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New Addition to Window-Eyes Phone Training: Script Training

Have you wanted to use scripts with Window-Eyes, but you are not sure how? Do you need some...

 

 

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Free e-book: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips

Anything free is good? so this e-book from Microsoft press looks something worthwhile for anyone trying to troubleshoot Windows 7
Microsoft Press : Free e-book: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips

“Mitch Tulloch, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and lead author of the just-published (and hot-selling) Windows 7 Resource Kit (Microsoft Press, 2010; ISBN: 9780735627000; 1760 pages), has created a short e-book called “What You Can Do Before You Call Tech Support.” Here are the opening paragraphs:
Your sound card has stopped working, your computer seems sluggish, the network is down, your hard drive is clicking, you can’t view a website, your monitor is hard to read, your new webcam isn’t working, your favorite program won’t run, and a funny burning smell is coming from your computer. What can you do on your own to try to troubleshoot the issue before you pick up the phone to call tech support?
If you’re running Windows 7, quite a lot. Microsoft has included a lot of self-support tools in Windows 7 that you can try using before you seek the help of others, and we’ll examine these in a moment. Then there are the tools you were born with—your five senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch) and most importantly your brain. And by brain I’m including your memory, experience, and capacity for logical reasoning. Finally, there is ancient and sacred lore passed on in secret from Master to Disciple over the millennia. We’ll see shortly how your brain, your senses, and the secrets of the Wise Ones can be very helpful for troubleshooting computer problems. But first let’s look at what troubleshooting tools are built into Windows 7.
You can download the e-book in XPS format here and in PDF format here. Enjoy!”

thanks to @MarkWilsonIT for the tip
Rob

 

 

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Hands-on: Google Voice's new voice mail service

How to use Google Voice's visual voice mail service without losing your personal mobile number.

 

 

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Windows XP and Windows 7 Migration and Coexistence

What do you need to consider when making the move to Windows 7?  If you are running Windows XP there are a number of items to worry about.  How do you migrate applications, personal data, etc.? 

We often focus our attention on the enterprise tools, but I thought it made sense for this article to focus on a single machine upgrade using a consumer point of view. There are some things you can and can’t do, so I thought I’d go on a little adventure to see what the road to Windows 7 was like.

Please note: I am not addressing most of the activation issues I see discussed on the internet. I did however research what we’ve publicly documented and published, and have provided several important references in this article.

Gathering the Resources

The first stop on my little adventure was the local OfficeMax.  I stopped by the retail store to purchase Windows 7 Professional Upgrade.  Yes, I actually spent real money and everything.  I know this seems odd, but I like to run the same thing you do and I don’t have upgrade media and keys with my TechNet subscription (which I find odd).

I decided to setup Windows XP on a fairly state-of-the-art laptop.  The victim in this case was a Lenovo ThinkPad. I could have used my oldest laptop or desktop, but it didn’t seem to make sense to deal with the slower speeds of those machines.  Windows 7 is already installed on my Dell Latitude D820.  I might as well use something newer and faster for testing.

I wanted to look at the issues associated with migrating to Windows 7 and using Windows Virtual PC XP Mode.  So I constructed some scenarios in my mind and set out to test them.  Some of my conclusions are probably wrong so I look forward to your feedback.

Moving to 64 Bit Computing

The version of Windows XP I installed was Professional but it was the 32 bit version.  It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve run Windows XP and hit the usual first issue.  I needed to grab the latest Intel SATA driver for my machines SATA AHCI mode and build a floppy disk for installation.  Brings back old memories.  Good old F6 at install time.  Glad that feature is now history.

The rest of the Windows XP install was easy enough.  I installed the integrated version of Windows XP and SP3 so updating it after that wasn’t too bad.  After I had the OS all ship shape, I proceeded to install a wide variety of applications and data.  I installed some old apps like Dreamweaver 8, and some new applications like Office 2010.  I installed some printers and copied my personal data.

