It's been a great year for the IT industry, the weblogs and Techlog also. We've doubled our visitors and the RSS feed has even ten times more subscribers than last year. We would like to thank you, our readers, for the great responses we have gotten. The new year will bring lots a great news and exciting products like Longhorn Server, Operations Manager 2007 and Service Desk.
These Visio diagrams are really useful and have lots of info on them. If you don't have Visio and want to look there is a Visio Viewer available.
Now this is useful - I get loads and loads of questions about this subject. If you have a Dialogic gateway and are thinking of Exchange 2007. Dialogic has rolled out it's new website here. This website focuses on Dialogic Gateways that are certified for integration with Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging. These gateways support popular integration options to telephone switches too.
Michael Green writes: "In the past I've mentioned slmgr.vbs. I just used it to remotely provide a key to a workstation and activate it. It was very simple. The syntax took me a couple of tries but here it is - Microsoft announced that the first Exchange 2007 Beta exam will be in beta between January 2 and January 16. This is Exam # 70-236 which is focused to technology specialists. Essentially this is someone working with and administering an Exchange 2007 server. Now is the time to make all that time you spent playing with the E2K7 beta pay off!
As Microsoft heads into 2007, the company faces a number of ongoing threats and challenges, most notably getting its large installed base to upgrade to the latest wave of products. "The larger the installed base gets, the harder it is to move, and the longer it takes to transition," told Al Gillen, vice president of research at IDC. Microsoft also needs to remain competitive against the open-source Linux operating system, on both the client and server side, as well as get its virtualization house in order so as to compete aggressively against established players like VMware.
The Microsoft Small Business Community Blog explains what licenses you need when using Windows 2003 Terminal Services. They provide examples both with and without SBS 2003. (continue at source)
Windows Serviceability is pleased to announce the release of RC Refresh 1 (build 2845) of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003. This build contains:Kevin Remde answers some questions about the new way of activating Windows Vista:"I was reading an article in Windows IT Pro about KMS and it mentions you need have 25 licenses of Vista or 5 Windows server licenses. Does that mean if I install Vista for only a handful of users initially that I can’t use KMS? Or do I need to get 25 users up and running to use KMS? 25 users are half of my desktop licenses and I’d rather upgrade a smaller number of systems initially."
Yes, KMS (the Key Management Service) is only available to use if you're maintaining 25 or more activations. The KMS service makes itself known in DNS (a special SRV record), and business clients automatically find this server when they start up if they need activation. After the KMS sees the first 25, it then starts activating clients (including those first 25). But not before.
So.. because clients have a 30 day grace period to get activated, you basically have that long to bring up at least 25 clients.
The alternative to KMS activation is MAK (Multiple Activation Key) activation, which activates to Microsoft rather than to a local KMS service. If you have the KMS key, you also have the MAK key. (You get one of each from the same Volume License key source.)
Chris also says...
"Also, the article mentioned I need a 'Longhorn' server to use KMS or I could use an add-on for Windows 2003, which isn’t out yet. Am I understanding this correctly, or am I missing something?"
You understand correctly. Support for the KMS isn't available yet in Windows Server 2003 or earlier. You can install it on a Windows Vista machine, or on Longhorn (which is only in beta now). But yes, you should expect to see an update for Windows Server 2003 sometime in the first quarter of 2007.
Aaron Tiensivu writes:I found the "override" reference here in the comments section.
You might be wondering why you would want to do that? Simple. Laptops with slow hard drives or desktops with slow hard drives. ReadyBoost might consider your thumbdrive to be too slow to use for ReadyBoost but you can override it if you want. It can make the difference between a usable laptop and an unusable laptop with Vista. For example, an IBM Thinkpad 600E that has had the MMC-2 CPU package replaced with a Pentium 3 CPU.
Coming from Zuneinsider:Today (Tuesday the 19th of December) we’re issuing a 22 MB update to make Zune compatible with Windows Vista. The update also improves the Zune software installation process, addressing the issues that some of the known issues users reported. Like Jason R said recently “It is plumbing stuff, but it is stuff customers will notice and appreciate.” So you should install the update, even if you’re not running Vista.
You can install it via Microsoft auto-update, or go to Zune.net to get it.
Aaron Tiensivu writes:I didn't know there was much importance in this until I came across this paragraph in a Microsoft whitepaper on driver compatibility
While Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 are virtually out the door, Microsoft continues its march towards updating its server products to match.
The Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM) is a collection of tools that enables you to prepare for migration to the Microsoft 2007 Office system. OMPM checks for, and reports on, file properties to help you analyze your environment. 
Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM)
This white paper compares the performance of the 64-bit Windows Server 2003 operating system and the 32-bit Windows Server 2003 operating system with Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Active Directory operations. It also investigates workloads for which the 64-bit version of the operating system outperforms the 32-bit version.
Active Directory Performance for 64-bit Versions of Windows Server 2003
Do you have IIS on Windows 64 bit and want to run application that is for 32 bit. No problem. From the Inetpub admin scripts run the following:
The Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Management Pack monitors events placed in the application event log. This Management Pack highlights events that might indicate possible service outages or configuration problems, so you can quickly take corrective or preventive actions. This Management Pack also provides the knowledge and expertise you need to leverage Microsoft Operations Manger (MOM) 2005 and get an immediate return on your investment. WSS 3.0 Management Pack for MOM 2005
Google Inc. has released a customized version of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) browser in which Google, not Windows Live Search, is the default search engine.
