Multimedia, oh Multimedia, be not my master!

Proposed Multimedia Solution for the Slethbridges (First draft)

Audio

MP3s played from hard disc on PC to the Onkyo amp, (or can be sent to the TV speakers from the PC via HDMI. The TV needs to be on for this).

To play on the deck speakers, the Onkyo can be changed manually, and the playlist controlled directly on the PC (to avoid turning on the tv)

Video

Movies played from the PC hard drive (or DVD slot on PC) to the graphics card over HDMI cable to the TV. Sound can either be over this HDMI so the speakers on the TV are used, or the Onkyo can be set to play the sound.

Control of TV is by its own remote control, (and that might be all that is needed for BRAVIA Internet Video  option)

For control of the PC when viewing the TV (in the next room to the PC), a wireless keyboard or universal remote will be required.

Universal Remote Control with touchpad

for example: Logitech Harmony 1000i $540



Wireless keyboard mouse in one

for example: Logitech DiNiova keyboard mouse $290



Graphics Card

for example:  EVGA GeForce GTX 465 HDMI Dual-DVI 1GB   $380



Flatscreen 32"

for example LG 32LD460 $800

or    Sony Bravia KDL-32EX710 $1300

(faster screen refresh - smoother picture, has built-in BRAVIA Internet Video)


or

Suggested checklist when choosing a flat screen:

Fast response time, high contrast

wall mountable VESA

USB input

Memory card input

3.5mm jack input (play direct from iPod)

Internet Radio - not just another little black box!

When you tun on the TV, it just works. Same with the radio. Mostly.

Its now just as easy to get Internet Radio.

My favourite device (last month) was a demure looking little radio. It has two dials, two buttons and a speaker. And a remote.

Difference is, once connected to the internet by wire or wireless, offers seemingly unending choice in free stations from all over the world. Many don't have adverts or other annoyances, some don't even have announcers!

Many of the major real-world radio stations (eg BBC6) have the internet version available. The sound quality is surprisingly good, and the device can be plugged into your normal home amplifier or sound system.

Choice of stations can be made by genre or country or by searching for a known station. Adding a station you like to your favourites is an easy way to build up a list for quick access.

This type of box is perfect for those unwilling (or unable) to use a computer, and would make a great gift for retired folk - or as an addition to the techno hungry home.

Available in New Zealand  are several even more useful versions of this idea. Think of an alarm clock radio with the features above, and perhaps add an iPod dock on top. Surely that's all you need?

The various models available all come with some type of small screen to aid navigation, so for those a bit more adventurous, why not choose from one of multitude of "tablet-ty" type mini computers, that will certainly be able to give you internet radio, as well as your email, what's on tv tonight and the current temperature in Seoul. And there are many to choose from - not just the iPad which you might just have heard of!?

See my blog for in-depth discussion on this : http://www.hha.co.nz/blog/?p=196

Windows Home Server

Having a computer server at home seems like something restricted to a home business or hardcore geek. Well not anymore. Windows home server delivers management, sharing and protection of our increasingly multimedia digital lives. It's a centralized place to store and share files on your home network. Manage digitally recorded TV episodes, downloaded movies and music content and stream these to other computers or provide access to them over the internet. Automatically back up all your computers at home. Log in to the server from anywhere on the internet. There are a large number of free extensions that can provide all sorts of useful services.

MediaSmart Servers when not in use go into standby mode and use as little as 1-3 watts and at a size smaller than a shoe box this is difinately a cool unobtrusive addition to any home multimedia entertainment setup.

I set up the system at home more out curiosity rather than to use a particular feature but quickly found it useful for a number of applications I hadn't considered. One extension I tried was called FirePlay and allowed me to stream my music to any computer. At a friends house talking about a particular song, a couple of clicks and it was playing on his laptop. Managing backups has always been a hassle but the home server made it easy.

This product has been out for a number of years but is only now becoming useful as our lives and entertainment are more and more being stored as digital files.



HP LX197 Mediasmart Server RRP $816.00

Faster Broadband? ... Maybe.

There is a lot of talk about the government 'fibre to the door' initiative and the super fast broadband speeds that this will achieve. Fibre to the door will be fantastic but in reality it is at least five years before the average person is using it.

The news is not all bad however as there is a lot more speed to squeeze out of the current wires running to your house or business and in the background over the last few years Telecom and others have been adding new technologies to and between our Hawkes Bay exchanges that could give your internet the boost you desire.