When it was all said and done, I had a nice little Windows XP machine with a smattering of applications, connected printers, and user data.  The next step was of course to backup my work.  You never know how many iterations of testing you might go through so taking “snapshots” of your work along the way is smart.  In order to do that, I purchased Acronis True Image Home 2010.  Man, I really like that product.  Yes, I purchased it with my own money.  I’ve used Ghost for years but I’m really liking the Acronis product now.

So the question is, “Can I upgrade from Windows XP Pro x86 to Windows 7 Pro x64?”  The answer is of course yes and no.  To the best of my knowledge, we have never supported a cross architecture in-place upgrade (x86 –> x64).  And it can’t be done with Windows 7.  We also don’t support upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 even on the same architecture.  So what do you do?

Windows Easy Transfer (WET)

Before we get to the meat of the upgrade/install process, you should consider how you plan to move personal preferences, documents, music, pictures, favorites, etc.  Be sure to check out some of the steps the Windows Client team documented.  In my case, I skipped some of the upgrade checks and downloaded the latest and greatest transfer tool.

Head on over to http://windows.microsoft.com/windows-easy-transfer.  There are 32 and 64 bit versions for Windows XP and Windows Vista.  A word of warning here.  The version for Windows XP only gathers and creates the .MIG file.  In other words, you cannot use this tool to transfer this data into a Windows XP Mode virtual machine.  It does however migrate data to Windows 7 VERY nicely.  The user interface lets to pick and choose what to backup and restore at a very granular level.

If you plan to migrate data from Windows XP to a XP Mode virtual machine, you must use the Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.  The problem with using this tool is that it is an all or nothing proposition.  You cannot pick and choose what is restored.  I have a better recommendation below for XP Mode use.

Custom Installation

When I did my Windows 7 Pro x64 Upgrade media install, I was offered two different choices by the setup program.  They aren’t overt choices but they are there.  The first is to install on the same disk and partition as the current installation of Windows XP.  If you do this, Windows XP, all of the apps, and all of the user data will be moved to a subdirectory called windows.old.

Keep in mind you are going to need a considerable amount of free disk space for all of this to occur.  In my case I am using a 250GB laptop drive and the Windows XP install, apps and data are only consuming about 35GB.  So I had plenty of available disk space.  The end result is pretty interesting for a couple of reasons.

First, grabbing your personal data from windows.old is fast and easy.  You can easily move your docs, pictures, music, etc. via cut and paste.  Since it’s all on the same drive, the move is nearly instant.  No waiting around for a wizard to pull the data out of a proprietary file format.

Second, when you delete windows.old you are left with nothing but Windows 7 and and personal data you decided to grab.  This is effectively a clean install at that point and because you did this in the supported way we expect, you should not hit any issues with the upgrade key activation.

I highly recommend using the windows.old method of custom installation because this seems to be the safe and effective approach.  You still have to install your desired applications into Windows 7, but look at the bright side.  You are starting off with a nice clean system and you can carefully evaluate which applications you really need.  We’ll talk about some application compatibility issues in a minute.

The other choice when using the Custom Installation option is to wipe the hard drive.  This involves formatting the drive and is obviously a destructive process.  You had better make sure you have working backups and copies of your data before going down this path.  See this article for the proper procedure.  See the Windows 7 Troubleshooting and Help area for other topics.  And by all means contact our support organization if you managed to get painted into a corner and need help.

Application Compatibility and XP Mode

An amazing number of tools and articles have already been written about how to move applications from Windows XP to Windows Vista and now Windows 7.  I am not going to go into all of that here because the topic is large and has already been covered in detail.  I would however like to mention something new.

We added some new capabilities to Windows 7 via a free download called Windows Virtual PC.  Windows Virtual PC lets you run a special Windows XP virtual machine that is tightly integrated with the Windows 7 desktop.

XP Mode will run a couple of ways.  As you can see at right, you can run the virtual machine windowed on the Windows 7 desktop.  You can also run applications that are executing in the vm but appear as if they are running native to the Windows 7 desktop.