Just in case you quite fancy being able to mount (and unmount) a single file into your file sytstem and use it as a disk drive, but do NOT want to install Virtual Server 2005 R2. Download the setup file for Virtual Server R2 SP1 Beta 2 and follow these instructions (from the release notes):
Looks like Christmas has come early for those Windows Live users who haven't got an @live.com email address yet. PicturePan2, the "unofficial LiveSide correspondent for China" has just posted a new way to register the Windows Live email address of your choice, provided you have Firefox or Opera installed. (You can use the nifty portable Firefox if you don't wish to install another browser.)
Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 continues Microsoft's investment in market leading development tools. Service Pack 1 addresses issues that were found through a combination of customers and partner feedback, as well as internal testing. Download: Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite SP1 Download: Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server SP1 Download: Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions SP1 Download: Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista Beta (currently unavailable)
Microsoft has a neat little way to prevent software piracy of their Windows operating system. “Windows Genuine Advantage" with its “Product Activation” requirement. Essentially, even with a valid product key, you still need to activate your Windows to ensure that only one computer is using that specific product key. If you can’t activate your Windows, there being many reasons for this, you are left with a 30 day grace period to change your product key to one that is fully valid or get in contact with Microsoft and plea your case. Once your grace period is up, Windows refuses to let you login anymore. You cannot access your files. You cannot go on the Internet. You cannot do anything, except the thrill of trying to activate Windows. (more) How to login to an expired Windows
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 provides built-in protection technologies to help keep the e-mail system up and running and better protected from outside threats while allowing employees to work from wherever they are using a variety of clients including Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Web Access, and mobile devices. Exchange Server 2007 makes it easier for IT to deliver these new capabilities to their organizations by making the messaging environment easier to manage and more cost efficient. To learn more about Exchange Server 2007, visit the Exchange Server 2007 home page. (more) Exchange 2007 Evaluation Software (32-bit) Exchange 2007 Evaluation Software (64-bit)
Now this is an idea that should have made its way into the as-yet underwhelming and upcoming update to Windows Mobile, version 6: a built-in secretary. BCross at the MSDN Windows Mobile blog has decided not to wait, releasing an app he simply calls The Mobile Secretary. It offers some clever features for auto-responding to missed calls with text messages, for example: if a contact calls from their home phone and you miss the call, The Mobile Secretary can respond to their mobile phone number with a custom text message, optionally attaching any calendar information as an excuse explanation for your absence. Contacts can also be added to custom groups, which in turn can receive their own custom text message replies.
production retail release. This "hack" resulted in machines that were called "Frankenbuild" machines inside of Microsoft. This build combined with a Windows Vista RC1 key would allow you to activate. 
PowerShell Community Extensions is a PowerShell Snapin that provides a number of widely useful cmdlets. PSCX is not affliated with Microsoft or the Windows PowerShell team at Microsoft. We are a few (at the moment) passionate PowerShell users who wanted more cmdlets than Micorsoft was able to deliver in v1.0. So we have taken it upon ourselves to create some of those cmdlets and make them available to the community. Research firm Gartner Inc. turned soothsayer on Wednesday by predicting that Windows Vista will be the last big release of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system. The era of monolithic deployments of software releases is nearing an end and Microsoft will participate in the trend toward more flexible updates, Gartner forecast in a list of forecasts about 2007. Mary Jo Foley, writing on ZDNet Blogs, has responded to Gartner's predictions by questioning the definition of a 'big' release. "Bottom line: It seems a little premature to claim that Microsoft is done with major Windows releases. Even if the Redmondians further blur the lines between service packs and full-fledged OS updates (as they seem intent on doing), Microsoft and its hardware/software/services partners aren't going to let go of the concept of the big-bang OS update any time soon." (more)
John Hicks from Windows Vista Magazine explains how you can restore .bkf files in Windows Vista:
Windows Vista doesn't yet have a way to import backup files from Windows XP - the .bkf files created by Windows Backup. Microsoft is working on a tool that will do this for you but it's not here yet, so for now you've got to bodge it. If you've got bkf files languishing on your backup drive, you can get them in to Windows Vista thusly:
Vista may be coming out next year, but if like me you can’t afford to upgrade to Vista then why not show your current PC some love this Christmas and give it a tune up?
The Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant suite of tools was developed to help customers and Customer Service and Support (CSS) isolate issues faster. ExTRA is integrated into the toolbox in Exchange Server 2007 and is available directly from the Exchange Management Console.
Download the Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant Tools from the Microsoft Website
The filing cabinet has a procedure on how to move the Offline Files cache location in Windows Vista from the default location (c:\windows\csc) to another volume. (continue at source)
Add Internet Explorer to Windows Vista Desktop. Microsoft has removed the option to add Internet Explorer natively to Visa’s desktop. That’s why we created FxDeskie, to allow you to add the Internet Explorer icon on Vista’s Desktop. Download FxDeskie 1.2
Bill Menees posted on his Blog one of the few free must have PowerShell utilities called "PowerShell Prompt Here" for PowerShell 1.0 (PowerShellHere.Inf). It is based on the old Command Prompt Here power toy by Microsoft that also is a must have utility. PowerShell Prompt Here Download
Leon Brag writes:I have a lot of emails stored
