Humor: Forget it Old People.. No TV for you in 2009!

This is one of the funniest bits I have seen in a long time from Fox's Spike Feresten show.

In 2009 TV as we know it will change......

Download Pick: XenAppPrep Tool

Just got the following from Pete Downing at Citrix
Hello,

I am pleased to announce the final release of the XenAppPrep tool is now available and fully supported. The tool can be downloaded here:

http://community.citrix.com/display/xa/XenAppPrep+Tool

I would like to personally thank Shannon Ma for his development efforts and Matt Bator for his testing efforts.

Just to clarify because this has been the top question, here is the support matrix for the tool:
System Requirements
XenAppPrep is supported on the following operating systems:
32-bit/x64 Windows Server 2003
32-bit/x64 Windows Server 2008

In addition, the tool can be used against the following XenApp releases:
XenApp 4.0
XenApp 4.5
XenApp 5.0

In addition, the tool can be used against the following Provisioning Server releases:
· PVS 4.1
· PVS 4.5
· PVS 5.0

The tool will eventually replace the current tool once it completes its final security review:
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX116063

This current (soon to be old) will be moved to the CDN.

Thanks and have a great day!

Pete Downing

Pete DowningSenior Product Manager, Provisioning ServerCitrix Systems, Inc.

The Internet Connection TestingTool and enabling ECN in Windows Vista

I am alway looking for ways to speed up my PC and my internet connectivity. Being on Windows Vista has made life interesting. I happened upon the online Microsoft Internet Connection Tool. (ICT)

The ICT is a nifty tool that only runs on Windows Vista, and is mostly only for home networks though, to test your network and router and tell you what networking features your router supports. One feature it tested that I haven't had time to really look into or read about that is only in Vista and 2008 is called Explicit Congestion Notification. (ECN) The ICT report suggested under the Network Congestion portion that I turn ECN on to help speed up my connectivity.

I'm not quite sure I understood it correctly as to whether it was required at both endpoints (server and workstation) aka peers, or just within the router though, but I turned it on anyways after a little research. Now I am not advocating you do the same here, your mileage may vary and your network may not support it but here is more info anyways.

I came across a document at Microsoft outlining the new networking features of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. It is definitely worth taking the time to read it if you are able. So here is what this article says about ECN:

"When a TCP segment is lost, TCP assumes that the segment was lost due to congestion at a router and performs congestion control, which dramatically lowers the TCP sender’s transmission rate. With Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) support (RFC 3168) on both TCP peers and the routers in the routing infrastructure, routers experiencing congestion mark the packets as they forward them. TCP peers receiving marked packets lower their transmission rate to ease congestion and prevent segment losses. Detecting congestion before packet losses are incurred increases the overall throughput between TCP peers. Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista support ECN, but it is disabled by default. "

Ok, makes sense. How do I turn it on?

The article describes how you can enable ECN but not entirely correctly.

You must open an elevated command prompt and type:

netsh interface tcp set global ecncapability=enabled

(rerun the command changing enabled to disabled if something happens or you experience strange behavior and you need to turn ECN off)

You can verify the command worked by typing the following in the command prompt:

netsh int tcp show global

The article left off the fact that the command must be run from an elevated command prompt. (The easiest way to open an elevated command prompt in Vista is from the start menu. Go to accessories, command prompt and right click on it and choose run as administrator from the pop up context menu. )

The image on the left shows how to select the run as administrator to elevate the command prompt.

There is also a link at the end of the article to a 2006 article by "The Cable Guy" that is a pretty good in depth explanation of how ECN works. Check it out here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb878122.aspx

For more things you can do with the Netsh command read this article.

Now I have noticed at least one anomally after turning ECN on though. For some reason I cannont access http://www.southwest.com/ website. I don't know if other websites have this problem. I turned off ECN and I could get there. Weird.

Preventing Adobe Flash, Shockwave and Adobe Acrobat Reader from AutoUpdating

When you set up mandatory profiles for your users or you want to limit access on a computer that is a locked down workstation one of the greatest frustrations are programs that inject their own autoupdate feature and constantly go out and check and try to install updates whether you want them or not. Then when users without proper access try to load the updates they fail and get frustrated prompting a help desk call. Adobe Flash, Acrobat Reader and Shockwave are such culprits.

Fortunately there IS a way for administrators to place a file on the users hard disk that will let you disable the autoupdate feature of Adobe Flash. I found a KB article on the Adobe website which explains how to create a file called mms.cfg that can be dropped in the Flash folder on the users hard disk that will stop the autoupdate prompting. (note user who have access can disable autoupdate via the interface. This link has instructions.)

