Kurt Shintaku's Blog

I really like Soapbox. 

Unless you’ve been living in a cave over the past couple of weeks, you know that Microsoft went into beta with its online video service called Soapbox.  It’s got a very clean interface and appears to be the only service that optimizes the video experience depending on the the end user’s client software.

If you visit http://soapbox.msn.com and you use Windows & Internet Explorer:
– You will get Windows Media 9 streams, which are bandwidth friendly and looks fantastic.

If you visit http://soapbox.msn.com and you use Firefox or you use a Macintosh with Safari:
– You will get a Flash Video stream instead.

My "MSN Soapbox" video area is located at, for anyone who cares.
http://soapbox.msn.com/?user=61433066857300877

Anyone that’s heard one of my talks in the past on Windows operating system reliability has heard me say that the number one problem with Windows reliability has been without a doubt, the stablity of hardware drivers and if we had to focus on one particular type of driver that’s caused users the most problems… it’d be printer drivers.

Bad printer drivers can cause actual crashes, erratic behavior, intermittent freezes in the UI, complete and total freezes of the system… a whole littany of problems that people often attribute to the operating system instead of a 3rd party piece of code.

FAMOUS BAD PRINTER DRIVERS
A good example of this is the HP Laserjet 5 PCL driver back in the late 90’s.  The driver was sooooo bad that most people resorted to using the old HP Laserjet 4 PCL driver which, while not being able to use any of the advanced features of the LaserJet 5 hardware like double-sided printing, was extremely stable and reliable.

Another example of "bad printer drivers" is how some people try to install unsigned Windows 95/98 printer drivers into Windows XP.  THIS IS A SERIOUS NO-NO, PEOPLE.  Yes, it might work but it’s gonna come back to haunt you.  Never install a printer driver into Windows XP that isn’t specifically a Windows XP printer driver.

HOW TO REMOVE A PRINTER DRIVER
What’s my point?  Well, recently someone asked me how to uninstall a printer driver:  Not just uninstall a configured printer… the actual driver itself.  It was suspected that the printer driver itself was causing problems and under Windows XP, the typical user thinks to go to Computer Management under Administrative Tools, and look under devices for a Printer driver to uninstall.

The only problem of course is that Printer drivers aren’t located here.  Chalk this up as a brain fart on our part.  This is how you go about removing a defective or misbehaving printer driver in Windows XP:

1. Go to Printers & Faxes
2. Delete the printer configuration in question.  (For safety’s sake, you may want to consider deleting all printer configurations to ensure that you aren’t still using some element of the driver in another configuration somewhere.  Remember that a driver is often times more than just a single file.  It may involve shared libraries in use by multiple printer configurations.)
3. Go to File –> Server Properties
4. Go to the Drivers tab.  You will be presented with a list of drivers.
5. Select a Driver and press the "Remove" button.

HOW TO FIX THE PRINT SPOOLER
Now, if this doesn’t work, it may be possible that your Print Spooler services is hosed.  This was a problem that I once encountered that can usually be fixed using a Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit tool called CLEANSPL.EXE.   You can download the whole ResKit from here.   (Thanks to Bruce Sanderson for this explanation.  He has the problem of fixing the Print Spooler well documented on his web site.)

So, have you ever wondered how much power your systems are consuming?  I have an electrical bill that’s skyrocketed into the $400/month range. Half the time I wasn’t sure what was consuming all that power outside of my air conditioning.

Now, I know.  Servers and other items in the ol’ castle are chewing up an inordinate amount of power.  How can you tell?  Use Kill-a-watt.  They only cost $22-$25 each.

http://supermediastore.com/kilwateldet1.html

Kill-a-watt measures how much power a given appliance or outlet is consuming so you can tell what are the real power hogs are.  Worth every penny in the long run, if you can save $25/month by doing some measuring.

Tim Sneath, a Windows Vista Evangellist, has a blog that he posts cool stuff that he knows about Windows Vista.  I don’t write about too many other people’s blogs but Tim’s got my attention because it’s got a lot of stuff in there from a very smart guy who clearly knows his job.

Tim Sneath’s Blog – http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/default.aspx

BTW:  If you haven’t installed at LEAST Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 into a Virtual PC machine by now, you’re definitely not a techie geek.  Heck, you’re not even a wanna-be techie.  Hang up your pocket protector, drop your asthma inhaler, and turn in your "techie" credentials.  And feed the "I’m busy" line to someone who’ll listen.  Congratulations on being ordinary.

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Check out our mini Tips & Tricks Webcasts, now available on demand.  Each mini-webcast runs 1-10 minutes and provides a great overview of key new features in each core Office application. 

