Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Created by The Windows Club:

• DOWNLOAD: Infographic on Windows Phone 8 Features (Poster)
  http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com/originals/b4/d6/e5/b4d6e50dff90ebcda989ff27e8e1d951.jpg

I hadn’t installed the Skype Desktop in a long while.  Then I saw this:

If this makes you lol, like it did me, great!  If you don’t know what this is… well, never mind.

Does your Windows Phone 8 occasionally reboot, freeze, randomly shutdown, or display a “SIM Error” message, dropping your cellular connectivity?

I figure there are people out there that have encountered the same things as I have so I thought I’d document some of what I’ve heard/experienced:

• Lync-Skype Conflict
  Do you have both Lync & Skype installed?  I’ve heard that the two don’t mix.  Having both Lync & Skype can reportedly result in freezes, lock ups, and potential reboots.  I personally have to have Lync installed for business and from personal experience, if I install Skype, there is definitely a destabilization of my phone at some level, resulting in either random shutdowns or reboots.  Hence Skype is not on my device since I need Lync.
• 1.0GB of Space Threshold
  When you look at SETTINGS and you click PHONE STORAGE, you may noticed that you probably have something above 1.0GB of free space.  In my experience, if I approach 1.0GB and attempt to cross into having LESS than that, my phone will suddenly suddenly exhibit an array of issues during the day:  Freezes, lock ups, random shutdowns, etc.  Bottom line: I always make sure I have more than 1.0GB remaining.  For anyone looking to follow my lead, remember that your device will naturally consume & relinquish space in your available storage for temp/cache usage so be wary of your storage utilization.

Are you running out of “free space” on your Windows Phone 8 device like me?

I have an HTC 8X Windows Phone 8 device & it has 16GB but lacks an microSD expansion.  I’ve loaded about 5.2GB worth of media, photos, and apps on the device & discovered some rather weird instability that occurs once the device gets to about 1.0GB of free space (freezes, reboots, etc.) so I always make sure I am above that threshold.

Here’s the problem:

• I have 3.6GB of apps installed.  I’d uninstall the big apps if I could figure out which ones were the space hogs, but alas, there’s still no way to tell which apps are the HIPPOS on my phone without going through them one-by-one on http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/ and checking the registered app size.  ANNOYING.
• There’s 5.4GB of storage occupied by “other”… a category listed in SETTINGS->PHONE STORAGE that no one seems to understand very well.  Between the 5.2GB of personal apps & data installed, the 5.4GB of “other”, 2.4GB of System storage used… I’m basically out of storage.  This bumps me up against about 1.5GB left, leaving me only 500MB to play with before I hit that 1GB threshold I mentioned earlier.

Q: So what the heck is 5.4GB of “other”?

I found a tool on the Windows Phone Store that appears to fix this problem by freeing up much of that ‘other’:

• Shrink Storage (Free)
  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/shrink-storage/44672108-f3f8-47df-bd19-3fe94e6c744a

The background on the interwebs says that Joe Belfiore himself has admitted the free storage clean up needs some tuning and thus after using the device for a while, “other” storage can build up and eat up your free space.

There’s some key things to know before using the tool:

• Disable photo/video automatic uploading-to-SkyDrive.
  Before you use the tool, go to PHOTOS->SETTINGS.  Look at “Auto upload:  SkyDrive” and if “turned on”… turn it off.  Apparently this is the source of much of this “wasted” space that gets consumed by “other”.  Temp space is consumed during this process & storage isn’t reallocated as free after photos are uploaded to the cloud.
  (NOTE: This was somewhat verified by a tweet sent by Microsoft Corp VP Joe Belfiore about the issue of “Other” storage consuming space on a device.)
• Let the Phone OS clear “Other Storage” after using the ‘Fill Phone Storage’ function.
  The tool essentially consumes all the storage on the device when you press “Fill Phone Storage” (takes as much as 10 minutes or more) then you’re supposed to do a reboot/soft reset.  After the restart, use the phone for a while by running some apps, preferably ones that use a decent amount of memory & storage like Internet Explorer, Outlook Mail, etc.  What will happen is the system will be nudged into clearing up that “other” storage & freeing it up.  After using the device for a bit, check SETTINGS->PHONE STORAGE and see whether “other” has been reduced. Now reopen the Shrink Storage app and use the “Clean Phone Storage” and you find your phone to have much more free space on it.

