FileMon monitors and displays file system activity on a system in real-time. Its advanced capabilities make it a powerful tool for exploring the way Windows works, seeing how applications use the files and DLLs, or tracking down problems in system or application file configurations. Filemon’s timestamping feature will show you precisely when every open, read, write or delete, happens, and its status column tells you the outcome. FileMon is so easy to use that you’ll be an expert within minutes. It begins monitoring when you start it, and its output window can be saved to a file for off-line viewing. It has full search capability, and if you find that you’re getting information overload, simply set up one or more filters.

FileMon works on NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 64-bit Edition, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME.

Installation and Use

Simply run FileMon (filemon.exe). You must have administrator privilege to run FileMon. When FileMon is started for the first time it will monitor all local hard drives. Menus, hot-keys, or toolbar buttons can be used to clear the window, select and deselect monitored volumes including network volumes (Windows NT/2K/XP), save the monitored data to a file, and to filter and search output.

If you’ve specified filters then FileMon will ask you to confirm filters used from the last session each time you start it. To start FileMon without it prompting you specify the /q switch on the command line. When FileMon starts it automatically captures file system activity. To start it with capture disabled use the /o switch on the command-line.

As events are printed to the output, they are tagged with a sequence number. If Filemon’s internal buffers are overflowed during extremely heavy activity, this will be reflected with gaps in the sequence number.

Each time you exit FileMon it remembers the filters you’ve configured, position of the window and the widths of the output columns.

Filemon information & download

Windows / Active Directory No Comments July 26th, 2007

Error: Fatal error during installation acad.msi: AdskExecuteSequence

Autodesk have never been the best in creating install packages & this appears to be another prime example!

You are getting the above error becuase the program is “auto running” the setup64.exe version automatically ie. Setup for PC’s with 64bit processors. This causes the above error message when your are trying to install on a 32bit machine.

A quick workaround to the problem is to browse the CD and run the setup32.exe file located after “exploring” the Inventor Pro 2008 CD1 and Mechanical Desktop 2008 installs without any further errors.

Autodesk Inventor / Vault No Comments July 26th, 2007

Best Practices

Although having the ability to easily create sites encourages collaboration and sharing of information, it needs to be managed. Left unmanaged, an organization could end up with thousands of unconnected individual and group work sites that generate some of the same issues the organization was trying to resolve with a collaborative solution.

Even if no other SharePoint features are implemented, using its search capabilities will empower users to quickly find the information they need. Documents do not have to be incorporated into SharePoint to realize the benefit of SharePoint’s search because file shares, as well as other external data sources, can be included as content sources to be indexed.

Using SharePoint document libraries for storing and accessing policies, procedures, and other types of user manuals that frequently change can save an organization the cost of producing hard-copy documents, the cost of distributing updates, and the labor cost associated with manually updating a hard-copy based manual. In addition, maintaining an online manual ensures that all employees are accessing the most current, up-to-date information.

Introducing users to the SharePoint environment through the Microsoft Office 2003 applications they are already familiar with eases the learning curve and improves acceptance of a new way of doing things.

Creating a portal structure that has various levels of sites targeted to specific user groups helps to manage the content and provides users with an easy way to get to the information they need.

Eliciting ideas by placing discussion items on an enterprise-level site opens up a forum for tapping resources that may otherwise be difficult to reach.

Let SharePoint do the work of letting you know when information has changed by setting up alerts.

Take advantage of Web Parts and components already developed to extend the use of the portal for accessing application data and for performing functions such as calculations from within the portal environment as opposed to launching a separate application.

Let IT control the overall security and configuration parameters, but encourage end-users to manage and control the content on non-top-level sites to take the burden off the IT department.

Sharepoint / MOSS / WSS No Comments July 26th, 2007

You can run the Best Practices Analyzer tool to check for common issues and best security practices. The tool generates a report that can help you optimize the configuration of your system. The tool can be run locally or from a server that is not attached to the server farm. To download the tool, click Microsoft Best Practices Analyzer for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and the 2007 Microsoft Office System

Sharepoint / MOSS / WSS No Comments July 26th, 2007

Features New in SP3 (WSS 3)

Broadcast Information with Blogs

New features include posting via the Web, e-mail, or directly from Microsoft Office Word 2007; archive views; and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.

Capture Community Knowledge with Wikis

Wikis are great tools to capture knowledge. Based on a “group editing” model, wikis encourage everyone to contribute. Wikis can be used as forums to brainstorm ideas, manage knowledge bases, create designs or instruction guides, or simply gather information in an easy-to-edit format. WYSIWYG and rich-text formatting enhance the editing experience.

Manage Document Metadata with Content Types

Content types enable documents with different metadata attributes to be stored in the same library. These attributes can be accessed and managed from Windows SharePoint Services as well as 2007 Microsoft Office system programs, such as Word, Microsoft Office Excel®, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint®.