When I first installed the XP Mode vm, I intended to use the Windows Easy Transfer wizard to migrate some settings from the original Windows XP environment of the physical machine to the virtual machine.  I learned the hard way this is not possible.  Thank heavens for taking backup snapshots along the way.  I then tried to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard but that wasn’t an ideal solution either.  It wanted to dump everything into the virtual machine and that IS NOT the intention of the vm.

Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode are intended to provide that last resort capability for one or two applications that simply won’t run otherwise.  It is not intended to be your production environment.  Therefore you should not need to use WET or the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to migrate data to the XP Mode vm.  Use it for the one or two apps you require, but use Windows 7 for everything else.

Dual Boot

You can of course dual boot Windows 7 with another operating system.  This is also referred to as multiboot.  There are a number of methods to doing this and just for fun I decided to create a multiboot environment where Windows XP is on the original disk partition with Windows 7.

As you might have guessed, I installed Windows 7 using a native-boot VHD thus creating a multiboot environment.  That worked but keep in mind this is totally an unsupported configuration.  Let me repeat that.  As far as I can tell, we do not support a multiboot environment where Windows 7 is deployed like this.  If you want to learn how to do this, see the references below. 

Summary

Moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 can be very easy.  I realize I only touched lightly on the application compatibility topic, but as I mentioned above, there are many articles on how to solve app compat issues.  Many of those issues have already been solved by our partners and independent software developers.

As you can see above, there are a number of approaches to migrating or coexisting with Windows 7 and Windows XP.  I only looked at a single machine over the course of a couple of days.  For those of you supporting multiple machines, we do of course have a strong set of tools to help you assess your environment, automate the upgrades, and deploy Windows 7.  I’ll be writing more about the enterprise tools, but I thought you might enjoy the consumer tasks and tools first.

Screencasts

I actually recorded several screencasts during the research for this blog post.  In the end, I decided not to publish them.  The primary reason is because I felt the tools and techniques are pretty easy to understand.  That and my flabber was gasted when I learned the WET tool could not be used in the XP Mode virtual machine.  At that point it became apparent I had the wrong approach to XP Mode and simplified the tasks you might consider.  Feedback is welcome.

Other Information and References

• TechNet Windows 7 App Compat area - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/aa905066.aspx
• Windows 7 setup and Install Forum - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/threads
• The Windows Team Blog Win7 Movement FAQ - http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/09/24/moving-to-windows-7-faq.aspx
• Windows XP to Windows 7 - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7
• Windows 7 Upgrade Key – activation messages KB article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930373/en-us.
• Dual Boot from VHD - http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/05/22/dual-boot-from-vhd-using-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2.aspx for the first blog post I did.
• More Native Boot from VHD Tool exploration - http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/06/17/automating-boot-from-vhd-os-installation.aspx.
• Native Boot VHD BitLocker testing - http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/09/05/windows-7-dual-boot-revisited-with-bitlocker.aspx.
• Simplified Native Boot from VHD instructions - http://blogs.technet.com/keithcombs/archive/2009/10/15/using-hyper-v-without-re-installing-your-world.aspx (for Hyper-V newbies).

 

 

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No, OEM Microsoft Windows licenses cannot be transferred to another PC

Earlier today I put up the , “Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know,” post here on my Blog and shortly afterwards I received the following question offline:

“If I have an old PC with an OEM Windows license on it, can I just take that Windows license from that PC and us it to qualify for the Windows 7 upgrade?”

Transfer rights and OEM software are two topic that have been discussed here on the Blog quite a bit over the years, so I thought I would put this post together to directly address this question on OEM Windows licenses and transferability.  Bottom line is, no, OEM Microsoft Windows licenses do not have any transfer rights and live and die on the original computer they are shipped with and installed on, period.  Here’s a visual representation for you:

  (Click for full size)

 

As you can see, the OEM Windows license is “locked” to the original PC it comes with and cannot be transferred to any other PC.  So in this instance, the new PC would require a full Windows license, not an upgrade license in order to be licensed to run Microsoft Windows.

