17/06/2009 by Paul.

One of the most frustrating issues to resolve can be a logon that takes minutes to complete.

The following article helps you to understand what is happening and how to monitor the difference processes at work.

There are no magic solutions - just some great pointers for where to start your detective work.

Troubleshooting Poor Windows Logon Performance

Posted in Server Tips | Print | 1 Comment »

24/04/2009 by Paul.

This is from the LMI Backup KB but is so useful I wanted to preserve it here for easy future access.

If you open your Backup Console on the storage computer and you cannot see your backup sets, the problem could be one of the following:

* The storage drive may not be accessible because of a hardware problem or user authentication rights at one or
more of your storage computers.
* One or more of your storage computers needs to be restarted.
* A proprietary Backup software file may be corrupted on one or more of your storage computers.

If the first two points are not the issue then the problem could be a corrupt Backup program file. Below are the steps to manually recover missing backup sets if the file is corrupted or missing. All the instructions below should be conducted on the storage computer.

1. First, go into Windows Services by going to Start > Run > and type in Services.msc. When the screen opens, look for three LogMeIn Backup services that start with LogMeIn Backup. Stop each of those services.
2. Next, open the command prompt by going to Start > Run… and typing ‘cmd’
3. Next, type “cd %Programfiles%\LogMeIn Backup” (without quotes) hit enter. (If, after you hit enter, it does change the folder, type c: and hit enter)
4. Now, type “logmeinbackupservice.exe -recoverbackupset 0” (without quotes but with a dash before recoverbackupset). This will repair the Backup.xml file with ALL the Backups Sets listed within the current Storage Location.
5. Go into Windows Services again by going to Start > Run > and type in Services.msc. When the screen opens, look for three LogMeIn Backup services that start with LogMeIn Backup. Start each of these services.

Open the Backup Console, and ALL Backup Sets that were saved in the Storage Location should be listed there; you may have to go back to the Source computer(s) and redefine the backup set schedules.

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19/04/2009 by Paul.

The following KB covers how to use Telnet to communicate directly with SMTP servers.

How To Test SMTP Services Manually in Windows Server 2003

These steps are excellent to help understand issues with mail flow.

Posted in Exchange, Server Tips | Print | No Comments »

26/03/2009 by Paul.

During some troubleshooting we noticed a process called JQS.exe which had read a huge 5gb of data since our server booted a only 5 hours ago.

Looking into this the service is called Java Quick Start and is to help speed up the starting of Java applications. For our servers this is not required and we wanted to disable this.

I found a guide on a site called - GHacks
For reference I have copied the steps incase the source blog isn’t available when I need them

if you want to disable the Java Quick Starter process you can do that in the Windows Control Panel. You find a Java entry there which will open the Java Control Panel.

A click on Advanced and the selection of Miscellaneous will display the activated Java Qucik Starter entry. Uncheck the box to disable the process. This will be visible in the Windows Task Manager immediately.

You can enable the process again in case you would like to use it at a later time.

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18/03/2009 by Paul.

A great find here An office 2007 Add-in that gives the user interface from the 2003 Office products.

Commercial users should make a payment to the company who created it - although this is not enforced.

http://www.ubit.ch/software/ubitmenu-languages/

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16/03/2009 by Paul.

The Remote Desktop Client in Windows 7 is equipped with new features and enhancements via Remote Desktop Protocol 7 (RDP). The most interesting enhancement is the support for Desktop Composition, full Aero glass effect.

Neowin Article

Video Link

Posted in Windows 7, Remote & Mobile Working | Print | 1 Comment »

12/03/2009 by Paul.

The following article over at LifeHacker.com gives some great free tools for file recorvery.

Click Here to view the article

Posted in Apps and Tools, Data Recovery | Print | No Comments »

25/02/2009 by Paul.

If you want to use a better / different router than O2 supplies you may be disapointed to find that the service isn’t a standard ADSL (PPPoA) connection.

Due to some troubleshooting work recently we have been given the following details for using an alternative router - our old onsite router wasn’t able to connect up - but I thought I would post these anyway incase it helps anyone else

Connection Type Multiplex LLC
VPI / VCI 0/110
IP Address : Dynamic from Provider

DNS 87.194.0.51 / 52

Posted in Internet | Print | 1 Comment »

25/02/2009 by Paul.

First the Adminpak for Windows Server must be installed - the latest can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e487f885-f0c7-436a-a392-25793a25bad7&displaylang=en

Now check for computer that haven’t logged in in a period of time - the example below uses 8 weeks - from the command line enter:
dsquery computer -inactive 8 -limit 0

After reviewing this list to make sure these computers no longer exist on your network you can use the following command to find and delete them:
dsquery computer -inactive 8 -limit 0 | dsrm -noprompt

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25/02/2009 by Paul.

If you look after a CAE system there are some important setup changes to AV setup -

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX114522

Posted in Citrix | Print | No Comments »