Gantt Chart View

Task, issue, and project issue list data can now be viewed graphically, giving team members an at-a-glance indicator of a project’s current status.

Additional Workspace Types

Blogs/wikis
Project tracking

People and Groups

The People and Groups list provides a unified place to find, communicate with, and manage people and their permissions. People Picker control provides a consistent user experience throughout the site for selecting people or groups.

Tree View and Breadcrumbs

New user interface (UI) elements help users identify where they are within a SharePoint site.

Continue Working While on the Road Through Outlook 2007 Offline Support

Document libraries can now be taken offline into Office Outlook 2007 folders. Changes can be posted back to the SharePoint library by re-syncing when a network connection is available.

Syndicate List Data with RSS

RSS feeds are automatically generated for any SharePoint list, enabling subscribers to keep up-to-date.

Mobile Access

View and update SharePoint task lists, blogs, and other information directly from any Windows Mobile®, WAP, cHTML, or XHTML-enabled device.

E-Mail Updates

Update SharePoint list data directly via e-mail.

Distribution Lists

To help keep team members in the loop, an Active Directory® directory service distribution list can be generated automatically during the SharePoint site creation process.

Two-Stage Recycle Bin

Helps ensure that critical information isn’t deleted accidentally and can be restored by the user or administrator.

Folder and Item-Level Access Control

Access control has now been extended down to the individual folder or item level.

Rights-Trimmed User Interface

Users can see only the features that they have the rights to use.

Policy, Audit, and Compliance Features in Repositories

Including applying information rights management policies on download, tracking and auditing, and logging of all actions on sites, content, and workflows.

Large List Support

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 has added capabilities, including index columns and increased column limits, to improve performance on large lists.

Features Assist Administrators in Deploying New Capabilities

Customizations to SharePoint sites can be organized into packages called Features for migrating between sites and servers. Administrators can selectively enable or disable Features to customize a site.

Master Pages

Page layout and style elements are now stored in master page definitions. Each site has a master page gallery that the site owner can use to customize the look of all the pages on the site.

Workflow

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 enables customers and partners to implement a wide range of workflow-enabled applications, including the ability to:

Create workflows using development tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio® and Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007.
Associate workflows with content types, lists, or libraries.

Initiate workflows automatically whenever items are added or modified, or initiate manually from the Action menu.

Receive notification when a workflow requires interaction by the user.

Features Improved in SP3 (WSS 3)

Predefined Workspaces

Teams can share documents, manage schedules, and stay connected.

Workspace Types

Issue tracking
Meeting workspaces

Create Surveys, Discussions, and Links

Take advantage of these collaboration features to connect with team members, partners, and customers. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 adds new survey features including conditional branching and page breaks.

Calendars

New calendar views and recurring events added in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Presence Awareness

Helps identify when team members are online.

Extranet Mode for External Access

New capabilities include better support for third-party authentication and trimmed UI to eliminate multiple authentication dialog boxes.

Integration with Microsoft Office System Programs

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 integration with 2007 Microsoft Office system programs has been dramatically enhanced, including offline support (Microsoft Office Access, Microsoft Office Outlook®) and content type support (Office Excel, Office PowerPoint, Office Word).

Two-Way Synchronization with Office Groove Workspaces

External users, such as partners and customers, can more easily participate in discussions and document collaboration, even across firewalls.

Stay on Top of New Information with Alerts and Event Notification

New capabilities in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 include alert filtering, custom formatting, and automatic delivery of task notifications.

Centralized Administration

Administration functions are now organized within a single location.

Manage Content with Check-in/Check-out Version Control

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 now supports major and minor version numbering and optional required check-out before editing.

Delegated Administration

Delegated administration rights can now be centrally managed and controlled.

Customize Sites with Web Parts

Simplified UI in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 for browsing, selecting, and adding Web Parts to a Web Part page.

ASP.NET Framework

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 has been upgraded to use the ASP.NET 2.0 framework for added scalability and reliability.

Self-Service Site Creation Helps Users Get Started Immediately

Delegated administration improves self-service capabilities in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Browser Support

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 now supports Firefox and Safari browsers.

Quick Launch and Top Nav Bar

Users can now customize these UI elements through the browser by adding their own links.

Search

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 uses the new portal search engine technology.

Accessibility

New navigation features, keyboard controls, and dynamic content rendering in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 improve accessibility for all users.

Sharepoint / MOSS / WSS No Comments July 26th, 2007

SharePoint Configuration Analyzer is a diagnostic tool that verifies settings on your server that are critical to running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services or Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and to hosting Web Parts on your server.

SharePoint Configuration Analyzer

Sharepoint / MOSS / WSS No Comments July 26th, 2007

The quickest way to get started with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services is to install it on a single server computer. This allows you to set up a small scale installation to host several Web sites, without performing a lot of steps. When you install Windows SharePoint Services on a single server, you can choose between the following options:

• Using the default options during Setup, you can install Windows SharePoint Services and publish a working Web site (based on WMSDE) in minutes.

