Technical IT Reviews and Solutions

Dell Discount Code

2009-02-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Dell are giving a 10% Discount on selected Desktops and Notebooks accessories.

This will run from 04.02.09

You need to use the coupon code at checkout to claim the discount on selected Desktops and Notebooks accessories. The offer is cumulative with any other offer that may be available on Dell website. The offer can be availed only on Online purchase.

The Coupon code is: JSXBH4KV2323W1

Click here to use this discount coupon at Dell now

HP Discount Code

2008-01-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

HP are giving a 10% Discount on everything in January 2008.

You need to use the coupon code at checkout to claim the discount. The offer is cumulative with any other offer that may be available on Dell website.

The offer can be availed only on online purchases.

The Coupon code is: ONLINE

Click here to use this discount coupon at HP now

HP NC6400

2007-10-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a HP NC6400 from Dabs.com and the main reason I went for the HP brand as oppose to my usual Dell was purely because of the long waiting list that one has to go through if they order a laptop form the Dell homepage

The model I opted came with a Windows XP Professional and had a 14.1 screen is a T5600 Core 2 Duo with 1 GB of Ram with Biometrics and paid around £790 (ex VAT) from Dabs

My only disappointment (at this price) is that this laptop doesn't come with any recovery media. The buyer or user is expected to create these and they can anything from 7 to 10 CD's with the process of creating them frequently failing over.

How to create a Screensaver from PowerPoint

2007-07-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Create a folder on your hard-drive. Now open the PPT or PPS file in Microsoft PowerPoint and click File -> Save As. Select JPEG in from the drop-down option and click Export every slide.

The Powerpoint presentation is now available as JPG images in one folder. Right click the deskop -> Properties -> Screensaver and select the My Picture Slideshow screensaver followed by browse to the folder where you save the PowerPoint file.

Cannot Start Windows XP if the System or Software Hive is Missing or Damaged

2007-06-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

When you try to start or restart your Windows XP-based computer, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}

The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate CAUSEThis issue can occur if the System or Software hive for the Windows XP installation is missing or damaged.

RESOLUTION:
To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods.

Use the Recovery Console Tool:
To restore a damaged registry hive, use the Recovery Console to restore the backup copy of the hive from the Repair folder. The Repair folder contains a copy of the system's registry hives that were created after the first successful startup of Windows XP.

WARNING : Although data should not be affected by the following procedure, you may need to restore changes you previously made to programs or system settings since the first time you successfully started Windows XP.

To replace the damaged registry hive and restore the backup copy of the hive from the Repair folder:

Start your computer to the Recovery Console. Determine if the file that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section of this article is present, and if it is, rename it:

In Recovery Console, change to the c:\Windows folder.

Type cd system32\config , and then press ENTER.

Type dir system , and then press ENTER.

If you cannot run the preceding command successfully (because the file is missing), skip to step 3. If you can run the preceding command successfully, type ren system system.bak , and then press ENTER.

NOTE : If the message that you received referred to the software file, replace "system" with "software" in the preceding command. For example, you would type ren software software.bak (instead of ren system system.bak ), and then press ENTER.

Type copy c:\windows\repair\system , and then press ENTER.

NOTE : If the message that you received referred to the software file, replace "system" with "software" in the preceding command. For example, you would type copy c:\windows\repair\software (instead of copy c:\windows\repair\system ), and then press ENTER.

You should receive a "One file copied" informational message.

Exit the Console and attempt to Boot up the computer

Out of office assistance in Outlook 2003 disabled

2007-06-22T09:43:00.001-07:00

In Outlook2003, sometimes the “Out of office” assistant can get disabled?

When the menu Tools>Out of Office Assistant is clicked an error message is displayed:

“The command is not available. See the program documentation…”

Resolution

Outlook likes to disable add-in’s if it thinks it is causing a problem.

In Outlook go to Help, select > about Microsoft Outlook. Select disabled items. Out of office assistant is in the dialouge box, and enable it.

This should now allow to enable the Out Of Office assistance.

USB Drive does not show up in Windows

2007-06-12T10:05:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when you plug in a USB drive into your computer, you will find that it does not appear in My Computer. There is no indication in windows that a USB device has been picked and sometimes there is no audible windows beep either. This can effect not only new USB drives but also existing USB drives that you may have used previosly without any issues.