Here are some other posts I have put up in the past that may be helpful for you in terms of understanding transfer rights and OEM software:

• When can I add Software Assurance and what happens to the license when Software Assurance is added and the machine retires?
• Licensing Basics: What are Transfer Rights?
• OEM Microsoft Server software. New short video answers top questions about adding Software Assurance.
• Adding Software Assurance to your OEM Office licenses. What you need to know…
• Can we re-install an OEM Windows Desktop Operating System license on a PC when we refurbish it?

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know.

First, the feedback, excitement, etc. we’ve been seeing since the launch of Windows 7 last week has been phenomenal! Thank you to all of you for providing your feedback to us to let us know how your Windows 7 experience is going.

Unfortunately, it looks like it is time to have this conversation again though. Over the past several days there have been various posts, etc. across a variety of social media engines stating that some “hack” (be it a person or a procedure) shows that a Windows 7 Upgrade disc can perform a “clean” installation of Windows 7 on a blank drive from a technical perspective. Of course, from the posts I saw, they often forgot to mention a very basic, yet very important piece of information… “Technically possible” does not always mean legal. Let me explain what I mean:

Here are some very basic facts:

1. When you purchase software, you are purchasing the rights to run the software according to the terms of the End User License Agreement (EULA) that comes with that software.
2. When you install that software, you are agreeing to the terms included in the EULA you purchased.
   • a. For instance, in the Windows 7 EULA it states, “By using the software, you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, return it to the retailer for a refund or credit.”
3. When you purchase an Upgrade license, the included EULA states that you must already own a qualifying full license to upgrade from in order to use the Upgrade license, hence the term “Upgrade.”
   • a. For instance, in the Windows 7 EULA it states, “To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade.”

To put it simply, here is a graphical representation of what this means:

General Example		Example with Product Names

In stark contrast to:

General Example		Example with Product Names

So when these posts and write-ups state that you can install clean from an Upgrade piece of software and they fail to mention that you need to own a qualifying software license to be legal to use the Upgrade software for the installation, they give the impression that because it is technically possible, it is legal to do. Unfortunately, by doing this, they irresponsibly put end users at risk of loading unlicensed software. Because of this, I am putting this post up to try and clarify the truth behind what an upgrade license is and provides so that hopefully people will not find themselves misled by some of these other posts and articles that may mislead them to believe something that is very wrong due to their lack of inclusion of this important piece of information.  If the posts or write-ups you saw did include this information, then kudos to that writer for providing the accurate information.

Now there are many, many, many, many of you out there that already own Windows licenses that qualify for the Windows 7 Upgrade, so this is a non-issue for you. For those of you without an existing Windows license to upgrade from, you should be aware that an Upgrade license by itself is not a license to install and run Windows on your computer. In order to upgrade, you need to have a qualifying license to upgrade from. Again, that’s why it is called an “upgrade.” For you, Windows 7 is available pre-installed on PCs around the world today, or you can purchase a full Windows license from one of the many Microsoft Partners we have, or you can download it today.  You might also want to check out some of the great “7 days of Windows 7 deals” going on right now, such as the “PC home makeover” offer that gets you a laptop, a netbook, and a desktop PC (all three with Windows 7 installed), plus a monitor, and wireless router, all for just $1,199!

