Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Whether you’re an IT pro or a developer, the Windows Sysinternals site provides utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot, and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. Here are some of the new or updated utilities available within the last month:

• Process Monitor v1.1, an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time file system, registry, and process/thread activity. It combines the features of two earlier Sysinternals utilities, Filemon and Regmon, and adds an extensive list of new enhancements.
• AccessChk v3.0, a security utility that shows you the methods that users have to gain access to files, registry keys, and services. The update adds support for processes, including display of their Windows Vista object and running integrity levels.
• PSExec v1.80, a lightweight Telnet replacement that lets you execute processes on other systems. This update enhances the -i option to allow process launch in a specific session; on Windows Vista, the -l switch runs a process with low integrity.

The new LM 2005 Add-in Pack (compatible with Vista and Office 2007) is now available from the public download page:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=D1984810-117A-45FF-BFEC-2756C6111097&displaylang=en

Notify your users and install it yourself if you want to be able to schedule meetings and start ad-hoc MeetNow meetings using the new Windows and Office and the production Live Meeting service.

Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook
With the Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook, you can:

• Schedule a Live Meeting from Outlook
• Identify individual meeting participants as attendees or presenters
• Send separate invitations for attendees and for presenters
• Specify default meeting options and override those defaults for specific meetings

Live Meeting Add-in for Office Collaboration

• With the Office Collaboration Add-in, you can start a Meet Now meeting directly from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, or Project. The document appears in an application sharing session.

Live Meeting Add-in for Instant Messaging

• If the recipient also has the Live Meeting Add-in Pack installed, you can start a Live Meeting from Windows Messenger or from MSN Messenger.

Date:  March 20th, 2007
Task:  Install brand new Virtual PC with Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2
Stage:  Finished Windows XP Pro install.  Beginning ‘Microsoft Update’ to patch system.

Estimated Patching Requirements: 
74 patches, 57.1MB, Estimated 1 hour 7 minutes.

Actual time to patch:
11:06AM-11:36AM… i.e. 30 minutes. (Whew!)

Want a freely distributable, easy-to-install, fast network file copier that spawns multiple threads to maximize network bandwidth across a WAN and has checkpoint/restart support for those files that get chopped because of a WAN/VPN disconnect?  (There’s nothing worse then having downloaded 90% of a .ISO file over a WAN connection and having it "disconnect", requiring you to restart the download all over again.)

Introducing VXCopy:  (Requires .NET 2.0 – 421K initial download, 571k download for “click-once” install)

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.vrxtools.com/vxcopy/Default.aspx

I found an interesting piece of research that goes over what color combinations make for good/bad readability.  (http://hubel.sfasu.edu/research/AHNCUR.html)  It’s hard to parse through all the research and really understand what they’re trying to say, when all you and I really want to know is, "what are the best, most understandable fonts, formatting, and color combinations".

So here’s what I’ve concluded, after reading it all:

1. Use plain fonts; don’t use italics.
   Italics generally makes things 10%-25% more difficult to read, especially Times Roman text.
   There are 2 exceptions to this rule however; Italics improve readability when using the following fonts & colors:
   –  Yellow Text on Blue background using Courier New
   –  White text on Blue Background using Courier New & Times Roman
2. The best configuration for readability is Italicized/Times Roman Green text on Yellow background.
   The most readable configuration for text across all scenarios is Italicized Times Roman in Green fonts on Yellow background.  I mean, Iit’s not even close – ugly as it is, this is what you want to use if you just want readability and you don’t care about appearances.  (This test was scientifically executed across 40+ test subjects too so it’s not like this is off the mark) And this is the ONLY exception to the "don’t use italics" rule.

