TechEd Bloggers TechEd

Code Sample Finds All Data Providers Installed on a Machine

Deepak Kapoor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:29:01 GMT

Deepak Kapoor writes, "...how to find Data Providers installed on a machine. Data providers in .NET Framework provide the plumbing necessary to connect to databases. There are different data providers available which can connect to SQL Server, Oracle or other databases through OleDb. You can find the data providers installed..." more

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:29:01 GMT

Fix for Pixel Thread Appearing on Windows Media Center

Philip Colmer — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:27:11 GMT

Philip Colmer writes, "...I’ve installed it on my PC and some quick testing of recorded TV programmes, a DVD, music, photos and videos all show that the problem does indeed seem to have been fixed. You can read more about the problem and the resolution for Windows 7 and Vista at KB 974324. The hotfix can be requested electronically and you’ll receive..." more

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:27:11 GMT

Windows Phone 7 - First Impressions

Scott Hanselman — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:24:31 GMT

Scott Hanselman writes, "...Here's some things I was impressed with:...Some things I had trouble with:...It'll take a while to get used to "it just works" from Microsoft. All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised as everything has just worked...I took a few moments and filmed some guerilla video of me exploring the phone..." more

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:24:31 GMT

Microsoft Focusing on Eight Core Businesses

Mary Jo Foley — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:16:11 GMT

Mary Jo Foley writes, "...Microsoft execs attempted to clarify where the company is focusing its efforts currently and in the coming year. Officials also emphasized repeatedly that in spite of all its talk and high-profile marketing push on the consumer front, Microsoft’s enterprise products constitute a huge part of the company’s revenue base. Actually, Microsoft has eight core focus areas..." more

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:16:11 GMT

jQuery Code Snippets for Visual Studio 2010

Public Sector DPE Team — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:22:00 GMT

Public Sector DPE Team writes, "...very cool...131 Visual Studio 2010 Code Snippets for use with jQuery”..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:22:00 GMT

Visual Studio 2010 Undock Windows is Great for Comparing Code

Robert MacLean — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:53:21 GMT

Robert MacLean writes, "Visual Studio 2010 has the ability to undock code windows by clicking and dragging on the code window tabs...I like the ability to undock the windows because it lets me view two different parts of the same file at the same time...get a full screen side by side view which is GREAT for comparing code..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:53:21 GMT

How to Install OCS 2007 R2 Group Chat Server on Server 2008 R2

Aaron Tiensivu — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:45:31 GMT

Aaron Tiensivu writes, "To begin, follow the instructions here for the usual Server 2008 R2 workaround/fixes for Server 2008 R2 and OCS 2007 R2. 1. From an elevated PowerShell prompt...[8 steps]...Celebrate, at this point you'll have a working Group Chat install on Server 2008 R2..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:45:31 GMT

Modify 2 CustomErrors Settings to See Full Stack Trace in SharePoint 2010

Joris Poelmans — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:37:02 GMT

Joris Poelmans writes, "On a SharePoint 2010 development machine you typically want to see the full stack trace when an error occurs. In SharePoint 2010 you will need to modify 2 web.configs:..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:37:02 GMT

Setting up Windows 7 Remote Assistance in a Corp. Environment

Helmers Blog — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:34:46 GMT

Helmers Blog writes, "...in a corporate environment it’s really easy to setup Windows Remote Assistance without additional costs and installation! The only thing you have to configure are a few Group Policies, which can be done in a few minutes. With Remote Assistance it’s even possible to chat with the person who..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:34:46 GMT

Comprehensive Guide on Addressing Exchange Calendaring Issues

Jeff Guillet — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:31:06 GMT

Jeff Guillet writes, "...article covers lost appointments, duplicate appointments, odd delegate issues, etc. This article is based on the real-world experience we as a company have gained working with many organizations of all sizes...my recommendation is to adjust the Cached Mode latencies to 1 second using Group Policy. There is virtually no network performance impact and it..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:31:06 GMT

Solution to Empty Graphs - Reports for NICs Based on HP Teamed NIC

Marnix Wolf — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:28:19 GMT

Marnix Wolf writes, "...Bumped into this issue at a customer. SCOM R2 is deployed, many MPs in place, among them the Server OS MP (of course). Also the Reporting component is installed...some Server reports did not show any data related to the NICs:...The server experiencing this issue is a HP server...Even with the HP Proliant MP loaded in SCOM R2 it does not collect any performance data at all.." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:28:19 GMT

Resolution to SharePoint 2010 Error 403 When Updating Metadata

Sean Earp — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:32:52 GMT

Sean Earp writes, "...I have spent a month troubleshooting a crazy problem with SharePoint 2010, stumping everyone that worked on it. The problem was just resolved, and it involves something I’ve never seen before, so I thought I would share...It turns out that SharePoint 2010 has a hidden list at the site collection level called… appropriately enough, “TaxonomyHiddenList”. You can access this by going to..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:32:52 GMT

