Kurt Shintaku's Blog: Tools

TOOLS: Microsoft Standard User Analyzer

Thu, 25 May 2006 05:05:24 GMT

The Standard User Analyzer helps developers and IT professionals diagnose issues that would prevent a program from running properly without administrator privileges. On Windows Vista, even administrators run most programs with standard user privileges by default, so it is important to ensure that your application does not have administrator access as a dependency.

Using the Standard User Analyzer to test your application can identify the following administrator dependencies and return the results in a graphical interface:

• File access
• Registry access
• INI files
• Token issues
• Security privileges
• Name space issues
• Other issues

This tool also complements the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0. ACT 5.0 will include a User Account Control agent that you can deploy to user desktops to identify applications that require administer privileges. The Standard User Analyzer is designed to be run on the developer or tester’s workstation to test and troubleshoot a specific application. Issues identified with the Standard User Analyzer can also be entered into you ACT 5.0 database so you can track the application compatibility across your environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=df59b474-c0b7-4422-8c70-b0d9d3d2f575&displaylang=en

HOWTO: Switch between smartphones on Verizon Wireless' network

Thu, 11 May 2006 22:05:24 GMT

How to find the Electronic Serial Number (ESN) of your phone:

1) Remove the battery of the phone and look beneath it. There should be two strings of numbers there usually next to a set of 1 dimensional bar codes. The first string will be 11 decimal digits long and the second string will be 8 hexidecimal digits long. These are the same numbers except in either Base 10 or Base 16.

3) Copy these numbers down - they represent your ESN and the way the Verizon network identifies your phone. If you can't find the ESN on your phone there may be a programmatic way of obtaining this information. For example, see below for the i730.

How to determine your Samsung i730's phone's Electronic Serial Number (ESN):
1) Dial **772 (Note the TWO stars)
2) Enter 000000 for the Service Code. (Write these digits down. One is the decimal version of your ESN, the other is the hex version)
3) Select Tool - Exit.

How to register your phone with Verizon's network:
There is a web page on Verizon Wireless' web site where you can change your phone number's assigned device. In other words, this is how you can switch between, say a Samsung i730 Smartphone to a Palm Treo 700w PocketPCPhone (and back) on Verizon Wireless' network.
https://myaccount.verizonwireless.com/vzs/customer/ecmx?action=esnChange
(If you can't get there from this page, sign in to https://myaccount.verizonwireless.com/vzs/loginform then under "My Phone", select "Activate New Phone". A web page comes up called Activate Your Phone Online: Select "Activate Equipment" under Existing or Replacement Equipment")
1) Enter the ESN (either decimal or hex) into the ESN field
2) Select a reason code for changing (Received phone from other source)
3) Press Ok. You should receive a confirmation page acknowledging the change and requesting that you reprogram your phone.
Most people report that the change on the network side takes place within 5 minutes. Voice Mail notification may lag however.

How to reprogram & activate your phone:
1) Dial *228 (Note the ONE star) SEND
2) Press 1 to program the phone. This process will take 1-2 minutes.

TOOLS: Video sharing online

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 08:56:33 GMT

I've often posted multimedia content on the Internet... some of it because I liked it and some of it because it was in another format that I dislike and on sheer principle alone, I've converted it to Windows Media.

There are two services that I really like:

MPEG NATION (http://www.mpegnation.com)
MPEG Nation is a video/audio publishing site that charges $8.95 as a one time fee. Huh? Charge for storing content online? Yep. But just for $8.95 look at what you get.

INPUT FILE FORMAT: Any input file is accepted (even snail mailed tapes or DVDs!) and automatically converted.
OUTPUT STREAM FORMAT: Content is outputted as a stream in Windows Media for free in 4 different bandwidths. (150k, 300k, 750k, 1.5mbps)
1.0 GB UPLOADS: Any file uploaded can be up to 1 GB in size.
6 MONTHS OF LIFE: Any file published is posted for at least 6 months.
OPTIONAL PURCHASES:
- 5 YEARS OF LIFE: For an additional fee of $26 per file, content is saved online for 5 years.
- CODEC AVAILABILITY: For a fee, content can also be streamed in Real, Quicktime, and even downloadable.
- AD FREE EXPERIENCE: Remove all advertising for a more professional presentation window
- PASSWORD PROTECTION: Secure the video from everyone except those with the password
- VIEWERSHIP REPORTING: Find out who it is that's viewing you video
- YAHOO VIDEO SEARCH: Inclusion into Yahoo Video Search

STREAMLOAD (http://www.streamload.com)

Streamload is a site that provides 25GB of free publishing space without a fee. It has a limit on the bandwidth that you can consume over a period of time however which is 500MB/month. It allows files up to 25MB in size. This might not seem very good however this is basically the same constraints that other video sharing sites have on their sites.