To get round this try the following:

Click on Start> Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management>
You should see a list to the left, under the heading Storage you will see disk management. You will probably see your USB disk in this list, Right click on the disk and choose Change drive letters and path.

This will bring up the Change Drive Letters and Path Windows. Click on the Change button, and at the next window assign a letter such as 'O' for the USB drive.

The USB drive should now appear in my computer, when the USB drive is plugged the in USB port the next time.

How to hard reset at Nokia N70

2007-05-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here are two ways to hard reset or format your Nokia N70 mobile phone:

Method 1

1) Switch off your phone

2) Press and hold these 3 keys together:

-green dial key
-the star key(*)
-the number 3 key

3) Turn the phone on

Do not release the keys until you see a formatting screen and even after the phone has started. Wait until the initial sound starts to play and the hand animation is displayed.

Method 2

on the screen type *#7370#

you will be prompted for a Security Code. This is 12345 if you haven't changed it.

Do ensure that you have backed up your data first onto a PC by using pc suite, or onto a memory card.

Free IT Study Guides

2007-04-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Below is a link to Free IT Study Guides

6 free IT study guides in PDF

Windows XP Professional (MCSA/MCSE) * VB.NET
* iNet+Windows Server (MCSA/MCSE) * Network+ * Security+

http://www.affordabletraining.co.uk/downloadpage.htm

Windows Reminder Message

2007-03-21T16:01:00.001-07:00

I was looking for a way, besides of e-mail, to alert users and colleagues about completing their online weekly timesheets.

I was aware and had used the not so common command these days netsend in the past. But I was looking for something that could be targeted to an audience and easily modified.

As e-mail reminder wasn't an option and procurement of software not a choice, I went about using the developing and using the following bat files which uses the netsend command.

There are 4 files Reminder1a.bat that contains the file path for two more files Remindermessage.txt and Users.txt. As the name suggests Remindermessage.txt has the actual message in the file and the file Users.txt has the list of recipients.

One thing to bear in mind is that the sender and any recipient must have the local service known as Messenger running on their workstations. Generally this service comes disabled by default, but can be switched to run automatically on start-up. This service is available on Windows 2000, Windows 2003 and Win XP, but unfortunately has been taken out in Windows Vista.

File No 1 Reminder1a.bat

Reminder1b "C:\Batch\Remindermessage.txt" "C:\Batch\Users.txt"

File No 2 Reminder1b.bat

@echo off
setlocal
if {%2}=={} (echo usage: sndfleuf msgfile userfile) & (goto :EOF)
if not exist %1 (echo usage: Reminder1b msgfile userfile) & (goto :EOF)
if not exist %2 (echo usage: Reminder1b msgfile userfile) & (goto :EOF)
set msgfile=%1
set userfile=%2
for /f "Tokens=*" %%i in ('type %msgfile%') do call :setmsg ##"%%i"##
set msg=%msg:##"=%
set msg=%msg:"##=%
for /f "Tokens=*" %%u in ('type %userfile%') do net send "%%u" %msg%
endlocal
goto :EOF
:setmsg
if not defined msg set msg=%1&goto end
set msg=%msg%%1
:end

File No 3 ReminderMessage.txt

Don't Delete this message.. I want to see it pop up

File No 4 Users.txt
gleng
jimc
3rdName
4thName

I placed all of the above four files on a directory within a server and used the built-in Scheduled Tasks of the Windows O/S to automate the running of the Reminder1a.bat file at

Can't Load Library from Memory

2007-02-20T05:03:00.000-08:00

Since Monday morning, anytime I tried opening Windows Explorer from Programs or by double clicking on the icon, I kept getting a pop-up that said:

"Can't Load Library from Memory".

The error or warning message disappears when clicked on OK, and the Explorer program opens up immediately. Everything seemed to work but the annoying error cropping up whenever I tried to access or open Windows Explorer.

The error relates to ipv6.exe and it's associated dll files. This issue can be resolved by rename a file found at c:\windows\system32\ called ipv6monl.dll to ivp6monl.old

The Pop Up Window will no longer appear whenever Windows Explorer is opened.

How to tell AutoCAD File Format

2007-02-09T04:40:00.000-08:00

If a user opens up a dwg file created in a newer version of AutoCAD, chances are the following error will appear:

Drawing File is not Vaild (error)

You can view a given DWG file in Notepad and look at the string at the beginning of your file, to match the version it was created in from the list below.

