One of the things I hate about switching computers is losing all my customized MMC settings especially the Saved Queries configured in Active Directory Users & Computers (ADUCs). A few days ago I switched cubes at my customer site and proceeded to...

There are times when you need to modify or delete objects in Active Directory (AD) in order to perform some level of cleanup. In a perfect world, you would always have a good backup and the restore would work flawlessly. Just in case, I always export...

A nice feature in Windows Server Active Directory is the ability for an administrator to create saved queries in Active Directory USers % Computers to return common information within the Directory. The queries you can create through the GUI are pretty...

Occasionally I'll run into a situation where a workstation hangs or fails when trying to retrieve information from Active Directory (AD). In some cases the problem presents itself when running DSQUERY to query for Active Directory data. In other cases...

The reviews are coming in and so far the reviews have been positive. Most of the positive press is around the new user interface. Nick Bilton of the New York Times has a nice round of of recent reviews on his blog .

Windows Live Essentials is a collection of free programs you can download to enhance your Windows 7 experience. There are a number of programs available for download including: · Mail · Messenger · Photo Gallery (with facial...

It won’t be much longer until the Windows Phone 7 hits the streets!  More details can be found at the Windows Phone Blog .

I read a very informative article on ZDNet tonight written by Matthew Miller. Matthew was given a Windows Phone 7 device to use for a couple of weeks loaded with a "technical preview" (beta) version of the mobile OS. Matthew gives us a very in depth look...

This morning I was re-introduced to a feature I had forgotten about. The icons on the WIndows 7 Taskbar can also act as a status indicator for the minimized programs. Below is a screen snip of my Taskbar showing the Back/Restore prgram icon with 1/3 shaded...

I spend a lot of time helping people troubleshoot problems. In many cases the work consists of sitting next to someone saying "click this" or "open that" especially log and configuration files. Believe me when I tell you it takes a lot of patience sometimes...

I came across an interesting article on CNET today about some undocumented tweaks available in Windows 7. The one bloggers (not Microsoft) are calling GodMode enables you to configure a folder that contains links to let you access every Windows setting...

I found a few more features I think people will find useful: Win+Tab activates the "ferris wheel" of open windows. Pressing Tab repeatedly cycles through the open windows. Updated Windows Calculator. Open Calculator, click the View menu and check...

As a Microsoft employee I have been using Windows 7 since the early internal betas. I have been impressed with the operating system (OS) since day one and it has improved with each iteration leading up to release. There are some nice, obvious user interface...

More information can be found at this link - http://windowslivewire.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!2F7EB29B42641D59!42814.entry Synchronized Favorites are a great feature and I have over 1400 synced between three computers. Like the article listed above...

Microsoft Security Essentials released yesterday. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology....

Windows 7 officially goes on sale October 22, 2009. Many people installed the beta and RC versions of the operating system and have been very pleased. I too installed the early betas and eventually the RC code. I have been pleasantly surprised with all...

A few months back one of my customers was trying use RDP to connect to a large number of desktop computers to manually install some security updates. If the computer was being used the admin had to wait until the person using the computer logged out and...

I was traveling last week and found myself without Internet connectivity in my hotel room. If there is one thing a field engineer needs why traveling is Internet connectivity. This is the second time I have stayed at a Courtyard Marriott and had no internet...

The Windows 7 Release Candidate is available for download "free" (see previous post). In Microsoft terms, Release Candidate (RC) code is code that we think is ready for release to our customers but we are still doing some final test and evaluation before...

I saw this post on the Genuine Windows Blog site today Pirated Windows 7 RC builds a botnet . So let me understand this. Instead of getting the software for free from Microsoft, people prefer to get it from some stranger(s) over the Internet for free...

Sites that distribute software like MSDN and TechNet make it possible to download ISO images of CDROMs and DVDs. An ISO image allows you to burn an exact duplicate of a piece of media. One of the challenges we all face from time to time is corrupt media...

This error appeared on one of my Hyper-V servers this morning. A search of TechNet revealed that KB967902 has an update that can be downloaded to correct the issue. The issue occurs because the because the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service (VMMS...

In the last couple of weeks I have been working with customers on GPO implementations. One of the first things I show them are the Excel spreadsheets that contain all the settings in a search able format. These spreadsheets are useful when you don't know...

One common problem I see with Active Directory implementations is an Active Directory topology that is not fully routable. In a fully routable environment every domain controller (DC) can communicate with every other DC. While most customers "think" they...

One of my customers has undergone a great deal of turnover in the past few weeks on the System Administration team. We discovered that a number of Scheduled Tasks configured on the servers were configured with the accounts of admnistrators (instead of...