Additionally, for $120/year, you get 250GB of storage space online, 25GB of bandwidth/month and the ability to send any size file. There is also a Terabyte storage option available for $360/year with most limitations removed.

TOOL: Converting to WMA

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 11:53:33 GMT

Check this out. A free tool to convert your media collection to Windows Media Audio.

http://channels.lockergnome.com/windows/archives/20060103_free_mp3_wma_converter.phtml

TOOL: Stop Windows Server 2003 SP1 from being pushed

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 22:13:55 GMT

How to stop Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 from being pushed to your server:

http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsServer2003/evaluation/news/bulletins/ws03sp1blockertool.mspx

This tool will do the trick.

TOOL: Browster - a search add-on for Internet Explorer

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 00:29:32 GMT

Okay, this is one of my favorite 'cool tools' for Internet Explorer 6.0.

It's called "Browster" and it automatically pre-caches result links from either MSN Search or Google after you've executed a search.

Basically, next to each 'hit' an icon appears that you can hover over. If you do, the ENTIRE web page from the hit appears in a windows and sort of hovers there and allows you to scroll around in it. Click back into the primary search window, and the hovering link page 'disappears'.

It's totally free - it pays for itself by putting text ads on the top of the "hovering" link page.

DOWNLOAD: http://www.browster.com/

TOOL: Outlook 2003 Calendar Views add-in

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:47:56 GMT

The Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Calendar Views Add-in makes it easy for you to view your Outlook Calendar appointments through a filter that is based on Outlook labels and categories. For example, you can create a view that shows you only the appointments on your calendar that are labeled Must Attend, or are categorized as Important.

You add filters by using the Calendar Views toolbar, which opens in your Outlook Calendar after you install the add-in.

DOWNLOAD: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4D6D2FF3-6DA8-4B4B-A84C-BCD83AD985F0&displaylang=en

TOOL: "Remove Hidden Data" add-in for Office XP/2003

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:46:08 GMT

Free "Remove Hidden Data" Add-in Office XP/2003

With this add-in you can permanently remove hidden and collaboration data, such as change tracking and comments, from Word 2003/XP, Excel 2003/XP, and PowerPoint 2003/XP files.

When you distribute an Office document electronically, the document might contain information that you do not want to share publicly, such as information you’ve designated as “hidden” or information that allows you to collaborate on writing and editing the document with others.

The Remove Hidden Data add-in is a tool that you can use to remove personal or hidden data that might not be immediately apparent when you view the document in your Microsoft Office application.

You can run the Remove Hidden Data add-in on individual files from within your Office XP or Office 2003 application. Or, you can run Remove Hidden Data on multiple files at once from the command line. In either case, to run the tool you must have the application installed in which the document was created.

DOWNLOAD: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=144E54ED-D43E-42CA-BC7B-5446D34E5360&displaylang=en

TOOL: How to use Sharepoint as a Blog

Tue, 31 May 2005 20:36:01 GMT

Wanna setup a blog? Try Windows Sharepoint Services!

I am in the middle of potentially transitioning my blog to a Windows Sharepoint Services site that I own that has the Sharepoint template for blogging installed on it.

Here are some examples of individuals using Windows Sharepoint Services for Blogging:
LauraJ's "Using Sharepoint as a Blog" http://blogs.msdn.com/lauraj/archive/2004/03/24/95549.aspx
Sig Weber's Sharepoint-based Blog: http://www.asaris-matrix.com/sweber/playground/default.aspx?category=SharePoint
Colin Walker's Sharepoint-based Blog: http://randomelements.me.uk/
BlueDog's Sharepoint-based Blog: http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/default.aspx
"Let's talk about blogging with Sharepoint" PART 1: http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=89
"Let's talk about blogging with Sharepoint" PART 2: http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=90
"Let's talk about blogging with Sharepoint" PART 3: http://www.bluedoglimited.com/SharePointThoughts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=91
Stepto's FP+Sharepoint-based Blog: http://www.stepto.com/default/default.aspx
Ian Morrish's Sharepoint-based Blog: http://www.wssdemo.com/blog/default.aspx
Collution's Sharepoint Blog: http://dev.collutions.com/blogs/sample/default.aspx