MC0.0 - DWG from Rel. 1.1
AC1.2 - DWG from Rel. 1.2
AC1.4 - DWG from Rel. 1.4
AC1.50 - DWG from Rel. 2.0
AC2.10 - DWG from Rel. 2.10
AC1002 - DWG from Rel. 2.5
AC1003 - DWG from Rel. 2.6
AC1004 - DWG from Rel.9
AC1006 - DWG from Rel.10
AC1009 - DWG from Rel.11/12 (or LT R1/R2)
AC1012 - DWG from Rel.13 (or LT95)
AC1014 - DWG from Rel.14, 14.01 (or LT97/LT98)
AC1015 - DWG from AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002 (or LT, Map or relative Desktop version)
AC1018 - DWG from AutoCAD 2004/2005/2006 (or other product in the "2004", "2005" or "2006" family)
AC1021 - DWG from AutoCAD 2007 (or other product of the "2007" family)

There are also other, internal file versions: AC1001=pre-2.5, AC1005=pre-R10, AC1007=pre-R11, AC1008=pre-R11, AC1010=pre-R13a, AC1011=pre-R13b, AC1013=pre-R14, AC1500=pre-2000, AC402a=pre-2004a, AC402b=pre-2004b

Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade Voucher

2007-01-30T05:47:00.000-08:00

With the launch of Vista, PC World UK has a promotional code which gives £50 off the purchase of Microsoft Vista Ultima Upgrade bought online from PC World

The RRP is £249.99 but the voucher brings the price down to only £199.99

The Voucher code is: ultimate50

Type this in the promotional code field/box and click on the button labelled 'Update' to get the discount.

Dell Discount Code

2007-01-11T13:34:00.000-08:00

Dell are giving a 20% Discount on selected Desktops and Notebooks accessories.

This will run from 12.01.07 until 19.01.07.

You need to use the coupon code at checkout to claim the discount on selected Desktops and Notebooks accessories. The offer is cumulative with any other offer that may be available on Dell website. The offer can be availed only on Online purchase.

The Coupon code is: XNKDD?VTWM0CMZ

Click here to use this discount coupon at Dell now

FileWay

2007-01-08T05:39:00.000-08:00

I was looking for an alternative solution to our VPN set up which allowed users to access files and folder over the Internet.

This is when I came across FileWay. FileWay enables enterprise users to securely access the files they need to get their work done-no matter where they’re working. Users can read, write, change, download and upload files on their office workstation, as well as others on the corporate LAN, from any Web browser.

A full 30-day trial of FileWay is available from the vendor http://www.everywherenetworks.net/ that I downloaded and successfully installed and tested. We liked the product and were making enquires on licensing types and costs.

However, what I was not aware of was that there is a free version for FileWay (not available from the vendors website) that can be found quite easily from searching the Internet.

Admittedly this only provides a maximum of 3 user accounts, but as we are quite a small company it was adequate. FileWay Free also lacks any integration with OWA and does not have the very useful SecureView feature.

Installation was not exactly easy and perhaps more on the moderate hard side of things. Having said that FileWat support is excellent making the whole process as painless as possible. Just like the Full version of FileWay, the user account can be configured, and directories and permission assigned and the database updated. You do get a warning and/ or are unable to save changes if you attempt to enter or have more than 3 users. I have created 3 generic accounts as oppose to using current Windows Active Directory accounts. Once you enter your credentials (i.e. username and password created for FileWay) an advert is displayed from FileWay (which you an OK to acknowledge). This then takes the user logging on to the main interface of FileWay.

I did notice and have used the feature that allows the FileWay user to e-mail a file to a recipient, simply by right clicking on a file and selecting 'e-mail as attachment'. The e-mail client is very simple and doesn't tie in with Active Directory or Windows User accounts; and therefore one has to know and be sure of the e-mail address. There is also an upper limit of 2MB (and you do get a warning message to tell you this) for the attachment size. The upper limit may not be enough, but the facility is there on this version.

For a small organisation as we are, this is a useful addition in accessing data off the Server. VPN connection falls over every now and then, and this in the form of a browser based easy to use interface provides an alternative solution.

Konica Minolta BizHUB C350

2007-01-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

We have a couple of Konica Minolta BizHUB C350 Photocopier/Scanner/ Printer units and they are generally very reliable.

Last week one of the machines failes to scan and print, and came up with the following error on the display screen.

