Config Manager

online casinoWe are so proud!!!

This is a great opportunity for IT administrators who have experience with Windows Server to provide feedback and help improve the next version. You do not need to prepare anything for this. We want to learn from you, the experts. We highly value your feedback and will be offering you a gratuity option in appreciation of your time and participation.We are recruiting individuals who:

• Have experience managing 3-16 Windows Servers.

• Are available for a 2 hour study session during the week of August 22, 2008

• Can make it to Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, Washington 

If you are interested or know someone who might be interested in participating, please email us at itusable@microsoft.com with Windows Server in the subject line. For information on other studies and to learn more about Microsoft’s User Research program, email us.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

Microsoft MVP System Center Configuration Manager

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

NASA – Phoenix

Earlier this afternoon the Phoenix lander touched down on Mars’ north pole. It will spend the next three months digging up ice to try and determine if life was on Mars at some point.

This is the first photo in from the lander but you can be assured more pictures and videos will be available soon. You can follow the Phoenix Mission blog here, and get news and updates from NASA on the Phoenix Mission here.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

Microsoft MVP System Center Configuration Manager

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

As a follow up to my post regarding streaming video and audio from your Wii using Orb Gizmodo has a post on the Wii Fit which sprang from the popularity of Wii Sport which includes a number of different sporting events that you can play such as baseball, boxing, golf and tennis.  Wii fit comes with the balance board which allows the Wii to measure your activity.  So if you can’t find time to get to the gym or just get out and run here is a totally geek alternative and you never have to leave the house.

Check out the Wii Fit here.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

I have an advantage, my son is in seventh grade and my daughter is finishing second, so all those geography questions, and factoring, I have done them recently. 

But the real question is are you smarter than a seasoned ConfigMgr admin? Find out by taking some the ConfigMgr quizzes, recently updated and located here.  If you take them post your scores in the comments section and I will buy the winner lunch at MMS.

Configuration Manager 2007 Client Installation Quiz

Configuration Manager 2007 Client Management Quiz

Configuration Manager 2007 Client Site Assignment Quiz

Configuration Manager 2007 Desired Configuration Management Quiz

Configuration Manager 2007 Internet-Based Client Management Quiz

Configuration Manager 2007 Native Mode Quiz

Configuration Manager 2007 Network Access Protection Quiz

Configuration Manager 2007 Wake On LAN Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Software Updates Operations Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 OSDeployment Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 What’s New Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Software Updates Configuration Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Mobile Device Management Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Fundamentals Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Client Roaming Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Software Updates Interop Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Setup Quiz

New! – Configuration Manager 2007 Software Distribution Quiz

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

If you don’t know I am a HUGE OneNote fan and have converted countless people from using Notepad, Notepad2, Word, paper, you name it to using OneNote since it first came out in Office 2003.  (If you are only interested in the the list of OneNote PowerToys, skip this section and scroll down).

Some of my favorite things are the ability to write anywhere, assign "tags" to notes, copy and drag from anywhere, any application, webpage, pdf – anywhere into a OneNote page, and have it enter the link where it came from directly below it, create Outlook tasks or appointments, even contacts directly from the notes.  You can record audio and/or video directly into a note page, you can password protect sections, you can draw, highlight, email…and one of the functions I use most, use the Windows key + S to screen clip any area of your desktop without losing the mouse focus on a menu or highlighted item!

Here is an example.  On the left is a screen clip using OneNote’s function and you can see the Firefox right click context menu after left clicking on a link on Chris Pratley’s OneNote blog.  On the right is text that from the same page that I copied and then drug onto the same note page, as you can see at the very bottom is a link to where it was copied from.  You can also see that the same link that I used in my screen clipping example is brought over automatically into OneNote.

Let’s see what else I can do with these two examples.

You can see I have taken the text from Chris’ blog and the image of my Firefox context menu and switched their position on my notes page, I also shrunk down the image size and moved it lower on the page, I could also do things like make the text in the image searchable, crop the image, send it to the back, resize it, save it externally.  OneNotes screen clipping tool also allow you to set default behavior when you do capture an area, copy it to the clipboard or copy it to the clipboard and send it to the Unfiled notes section of OneNote, and either view it or not.  I just use the copy to clipboard option.

I also added some things after the text I copied in.  I added a "To Do" tag next to the text "Get list of plugins for blog post" it’s that empty checkbox, that I can later check when I am done.  I can also create a summary page that shows all my To Do’s, tasks, remember for later, follow up, essential any tags I choose for a notebook and it will group them together, showing completed items together.  The search function in OneNote is one of its better features as well.