DOWNLOAD: Installable Site Definition for Sharepoint Blog: http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/cBlog

TOOL: Audioblender.net, a Sound Recorder replacement for Windows XP

Tue, 31 May 2005 18:09:25 GMT

http://www.audioblender.net/

AudioBlender.NET is designed to be used as a freely available replacement for Microsoft’s Sound Recorder. It is a sound recording/editing application that handles many advanced operations of sound editing with an easy-to-use interface. AudioBlender.NET is written in C# with managed DirectX libraries.

Feature List

Record audio from a selected input device
View graphical representation of sound in the Waveform Display
Support for multiple track playback and editing
Add/Remove audio effects in real-time
Write new audio effects with the Effects API
Cut/Copy/Paste functionality to edit sections of audio
Undo operations to reverse changes in audio
Works with WAV, MP3, and WMA file formats
Intuitive User Interface
Support for mixing audio clips
Rip music from CDs
Write tracks to CDs
Add 3-D positioning effects

Requirements

Personal computer with Intel-compatible processor running Microsoft Windows 2000 or later version.
Pentium III (or equivalent) processor or better
.NET Framework v1.1
Microsoft DirectX 9.0
256 MB minimum System Memory
10 MB hard drive space for software installation
Recommended 1 GB for audio editing/storage

TOOLS: Optimizing Windows XP Professional

Mon, 30 May 2005 01:27:52 GMT

For some time now, I've been doing a presentatioin called "Optimizing Windows XP Professional". I've posted the presentation at http://www.evilkoala.org/download/optimizing_winxp.ppt along with the tools that I mention.

In the presentation I talk about how to optimize:

Boot time
Shutdown time
TCP/IP stack
Hard drive accesses
File system performance
General Display performance
General OS performance
Video adapter I/O performance
Browser performance
etc.

One tool is called Connection Booster at http://www.evilkoala.org/download/TZConnectionBooster26.zip. It does a nice job of resetting various registry parameters for the Windows XP TCP stack to optimize network performance for whatever the speed of the current Intenet connection is.

The rest of the tools are located at http://www.evilkoala.org/download/optimizingwinxp.zip. Warning: It's 38MB.

TOOL: Word2002/2003 Read-in-Reader Add-in

Fri, 20 May 2005 20:13:34 GMT

Wow! I didn't even know we released this... and this has been available for over a year!

A long time ago, Word XP/2002 had a plug in available for it that enabled you to make your own eBooks in Microsoft Reader format. This format is similar in nature to Adobe Acrobat PDF files but has the added advantages of:

EASILY READABLE: Microsoft Reader is specifically designed for reading on Tablet PCs, Pocket PCs, or Laptop screens.
PROTECTABLE: There are ways of controlling distribution of the content through Digital Rights Management. You can actually "get published" by going through a eBook publisher online: http://www.microsoft.com/reader/us/shop/publishers.asp
NON-EDITABLE: There's basically no easy way to edit the content of a Reader book. Meanwhile, it's quite easy to buy a copy of Acrobat these days and edit unprotected .PDF files.
COVERS: Since the orientation of the format is for eBooks specifically, it has facilities that enable you to put "digital bookcovers" on the eBooks which are the graphics and text that the user first sees when they open the eBook. This differs from just "the first page" in that it's always presented to the reader.
EASY TO USE: Creating eBooks is as easy as using Microsoft Word and pushing a button to start the wizard to create your own eBook.
COMMERCIAL EBOOKS: There are tons of commercial eBooks published using Microsoft Reader. Check them out online at Amazon.com or any of the publishers out there: http://www.microsoft.com/reader/us/shop/default.asp#eBookstores
FREE!: The add in is totally free! How can you beat that?

Anyway, I'm stoked because the plug in used to not work in Word 2003 and it looks like they updated it last year to work with Word 2003 without any fanfare and I never knew it. I've made more than my share of eBooks in the past and now... let the printing press begin again!

DOWNLOAD WORD 2003 - EBOOK MAKER: http://www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/rmr.asp

DOWNLOAD MICROSOFT READER:
http://www.microsoft.com/reader/default.asp

TOOL: Encrypt MSN Messenger traffic!