Firstly a few acronyms to help you sleep at night. (source wikipedia.org)

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). This is the first generation of Broadband over our phone lines and is what most broadband users have today. This has a maximum download speed of 8 Megabits and upload speed of 800 kilobits. End user can be up to 5km from the exchange over the phone wire.

ADSL2+. This has a maximum download speed of 24 Megabits and upload speed of 1 Megabit. End user can be up to 2km from the exchange over the phone wire.

VDSL2. (Very High-Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2) This has a theoretical maximum download speed of up to 100 Megabits and upload speed of 16 Megabits. End user can be up to 500m from the exchange over the phone wire.


Unfortunately these technologies are not available to all of us. There are several factors that determine who can get what.

Whether your exchange / cabinet is upgraded. The role out of these newer technologies by Telecom and others, Airnet and Slingshot are two I have heard of in the bay, has been going for several years and will continue for several more. The project is managed by Telecom Wholesale and they have a very good resource on line to determine whether you are able to join to one of these faster technologies or when it will be available. http://www.telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps.

Whether your ISP supports it. ADSL2+ can be used by anyone that has a full speed broadband account but VDSL2 requires your ISP to support a VDSL2 plan and currently no one does nor have I heard any dates of when they will. Whats up with that?

Your hardware. ADSL2+ is supported by most broadband modems less than 3 years old and in some cases it will automatically detect the ADSL2+ network and connect but the majority of modems out there will need to be configured, updated or replaced to reap the extra speed available. VDSL2 modems are not yet available but will probably be more expensive when they do get here.

So whether you already have ADSL2+ or have to suffer the tyranny of a dial-up connection Internet in the Hawkes Bay is slowly getting better.

Internet Radio - how to get it

When it comes to Internet Radio you can set your PC or laptop to stream stations, but let's be honest, who wants the laptop next to your bed, or on the kitchen shelf. Or next to the tv? For these applications, a dedicated box that does just one thing, and does it well is what's required.

I started researching devices for listening to internet radio. (The last - and only - model I have sold is unfortunately no longer available - Freecom's MusicPal. Which is a shame as it was exceptionally easy to use, and, it just worked. And came in at a good price.



I even shot my own review video, but before I could upload, found a more than adequate description by Freecom themselves:


Oh! I see that I did actually get around to uploading my review and have had a massive 454 hits (please don't watch, my head might swell).  A more independent review by Micheal Sherlock describes it's functionality well.

What's new in the current iteration s the ability to access podcasts - which takes the radio concept further to an on-demand radio - sort of like a tape recorder ;)

However, for a better sound quality device, I would have to look further into the Squeezebox:





or the Livio Radio.

Reading around this topic of choosing a device, it seems that the important thing is not to tie yourself in to a particular portal for accessing the stations, as they inevitably will either charge at some stage, or will cease to exist. Look for the DAB+ certification - this ensures you can get to the current popular standard and lots to choose form see  Digital Audio Broadcasting Plus.

It also seems that most are running on the same basic chipset, and its just the housing, speaker, connectors and firmware that vary in quality.

And most are NOT available in New Zealand..

So while casting around for alternatives, I see that its no longer fashionable to restrict one's self to a device without a screen, even when just listening to the radio. There are a multitude of "tablety" devices with varying screen sizes that can pretend to be radios.

How many of which we can locally, and whether they will still work next year without requiring firmware updates is another question.
I found a few that I had no idea were competing with the iPad. (Don't get excited, there are likely not available here, and the prices are US$.) To see these reviewed just search on tablets at http://reviews.cnet.com/

(Not to mention the new kindle)

Where to from here?

Experiment with internet radio on your PC, where your beloved can hear it, and might get interested. Then you can casually comment that "the iPad can do that internet radio stuff, too" !? (Internet Explorer has been trying to lure us there for ages - their default bookmarks includes the MediaCenter-centric link to http://www.windowsmedia.com/radioui/home.aspx, but there are many others.

No, I don't work for Apple. Unfortunately.

Back to the dark side (where I am more comfortable!), you could go for Windows7 's killer app, the Homegroup - which when it catches on, will make keeping and finding media content in the household a breeze. At the moment, its just too hard. We all have Gigaturdes of stuff, but can never get to it or find it - let alone share it reliably.

Mark my words!