"The Machine has detected an error and has malfunctioned. Please Call Technical Representative The Error Code C-001A"

In my experience, more often then none, rebooting the photocopier clears these type of errors. Sometimes these kind of errors are also displayed, followings a paper jam.

Replacing the imaging units, continued to bring the same error message. However, this particular error points to the imaging units in the photocopier not being used it was discovered. As it happens during transportation, the if the toners are not kept straight (as instructed by the manufacturer's) the toner tends to slide away to one side and sit there, and therefore accumulates in and around the gear.

Cleaning and vigorously shaking the imaging units corrected this problem.

Dell Discount Voucher Code

2006-12-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

Dell Currently are giving a 5% Discount on All Desktops of an order value of over £400 (incl. VAT & Shipping).

For 2 days only get an additional 5% off!

This will run from today 14.12.06 until 15.12.06.

You need to use the coupon code at checkout to claim the discount. The offer is cumulative with any other offer that may be available on Dell website. The offer can be availed only on Online purchase.

The Coupon code is: Q69V3MFP45KH92

Click here to use this discount coupon at Dell now

HP Photosmart 7150 Printer

2006-12-06T03:01:00.000-08:00

I was attempting to install the HP Photosmart 7150 locally via USB and then intended to share it via the Windows XP workstation in question, making it available it in the Directory as a Network printer for any user.

As a driver CD was not available or at hand, I downloaded the latest drivers CD from the HP site, thinking that it would be relatively simple and straight forward.

Having downloaded the driver, installing it, and adhering to a the classic rule of not plugging in
a USB device until the driver is installed or as and when prompted by the device software wizard in question, the driver did not get recognised.

Even after reinstalling and installing the driver software 3 times and doing the same with another version of the driver for other Windows operating systems, it was just not getting picked up.

After about 30 minutes of trying, I finally got if working the first time round when I opted for
using the HP Deskjet 990C drivers. This now seems to be working absolutely fine.

Toshiba Tecra 8100 No Display

2006-11-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

Having owned the Tecra 8100 for about 4 years now, it appeared that it was finally time to invest in a new Laptop when I returned home last night out to a blacked out screen of the Laptop.

As there was no display on the screen, I decided to use an external monitor to analyse the problem which also failed to show anything. At this point I thought either the display driver or the LCD screen of the Laptop has finally given in or it could even possibly be a faulty HDD.

Without any error beeps what so ever and and even lacking a BIOS screen, I decided to strip the laptop, and being a Tecra it was relatively easy to remove the HDD, memory and the CD Rom drive. It is important to note here to remove the battery pack first to avoid any chance of a short circuit. However, removing the LCD Screen and the Keyboard was slightly trickier. Having removed all the main components I started to put them back one by one firmly in place, and testing them as I went along.

Having failed to succeed by swapping the memory modules harrumph. I figured that it was one of the memory slots (slot A in my case) that had must have got damaged some how. As taking the memory module out from the memory slot in question brought the Laptop back to life.

Although on Windows 2000, using one memeory slot it only has 64MB. But its up and running now....

File Preview increases the Size of Word Document

2006-11-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

These days chances are that if you are working in MS Word 2000, the document most probably contains an image or a few images. If a word document is opened up in MS word, there is a feature of enabling preview for the document. This can be found under File> properties and then by clicking on the Summary tab, as indicated in the screens.

This feature is simply activated by placing the tick next to 'Save preview picture', followed by clicking on OK and Exiting the Saving the document. However a point to remember is that although this can be a useful feature for some, it most definitely increases the file size - by at least 10 times. For instance, in the above example the size of the document is about 40KB, but once the option of file preview is ticked the same document is over 480KB in size.

iTunes 7.0.2 upgrade

2006-11-14T08:51:00.001-08:00

I found that the most easiest and effortless way to upgrade from iTunes 7 to iTunes 7.0.2 in a windows environment is to:

- Download the latest version itunessetup.exe here from apple to you C: drive

- Click on Start Button > Click on Run and type the following exactly as it appears below:
c:\itunessetup.exe / quiet

- Click on OK.

- This will initiate the installation, but as its running in a 'quiet' or 'upgrade' mode you won't see an installation screen or a progress bar.

- Give it a couple of minutes or so for the installation to finish

This will install iTunes 7.0.2 as an upgrade, without uninstalling the previous version.