Mon, 09 May 2005 18:23:15 GMT

SimpLite, the free MSN Messenger encryption solution

You are using MSN Messenger to chat with your friends or colleagues. Did you know your messages are sent over the Internet in cleartext form?

By encrypting messages before they leave your computer to the Internet, SimpLite-MSN prevents eavesdroppers from reading your personal MSN Messenger conversations. As the original successor of Simp 1.0, SimpLite-MSN benefits from state of the art algorithms to secure your messages, whilst maintaining an intuitive interface.

SimpLite-MSN is free for personal use at home or at the office.

DOWNLOAD: http://www.secway.fr/products/simplite_msn/home.php?PARAM=us,ie

TOOL: VSPlus for Virtual Server 2005

Thu, 05 May 2005 23:54:16 GMT

VSPlus for Virtual Server 2005

Interesting little -free- Win32 tool for managing multiple physical Virtual Servers from a single console instead of using the WebAdmin console. Also includes a command line tool for managing VS instances via batch file or command line instead of writing .VBS stuff.

http://citynav.com/vsplus/

TOOL: "Community Server 1.0" - Build-your-own-Blog-Server

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 01:06:21 GMT

(Funny. My customer (thanks Eric) had to point out to me that they actually went to production with our free "blogging" product, that runs on Windows Server.)

This is a server product that gives you the ability to set up your own "blog server".
http://www.communityserver.org/

It was formerly called TextLog but it would appear that sometime between then and now, we released it to the public. It's FREE and installs nicely on Windows Server 2003. It also requires SQL Server 2000 BTW.

I'll set up a post later about how to turn a Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 into a blog server as well. It's pretty easy.

TOOLS: Systems Management Server Scripting Guide

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 23:06:02 GMT

Systems Management Server Scripting Guide
The SMS 2003 Scripting Guide provides over 40 scripts, ranging from tasks such as creating advertisements to running queries. It explains the basics of SMS objects, WMI, and VBScript through a series of 'How To' examples. Each example has extensive and appropriate links to other resources, such as the SMS SDK, the WMI SDK, and the Windows 2000 Scripting Guide.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=81300e34-09cf-4672-a5c4-06aa238275ec

TOOLS: Windows Installer 3.1 releases

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 01:49:30 GMT

Windows Installer 3.1 releases

The final redistributable (build 1823) can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=889482fc-5f56-4a38-b838-de776fd4138c

For complete details about this release, please see the Knowledgebase Article announcing the availability of Windows Installer 3.1:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=893803

Notable New features in Windows Installer 3.1:

New MinorUpdateTargetRTM property: Patch files can now target both the original release baseline and the latest service-pack-level baseline that is on the system.
New MsiSetExternalUIRecord API: Packages that use an external user interface can now receive messages as records instead of receiving the messages as strings.
New x64 and Msix64 properties: Packages can now use the x64 and Msix64 properties to indicate x64 processor-based operating system support.
New MsiNotifySidChange API: You can use this API to upgrade the Windows Installer configuration if the security identifier (SID) of a user changes.
Flyweight patching is now an opt-in behavior: Windows Installer 3.0 introduced new "flyweight patching" functionality. By default, this functionality was enabled for all patches. Windows Installer 3.1 now disables this functionality unless you specifically enable the functionality by setting the OptimizedInstallMode property in the MsiPatchMetaData table.

TOOLS: Smartphone GPS and other tools for Windows Mobile 2005

Thu, 14 Apr 2005 00:23:11 GMT

Here's a bunch of Smartphone tools and products that I've been showing people. If you have a Smartphone or a Pocket PC Phone, take a look at the stuff below.

---------------------------

Ever wanted to look up the traffic conditions on your Pocket PC Phone or Smartphone really easily? Check this program out:

http://www.edgeq.com/TrafficEdge.aspx

They have other things too like a Comic program and some other apps for Pocket PC Phone & Smartphone but this Traffic program provides one click updates on the traffic in LA. Yes, it's possible to get this stuff through PocketIE but this is a nice, clean, really quick interface for getting traffic updates. It's saved me a number of times on the 112 to 405 corridor.

---------------------------

Do you own a Audiovox Smartphone 5600?

Interested in getting "GPS-like" functionality for your GSM-based cellular phone without actually needing a GPS adapter?

Check this out: http://celltrack.spv-developers.com/

Based on the cell towers around you, the software can approximate your location… and help do things based on your location such as call forward your phone to your home line when you're home, or make your phone silent when at work.