Powershell Script for SharePoint 2010 MUI Enabled

Joris Poelmans — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:29:21 GMT

Joris Poelmans writes, "...If you try to enable alternate languages for a SharePoint 2010 meeting workspace you will get an error stating “this site is based on a template that does not not support alternate languages”...if you want to find out which webtemplates support MUI you can run the following Powershell script:..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:29:21 GMT

Sorting out Reactive Framework

Jim Wooley — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:26:54 GMT

Jim Wooley writes, "When I started looking at the Reactive Framework, one of the first things I did was to try creating some of the same standard LINQ queries that I’ve used against LINQ to Objects...If you try this where Sensor is an IObservable rather than IEnumerable, you will find that the Order By clause generates the following compiler error in VB..." more

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:26:54 GMT

Messenger Companion Brings Social to the Browser

Angus Logan — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:34:13 GMT

Angus Logan writes, "...This is super cool because it brings social to the browser. If your friends share something in Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or Messenger, and you browse to that site, it will blip, letting you join the conversation..." more

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:34:13 GMT

ESET Identifies Two New Malware Attacks

Harry Waldron — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:36:00 GMT

Harry Waldron writes, "...ESET has identified two new attacks that exploit the new unpatched Windows Shortcut vulnerability (e.g., malicious LNK files)..." more

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:36:00 GMT

Replacing the Default SharePoint People Picker with a Custom People Picker

Adam Buenz — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:24:48 GMT

Adam Buenz writes, "At a recent customer of mine the question came up as to how we could replace the default people picker with a custom one that was tailored to some very particular AD queries to supplement the SharePoint calls...The easiest way around it is to toggle the visibility of the primary, OOB picker on the page to not visible, and then..." more

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:24:48 GMT

Hold off Installing OCS 2007 R2 Cumulative Update 6 & .NET 4.0 Gotchas

Aaron Tiensivu — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:23:10 GMT

Aaron Tiensivu writes, "I've heard of numerous reports of the CU6's SQL back-end update having version mismatch problems with the front-end update. One cause I can speculate on is that the web caches that Microsoft uses publish the updated bits are lagging behind...If you install .NET 4.0 Framework before installing any OCS server role, the OCS setup program will complain that .NET 3.5x is not installed, even if..." more

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:23:10 GMT

Solution to Missing Datasheet View with 64-bit Versions of Office

Sean Earp — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:20:19 GMT

Sean Earp writes, "...While 64-bit installations of Office 2010 are still relatively uncommon, there are a few known issues/growing pains...Datasheet feature on SharePoint not available for customers who install the 64-bit version of Office 2010. When clicking on the Datasheet View, the following message is displayed: The list cannot be displayed in Datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons:..." more

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:20:19 GMT

How To Run an Email Server on WHS

Philip Churchill — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:48:54 GMT

Philip Churchill writes, "...great guide on how to run the email server software on Home Server. Pete highlights 10 problems associated with setting up the email server and the solutions available to you to overcome them. From using a dynamic IP address, port blocking and forwarding router ports, all in an easy to understand format and..." more

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:48:54 GMT

Doubling the Initial Azure Benefits

Somasegar — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:42:20 GMT

Somasegar writes, "Today we are announcing that we are doubling the initial Windows Azure benefits to MSDN subscribers by extending the offer from eight months to 16 months...More details on this can be found..." more

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:42:20 GMT

How to Create a simple free OpsMgr Disk Space Report

Cameron Fuller — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:40:28 GMT

Cameron Fuller writes, "...steps required to create a simple free disk space report as this is one of the top three cases I am seeing for OpsMgr reporting: Show me the amount of free space on my servers over time, show me the processor utilization over time, and show me my specific counter I want gathered over time...The easy approach is..." more

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:40:28 GMT

Community MP: Logical Disk Extension Management Pack

Marnix Wolf — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:36:55 GMT

Marnix Wolf writes, "A MP from the Community which I really like is the ‘Logical Disk Extension Management Pack’...it works great...found here..." more

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:36:55 GMT

Creating your First PowerGUI Script Editor Add-On

Dmitry Sotnikov — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:33:31 GMT

Dmitry Sotnikov writes, "...a step by step tutorial on creating add-ons for PowerGUI Script Editor. It takes you from the obligatory ‘Hello World’ example...the way through creating a useful add-on...with menu item, proper clean up code..." more

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:33:31 GMT

Mobile Device Security Boils Down to Two Items

Dan Griffin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:39:17 GMT

Dan Griffin writes, "The general recommendation on mobile device security boils down to two items: Set your device to automatically lock after a few minutes of inactivity. Be sure to set a reasonable password for unlocking it (“1234” doesn’t cut it). If possible, work with..." more