Converting Images into AutoCAD Format

2006-11-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

I was attempting to convert an image in jpg or bmp format into an AutoCAD format, and this is when I came across Img2CAD.

Img2CAD is a stand-alone program that converts scanned drawings, maps and images into accurate vector files (such as DXF, HPGL, WMF, EMF, etc) for editing in any CAD application.
As I was particularly interested in having a format suitable for AutoCAD. The program effortlessly converts images in bmp or jpg formats into a dxf format, which is suitable for AutoCAD.

Getting started couldn't be simpler by selecting or browsing to the image or images (The images or a folder containing images can also be dragged and dropped if preferred), followed by choosing the output format (in this case dxf for AutoCAD) and specifying the output folder. The conversion then takes place by simply hitting the Convert Button.

A Free Trial Version is available to download from Img2CAD

Restrict Users from Sending External Email in MS Exchange 2003

2006-10-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

1) Within Active Directory create a mail enabled group in the usual way, with a name that is quite apparent such as in the example below "No External Email". Add the users to it who you do not want to have access to sending out external e-mail.

A user can also be added individually, but its better to have created a group and then just simply add this in SMTP Connector, Delivery Restrictions in Exchange System manager. This gives an advantage to just updating the group as and when required as oppose to adding and removing users from the SMTP connector.

2) Having added a user or more preferably a group, a change to the registry needs to be carried out to enable and make this action correctly.

To Change the Registry Settings

Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).

Locate and click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Resvc/Parameters/

On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
Value Name: CheckConnectorRestrictions
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Radix: Hexadecimal
Value: 1

The screenshot below shows what the new settings should look like

3) Restart the Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine service and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) services for this change to take effect.

This is shown in the Screenshot below

iTunes 7

2006-10-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

I downloaded iTunes 7 from whilst I was checking for updates from within iTunes 6.

When I tried installing version 7 it comes back with an error during the installation process saying:

The older version of QuickTime cannot be removed. Plese contact your technical support group.

The installation of QuickTime did not complete successfully. iTunes requires QuickTime.

The version of QuickTime that I had was QuickTime 7.0.4. Therefore, I downloaded the latest standalone version of Quicktime, QuickTime 7.1. However, during that installation procedure it comes up with a message 'Cannot find QuickTime.msi'.

As I was unable to install QuickTime 7.1; I tried to uninstall QuickTime 7.0.4 the uninstallation screen just flashed by. I tried to manually uninstall QuickTime 7.0.4 by searching for 'quicktime' and deleteing everything and deleting all the QuickTime related registry keys. I also tried to go into safemode and attempt to delete QuickTime 7.0.4, but had no positive effect at all.

The workaround was found by this useful little app calles Windows Installer CleanUp Utility. I installed it and ran it and it presented me with a list of programs with setup info left on my computer. I selected QuickTime 7.0.4 and it removed all the installation info related to it.

This allowed me to install Quicktime 7.1 and followed by iTunes 7 without any issues.

Outlook 2003 - Names of Attachments Doesn't Print

2006-10-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

In the Outlook 2003 Client, If you are unable to print the names of attachments in an e-mail (when you take a print out of an e-mail) then the most probable cause of this is that you do not have an Outlook 2003 service pack installed.

In order to rectify this you need to obtain and install a Office 2003 Service Pack 1 as a minimum. Although not required to rectify this issue, its probably also a good idea to obtain and Office 2003 Service Pack 2 as it is available now.

Having downloaded and installed just the Office 2003 SP1, the print outs of my e-mail now include the names of the attachments as sent with the e-mail itself.

3G Data Card

2006-10-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

With the ever growing number of remote and mobile users, I was looking for a fast and effective solution for a user to connect to the Internet. This is where I came across a Vodaphone 3G/GPRS card. The datacard is of a PCMCIA type that slots into a laptop allowing laptop users to access the Internet via a high-speed network.

I ordered the 3G card via the online Vodafone business shop, with the Data 250 package and not the unlimited package. The reason being that although the Data 250 is cheaper and allows a usage of 250 MB, it is very straight-forward to upgrade to the unlimited package, but not the the other wat around. On Vodafone's website the information states that one has to stay on the package for at least 6 months (upon ringing them I was told that this was infact 3 months) before they are aloowed to downgrade a package. Therefore, as it was a first time 3G card purchase, it made sense to go with the cheaper package and upgrade the following if the user seems to be exceeding the data allowance.

