If your firewall is blocking the online registration of KMS (Key Management Service) for Vista/Server 2008, then you need to activate it offline by calling. The US Number is 1-866-740-1256, but there’s a trick: The IVR system will ask for your Installation ID in “groups”, but in Server 2003’s KMS console (slmgr.vbs) you are given one long string. If you don’t pause at the right time, the IVR will get hung up and tell you “please only give me the group X”. The grouping magic number is six, so just stop between saying each six numbers, and imagine the dash between them :).
Archive for the 'Microsoft' Category
Just a matter of time before the shell replacements started rolling out for Vista. I used to be a big Object Desktop and Stardock fan and tried many of the others out there, but stability and performance were always an issue that kept me on it full time.
Here’s a new one in private beta, likely commercial but is taking on a near replica of OSX look but with vista colors (at least by default). I only have screen shots to judge it by at this point until an open beta appears.
If you know of another shell/GUI replacement for Vista please make a comment. Thanks.
This post is a record of what I’ve learned and done to make the built-in backup utility in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 as useful as possible.
Often my clients, as well as most home users have operating systems like Windows 2000/2003 Server (or Windows XP for home users) installed and end up using a 3rd party application to backup their data. For servers, this can get expensive quickly, and often my clients don’t understand why they have to pay as much money (or more) for backups then they did for the server(s) it’s backing up (expensive software combined with expensive tape systems). With home users, or business workstations, they are very rarely backed up because of the complexity that they perceive it to be. Often, I believe the built-in backup utility of modern Windows could do the job just fine for small businesses and home, but many don’t know how to work with it, and deal with its limitations (and Microsoft doesn’t have a good wizard to walk you though the more advanced scenarios).
Continue reading ‘Utilizing the Built-in Windows Backup (ntbackup.exe) For Windows’
If you value your free time, just get your HDTV, pay the cable company for all the HD gear, and enjoy. If you are naturally cheap and have weekends to kill, try this. I’m 19-24 miles from all the OTA (over the air) stations in Hampton Roads, and I’ve got a near perfect DTV reception with 10-year-old rabbit ears I put in (not on) the attic. It gets me a signal, but I get signal loss enough to make it unwatchable. I just ordered a ‘best on the market’ antenna to replace it for $60. Sexy over the air HDTV, here I come. All I need now is CNBC over the air (or Vista Media Center Internet TV to carry CNBC) and a HDTV TiVo, and then Cox is out the door….
There’s got to be another one. The plot sorta just wrapped up everything in the last 15 minutes like a blockbuster brain-dead movie. No big boss, no flood mastermind fight… no running into the excavated site on Earth, no explanation of why Cortana’s messages in your head were all whacked. Oh well… it was still great fun. Now on to multiplayer for 4 years of replay value. I can only assume the series will live on in another form (maybe the Gravemind trilogy? or a prequel about the Forerunners?).