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:39:17 GMT

BizTalk MsBuild Generator Tips

Ben Cline — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:37:53 GMT

Ben Cline writes, "...This tool is really helpful for getting something rapidly created that you can run with. There were a couple things I did to make this free tool work a little better and I wanted to share some of these tips so that others could get the most out of Michael's great contribution to the BizTalk community..." more

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:37:53 GMT

How to Get Rid of EventID 11463 in SCOM R2

Marnix Wolf — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:34:40 GMT

Marnix Wolf writes, "...Even though the SCOM R2 Console does not Alert upon it, this nagging Event must be taken care off as well. But no where in the SCOM R2 Console was anything to be found about it. No more ADI was in place for the old (removed) Forest nor did the related RunAs Profile (Active Directory Based Agent Assignment Account) contain anything..." more

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:34:40 GMT

Resolution to Percentage Change in DB% Used Space

Cameron Fuller — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:32:14 GMT

Cameron Fuller writes, "...This alert is raised when significant changes in the percentage of the space used in a database has changed quickly...Create an override to change..." more

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:32:14 GMT

Workarounds for PowerGUI Editor 2.1.1 and AD cmdlets 1.4 Issues

Dmitry Sotnikov — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:00:30 GMT

Dmitry Sotnikov writes, "...in some cases when you are using version 1.4.0 of QAD cmdlets inside PowerGUI Script Editor 2.1.1, and invoke a script with the cmdlets for the second time you may get the error: “Object reference not set to an instance of an object.“..." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:00:30 GMT

Windows 7 Downgrade Rights Resources

Jeff Guillet — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:59:00 GMT

Jeff Guillet writes, "Downgrade rights enable customers to continue running Windows Vista or Windows XP after obtaining a Windows 7 license. Downgrading is simple, and this resource makes it straightforward for you to understand the process...Follow these steps..." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:59:00 GMT

How to Change Priority and Severity of Service-Process Monitors in OpsMgr

Cameron Fuller — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:40:20 GMT

Cameron Fuller writes, "...Since the Windows Service Template and the Process Monitoring template create rules and monitors in the unsealed management pack that we specify when we create the service or process, we can locate the underlying rules and monitors and edit them...or we can alter their default behavior through creating overrides" more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:40:20 GMT

Gem for Debugging Windows Batch Files when used as Scheduled Tasks

Samuel Jack — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:36:50 GMT

Samuel Jack writes, "Here's a little gem...how to trouble-shoot a Windows bat file when using it as a scheduled task. We’re using SQL Express, and we want to make sure all our databases are safely backed up on a regular schedule. One thing that Microsoft cut out of SQL Server when pruning it to create the free version is SQL Agent, the tool that enables you to run..." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:36:50 GMT

Workarounds and Fixes in Security Advisory Update 2286198

Don Patterson — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:35:17 GMT

Don Patterson writes, "...This workaround will disable some icons from being displayed so we recommend administrators test this before deploying it widely. We've also updated the advisory with new information regarding possible attack vectors. Finally, we have included a new workaround that customers can implement to help protect their environments: blocking the download of LNK and PIF files..." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:35:17 GMT

PREEMPTIVE Bug in SQL Server 2008

PSS SQL Engineers — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:33:32 GMT

PSS SQL Engineers writes, "There is a bug in SQL Server 2008 that causes PREEMPTIVE_OS_GETPROCADDRESS to include and accumulate the execution time of the extended stored procedure (XPROC). The following is an example showing the increase in the GetProcAddress wait time..." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:33:32 GMT

Code Showing Table Markup in Open XML SpreadsheetML

Eric White — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:31:25 GMT

Eric White writes, "...a summary of the Open XML SpreadsheetML markup that you use to define or query a table. I’ll show the markup for the very simple table in the above screen-clipping..." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:31:25 GMT

"Houston" Really Helps SQL Azure Data Sync Management

Liam Cavanagh — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:28:54 GMT

Liam Cavanagh writes, "with Microsoft® Project Code-Named “Houston”, people can go directly to this web based management tool and start creating their SQL Azure databases without installing anything. Once they created their databases, they can launch the Data Sync Service to start synchronizing that database to one or more SQL Azure databases around the world." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:28:54 GMT

Resources for SLD or Disjoint/Discontinguous Namespaces

Sean Earp — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:24:28 GMT

Sean Earp writes, "...support policy for customers with various namespace configurations and includes links to individual products and known technical issues, if any, related to Single Label Domains (SLDs), Disjoint Namespaces, and other uncommon naming configurations...." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:24:28 GMT

10 Commandments of Usability

David Laribee — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:22:02 GMT

David Laribee writes, "...Immediately I started to think about how these usability heuristics apply to software development..." more