(…and no, this is not the "prank" GPS software that Les Gainous wrote.)

---------------------------

We have a partner developing an app called Skido.

Essentially it’s a GPS based app for Smartphone that allows you to track and record your descent on the slopes. Very nice UI and the guys are in Whistler this week "geomapping" the resort having already completed Val D’Isere. Feel free to check it out and note they have variants of this for cycling, running and more at http://www.sportsdo.info/forums/5/ShowPost.aspx

It requires a GPS receiver, like the Socket Bluetooth GPS receiver: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=115443&partner=sportsdo

It works with any Smartphone that has some form of Satelite GPS capability.

TOOL: Microsoft Fiddler - HTTP inspection tool

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 09:21:45 GMT

Microsoft Fiddler is a HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. Fiddler is designed to be much simpler than using NetMon or Achilles, and includes a simple but powerful JScript.NET event-based scripting subsystem.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnwebgen/html/ie_introfiddler.asp

RTM: Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) Tool v2.0

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:21:51 GMT

Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) Tool v2.0 releases 16 March, 2005

Announcing the second version of the highly popular Exchange Server Best Practices Analyser tool (BPA). To date over 200,000 customers have downloaded and run the tool. Exchange Server Best Practices Analyser automatically examines an Exchange Server 2000 or 2003 deployment and determines if the configuration is set according to Microsoft best practices.

New in the Exchange BPA V 2.0 release:

Support for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005
Available in all server languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional, Korean
And much more…DNS collector, new export capabilities, improved scanning scope, command line flexibility, group expansion collector, last backup times collector, permission checking infrastructure, perf sampling, scheduling capabilities

Maintaining the health and optimal performance of a Microsoft Exchange Server deployment just got easier. You might think of this tool as a “Microsoft engineer in-a-box”. By pairing our infrastructure expertise and Microsoft’s tool, we will analyze the configuration and health of your entire deployment, or even a specific server, and offer step-by-step guidance to help resolve issues.

DOWNLOAD: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=dbab201f-4bee-4943-ac22-e2ddbd258df3&displaylang=en

...or http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads/2003/default.mspx

FREE: LiveMeeting 2005 Intranet Portal software

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:19:36 GMT

The Live Meeting Intranet Portal makes it easier to deploy and manage Live Meeting. If your company has deployed Microsoft Active Directory directory services, you can use the Live Meeting Portal for Active Directory to:

Automatically create Live Meeting accounts for users once they are authenticated on your corporate network.
Allow authenticated Windows users to log in to Live Meeting without entering a Live Meeting user ID and password.
Permit users to change their Live Meeting passwords when authenticated by your Active Directory service.
Automatically synchronize a user's Live Meeting account settings with the user's Active Directory settings each time the user logs in through the Portal.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=429bb528-fd1b-45b7-af2b-cbbf4a8e65ff&displaylang=en

RTM: Coming - Application Compatibility Toolkit 4.0

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 01:44:23 GMT

This will interest you if you are planning/testing to deploy Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2:

Application Compatibility Toolkit 4.0 will RTW (Release To Web) on Monday March 14th.
Check this URL on Monday - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/appcompatibility/act4.mspx.

If you are not already familiar with ACT 4.0 (or at least 3.0), I strongly recommend learning about it ASAP from the web site. The toolkit has been in beta for over a year and makes it possible to adjust Windows XP Professional installations/images so that customer business applications can work on them seamlessly, in the event there is a compatibility issue.

For example, applications that misbehave and expect to be able to write to areas of the <system root> directory will typically fail on Windows XP SP2 images, since this area is considered sacred by WXP compared to other OSs. The toolkit can have Windows XP reroute these read/write requests to safer locations on the hard drive, seamlessly without the application knowing enabling it to work.

I have a great Powerpoint that goes over the details of ACT4.0 if any of you, my customers, are interested in it.

TOOLS: Microsoft LiveMeeting 2005 30-day access code

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 03:55:55 GMT

If you'd like to give LiveMeeting 2005 a try for 30 days, follow the following instructions:

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/lmtrial
Use this activation code: 2639
Follow the rest of the instructions.

