Two instances of Outlook - now for 2003

The story about Two instances of Outlook 2007 running at the same time continues.

In ExtraOutlook 1.2 they add support for Outlook 2003 on both XP and Vista.

A free Sudoku game for Windows Vista

There is no secret that Microsoft has a Sudoku game for Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) running Vista. But what if we want to play Sudoku on our desktop version of Vista? It is possible.

Follow this link - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c0461e1a-bd6a-4b21-a199-d3d4f9d79cf7&DisplayLang=en

Though a description on the MS site says "Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Tablet PC SDK v 1.7" - never mind. It works on desktop Vista very well.

Download SudokuSourceCodeSample.exe file and extract it to any folder on your local disk. You will find the "BIN" folder there and the executable file inside it.

Run it. Enjoy.

SEP 11: virus definition folder takes too much disk space

For those who did not give up trying to deploy Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.

On client computers you might notice that virus definition folder (by default it is located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs) takes up large amounts of disk space. In my case - more than 5 Gb. When you open VirusDefs folder you can see a lot of temporary folders called tmpXXXX.tmp, where XXXX are hexadecimal characters.

The cause of the problem is that virus definitions may be corrupted.

To solve this issue, follow the steps below:

1. Stop the Symantec Management Client service:

• Start -> Run
• Type "smc –stop" (without qoutes) and click OK

2. Stop the Symantec Endpoint protection Service in services snap-in

3. Go to "Virusdefs" folder. Delete all ".tmp" files and folders AND any numbered folders (such as "20070820.048", "20080115.021" etc.)

4. Install new definitions manually using the Intelligent Updater:

• Follow this link: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/defs.download.html
• Select the language and for the product, select Symantec Endpoint Protection
• Click "Download Updates" button
• Select the correct file to download for Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 depending on whether it is for 32-bit or 64-bit OS
• Click the ".exe" file specified for Symantec Endpoint Protection 11, download to your hard drive and run it

5. Start the Symantec Endpoint Protection Service

6. Start the Symantec Management Client service:

• Start -> Run
• Type "smc –start" (without qoutes) and click OK

Map Network Drive problem in Vista: Force NTLM

Today I received a call from one of my friends who was trying to map network drive in Vista Business (with no Service Pack 1). His account was not administrator’s account and he was not able to see mapped network drive in Explorer though it applied through the Domain Group Policy.

The issue is that by default, Windows Vista uses NTLMV2 for authentication when attempting to map network drives. To allow NTLMv1 or LM challenge-response operations do the following:

1. Control Panel -> System Maintenance -> Administrative Tools (run as administrator) -> Local Security Policies -> Local Policies -> Security Options

2. Find the Policy Key named Network Security : LAN Manager Authentication Level

3. Set the value to "Send LM and NTLM responses" or - and it seems to make the most sense -"Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated"

This also can be done by making a change in the Windows Vista registry

1. Run the registry editor and open this key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

2. If it doesn't already exist, create a DWORD value named LmCompatibilityLevel

3. Set the value to 1

4. Reboot

More information about LM, NTLM and NTLMv2: LM de-emphasized, NTLMv2 emphasized in Vista

Two instances of Outlook 2007 running at the same time

Two instances on one PC. Not two separate profiles, but two Outlooks - each one with its own profile. Are you saying that is impossible? You are wrong.

Hammer of God did it!

It is a really long and exiting story with a couple of tricks,
Microsoft Ninjitsu and even reverse engineering.

The story itself and ExtraOutlook tool (Outlook 2007 only) are available from: http://hammerofgod.com/download.html

Good job, guys!

Symantec Endpoint Protection 11: too early to deploy

After two month of intensive using of the newest product from Symantec - Endpoint Protection (SEP) 11 - I am ready to make a statement: you want to wait at least till the first service pack before deploying SEP in production.

If you decide to try anyway, spend time to develop proper policies before clients installation. Turn off all features that you do not need at the moment. Pay close attention to Network Threat Protection and Outlook Auto-Protect features. May be it will be better to refrain from using them so far.

The 15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007

"From on-demand video services that were overly demanding, to underwhelming operating-system updates, 2007 was full of disappointments. We surveyed the landscape and polled some old friends to come up with the 15 products, companies, and industries that left the most sour taste in our mouths. From last to first, here's our list of the year's biggest losers. Read 'em and weep."

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