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:22:02 GMT

Exchange Hotfix Rollup for Microsoft Forefront Protection - v11.0.689.0

Aaron Tiensivu — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:17:18 GMT

Aaron Tiensivu writes, "A hotfix rollup is available for Forefront Protection for Exchange with some noteworthy fixes. This rollup will bring the build version to 11.0.689.0...The following fixes are issues I've personally seen with the RTM version of FPE...You can request the hotfix rollup here..." more

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:17:18 GMT

Fixes to ConfigMgr Task Sequence Template Error Handling

Michael Niehaus — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:37:15 GMT

Michael Niehaus writes, "...there was one problem in the setup in MDT 2010: the error was caught and the cleanup steps would run, but after that the task sequence would appear to complete successfully. No dialog would be displayed indicating that there was a failure, and the status messages sent to the server would indicate that the task sequence was successful too . If you were watching the result..." more

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:37:15 GMT

SharePoint 2010 Dev/Architect Learning Curve is Steep

Mauro Cardarelli — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:59:24 GMT

Mauro Cardarelli writes, "...I absolutely believe that while the new development features with SharePoint 2010 will allow developers to do more with less (code) the burden on the SharePoint architect is now far greater. Picking the “right” architecture has become ...The learning curve is steep but the power of the toolset is much too big to ignore…" more

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:59:24 GMT

Learn How to Extend Visual Studio 2010

Kate Gregory — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:57:30 GMT

Kate Gregory writes, "...This one is on Customizing and Extending Visual Studio. About half of it is live already...You can get your work done a lot faster if you tweak Visual Studio to meet your needs. It doesn't have to cost you money and it doesn't have to cost you much time. Take a look..." more

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:57:30 GMT

Office 2010 IT Pro User Readiness Resources

Sean Earp — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:53:48 GMT

Sean Earp writes, "If you are planning an upcoming rollout of Office 2010, the Office team has released some readiness materials to help get your end users excited about Office 2010. The download includes posters, flyers, and weekly e-mails with tips and tricks..." more

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:53:48 GMT

Windows Server AppFabric

Somasegar — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:43:51 GMT

Somasegar writes, "...Microsoft's plan is to over time offer a symmetric set of capabilities across the cloud and the on-premises environments so that developers will be able to take advantage of these capabilities wherever they want to run their applications...If you are running a Windows Server 2008 (SP2) or Windows Server 2008 R2, you are already licensed to use Windows Server AppFabric in production. Additionally..." more

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:43:51 GMT

Simple Statements about Cross Site Scripting - XSS - HTML - Injection

Alun Jones — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:35:42 GMT

Alun Jones writes, "...Some simple statements about Cross Site Scripting / XSS / HTML Injection (all terms for the same thing): Ignore the term “Cross Site Scripting” as a confusing anachronism. Think “HTML Injection” whenever you hear “Cross Site Scripting”, and you won’t go wrong. The problem of XSS can be summed up quite simply as:..." more

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:35:42 GMT

Disabling an Existing Exchange Email Address Template Objects in PowerShell

Michael B Smith — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:17:00 GMT

Michael B Smith writes, "...in this case, we are trying to take a "currently enabled" object and make it disabled, we should be able to use a reference to the existing object. ...given what we know now, what does the script look like? There are some similarities, but now it doesn't feel like a hack and it is much easier to read and understand:" more

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:17:00 GMT

Code-First Development with Entity Framework 4

Scott Guthrie — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:14:33 GMT

Scott Guthrie writes, "...This week’s CTP4 release of the “EF Code-First” functionality provides a pretty nice code-centric way to work with data. It brings with it a lot of productivity, as well as a lot of power. In today’s tutorial I focused mostly on some of the new productivity enhancements provided with the CTP4 release..." more

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:14:33 GMT

What I'm Loving About the Newest Iteration of EF Code First in CTP4

Julie Lerman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:53:11 GMT

Julie Lerman writes, "There have been a lot of improvements to code first since CTP3 and in fact, the team has been experimenting with changes to the core Entity Framework APIs that not only support even simpler programming with code first but that we’ll benefit from in an upcoming release of .NET...I went to town on the CTP3 sample..." more

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:53:11 GMT

New Microsoft Certification for Students called MTA

Bob Familiar — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:46:24 GMT

Bob Familiar writes, "...Students who aspire to become IT Professionals or Developers should have a look at MTA which is an ideal stepping stone to our professional MCTS certifications and to a career in IT...Institutions can get started with MTA through a FREE 45-Day Trial MTA Campus License—good for up to 50 exams. You receive the entire suite of MTA exams including..." more

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:46:24 GMT

How to Make Windows 7 Snappier with a RAM Disk for Scratch Space

Ken Hoover — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:43:41 GMT

Ken Hoover writes, "...This process is not for newbies. If you don't know where the "Advanced computer properties" control panel is or how to change a drive's assigned letter, you should stop reading because you can break stuff by messing with the settings that I'm describing here. You've been warned...Step 1: Set up a persistent RAM disk..." more