If you have questions, email: meetlive@microsoft.com

TOOL: Windows Server 2003 Server Performance Advisor: How to diagnose Windows Server 2003 performance issues

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 18:04:32 GMT

Microsoft has released the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Server Performance Advisor -- a tool that troubleshoots Microsoft Windows 2003 performance problems. Neither Microsoft Windows XP nor Microsoft Windows 2000 platform supports this tool. The tool is available here. After you download the tool, execute the .msi file and follow the onscreen prompts to perform the following steps:

1. Click Next to go to the Welcome to the Server Performance Advisor Setup Wizard introduction screen.

2. Click I accept on the license page, then click Next.

3. Accept the default installation location and select whether the tool will be used by just the person installing the tool or by all administrators, as the figure shows.

4. Click Next.

5. The wizard prompts you for a location for the temporary storage of performance log files. Accept the default (C:\perflogs\data location), then click Next.

6. The wizard then prompts you for a reports folder location. Again, accept the default location (C:\perfLogs), then click Next.

7. Click Next to begin the installation.

8. When the installation is finished, click Finish.

You'll now have a new item on the Start menu, Server Performance Advisor, which you can use to start the advisor process.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/abouttn/subscriptions/flash/tips/tips_021605.mspx

DEVELOPER: Financial Services Newsletter for Developers

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:32:04 GMT

The Winter Edition of the Developer Connection is now available. This edition has an Interoperability theme - Interoperability is a key value that is enabled with the Microsoft Platform with our goal being to help customers and partners leverage their existing investments in IT while they develop and deploy new features for their user community.

In this edition we feature several examples on how .NET/Windows can interoperate with J2EE/WebSphere, provide an update on mainframe interoperability via Host Integration Server (HIS), provide an update on the WSE 2.0 SP2 that was recently released, highlight a great case study from Allstate Insurance that leverages interoperability via Web Services to quickly deliver a new customer facing policy management solution, and provide an update for customers on the latest events from Microsoft.

Subscribe to the new electronic version of the newsletter by going to:
https://profile.microsoft.com/Regsysprofilecenter/subscriptionwizard.aspx?wizid=4b15c3f0-7c79-422c-9820-2ec0e3815144&lcid=1033

TOOL: Bluetooth Remote Control for Smartphone

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:26:09 GMT

http://msdn.labtech.epitech.net/remotecontrol/

Bluetooth Remote Control for Smartphone

This is Bluetooth Remote Control for Smartphone, a Remote Control software using Native Bluetooth Transport without ActiveSync.

With this software, you will be able to control remotely applications like Winamp, the Windows Mixer, the Windows Media Player, PowerPoint and others...

Here is what you need to use this software :

An installation of the Windows XP Service Pack 2
A Bluetooth enabled Smartphone 2003 (like the Orange E200/QTEK 8080 and maybe the E500)
A Bluetooth radio on your laptop/desktop supported natively by Windows XP (which is detected by the Windows XP Control Panel)

For now, the desktop installer does not provide an automatic installation for the Smartphone client, so you'll have to install it by hand. You'll find a .cab file in the installation directory. Also note that your Smartphone will ask you twice on the first start about software modules that are not known, just answer yes. (This is for the main executable and a satellite native DLL)

For now, this software is free. This software is provided "as is" and I cannot be held reponsible for any damage done to your installation that could be the result of an incorrect manipulation of the software. Just the usual :)

NEW: MSN Record Service for WinXP Media Center Edition

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 07:36:37 GMT

MSN Remote Record service was released for users of XP Media Center Edition (XP MCE) 2005. MSN Remote Record lets you schedule your Media Center to record TV shows from anywhere you can access a computer with an Internet connection.

http://tv.msn.com/tv/signup/?redirect=http%3a%2f%2ftv.msn.com%3a80%2ftv%2fguide%2fDefault.aspx%3f

TOOLS: Optimizing your Windows XP network connection

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:51:56 GMT

I normally wouldn't post tweaks like this on the blog but these changes can be so revolutionary to your network performance that I thought I'd plug these two free tools for you to use.

The first is a patch that takes WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 2 workstations and ups the simultaneous outbound TCP connections to 50. Currently, WinXPSP2 is limited to 10 which can drag your performance down. You can get the patch and instructions here:
http://www.evilkoala.org/download/tcpipcon.zip

The second is a wizard-based tool that optimizes any WINDOWS XP workstation's TCP connections. These are very well explained in 8 easy steps and will make the process painless. I personally have seen some dramatic improvements in just simple web surfing after using a tool like this. You can download the tool and the instructions here:
http://www.evilkoala.org/download/TZConnectionBooster26.zip