Multi-touch displays

Microsoft is starting to expand their multi-touch displays to more than just a cool looking table. I caught a clip of someone at Microsoft demoing a laptop with multi-touch interface. I’m definitely not surprised since Apple is realeasing their iPhone with almost identical input type. Which begs the question will Apple be releasing a MacBook pro with a multi-touch interface.

On a gaming note a really cool multi-player strategy game would entice me to fork over some heavy cash for one of those laptops.

Here check out the clip


Read about it over at istartedsomething.com

Where has the time gone.

I been very busy lately well for the last 6 months.
ERP customizations can be very time consuming. I did create a cool video game news mashup site.
You can check it out at http://replaygamer.com

Some other news is Linspire hooking up with Microsoft. check out that article at BetaNews.
Microsoft, Former 'Lindows' Vendor Reach New Covenant

I will try to get back on the postings.

Powershell released

Microsoft released there new scripting tool called "Powershell". This could be benificial to Administrators looking for a good scripting tool that can compete with the different types scripts that run on Unix and Linux.

I have just downloaded the program and documentation, so I hope to have some feed back on it as soon as I have some time.

Here is the link to the Powershell page

Using Group Policy to Configure Windows Firewall

I just recently decided to configure Windows Firewall through group policy. Why just now? well that was because I rolled out most of the XP operating systems with the Firewall configured during installation. Only recently did I discover people, programs whatever had made some changes.

So I decided to create a group policy for the firewall settings so I wouldn't have to walk around to everyones computers and set it up. You can change these policies to the local machine by opening up gepedit.msc or by using Active Directory Users and Computers then right click on your OU and then properties. Then you will be able to access the Group Policy Management Console by the Group policy tab and by clicking Open.

You can find the configuration under the Administrative Templates -> Network -> Network Connections -> Windows Firewall -> Domain Profile.

The different Settings include.
Protect all network connections
Do not allow exceptions
Define program exceptions
Allow local program exceptions
Allow remote administration exception
Allow file and printer sharing exception
Allow ICMP exceptions
Allow Remote Desktop exception
Allow UPnP framework exception
Prohibit notifications
Allow Logging
Prohibit unicast response to multicast or broadcast
Define port exceptions
Allow local port exceptions

These settings helped me keep consistent settings across the Domain.

Outlook 2003 Command Line Switches

Trying to troubleshooting Outlook problems can be a pain, so below are some common command line switches I use.

Just navigate to the Start menu then Run, Type the following with the quotes.
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Outlook.exe " /switch

/c messageclass
Creates a new item of the specified message class, works for any valid MAPI form. For example:

/c ipm.activity creates a Journal entry
/c ipm.appointment creates an appointment
/c ipm.contact creates a contact
/c ipm.note creates an e-mail message
/c ipm.stickynote creates a note
/c ipm.task creates a task

/CleanClientRules

Starts Outlook and deletes client-based rules. For non-Exchange users.
/CleanFinders

Sets Outlook 2003 Search Folders back to the default state (deletes custom Search Folders)

/CleanFreeBusy

Cleans and regenerates free/busy information.

/CleanProfile

Removes invalid profile keys and recreates default registry keys where applicable.

/Cleanpst

Launches Outlook with a clean Personal Folders file (.pst)

/CleanReminders

Cleans and regenerates reminders.

/CleanRules

Starts Outlook and deletes client- and server-based rules.

/CleanSchedPlus

Deletes all Schedule+ data (free/busy, permissions, and .cal file) from the server.

/CleanServerRules

Starts Outlook and deletes server-based rules. Used only with Exchange server accounts.

/CleanViews

Restores default views.

/FirstRun

Starts Outlook as if it were run for the first time.

/ImportPrf prffilename

Launches Outlook and opens/imports the defined MAPI profile (*.prf). If Outlook is already open, queues the profile to be imported on the next clean launch.

/Profile profilename

Loads the specified profile. If your profile name contains a space, enclose the profile name in quotation marks.

/ResetFolderNames

Resets the language of the default folders to the language of the Outlook client.

/ResetFolders

Restores missing folders for the default delivery location.

/ResetOutlookBar

Rebuilds the Outlook Bar.

/ResetWunderBar

Rebuilds the new Outlook Control Bar in Outlook 2003.

/Rpcdiag

Opens Outlook and displays the remote procedure call (RPC) connection status dialog.

/Sniff

Starts Outlook and forces a detection of new meeting requests in the Inbox, and then adds them to the calendar.

Cool Story about Water Activated Batteries.

Well I have been extremely busy this past week and will probably be even busier next week. So I will just post a link to a story I read that I found very interesting. It's not really a tech article per say, but oh well.

It's about a scientist coming up with a way to activate the power in a battery by adding water. It will help with battery life and storing of the batteries. Hope you find it interesting

Reuters Article

Disable "Manage Your Server" window through the registry

I had an interesting challenge the other day, it was to set up a bunch of employee's on a Terminal Server. One particular program needed to be installed as administrator due to security measures built into the software. To make a long story short I had to install the program under each user as administrator, there was no way to roll it out under group policy. The "Manage your server" pop up got annoying so I had to find a way to disable it for all accounts.

I made changes to these registry settings.
HKEY_USERS\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Setup\Welcome\
and right click and change the setting of "srvwiz" to zero.

I would also recommend searching the registry for srvwiz and change the value to zero. I say this if you already logged in as any other user. There are other references to this but I haven't had to make any changes to the other values.

As a side note make sure you back up your registry.