Kurt Shintaku's Blog

We are pleased to announce the beta availability of version 9.0 of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit. This beta release of the MAP Toolkit helps increase the agility and cost effectiveness of deploying the latest Microsoft technologies. It also enhances usage tracking to include accounting for Remote Desktop Services as well as Server and Cloud Enrollment licensed deployments. MAP 9.0 beta additionally helps organizations assess their environment for Office 2013 and Office 365, track usage of Windows Server 2012, Lync Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2013, Exchange Server 2013, System Center Configuration Manager 2012, and SQL Server 2012. The Windows Azure assessment report has also been updated to include the latest Azure sizing.

New Server and Cloud Enrollment scenario helps to simplify adoption
Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) is a new offering under the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that enables subscribers to standardize broadly on one or more Microsoft Server and Cloud technologies. The MAP Toolkit 9.0 features an assessment scenario to identify and inventory SCE supported products within an enterprise and help streamline enrollment.

New Remote Desktop Services Licensing Usage Tracking scenario creates a single view for enterprise wide licensing
With an increase in enterprises deploying Remote Desktop Services (RDS) across wider channels, RDS license management has become a focus point for organizations. With the new RDS Licensing scenario, the MAP Toolkit rolls up license information enterprise-wide into a single report, providing a simple alternative for assessing your RDS licensing position.

Support for software inventory via Software ID tags now available
As part of the Microsoft effort to support ISO 19770-2, the MAP Toolkit now supports inventory of Microsoft products by Software ID (SWID) tag. SWID enhanced reports will provide greater accuracy and assist large, complex environments to better manage their software compliance efforts by simplifying the software identification process and lowering the cost of managing software assets.

Improved Usage Tracking data collection for SQL Server Usage Tracking scenarios
As part of our ongoing improvement initiatives, Usage Tracking for SQL Server 2012 has been enhanced to use User Access Logging (UAL). UAL is a standard protocol in Windows Server 2012 that collects User Access information in near real time and stores the information in a local database, eliminating the need for log parsing to perform Usage Tracking assessments. UAL vastly improves the speed and helps to eliminate long lead times for environment preparation associated with running Usage Tracking assessments.

Download the MAP Toolkit 9.0 now!

Do you know someone who would be interested in participating in this beta? Use the following link to register for the MAP Toolkit beta program (requires a Microsoft Live ID): https://connect.microsoft.com/site297/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=1668&InvitationID=MAP-B8H8-KMJ2

Well, this is interesting.  If you’re interested in hosting desktops within Windows Azure for what looks to be the first documented solution for VDI in the Microsoft cloud, you’ve come to the right place.

Windows Azure Desktop Hosting Reference Architecture Guide

This document defines a set of architectural blocks for using Windows Azure Virtual Machines to create multitenant, hosted Windows desktop and application services, referred to in this document as “desktop hosting.” The primary goal is to enable hosting providers to create secure, scalable, and reliable desktop hosting solution offers for small- and medium-sized organizations with up to 1,500 users. The intended audience for this reference architecture is hosting providers who want to leverage Windows Azure infrastructure services to deliver desktop hosting services and Subscriber Access Licenses (SALs) to multiple tenants via the Microsoft Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) program. To deliver a desktop hosting solution via Microsoft’s SPLA program, hosting partners leverage Windows Server and the Windows Desktop Experience feature to deliver Windows users an application experience that is familiar to business users and consumers. Although Windows 8, Windows 7, and earlier Windows client versions are not licensed for SPLA, the Desktop Experience feature in Windows Server 2012 provides a similar user experience and application support.

Windows Azure Desktop Hosting Deployment Guide

This document provides procedural guidance for deploying a basic desktop hosting solution based on the Windows Azure Desktop Hosting Reference Architecture Guide. This document provides you with a starting point for implementing a Desktop Hosting service on Windows Azure virtual machines. You’ll have to perform additional deployment steps in a production environment to provide advanced features such as high availability, customized desktop experience, RemoteApp collections, etc.