• When you install Windows SharePoint Services using the default settings, the Setup program automatically installs Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows) (WMSDE) and uses it to create the database for your Web sites. You don’t have to perform any other configuration steps to create the database.

This installation scenario offers you the ability to host several Web sites without a lot of overhead.

• Using the remotesql=yes property, you can install Windows SharePoint Services to work with an existing installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3 or later.

This installation scenario allows you to support a larger set of Web sites. When you use this method, you must perform additional steps to configure SQL Server and Windows SharePoint Services to work together. Consider using SQL Server instead of WMSDE if you anticipate supporting more than 10 active and large Web sites.

You can also use SQL Server on a remote server to handle larger scale installations. For more information about installing Windows SharePoint Services with a separate SQL Server computer, see Remote SQL Server Deployment.

Note: The database size required for Windows SharePoint Services depends on the number and size of the Web sites your server supports.

Preparing the Server
Before you install and configure Windows SharePoint Services, you should check to make sure you meet the hardware and software requirements. The following sections help you review the requirements.

Hardware and Software Requirements

To be able to set up Windows SharePoint Services on a single server, you must meet the following criteria:

• A computer running Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 (Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, or Web Edition). Note that the hardware requirements for Windows SharePoint Services are the same as the Windows Server™ 2003 installation requirements.

• The computer must be configured as a Web server (running Internet Information Services (IIS) in IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode)

• and must be running ASP.NET. For more information about installing and configuring IIS and ASP.NET, see the Windows Server™ 2003 documentation.

• The computer must be using the NTFS file system.

Microsoft Windows includes a conversion utility (Convert.exe) that you can use to convert an existing file allocation table (FAT) volume to NTFS — without losing data.

• The client computers must be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later (best results with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later) or Netscape Navigator 6.2 or later to use Windows SharePoint Services features.

For a complete list of hardware and software requirements, see Hardware and Software Requirements.

Configuring the Server as a Web Server

IIS is not enabled by default in Windows Server™ 2003. To make your front-end server into a Web server, you must enable IIS.

Enable IIS and configure it to use IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode

1.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Manage Your Server.

2.
On the Manage Your Server page, click Add or remove a role.

3.
In the Preliminary Steps pane, click Next.

4.
In the Server Role pane, click Application server (IIS, ASP.NET), and then click Next.

5.
In the Web Application Server Options pane, accept the default of ASP.Net and then click Next.

6.
In the Summary of Selections pane, click Next.

7.
Click Finish.

8.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

9.
In Internet Information Services manager, click the plus sign (+) next to the server name, and then right-click the Web Sites folder and select Properties.

10.
In the Properties dialog box, click the Service tab.

11.
In the Isolation mode section, clear the Run WWW service in IIS 5.0 isolation mode check box, and then click OK.

Note: The Run WWW in IIS 5.0 isolation mode check box is only selected if you have upgraded to IIS 6.0 on Windows Server™ 2003 from IIS 5.0 on Windows 2000. New installations of IIS 6.0 use IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode by default.

Top of page
Installing Windows SharePoint Services with WMSDE
Because you are installing to a single, stand-alone server, you can run the Setup program as is, accepting all the defaults. In the default installation, WMSDE is installed as part of the Setup program.

Caution: During Setup, in a default installation, Windows SharePoint Services extends the default virtual server (Default Web site in IIS) with Windows SharePoint Services. If you have a Web site running on the default Web site in IIS, that Web site will be taken over by Windows SharePoint Services during installation. Also, before installing Windows SharePoint Services, verify that FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions from Microsoft are not running on the virtual server on port 80. If FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions are running on the default virtual server, the virtual server will not be extended when you install Windows SharePoint Services. (If you upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows Server” 2003, FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions were installed by default to port 80.) For more information, see Installation Considerations for Windows SharePoint Services.

Install Windows SharePoint Services with default settings

1.
Download STSV2.exe to your computer.

You can download STSV2.exe from the Microsoft Windows Update Web site.

2.
Run STSV2.exe to extract the installation files and start the installation.

3.
On the End-User License Agreement page, review the terms, and then select the I accept the terms in the License Agreement check box, and then click Next.

4.
On the Type of Installation page, click Typical Installation, and then click Next.

5.
On the Summary page, click Install.

6.
Setup runs and installs Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and WMSDE.

Install Windows SharePoint Services specifying the location of the WMSDE database

If you want to specify the location to install the WMSDE database, use the /datadir= option with the setupsts.exe command line tool.

The syntax is as follows:

setupsts.exe /datadir=”path\\”

For example, to install the WMSDE database to the d:\program files\wmsdedata\ directory, type the command:

setupsts.exe /datadir=”d:\program files\wmsdedata\\”

Download and install Windows SharePoint Services, specifying the location of the WMSDE database

1.
Download STSV2.exe to your computer.

You can download STSV2.exe from the Microsoft Windows Update Web site.