To create the file simply open up Notepad and create a line that reads as follows:

AutoUpdateDisable=1

Use Save as to save the file with the name MMS.cfg as UTF-8 format

To deploy use AD or SMS or some other management tool for your network to Copy the mmd.cfg file out to your workstations to the Windows\System32\macromed\flash folder for versions of Adobe Flash 8 and above and to the Windows\System32 folder for previous versions of flash.

There are many more settings for the mms.cfg file for administrators to manipulate how flash reacts and they can be found on page 22 of the following Adobe Manual:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/flash_player_8_security.pdf
And for Adobe Shockwave use this link at the Adobe site that explains how you disable autoupdate for Adobe Shockwave via the interface. http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_16683

While I am at it I will point out how to disable AutoUpdate on Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is a little more convoluted though. The AdobeUpdaterPrefs.dat is the file you need to edit that determines updates and it is in the users profile located at:
%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Updater5\

Open the AdobeUpdatePrefs.dat file in notepad and look for the following lines:
To disable the updates for Adobe Acrobat Reader change the value from 1 to 0. If the lines do not exist in the file you could certainly add them.

Download Pick: ResSwitch Change Screen Resolution via shortcut or command line in Windows Vista and Windows XP

Recently we have started upgrading our staff's computers to ones that have Vista on them with 17 inch versus 15 inch monitors. Well the elder generation complained about the higher screen resolution that the monitors now have being they are bigger.

Since we use a single mandatory profile for logins and users then log into Citrix for their apps I needed a way to easily let the users change their resolution. We run shifts so different users use the same workstation and all want a different resolution.

I had a program that was able to change the screen resolution on our Windows 2000 workstations but it did not work on Vista. Go figure. So I set out to find one that did and finally found ResSwitch formerly named Qres by Naughter Software. The beauty of this utility of course is that it is FREE. My favorite price.

So I downloaded the Qres.zip file and extracted it. I copied the file ResSwitch.exe from the Release folder from the Qres directory I extracted it to into the C: root folder of the users drive. Then I created 3 icons which I copied over to the desktop folder of the users profile called 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024.

For the 800x600 screen resolution icon I created a new shortcut with the target as follows:

C:\ResSwitch.exe /WIDTH:800 /HEIGHT:600

The 1024x768 screen resolution target line in the shortcut should look like this:
C:\ResSwitch.exe /WIDTH:1024 /HEIGHT:768

Finally I made one for 1280x1024 that had the below for the target in the shortcut:

C:\ResSwitch.exe /WIDTH:1280 /HEIGHT:1024

That is all there was to it! Now I had 3 icons on the users desktop that they could easily change the resolution with a simple mouse click. (note you have to click run to bypass UAC to run it)

You can download ResSwitch from this link:

http://www.naughter.com/qres.html

Note: Of course this program will work in Windows XP Also

Apple got to hand it to you when you are right you are right! Vista needs fixing.

Well I have ranted to Microsoft on many occasions even sent an email to Ballmer, Gates and company, that instead of spending $300 million in advertising that they should use that money to send out developers to engage software vendors to fix their software on Vista. Someone at Apple must of read my rants and came up with this clever commercial which is 100% accurate and very funny! Fix Vista. Microsofts response, No we will rename it to Windows 7 and make the V word go away and maybe people won't figure it out that it is really Vista SR 2 with a new name.

So first there is the money part:

And then the V Word one which caps it off:


All I can say is if I'm a PC and yeah I liked the campaign but if I can see the writing on the wall Microsoft... why the hell can't you? Can you PLEASE PLEASE just help get software developers some assistance on getting their stuff to work on Vista, Windows 7 or whatever the hell you want to call it this week.
The Bake sale is on:

Download Pick: MagicISO Virtual CD/DVD Rom

Since Microsoft has started making all of their OS downloads and programs ISO's and I have been using Virtualization to create VM's on my laptop I have grown to love MagicISO Virtual CD/DVD Rom.

MagicISO Virtual CD/DVD(MagicDisk) is a FREE utility that loads a TSR and lets you mount an ISO file as a Virtual Disk. So if you for example have the Windows XP SP3 OS ISO you can mount it virtually and then install it easily into a VM without having to burn a disc! Truly Magic!

There is also an ISO extractor that lets you extract the ISO to your hard disk.

You can download MagicDisc for free from here.

The company also makes a very neat for pay program called MagicISO Maker which allows you to create ISO files and also convert them. The combination of these two programs has almost eliminated my need to create CD/DVD's of my ISO files! No More Discs laying around! How green can you get?

Download Pick: Snippy for Windows XP Snipping Tool

The Snipping Tool first introduced in Windows XP Tablet edition experience pack and now part of Windows Vista is a useful tool to capture and copy a portion of your computer screen to paste into blogs and documents.

(note: To install snipping tool in Windows Vista go to the Control panel choose Programs and features, Click on Turn Windows Features on or off, check the box next to Tablet PC Optional Components in the popup. Click OK, once installed snipping tool will show up in your accesories folder.)