Download both guides here:

• DOWNLOAD: Windows Azure Desktop Hosting – Reference Architecture and Deployment Guides
  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/dn451351.aspx

This download consists of 6 spreadsheets:

• WindowsServer2012andWindows8GroupPolicySettings.xlsx
• WindowsServer2003SP2GroupPolicySettings.xls
• WindowsServer2008andWindowsVistaSP1GroupPolicySettings.xlsx
• WindowsServer2008R2andWindows7GroupPolicySettings.xlsx
• WindowsServer2012R2andWindows8.1GroupPolicySettings.xlsx
• WindowsVistaGroupPolicySettings.xls

These spreadsheets list the policy settings for computer and user configurations that are included in the Administrative template files delivered with the Windows operating systems specified. You can configure these policy settings when you edit Group Policy Objects.

You can use the filtering capabilities that are included in this spreadsheet to view a specific subset of data, based on one value or a combination of values that are available in one or more of the columns. In addition, you can click Custom in the drop-down list of any of the column headings to add additional filtering criteria within that column.

To view a specific subset of data, click the drop-down arrow in the column heading of cells that contain the value or combination of values on which you want to filter, and then click the desired value in the drop-down list. For example, to view policy settings that are available for Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows 8.1, in the Administrative Template worksheet, click the drop-down arrow next to Supported On, and then click At least Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows 8.1.

What’s New?
The Administrative Template spreadsheet contains three columns that provide more information about each policy setting’s behavior related to reboots, logoffs, and schema extensions. These columns are the following:

• Reboot Required: A "Yes" in this column means that the Windows operating systems requires a restart before it applies the described policy setting.
• Logoff Required: A "Yes" in this column means that the Windows operating system requires the user to log off and log on again before it applies the described policy setting.
• Active Directory Schema or Domain Requirements: A "Yes" in this column means that you must extend the Active Directory schema before you can deploy this policy setting.
• Status: A "New" in this column means that the setting did not exist prior to Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1. It does not mean that the setting applies only to Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1. Refer to the column entitled "supported on" to determine to which operating system the policy setting applies.

——————–

• DOWNLOAD: Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows and Windows Server
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25250

I don’t know why our Internet Explorer team got rid of the “Compatibility Mode” icon in the toolbar of Internet Explorer 11/Windows 8.1.  And this isn’t the time or the place to voice my displeasure about this inconvenience.

What I will explain however is how to quickly implement your own keyboard shortcut that will, in a single keystroke, TURN ON COMPATIBILITY MODE for the current website you’re visiting.

1) Install AutoHotKey which works on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, & 8.1. (See my previous post on AutoHotKey’s purpose)

2) Allow it to create the AutoHotkey.ahk script int your “My Documents” folder.

3) Ensure AutoHotKey is running & that it’s icon is in your SysTray. It should look like a green “H”.  If not, run it.

4) Edit AutoHotKey.ahk with Notepad from your My Documents folder.

5) Comment out all other instructions by adding a semi-colon (;) at the beginning of each line.  For example, I added the “;” to the beginning of the following lines:

;#z::Run http://www.autohotkey.com
;
;^!n::
;IfWinExist Untitled – Notepad
;    WinActivate
;else
;    Run Notepad
;return

6) Add the following to the script.

;PROGRAM CTRL-ALT-Z TO TURN ON COMPATIBILITY MODE
;(EXECUTE THE KEYSTROKES: ALT-T, B, [ENTER], ALT-A, ALT-C)
^!z::
Send !t
Sleep 100
Send b{enter}
Sleep 100
Send !a
Sleep 100
Send !c
return

7) Right click on the AutoHotkey icon in the Systray and select “Reload This Script”.

Now when ever you click CTRL-ALT-Z, the web site you’re on will be registered as a site to display in Compatibility Mode.  There may be easier ways to do this but this is how I accomplished the task.  Enjoy.

Big announcement!

Today, we’re excited to announce the availability of Windows 8.1 for nonprofits.