I hope this helps clear up any confusion over what an “Upgrade” really is and is not and who qualifies to install and use an upgrade license in their move to Windows 7.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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	(a larger text-only version is available at http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/newsletter/71-t.htm) October 27, 2009 Introducing Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones A new screen reader software application that provides blind and visually impaired customers with a solution to access BlackBerry® smartphones HumanWare is pleased to pre-launch its newest software solution called "Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones®" to the blind community at the upcoming ATIA Chicago conference. As you know, access to information is key in today's business world and the use of smartphones has become the predominant way of communication for business professionals and management. With over 21 million subscribers in 150 countries, the BlackBerry Smartphones have grown in popularity to become the smartphone of choice to stay in touch with work, family, friends and to access important information while on the go. Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones is an innovative screen reader application that enables visually impaired users to access and operate BlackBerry Smartphones. Designed to convert visual information displayed on the device screen into a voice output, Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones helps visually impaired users maintain their independence and increase their productivity, which are essential assets in today's competitive world. Developed by the joint collaborative efforts of HumanWare, the global leader in assistive technologies for the print disabled, Code Factory, the leading provider of screen reader technology and maker of Mobile Speak, and Research In Motion (RIM), the maker of the award winning portfolio of BlackBerry products, Orator for BlackBerry smartphones will be supported by the new QWERTY BlackBerry smartphones models, including the new BlackBerry Tour 9630 smartphone and the BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone. Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones will provide you with greater freedom to manage your daily activities in the way that is most convenient for you. With it, you will have the ability to stay connected anytime, anywhere. Pre-orders: With a soon to be released solution, HumanWare would like to take advantage of the ATIA Chicago Conference event to offer you an opportunity to pre-order the Orator for BlackBerry. If you plan on attending the ATIA Chicago conference, visit us at the HumanWare booth 624 to get a personal demonstration of the latest Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones software version and be among the first to place an order for this unique screen reader solution. If you are not attending the ATIA Conference but wish to pre-order Orator for BlackBerry, please contact HumanWare a Customer Support Representative at 1 800 722-3393 Time and date of presentations: If you wish to learn more about the Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones solution and find out why BlackBerry devices are becoming the Smartphone of choice to stay connected on the go, be sure to attend the product presentations during the ATIA conferences. Orator for BlackBerry: Blind access solution for your BlackBerry smartphone When: Thursday, October 29 2009 Time: 9h15 to 10h15 PM Where: Schaumburg B Room Speakers: Dave Dougall, Accessibility Program Manager , Research In Motion (RIM) and Michel Pepin, Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones Product Manager, HumanWare For those of you who will be attending ATIA Chicago conference but will not be able to attend this presentation, be sure to visit us in the exhibit hall at the HumanWare booth 624 during the following exhibit hours: Thursday October 29, 9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday October 30, 9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.mp and 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday October 31, 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Come and discover why Orator for BlackBerry Smartphone is the solution for you to stay connected with what is important in your life. Visit our web site at www.orator4bb.com to find out more about this unique mobile solution. About HumanWare HumanWare is the global leader in assistive technologies for the print disabled. HumanWare provides products to people who are blind or have low vision, and individuals with learning disabilities. HumanWare offers a collection of innovative products, including BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for the blind in education, business, and for personal use; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital audiobook players; myReader2, HumanWare's unique "auto-reader" for people with low vision; and the ClassMate Reader, the only portable book player to offer synchronized text and audio for individuals.

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Windows XP mode for Windows 7! FREE Download here

The announcement of Windows XP mode caused a lot of excitement, in this screen cast we have a look at how it is setup up, what users see and get an idea of what it can do.

Download XP Mode for Windows 7

 

 

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Download Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows 7

If you want to be able to display and read the Windows help files, those that have a .hlp extension then you will need to install Download details: WinHlp32.exe for Windows 7.

“Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) is a Help program that has been included with Microsoft Windows versions starting with the Microsoft Windows 3.1 operating system. However, the Windows Help program has not had a major update for many releases and no longer meets Microsoft's standards. Therefore, starting with the release of Windows Vista and continuing in Windows 7, the Windows Help program will not ship as a feature of Windows. If you want to view 32-bit .hlp files, you must download and install the program (WinHlp32.exe) from the Microsoft Download Center.”

Of course this doesn't me there isn’t help within Windows 7, just press F1 at any time to get the latest help, or visit Windows.microsoft.com to see the latest help online.

There is also a version for Windows Server 2008 R2

Rob

 

 

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PLEASE Dont put HUB or CAS in the Perimeter Network!!

This is a GREAT post from the team over at EHLO about the dangers of a bad design decision;

We sometimes hear customers talking about putting Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 Client Access Servers (CAS) into the Perimeter network (sometimes referred to as the "DMZ" - Demilitarized Zone). A Perimeter network is a network zone many companies deploy between the Internet and their intranet as defense-in-depth. The idea behind a perimeter network is to add additional steps to what a hacker would have to do to get access to any intranet resources. To add as strong defense-in-depth as possible, you want to put only servers you trust to withstand Internet attacks in the perimeter, and then you should assume they can be broken into anyway.