The problem is that most people care about appearances, so let’s assume that people aren’t going to use Italics in general.  If you concentrate on just the Plain, Non-Italicized text research:

1. The best font to use overall is Courier.
   Across all conditions, Courier is best.  Arial on the other hand, is actually the most difficult font to read however Times Roman & Arial are better fonts for readability over Courier in very specific configurations.  Here are the best configurations for readability: 
   –  Italicized/Times Roman Green on Yellow background
   –  Plain/Arial Black text on White background
2. The best colors to use are Black text on White background.
   In general, this is the best color match for readability.  This is closely followed by Green text on Yellow background.  Black text on Grey background is close as well EXCEPT for when using Arial font in this case, in which readability goes to hell. 
   The worst colors to use for readability are:
   –  White text on Blue background
   –  Red text on Green background

It’s rare that I’m the one to state the obvious but what the heck’s up with Windows Vista & Office 2007 not providing a Preview Handler for the .XPS format?  Isn’t a .XPS Handler obvious?  Shouldn’t I be able  to view a .XPS file in the Outlook Preview Window in the same way I view a .DOCX file or a .PDF file if I have the right Preview Handler installed?  Or do the same in an Windows Vista Explorer window when using the Preview feature?  (See picture for how to turn this on)  This in my opinion is a gross oversight and I’m curious as to why we left one out. 

MSDN TO THE RESCUE!
Fortunately, the folks in MSDN has provided all the tools necessary to cobble together your own solution.  Stephen Toub & Ryan Gregg already wrote a bunch of Preview Handler code in .NET a month ago and provided it as a learning kit in MSDN Magazine to enable other people to write their own Preview Handlers.  And they provided an installable .MSI file which will install not only an XML Preview Handler (to view .XML files cleanly within Outlook/Windows Vista Preview) but also a XPS Preview Handler as well based on the same code.

REQUIREMENTS:
1) Visual J# Redistributable Package
The only downside is that the install requires that you as a lay person to also install the Visual J# Redistributable Package from here:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=F72C74B3-ED0E-4AF8-AE63-2F0E42501BE1&displaylang=en (3.6MB)

2) MSDN Preview Handlers Package
After the Visual J# redistributable package is installed, you need to do two steps:  First you need to download the MSDN Preview Handlers Package from here:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/code/?url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/01/PreviewHandlers/Default.aspx
Once you install this to a directory on your system, there will be a directory called PreviewHandlersInstallerPreviewHanderls setup.MSI.  The .MSI file needs to be run as an Administrator.

Once installed, you’ll find immediately that .XPS files preview just fine using the newly installed Preview Handlers… and more!

AND MORE?
That’s right.  This package installs two primary .DLL’s – MSDNMagXAMLPreviewHandler.dll and MSDNMagPreviewHandlers.dll.  And these include Preview Handlers for all sorts of files.   Here’s a quick listing of the types of files that now can be previewed using this package;

• MSI Preview Handler 
  This might not be useful in Outlook 2007 unless you’ve tweaked it to allow the receipt of .MSI executable files however it’s certainly useful for Windows Explorer’s Preview Pane.  It tells you the contents of the .MSI file, the size of each file and the version of each file by default. 
• CSV Preview Handler
  A CSV file is a comma-separated value file which is more commonly associated with Excel or development.  The preview pane will display a .CSV file as if it were a spreadsheet.
• ZIP Preview Handler
  Besides showing the content of a ZIP file directly within the preview pane of Windows Explorer or Outlook, it will allow you to directly open any of the files within the ZIP file just like accessing a directory.
• BIN Preview Handler
  This will show the hexidecimal code within a given .BIN or .DAT file directly within the Preview pane. 
• XAML Preview Handler
  XAML is Extensible Application Markup Language and is an amazing flexible way to define graphically rich visual user interfaces, similar in nature to Macromedia Flash however the content is not in a special .SWF file but rather entirely in XML making it very easy to inspect and developer friendly.  This preview pane will display a XAML file directly within the preview pane.   If you’d like to see an example of this you can download a ZIP of XAML files here:  Skippy.zip.  There is also a write up about creating and programming the animation in XAML here:
  http://blogs.msdn.com/wpfsdk/archive/2006/05/23/Animating_XAML_Clip_Art.aspx

  This is what the XAML Preview Handler in Windows Explorer looks like:

Man – one of the greatest productivity boosters I’ve had in the past few months has been the introduction of "middle click" with Windows Vista.  Call me lame but I never did this before and it’s the default function of Windows Vista for the scroll wheel button.