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:43:41 GMT

Top 7 Add-Ons for PowerGUI Script Editor

Dmitry Sotnikov — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:18:25 GMT

Dmitry Sotnikov writes, "Here is the run down of the most popular add-ons available for the PowerGUI Script Editor...1. PowerShell Script Signing – by far the number one add-on which already had more than 300 downloads..." more

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:18:25 GMT

To Troubleshoot Windows Deployment Services it's Crucial to Know the Architecture

Kurt Roggen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:15:07 GMT

Kurt Roggen writes, "..To be able to troubleshoot the Windows Deployment Services, it is crucial to first understand the overall WDS architecture, since you can activate logging at most levels in the architecture...[diagram]" more

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:15:07 GMT

Side-By-Side SQL Installations - What Gets Changed?

Buck Woody — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:12:07 GMT

Buck Woody writes, "I was asked yesterday if it was “OK” to install SQL Server 2008 R2 on a system that already had SQL Server 2008, but without upgrading....they wanted to keep both versions of SQL Server running at the different levels. That’s supported; and it’s called a “side-by-side” installation. that means..." more

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:12:07 GMT

Code Sample Creating a Collection from Singletons and Collections Using LINQ

Eric White — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:02:24 GMT

Eric White writes, "...When constructing an object there are times that you may have one or more singletons, and one or more collections that will comprise the child objects of the object you are constructing....using LINQ to write a recursive-descent parser for SpreadsheetML formulas..." more

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:02:24 GMT

Reports Explain Collisions in TFS Warehouse and Cube

Buck Hodges — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:42:25 GMT

Buck Hodges writes, "...set of reports that help you understand what’s going on in the TFS warehouse and cube in Team Foundation Server 2010 so that you can deal with issues such as field collisions, which can be very tedious to handle since out of the box we don’t provide easy ways to figure it out. His post includes an attached zip file" more

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:42:25 GMT

CodeRush Sample: Anonymous Method Refactoring Fun

Jason Follas — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:38:22 GMT

Jason Follas writes, "...Since I was already familiar with the anonymous method syntax, CodeRush played an instrumental part in my learning Lambda expressions because I could write an anonymous method and then have it transformed into an equivalent Lambda for me...I wanted to update my older code in order to replace anonymous methods with the newer syntax, and CodeRush made it a trivial task to do this..." more

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:38:22 GMT

Microsoft: 'If we don't cannibalize our existing business, others will'

Mary Jo Foley — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:06:18 GMT

Mary Jo Foley writes, "..It’s a pretty realistic take on why Microsoft and its partners need to move, full steam ahead, to slowly but surely lessen their dependence on on-premises software sales...Partners need to focus on selling “the triple play...of Windows 7, Office 2010 and Internet Explorer 8 and 9...85 percent of Microsoft’s installed base is running XP or Vista. Fifty-two percent is running..." more

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:06:18 GMT

TechEd 2011 Welcome Video from Atlanta's Mayor

Jeff Guillet — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:02:21 GMT

Jeff Guillet writes, "...Microsoft TechEd 2011 will be hosted in Atlanta next year, and Atlanta's Mayor would like to welcome you in this video. Aaron Nelson, a SQL architect in Atlanta, posted the following information about the convention center where TechEd will be held:..." more

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:02:21 GMT

Server Installation Options for ASP.NET MVC 2

Jon Galloway — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:13:41 GMT

Jon Galloway writes, "...I’ve answered several questions about installing ASP.NET MVC 2 on a server lately, and since I didn’t find a full summary I figured it was time to write one up. Here’s a look at some of the top options: WebPI, Bin deploy, Run the full AspNetMVC2_VS2008.exe installer, Command-line install with aspnetmvc2.msi, WebPI..." more

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:13:41 GMT

Solution to Claims Error When Publishing Service Apps in SharePoint 2010

Phil Wicklund — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:09:48 GMT

Phil Wicklund writes, "...You'd think that after all this it would work just fine? The funny this is I did do all the publishing just fine, I just missed one small, important step. IISRESET. Perform an IISRESET on all boxes in the provider farm, and all boxes in the consumer farm. Thereafter, try the connection again and it should work. I also created a key in..." more

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:09:48 GMT

C# 4 broke my code! The Pitfalls of COM Interop and Extension Methods

Samuel Jack — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:01:04 GMT

Samuel Jack writes, "...wasn’t expecting any problems...Then I ran our suite of unit tests. 6145 passed. 15 failed....So watch out if your code uses extension methods on COM objects and you’re planning on upgrading to VS 2010. Don’t assume that your code works the same as before just because it compiled OK..." more

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:01:04 GMT

'PowerShell Window From Here' Registry File for Entry in Explorer

Kurt Roggen — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:54:50 GMT

Kurt Roggen writes, "...I have been using the Command Prompt From Here a lot to make it easier to open up a command prompt at a specific folder location from the Explorer. So now I added some settings to the registry that will do the same but with PowerShell instead...Here is the registry file for making the entry in Explorer:..." more