The next line is just to highlight another one of the tags, which you can assign hot keys by ordering them.  And the final line is a tag that I have customized.  It is a "For Follow Up" tag that I have made the text white and to highlight it in red.  You can build you own custom tags or customize the built-in ones. 

Here is the tags toolbar, also captured with OneNotes screen clipping tool

Plugins for OneNote

The original intent of this was to capture a list of OneNote plugins because I could not find a single source that had them all.  So here is a list of plugins I was able to locate at the time of posting.

Pasted from <http://blogs.msdn.com/descapa/archive/2007/03/03/sort-sections-powertoy.aspx>

Pasted from <http://blogs.msdn.com/descapa/archive/2007/02/17/sort-pages-powertoy.aspx>

Xiipy BETA OneNote search

More info here

Task Requests from OneNotes Meeting Notes

Updated OneNotes Favorites addin (3/20/2008 v1.61)

This allows you to tag a note page as a favorite, essentially creating a favorites list like in IE in OneNote.

Calendar PowerToy by Josh Einstein – allows you a to view your notes by the date you wrote them

From : OneNote PowerToys Blog

(Sorted by me)

Working in OneNote:

TreeView Beta

Table Sum Powertoy for OneNote

OneNote Printout Manager

Make Subpage PowerToy

Merge Pages PowerToy

OneNote Search and Replace

ReadOnly Section Addin (OneNote 2007)

OneNote 2007 Word Count

OneNote 2007 Xml Viewer

Transcribe Audio Recordings

OneNote Table Of Contents

OneNote Web Exporter

Official Powertoy: My Font Tool for Tablet PC

OneNote Favorites PowerToy (old version -see above)

Import to OneNote:

Jeremy Lewi’s SendTo OneNote PowerToy

HTML Importer

Microsoft Dynamics CRM2OneNote

Double Hyperlink

Send RSS to OneNote – Update

Send To OneNote Mobile

OneNote Text Importer

Import texts from Project Gutenberg

Send to OneNote 2007 from Windows Explorer

Outlook to OneNote AddIn (Outlook “rule”)

GBM How-To: Add OneNote 2007 Printer as Right-click Send To option

Application integration:

OneNote 2007 Integration with MindManager Pro 7

SnagIt Output for OneNote 2007!

Matlab to OneNote

New Mindjet Powetoy

Updated: “Clip to OneNote” Firefox Extension

OneNote PowerShell Provider

Export your Outlook notes to OneNote (2007)

Windows Live Messenger Send To OneNote 2007

GoogleNewsReader to OneNote PowerToy

OneNote to Wordpress Update

Eclipse RCP Snippet for OneNote

Sort Sections PowerToy

Sort Pages PowerToy

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

Most IT related folks have an old laptop laying around that is too slow for what they need to do or they get a brand new one every six months.  I know I have one that the hard drive has bad sectors on and don’t want to spend the $40-60 to get a replacement drive since I have over half a dozen computers in my house and only four people.  I have used it for testing in the past, setting up Server 2003 with SMS 2003 on it for upgrade testing to CM, testing the 1E products in different configurations, as a DC, and other scenarios.  LifeHacker ran an article last week on different idea on what to do with your old laptop and there are some good idea that may spark life into some of your old equipment, check the comments too for additional ideas.  If you find that it doesn’t then you may want to consider recycling it or donating it since you can’t just toss it.

Like a famed race horse or a classic book, you don’t just throw away a laptop because it’s banged up a little. Even if it seems outdated and underpowered, most any laptop is still small, quiet, and relatively low on power consumption, making it a seriously valuable spare to keep handy—even without a working screen. With some free software, a little know-how and some creative thinking about your home network, nearly any old laptop can find its second wind, and today I’ll run through some of the best ways to get it there.Photo by daveynin.

Create a no-monitor, low-power spare system

So everything on your laptop runs just fine—except the screen, the most important (and expensive) part. That’s not a death knell, just a chance for re-purposing. Set your laptop up somewhere near your router, connect it with network cable, then read up on how to set up your system to run "headless" with any OS and only when you wake it up. That way, you’ve got a computer that uses a bare minimum of power and doesn’t neeed no fancy screen to convert a file, download a big file, or serve as a temporary backup box. But if your system lacks Wake on LAN abilities, or you’re just looking for more use out of that laptop, you could always …

Convert it to a home server

The idea of a "server" usually conjures images of rack-mounted, temperature-controlled boxes, or at least a desktop system, but a laptop’s power-scaling abilities, small size, and built-in screen can actually make for a quietly-great unit. You could put it next to your printer to allow printing from anywhere, use a browser to get it grabbing BitTorrents in Windows or Mac systems, or set up your own web server for grabbing files or hosting things like your personal Wiki. Oh, and don’t forget your multi-purpose media server, if you’ve got the hard drive space. Once you’re set up and have enabled outside access, the world—or at least your files at home—is at your fingertips.

