Messenger Trojan is growing a botnet by hundreds of infected PCs per hour.

A Trojan is introducing malware into thousands of computer systems worldwide, and the number is growing by the hour. (read more)

=====================================================

this can spell disaster as MSN is widely used IM throughout the world and its spreading will be very broad and quick .....:(

Microsoft Outlook 2003 error

2007-11-17T10:56:00.000+08:00

error message in Outlook 2003
"An OLE registration error occurred" ...

this message is very irritating because the first time i tried was to reinstall the whole microsoft office 2003 as the error message says one of my setup is corrupted ,please run the setup again..

Tried to reinstalled and it doesnt work at all so i tried the workaround from microsoft site.Doesnt work as well...until i found this on GOOGLE..(messiah for me once again).
If you hit the following ,recommend you try the following method before reinstalling(save you a lot of time if it works).....

Try the following methods (method 2 works for me)
Method 1

Register the dll file by running this command "regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\ole32.dll" in dos prompt.

Try and see if the error message goes away.

Method 2

1. Send/Receive pull-dpown menu (same button which gives the error message)

2. Send/Receive Settings

3. Uncheck "Make This Folder Available Offline"

4. Check "Make This Folder Available Offline" again

This method works for me.....

SSL Vendor

2007-11-11T20:31:00.000+08:00

Which vendor is actually recommended ?

Thawte
Verisign
Netrust
GeoTrust
Other(Pls specify)

Just to check which is the most favorite SSL vendor around?
For me my vote goes to Thawte:)

Repair Corrupted winsocks....

2007-09-09T22:17:00.000+08:00

netsh interface ip reset resetlog.txt
This is used to repair corrupted TCP/IP...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259
a live saving guide for me...phew...:)

How to recreate an ASR DISK?

2007-05-01T17:33:00.000+08:00

To create an ASR floppy disk from the last ASR backup:

1. Format a floppy disk.

2. Copy the asr.sif and asrpnp.sif files from the %SystemRoot%\Repair folder to the formatted floppy disk.

How to troubleshoot the "NTLDR Is Missing" error message

2007-04-06T11:59:00.000+08:00

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318728

Personal Reference

2007-04-01T20:53:00.000+08:00

Just for my personal Reference

-wmic qfe <-list the installed hotfix on a machine
-wuauclt.exe /detectnow <-connect a computer to WSUS
-gpupdate /force <-refresh a Group Policy

How to uninstall a hotfix or Service Pack via the Recovery Console ?

2007-04-01T20:50:00.000+08:00

Sharing this link on the above mention topic:)

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/spuninst.htm

Interwoven Teamsite6.5

2006-11-23T20:42:00.000+08:00

Teamsite is really a beast to configure....and it only work with IE6(not ie5) as windows 2000 server default comes with IE5.(i learnt it through the hard way)

IE 7 is out

2006-10-24T17:08:00.000+08:00

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx
It is out but it looks to me like an unfinished product.IE6 is still the king of compatibility as of nowfor web surfing(firefox2.0 is coming up)

Convert PDF For free online

2006-10-24T16:58:00.000+08:00

You can try this here...
If u need an offline copy of pdf converter,u can try cutepdf here..
Enjoy..

Free anti virus for your home

2006-10-15T17:23:00.000+08:00

This article is no longer valid as AOL has stop giving out this free goodies..

If you need something to protect your PC.I would recommend you need to spend some money on a proper Anti Virus Solution.
=============================================================
http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp
This is powered by Kaspersky Lab..yes Kaspersky..and it is free for one years...
You just need to give your email address to AOL .

IUSR and IWAM user password

2006-09-03T23:57:00.000+08:00

The following knowledge base from microsoft website shows you how to read or change the password for IUSR and IWAM user.

read here

Microsoft Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS 7.0)

2006-08-26T10:12:00.000+08:00

IIS7 revealed..Read more...

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) has evolved over the years from a simple web server to a full-fledged application hosting platform. While earlier versions had some glaring....read more

Sharepoint Services Part 2 (restore procedure)

2006-08-25T22:19:00.000+08:00

Finally restored the sharepoint site into another site..using stsadm.exe tool(windows sharepoint services 2.0)

BACKUP

"C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\60\bin\stsadm.exe" -o backup -url http://192.168.0.7:900 -filename f:\backup\sharepoin****\d****_sharepoint.dat -overwrite

RESTORE

"C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\60\bin
\stsadm.exe" -o restore -url http://intranet2.mydomain.com -filename f:\backup\sharepoin****\d****_sharepoint_o*******.dat -overwrite

I restored the sharepoint onto another site (from intranet.mydomain.com to intranet2.mydomain.com)..

