Tag: Video

Basic web site blocking

Here’s a new video that I’ve just uploaded to YouTube that will show you two simple methods of blocking web sites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw7QNkt_3CI

The first method is simply to use your local router and a keyword. The second is to use http://www.opendns.com. OpenDNS is a far more elegant solution and allows you to block a whole range of sites as well as protect against phishing attacks. Simply create an OpenDNS account, attach an IP range to the account and then you can set up custom DNS settings. It is really great for home and business users.

New video posted

I have just uploaded a new video that details the process of relocating SharePoint databases in SBS 2008 using the inbuilt wizards.

More SBS 2008 videos

No, these are not from me but from a business called NetoMeter (which I came across while reading the Small Business Tech Ramblings blog). The videos cover quite a range of SBS 2008 topics which should help with many common topics, including adding SSL certificates and doing bare metal restores.

 

Having done my own videos on similar topics I am interested to understand the business motivation behind creating such videos. They would appear to be aimed at driving business towards the remote support options provided by NeoMeter. I think this a very innovative business model and indicates to me that SBS 2008 support is really going to be able to be provided almost anywhere in the world.

 

If you are a reseller don’t be fooled into thinking that business owners are going to keep coming to you for support or to set up their systems. Using resources like these videos they will probably buy some bundle at the local PC supermarket, get their systems operational (that being quite easy to do with SBS 2008 now), then when they need assistance where are they going to turn first? I’ll put my money on NetoMeter first and someone in the yellow pages second.

 

It’s a competitive world out there and the skills required to install SBS 2008 have dropped in my opinion, not increased. This means life as an SBS reseller has gotten harder, not easier. Unless you have some angle or “special sauce” as I spoke about in a recent post you are going to be the poorer for it.

Youtube help desk here, how can I help?

Ever since I started putting videos on YouTube I have received quite a number of “please help me” emails. Now most are very courteous and I have no problems helping these people where I can. However, a growing number are very demanding and in my opinion extremely disrespectful. These emails normally contain just a line or two and say something like,

 

“I need to do x please tell how to do this asap”

 

If you really want me to help at least you could be a little courteous, considering that you probably wouldn’t have to do anything else, let alone pay money.

 

This attitude really reinforces to me the fact that many people EXPECT something for nothing. Now come on people, I have to run a business here, I have to pay bills, etc. I do believe that I provide a fair amount of freely available information to the “community” per se via this blog, YouTube videos, Supportweb site, user group postings just to name a few. However, when I offer something like my Sharepoint Operations Guide for a few hundred bucks most wouldn’t even think of purchasing it as a means of showing me support for all the other stuff they get for “free”.

 

To those people who are courteous, have bought the Guide or have shown some support, I say thank you very much. To those people who send me demanding support emails, happily consume information that I locate and continue to whinge about there not being enough “free” content, all I can say is that your time is coming, your time is coming.

Video 47 posted

Here’s a video to show you how straight forward the installation of SBS 2008 RC0 is. After just a few click you should have a system up and running.

Video 46 posted

So after all the recent dramas of getting SBS 2008 working I decided to celebrate with a new You Tube video. This video is a first look at the new Small Business Server from Microsoft. I quickly run through what’s the same, what’s new and then examine the new SBS management console.

 

Hopefully over time I’ll be posting more videos about SBS 2008 including all the good old things that I have covered in previous videos on SBS 2003 such as creating users and computers. You’ll find the latest video here:

100,000 views and climbing

I am very proud to announce that my videos on YouTube have now surpassed a total of 100,000 views! Truly amazing I must say as I never thought they would even get past 10,000, but hey I’m happy to be wrong again.

 

I’m currently working on a new video that will hopefully go up over the weekend. I’m planning to do some SBS2008 videos but I need a 64 bit operating system somewhere so I can run SBS 2008. I’m just scouting for a suitable piece of hardware now that can be dedicated to this. So hopefully in the near future I can start uploading some videos of SBS2008 as well.

 

Until then I’d like to take this opportunity to thanks all those people who have viewed my online videos, provided feedback and subscribed. It is because of people like you that I’ve been able to achieve this level and I will do my best to keep them coming. Don’t forget to contact me if you have any feedback or requests for content.

 

Next milestone = 1,000,000 views!

Video 45 posted

I have just completed another video that is now available on YouTube. This video looks at the recycle bin facilities available on Windows Sharepoint V3. You’ll see how the two stage process allows users and administrators to recover deleted files if necessary. The recycle bin is one of the major improvements of Sharepoint V3 over previous versions and makes life much easier for users and administrators.

 

Click here to view the video directly on YouTube. Don’t forget all my other videos on YouTube which you can access via http://www.youtube.com/saturnalliance. As always, comments and feedback are welcome.