BATCH PROCESSING SEARCH RESULTS
Basically, when you click on the scroll wheel of you mouse as a button within Internet Explorer on a particular hyperlink, by default the action of Windows is to open the link’s URL as a new tab within Internet Explorer 7.0, while keeping the focus on your current page.

This allows you to scour, say a search results page like Windows Live or Google, and simply click search results links to your heart’s content, and have the potential "correct" sites just line up as tabs in your current browser session.  This can be as many results as you want, and it allows you to select all the links you think might relate to your search query all at once, then inspect each link for the information you’re looking for.

I can’t express how this ability to "batch process" search results has increased my Internet research productivity.  Seriously – it might not seem like a big deal to you, but it sure has speedened things up for me.  It’s a godsend and it’s one of my Top 10 favorite things about Windows Vista.

OOPS!  INTELLIPOINT CHANGES THE BEHAVIOR
If you’ve read my past posts, you know I am also in love with the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000.  This little guy is fantastic and is the sales person’s diminutive dream when it comes to laptop accessories.  The hardware guys at Microsoft really got it right when they made this thing.

The problem is that it requires Intellipoint – some special software we make – to allow the "presenter buttons" on the bottom of the mouse to function.  Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal however it reprograms my beloved "middle click" "scroll wheel button" to use this thing called the "Instant Viewer", a task switching applications that gives you a view of all the running applications… something like Flip3D, but not as nifty.

So to chance it, you have to run the Microsoft Mouse program (it gets installed when you install Intellipoint) and create an application specific setting for the middle click/scroll wheel click button so that it

ALSO PROGRAM KEYS FOR "ZOOMIT" FOR AN ADDED PRESENTER’S BONUS
Here’s another interesting thing to reprogram if you’re doing this already:  Download Zoomit.exe from Systinternals.com.  (Now part of Microsoft)  Zoomit.exe will allow you to "Zoom in" on a part of the desktop to allow your spectators to get a better view of the desktop.  It’s also really eyecatching and captivates and audience when you use it because it "zooms in" in an animated fashion. 

Normally, you would click CTRL+1 however, you can program the left side button in Microsoft Intellipoint to apply the keystroke, "CTRL+1" and also program the right side button to apply the keystroke, "CTRL+2".  This will enable you to "zoom in" to an area of the screen simply by clicking the left side button.  You can draw on the screen by clicking the left mouse button to toggle "drawing mode" on and off.  If you wish to draw on the screen without first zooming in, simply click the right side button which will issue the CTRL+2 keystrokes and that will allow you to do just that.

Of course you need to be running Zoomit so add this to your Startup folder.

This is an old write up I did on how to use the different services on Verizon Wireless’ network.  Stuff like call forwarding, 3-way calling, etc.  I figured I’d post it in case there were folks that didn’t know this stuff.

Call Forwarding

No-Answer Transfer (CFNA: Calls go directly to the forwarded number if the call isn’t answered after the 30sec standard or approx 5-6 rings)

To turn on:

• Press * 9 2 (VISION-No Cal, use *68), (VISION-Hawaii, El Paso, use *71). Note: NoCal markets using Motorola switches, use *71 (Maybe)
• Enter forwarding phone number (10 digits).
• Press SND and wait for confirmation.
• Press END.

To turn off:

• Press * 9 2 0 (VISION – SoCal markets, use *720), (VISION-No Cal, use *680), (VISION-Hawaii/El Paso, use *710). Note: Northern California markets using Motorola switches – use *710 (*73 to deactivate all CF). (Maybe)
• Press SND and wait for confirmation.
• Press END.

(Kurt’s Notes: This is weird. In SoCal, it’s "*92 <insert phone number> <SEND>" to initiate call forwarding, and "*720<SEND>" to turn it off. Your confirmation that everything went okay should be a sequence of quick beeps then a disconnect. The Verizon operator gave me the wrong information initially.)

Immediate Forwarding (CFI – no rings)

To turn on:

• Press * 7 2.
• Enter forwarding phone number (10 digits).
• Press SND and wait for confirmation.
• Press END.

To turn off:

• Press * 7 2 0. Note: Northern California markets using Motorola switches can use *73 to deactivate all CF. (Maybe)
• Press SND and wait for confirmation.
• Press END.