Thanks to many of you, we received a tremendous response from the nonprofit community around the world with the launch Windows 8. Windows 8.1 is an evolution of the Windows 8 vision, bringing together powerful productivity apps and a range of ways to ensure your team can reach the resources they need from any device or location.

Now is a great time to make the move to Windows 8.1. Eligible nonprofit organizations and public libraries can request Windows 8.1 through Microsoft’s software donation program. Get started today.

Windows 8.1 introduces a fully customizable Start screen, new search experience, upgraded app store, and improved multi-tasking features.

Windows brings together everything you do – wherever you are, wherever you go.

If you’re ready to get started with Windows 8.1, here are a few steps you can take to learn more:

1. Request Windows 8.1 for your nonprofit. Or, if you’re already on Windows 8, you can simply upgrade your PCs to Windows 8.1 through the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC).
2. Register for the Windows 8.1 webinar on Thursday, November 14, 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time, hosted by TechSoup. Todd Rutherford, senior product marketing manager–Windows Consumer, Microsoft, will provide a demo of Windows 8.1.
3. Tell your favorite nonprofit about Microsoft’s software donation program and encourage them to visit www.Microsoft.com/nonprofit.

• BLOG: Windows 8.1 Now Available for Nonprofits
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoftupblog/archive/2013/11/05/windows-8-1-now-available-for-nonprofits.aspx

If you’re like me you prefer the old style Outlook contact dialog box over the new style.  The old-style (left) presented a concise interface that made the best use of space on the screen & didn’t require scrolling.  And it remained on the screen by default if you left the dialog, versus disappearing.  And even though the new-style is more powerful in displaying things like Source contact info from different sources, if you dwell primarily in an Active Directory/Exchange environment, the old way might be preferable to you too.

It turns out there’s a registry fix to force the old style Contacts dialog box:  (You’ll need to create both the Key and the Value in the registry through REGEDIT.EXE)

• Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Contactcard
• Value name: turnonlegacygaldialog
• Value type: REG_DWORD
• Value: 1

Restart Outlook and you’ll find that every time you double click on a contact, the old-style Contact window appears.

Alternatively you can cut & paste the following into a text file called Retrocontactcard.reg, then double click it to have it added to your registry:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Contactcard]
"turnonlegacygaldialog"=dword:00000001

Wow.  We ain’t screwin’ around.  Y’know that Anime short that was done featuring the Internet Explorer 11’s world leading security & protection against malware & threats?
(https://kurtsh.com/2013/11/06/video-internet-explorer-11-the-anime-trailer/)

Well, the girl’s name is Inori Aizawa & she’s the Anime personification of Internet Explorer 11. 

1. FACEBOOK:
   She has it’s own Facebook page which is cool and all that.
   https://www.facebook.com/
   internetexplorertan
2. SKYDRIVE:
   And she has her own SkyDrive storage with desktop backgrounds and more coming.
   http://sdrv.ms/internetexplorertan
3. HOME PAGE
   There is a custom Anime-themed home page for Internet Explorer 9+ with Windows 8-design stylings, displaying Anime-related news from Anime outlets like Crunchyroll, Anime News Network, JEFusion, & Otaku USA.
   http://www.internetexplorertan.com/home/
4. INTERNET EXPLORER: INORI EDITION:
   But now we’re doubling down:  We’re creating a new build of our browser called, “Internet Explorer: Inori Edition”.
   https://www.facebook.com/internetexplorertan/app_1422641071287146

This video is entitled, “Change the way you work” & it demonstrates how anyone, anywhere, at anytime can leverage social in the Enterprise to collaborate, capture, & share ideas broadly.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/61680137?autoplay=1

This is part of a larger presentation about the role of Social in the Enterprise & our roadmap for Microsoft SharePoint & Yammer at TechEd 2013.

• SES-B206: Overview of Enterprise Social from Microsoft (June 2013)
  http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/SES-B206#fbid=

No words can express how awesome this ad is… for the most secure browser in the world.