2007 November

Right off the bat, as I am reviewing a loaner unit for the Zonbu Notebook, I must be clear that I cannot get too deep into my impressions just yet. At the same time, I am looking forward to submitting the review, destined for another writing gig elsewhere — will share the links of course. […]

In the previous installment of this article, you learned about the two forest-wide FSMO roles. The remaining three roles are the Relative ID (RID) Master, Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Emulator and the Infrastructure Master. These roles are domain-wide.
The RID master is responsible for assigning strings of relative IDs to domain controllers within a domain. […]

Optimized at approximately 30MB, the Parted Magic LiveCD OS employs core programs of GParted and Parted to handle partitioning tasks with ease, while featuring other useful programs (e.g. Partition Image, TestDisk, fdisk, sfdisk, dd, and ddrescue) and an excellent set of documentation to benefit the user.
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Andrew Stellman and Jennifer Greene believe there has never been a better time to learn C#. One reason is the imminent release of C# 3.0. “Microsoft is releasing some really awesome improvements in C# 3.0,” says Greene. “A lot of the things that people can do in just a few lines with 3.0 would have […]

Right, this sounds like some crazy, hair-brained scheme. Surely this is too good to be true, right? Well, I heard about this straight from Pirillo - so we know it is the real deal. So what is “the deal”, anyway?
Take five surveys, receive a cool $50 USD. And from what I understand, TechSay also pays […]

When I first read the news about Google claiming that spam was slowing down, I was sure that it must be some sort of typo. No, they meant it. And as far as Gmail is concerned, it is highly likely that spammers have indeed, slowed down some.
All that said, I certainly do not believe for […]

In the previous installment of this article, you learned that Windows Server 2003 supports five different FSMO roles. Two of those roles — the Schema Master and the Domain Naming Master — are forest-wide roles.
Having schema updates performed on any domain controller in the forest would result in inconsistencies. The schema master is the […]

There you are, staring at your computer, wondering why your Internet connection is running slower than slow, and wishing you knew enough to penetrate the endless runaround you get from your service provider. Or, you’re the Lone IT Staffer in a small business who got the job because you know the difference between a switch […]

I was alerted here recently that one of my favorite Mac guys from the Bellingham area remains in business — just not putting in as many hours as he once had. After sharing my total distaste for my “Apple Genius” experience, I am really thrilled to see that Tom remains an active part of helping […]

Just when I was despairing of finding an appropriate topic for this week, I received an email that hit the spot. Of course it is a political statement.
To keep the record clear about what follows, I am not an active Hillary supporter, and I certainly do not support the Bush policies. Other than that, I […]

There is a very good chance that you will encounter at least one question pertaining to the Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles on one of your MCSE or MCSA exams. What it comes down to is that you need to know what the different roles are used for, whether they are forest wide or […]

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I debated about even trying to talk about this, as some people will be tempted to dive into the politics of the location talked about in this article. But whatever, we’ll try it anyway.
Today, I happened upon this post over at OzTech@Lockergnome and found myself intrigued that people are willing to work so far away […]

Today, Brad asks:
Dear Matt, my new computer came with two partitions (C and D) on the hard drive, each 145GB. I use external hard drives for storage and back-ups. Do I really need two partitions and, if not, how do I get rid of the D drive and consolidate the space on C?
I […]

Whether we like it or not, Microsoft is going to continue to be just fine. No thanks to Vista, mind you; rather because of what I call the ‘New Coke Syndrome.’ When it comes to offering a new version of your OS — offer one that is so beta, so poorly thought through — that […]

I had to smile when I first read about this as I am beginning to see XP as just one of Microsoft’s challenges to furthering Vista adoption. How about Windows 2K? Yes, in banks, mobile phone kiosks among other places, Windows 2K is alive and well. So why have they not bothered to upgrade? Likely […]

I’m sure there are others out there who have run on the same image for longer periods of time, but for me, two years is a very long time. You see, my “workhorse” PC is an HP Pavilion m7250n PC running Windows XP Media Center 2005. I purchased this machine almost two years ago to […]

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I look back at this and smile. I remember drooling over this as a kid in the old Sears catalogs. Looking back at the old Omnibot now, with its state of the art tape deck and remote control with retractable antenna, it is easy to see how I was so intrigued so easily.
At age 34, […]

Fa la la la laaaaa la la la.
At the time of this writing, it’s Thanksgiving Eve and I’m battening down the proverbial hatches. We’re not doing any traveling to speak of, and since my in-laws moved back to Oklahoma, this is the first Thanksgiving we’re not even heading to the suburbs. Driving in Chicago is […]