2005 June

In a previous article, I referred you to the Microsoft Office Online Web site that offers many Word templates that can be used to create resumes, cover letters, and so on. What you may not know is that Microsoft also offers a nifty template that you can use in Excel called the Job Search Log [...]

One of my repeat customers recently upgraded to a Treo 650, orphaning a Blackberry 7210… I felt bad for the poor little thing, all abandoned in a junk drawer, so I offered to give it a good home.
I thought I had it all figured out. I’ve been wanting to get a new mobile device, but [...]

This story by Bill Brenner of Search Security.com details some ways that phishera are compromising corporate servers so they can lure victims - and has some basic techniques administrators can follow to prevent them.
Most people think of phishing as authentic-looking, but bogus e-mails designed to trick them out of their bank account numbers. But recent research [...]

Grooming is the combining of multiple lower speed circuits into a higher speed circuit. VC [Virtual Concatenation] gives service providers additional customer data protocols and data speed options. For example, 28 T-1 circuits can be combined in one T-3 circuit. Grooming is an integral part of optical networks. With photonic switching, network managers can combine [...]

Donuts are a tasty treat, but many people avoid them because of the calories and fat in them. A new kind of donut has arrived on the scene, and it has zero calories and zero fat. Don’t run out to buy it just yet! Believe it or not, you don’t want this donut. You might [...]

Back to some puzzles:
A modern version of the old question, “What happens when irresistible force meets an immovable object?” goes something like this:
With all the tensions in the world, the government funds two research programs. One is to make a new missile that can penetrate any defense, and the other is to make a [...]

Job hunting can be challenging, especially in today’s competitive market. The process begins with creating a resume that will catch a potential employer’s eye and stand out about all others. But when it comes to creating that resume, where do you start? This question may be going through your head as you stare at a [...]

When you give a user a workstation, often the user views it as personal property and begins loading it down with stuff that can threaten the security of your organization. This TechProGuide shows you how to regain security over the desktop.
Do end users in your company call the help
desk looking for assistance with applications
unsupported by [...]

Microsoft Access has its share of fans. Author Ken
Bluttman is one of them. “Access really is an amazing product,” he says,
enumerating some of its strengths: “Its power is vast, and yet its
maintenance is low. It’s flexible enough to be used by one person or to
run an entire company. It’s a rapid application development (RAD) tool
that [...]

Proxy/Gateway/Session Border Control Inside the Firewall occurs when during VoIP call setup, the ports and addresses require a detailed inspection (sometimes referred to as a Stateful Inspection) as the setup progresses. If the firewall does not support dynamic ACL [Access Control Lists] based on the inspection, Proxy and Gateway Servers can be used just [...]

Today has, for the most part, been pretty run of the mill. Short of chasing after raccoons, I have been been doing little more than the usual ’stuff.’ But that leads me to thinking about something that struck me out of left field the other day. As people in the IT field, are we truly [...]

IonForge’s Evolution is a version control system with some additional feature. For a single user, Evolution might be overkill; however, for a large-scale project, Evolution offers a variety of options and extended features that could (in theory) make a project leader’s life a bit easier.

Welcome to Just Ask Matt! Today, Rick writes:
Help me, Matt! It is day twelve and I still don’t understand why Windows XP will not install on this computer. I have run diagnostics on all of the hardware, tried a different hard drive, and even successfully installed multiple Linux distros onto this computer!
So why is it [...]

People often e-mail me at the ‘ol Gmail account and pose the question: “Why do you bother with the in-depth observations in your reports?” Fair question. The main reason is because I have found that, more often than not, I can learn something from my readers. In addition to that, I enjoy hearing what others [...]

Mobile IP-Internet Protocol is just part of an overall mobile/wireless strategy. This tutorial is available at TECHtionary.com.
For example, in this tutorial there is an animation of one approach to a MVNO [Mobile Virtual Network Operator]. There will certainly be others.

Forget your NT/200x/XP admin password? This once meant a reinstall nightmare. No more. This Kool Tool will save your bippie…(remember bippies?) It has saved mine three times in as many weeks. It’s the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor boot disk.
This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has a valid [...]

Occasionally, my wife’s shuttle business comes up short handed, and I must jump into the fray and shuttle someone to the airport. If you have never been on the other side of the cab, taxi, or shuttle, it can be an interesting experience. Some of the clients are extremely interesting people. All of them have [...]

One of the biggest complaints that I have with Windows is that even with SP2 out, it is still overly difficult for the non-power user. Granted, some anti-virus products and other utilities do a fair job working with the Windows scheduler, but for the most part it seems to be over the heads of most [...]

Microsoft recently made changes to some of its MCSA/MCSE certification exams, so I decided to go take one of them. Any time changes are made to an exam, you are able to go and retake it. I decided to take exam 70-290: Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment. It included a variety [...]

My friend and co-worker, Scott Hanselman, has started writing a monthly column appearing on the MSDN Coding4Fun site called Some Assembly Required. He’s done two hobbyist programming articles, one where he outputs “what’s playing” info from Windows Media Player or iTunes to a small LCD panel, and a second where he retrieves weather information not [...]