The card arrived within a couple of along with a SIM card (which sits in the 3G card). The installation process was very simple using the mobile connect CD that comes with the 3G card.

The only gripe I have is that Vodafone didn't activate the card before they sent it out. The card came without any paperwork such as an invoice or contract details. In other words, I didn't have an account number or the Phone number of the 3G sim-card, which took quite a bit of time and several calls phone calls to Vodaphone to get the sim-card activated.

The card was tested in a couple of laptops around several locations in London, and even though the signal strength varied considerably between areas, the card provided a decent connection. In areas where the reception was at full strength we achieved download speeds of around 380kbps. This is not quite as fast as a typical cable or DSL connection (512kbps) but plenty fast enough for the kind of applications mobile workers are likely to use and certainly a massive improvement over the GPRS connection.

A setting on the Mobile Connect software allows to automatically switch to a to a GPRS connection, if the 3G network is out of range or unavialble. The transition between 3G and GPRS is quite smooth nearly all of the time. Vodafone's 3G network is currently restricted to major cities but is expanding fairly rapidly. A coverage map is available on the company's Web site.

In a nut shell, the 3G Mobile Connect Card performs and works well. The speed is certainly very impressive for those who are more used to a normal GPRS connection.

Euro Symbol

2006-10-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

If you are looking to place or insert a Euro symbol (€), hold down the key labelled Alt Gr on the keyboard (usually on the Left Hand Side of the Space Bar) and whilst holding down this key, press the number '4' key on the keyboard. You should get now get a € symbol.

This works in Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and NotePad etc etc.

Outlook 2003 Disconnected

2006-10-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

A remote user had reported that she was getting Disconnected displayed on the bottom right corner of her Outlook 2003 Client, preventing the user from accessing her e-mails.

Strangely enough all seemed fine, in terms of connectivity and access and no software or hardware changes had been made to the computer.

Tried to log as with another user credentials on the computer in question and there were no problems with Outlook. To eliminate any uncertainty I reinstalled Outlook 2000 and recreated the mail settings. However, the user was still getting the same issue with Outlook 2003.

The problem was strange in the sense that all other users seemed to be able to connect without any problems and using another users credentials on the PC in question also seemed to work. Although the user was also unable to access her e-mail when attempted to log on other computers. This indicated that the problem was with the mailbox of the user.

The Solution:

On the Exchange Server, go to services and restart (or stop and then restart) a service with the name of 'Exchange Information Service'. MS Exchange will restart all the dependents including the stores. This will make everyone's email to drop out, whilst the service restarts, and coming back within a couple of minutes.

Users do not necessarily have to close Outlook as it will reconnect when the service restarts. But its always good practice to inform the users to close and come out of Outlook for 5 minutes, to minimise any loss or potential issues.

Outlook 2003 Mapi32.dll is Corrupt or Wrong Version

2006-10-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

A few days I came cross a user who reported that she was unable to launch Outlook 2003. However, all Office applications (MS Office 2000) seemed to be working fine without any errors.
The exact error message was

"Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Mapi32.dll is corrupt or the wrong version. This could have been caused by installing other messaging software. Please reinstall Outlook."

The only change I spotted was an install of a AOL Messenger which could well have corrupted or over written the mapi32.dll.

Therefore, the first step that I carried out was to remove AOL messenger, and reinstall Office 2000 and Outlook 2003. However, this didn't rectify the issue. There weren't many system checkpoints, but nevertheless carrying out a system restore was also unsuccessful. Didn't have much luck with Microsoft's Knowledge Base.

The solution was:

Downloaded Windows Installer Clean Up Utility Remove Tool, available here, and used it to remove AOL Messenger, Microsoft Office 2000 and Microsoft Outlook 2003. Following this I reinstalled Microsoft Office 2000 and then Microsoft Outlook 2003.

This resolved the problem.

Upgrading Server Hard Drive Using Norton Ghost

2006-09-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I undertook the task of upgrading our company server Hard Drive for increased capacity.

The Hard Drive of the server was in mirrored in a Raid 1 array, i.e. 2 Hard Drives of 72 GB each, with only 6 GB allocated to local drive C and the rest allocated to drive D.

Before I began the following were considered important

- All data backed up
- Users informed of the downtime over the weekend
- New Hard Drives (in this case 2 x 300GB SCSI HDD)
- Norton Ghost
- Plenty of time

Below are the steps, in the order I carried out the process of upgrading

- Switched the server off and took out the 72GB HDD in slot 1, and replaced it with the new 300 GB HDD.