2.
Run STSV2.exe to extract the installation files.

3.
When the Windows SharePoint Services installation starts, click Cancel.

4.
Click Start, and then click Run.

5.
In the Open box, type c:\program files\STS2Setup_\setupsts.exe /datadir=” \\” (where “LCID” is the locale ID for the version you installed, and “path” is the path where you want to install WMSDE).

For example, if you installed the US English version of STSV2.exe, then the folder is c:\program files\STS2Setup_1033.

6.
Click OK.

The Windows SharePoint Services Setup program opens.

7.
On the End-User License Agreement panel, review the terms, and then select the I accept the terms in the License Agreement check box, and then click Next.

8.
On the Type of Installation panel, click Typical Installation, and then click Next.

9.
On the Summary panel, click Install.

10.
Setup runs and installs Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and WMSDE to the specified path.

After Installing Windows SharePoint Services with WMSDE

After Setup finishes, your default Web site is extended with Windows SharePoint Services. Your browser window opens to the home page of your new Web site, and you can start adding content right away, or you can customize the site or set administrative options by using HTML Administration pages. Some actions you can take to get users working with your site are:

• Adding users to the site (for more information, see Managing Users and Cross-Site Groups).

• Customizing the home page and other pages in the site (for more information, see Customizing a Web Site Based on Windows SharePoint Services).

• Setting up version control (for more information, see Managing Versions and Checking Documents In and Out).

If you have multiple virtual servers, you can extend additional virtual servers with Windows SharePoint Services. To extend a virtual server,

you use HTML Administration pages. For more information, see Extending Virtual Servers.

Note: If you had a previous version of SharePoint Team Services or FrontPage Server Extensions, you will need to upgrade the virtual server, rather than extend it. For more information, see Upgrade Considerations.

After you have used Windows SharePoint Services with WMSDE for some time, you may run into performance or storage problems, and you may need to move to a more scaled out solution. If you find yourself in this situation, you can switch to using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 as your database instead of WMSDE. For more information, see Migrating from WMSDE to SQL Server.

Top of page
Installing Windows SharePoint Services to Use SQL Server
Before you are ready to install Windows SharePoint Services, you must be sure that SQL Server 2000 is installed with Service Pack 3 or later and ready to host Windows SharePoint Services data.

If you want to use Windows SharePoint Services with SQL Server 2000 on the same computer, you must take specific steps to configure your server computer before, during, and after installing Windows SharePoint Services. For example, to set up Windows SharePoint Services, you must run Setup from the command line, using the remotesql=yes property. This topic describes the steps needed to configure a single server running both Windows SharePoint Services and SQL Server 2000. This topic does not cover using a remote SQL Server computer. For more information about using SQL Server on a remote computer, see Remote SQL Server Deployment.

Preparing SQL Server

You must configure your SQL Server installation to work with Windows SharePoint Services. For Windows SharePoint Services to be able to connect to your SQL Server database, it is recommended that you configure the SQL Server database to use Windows authentication.

Enable Windows authentication for SQL Server

1.
On your server computer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server,and then click Enterprise Manager.

2.
In Enterprise Manager, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft SQL Servers.

3.
Click the plus sign (+) next to SQL Server Group.

4.
Right-click the SQL Server name, and then click Properties.

5.
In the Properties dialog box, click the Security tab.

6.
Under Authentication, select Windows only, and then click OK.

Running Setup

By default, when you install Windows SharePoint Services, the Setup program installs WMSDE. To use Windows SharePoint Services with SQL Server, you must install Windows SharePoint Services without installing WMSDE. To do so, you run the Setup program with the remotesql command-line option. For more information about the remotesql option and other Windows SharePoint Services Setup options, see Command-Line Options for Setupsts.exe. If you prefer, you can also install Windows SharePoint Services without WMSDE by running a quiet, command-line installation, rather than running the full Setup program. For more information about a quiet installation, see Performing a Quiet Installation.

Install Windows SharePoint Services without installing WMSDE

1.
Download STSV2.exe to your computer.

You can download STSV2.exe from the Microsoft Windows Update Web site.

2.
Run STSV2.exe to extract the installation files.

3.
When the Windows SharePoint Services installation starts, click Cancel.

4.
Click Start, and then click Run.

5.
In the Open box, type c:\folder\setupsts.exe remotesql=yes (where c:\folder is the path to the Setupsts.exe file on your local computer).

For example, if you installed the US English version of STSV2.exe, then the folder is c:\program files\STS2Setup_1033.

6.
Click OK.

The Windows SharePoint Services Setup program opens.

7.
On the End-User License Agreement page, review the terms, and then select the I accept the terms in the License Agreement check box, and then click Next.