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:54:50 GMT

Great Resource for Designing Dashboards

Buck Woody — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:35:23 GMT

Buck Woody writes, "...Not all data professionals get into the "front end" of the applications that hit their data. But most of us end up having to do a "dashboard" of information, even if it's a dashboard of our system information and performance tracking...a resource I use for that. It's from a site called "Quince", and I really like the way they break down all kinds of User-Interface (UI) information. Well worth your time..." more

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:35:23 GMT

Improve Contains Execution Time by Using a Dictionary Instead of a List

Matthieu Mezil — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:16:17 GMT

Matthieu Mezil writes, "...Most of you probably know that instead of using multiple string concatenation, using the StringBuilder class is better. But did you know that the Contains method is more efficient with a Dictionary than with a list? With the following sample...The HashSet class is better than a Dictionnary in my sample because we don’t have the Key/Value notion...." more

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:16:17 GMT

Getting Started with Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services

Bart De Smet — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:10:22 GMT

Bart De Smet writes, "...LDS allows you to install multiple instances of directory services on the same machine, just like SQL Server allows multiple server instances to co-exist. Each instance has a name and listens on certain ports using the LDP protocol. Starting this wizard – which lives under %SystemRoot%\ADAM\adaminstall.exe, revealing the former product name – brings us here:..." more

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:10:22 GMT

How to Update SQL Records in a Database Table With Data From Another Table

Scott Mitchell — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:07:42 GMT

Scott Mitchell writes, "...what if you need to update values in one database table from values in another database table? There are a couple ways this can be done. One way is to use a subquery:...Alternatively, you can use a JOIN statement in your UPDATE clause. The precise syntax seems to vary a bit based on the database system. For Microsoft SQL Server, use the following syntax:..." more

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:07:42 GMT

Solution to SCOM R2 E-Mail Notifications Error Message

Marnix Wolf — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:33:56 GMT

Marnix Wolf writes, "...Many times it is caused by the SMTP server which does not allow relaying (which is a GOOD thing). Resolution: The IP-address of the RMS has to be added to..." more

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:33:56 GMT

Examples of Recursive Descent Parsers: How They Work

Eric White — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:11:49 GMT

Eric White writes, "...using LINQ to write a recursive-descent parser for SpreadsheetML formulas...In these expressions, operands are floating point numbers, but for simplicity, I’ve eliminated the ability to have exponents...There are five binary (sometimes called infix) operators. Operator precedence needs to be honored when parsing formulas..." more

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:11:49 GMT

F# Pattern Matching for Beginners

Ivan Towlson — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:24:58 GMT

Ivan Towlson writes, "...To get started, we’ll look at a truly trivial example of pattern matching. Here’s how to do the equivalent of a C# switch or Visual Basic Select Case statement using F# pattern matching:..." more

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:24:58 GMT

MSE and Forefront Virus Scanning Engines Need Updating This Week

Harry Waldron — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:23:58 GMT

Harry Waldron writes, "MSE and Forefront users should update their virus scanning engines as prompted next week. New Antimalware Engine is planned for release on 15 July 2010..." more

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:23:58 GMT

Fantastic OLAP PivotTable Extensions for Excel 2010

Teo Lachev — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:21:31 GMT

Teo Lachev writes, "...fantastic OLAP PivotTable Extensions for Excel 2010 add-in (now available in both x32 and x64). This add-in is one of the first third party tools I install on a new machine. Since the Excel team seems to be ignoring customer feedback for improving the Excel BI features, OLAP PivotTable provides what's lacking, including:..." more

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:21:31 GMT

Indexing Service for Windows Server 2008 R2

Steve Schofield — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:04:06 GMT

Steve Schofield writes, "...I was tinkering around with Windows Server 2008 R2 and ran across the Indexing Service search service..." more

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:04:06 GMT

How to Install IIS7 on Windows XP

Bill Staples — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:02:35 GMT

Bill Staples writes, "...With the recent release of WebMatrix, you can now install IIS Developer Express – which is based on the latest IIS7x codebase - on any supported Windows operating system including Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1+, Windows XP SP3+, Windows Server 2003 SP2+, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2..." more

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:02:35 GMT

Two Powershell Script Editor Add-Ons

Dmitry Sotnikov — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:01:29 GMT

Dmitry Sotnikov writes, "...These are just another couple of very handy add-ons for PowerGUI Script Editor published recently...if you come up with any add-ons of your own – please consider sharing those as well..." more

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:01:29 GMT

WebMatrix: Vertical and Scenario Focused Tooling

Nikhil Kothari — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:00:11 GMT

Nikhil Kothari writes, "...The other aspect of "WebMatrix" that really resonates with me is that it provides an avenue for experimentation of new ideas/approaches, and learning, as well as innovation. You need speed boats and the agility they offer to explore the new, and then figure out where you want to go. We tried a number of things in the original WebMatrix - light-weight, free and web-focused tooling..." more

