Paul Davey's Blog

May 2006 - Posts

• Downloading... downloading... downloading...

  Im just downloading the latest beta releases of Vista, Longhorn Server and Office 2007... I wish I had something better than a 2mb connection ;-)   But at least I am off tommorow afternoon - I will be playing with it all then !!  :-)   Paul Share this post:                                        Posted May 23 2006, 08:56 PM by Paul E Davey with no comments

• Windows Media Player 11 Public Beta Available

  Microsoft have released the public beta version of Windows Media Player 11 !! New interface, sync ability with MP3 players and portable devices... it looks sexy... actually it looks a bit like iTunes.. but I wont hold that against it!! http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx Share this post:                                        Posted May 17 2006, 03:15 PM by Paul E Davey with 2 comment(s)

• WSUS - Great Resource

  Yes I know.. its WSUS, not SMS. And yes I can spell and yes I did meant WSUS and not SMS   See sometimes we still have to use WSUS in certain environments. One I am setting up at the moment infact. Anyway, I had a problem with one part of the config, googled and found the answer on the page linked below. It is a great resource page and I would urge you to have a look. http://uphold2001.brinkster.net/vbshf/wsus/wsus_faq.htm#_Toc133891603 Thanks, Paul Share this post:                                        Posted May 17 2006, 12:35 PM by Paul E Davey with no comments

• Acrobat Writer 7 Standard deploment via GPo.. oh, the woes!

  I have tried everything. I have repackaged, re-worked, re-mixed, hubble-bubble-toil and troubled the package in my large cauldron and its just a no go. Published to the user, you run the install and it seems to complete ok. But, the shortcuts dont have the proper icons and when you launch it, it repairs and quits. I cant seem to find out why this isnot working. I have tried assigning it to a machine wvia AD as well, and the icons just dont even show up in the start menu.. I have checked appdeploy and also used the Adobe published document on how to deploy via Group Policy.. Suprise suprise it didnt work.. If any of you out there have gotten this to work, then please drop me a line. I could do with any advice you could give me. Thanks Paul Share this post:                                        Posted May 12 2006, 11:02 AM by Paul E Davey with 1 comment(s)

• Office 2007 Beta due to MSDN in next couple of weeks

  Taken from a forum post here at blogcast: I just had a chat with a Microsoft person over the MSDN concierge service. There is not currently a public beta date, however Office 2007 Beta will be available to MSDN subscribers in the next couple of weeks. As soon as it is out, I will download it and get some screenshots and a blogcast up showing some of the new features. Share this post:                                        Posted May 12 2006, 10:58 AM by Paul E Davey with no comments

• Microsoft to launch new UK based technet magazine

  http://www.microsoft.com/uk/technet/fyi-InsidersGuide.mspx This is the final edition of FYI magazine! We will be launching the UK version of the new TechNet magazine in July/August 2006. If you would like to receive a copy, please complete the subscription form. Please note: Subscription to the TechNet magazine is FREE of charge.   Yes folks free of charge! Share this post:                                        Posted May 12 2006, 10:34 AM by Paul E Davey with no comments Filed under: Other

• A Begging Blog..

  Come on people.. please help me out. There are two little applets over in the Non-Microsoft Tools & Utilities forum, and I really need some feedback on them, good or bad. If you have time, please download and have a look. I apologise for the requirement to have the dotnet framework v2.x installed but if you want the functionality you've got to move with the times! Thanks in advance, Paul Share this post:                                        Posted May 11 2006, 10:48 AM by Paul E Davey with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Other

• My custom CSS style sheet

  I dont know why I didnt attach this on the last post, but ho hum.. Please find attached a copy of my CSS styles sheet. There are some comments in there, which will make sense if you refer to my blog site here when you read them. If using this, you will need to start by using the blacksun theme on your blog and then go from there. Hope this helps - any questions ping me an email.   Share this post:                                        Posted May 11 2006, 10:13 AM by Paul E Davey with no comments