8.
On the Type of Installation page, click Server Farm, and then click Next.

9.
On the Summary page, verify that only Windows SharePoint Services will be installed, and then click Install.

10.
Setup runs and installs Windows SharePoint Services.

After Installation

After the Setup process is complete, you can configure your administrative virtual server (including specifying an application pool to use for the virtual server processes), connect to SQL Server, and then configure your virtual servers with Windows SharePoint Services. You perform these steps by using HTML Administration pages.

Configure the administrative virtual server

1.
On the Configure Admin Virtual Server page, in the Application Pool section, select Create a new application pool.

Note: You can also use an existing application pool, but any Web application that is using the same application pool can modify the Windows SharePoint Services databases. This is a potential security risk.

2.
Type the name to use for the new application pool, and then specify whether to use a predefined or configurable security account for the application pool.

• If you selected Predefined, select the security account to use.

• If you selected Configurable, type the user name and password to use.

3.
The account you use must have rights to create databases in SQL Server. In other words, this account must be a member of the Security Administrators, Process Administrators, and Database Creators roles in SQL Server.

4.
Click OK.

If you have used an account that does not already have database creation rights in SQL Server, you can give the account this access in SQL Server Enterprise Manager. This is a one-time-only change. Once you have granted database creation permissions to the account used by the Windows SharePoint Services administration virtual server, this account can create databases for any subsequent virtual servers.

Grant database creation rights in SQL Server

1.
On your server computer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server,and then click Enterprise Manager.

2.
In Enterprise Manager, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft SQL Servers, click the plus sign (+) next to SQL Server Group, and then click the plus sign (+) next to your SQL Server computer.

3.
Click the plus sign (+) next to Security, and then right-click Logins, and click New Login.

4.
In the Name box, type the account in the form DOMAIN\name.

5.
Click the Server Roles tab.

6.
In the Server Role list, select the Security Administrators, Process Administrators, and Database Creators check boxes, and then click OK.

After you configure the administrative virtual server (and grant SQL Server rights to the new application pool account, if necessary), you must restart Internet Information Services (IIS) by typing iisreset on the command line. After IIS is reset, you can click the link on the Application Pool Changed page to continue configuring Windows SharePoint Services to work with SQL Server.

Connect to SQL Server

1.
On the Set Configuration Database Server page, in the Configuration Database section, enter the server name and database name to use.

2.
Under Database connection type, select Use Windows integrated authentication (more secure, recommended).

3.
Click OK.

Extending a Virtual Server with Windows SharePoint Services

After you set up the connection to SQL Server, you are ready to extend your virtual servers with Windows SharePoint Services. When you extend a virtual server, Windows SharePoint Services is applied to a virtual server and a top-level Web site is created. To extend a virtual server, you use HTML Administration pages.

Extend a virtual server with Windows SharePoint Services and connect to SQL Server

1.
On the SharePoint Central Administration page, click Extend or upgrade virtual server.

2.
On the Virtual Server List page, click the name of the virtual server to extend.

3.
On the Extend Virtual Server page, in the Provisioning Options section, select Extend and create a content database.

4.
In the Application Pool section, select either Use an existing application pool or Create a new application pool.

Note: It is recommended that you create a new application pool for each virtual server, so that they run in separate processes. This application pool should use a domain account, but it does not need to have database creation rights in SQL Server — the administration virtual server account will create any databases required.

If you selected Use an existing application pool, select the application pool to use. If you selected Create a new application pool, enter the new application pool name, user name, and password to use.

5.
In the Site Owner section, in the Account name box, type the user name for the site owner (in the format DOMAIN\username if the user name is part of a Windows domain group).

6.
In the E-mail address box, type the e-mail address that corresponds to the account.

7.
In the Database Information section, select the Use default content database server check box, or type the database server name and database name to use for a new content database.

8.
If you want to specify a path for the URL, in the Custom URL path box, type the path to use.

Note: If you are using quotas, you can also specify the quota template to apply in the Quota Settings section.

9.
In the Site Language section, select the language to use.

10.
Click OK.

After a few moments, the virtual server is extended and a confirmation page is displayed. You can open the home page for your new Web site in your browser by using a link on the confirmation page. You can continue to extend other virtual servers or configure Self-Service Site Creation so users can create their own sites.

Source: Microsoft.com

Sharepoint / MOSS / WSS No Comments July 26th, 2007

No, Blackberry’s are designed to be used only with the RIM service and nothing else.

The RIM Manufactured Blackberry Devices rely on service books. Service books can only be obtained by a subscription to the RIM infracstructure (NOC), which is obtained as an additional service via the ISP.

To get a POP account integrated into a Blackberry device the above subscripiton is needed. A web administration site is created where all the management is done from a website for the settings pertaining to the blackberry and a handheld email address is created.

ie. Vodafone UK users can use mobileemail.vodafone.net, Vodafone can set this up for you free of charge.