Personally, I had 1.51GB left before I used the tool.  After running Shrink Storage, using the ‘Fill Phone Storage’ function, rebooting, using the app for a bit, then checking Phone Storage, I noticed I had 2.28GB free.  Remember:  This was BEFORE I used the ‘Clean Phone Storage’ feature.

After running Shrink Storage again, then using the ‘Clean Phone Storage’ feature, I found I had 3.79GB of storage:  An improvement of exactly 2.28GB of free space.

Thumbs up, Manu Bauer! (The author of the tool)

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UPDATE 3/31/13:
Apparently Corporate VP Joe Belfiore tweeted something that verified that this is a known issue.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/winphone/forum/wp8-wpstart/what-is-other-under-storage/979d2948-249b-4303-a475-4183b15af2d6

There’s also been a few articles that talk about what other things you can do to reduce your storage utilization.
http://www.wpxbox.com/windows-phone-other-storage/

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UPDATE 4/1/13:
I thought I’d elaborate on the issues I started having out of the blue a few days ago – all of which were completely resolved once I did the above optimization:

• Random, unpredictable reboots – even while it’s just sitting on my wireless charger.  Once a week.
• Random shutdowns – which was scary because I’d pull my phone out of my pocket only to discover it’ was completely off & no one could call me or text me.  Every other day.
• “SIM error” message that would appear in a Notification bar at the top of the screen, that would shut off the cellular phone stack & communication (WiFi would continue to work)  Every other day.

Wanna stop paying for 3rd party cloud storage like BOX, DropBox, etc.?

Just posted a few days ago, this is a TechNet article that goes into detail about what SkyDrive Pro is, how it’s architected, and what solutions it addresses.

Published: March 26, 2013

Summary: Learn about SkyDrive Pro, its architecture, and the benefits of using SkyDrive Pro in SharePoint Server 2013.

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2013 Standard | SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise 

This article helps administrators learn about SkyDrive Pro, the SkyDrive Pro architecture in SharePoint Server 2013, and the benefits of using SkyDrive Pro. Before you read this article, you should be familiar with My Sites. For more information, see My Sites in What’s new in social computing in SharePoint Server 2013.

In this article:

• Terminology and concepts for SkyDrive Pro
• Architecture of SkyDrive Pro
• Benefits of using SkyDrive Pro

View the article here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn167720.aspx

The other day, I stumbled upon two new utilities that I thought were cool enough to write about. 

LockHunter is a foolproof file unlocker.  It is a free tool to delete files blocked by something you do not know. LockHunter is useful for fighting against malware, and other programs that are blocking files without a reason. Unlike other similar tools it deletes files into the recycle bin so you may restore them if deleted by mistake.

Key Features

• Shows processes locking a file or folder
• Allows to unlock, delete, copy or rename a locked file
• Allows to kill locking process
• Allows to remove locking processes from hard drive
• Can unload DLLs from processes
• Integrates in to Explorer menu
• It deletes files into the recycle bin, so you may restore them if deleted by mistake
• Supports both 32 and 64bit Windows

DOWNLOAD: LockHunter – Free Desktop-integrated File Unlocker
http://lockhunter.com/

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And then there’s USB Safely Remove, made by the same developer.  This tool is NOT free however I think it’s equally valuable.  I bought it instantly.

USB Safely Remove is an enhanced and hassle-free replacement for Windows safe removal tool. It saves your time and gives you more power on active work with any kind of USB/eSATA devices.