Call Forward Busy (CFB)

To turn on:

• Press *90 (VISION-No Cal, use *68), (VISION-Hawaii, El Paso, use *71). Note: Northern California markets using Motorola switches – use *90. (Maybe)
• Enter forwarding phone number (7 or 10 digits)
• Press SND and wait for confirmation
• Press END.

To turn off

• Press *900 (VISION – SoCal markets, use *720), (VISION-No Cal, use *680), (VISION-Hawaii/El Paso, use *710). Note: Northern California markets using Motorola switches – use *91 (*73 to deactivate all CF). (Maybe)
• Press SND and wait for confirmation
• Press END

Three-Way Calling

• Place first call normally.
• While 1st caller is on the line, make the second call (number + SND).
• When the second call answers, press SND to connect all three calls.
• To end Three-Way call
• Press SND; second call is dropped, original call continues

Sending a Text Message

• Email <your cell phone number>@vtext.com
  Example: 3103332222@vtext.com

Looks like it’s the end of the line for FoxPro/xBase new releases here at Microsoft.  Yesterday we announced that FoxPro will not have new releases after v9.0.  What a long strange trip.  We acquired FoxPro back in 1990 and since then, it’s had a very loyal database developer following, however it’s been a deviation from traditional .NET development & SQL Server, our flagship database.

But now the time to transition has come.  We will however provide support for FoxPro 9.0 until 2015.
RELEASE HERE:  http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb308952.aspx

Customers should start developing transition plans for their line of business applications.  The good news is that we’ve been taking the best parts of FoxPro and integrating them into our existing product base such as SQL Server, Visual Studio Team Foundation Services, and .NET.

There is a community of folks migrating from FoxPro available here: 
http://vfpconversion.com/

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 released to the web today.
PRODUCT PAGE:  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2.mspx

NOTE TO AUTOMATIC UPDATE USERS 
The big deal about SP2 is the fact that on June 12, 2007, Service Pack 2’s going to be pushed out as a critical update through Automatic Update, so if you have a server that uses Automatic Update to pull down it’s patches, be aware that this is going to happen in June.  It is possible to block this push and delay the implementation of SP2 on servers by applying a blocking tool available here – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FC145B0B-C148-445A-82BA-9B2F3AEF6E60&displaylang=en – however this blocking tool will expire March 13, 2008.
(There’s some discussion about this on the Windows Server Blog.)

WHAT CAN IT BE APPLIED TO
Service Pack 2 can be installed on NT5.1 x86, x64, IA64, Web, Std, Ent, and DC installations and/or permutations of the following:
– Servers with Original Windows Server 2003 installations
– Servers with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 already installed
– Servers with Windows Server R2 installed (which is basically a WS2003 SP1 installation and a bunch of other services
– Servers using Windows Storage Server 2003 or R2

WHAT’S IN IT?
There’s two elements of Service Pack 2 to be concerned about:
– New functionality (See note below about the new WDS component)
Documentation on the new functionality incorporated into Service Pack 2 is located here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/cda7d603-fdd6-4a48-b045-89adac6e519e1033.mspx?mfr=true
– Patches/Hotfixes
The list of regression tested fixes included in SP2 are listed on this support page:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914962

NOTE:  One of the drastic changes in functionality for Windows Server 2003 SP2 is the replacement of Remote Installation Services (RIS) with the Windows Deployment Services (WDS).  This is a over-the-network system imaging technology that enables the installation of Windows systems (desktop or server) through network boot & WIM image files.  There is no further development being done on either RIS or Automated Deployment Services (ADS), the predecessors to Windows Deployment Services.

DOCUMENTATION
There’s installation & deployment documentation available for Service Pack 2 available for download here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/c050419b-98a2-4802-b719-629a33a332391033.mspx?mfr=true 

SLIPSTREAMING SERVICE PACK 2
Slipstreaming or integrating the service pack files into an existing source file install point on a drive or on the network involves using the "/Integrate:Path" command line instruction.  Detailed instructions for slipstreaming SP2 into Windows Server 2003/R2/SP1 directories are available here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/0ed8bcf4-3edf-4295-bfab-896224dde9371033.mspx?mfr=true