To Mac or not to Mac

It seems to be what "everyone" is doing this year.. chucking it all in with your old Windows computer in favour of something more "reliable".
Despite the price, it appears to have got through to Joe and Jackie Blogs that the initial outlay is more than compensated by the simplicity, longevity and overall troublefree-ness of owning an Apple. Or should that be a Mac?
Oh, and you don't need to spend another hundred on a good antivirus - OR DO YOU?!

ESET is just about to release ESS for the Mac (so far only the Business edition) - despite it apparently being already possible)

Even businesses are being tempted over to the less-dark side.

What prompted me to write this was a customer-friend who has been running Ubuntu without intervention for the last three years (!) but had finally needed updating to get Facebook's uploading areas to work. So I dutifully upgraded to the latest Ubuntu version (which required a repartitioning and reinstall and copy home folder and resize partition and etc etc long story.) Due to repartitioning, space was getting low, so I cloned up form 40 to 200Gigs successfully. Then relaised the CD drive was a reader which was going to make burning tricky. Burnt one CD and the drive died, just about to replace it and the customer pops in to make sure I hadn't done any work on it - as she has just waltzed home with a new iMac... say no more.

Except now I will be supporting their Mac for free, instead of supporting the Linux for free.

Maybe this is why Microsoft has stayed ahead - users are used to paying for support and repairs!?

Now just try and get an Apple Authorized Dealership...



What are your experiences?

How to use Remote Access to read Email

https://your private ipaddress here/remote

type in the numbers (as in this fictitious example)
https://203.24.156.143/remote
(see the image below for the real numbers to use)
Save this as a shortcut or bookmark


Using Internet Explorer you will see

[caption id="attachment_176" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="choose to continue to this website"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_179" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="login with your SBS username and password


With Firefox it will look like this"][/caption]





[caption id="attachment_156" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Once you type in the URL as shown you should get this prompt"]

[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Click on \"I understand the Risks\" and choose ADD EXCEPTION"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_181" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Choose to permanently get and store the certificate (so you won\'thave to do it every time) With either browser it will be similar from now on"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_183" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Once logged in choose to read your email as if at work"][/caption]


[caption id="attachment_184" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Almost as good as being there :)"][/caption]

Are you tired of fighting with OEM reinstalls? (Who isn't)

A collection of essentials

---

Product keys are version-specific

http://windows-xp.itags.org/windows-xp/289546/


Well, you don't necessarily need the *original* installation CD, but you will need to obtain a replacement CD of the identical type (OEM vs. Retail Full Vs. retail Upgrade), if you want to use the same Product Key.

Product Keys are bound to the specific type and language of CD and/or license (OEM, Volume, retail, full, or Upgrade) with which they are purchased. For example, a WinXP Home OEM Product Key won't work for any retail version of WinXP Home, or for any version of WinXP Pro, and vice versa. An upgrade's Product Key cannot be used with a full version CD, and vice versa. An OEM Product Key will not work to install a retail product. An Italian Product Key will not work with an English CD.
Bottom line: Product Keys and CD types cannot be mixed & matched.

If it was a retail license and you have proof of purchase:

How to Replace Lost, Broken, or Missing Microsoft Software or Hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;326246

If it was an OEM license, you should contact the computer's manufacturer.

Bruce Chambers

---

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
Author: Michael Stevens

http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

---

Backup and Restore XP Activation

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/WindowsXP/UserTips/Miscellaneous/BackupRestoreXPActivation.html

When you activate Windows XP, Microsoft stores the data in the Windows Product Activation database files wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak in the folder %systemroot%\system32. If you change the motherboard or make significant hardware changes, XP will require you to reactive. But if you plan to reinstall XP on the same hardware, you can back up the activation status and then restore it after you reinstall and avoid the activation process. You can backup the Windows Product Activation database files to diskette. They are very small. A directory listing from my XP Pro workstation:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>dir wp*
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 8447-0571

 Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32

10/24/2001  08:28 PM            12,584 wpa.bak
01/14/2002  09:05 AM            12,642 wpa.dbl

After you reinstall XP, to restore the Windows Product Activation database files:

• Start XP to Minimal Safe mode


• Change directory to the \%systemroot%\system32 folder


• Rename the newly created wpa.dbl to wpa.nonactivated and wpa.bak, if it exists, to wpabak.nonactivated.