• It saves time…
• Displaying what prevents a device from being stopped
• Safe removal via hotkeys
• Lets you recognize a device in a snap…
• The handy menu with device icons
• Real device names and the ability to rename them
• Lets you hide devices you never need to stop
• Extends your portable opportunities…
• Program autorun on device connection/disconnection
• Command line for safe removal
• Does unique things!
• Hiding drives of empty card reader slots
• Powers off devices in Vista and Win7
• Card reader memory cards ejection one-by-one
• Re-activating a device that just stopped!

DOWNLOAD: USB Safely Remove – 3rd party SysTray Storage Removal tool
http://safelyremove.com/

BUILD is coming!

The upcoming BUILD 2013, Microsoft’s Developers Conference was announced on the Official Microsoft Blog, along with all the pertinent details.

BUILD 2013
www.buildwindows.com
Moscone Center
San Francisco, CA
June 26th (9:00AM) -28th (2:30PM)
Registration begins April 2nd at 9AM PDT
Early bird registration $1,595 (1st 500 registrants)
Standard registration $2,095 (all others until sold out)

Follow @bldwin for more information.

For a look at the videos from BUILD 2012, check this out:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/2012

Read below & see for yourself:

How to redeem this offer

• Visit your local Microsoft store to register or;
• Bring in your current device or game software for recycling and receive a Microsoft store gift card for:
  • up to $400 for a smartphone.
  • up to $400 for tablet or PC.
  • up to $125 for a game console.
  • up to $10 for games.
• See store associate for more detail.

*Valid March 4, 2013 until March 31, 2013. Available in select Microsoft retail stores in US (not including Puerto Rico); not valid Microsoft online store. To be eligible for trade-in, your tablet, PC, phone, game console, or game media, should include device power cord, if available, and device cannot be password protected. Applicable Microsoft store gift-card value will be determined at trade-in, and is subject to Microsoft’s discretion and manager approval. Not valid on prior orders or purchases; cannot be transferred or otherwise redeemed for cash or gift cards. Not combinable with other offers. All trade-ins are final. Other Recycle for Rewards terms and conditions apply. See store associate for details.

Visit the web site for more details:
http://content.microsoftstore.com/store/offers#offer-recycle-rewards

This week there was a lot written in the press about the basic premise that a move to the cloud is dramatic enough without having to deal with significant & time-consuming integration, compatibility, and continuity problems. 

The tl;dr version can be best summarized as, “You get what you pay for”, but there’s more to it than that.  Read on:

• CNET: “My Google Spreadsheet Fail”
  by Stephen Shankland – March 26, 2013 7:52 AM PDT
  “Google wants it to be a "nonissue" when Google Docs and Chrome OS users work with Microsoft Office files. CNET News’ Stephen Shankland ran into hitches and glitches that show that’s not the case.”
  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57576290-93/my-google-spreadsheet-fail/
• ZDNET: My big email switch: Why I picked Office 365 over Google Apps
  By David Gewirtz – March 26, 2013 — 15:56 GMT (08:56 PDT)
  “The bizarre moral of my migration story: I would actually face fewer service interruptions and more service continuity for my existing mission-critical Google services if I switched to Microsoft Office.”
  http://www.zdnet.com/my-big-email-switch-why-i-picked-office-365-over-google-apps-7000013143/

Are you deploying Windows 8?

Here are a few resources that you’ll want to keep handy for your users.

APP: Windows 8 Handbook
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-US/app/windows-8-handbook/283f362e-b936-448f-8379-b66a39698dd9

GUIDE: Windows 8 Quick Reference Book (11.8MB, PDF)
http://www.oemsalescenter.com/ConLib/CustomizerControls/create.aspx?T=&PID=38787&catid=d39e1c00-7c1e-409d-afde-360a607f312d

BOOKS: Windows 8 Plain & Simple (And other MS Press books)
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0790145338945.do

REFERENCE: QuickStart Card for Microsoft Windows 8 ($4.95)
http://www.brainstorminc.com/for-business/train-by-product/microsoft/windows/windows-8