cyberpyr8

Thank you MagicAndre1981!! This is the tool to help stop the switching but give us the File Explorer and quick startup and shutdowns.

Why is this video not playing the first time you start up Windows 8? I think that they need to do something like this for the final release. Sort of like the XP first time startup. I have actually been running Mint Linux on my laptop with a Win7 VM on to of it because I was so frustrated with Win8. I may load it up again and give it another try. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/get-started?page=vid2

I am not sure if it is exactly what you are looking for, but H3C (was 3Com then bought by HP) has a solution that might work for you. I have rolled out multiple AP's all showing as one SSID and connected centrally by the POE switch. I bought a WX3008 switch and the 2612AGN access points. The switch is very full featured. It is not the easiest thing in the world to configure but once it is running works great.

The easiest way to find them is in the console of WSUS. The updates can be filtered down. You can also remove them from the console cleanup tool. I run that every few weeks to get rid of the superseded updates.

[emphasis added] Thurrott seems to have a schizophrenic approach to Windows 8. In one article, he'll say people need to stop complaining about Metro and get with the program (so to speak), next article he'll see things clearly and acknowledge that Metro isn't the best thing since sliced bread. (For example, see the rest of the quoted paragraph on his site: he intends to "stick to" the desktop interface.) But he seems to have good contacts within Microsoft, and if there's any truth to this teaser, it'll be the best Windows news of the year. --JorgeA I read that article too and I love the new explorer, task manager and ISO mounting features. In fact, I wish I could get them on Windows 7 right now. I have been trying to run Win 8 on my laptop but the experience is just horrible. Worse yet, I think that consumers are going to be confused by it. That switching back and forth in addition to multiple versions of IE (Metro and desktop) will not make it a smooth transition from the polished Windows 7 experience people are used to. It will be even worse for the XP crowd stepping up to a new PC. I am a heavy Windows user and it frustrates me when I know what it is trying to do! Imagine your grandmother or mother trying to use this and not knowing why her link from an email isn't loading due to lack of flash on the metro IE. The hidden menus and commands just compound it all. I listen to Paul Thurrott on Windows Weekly and read his site every week. I agree that he is flip flopping his tone on Windows 8 every time he talks about it. I almost feel like he is apologizing for the bad features while trying to stay positive. I love Windows and I have been running it since the Windows 2 days! But I don't see this being a success. I think that Windows 9 will get it right (or at least better), I just hope it hasn't hurt them too bad by that point. Vista really put Windows in a bad light to businesses and consumers. This could be even worse. I hope I am wrong but I don't think it is going to be well received.

If a system restore won't do it then try this boot disk. I use this to reset admin accounts but you can do other things with it like enable accounts. It might help. http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

A couple of things to look for. First, I would think that it would more likely be related to DNS issues. A simple way to start troubleshooting would be load BGInfo.exe on the computers and have it show you the DNS server, DHCP server and logon server. I say BGInfo because it is easy to see and use. You can of course do this from the command line as well. That may help you narrow it down to a particular DNS server or DC. Maybe one of the DC's or DNS servers doesn't have the right info or isn't replicating correctly. The CAL's shouldn't stop it from connecting. You would also see events in the application log (I believe) telling you that your licensing is invalid. From a client having trouble connecting you could try https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com/ and test the Outlook options. This is a helpful tool to use for many different problems.

cyberpyr8, My displeasure with Windows 8 has eased a little bit since the Consumer Preview came out, as they made some of the functions and utilities easier to get to. But by and large it's still harder to get things done in Win8 than in Win7, and I still have to look at that fugly Metro start screen every so often. Every time I saw XP's default "Luna" theme I expected the Teletubbies to come hopping over the crest, but the Metro screen makes me think I'm stuck in a kindergarten. I wouldn't want that on a phone or a tablet, let alone a 23" monitor. The iPads and Android screens I've seen out there look so much sleeker. That was an excellent promo for Office, BTW -- glad you posted it. If I didn't have Office already, it would make me go out and buy it, no joke. I'll even start poking into OneNote, a program I've never ever opened. --JorgeA Thanks man! Microsoft spared no expense in making the Office video. I think the difference in how the XP desktop looked versus basic functionality in Windows 8 is why I am so frustrated. I knew I could easily change the look of XP but they have changed how Windows works in Win8. I think it will work well on a tablet and be more intuitive than it is on a desktop. But they really need to fix it for desktops.

I have been running Windows 8 from the Developers Preview until now with the Consumer Preview and it has not gotten any better for me. I do see where on a touch based tablet it will work much better than on a traditional desktop or laptop. But if you are running a Windows 7 PC now I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade. On my laptop the constant switching and need for keyboard commands get annoying. It wouldn't take much to fix it, but I know that MS is not going to change it much between now and the final release. I could see this being a bigger disaster than Vista from a PR standpoint. I was on a MS customer case study team for Windows 7 and Office 2010 ( ) & (http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Windows-7-Professional/AnazaoHealth/Pharmaceutical-Firm-Improves-Performance-with-Notebook-PCs-and-Agile-Operating-System/4000008296). I can tell you that before they were released it was obvious that they were good products. But in testing Windows 8 I don't see it working well for most desktop and laptop users.If they would make the charms menu easier to get to with a mouse and allow you to stay on the desktop it could be better. I hate that I keep getting thrown back and forth from the metro desktop to the traditional one. The charms menu is fine but I always find myself on the left side of the screen when I need it. I hate that the shutdown is 3 clicks or more. I do shutdown my laptop and I want to be able to close it out quickly. In the dev preview I thought it was easier to search for apps than it is now too because there was a start button. I am a MS fan but this is hard to like. Maybe on a touchscreen I will see how it all makes sense but right now it really doesn't.