• Copy your backed up wpa.dbl and wpb.bak files to the system32 folder


• Reboot

This should work if you want to avoid activating XP after a reinstall or restore on the same or very similar hardware. It will not work if the hardware is significantly different from that in place when the Windows Product Activation database files were created. This is not a hack to avoid activating installations.

---

Version by sticker

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/31948993/reinstalling-xp-home-oem--product-key-problem.aspx

Those smaller companies use a generic OEM CD so as long as it is a Microsoft CD and not a branded one you should be OK.

One thing you need to watch out for is that you have the correct OEM CD version to go with that key. Right now if someone gives you a CD that has SP2c included your key will most likely not work. Original OEM, Sp1 and SP1a keys will all work with the same media, SP2 will only work with SP2 media, and SP2c will only work with SP2c keys.

Now the question is how the heck do you know if your keycode on the bottom of that laptop is SP1, 1a, 2 or 2c. . If it is rectangular, shiny, and has a blue border with white center and the holograms say "Microsoft GENUINE" at an angle it is most likely SP1 or 1a. If it is an odd bubble shape that is blue, yellow and green and the keycode is on the bottom and the bar codes are on the left and right then you have SP2.

---

Moral of the story: build up your collection of CDs of as many different versions of OEM and windows versions as you can for use in the future. LABEL them as to what they exactly can do.

This is perfectly legal, and free when users are throwing out their old PCs along with the now increasingly valuable disks (often still in their original shrink-wrap :)

Who said hoarding was a problem

SATA drives - what you need to know on older systems

Modern motherboard cater well for SATA as do recent iterations of various operating systems, but older pcs can be a challenge.

It's good to understand the basics.

Drivers for the SATA type drive must be loaded in addition to the standard set provided by XP install disks.. see for example this good post on how to chkdsk a troublesome sata drive: http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/windows-xp-support/99602/Running-CHKDSK-on-a-SATA-Harddrive.

The other little conundrum is when a cloning an IDE to a new bigger better faster SATA drive, all goes well until the system is rebooted. Assuming you remember to set the bios boot options to chose the sata disk, then you'd think all would be well.
But if you leave the old ide source disk connected, then Windows in its wisdom enumerates the original partitions drive on the old drive from C, resulting in the new operating system on the sata drive with a drive letter other then C - sometimes way down the alphabet (if there are partitions more or usb media card readers) .

I don't know about you, but I found it unnerving to have windows on the J drive!

Granted it may actually work, but why mess with things you don't gotta mess with? (Especially on a customer's system where you cannot possibly test all the programs)?!

The trick is to UNplug the old ide drive the first time you boot the system after cloning. AND you need to delete the partitions or format the old drive as well before plugging it back in.

Reading here shows others have found this out too: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Misc/Q_21664352.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+10+30+drive+id+letter+sata+xp
Summary after cloning, remove the source disk, or else windows will see two identical volume identifiers and assume something is wrong..
So the moral of the story is: (a) clone the drive; (b) switch the drives or remove the source; and (c) THEN reboot. Delete the partition on the source using another PC (or with the destination disk removed). Then put the source back and the now clean original disk which will come up missing but can be added in again using the disk manager. This works even from IDE to SATA (where you want to put the old small IDE disk back in as a backup drive and use the new, fast SATA to boot and work from most of the time).

Another example
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Misc/Q_21281623.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+10+30+drive+id+letter+sata+xp

Oh, and one other useful post I found summarises as:

once WinXP has rebooted in after a fresh install of the operating system get your motherboard cd driver disk and install the winxp Sata/ Raid drivers before you install sp2 or anything else.

Thunderbird to Windows Live Mail

Migwiz really is a Wizard. It just works

Have a I mentioned how much I like the migwiz? Easier to type than "Windows Easy Transfer"

Just make sure the Old Computer has email in OE, Outlook or similar first. (Export it to that if need be). Getting it in in any other format is doable, but tricky.

But if you don't use OE

Here's how to get out of Thunderbird and into WLM (Windows Live Mail - and presumably Window Mail for those poor Vista straglers).

On the OPC (Old Computer), install and run the quaint little program. (gotta look it up again..) Watch out - it appears to fail on first run, but succeeds after a few tries. Found the HowTo here. The process is an export to .eml files using Tbird2OE and then import into Mail using OEImportEml. Both need to be installed. The import failed for me as I think there were some dodgy and/or large email files, so I manually dragged the files by folder (as described below) ..

