Talking IRM on RunAS Radio

Recently, I had a chance to chat with Richard Campbell and Greg Hughes on the popular RunAS Radio Show. The topic was Information Rights Management and how it relates to Exchange Server. This was also a feature I demonstrated on stage at the Exchange Connections event in Orlando earlier this year. If you’re not sure what IRM is or does, or if you wish to learn more about it, be sure to tune in on May 4th to listen to show #210! ...

April 28, 2011 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

RSAT for Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Until now, there were no Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) available for Windows 7 SP1. Microsoft released an updated version today which adds this support. You can download it here: Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1)

April 7, 2011 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

IE9 RTM / RTW

Are you using Internet Explorer 8? Whelp, you’re now officially running Legacy software! IE9 released to the Microsoft Download Center tonight. Windows Vista / Server 2008: Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Vista 64-bit Edition and Windows Server 2008 64-bit Edition Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (x86) Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2: Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 64-bit Edition and Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit Edition Windows Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 (x86) I’ve been using this for a while and after getting over a few bumps and learning curves, I can now say I really like it! ...

March 14, 2011 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

Updated Hyper-V Component Architecture Diagram

Microsoft has released another great poster; this time for the new Hyper-V architecture within Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. You can download it by clicking here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=93C814D0-FE4B-4D5B-B280-1B9807EC9933&displaylang=en

February 21, 2011 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

How to Set Windows 7's Login Wallpaper with Group Policies

With Windows XP, you could set your own login background colors and/or wallpaper by modifying the values found in the following registry location: HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Windows 7 no longer reads this registry key. Instead you’ve got to complete the multi-step process described in [this article](http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee ostensibly). While the steps to set a login wallpaper are not complicated, one challenging limitation is the fact your background wallpaper needs to reside on the workstation’s hard drive. Interestingly, this is not true for the user’s wallpaper, as there are GPO settings to point to a network location. ...

February 17, 2011 · 3 min · Mike Crowley

PowerShell Tip - Running a Service Pack Report - Faster

Here’s a quick tip for running a service pack report against your Active Directory servers using PowerShell. Method 1 The first approach retrieves all computer accounts from Active Directory, then filters results: 1 Get-ADComputer -Properties OperatingSystem, OperatingSystemServicePack -Filter * | Where-Object {$_.OperatingSystem -like '*server*'} | Format-Table name, oper* -autosize This technique retrieves all computer objects before filtering. Method 2 The improved approach applies filtering at query time: 1 Get-ADComputer -Properties OperatingSystem, OperatingSystemServicePack -Filter {OperatingSystem -like '*server*'} | Format-Table name, oper* -autosize By making smarter use of the -Filter switch and filtering before retrieval, this can lead to a significant amount of time saved. ...

February 17, 2011 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

Exchange 2010 SP1 Hotfix Prerequisites - Part 2

A while back, I complained about the difficulty in obtaining the necessary hotfixes for Exchange 2010’s Service Pack 1. Upon reviewing the “Hotfixes and Security Updates included in Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1” article, I verified that all necessary hotfixes are contained within that service pack. The recommendation is straightforward: if you’re planning on installing Exchange 2010 SP1, installing Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 first may save you considerable time.

February 16, 2011 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

Service Pack 1 for Windows 2008 R2 Now Available for Download

Just a quick note to remind everyone that Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 has just now become available for download on TechNet & MSDN. If you don’t have a TechNet or MSDN subscription you should see it on the Microsoft Download sites next Tuesday. [EDIT: Here is the download Link] Be sure to check with each product group before installing this. Obviously it is supported with the OS itself (clustering, Hyper-V, RDS, etc) but you should seek a direct support statement like the one the Exchange group published. ...

February 16, 2011 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

BlackBerry Desktop Software Version 6 Adds x64 Support

BlackBerry Desktop Software version 6.0.1.18 finally adds support for 64-bit Microsoft Outlook.

December 31, 2010 · 1 min · Mike Crowley

Script for Missing UPNs

PowerShell one-liners for both the native AD module and Quest tools to identify users missing UPN attributes and assign them automatically.

December 14, 2010 · 1 min · Mike Crowley