Not Supported: (Blackberry)——–>(POP3)

Supported: (Blackberry)——–>(Blackberry_Se­rver)——–>(POP3/IMAP/Enterprise­ Email Server)

Dont forget you can install BES Express for full BES functionality, free for 1 user (expandable to 15) here: http://www.blackberry.com/select/server/express.shtml

Blackberry / BES No Comments July 25th, 2007

Inside a midtown hotel, Larry Fischer is on his mobile phone with a financial backer as his partner Ari Goldberger does quick research on a laptop computer.

They are bidding furiously at this auction of Internet domain names, with hopes of snagging megayachts.com. The duo won’t be deterred. They want this name.

“$110,000 (euro79,693), yes or no? Quick,” Fischer barks at Eli, the investor at the end of the phone.

Someone else makes a bid for $120,000 (euro86,938). Fischer and Goldberger up the ante, and then again.

Going once, going twice … sold to Fischer and Goldberger for $150,000 (euro108,672).

“You got it,” a smiling Fischer tells Eli.

These are boom times in an estimated $2 billion (euro1.45 billion) industry that involves the buying and selling of domain names. When people type the generic names into their Web browser’s address field, sites that generate pay-per-click advertising revenue appear. Such “direct navigation” bypasses search engines.

“This industry is like the wild, wild West right now and people have no idea how fast it’s growing,” said Jerry Nolte, managing partner of Domainer’s Magazine, a new trade publication devoted to this little-known world.

Some believe the industry’s market value could reach $4 billion (euro2.9 billion) by 2010 as people continue to purchase approximately 90,000 names a day and the number of domain registrars swells.

At the end of first quarter 2007, at least 128 million domain names had been registered worldwide, a 31 percent increase over the previous year, according to VeriSign Inc., which runs some of the core domain name directories for the Internet.

“It’s not about words,” said Monte Cahn, founder and CEO of Moniker.com, a company that specializes in domain asset management and held the Manhattan auction. “It’s like real estate. This industry is only about a decade old. People looked at domain names as a commodity. It’s a piece of real estate on the Web that can’t be replaced. It’s your stake in the ground, your stake in the Internet.”

At the Manhattan auction, Fischer and Goldberger snatched up four names for more than $1.2 million (euro870,000) and a fifth for a client, representing only a handful of the names sold for a total of $12.4 million (euro9 million) during both the live and silent auction.

The auctions were held during a domain conference in June that attracts some of the biggest players in this niche business.

One name _ creditcheck.com _ went for $3 million (euro2.2 million) but paled in comparison to the sale of sex.com, which sold for $12 million (euro8.7 million) last year, according to Cahn, who knew the site’s buyer and seller.

Fischer, 44, and Goldberger, 46, figured there was money to be made early.

Goldberger’s entry into the business was unorthodox to say the least. In 1996, the Hearst Corp. sued him, alleging trademark infringement after Goldberger registered esqwire.com, which resembles one of the company’s magazines.

The two sides eventually settled and Goldberger, a lawyer, was allowed to keep the name. Word got out that Goldberger knew something about the thorny legal issues involving Internet domain names and people began approaching him for advice.

Goldberger’s fascination with the burgeoning industry was sealed.

“I was an entrepreneur strapped into this suit-and-tie job,” Goldberger said. “Kind of a square peg in a round whole and this lawsuit just kind of changed everything for me.”

He eventually left the respected Philadelphia law firm where he worked in 1997 and joined a small startup in Manhattan called mail.com, which was buying up domain names.

Goldberger began collaborating with Fischer in 2001, building their portfolio of domain names. Together, they became a formidable yet quirky team.

Two years later, they created a company called smartname.com, which they sold earlier this year. The company took names and provided content and links for owners, getting a cut of the advertising revenue. At one point, smartname.com represented 150 owners with about 150,000 domain names, generating 50 million unique visitors a month.

Most of the sites are lucrative for their advertising US dollars. For example, megayachts.com isn’t an actual yachting site, but it contains numerous ads and links for real yacht companies, boats and cruises. The owners of the site get paid each time a viewer clicks on one of those links.

Goldberger and Fischer declined to say how much money they make from pay-per-click advertising.

Bob Parsons, CEO and founder of domain registration company GoDaddy.com, says this type of business is fairly straightforward.

“They make their money in two ways,” Parsons said. “One way is through the traffic they get and the other is the appreciation of the name.”

Parson didn’t think there was anything wrong with the practice as long as those involved weren’t using names trademarked by others.

“Domain names are becoming 21st century real estate,” Parsons said. “Just owning a domain name as an investment, I don’t see a problem with that.”

Anthony Malutta, a lawyer who specializes in trademark law at a San Francisco law firm, sees fewer trademark infringement cases thanks to improved laws.

“Trademark law involving domain laws is much clearer and much easier to understand,” he said. “It’s pretty clear that registering a domain name that corresponds to somebody’s trademark is actionable. As to generics, they’re just hoping to capture traffic. You’re just counting on people typing in generic names instead of using a search engine like Google.”