Then copy all the resulting folders and files across to the NPC. (New PC)

Create the same folder structure in WLM. Select all the .eml files and drag and drop into the respective folders, (or just lump everything into the Inbox and forget about folders - who needs 'em?!

It might pay to use a dos batch file to move all the .eml files into one folder (eliminating the folder structure altogether) if you are not going to use folders in Mail.

Hang on, you can't do that as the .eml files are named 0000001.eml, 00000002.eml .. in each folder. You could rename them in the batch file  I suppose - didn't try that.

(Don't worry, they translate OK back to meaningful subjects, to and from etc as they were originally).

I have to say that this is one case where drag n' drop really does work.  (In fact I'm not sure there is another way to get the files into Mail)! Import is available on the file menu, but specifying the source each time would be a pain.

A interesting "by the way"

From a second hand PC, I have seen it pull in the complete email profile from the former owner! The current owner had no idea that info was on there - and I bet the former owner would not have been pleased either...

Another FYI, use the Win7 version of migwiz (copy it onto a  usb stick and run from there on the OPC) Don't use XP's version.

Hallelujah - all praise be to win7 (and free apps that really work)

Windows 7 needs more than 40GB on C

Just an FIY (or should that read Just a FYI (?)

Being too clever by half, I partitioned a 160GB drive into a 40GB C drive so that I could have two more 60GB partitions.

Long story short  - this is NOT enough space for Win7 Pro. (Not sure what all is taken up by all those giga flops!??!)

The good news is that there is an easy fix.

Disks can be resized, but using Windows 7's disk manager, only onto contiguous space (free space adjacent to the partition you want to change).

To resize non contiguous partions, I found a neat little gui that allow you to move (by sliding) any drive in the way across to the right a bit. A reboot and not-too-long nervous wait completed the process.

Found here: http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-67251-how-to-merge-windows-partition-to-increase-c

and the program is  Easeus Partition Master Home Edition here (http://download.cnet.com)

Hallelujah - all praise be to win7 (and free apps that really work)

Which links do you click on in a google results page?

Is anything on the second or greater pages of google results worth a look?
That depends entirely on a few things:

• The number of words and thus the completeness of your query


• The subject matter involved (technical IT problems make it easier than other less esoteric endeavours I would guess)

but most important

• A little skill and experience in interpreting the results.

For example, pretty much anything on Fixya leads to just more unanswered questions (although I have found a few good answers here).
Technica leads to promising content but is pay as you go - so rules itself out immediately.
Anything at petri.co.il is sure to be detailed yet succinct, correct and not out of date. (Not sure how they manage this).
Vendor-specific queries are often but not always held on the company's own or allied forum/s (I often forget this avenue). And even instant chat is now offered if you look around for it. To my mind this is the best resource of all, as you have near real time, free, opinion in back and white from a rep of the company.

Tek-tips.com has always been good and Tom's hardware guide has always been reliable, if a little narrow in scope
Dani's web, always sounds a bit scary to visit - but is usually good. Howtogeek is getting good too.
If none of these resources hit the mark, I narrow down the search by including site:experts-exchange.com.
Despite appearances the answers are mostly free to view - you just have to scroll down a bit (a lot ;)
But for researching (read "reading around") a topic, the best choice is to choose the "Discussions" filter down the left column. This means you don't have to do the filtering mentally to chuck out the chaff.

Last but not least, the vendor's own or allied forum site located off their support link, is a great place to start. Often an Instant Chat can be initiated - which in my opinion, is the greatest step forward in the Internet age of recent times. It gives you near real time, free, company opinion on the topic in question - and the bonus is you have it in black and white if there are any future come backs. And you don't have to wrangle with accents over a low quality echoey phoneline to Outer Siberia (or other cheap labour location).

PS Did anyone mention Microsoft's site at all? (No need as it rarely comes high up, and if so, you know to skip those links anyway ;) Inevitably, if you do choose a MS  page, it will confirm the problem, and helpfully let you know that the latest Service Pack has resolved that issue. Or you find it has a solution only for different versions of Windows than the one you need. Either that, or step you through a dozen pointless t do's, with no contingency should it not go perfectly according to their plan (grrr) Oh, and you'll need some admin tool off the cd you long ago confined to the bin, and will have to go to a third party to get again. And then learn the syntax to. Rant off.

Submit your best resource sites that give you the answers you're after.