It is a basic replacement for the Printscreen method of copying and pasting a screen which is not as granular and gives you a larger item when you paste it. I've seen lots of questions about how to get this functionality under the regular XP version. Snippy is the answer.

The free tool Snippy puts an icon of a pair of scissors in your task tray and when clicked on gives you a pencil cursor that you can use your mouse to trace around the area you want to clip and copy with a mouse click so you can paste it into any type of document. There is no installation required for Snippy, you just save the file and click on it to run. You can even just save it to your desktop so you can have it handy.


You can download and find out more about Snippy from here.

Download Pick: Hyper-V 2008 Configuration Guide

If you want to setup and configure Hyper-V Server 2008 you will want to download this guide from Microsoft.

It covers setup up local administrator passwords, the new Hyper-V 2008 configuration tool and remote management.

Get it from this link.

You can also find a whole slew of technical resources for Hyper-V 2008 at this link.

Check my previous blog posting on Hyper-V 2008 for download and installation info links.

Should I Red or Should I Blue?

VOTE whatever you decide to do!

Download Pick: Five Misunderstood Features of Windows Vista

While companies continue to try to decide whether to adopt and deploy Windows Vista or just wait until Windows 7 it is important to know the features the OS offers and common misunderstandings so you can get the most out of your installation. Microsoft has provided an excellent document that addresses the five most often misunderstood features of Windows Vista which are:

• User Account Control
• Image management
• Display Driver Model
• Search
• 64 bit architecture

I would highly reccomend this document even to those who have already deployed Windows Vista.

Have a look at it at the following link: Five Misunderstood Features of Windows Vista.

I'm A PC - (Just in case you didn't know. )

I'M A PC

Bink is reporting that Windows 7 will be called....

Windows 7!!! A+ for originality there Microsoft Marketing. ; )

http://bink.nu/news/official-name-of-windows-7-revealed.aspx

Not to be confused with Windows Vista Service Pack 2 which is what it should be called because from what I have seen of Windows 7 it isn't a whole lot different than Vista.

Of course then they would have to offer it as an update and not be able to collect more money for an OS that the public doesn't wan't to adopt and programmers and software vendors seem to refuse to want to learn how to write their software to work with it.

Maybe they could extend XP out to 2020?

Look out Citrix Adobe beta testing ConnectNow

In an apparent attempt to go after the remote live meeting market Adobe has released a beta of a product called ConnectNow.
Check it out at:

https://www.acrobat.com/#/connectnow/GoToMyMeeting

Think it is a coincidence that the last part of the link is GoToMyMeeting which is just too darn similar to Citrix's GoToMeeting?

I tested the service with a colleague earlier today and the screen sharing was very smooth. The program also allows you to share a webcam and has online chat. All in all a great job and very impressive! You can easily invite guests and Adobe gives you a permanent screen sharing URL for future meetings, something Citrix doesn't offer.

Microsoft Releases Hyper-V Server 2008

You can now download Windows Hyper-V Server 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/default.mspx

For a nice how to on installing Hyper-V Server 2008 check out Sander Berkouwer's great blog entry here:

http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2008/10/03/how-to-install-microsoft-hyper-v-server-2008.aspx

Gnu Guru- "Cloud Computing is a Trap"

The Guardian has an article about Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, feelings about cloud computing and they aren't warm and fuzzy. "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign," he told The Guardian.

I'm not going to venture that far out but I would have to tend to agree with Stallman for the most part. The cloud is a lot of hype right now. It is ASP marketing regurgitated in my opinion. This is an area I have watched and researched and tried to adopt now for many years.

We have a few hosted applications at my organization mostly HR and Payroll but critical line of business apps the data and machine stays in our data center. Yeah payroll sounds kind of critical but if the system goes you can always write a paper check locally.

Personally I am not too keen on paying someone for something (storage, email, etc) that I am already getting pretty much for free on my local machine or with free Internet applications like Yahoo Mail or Gmail.. Some of the Cloud OS projects like Microsoft Live Mesh, G.h.o.s.t., and Icloud, while compelling just aren't ready for prime time yet.

You can check out the article at the below link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman

Computerworld has written an article citing community bloggers comments on Stallman's opinions here:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/rms_hates_cloud_computing_says_you_should_too

Greg Ness posted in his blog that the Cloud needs a new Infrastructure 2.0 before it is a reality and also discusses the Virtualization hype. It is a must read article here:

http://gregness.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/the-cloud-will-need-infrastructure-20/

Finally Gartner recently released a good articel entitled "Why a Little Cloud hype might be useful" that is a must read at:

http://blogs.gartner.com/hypecyclebook/2008/09/30/why-a-little-cloud-hype-might-be-useful/