Malutta said domainers like Goldberger and Fischer are not “gaming the system” which in his opinion would mean registering domain names and then cybersquatting _ driving revenue off somebody else’s trademarked name like Coca-Cola.

Over the years, Goldberger and Fischer have sharpened their formula for acquiring domain names and developing the sites using a fairly simple template, relying on research, savvy and plenty of instinct.

“You either know it or don’t by hearing the name,” Fischer says.

They look for names that hit the “sweet spot” _ short words that describe a high-value product or services related to it. Words that allow them to own a category such as bald.com and cardiology.com, two of the domain names they bought at the auction.

To help figure out a word’s potential value, they see how many hits it will produce using Google. They also troll lists of names with domain registrations set to expire, enabling them to get a jump on buying it.

They don’t bother with dot-nets or the others.

“Dot-com is king,” Goldberger said. “Dot-net is worthless.”

But there’s a big divide between thinking of a good name and getting it. There’s usually a chase, with Fischer trying to persuade owners to sell the names after he locates the owners unless it’s up for auction.

“He’s kind of like a rhinoceros,” Goldberger says about Fischer. “He chases them up a tree and waits them out. He has patience and determination. You got to be aggressive. It’s a tough game now. It’s like the gold rush. The first guys did really well then it became more difficult.”

And expensive. Five years ago, the duo could get a good name for $10,000 (euro7,245). Now the minimum is more like $100,000 (euro72,448) _ as the auction proved. The cheapest name they bought at the auction was blogging.com for $135,000 (euro97,805). Other names sold for considerably less like irishwhiskey.com ($8,000, euro5,796) and Jewishdeli.com ($9,000, euro6,520).

At the moment, Fischer, Goldberger and Eli are sitting on their names. They’ve recently turned down million-dollar offers for stocks.com and home.com.

But as white-hot as this business has been, it might not continue to mint millionaires.

“How long will this model last?” Malutta asked. “It’s definitely a temporal piece of real estate. As technology evolves, maybe direct navigation will fall off the charts and there goes your property.”

Business & Entrepreneurship, Domain Name Investing, Internet Marketing No Comments July 24th, 2007

‘Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular Internet search engine, will take 90 percent of the market over the next decade through increased spending on research and development, analysts at Cowen & Co. said in a note Wednesday.

Google’s 2007 research-and-development budget of $1.5 billion is almost double that of its closest rival, Yahoo Inc., the analysts said. Google’s capital investments, estimated at $26 billion over the next five years, will finance development of the company’s own servers and data centers, the note said.’

Internet Marketing No Comments July 16th, 2007

The annual value of pan-European online advertising is set to reach 16bn euros ($22bn; £10.8bn) by 2012, more than double that of 2006, says a study.
The report by research body Forrester said online adverts would leap to 18% of market share, up from 9% currently.

It said 52% of people were now regularly online, spending more time doing so than watching television.

The UK will continue to see the most online advertising in the next four years, ahead of Germany and France.

‘Valuable medium’

European internet users now spend 14.3 hours a week online, compared with 11.3 hours watching TV, and 4.4 hours reading newspapers or magazines, the research group said.

As a result of this increased internet usage, 36% of people who go online said they spent less time looking at the television as a result.

The report said search engines would continue to dominate online advertising spend, followed by display advertisements and e-mails.

“After five years of dipping their toes into the online marketing waters, firms have come to realise that the net is a valuable medium for client acquisition, retention and market expansion,” said the study.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Internet Marketing No Comments July 12th, 2007

Looking for missing hard disk space on your Windows Vista installation ?

Well Vista creates restore points and shadow copies of your C:\ drive on a daily basis. This often equates to many Gigabytes !

Load Disk Cleanup, then if you click on the more options tab, and choose to ‘clean up’ the restore points and shadow copies, you should find a lot of disk space reappear. It will still keep your most recent shadow copies & restore points, but clears the older stuff off that your unlikely ever to use.

Windows Vista 1 Comment July 12th, 2007

Error: Runtime Error! R6031 – Attempt to initiliaze the CRT more than once. This indicates a bug in your application.

To fix the problem:

1. Open the Registry and browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

Could also be:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

2. Look for any keys with the Relex.exe path in them. (Below is an example from RegEdit)

UPDATE – Delete any Relex keys. For example, RelCvtWz.exe as you can see in the photo below. Some people have also had ‘Explorer.exe’ and ‘Iexplorer.exe’. These should also be deleted.

Relex Studio No Comments July 11th, 2007

This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.

Download it: Microsoft CRM 3.0 Implementation Guide

Microsoft Dynamics CRM No Comments July 10th, 2007

Backing up (and restoring) your Microsoft CRM Server basically involves the:

• Microsoft CRM Server program files

• Microsoft CRM Server database files

• Customizations made to your Microsoft CRM server

During the installation of the Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-mail Router (the Router), Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 registry changes are made to the Microsoft CRM servers that identify the Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2003 servers as a Microsoft CRM-Exchange E-mail Router. If Microsoft CRM Server fails and has to be reinstalled, the Router must be reinstalled on all of the Exchange servers so that the proper registry settings are applied to the reinstalled Microsoft CRM Server.