Desktop Publishing in Open office Draw

Today I had to create a print ad for the XNET Fusion that we are promoting for World eXchange. I used to use MS Publisher for this sort of thing back when I thought Windows was the only option and even though I tried with earlier versions of Open Office I always got a little frustrated and would end up digging out my old Publisher Disks.

Well I have OO 3.0 now which is not even the latest version and it was just too easy.

The earlier versions of OO could not rotate stuff on the page which is the something that I often want to do in promotional material. No problem for OO draw now.

I also used to get frustrated with scaling stuff. It would be very jittery and snap to odd positions.

The point I am trying to make is that if you have tried OO and didnt like it maybe its time to give it another go.

Not all routers are created equal

A mentor once instilled in me the following mantra:

"it shouldn't be that hard".

In other words technology should "just work".  (Unfortunately we all know this is not entirely true all the time.)

Yet I try to live by that mantra, and not get sucked in by the "complicated fix". But over the last three days, I have been doing battle with routers - or more specifically one router in particular. A Cisco WAG310G.  I installed successfully as the end point for a VOIP solution.  [That part went very well, by the way and WAS simple].

However, in trying to get a VPN to work through the new router, I'd forgotten to apply the check the simple things first...  (no, not "is the damn thing plugged in?",) but, "did you read the spec of the machine to see it can do what you are asking it to do?". The answer is "no".

In my defence, the fact that the router had the GRE47 protocol as  a service that could be chosen for pass-through, would have indicated ( I would have thought) that the router was capable of VPN.

I mean, is not a VPN a simple, basic requirement of all modern routers?

One would have thought so.

To confound matters, I was also blinded by the oft and varied reports of Win7 and the troubles of getting a VPN to work with that new beast. The old, stable XP-based VPN was still working fine - even with the new router installed. (But actually it, too had stopped and I hadn't noticed).  grrr

On the support site for this router - there is a prominent link on How to setup a VPN.

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/ANZ/en/support/WAG310G

A much more helpful article has screengrabs that show the missing VPN tab in the security settings of the router's gui:

http://linksys.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/linksys.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=4239

and if you are "encountering difficulties" try:

Encountering Difficulties Connecting to the VPN Tunnel Using a ADSL Gateway

not that this will help if you don't RTFM !

Keeping a Win7 printer share shared to XP SOLVED

Just when I though Win7 was infallible - Vista-like inconsistencies appear where you least expect them...

I needed to share a printer off Win7Pro to an XP Home machine. Despite all the best efforts going both the old-fashioned way [create identical userid and password on both machines], and the new way every says it's done: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/.

No cigar. I still got prompted for the userid and password after each restart. (As reported by lots of other posters.)

However, it occurred to me that by mapping a shared folder using a simple net use batch file, the user id and password if valid for the share, would eliminate the need for it again when reconnecting to the printer share.
Voila.
It worked.
net use z: \\win7pcname\foldershare /user:win7pcname\username passwordhere

Now put THAT in your pipe and smoke it win7 !

XNET & HHA

A couple of years ago when were shifting the Office for HHA we decided to have a look into a VOIP system. After deciding on XNET from World Exchange we haven't looked back.

A big concern for any business is that the phones keep working and it has taken us this long testing the XNET VOIP offering to get to a stage were we trust it enough to recommend it to our customers. We have now signed a reseller agreement with XNET and will be offering their services to our clients.

The first thing that attracted us to a VOIP system was not the cost, which is what attracts most people, but the flexibility of the system. Once voice data has been turned into IP data it makes it a lot easier to manage. We have the most basic XNET package but with that we get features of a PABX which 10 years ago would have cost thousands.

PABX's also become a lot simpler. Standard computer hardware can now be used to route voice traffic within your business, voice menus, Automated call systems, recording phone conversations and a whole lot more. At a fraction of the cost of traditional systems.

If you are interested in giving a VOIP system a go give us a call.

VPN - it can't be THAT hard (- can it?)

The VPN solution sounds perfect.. "just set up a tunnel through the public network for your private use..."

However, one can do a LOT of reading around a subject without getting to the nitty gritty of what to do.

This is one of those rare occasions, however, when I found a how-to summary that succinctly described what to do, without too much technical detail, but with enough of what you need to know to get it working.