Firstly,u will need to create a new website in IIS and extend it using sharepoint administration page(this will extend and create a content database for the new site)..
then restore using the above command(must use -overwrite,if not you will get an error saying website address "http://restore.mydomain.com" already in use)i restored on the same box as the original site,i have not tried restoring on a different box yet..

now i need to try and use smigrate.exe tool to backup the site lost site (on the restored site)..and restore it to the old site....wish me good luck:).

Hope the above info helps.(for those having problem restoring)

Technology News Blog

2006-08-23T00:01:00.000+08:00

This blog belongs to my friend....interesting article available inside :)......
http://hongjun.blogspot.com/

Sharepoint Services

2006-08-22T21:19:00.000+08:00

Having a hard time restoring sharepoint site....Till now i am still unable to restore..still reading the guide from microsoft...will post here once i got it right...if you happen to know how..please teach me :P.... .....

Tried restoring a site using stsadm.exe (cannot work)
tried using smigrate.exe for backup and restore (also cannot work).I am stuck with the following error while restoring.
The error was "ERROR: 6553609 You are not authorized to perform the current operation."

Dell laptop having defective battery

2006-08-16T21:58:00.000+08:00

Dell has set up a website for dell laptop user to check if their laptop battery are affected.

Quote from the www.dellbatteryprogram.com

Dear Dell Customer,

Dell has identified a potential issue associated with certain batteries sold with Dell Latitude™, Inspiron™, XPS™ and Dell Precision Mobile Workstation™ notebook computers. In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies, Dell is voluntarily recalling certain Dell-branded batteries with cells manufactured by Sony and offering free replacements for these batteries. Under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could pose a risk of fire.

Remember to check is yours is a DELL laptop :)

Interwoven Teamsite

2006-08-12T10:25:00.000+08:00

Anyone one with experience are welcome to discuss about the interowoven cms system here(Teamsite,opendeploy..etc)..
i just notice the teamsite is very unstable(maybe it is just me)...always need to reboot the system :(

smtp via telnet

2006-08-10T23:56:00.000+08:00

Most people would have know of this very useful way to test a mail server.Just in case you dont ,read below :P(i am no expert in this also)

open up your dos prompt and key in the command to connect to your mail server
1)telnet {ip address} 25 <-Press enter
2)helo {pcname} <-Press enter
3)mail from:{sender's email address,must be valid} <-Press enter
4)rcpt to:{recipient's email address} <-Press enter
5)data <-Press enter and enter your email message
6). <-press enter

step 6 is to end the process...usually i will press "enter . enter" to end the process.your mail will be send...:)
good way to troubleshoot..if the relay of mail has been blocked etc...

CRM 3.0 Update

2006-08-09T09:22:00.000+08:00

It was a bumpy ride getting the CRM to 3.0 to work for me.Have to install/uninstall 3 times before getting it to work (hopefully).

This is a good blog to read more on MS CRM.
http://icu-mscrm.blogspot.com/2006/01/microsoft-crm-30-users-guide.html

Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant v1.0

2006-08-07T21:53:00.000+08:00

Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant v1.0

This new tool sounds good.I personally find that Exchange is harder to troubleshoot(compare to Mdaemon mail server)

Overview
The Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant programmatically executes a set of troubleshooting steps to identify the root cause of performance, mail flow, and database mounting issues. The tool automatically determines what set of data is required to troubleshoot the identified symptoms and collects configuration data, performance counters, event logs and live tracing information from an Exchange server and other appropriate sources. The tool analyzes each subsystem to determine individual bottlenecks and component failures, then aggregates the information to provide root cause analysis.

download from here

MS CRM 3.0 Installation Error

2006-08-07T21:26:00.000+08:00

I encountered this very weird problem when installing MS CRM3.0.I got this error message at the end of the installation
"Action Microsoft.Crm.Setup.Server.ProvisionBusinessAction failed.Exception from HRESULT: 0x80044151"

I found this resolution on the internet thats works

1)Open the registry by running regedit.exe.

