A TeddyBear in CybearSpace

I would like to hear from people who have installed SP1 on Server 2003. I notice on the discussion of TR that questions are raised and cautions are given, but not many comments on successful implementation. I installed it on 1 of my 15 servers as a requirment to obtain an SSL for that server. I have no noticable issues as yet, however, I am cautioned by many others to delay installation on the remaining servers. I noted in the knowledge base at Microsoft, there are many issues.

Following the Star Wars craze, check out this fun film. I laughed all the way through it. http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

Our company has grown technically by leaps and bounds over the past year. I?d like to share with you.

We had used Company X for several years managing our 3 Windows NT servers. They offered us a chance to testdrive CITRIX to determine its usefulness for our users. We had good results and installed Citrix Server Number 1. One of the servers was upgraded to Server 2003. All went well.

Now it is time for more users to jump on board with CITRIX so we add #2.  Some problems are now occurring.  The vendor tells me it is because we haven?t made all the upgrades yet. We add CITRIX 3, 4, 5 and 6!!! Upgrade all servers to 2003, add more file servers for specific programs the Exchange 5.5 is upgraded to Exchange 2003. I am now up to 15 servers.  All should be wonderful according to the vendor and white paper.  In fact, the final upgrade was Exchange and last Server which now brought in Active Directory.  (?once we go to A.D. all will be working fine? says Company X)  In fact, the tech making the final change tells me it will take no more than a day and a half and that the email will be down no more than a couple of hours. Famous Last Words!!!!

Three weeks later some users still had no email and CITRIX logins were flakier than ever. My brown hair is slowing turning gray and Excedrin is making a fortune from my purchases.And now they want to sell me Exchange Enterprise because our email size has exceeded 16GB; something that went unnoticed a week prior. We said no to Enterprise and had everyone clean out their boxes and set mailbox size limits. We get it down to 12GB

Call in Company Z on my very first day of a much needed vacation. No thin clients can log in. After investigating the configurations it is determined that every server has a different DNS entry. No 2 servers are configured alike. And for some reason, instead of utilizing the built in ICA Locator, each unit had to be configured by hand to point to the servers.

First order of business, fix the DNS on all servers and immediately logins become much more stable AND we don?t need to configure each ICA connection, it works as it is supposed to.

Next order of business, we are shut down with email again because we exceed 16GB. We run the totals, no way we are near that.  Company Z comes in and finds that Company X set Exchange to retain all deleted messages for 2362 days ? (6.47 years).  He wipes that out and restarts and cleans out the deleted items to find we are at 6GB; a savings of 10GB and the thousands of dollars we don?t need to spend on enterprise edition.

Company X worked in a manner that required them to continually be called back.  They left no documentation so we could not even trace what they had done in a quick manner. Company Z explained in word and in writing all the changes made and did so in a manner that kept us up and running and to call them when needed.

I will not give company names, I have no desire to harm Company X, I just know we choose not to do business with them any longer.

Thanks to proper settings on the servers all is working as it is supposed to, my gray hairs are not coming in quite as fast and my Excedrin use is down.

What is wrong with this picture? Norton advises blocking it's own definition updates?

 

 

My sister is about to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary so her daughters and I are putting together a DVD of memories.  The first and most time consuming part of the process is scanning in over 200 photos on my Lexmark 3150.  From here I renamed each photo and put them in the order desired in a Windows folder. Next I downloaded PhotoStory 3. Here I could move photos, change display time, add music and text. This can be saved and viewed with Windows Media Player but I didn't stop there.

A free download of Cheetah DVD Burner converts the file.  Now the file is burned to DVD with Nero Digital. Everyone enjoyed the memories and now we have to get one ready for other family events.

The whole process is very time consuming but the smiles made it worth the effort.

I watched a webinar on Citrix Presentation version 4 this week and it looks good.

The only major problem I have experienced with version 3 is printing and that sometimes profiles do not hold data but the problems are sporadic and have reduced as we have improved the server configurations.

Remote scanning is supposed to be a feature. This will be great if we can make it work with our current medical software package. I can put thin clients at front desk positions and save a lot of hassle.

My husband says his office is upgrading this fall. I can wait and learn about pitfalls from them :)

Problem:  How do I convince the boss to upgrade ?

I sat down at a users' terminal and found, neatly typed and taped to the monitor, step by step instructions including username and password.  Unfortunately, I have found the same on other units as well.

