Kay Sellenrode's Blog

Quick Access Toolbar and roaming profiles

Kay Sellenrode — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:39:52 GMT

A lot of people that migrated to Office 2007 probably ran into the issue that the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) is not included in the Roamind profile.

This caused a lot of frustration, until a while ago the only solution was to have logon/logoff scripts that would copy the files over to a roaming location.
But Microsoft heard the complaints and they silently released an update to address this.
You are now able to move the QAT files to the roaming part of your profile through the following steps

Request the hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955142/?FR=1
In most cases this update is already installed, so you probably don't need it.
Change the Registry, so that the hotfix will become active, use one of the following three solutions
- Install the ADM or ADMX template which you can find at http://blogs.platani.nl/downloads.php
- If the System is not managed by policies you can change the following registry key for each user.
  - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Toolbars
  - QuickAccessToolbarRoaming DWORD with a value of 1
- In case that you are using policies you can change the following registry key, though i would advise you to use the ADM or ADMX instead.
  - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Toolbars
  - QuickAccessToolbarRoaming DWORD with a value of 1

FBA Editor V1

Kay Sellenrode — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:46:20 GMT

I have created a tool that a lot of ISA/TMG users will like.
It is a Simple tool to edit the Forms Based Authentication page and make it different than what's default.
During my work as a consultant I noticed that a lot of companies want to have their own custom branded FBA page.
But for quite a few people the step by going to edit the plain HTM files and making sure they don't break the FBA page is too big. So therefore I created this tool.

In this version 1.0 I have the functionality to change the following options.

Change the text variables
Alter the Font that is used
Replace the images used on the page

Option 1 will allow you to change the text in every language that ISA or TMG supports

Option 2 will allow you to select your corporate Font.

Option 3 will allow you to change the pictures like inserting your own company logo.

You can download the fba editor at my company Blog page http://blogs.platani.nl/tools/FBAEditor.exe
And here is my demo published on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7K044RSeKM

Free Windows 2008 TCP/IP ebook

Kay Sellenrode — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:01:50 GMT

I just found this free ebook that microsoft made available for download.
For those that are interested in the latest updates and the changes in the Windows 2008 TCP/IP stack i think it is a good reading.

See the following link at the microsoft site http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c76296fd-61c9-4079-a0bb-582bca4a846f&DisplayLang=en

Windows Internals beta exam 70-660

Kay Sellenrode — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:47:18 GMT

Today I found the following announcement at the ntdebug blog.
Microsoft has released a windows internal exam, targeted for the IT Pro and Developers that need to know the internals.
seems to me it is definatly a developer exam, and also good to know for the IT Pro that do a lot of troubleshooting/debugging. For myself I'm considering it, but it seems a tough one and am not sure if I'm already prepared enough to take it.

At least for everyone that would like to take the exam here is the beta code and the info:
ps. I marked the beta code RED

Windows Internals Beta Exam 70-660

Hello Windows Debugging Community, We are super excited to announce a new certification. With the help of industry partners, including some of our very talented community members, we have developed a new Windows Internals Certification. This Certification targets developers and IT professionals that require knowledge of Windows Internals as part of their profession. Chance are if you are reading this blog post you are part of the target audience. I encourage you to register and please take the Beta exam. Please help us to improve the exam by providing feedback during the beta exam.

Register for Beta Exam 70-660: TS: Windows® Internals

You are invited to take beta exam 70-660: TS: Windows® Internals. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

Please remember that participation in the beta process is completely voluntary and Microsoft makes no promises or guarantees regarding the beta exam process. You can expect to receive your score on the beta exam within 12 weeks of taking the exam, although in some instances, beta exams may take longer to score and your results may be delayed.

70-660: TS: Windows® Internals counts as credit towards the following certification.

· Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Windows® Internals

Availability

Registration begins: July 17, 2008

Beta exam period runs: July 21, 2008– August 5, 2008

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.
Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: WINT
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

Exchange connectivity test site

Kay Sellenrode — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:07:13 GMT

How often hasn't it occured that you are at a customer location and you want to test the Exchange connectivity.
The Microsoft Exchange Team has launched a test site now so you can test the connectivity without the hasle of having a remote pc to test it.

https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/

Currently the following Tests are available.

Autodiscover test for Outlook 2007
Outlook 2003 RPC/HTTP test
Exchange Activesync test
SMTP Inbound Test

I think these guys are doing great work.
And ofcourse like you're also told on the website, use a test account and not your domain admin account to do the tests.

Microsoft Certified Master

Kay Sellenrode — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:57:13 GMT

So to make the Microsoft Certification program more complete they now added a new title MCM Microsoft Certified Master.
Though there isn't a lot of information about it yet i see there will be 5 specialisations

MCM Exchange Server 2007
MCM SQL Server 2008
MCM Windows 2008
MCM OCS 2007 ?? (just guessing on the info i found)
MCM Sharepoint ?? (also just guessing)

For the people that already know the MCA program, this seems to become (the technically) part of it.
In the next weeks there will be more info to find on the Microsoft site.

Whatch the following site http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/master/default.mspx

How to Prepare for the 652 Hyper-V Exam

Kay Sellenrode — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:39:56 GMT

Lukas Beeler posted a great report about his exam experience today and well as a lot of people are searching for resources how to prepare for this exam, i though this would be quite helpful.

See Lukas his blog