With Exchange 2000/2003, it was supported and there was documentation explaining how to put an Exchange 2000/2003 Front-End (FE) server into the perimeter network, with a firewall between the FE and the Exchange Back-End (BE) servers it accessed. This leads some customers who upgrade from E2000/E2003 to expect the same deployment pattern with E2007/E2010.

As you start planning for deploying an E2007/E2010 CAS server in the perimeter network, you quickly notice that there is no documentation for how to do this though. You will probably even find the TechNet documentation which explains this is explicitly not supported by Microsoft. Microsoft doesn't test or support any topologies which put firewalls between a CAS and a Mailbox (MBX) server. The only Exchange 2007/2010 role which is supported for deployment in a perimeter network, and with a firewall server separating it from other Exchange server it talks to, is the Edge role. This is true for Exchange servers talking to one another within and between AD Sites.

The fact that there is no support for using firewalls between Exchange servers (except for the Edge role) sometimes causes confusion for how to use the Windows OS firewall on Exchange. It is supported to have the Windows OS firewall turned on for Exchange servers. In fact, we strongly recommend you leave the Windows OS firewall turned on as a defense-in-depth measure. Exchange 2010 setup is smart enough to configure the Windows OS firewall so it'll let through all Exchange traffic appropriately (for Exchange 2007 you need to run the Security Configuration Wizard and apply the Exchange 2007 role based template).

When discussing the fact that it is not supported to put CAS in the perimeter network, the next question is obviously "why?". If this was supported and documented for E2000/E2003 FE, why not for E2007/E2010 CAS?

The most important reason why customers wanted to install Exchange FE servers in the perimeter network was to block any unauthenticated traffic from reaching servers on the intranet. This is a good practice, but as you'll see below doing this with Exchange FE/CAS servers is no longer the best way to accomplish this goal.

It is important to understand that the CAS role in Exchange 2007 is significantly different from the FE server in E2000/E2003.

· The E2000/E2003 FE servers were there to authenticate users and proxy traffic to the BE server where the traffic was actually interpreted and responded to. For example, the FE servers in E2000/E2003 don't do any Outlook Web Access (OWA) rendering. That all takes place on the BE servers.

· The E2007/E2010 CAS role on the other hand contains all middle-tier logic and rendering code for processes like OWA, Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), Exchange Web Services (EWS), and more.

In the same timeframe as E2007 was available, enough customers had also started using reverse proxies (e.g. Internet Security and Acceleration server (ISA) 2000 FP1, 2004 or 2006) with functionality like pre-authentication. This meant there was now a good way to do authentication of Exchange traffic before the traffic reached the Exchange servers. The role the E2000/E2003 FE server had played for defense-in-depth by pre-authenticating traffic before it reached servers which included a lot of Exchange business logic could now be better handled by these new reverse proxies. The reasons a reverse proxy like this does a better job than an Exchange FE or CAS server for this defense-in-depth role are:

· Exchange CAS servers require full access to all mailboxes in an AD Site, and significant access rights to the AD. That's a level of access privileged which you should avoid having in the perimeter network.

· The Exchange FE executed a little bit of Exchange business logic, and the Exchange CAS executes a lot of Exchange business logic. The more business logic you expose in the perimeter network, the more risk you're taking that something in that logic can be hacked. For servers you put in the perimeter network, you want to minimize the logic/code surface area they run and which is exposed to attack from the outside. Reverse Proxies are built with the primary purpose of withstanding Internet attacks like that. Although Exchange servers are also hardened from a security perspective, they run much more logic than a reverse proxy, which increases the risk.

· Reverse Proxies are built to be put in the perimeter network or at the edge of the network. They include many security features and flexibility for customers to determine the level of defense-in-depth which is right in any particular environment. Some of these defense-in-depth features are easy to just turn on (e.g. using pre-authentication while your reverse proxy is an AD domain member; or avoiding AD domain membership and limiting pre-authentication capabilities) whereas other defense-in-depth features take more work (e.g. using pre-authentication without domain membership by using RADIUS). But the important distinction between the reverse proxies and the CAS is that the reverse proxies have many more defense-in-depth features and deployment models available than Exchange CAS.