View the 2007 Office system Top 5 New Features mini-webcasts at the links provided below:

• Outlook: 
  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=PQ2XJQ&role=attend&pw=19BEE16C
• Word:
  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=HH79SK&role=attend&pw=19BEE16C
• Excel:
  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=6TB65K&role=attend&pw=19BEE16C
• PowerPoint: 
  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=M3SZSK&role=attend&pw=19BEE16C
• SharePoint: 
  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mseventsbmo/view?id=2THFWW&role=attend&pw=19BEE16C

In addition, there are many other great Office system webcasts available on demand found at:  http://www.microsoft.com/office/greattips/on-demandlist.mspx

The question that people always ask me is, "Why is Windows Vista so annoying?  It asks for authorization to execute virtually EVERYTHING & ANYTHING in the OS."

This is an interesting problem.  Basically the reason comes down to the fact that any program that is not written in managed code can potentially be dangerous – i.e. be a virus/trojan – on a person’s Windows Vista PC.  Being that most applications are binary direct Win32API written, it’s very difficult to ascertain what code is bad and what code is good when it is being executed.

NOT JUST A WINDOWS PROBLEM
For the record – this is a problem that exists on every platform.  Windows is simply the biggest target platform and its users more often than not simply don’t know whether or not a program is doing "bad" or "good".  And it’s getting worse because many of today’s viruses & trojans/malicious code is written by not just "hackers" or "script kiddies" but actual individuals affiliated with organized crime.  The goal is usually the collection of credit card numbers, bank accounts, identities (social security numbers in particular) etc.

ANY PROGRAM MIGHT BE A THREAT
Again, the issue is that it’s hard to ascertain the trustworthiness of most of today’s applications.  The recent announcement of how opening a seemingly innocuous Adobe Acrobat document can easily execute any code on an unsuspecting user’s machine is a precise example of why Windows Vista is so vigilant in protecting every execution point on the operating system.

You may be thinking, "Yeah, but I’m smarter than that."  Well good for you.  The majority of computer users aren’t.  Think of the small business owner who makes nuts & bolts in a small town in Oklahoma who sells his products over the Internet.  Do you think he knows what programs to be wary of?  What attachments to be concerned about?  Remember:  We’re talking things like .PDF files now that he might have received from what he believes to be some prospective customer on the Internet.

That’s most of the Windows users out there.  They’re interested in BUSINESS – the computer is just a tool to get real work done.  We have an obligation to protect those users, hence the mechanisms in Windows Vista.

Microsoft ® Collaboration Technologies Seminar
November 8, 2006, 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Westin South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, CA
To register: http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?culture=en-US&eventid=1032307898&x=13&y=13

Find out how to empower your organization to work together more effectively at an event designed for technology executives and professionals. Microsoft® Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions enable people to work from anywhere so they can exchange ideas and information more effectively across multiple channels. This special event will include a keynote presentation by a specialist from Forrester research, and informative presentations from Microsoft. The planned agenda for this event includes:

Time Session

• 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast and Registration
• 9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks, Ken Gosselin, Microsoft Corp.
• 9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Keynote Presentation: “Developing An Enterprise Collaboration Strategy For Today―And The Future”
  What is a collaboration platform? Hear Forrester Research’s perspective on collaboration and its role, and a summary of Forrester’s 10-step collaboration strategy work plan.
  Presented by Erica Grimes, Research Analyst, Forrester Research
• 10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Break
• 10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Enterprise Content Management: Secure and Manage Content
  What are the challenges and trends facing organizations in managing content, and ensuring that the right people have the right access to the right information? In this session, you’ll learn about challenges and opportunities, and technologies which can help you securely manage your organization’s intellectual assets.
  Presented by: John Lee and Charles Maxson, Microsoft Corp.
• 11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Unified Communications & Collaboration: Simplify Working Together
  The number of ways in which people work together and share information continues to grow, providing organizations with opportunities to enable people to collaborate across time and distance boundaries. At this session, we’ll provide insight into Microsoft’s communication and collaboration strategy and vision.
  Presented by: JB Blevins and Chandler Bootchk, Microsoft Corp.
• 12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. Lunch will be served
• 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. (Session presented during lunch)
  Introducing the 2007 Microsoft Office System: Increasing Capabilities, Efficiency, and Productivity
  In today’s business environment, time equates to money, and studies show that employees today lose time in searching for information they need. See how Microsoft Office Groove 2007, Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 and Microsoft Outlook 2007 add capabilities to create a solution that helps information workers collaborate and work more efficiently.
  Presented by: Leo Loro and Charles Maxson, Microsoft Corp.
• 1:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Closing Session, Ken Gosselin, Microsoft Corp.

Time/Date:
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
8:30 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Location:
Westin South Coast Plaza
686 Anton Boulevard, Costa Mesa, California 92626
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1002

Registration:
To register: http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?culture=en-US&eventid=1032307898&x=13&y=13
Or, visit http://www.microsoft.com/usa/events, and search on Event ID 1032307898.