Rather than rewrite Larry's words, I will quote his post in full here

http://forums.techarena.in/small-business-server/955926.htm

Oh - and to answer the question of browsing - simply map a drive on the client machine to \\ip.address.of.server\share using the domain authentication.

Easy.

24-04-2008

Larry Struckmeyer Posts: n/a

Re: VPN Connects but unable to browse Network HELP!! Hi: In general, I recommend RWW over VPN for connecting remotely. If you have a particular issue that requires a VPN connection, I would appreciate if you would share. To use VPN with your SBS you must first run the CEICW and permit that service to be used. Then run the RRAS wizard to setup the WAN ports. These are the second and third wizards on the To Do List in Server Management. You must have a router/firewall that has port 1723 forwarded to your SBS and that allows GRE 47 to pass. Some older devices do not allow this. And theother hardware related issue is that the SBS ip ranges and the remote ip range must be different. That is, if SBS is 192.168.16.x internal, and 192.168.100.x external, the remote cannot have the same numbers in the first three octets. Are there any specific errors in your event logs, or specific messages that occur And as always, I recommend the SBS BPA. Run that and do what it recommends. http://www.sbsbpa.com/ -- Larry Please post the resolution to your issue so that all can benefit.

Legacy commands

Don't you hate it when you come across really powerful quick ways of doing things, just when the OS they apply to is taking its last gasp and they are calling it "Legacy" already? (although I feel XP will be around for another 10 years!)

For example the control command in XP:

Now I have used it many a time, but only in the sense of overcoming XP Home's User Accounts limitation:

 control userpasswords2

which, by the way,  I can NEVER remember :)

Here are some more to add to your quick typing skills...

(thanks to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc144191%28VS.85%29.aspx?ppud=4) or to be honest, google's search ;)

Legacy Control Panel Commands

When you use the WinExec function, the system can recognize special Control Panel commands. These commands predate Windows Vista.

control.exe desktop	Launches the Display Properties window. Note Starter and Basic Editions do not support this command.
control.exe color	Launches the Display Properties window with the Appearance tab preselected.
control.exe date/time	Launches the Date and Time Properties window.
control.exe international	Launches the Regional and Language Options window.
control.exe mouse	Launches the Mouse Properties window.
control.exe keyboard	Launches the Keyboard Properties window.
control.exe printers	Displays the Printers and Faxes folder.
control.exe fonts	Displays the Fonts folder.

For Windows 2000 and later systems:

control.exe folders	Launches the Folder Options window.
control.exe netware	Launches the Novell NetWare window (if installed).
control.exe telephony	Launches the Phone and Modem Options window.
control.exe admintools	Displays the Administrative Tools folder.
control.exe schedtasks	Displays the Scheduled Tasks folder.
control.exe netconnections	Displays the Network Connections folder.
control.exe infrared	Launches the Infrared Monitor window (if installed).
control.exe userpasswords	Launches the User Accounts window.

NTFS, FAT FAT32 and large harddrives.

PROBLEM: connect a USB drive to a device that prefers FAT32 or FAT (and not NTFS).
Sub-PROBLEM: Windows cannot go bigger than 32GB using FAT32.
The possible solutions are copiously stated here: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/formatting-external-hard-drive-to-fat-32/, but I foundthe command line provided by http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm absolutley instantaneous.
Had I a Paypal account I would even have donated :)

Here's how easy it was.

Download and unzip

C:\>cd fat32f

C:\fat32f>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 5F1F-5DF5

 Directory of C:\fat32f

06/01/2010  09:15 p.m.    <DIR>          .
06/01/2010  09:15 p.m.    <DIR>          ..
02/03/2009  11:47 p.m.            49,233 fat32format.exe
 1 File(s)         49,233 bytes
 2 Dir(s)  21,392,437,248 bytes free

C:\fat32f>fat32format g:
Warning ALL data on drive 'g' will be lost irretrievably, are you sure
(y/n) :y
Size : 40GB 78170242 sectors
512 Bytes Per Sector, Cluster size 32768 bytes
Volume ID is 1ce9:3957
32 Reserved Sectors, 9540 Sectors per FAT, 2 fats
1221111 Total clusters
1221110 Free Clusters
Formatting drive g:...
Clearing out 19176 sectors for Reserved sectors, fats and root cluster...
Wrote 9818112 bytes in 0.49 seconds, 18.94 Megabytes/sec
Initialising reserved sectors and FATs...
Done
C:\fat32f>