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- anthony.clendenen@gmail.com sent you a link to content of interest
- Sysinternals Tools Can Now Run From The Web
- Get FREE One Year Subscription of CA Anti-Virus - Tweaking with Vishal
- Mars Lander Phoenix Touches Down Successfully!
- Scientist Creates Cold Fusion For the First Time In Decades [Cold
- Using Maintenance Windows While Patching
- ConfigMgr SP1 Goes RTM
- Virtual PC Guy’s Weblog - Hyper-V Clustering Step-by-Step Guide
Recent Posts
- Microsoft App-V 4.5 Hits Release Candidate
- Troubleshooting an ever growing Usrvol_sftfs.pkg file
- anthony.clendenen@gmail.com sent you a link to content of interest
- Sysinternals Tools Can Now Run From The Web
- Get FREE One Year Subscription of CA Anti-Virus - Tweaking with Vishal
- Mars Lander Phoenix Touches Down Successfully!
- Scientist Creates Cold Fusion For the First Time In Decades [Cold
- Using Maintenance Windows While Patching
- ConfigMgr SP1 Goes RTM
- Virtual PC Guy’s Weblog - Hyper-V Clustering Step-by-Step Guide
Mars Lander Phoenix Touches Down Successfully!
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
© Anthony Clendenen
Get Fit With Your Wii
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
© Anthony Clendenen
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Categories: Config Manager, ConfigMgr, Downloads, et. all.
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
© Anthony Clendenen
OneNote PowerToys
Categories: Blogroll, ConfigMgr, Cool Tools, Downloads, Office, OneNote, Tools, et. all.
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>
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:
Table Sum Powertoy for OneNote
ReadOnly Section Addin (OneNote 2007)
Official Powertoy: My Font Tool for Tablet PC
OneNote Favorites PowerToy (old version -see above)
Import to OneNote:
Jeremy Lewi’s SendTo OneNote PowerToy
Microsoft Dynamics CRM2OneNote
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!
Updated: “Clip to OneNote” Firefox Extension
Export your Outlook notes to OneNote (2007)
Windows Live Messenger Send To OneNote 2007
GoogleNewsReader to OneNote PowerToy
Eclipse RCP Snippet for OneNote
Regards,
Anthony
Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E
© Anthony Clendenen
Repurpose That Old Laptop
Categories: 1E, Blog, ConfigMgr, Downloads, How-To, et. all.
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
© Anthony Clendenen
WorldWide Telescope Coming to Your Desktop
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
© Anthony Clendenen
This is How the 1E SE Team Does Con Calls
It’s not only Microsoft, but we love these tunes as well, but we get a female voice with a British accent!
Regards,
Anthony
Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E
© Anthony Clendenen
Who Uses Ask.com?
Get out - people really use Ask.com to search the Internet? I don’t think I have ever seen this on someone’s monitor or heard anyone I know ever mention them.
LiveSide has done a complete chart showing the search engine market share ratings from Nielsen, Hitwise and Compete over the last 13 months, and the trends are confusing, but may be moving in Microsoft’s favor. While Hitwise shows Microsoft’s Live Search down over 20% in 2007, and Compete shows it barely up (from 8.8% to 9.1%, after a brief flirtation with 10%), Nielsen/Netratings has Live Search on a tear, going from 8.4% in December 2006 to 10.1% in March, 13.3% in June, and 13.8% in December.
Meanwhile, no one is disputing the failure of Yahoo. Hitwise again shows little change (which makes me question their accuracy), with Yahoo falling from 21.6% to 20.88%, but Nielsen and Compete have nearly identical numbers, with Yahoo starting at 23.6% and 23.2%, respectively, and plummeting to 17.7% and 17%.
If you only go with Nielsen’s numbers, Yahoo and Microsoft are seperated by just 3.2%, and that’s after a year where Yahoo fell 5.9% and Microsoft gained 5.4%. Things are a little less spectacular (for Microsoft) at Compete, where Yahoo still fell 6.2%, but Microsoft gained a meager 0.3%.
Regards,
Anthony
Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E
© Anthony Clendenen
The Game Rock Band Gets Smoke, Lights, and More
When I was up at Microsoft a couple weeks ago and colleague was talking about his trip back home over the Christmas break and how the family spent hours playing Rock Band, a game that was news to me. We have a Wii and PS2 but no XBox 360 because my kids are still pre-teen and I don’t really play video games, I did complete a half marathon a couple weeks ago (photo here) so I am not a total geek.Â
If you do have Rock Band the company Mad Catz has just signed a deal that will allow them to make peripherals for the game. Currently you can preorder the stage kit which will get you the lights and smoke, a definite need if you are serious about entertaining while you play, and they have plans to sell wired and wireless bass guitars, drum percussion sets, and wired mics with plans to have some hardware out in the early part of the summer this year, the stage kit will ship June 26th and will set you back $99.
YouTube - Rock Band: Official Songlist Preview PART 1
Regards,
Anthony
Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E
© Anthony Clendenen
I Recommend These Books!
SMS 2003 Administrator’s Reference: Systems Management Server 2003
And you can check out more books and gadgets at my Amazon store here.
Technorati Tags: Rock Band,Xbox,PS2,PS3,Guitar Hero,marathon
Napkin PC
Napkin PC Concept Utilizes Multi-Touch E-Paper Display and RF Technology
We have all doodled an idea or a bit of important information on a napkin at one point or another, but designer Avery Holleman takes it a step further with the Napkin PC. The device is intended to help creative groups collaborate on designs more effectively. Here’s how it works: data is sent to the multi-touch e-paper "napkin" interface via the pen using short range radio frequency (RF). The pen and the napkin also communicate with the base station PC via long-rage RF. More after the break.
The result is a device that allows users to share ideas with greater ease. The napkins are also modular, so large-scale layouts can be formed by connecting them together. If all of that wasn’t improbable enough, the Napkin PC uses so little power that it has no need for a battery—instead, it features a single-layer flexible circuit board that utilizes inductive power. It sounds like a really awesome idea, if you can get past the fact that it would cost a fortune to produce one device that probably wouldn’t work. [Yanko Design]