The best way to do it is create an account with a username and password on the main computer. On the business computer try using maincomputername\username and the password to connect. So if the main computer is named PC1 and the business computer is names PC2, create a user on PC1 and from PC2 login using PC1\username. That should work. Since the main PC isn't on a domain just use the computer name instead.

I am looking for an application to launch programs based on my network location. For instance, if I am at work I want to load a VM, Outlook and OneNote. If I am at home I want to load a browser only if I am at Starbucks I may want startup with nothing but setting different default printers at each location. I have an app for my Thinkpad called AccessConnections 5 that is supposed to do this but it doesn't work too well. Is there something out there that can will look at the network configuration and call apps based on that? If I can't find that is there an app that will let me choose a configuration and launch apps from a gui prompt? I know with Win 7 I could pin a batch file that would do this, but I like the automatic decision making feature of AccessConnections 5 but without taking over my network configuration. I have a batch file that launches at startup and lets me decide now, but a network detecting app would be better.

I think to appreciate Win 7 you have to use it everyday. Testing it at first I thought it ran well but as I started to use it everyday I quickly realized it is much faster and very reliable. I have had a few minor issues with drivers but the Vista versions have fixed those problems. People that completely dismiss Windows 7 have probably not used it. At first I had my Windows 7 Dell laptop and my Dell Optiplex 740 desktop running XP. Sitting side by side I found the Windows 7 laptop was running apps faster than the XP box. I now run them both on Win 7 and have never looked back. If you don't want to go to Windows 7 that's certainly your right. But as an admin I will be upgrading as soon as we can afford to do so. I see the stability and speed advantages as well as the security changes that I want my company to have. Forget what happened with Vista. Try Windows 7 and really use it. I think you will hate it at first but it will quickly grow on you.

Have you tried the compatibility settings in W7? I have had several apps run after doing that. If it runs in Vista you may be able to adjust compatibility to get it going. I am not familiar with any similar programs that run for sure in Windows 7.

Logmein.com and gotomypc.com are also very useful. Logmein Free edition is great for remotely connecting for IT support. If you use VNC or Ultra VNC you may want to use an alternate port. I have found hacking attempts on some of our remote sales reps laptops. Hope that helps.

If I understand you correctly, you want to use a XP VM in VMWare to create a Nlite image to roll to the EEE PC? If that is true, then yes you can do that. We use XP VM's under VMWare to create our nLite images and to test them.

The new user accounts you created are probably admins. Try using one of them with no password. If not I would suggest using this tool: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/ The CD or floppy boot disk work great and they have a good walk through if you are not sure what to do.

Actually what I ended up doing was creating a web page with links to printername.lnk shortcuts that I had for each printer. When I launched the page it will install one printer or a group if needed. I have the install place the web page shortcut on the all users desktop and that way the machine can be configured for the specific departmental needs of the user. I can be sure to run it before I deploy to the user and the PC is already on the network.

It is prompting you because you are trying to connect to a network printer before your computer is logged into the network. You might be able to get around it by using a runas or net use command as suggested. When you are installing the printer you are a local admin. You then add the printer but it needs credentials to access it.

You can script it through a batch file. It would be something like: if exist d:\ goto script goto end :script regedit /S filename.reg :end exit Is that what you are looking for?

That's right. You need to setup a common login name on all of the PC's and have the passwords match as well. This way when you try to connect PC1 to PC2 as "user1" with password "xxxxx" and it uses your cached credentials it will pass through. As long as firewalls are set to allow file and print sharing you should be fine. Just to verify you did turn off simple file sharing? (Control Panel/Folder Options/View/Last option in the list) Make sure that is unchecked.

Yes, if you are using DHCP to assign IP's to the workstations just put your primary and secondary servers in there. Be sure your primary is the top one listed.

In my experience that might be pretty tough to get working successfully. Is it a SQL database? If so try setting up SQL on the workstation and moving the databases over. At least you could view the databases and hopefully get what you need off of the old drive. Or setup the application cleanly and once it is up copy the entire application and database over the clean directories to get your settings back.

By default, only admins should be able to login to the server. Have you changed the server policy? If so reverse that and it will prevent them from logging in. If they have admin rights then they will be able to login. You can limit the access though the security policy. Go to Local security policy/local policies/user rights assignments/allow logon locally I believe it is. Then only have the admin accounts you want to have access listed there. That will stop it.

You may have to go in as admin and re-take ownership of the files. The file owner SID does not exist on the 2000 server. Take ownership then you should be able to grant rights to the appropriate users.

^ That is correct, the secondary server should not be contacted unless the primary goes down. They do not load balance or alternate. They don't work like AD controllers.