- Started up the server, so that new Hard Drive gets recognised.

- Switched off the server again, and rebooted this time with Norton Ghost in the floppy drive. On the Ghost screen, calculated and created a partition of 40 GB for drive C, and the rest about 246 GB, was allocated to Drive D. Began to Ghost from the drive in Slot 0 (i.e. the 72 GB HDD).

- The process was to take a long time, about 20 hours. Therefore, left the process running overnight.

- Returned back the following day, the Ghost process was completed.

- Started up the server, and then moved the drive in slot 0 (the 72 GB HDD) and moved the drive in slot 1(the 300 GB HDD - on which the ghost image was made) into slot 0.

- Rebooted and converted the converted the drive in slot 0 (the 300 GB HDD – on which the Ghost took place) into dynamic from Disk Management in Windows.

- Restarted the server, twice, to pickup and recognise the drives

- Inserted the new 300 GB HDD into slot 1, and restarted again.

- Once the server had booted up, opened up Disk Management, the drive was recognised and therefore synchronised the drive.

- The synchronisation was estimated to take approximately another 20-22 hours.

- The following day, the synchronisation had completed giving 40 GB on drive C and about 246 GB on drive D.

Gobbledy Gook on Internet Explorer

2006-09-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

'I get Gobbledy Gook when I tried to get on the Internet' This is exactly what the user said, happens when he launches up Internet Explorer and the Home Page opens up. A screenshot sums up precisely what I mean.

Surprisingly enough it was happening to the home page, set as http://uk.msn.com/, and a few other URL's that we tried, but not for all web page addresses or URL's!!

To start off, I checked that the coding was incorrect (under View>encoding) which it was as only some sites seemed to have been effected. I deleted all Temporary Internet files, and as this had no effect either I suspected there was a virus, and therefore immediately ran McAfee. It turned out that there was a Trojan and had effected server2.exe. Moreover the Antivirus was unable to clean the Trojan but had moved it. I than tried to launch Internet Explorer but ran into the same issue again. Had a look on the Internet and a few forums but couldn't find much. I also ran a Scan disk on start up, which didn't seem to have any effect either.

Luckily the user was running XP, and so I decided to attempt to run system restore to fix this issue. Having gone back a week in time for the restore point, I was quite impressed with System Restore as it rectified this problem!!

Following this I instantly ran a Virus update and a Windows update.

Wireless Keyboard & Mouse

2006-09-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

As I had to buy more than one in quantity terms; I was looking for a good wireless and keyboard set. Having already purchased on numerous occasions a Microsoft keyboard and mouse, I wanted to try out something new and different, and generally compact in size.

Anyone who owns the Microsoft most popular wireless keyboard and mouse, such as the Microsoft Wireless Desktop 1000 series, will know that both the keyboard and the mouse are quite bulky and heavy. Not to mention a few having problems with the actual installation of the drivers and software as well.

Therefore, I opted to go for the Logitech 2.4Ghz Wireless Desktop from ebuyer at £30.94 (inc VAT).

The 2.4ghz technology is a new thing, with only a handful of vendors offering this. Installation wasn’t a problem all, as there are no drivers required. I just had to plug the wireless adapter in the back of the computer and insert the excellent Duracell batteries supplied for the mouse and the keyboard; which brought this to life. However, I must say that you do need to on the workstation or the PC a local administrator or have administrator privileges, as otherwise it will not be setup correctly.

I must say that for the price it is very very good. It doesn’t have a huge array of buttons, just necessary and adequate buttons such as calc, volume up down and mute, WWW, back, and mail. It is also very lightweight and compact. The range is equally impressive with at least 10ft and battery consumption still going strong after 2 weeks.

2006-09-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

Deal On Dell

Later this afternoon I was asked by my MD to purchase a laptop. He has a couple of Thinkpad's but surprisingly he wanted to go for a Dell. I know, lately, Dell has been in the Press over the issue with their batteries across the majoerity of their range.

This, however, was a quite a good offer on a

2006-09-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

I am an IT Manager and Project Manager for a small company in London. I intend to blog about I.T issues and problems that I encounter giving advice and solutions where I can. This blog is also intended to provide a review about I.T products which I use and purchase.