Make a better digital photo frame

Unless you avoided the big stores entirely last holiday season, you’ve probably noticed the boom in digital picture frames—those small $100-and-up devices with not-so-amazing screens and a canned slideshow ability. If you know your laptop isn’t much for getting anything done these days, consider bending it over backwards to make for a sizable, attention-grabbing frame that can show whatever you want and possibly even grab photos as they’re dropped on a main computer. Instructables has a highly detailed guide to taking apart a MacBook to get started, while Popular Science shows an alternate scheme using an old ThinkPad. To keep your spare laptop from becoming a power draw (or running long and hot), consider setting up timers to run your "frame" only during your waking hours.

Make it fly again with lightweight Linux

If you’re shelfing your trusty road warrior mostly because it just runs … so … slow, consider that it’s not always the laptop’s fault. Most modern operating systems aren’t designed to give you only the web, email, document handling, and a little multimedia, but there is an entire OS realm that is that can make your old system seem new again. Here are a few free, open-source recommendations and what an old laptop might get out of them:

• Puppy Linux: Very slim (97 MB) distribution, but retains a basically smooth and polished interface, with apps to cover common computer uses.
• Damn Small Linux: For really, really fast and light performance with a straight-up interface. A system smaller than 50 MB that can run on a machine with a minimum of 16 MB memory (assuming you can boot/load it on there).
• Xubuntu: Puts the Ubuntu methodology and software support into a lighter, XFCE-based desktop (check out its look and newest features here). For an even lighter kind of "Damn Small Ubuntu," try Fluxbuntu.
• gOS: For those who live inside their browser, gOS isn’t so much a gimmicky "Wal-Mart OS" as a webapp-focused version of Ubuntu, with a lightweight window manager (Enlightenment) and an OS X-like bottom dock containing most of what you need

Convert its LCD into a Stand-Alone Monitor

Not for the faint of heart or unsteady of hand, this Instructables guide runs you through the basics of turning a perfectly good LCD laptop screen into a vertical-mounted monitor. Havingl pulled apart a laptop myself to replace a monitor cable, I can just tell you that you should go real slow, and make sure you have a place to put all the spare screws and parts during disassembly.

Salvage an external back up drive from it

Assuming your laptop didn’t die from hard drive failure, those little magnetic platters inside it can make for a really handy pocket-sized external drive. Follow Lifehacker alum Rick Broida’s instructions on properly enclosing a 2.5" drive, and you’ll have avoided paying a premium for a seriously useful addition to your computer inventory. Photo by Justin Ruckman.

Extend your wireless coverage

If wireless coverage throughout your house is hit or miss, your best bet is to do a little DIY router upgrading. If, however, your router can’t handle Tomato or DD-WRT boost, your trusty laptop can serve as a temporary booster. If your trusty laptop is running OS X, Vista, or XP, you can turn on its hot spot abilities with only minor tweaking. Linux users should check out this Linux.com tutorial for general guidance, while Ubuntu fans can get more specific instructions here. Finally, those who also keep an Xbox on their network but think Microsoft’s $100 wireless adapter is a bit much can jerry-rig that shelved laptop to serve as a stand-in.

I tried to cover the basics and a few quirky ideas for an old-but-trusted laptop, but many of you have years of experience on me in this area. What’s the coolest, or most useful, thing you’ve done with an old laptop? What do you wish you could do with it? Share your tales and wishes in the comments.

Kevin Purdy, associate editor at Lifehacker, hopes he never has to part ways with his ThinkPad. His weekly feature, Open Sourcery, appears every Friday on Lifehacker.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

This is rather interesting.  Apparently Microsoft is going to release Google Earth backwards on Feb 27th.  Meaning that instead of zooming and panning in on Earth you will be able to do the same with cosmos!  This should be quite interesting.  It is reported that they will use 10 Earth bound telescopes as well as the beleaguered Hubble telescope to produce an explorable cosmos for your desktop.  It will be interesting to see how they deal with distance for the stars as this is always been the major problem for astronomers.  More details here.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

It’s not only Microsoft, but we love these tunes as well, but we get a female voice with a British accent!

Source.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen