Once again it is that time of the year when malls swell, stress levels soar and wallets become lighter in the hopes of giving the perfect gift to your loved ones. The only way I see fit to overcome the holiday blues is with humor so here are some funny pics that a relative sent me. They got me smiling after a 2.5 hour mall trip and hopefully will do the same for you! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from 954Network!
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
Last week myself and a friend had the opportunity to take a ride in a Panoz GTS at the Palm Beach International Speedway courtesy of Marlboro. I must say, I have gone fast but never quite as fast as we did in the GTS. Below are some photos of the car.
On top of the 140 MPH Trip around the rally course in the Panoz GTS, we also went around a drifting course in a ALMOST stock mustang. Very cool sliding around in this puppy!
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
Before I even begin, I would like to give credit where it is due. I used this article to guide me through the installation but I added a few steps along the way including how to do the installation from an External USB Hard Drive as opposed to an External DVD or USB Thumb Drive (Both are also options). I would also like to thank all of the folks that found all of the drivers mentioned and linked to in this post.
I should also mention (As mentioned in the article above) that the WiFi (Airport) does not work out of the box nor does the sound or power options (Sleep, Dim etc.) or the LAN connection. The wireless is an easy fix but I am still working on the others and will post my results, if any, when I find a solution.
Lets Get Started!
You are now running OS X on your Lenovo S10 but the WiFi still does not work. This is a relatively easy fix and can be accomplished using the instructions below.
That is as far as I have gotten with mine as well like the forum mentioned at the top and the guide that I followed. I am going to try to work on the sound as well as the Power Options and LAN connection over the next few weeks and will post any results in the future.
UPDATE:After alot of google searches, I got the audio to work on the S10 Under OS X. Thanks to THIS post. It was actually pretty easy to execute, just took a while to find the article linked above!:
You need the following applications:
Basically, all that has to be done is to Remove AppleHDA.kext if it is installed (System Drive > System > Library > Extensions). Install AzaliaAudio and Re-Boot. Install the Apple Developer Tools. Launch Audieee.
That’s It! Now your sound should work flawlessly. I also put Audieee in my start-up programs under my user preferences so it auto starts when I log in.
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
I recently had a client that decided to upgrade their enterprise from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 and Exchange 2007. After working with Windows Server 2003 (and SBS 2003) for so long, and only VERY briefly demoing 2008, I was excited to see what Server 2008 had to offer. After the initial install, I logged into the new OS. The first thing that I noticed is the similarity of the start menu and general GUI to Vista (Minus Aero). The start menu has all of the familiar Vista features such as the Instant Search and single level All Programs as well as The absence of My Computer (Now just Computer) and the presence of the Home directory style file structure. I like this new format in Vista and it is a bonus in server 2008 over the somewhat clunky Administrator Environment of 2003.
Another item that stood out prominently was the new Server Manager interface, which now features a lot more options and control over the servers roles and management tasks. It is basically an MMC Snap in with the most common tasks bundled in one convenient interface that starts at log-in. It includes Roles, Features, Diagnostics, Configuration and Storage management by Default and displays a server summary upon opening which is much more convenient than previous 2003 versions.
Also changed is the ACL Interface when setting files and sharing permissions on NTFS directories. There is now an added step to setting the permissions which was not there before. Basically, upon displaying the properties of a file, directory or share, you can view what permissions are in place but have to click edit to actually change them. This took a little getting used to at first but allows for better management once accustomed to it. Another addition to the properties window for directories is the addition of “Share” and “Advanced Sharing” buttons on the Sharing tab. The “Share” button allows you to configure basic sharing such as share name and permissions while the “Advanced Sharing” button allows you to configure all that Share does plus caching and permissions.
Speaking of Administrative environments! Windows Server 2008 now has a Power Shell which can be used to administer any aspect of the server from a command line (PowerShell). This is a new market for the new Operating System, and as most System Administrators with Linux Experience will agree; it is a long overdue addition to Microsoft’s OS’s. The Power Shell can supplement the GUI for common Administrative tasks for those that are somewhat comfortable in a command line environment or completely replace the GUI for those that prefer a command line environment. This allows the Operating System to take advantage of the resources used by the GUI and gives Administrators more flexibility and granularity when configuring and maintaining their servers.
Another exciting feature added to the new Windows Server 2008 is Server Core. This is basically a GUI-Less server that can be virtualized and administered remotely similar to the way Admins are used to doing things now without ANY GUI on the actual server. This provides a more secure and robust server while allowing the server to once again allocate the resources previously consumed by the GUI back to more critical applications and services.
I am very excited to explore these and all of the other new innovations in Windows Server 2008, and as mentioned in this post, this is my first real look at the OS. I will most certainly be posting a lot more with regards to Server 08 in the coming months as I gain more knowledge and experience administering the Servers that I have deployed it to – So Stay Tuned!
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
Active Directory, as many know, is the life blood of the domain environment. It provides all authentication, user/group management and access control to the network. So what do you do when it is broken? There are many scenarios that can cause Active Directory to encounter issues; Replication, Low Disk Space, Drive Failures and Power Outages. In this article, I am outlining the infamous JRNL_WRAP_ERROR (Event ID: 13568). If your server is in a JRNL_WRAP_ERROR state, you will see these events Daily in the File Replication Service log in Event Viewer. It can cause issues with Exchange, Authentication and Replication. Luckily, it is relatively easy to resolve, as shown below:
1. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP OF ACTIVE DIRECTORY! As always, having a current backup is your best defense against disaster.
2. Stop the NTFRS service. Open a command prompt and type net stop ntfrs.
3. Open registry editor and navigate to the following location: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NtFrs\Parameters\Backup\Process at Startup.
4. In the right pane, Edit the DWOR value for BurFlags. It should be set to 0. Type D2 and exit registry editor.
5. Return to the command prompt and type: net start ntfrs.
This should take the DC out of JRNL_WRAP_ERROR. Monitor your logs for the next 24 hours to make sure that you do not see any Event ID: 13568 errors in the File Replication Service Logs. If this does not work, you will need to do a non-authoritative restore of Active Directory. You do have a current backup right? There are also instructions for repairing this issue in the Event Log error itself (They Differ from the procedure outlined above but have the same effect).
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
As many Windows Vista users know, Vista can be a real resource hog. This could not be more true on machines that are a few years old or upgraded to Vista from XP. As a Vista user, I have figured out a few ways to alleviate some of the slow down. Most of these methods are relatively easy to implement, no registry edits or crazy long instructions so lets get started.
See what you think of this setup. You can customize which effects are enabled in the list to adjust to your liking. One way or the other, reducing the number of effects will improve overall performance as well as battery life on laptops.
2. Unnecessary Services - As with past versions of Windows, there are some services that are started by default that are necessicarily required for proper operation but there are trade offs. To get to the services list, Click start and in the search field type “services.msc” (Without Quotes) and hit enter. Accept the UAC prompt to continue. You will now see a list of services, their current state and their start up state. Below is a short list of some that can be stopped and disabled as well as a brief word about what functionality you will loose.
I am sure that there are many other services that can be disabled based on the way you use your computer but the above can be disabled by most users without adverse effects.
3. Disable Startup Items - Disabling start up applications has always been a no-brainer when trying to speed up your computer. The less applications that are loaded into memory at start up the faster the start up will be and the less memory will be consumed once start up is complete. This can be done in MSCONFIG as with previous versions of Windows. To access MSCONFIG, click start and in the search dialog, type “msconfig” (Without Quotes) and hit enter. Go to the start up tab and disable anything that is not necessary. These settings will vary from computer to computer but you can re-enable anything that seems to have an adverse effect.
4. Limit Windows Search - Windows Vista has Instant search which means that it constantly scans and indexes the files that are on your computer and when you search for something it can be found quickly. While this sounds like a great option (Which it is) the indexing can be a burden on performance. Luckily there is a way to adjust what windows will search/index.
a. Right-Click Start Button (Windows Pearl) and choose “Properties”
b. Click “Customize..” and scroll through the list for Search.
c. Adjust what is searched on your start menu to your preference.
You can also adjust what is indexed to your liking under Control Panel > Indexing Options or Disable indexing all together by Stopping the Indexing service (You can find the service in the same location mentioned in number 2 above – Unnecessary Services).
5. Disable Thumbnail View - While some like to see a thumbnail of the image files etc. when browsing their folders, I prefer details. This will speed up the time it takes to scroll through folders and navigate through other directories. Do disable thumbnail view, do the following.
a. Open your My Documents Folder.
b. Click Tools and choose Folder Options.
c. In that window, click the “View” tab and check the top box labeled “Always show icons, never thumbnails”
d. Click “Apply to Folders”
This speeds up browsing folders and files. You can also change the default view to one of the other views (Details, Icons, Thumbnails etc) by changing it in the view menu and then following steps b, c, and d above. As it goes, I am sure there are many other things that can be done to speed up Vista, so if you have any, feel free to post-em here!
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
Some of the hype that has surronded Windows Vista is the new User Interface named Aero. While Aero is nice, I prefer my Ubuntu box with Beryl. I found a great video demonstrating the capabilities of each. I am for Ubuntu! I have a very simulay setup on my Ubuntu laptop (ThinkPad T60 – Ubunto 8.04).
After working with Windows XP and computers in general for years now, I have seen my fare share of issues at boot time but this is one of my favorites. I am not going to go into full detail in this article, you can find a link to the actual Microsoft article at the bottom of this post.
The Scenario: When you go to boot your Windows XP machine, you are presented with the message – Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM (or SOFTWARE, SAM, DEFAULT or any variant). In this example, I will use the file “SYSTEM” as this is the one I see corrupted most often.
Luckily, this issue can be taken care of by replacing these files from the recovery console (Or your favorite Linux Live Distro). This article assumes that you already know how to set the CD-ROM as the first boot device in your BIOS and that you know the local Administrator password to the computer. Lets get started.
1. Insert your Windows XP CD and boot to it. When you are at the first screen, presenting options choose “R” for the recovery console.
2. Choose your windows installation if prompted and log in as Administrator to the Recovery Console command prompt.
3. Make a backup of the file that the error mentioned. Create a directory somewhere (md tmp) and copy the file C:\windows\system32\config\system to the tmp directory that you created above. (EXAMPLE: copy C:\windows\system32\config\system C:\tmp\system.bak)
4. Next delete the problematic file. (EXAMPLE: delete C:\windows\system32\config\system)
5. Finally, copy C:\windows\repair\system C:\windows\system32\config\system
Reboot your machine with your fingers crossed and see if you are able to get into windows. Below is the link to the MS article that outlines this procedure exactly.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
Recently, a client of mine needed an Anti-Virus solution and asked me to recommend something for their organization. After dealing with Symantec Endpoint 11 (Read review here ) I decided to take a different approach. I had been reviewing Sophos’s Enterprise products for a completely different client and decided that this was a good fit.
After purchasing and downloading Sophos, I read the instructions for installation and first time configuration and began the installation. The first thing that I noticed is that this immediately integrates with Active Directory, asking you for User/Group credentials during the installation. Immediately, this is better than the process used by Symantec to get AD integration working. After the installation had completed, I opened the management page for the new software. By default, depending on how you install the application, there are no Catalog’s (update servers) defined. After browsing around the console (and before deploying to the clients), I decided to configure the update catalog’s. This is done in the Sophos EM Library Console. I am not going to go into too much detail here as it is out of the scope of this review but, I will say that the configuration was easy and to the point.
Sophos, like most other Enterprise solutions is Policy based. Once I had everything mentioned above configured, I decided to create some policies to apply to the computers. I started by creating various containers (Or Groups) and then creating policies that I planned to apply to these containers. I decided to take a very restrictive approach to the endpoints and a less restrictive approach to the managers. I also set all of the policies to detect only and not act upon items discovered to start with. This ensures I did not disable any functionality off the bat.
After configuring the policies, I deployed the Endpoint and the firewall (Leaving the firewall on Log but allow all traffic). The discovery of all computers was like night and day compared to Symantec’s discovery process as mentioned in my Symantec Review. The installation went very smoothly and removed any previously installed Symantec software. I then instructed each user to re-start their computers. As well as having the capability to deploy the client manually, there is also a feature that allows future computers to automatically have the installation start upon joining the domain, which is easily configured by Syncing the group is sophos with the OU that contains the computer accounts in Active Directory. I set my Sync interval to 60 Minutes.
In comparison to the Symantec installation, this installation went a lot easier and did not at all slow down the network or interrupt production (Aside from the required reboot). Within an hour of starting I was able to fully manage all clients anti-virus, firewall and application/device control centrally from the server. This product is great and I would definitely recommend it in the future. Installation was a breeze, Active Directory Integration is simple and straight forward and the client is lightweight and does not slow down the machines. Another great feature is the email alert for clients that are out of date or not conforming to the policies.
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
To all of our service Men and Women who have sacrificed, served and protected our great nation, 954Network would like to extend a special thanks. We all appreciate what you do and have done for our country and way of life. For those that are currently serving our country; keep up the good work! We are proud to have such brave Men and Women representing us here and abroad.
Jason (Digitalkid)
www.954network.com