When I ask for an explanation I am told "I can't remember the password" or "that's for when other people fill in for me" and even "I am too busy to be bothered by passwords and logins, why don't you just take them off the system so I can get to work". 

Everyone has a keychain they have to hold on to. Here you find a house key, a car key and often a mailbox key....at the very least.  Usually there is more than one of each type for various other doors. Why do we have these keys? To allow us to lock up our personal valuables and prevent unauthorized persons from entering.

So what about the user. The data that system is able to access is very valuable. Thus we use login name and password. Posting this information would be similar to buying a brand new Jaguar with all the amenities, locking the door and leaving the key in the door lock so the driver won't lose it.

Other than nagging everyone, I don't know how to convince everyone to remove these postings and start to remember their information. My personal choice is: if it not important enough for you to lock up, then perhaps you should not be allowed to hold the position that requires you have access to the information.

 

Last month I blogged about a photo DVD I made for a friend's graduation party.  This week I am making one for sister's 25th anniversary and I have found an even easier way to complete the process.

I use PhotoStory3, a free download from Microsoft. With this program I can add all the pictures I want, change transition motions, times, etc. I can add text to photos and include music or narration.

To complete the process I have now purchased Sonic DVD, a $19.95 plug in for PhotoStory that converts and creates the DVD from within PhotoStory. I have found excellent documentation on its use online.

If you want to impress your family and friends with your video creation abilities, this is the way to get started.

My husband sent me a link and several reviews on what I think is the ultimate electronic device. The Sprint PPC 6700 does it all.  It is a phone, a pocket pc with Windows Mobile 5.0 using a 416 MHz Intel processor and has a slide out qwerty keyboard.  When you slide out the keyboard the screen automatically flips to landscape mode.

The unit includes a 1.3megapixel camera and camcorder; voice recorder; speaker phone; and mini SD slot. Other features that excite are the mini USB port and it is audible ready so I can listen to my aubile books. It has EV DO and Blue Tooth technology. It also has a built in power point viewer and Microsoft Outlook and has an integration to Microsoft Exchange and an embedded GPS chip for 911 location calls.

With all these features I will only need to carry one device and the $629.99 price really isn't unrealistic when you look at what this handheld offers.  I am willing to be beta tester if anyone is willing to give me one, but until then I am saving my pennies because I am looking forward to getting one of these.  I called Sprint today, it is available to business customers now and will be available for the home user in the middle of October.

I have a couple of SD chips and I love to use them for backup, in my pocket pc, or to transfer files.

I have one major problem when using them in my SD drive on my Toshiba laptop.  I unlock the chip but sliding it into the drive causes it to lock so I cannot use it without sliding it into a jump drive and attaching to a USB port.  Something is wrong with this configuration.

There needs to be a way to set the chip into unlock and leave it there until I am ready to lock it. Automatic locking when sliding into the SD drive isn't very useful at all.

I wonder if I can use duct tape to keep it in place. Duct tape can fix anything, right ?

Yahoo has released its new beta format today.  I am excited at the changes.  The program now has the look and feel of Outlook.  I can check all my email connections with one time by selecting Check Mail, Check all accounts OR by clicking SHIFT+M.   I can get all my RSS feeds in there too so I don't have to go to another program for those updates.

I haven't yet checked out the calendar system. If it will sync to my Pocket PC that will be great.

The only feature so far I don't like is that after I send a message I get a box telling me I sent a message to so-and-so in my contact list.  I know I did, I don't need it to tell me that. 

After just 2 hours of using it I am hooked.  Thanks Yahoo!!

Our company has been converting to some new software so we have been in constant contact with a system engineer  named Chris.  During a recent attempt on my end to resolve an issue I sent an email to our company project manager with one little letter added in the wrong/right place. It read:

I don't think Chris needs to change anything.  Let's get the users changed first, if a problem, then contact Christ.

I am all for technology. After all, I have my iPAQ PPC, my Toshiba laptop, my Creative ZEN for my music and audio book pleasures, I access my bank accounts via ATM and The WEB, I send pictures of the grandbaby to everyone on my contact list. 

In my email I get spams offering the lowest prices for medications, I get unsolicited snail mail offering to sell my home, buy my home, magazines to tell me how to live life and product offers no one can refuse. 