• A change of look to the blog

  Well, I thought I should do what I never did over at myITforum and that was to properly customise my blog. So, what do you think? I used one of the standard themes available to us all and then applied a new styles.css file using the CSS override functionality available to all bloggers in the 'change how my blog looks' section of the 'my settings' page on your blog. As a hint, the easiest way to create an override style, is to load you blog in your web browser, and then right click and saev. The html page will be downloaded along with the relevant pictures and the styles.css file that is used. Modify this style sheet locally on your machine and just load the local copy of your webpage to see the differences you are making. Once you are happy with the changes, copy and paste the entire contents of you modified styles.css sheet in to the override section on your blog. There you go, that simple! Comments on a post card please. Oh, and just incase you were wondering.. yes, it is of course possible to use an animated gif file as well I'll be making some more changes as I go - hey, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm just learning as I go. Share this post:                                        Posted May 11 2006, 10:00 AM by Paul E Davey with no comments

• Camtasia Studio - A Most excellent Tool

  Hi everyone. Having read through one of Brians posts and also after a brief chat on Instant Messenger, I decided to download the demo of Camtasia Studio and have a look. You were right Brian, it is a great piece of software. If any of you out there havent looked at using it for your blogcasts yet, I would urge you to download the demo and have a look. You might just like it!   Share this post:                                        Posted May 10 2006, 09:38 AM by Paul E Davey with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Other

• The wonders of the Security Configuration Wizard

  I've been working on a project of late (still am in fact), building a network with a DC, file and print and workstations. Thing is that it has to be secured for one reason or another. We used the Security Configuration Wizard on the DC to kick of the process of identifying the services we didnt need. At the time we were going to not be using DHCP for one reason or another. Anyway, we have decided to use it now. So I just installed the service, configured a scope with options and authorised it in AD. All looks good, but no cigar - clients cannot pick up an IP address... connectivity works if I apply a static address to the workstation as I can ping the DC at that point. DHCP Client is running on the workstation.. so I sit and scratch my head for bit, and then I realise... Windows Firewall on the server..A quick check reveals that Ports 67 and 68 are not configured as exceptions to allow UDP traffic to come in, so the requests from the clients for a lease arent even getting anywhere near the DHCP service. Allowed the two ports as exceptions and bingo, everything works. So the morale of the story.. the more you rely on the new fancy wizz bang tools to do your job for you, the sooner you forget the basics.. maybe Im just od fashioned, but I like to do these things my way - the long and hard way.. and if it involves a dos command prompt even better!  As an FYI, port exceptions for DHCP are as follows: Port 53 (UDP + TCP Port 67 (UDP) Port 68 (UDP) Share this post:                                        Posted May 09 2006, 10:46 AM by Paul E Davey with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Server2003

• Beta - Extended File Information Viewer

  From this forum post:- http://blogcastrepository.com/forums/thread/1119.aspx ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A commandline executable that can read the portable executable table format from dll\exe files such as microsoft KBxxxxxx.exe patch files and at the commandline output the extended file information - useful for use in scripts, i.e pipe out the installer engine so you know which switches are applicable to be used in installing the patch, To Come: Automated actions based on the information captured. For example, file is checked, discovered as an installshield.exe file, and so is installed silently with all of the correct switches for an unattended and silent installation. This file is going to be used as part of a fuller, bigger app that I am writing. Feedback or list of wanted features would be most appreciated. The file can be downloaded from this link::  http://www.geocities.com/paulicl/Fileinfo.zip Thanks, Paul Davey Share this post:                                        Posted May 08 2006, 04:33 PM by Paul E Davey with no comments Filed under: Other

• Hello

  This is just a hi, hello and how you doing to all you folks out there. Ive been blogging over at myitforum for a while now, but I have decided to move my blog over here. Im going to start moving over some of my previous blog posts shortly and will be posting more content here in the future. Here's me - looking forward to being part of this great new community. Share this post:                                        Posted May 08 2006, 12:41 PM by Paul E Davey with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Other