For basic Microsoft CRM customizations such as modifying forms, views, and mappings, the Customization Export tool is available to help you back up your customizations. It is a good practice to make a backup of your customizations before attempting to make new changes. If you make a mistake or do not want the new changes, you can recover to a previous state.

The key components of your Microsoft CRM deployment for which you should have backup and recovery process and procedures in place include:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, and Active Directory

• Microsoft SQL Server 2000

• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services Report Manager

• Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003

• Microsoft CRM Server

Read the full MS article Here

Microsoft Dynamics CRM No Comments July 10th, 2007

The number of registrations spiked as high as 300 a day, as names such as iPhoneJewelry.com and TheAppleMaciPhone.com were among the domains snapped up last month. But Apple, too, has belatedly swung into action to ensure it carves out the right amount of cyberspace to sell its new gadget, the first web-enabled phone with combined music player that has truly captured the public imagination.Until the end of last week, Apple did not even control the iPhone.com domain name. That website had been around since 1995 and last changed hands a year ago. The site was displaying adverts for a range of iPhone rivals, all sorts of mobile phones with the ability to play music, and no information at all about the Apple device.

That all changed at the weekend as Apple moved to correct its oversight, and the site now links directly to Apple’s own iPhone pages. Details of the owner of the domain name – and of whether they have sold or simply licensed the name – are unavailable because it was registered using a proxy registration service, the equivalent of making a phone number ex-directory.Jay Westerdal, the president of Name Intelligence, which analyses patterns in domain names, said 450 iPhone-related names were registered on the January day that Apple first unveiled its new gadget, and that there could be 8,000 related website names by the end of this year.A lot of the good ones were taken on the day of the announcement by the first people that heard the name, he said, but the quality of iPhone names has been dropping. The really great names, such as iPhoneGames.com, were taken by almost psychic people over a year ago.The profitability or otherwise of these iPhone-related websites will depend on what services their owners start to offer, and on whether they can generate enough interest to get them a high place among Google and others’ search results.

Anyone hoping to make a quick turn by selling the domain name looks likely to be disappointed, since hundreds are for sale on the auction site eBay, but few have attracted any bids.Apple has sold an estimated 200,000 iPhones in the first weekend on sale in the US, where the phone works only with the ATT mobile phone network. ATT’s own stores had sold out, and some customers complained that they were having difficulty activating the phone because a surge in users was causing network glitches.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

Domain Name Investing No Comments July 5th, 2007

Matt Poepsel, vice-president of professional services at Gomez, said user-generated content and other Web 2.0 developments like blogs had “the power to destroy brands faster than ever.” “Consumers can find information, create information and share it in a way they never had before,” Poepsel added.

Online marketing activities must be based on robust and responsive technology, and draw on data and metrics that are shared by all stake-holders, according to experts at a recent roundtable hosted by Internet application performance specialist Gomez.
Participants argued that in today’s Web 2.0 environment, customer expectations are higher than ever and patience with intrusive advertising and marketing techniques is wearing increasingly thin. This is making the task of online marketers and the I.T. teams supporting them more difficult, they said.

Matt Poepsel, vice-president of professional services at Gomez, said user-generated content and other Web 2.0 developments like blogs had “the power to destroy brands faster than ever.”

“Consumers can find information, create information and share it in a way they never had before,” Poepsel added. “Your products must be popular and work, or you’ll lose your customers.”

Jacques van Niekerk, head of online marketing tools provider Acceleration, said firms often forget the basics when trying to run a Web business, such as “using the right technology and making sure you have a lot of people behind it.”

“The more the Internet grows, the more our customers struggle to adopt the right technology, and understand how to get the most out of it,” van Niekerk added.

Others warned that unless firms have Web sites that are reliable and always available, their marketing efforts will be in vain. Former chief marketing officer at lastminute.com, Niall McKinney, said, “It’s massively frustrating for any firm that’s made a big investment in marketing to have a site go down for two days. You’ve got to have technology that doesn’t break.”

Gomez’s Poepsel also argued that most I.T. and marketing teams are failing to share the same metrics and goals, which ultimately harms the business. “I.T. doesn’t care about conversion rates but there are metrics that it can use,” he explained. “We’re starting to see marketers develop personas [to segment the market], and most forward-thinking I.T. groups also use personas to segment how they deliver experiences to that audience.”

Source: newsfactor.com

Internet Marketing No Comments July 4th, 2007

This problem is caused by one of two things:

1) Verify that the user has administrator rights on the local PC.

2) Delete all versions on IsUninst.exe from the Windows directory and try running setup again. If it cannot be deleted because the file is in use, reboot the machine & try again.

Windows / Active Directory No Comments July 4th, 2007