In addition to these reasons why a reverse proxy does a better job in the perimeter network than an Exchange FE/CAS does, there is also a problem with FE/CAS in the perimeter which goes away when using a reverse proxy there instead:

· Deploying an E2000/E2003 FE server in the Perimeter network was difficult. The port settings and other internal firewall configuration required was complicated and many customers ran into problems setting this up correctly. Different types of internal firewalls required different configuration and the symptoms experienced by Internet clients when something was misconfigured weren't always easy to diagnose. This complexity and the errors it caused was a problem for Exchange customers. The internal firewall configuration required when using a reverse proxy in the perimeter is much simpler. This is why we don't offer "CAS in the perimeter network" as a supported solution even for customers who want to take the security risks listed above: people accidentally end up shooting themselves in the foot when trying to configure things for a FE/CAS to work in a perimeter network.
If you are curious, the ports used between server roles by E2007 are listed in http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb331973.aspx.

The best way to deploy Exchange CAS with respect to a perimeter network is to put a reverse proxy you trust in the perimeter, configure the firewall between the perimeter and the intranet to be as restrictive as possible and to host the CAS server on the intranet. This will get traffic inspection and other reverse proxy security filtering in place in the perimeter.
As extra defense, you can also configure pre-authentication to be done on the reverse proxy. This might not be possible for all Exchange protocols if you want to expose some advanced functionality like E2010 Federated Free/Busy and Calendar Sharing to the Internet. But you can configure the pre-authentication for as many clients and protocols as is supported by the reverse proxy and the scenarios you want to enable.

 

 

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Channel 10 - Microsoft's Official USB/DVD Download Tool Helps you Upgrade Netbooks to Windows

I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m pretty happy to see it up there. The help file is available on the Microsoft Store site here.

Microsoft's Official USB/DVD Download Tool Helps you Upgrade Netbooks to Windows 7

One of the best new products in Microsoft’s newly revamped online store (store.microsoft.com) is the USB/DVD Download Tool. When you purchase a copy of Windows 7 from the store, you have the option to download an ISO file. With this tool, you can create a copy of that ISO file on a USB flash drive or DVD.

 

 

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Google Voice Can Now Take Control Of Your Mobile Voicemail

Google Voice is a great way to manage phone hell by giving you a single phone number that automatically rings your mobile, home, work and other phones based on your choice of rules and settings (who’s calling, when, etc.). But people are still stuck with their legacy phone numbers, and moving completely away from them is difficult.

I solved the problem by simply porting my mobile number away from AT&T over to Google Voice, a feature that Google says will be launched more broadly eventually.

Others solve the problem via the Google Voice application on various phones. But even then, if someone calls your old mobile number and leaves a message, you have to deal with it separately.

Not any more. Tonight Google is launching a third option, a new feature that allows mobile users to move their voicemail away from their carrier and over to Google Voice. The benefits: your mobile voicemails go into your Google Voice inbox along with other voicemails and text messages, plus you can create custom greetings for callers and your voicemails are all automatically transcribed (sometimes hilariously).

There are a few steps that have to be completed that vary based on the carrier and phone that you use. But if you are really trying to move over to Google Voice, it’s worth it. When it’s all set up, voicemail messages from people who call your mobile number (not your Google Voice number) will be taken over by Google Voice. That makes them much easier to listen to, or read.

And yes, it even works on the iPhone.

 

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Office Web Applications

Office Web Applications is a new web based productivity offering in Microsoft Office 2010 suite. You can watch the demo here: Demo of the Office Web Apps

Office Web Apps services include companions to Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, and Microsoft OneNote 2010. These would be available on Windows Live at no cost to users as an ad-supported service (read: Office Web Apps Coming to Windows Live). For enterprise users, it can be hosted on SharePoint 2010 (SharePoint Foundation 2010 or the SharePoint Server 2010) either on-premise or online.