Now I am receiving computerized phone calls from someone I have already hung up on numerous times after being accused of lying and fraud when I tell them the person they want to speak to is not at this number.  They aren't!! I have no idea how he got my number. But that wasn't enough. Now I get recorded calls daily from 716-650-6240.  There isn't the same satisfying effect when you hang up on a computer call.  And the call doesn't ask for anyone, it just states, this is so and so and I cannot wait any longer to get this matter resolved. You must call me immediately.  HELLO!!!  Who are you, who do you want, and what can I do to get you off my calling minutes????

Technology being what it is, I did a goodle search on 716-650-6240 and found many complaints about this very number and caller.  (technology has it's good points).  So what can I do?  Use a blog and hope they will quit calling me.

I am happy with many of the advances made in technology and that almost I need is a click away, but when technology invades you without any human interface and refuses to leave you alone, maybe we need to take a step back.

I have recently had to leave my position as Network Administrator or a medium sized company because of back pain. This was very difficult as I had taken the network from 1 unix server and 1 windows nt server to a farm of 6 citrix servers, 9 windows server and still that unix server. I coordinated the installs and upgrades to Windows Server 2003, active directory and vpn. It didn't matter where in the world the partners or managing staff were, they had full and secure access to the network. This network was my baby and I had to leave it behind in the hands of a stranger.

I am able to slow down and actually sleep through the night without nightmares of security patches, internet outages and requests of 'I deleted the file from my computer 6 months ago but I need it so will you send it back to me'.

I was certain leaving the 24/7 constantly connected world would create a large void in my life but it hasn't. My IT usage continues in the home, just at a slower rate.  With broadband connection my computer is still in the 'always on' position. Need a recipe? Forget the cookbooks, go online!  Need a plumber or electrician, throw away the big bulky yellow book (which by the way is making that shelf in the corner stand straight) go online!  If a business doesn't have an online page I probably won't check it out. 

If there is a song running through my mind I simply go to napster or itunes to download or listen. I can even listen to my favorite radion station online; forget tuning in the radio.

I can keep up with the pastor's sermons by downloading them each week; I can post pictures of my grandson and even search for a new home.

Want to talk to me? Send me an email! You don't have email!!  eGads, are you living in the 20th century?? Do people really live like that today??

At home we control our television viewing with a Media PC.  Never again will a miss that turing point comment in an episode of LOST, I can see any rerun of Star Trek the Next Generation at any given moment. When away from home I have my pocket pc, digital camera, cell phone and mp3 player.

We are looking into a computerized security system and even remote computer access to turning on and off the lights.

I may have left the corporate computer world, but the computer world has certainly not left me.

My husband and I met online, do many of our purchases and bill paying online so when it came time to sell our home and buy another it seemed only appropriate to do that online as well.

At first we planned to sell it ourselves so the search for tips began. Type in the words "for sale by owner" in the google search line and thousands of links appear.  We chose the company to list with and set out on our own. While this method of selling a home works for many, it was not effective for us as we are 2 IT persons with not enough time to be home for showings.

Going online for a real estate is filled with just as many links. We found the agent and left the business of selling to her while we started online searches for a new home. My husband and I each sat our own computers and entered search criteria. When would find one we liked and then forward the link to the other.  If we came across one we both liked we then drove around the area to see if from the outside. We would also check internet for crime rates, news items, etc relating to the neighborhoods.  Once all that is complete, a call to the realtor to see the inside is made.

When we found the house of our choice the internet was busy as emails of contracts and signatures passed back and forth. With a signed contract now on my hard drive we can find a mortgage company, inspector, insurance and any other needed service by entering a couple of key words and beginning another google search.

As moving day approaches I have to be sure that no matter what, internet is already installed and operating before the first piece of furniture is moved in. As you can guess, that first piece is, of course, the computer.

I have downloaded the Office 2007 Beta to get a headstart on upkeeping features.  My first use was with WORD,

The first thing I noticed was the changed menu at the top.  No more FILE and  EDIT.  Straight typing was no problem, you have the same icons to choose from to change font, style, etc. My first problem came about when I tried to do a "save as'.  There is the disk icon to use for save, just like before, but I wanted to save as html.

By misclicking, I clicked on the microsoft office logo in the top left corner. This brought up some old favorites "New" "Open"  "Save" "Save As"  "Print".  So I clicked on the arrow beside "Save As". This gave me two options "Word 97-2003 format" and "PDF or XPS".  No html here!!

Further clicks took me click on the words "Save As" instead of the right arrow.  Here you will find the standard "save as" box allowing you to choose the folder, filename and all formats.

Not an easy choice if you don't know where it is, but once you find it, the process becomes as routine as in previous versions.