2)Navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MSCRM.Right click, select New. Create a new Reg DWORD value called OLEDBTimeout.Right click and modify to change the value to 0x240.

3)Navigate to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ParametersRight click, select New. Create a new Reg DWORD value called MaxUserPort. Right click and modify to change the value to 0xfffe.

4)Navigate to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ParametersRight click, select New. Create a new Reg DWORD value called TcpTimedWaitDelay. Right click and modify to change the value to 0x2.

Mcms 2002

2006-08-07T21:22:00.000+08:00

For people who are interested or having problem with MCMS 2002 try this very good link

Microsoft Exchange 2003 18GB Limit

2006-08-07T21:10:00.000+08:00

The bad news:
Exchange 2003 standard has a 18GB mailbox store limit..
The good news:
If you apply SP2 ,the mailbox store can be increased to 75GB(COOL),but the increase the mailbox is not automatically.You will need to tweak the registry to manually increase the limit from 18GB to 75GB.

To configure the database size for a database:
1. On the computer running Exchange Server, start Regedit.exe.
2. Open one of the following registry keys:
o To configure the database size limit on a mailbox store, open the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet
ServicesMSExchangeIS\Server name\Private-Mailbox Store GUID
o To configure the database size limit on a public store, open the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet
ServicesMSExchangeIS\Server name\Public-Public Store GUID

1. Right-click Public (or Private) Store GUID, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
2. For the new value name, type Database Size Limit in Gb.
3. Double-click Database Size Limit in Gb. In Value data, type an appropriate value for maximum database size in GB. For Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, type a value between 1 and 75 (the default is 18 GB). For Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, type a value between 1 and 8000 (the default is 8000 GB). Click OK.
4. Right-click Public (or Private) Store GUID, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. For the new value name, type Database Size Buffer in Percentage.
6. Double-click Database Size Buffer in Percentage. In Value data, type a value between 1 and 100 to specify when you want events to be logged to warn you that you are nearing the maximum size for a database. The default value of 10 will result in warning events to be logged when you have 10 percent capacity left before you reach the maximum size for that database. Click OK.
7. Right-click Public (or Private) Store GUID, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
8. For the new name, type Database Size Check Start Time in Hours From Midnight.
9. Double-click Database Size Check Start Time in Hours From Midnight. In Value data, type a value between 0 and 23 to specify when you want Exchange to check the database size. The default value of 5 results in Exchange Server checking the database size 5 hours after midnight (5:00 AM). Click OK.
10. Close Registry Editor.

Web Browser War

2006-08-06T21:26:00.000+08:00

Firefox 2, Internet Explorer 7 and Opera 9 are fighting for a place in the market.
Read more here

My personal opinion as of now is still with Firefox 1.5.06 but Internet Explorer 7 beta looks promising .Haven tried Opera yet so no comment.

Windows XP Tips & Tricks

2006-08-06T21:07:00.000+08:00

I notice a lot of people has been asking me this so i decided to post it here

PROBLEM
The administrator account went missing from the logon page in WINDOWS XP(Home & Pro) after you create another administrator account with another name

RESOLUTION

To Make the Administrator Account Always Visible on the Login Screen
[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.
Data Type: DWORD// Value Name: Administrator
Setting for Value Data: [0 = Disabled / 1 = Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

Editing the system registry may cause your system to becomes unusable,so please proceed with care.

Microsoft launches Exchange 2007

2006-08-06T20:50:00.000+08:00

Microsoft has been working on a successor for Exchange 2003 .The beta is available for IT professional to test it out.
You can read more about MS Exchange 2007 here.

Microsoft Exchange 2003 & Mdaemon

2006-08-06T20:38:00.000+08:00

Gonna share more exchange tips which i learn through the installation of it.

Ms Exchange 2003
This is a useful link if you are looking for plugins.(I think none are free:( )

Mdaemon
I personally prefer Mdaemon from Alt-N Technolgies.I find that mdaemon is easier to administer.One major reason why i prefer mdaemon over MS Exchange is the logging system in mdaemon.I find that the log in Mdaemon is very well organised and detailed unlike MS Exchange.
I hope that the logging system will improve in MS Exchange 2007 ,as of now i will give my vote to Mdaemon.:)