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:00:11 GMT

Thread Safety in .NET: Monitor.Enter vs Monitor.Exit and Lock

Nuno Godinho — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:06:34 GMT

Nuno Godinho writes, "When we want to develop ThreadSafe solutions .NET two of the options that we can use are Monitor and lock. But what exactly happens when we use one and another? What are the differences between one and the other? Basically the difference is that lock really emits code that places a a Monitor inside a try...finally block. So the real difference is that..." more

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:06:34 GMT

Sampling can Produce Inaccurate Stats with Unevenly Distributed Data

PSS SQL Engineers — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:54 GMT

PSS SQL Engineers writes, "...The reason is that the data is not evenly distributed. If the data is truly evenly distributed, 10% sampling and 100% sampling will produce similar results...the more frequent values will have higher chance of being selected to compute statistics. At final stage...t’s the solution? There are a couple of things..." more

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:54 GMT

Quick Steps to Displaying Data Using PivotViewer and Silverlight

Tim Heuer — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:53 GMT

Tim Heuer writes, "Understand first that Pivot collections are a combinations of imagery and metadata that describe that imagery. If you’ve ever seen the Hard Rock Memorabilia site that was done in early Silverlight days, this is the similar concept. Step 1..." more

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:53 GMT

Tips from Pinpoint Management Pack Catalog

Marnix Wolf — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:51 GMT

Marnix Wolf writes, "...I have tried the new page in order to search some MPs which were normally very hard to find in the previous versions of Pinpoint. And the good news is, these MPs are easily found now. The filters are really snappy and filters the dataset on the fly. Some Tips & Tricks:..." more

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:51 GMT

Search Project Server 2010 Data Using SharePoint BCS and FAST Search

Christophe Fiessinger — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:48 GMT

Christophe Fiessinger writes, "...The following project demonstrates how to setup Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Business Connectivity Services (BCS) and SharePoint 2010 FAST Search to query Project Server 2010's Project Project Web App (PWA) entities: Project, Task, and Resource. This code sample..." more

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:48 GMT

Technical Diagrams for SharePoint 2010

Sean Earp — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:47 GMT

Sean Earp writes, "...here are the technical diagrams for SharePoint 2010. As I am a visual person, I find these to be more helpful than the written documentation at understanding key SharePoint concepts...all diagrams are available in Visio, PDF, and XPS format: SharePoint 2010 Products Deployment..." more

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:47 GMT

Configuring Profile Import in SharePoint 2010

Shane Young — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:43 GMT

Shane Young writes, "...The first one is for goodness sakes read this TechNet article. If you read it slowly and do everything it says you can do very little wrong. But no one wants to read it so here are my notes. The farm account HAS TO BE A LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR. I am sorry but there is no way around this right now so quit trying..." more

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 00:02:43 GMT

Avoiding UAC prompt starting Hyper-V Manager

John Huschka — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:13:13 GMT

John Huschka writes, "...You should note that the workaround in here only applies to Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2, and is not a supported workaround...The workaround is a simple one. First, from an elevated command prompt..." more

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:13:13 GMT

Installing Windows Virtual PC on Windows 7 Home Editions

Ben Armstrong — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:10:42 GMT

Ben Armstrong writes, "...I finally had the chance to try this out – and while I can confirm that running Windows Virtual PC on Windows 7 Home Editions is supported and does work – I also stumbled upon the probable cause of peoples confusion. If you go..." more

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:10:42 GMT

OpsMgr Challenge Excluding Servers from being Monitored on Select Applications

Marnix Wolf — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:07:25 GMT

Marnix Wolf writes, "...A customer needs a quick installation of a SCOM R2 environment...a certain set of servers must NOT be monitored on SQL level...all other components on those very same set of servers must be monitored by SCOM R2...all other SQL servers present must be monitored by SCOM 2. So how to go about it? There are multiple approaches..." more

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:07:25 GMT

SQL Best Practices Analyzer vs Policy Based Management

Buck Woody — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:03:40 GMT

Buck Woody writes, "...what the difference is between the BPA and Policy Based Management (PBM) that was introduced in SQL Server 2008. While it’s true both of these tools can do similar things, each has strengths and weaknesses. The Best Practices Analyzer has..." more

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:03:40 GMT

July 2010 Security Bulletin Release Advance Notification

Microsoft Security Response Center — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:59:42 GMT

Microsoft Security Response Center writes, "...This month's release includes four bulletins addressing five vulnerabilities. Two of the bulletins affect Windows; of those, one carries a Critical severity rating and one is rated Important. Two bulletins, both with a severity rating of Critical, affect Microsoft Office. As always, we recommend..." more