Office Web Applications are licensed with Office 2010 and need to be installed and enabled on top of SharePoint 2010. These applications are focused on offering access to Word 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Excel 2010, and OneNote 2010 documents through any browser across multiple platforms, lightweight creation and editing capabilities in standard formats. When enabled, it enhances experience of SharePoint user. For example,

• When user clicks on an Office document in a Document Library it will launch the Office Web App viewer
• When user clicks ‘New Document’ in a Document Library to create a new Office document but does not have the respective desktop application, Office Web Application will be launched to author the document

Browsers Supported

• Internet Explorer 7 and 8
• Firefox 3.5 on Windows, Mac and Linux
• Safari 4 on Mac

Read The Office Web Apps Love Your Browser for more details.

Silverlight integration

Office Web Applications works whether or not Silverlight is installed on the machine. With Silverlight, the user experience gets better. For example:

• Faster load performance
• Improved text fidelity, better text spacing, better rendering and zoom beyond 100%
• Text will respect ClearType tuner settings
• Improved accuracy of hit highlighting in Find
• Smoother PowerPoint animations and improved slide scaling

Read Under the Hood: Find in the Word Web App Viewer and The Office Web Apps Love Your Browser posts for more details.

Deploying Office Web Applications

Refer the Deploy Office Web Apps document available on the Microsoft Download Center. Deploying Office Web Apps involves three primary phases:

1. Installing Office Web Apps by running setup (WCSetup.exe).
2. Activating the Office Web Apps services.
3. Activating the Office Web Apps feature on those site collections for which the Office Web Apps should be available.

PowerPoint Broadcast Slide Show feature

The functionality provided by the PowerPoint Web Application, also enables the PowerPoint Broadcast Slide Show feature. This is a new feature in Microsoft Office 2010 that enables presenters to broadcast a slide show from PowerPoint 2010 to remote viewers who watch in a Web browser. Broadcast Slide Show gives organizations options to provide broadcast slideshow services to users either as an internally-hosted service or as a service accessed over the Internet.

Broadcast Slide Show and Microsoft Live Meeting are complementary technologies, each providing a different level of functionality and end-user experience.

Capability	Broadcast Slide Show	Microsoft Live Meeting
Client Software	Included in Office PowerPoint 2010	LiveMeeting client
Hosting	Available with or without internally hosted server	Internally hosted or through an externally hosted service
Broadcast	PowerPoint slide show only	Any desktop application
Purpose	Just-in-time shared slideshows	Broad communication and collaboration capabilities
Use when…	You want a low-infrastructure solution for impromptu slideshow broadcasts	You want a complete Web conferencing solution with collaboration tools

To learn more about deploying Broadcast Slide Show, refer to the Deploying Broadcast Slide Show document.

 

 

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Dear Blog Site

 

 

For Your Information

Christopher McMillan, CIO
CEEK Technology

 

Dear Blog Site

 

 

For Your Information!!

Christopher McMillan, CIO
CEEK Technology

 

Dear Blog Site:

 

 

Dear Tech List:

Here is the outside world take on Windows 7 move from XP and VISTA

 

Dear Blog Site:

 

 

Well this is going to take some time to understand.

Christopher McMillan, CIO
CEEK Technology

 

 

 

 

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Window-Eyes Script Writing Class in Minneapolis

GW Micro and HandyTech North America are proud to bring you another exciting opportunity to learn how to write scripts....

 

 

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Duet Client Installation Fails Due to .NET Installation/Upgrade Failure

Problem:

Attempting to install the Duet Client results in the following .NET installation Error in the %temp%\dd_dotnetfx20error.txt log file

“Error: Installation failed for component Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0a. MSI returned error code 1603”

 

Cause:

The .NET framework installation has gotten into an unmanageable state (e.g. can’t be upgraded, repaired and/or uninstalled)

 

Resolution:

You will need to resolve this before continuing the duet installation. Please use the “.NET Framework Cleanup Tool” to cleanup the previous .NET installation. The tool along with detailed instruction on using it can be found at the following blog post.

http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/pages/8904493.aspx

 

 

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