Tag: Windows

Restoring with Shadowprotect video now available

We’ve added a new video that details the basics of restoring information using Shadowprotect on Small Business Server. You can view the video directly on YouTube by clicking here.
 
The video will cover the basics of restoring a single file using the Windows interface or restoring a whole volume by booting into the Shadowprotect environment directly from their bootable CD.
 
Look out for additional videos on Shadowprotect coming soon that will cver topics such as: complete server recovery, Exchange recovery, etc. As always, we appreciate any comments or feedback on what we have created.

Small Business Server course starts this week

This Thursday 8th of November is the start of our 3 week Introduction to Small Business Server 2003 course to be held at Macquarie Community College.
 
It’s not to late to enrol if you are interested. For more information about the course following the link :
 
 
The course will give you all the information you need about Small Business Server as well as the basics of setting up a server and getting users and workstation connected.

Shadowprotect on SBS video

We have just completed our latest YouTube video. This video looks at the process of backing up using Storagecraft’s Shadowprotect. This product takes scheduled image backups of your server that allow you to qucikly and easily restore either a whol file or a whole server much quicker than traditional methods like tapes.
 
Click here to view the video on YouTube. This first video looks at the process of creating Shadowprotect backups. The next video will look how to restore information from these backups.
 
We recommend Shadowprotect to all clients with server machines. Shadowprotect also has a desktop edition which will take constant image backups of desktops as well. Sure a desktop machine may not be as important as a server but it still takes a long time to run up if the hard disk fails. That is why we have implemented Shadowprotect on all our internal workstations so we can get these up and running quickly in the event of a failure.
 
Please let us know what you think of this video (the audio is a little poor, we know) and watch for the next one coming real soon.

Dot Net issues

Having issues installing DotNet updates via Windows Update? Try:

Run cleanup tool:
http://astebner.sts.winisp.net/Tools/dotnetfx_cleanup_tool.zip

and select remove (cleanup) .NET Framework 1.1 from the dropdown list.

Download the .Net framework 1.1 redistributable package from here
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3

and install it.

Download the .Net Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A8F5654F-088E-40B2-BBDB-A83353618B38&displaylang=en
and install it.

Turn off Windows Security alert pop ups

Turning off Automatic Updates can cause Windows Security Alert pop-up balloons to appear in the taskbar tray every time you log on.
1. Turning off Automatic Updates causes error balloons featuring a red shield. Windows XP allows you to suppress any warnings that relate to Automatic Updates. You can also do this in Vista but, unfortunately, the newer OS forces you to turn off all security alerts just to suppress the Automatic Updates warnings.
 
To eliminate the warning balloons about Automatic Updates in both XP and Vista, take these steps:
 
Step 1. Double-click the red shield icon in the taskbar, or open the Control Panel and launch the Security Center.
 
Step 2. In the left pane or box, click Change the way Security Center alerts me.
 
Step 3. In XP, uncheck Automatic Updates and click OK. In Vista, select the second or third option.

Windows updates refusing to install most patches

If you find that Windows Update refuses to install most patches, you can register its missing DLLs yourself. This can be accomplished by manually entering seven commands (shown in Step 2, below) at a command prompt.
 
the /s switch runs the commands silently, freeing you from having to press Enter after each line
 
regsvr32 /s wuapi.dll
regsvr32 /s wuaueng1.dll
regsvr32 /s wuaueng.dll
regsvr32 /s wucltui.dll
regsvr32 /s wups2.dll
regsvr32 /s wups.dll
regsvr32 /s wuweb.dll

Exception of type System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException

See this error when attempting to install Sharepoint V3.0 on Small Business Server 2003?
 
The config wizard gets to stage 5, but says:

Configuration Failed
Failed to Register SharePoint Services
An exception of type System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException was thrown. Additional exception information: Could not access the Search services configuration database.

If so try :

In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following subkey, and then delete it:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\WSS\Services\Microsoft.SharePoint.Search.Administration.SPSearchService

-Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard again.”

which seems to do the trick.

What a difference one less number can make

We have been usin gthe Microsoft Intelligence Mail Filter that is incorporated in Exchange Service Pack 2 for a while now. Previous we had the gateway set at 8/10 and the store set at 3/10. Basically, this means that if an inbound email scores 8 or above (on the spam scale) then the gateway action takes effect. In our case this was set to reject.
 
Now over the years because our CIAOPS web site had our email address on the front page we attracted lots and lots and lots of spam. This is why it is never a good idea to put plain text email addresses on web sites. admittedly most of the spam that did get through was getting caught by the junk mail filter and ending up in the junk mail folder in Outlook, but there was just so much. So rather than try and sort through it all the best bet was to crank down the gateway setting.
 
So we changed our gateway setting on the IMF from 8 to 7 ( just a single point ) and we went from > 1,000 spam emails a day to less than 10! Amazing eh? Just goes to show you gotta keep on top of these settings overtime. The other good thing is that it does prove how well the Microsoft Intelligent Mail Filter (IMF) does work.