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:59:42 GMT

Creating Models from Databases with 100s of Tables

Julie Lerman — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:57:33 GMT

Julie Lerman writes, "...Here’s an untouched model built from all of the tables and view of the AdventureWorks database – totalling about 95 entities. This is already unmanageable and causes design time performance issues, and it’s not even 100 entities..." more

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:57:33 GMT

How to Apply a Default Managed Folder Mailbox Policy to All Users in Exchange 2007

Jeff Guillet — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:55:29 GMT

Jeff Guillet writes, "...Exchange 2007 provides a way for you to apply message retention settings to default and custom folders in user mailboxes. This process is called Messaging Records Management (MRM) and is covered in..." more

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:55:29 GMT

Simple Naming Convention for your SharePoint Accounts

Wouter van Vugt — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:20:25 GMT

Wouter van Vugt writes, "...here's my list of account names I typically use when installing SharePoint. Usually I create a separate OU in active directory to group them, or I use the existing OU when running on 2008R2. Note that this is for SharePoint 2007...I have a naming convention with the following characteristics:..." more

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:20:25 GMT

Two New Microsoft Certifications: Office and Technology Associate

Tom Swanson — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:10:33 GMT

Tom Swanson writes, "...availability of the Microsoft Office Specialist 2010 training and certification program. By earning a Microsoft Office certification credential, you can prove your expertise...(MTA) certification. The MTA is a new, entry-level certification designed to help individuals take the first step toward a career as an IT professional or developer. The certification helps..." more

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:10:33 GMT

Microsoft on Apple's Heels

Stephen Forte — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:04:57 GMT

Stephen Forte writes, "...won’t count out Microsoft. While I am not confident that they can create a better offering than the iPhone or Android out of the gate, they are masters at the second mover advantage game. (Remember how the Mac created the PC revolution, Netscape created the Internet revolution, etc.) Microsoft is flush with cash coming off..." more

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:04:57 GMT

Install an Exchange 2007 Server Before Installing Exchange 2010

Magnus Björk — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:36:55 GMT

Magnus Björk writes, "...after you install Exchange 2010 you can no longer install a previous version of Exchange into the same organization (in a supported way). You might think that that is not a problem and you are probably right but there are two scenarios when you might run into problems....why this might be a problem..." more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:36:55 GMT

SQL Azure Partitioning Pattern by Customer ID Ranges

JD Meier — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:34:39 GMT

JD Meier writes, "...The problem with SQL Azure is that depending on your partitioning strategy, you can end up allocating increments that you don’t need and still pay for it. The distinction is that for Azure Storage, you pay for storage used, but with SQL Azure you pay for the allocated increments...Here is a visual of the approach:..." more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:34:39 GMT

SSRS 2008 R2 Performance Test Results

PSS SQL Engineers — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:32:30 GMT

PSS SQL Engineers writes, "...Here is the updated code:...even though I would love to see some improvement in this area, my own testing shows that SSRS 2008 R2 starts up from a cold start in about half the time is took SSRS 2005..." more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:32:30 GMT

Sync Your SharePoint Contacts with Outlook

Paul Stubbs — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:22:05 GMT

Paul Stubbs writes, "...see how easy it is to leverage the Social Web Services in SharePoint in your Outlook Add-Ins. In particular I show you how to call the User Profile Services to pull your colleagues from SharePoint and create Outlook contacts..." more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:22:05 GMT

Read and Recommended: Essential C# 4.0

Stephen Forte — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:20:45 GMT

Stephen Forte writes, "...The book is not just a rehash of the user manuals and new features of C# 4.0, rather is it a well thought out guide to using the language. That said, I learned much more about the new features of C# 4.0 here than anywhere else. By reading this book I now understand..." more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:20:45 GMT

Installation Error with SCOM R2 Management Server

Marnix Wolf — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:18:21 GMT

Marnix Wolf writes, "...Bumped into this issue today at a customers site. SQL, RMS and Reporting were already in place and fully functional. Time to install a SCOM R2 MS. All seemed to running just fine until I had entered the credentials for the SDK Account. Setup stalled too long and threw this error:...EventID 26319?..." more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:18:21 GMT

Notes Clients do not Allow Two Windows Accounts to Log on

Stephen Walch — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:16:11 GMT

Stephen Walch writes, "...you cannot have two processes that access the same local Notes resources unless they are ALL running as Administrator or NONE of them are running as Administrator. This includes...any other Notes add-on products. This problem gets worse when you realize that in Windows 7 and Windows 2008..." more

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:16:11 GMT

How to Enable DSRM on Windows Server 2008 R2 By Default

Eric Denekamp — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:01:31 GMT

Eric Denekamp writes, "...the Directory Service Restore Mode option have disappeared from the F8 options. Instead you have to either enable and disable it through MSConfig.exe, or by using the BCDEdit command line utility...You can however create an extra option in the Boot menu..." more

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:01:31 GMT