TIPS & TRICKS: Microsoft Office Activation

In the office we use Volume Licensed installations of Microsoft Office. Each installation "phones home" every so often to extend the activation period. When Office "phones home" it talks to a KMS (Key Management Services) server, which grants additional time when it's a valid installation.

A second way to activate Microsoft Office is through a MAK (Multiple Activation Key), which has a predefined number of activations. This method is for machines that are not able to talk to a KMS server within a specified period of time.

Finally, there are retail versions that have unique codes for each installation or a unique code for a small number of installations within a household, usually 3 installations.

My problem was how to see which one of the above methods a particular installation is using, since the information in the Help menu does not give that information. Fortunately, there is a command line tool that will give that information:

cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus

This command needs to be run inside the Officex, where x is the number that corresponds with your version of Microsoft Office (i.e. Office14 for Microsoft Office 2010). The Officex folder is found in Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office or Program Files\Microsoft Office depending if you're running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office.

In addition, there's a command to tell Office to activate or renew remaining grace period:

cscript ospp.vbs /act

Side note: For installations of Microsoft Office away from your corporate environment, you'll likely need some sort of secured connection (i.e. VPN) back to the office to use the activation/renewal command.

TIPS & TRICKS: Make Sure 'Display Name' Is Populated

Learned something new today about Exchange. Apparently, the Display Name field holds much more significance than I originally thought. When searching for users to create a new profile (i.e. hitting Check Name) in Outlook setup, it actually relies on the Display Name field to find the appropriate user in the Global Address List. I used to think that giving it the correct username was enough.

In the future, I will make sure to have Display Name filled out appropriately and not leave it blank.

TIPS & TRICKS: Download Dell OS Media

So the other day, I was helping someone reload their Dell machine. The media to reinstall Windows was not available. I contacted Dell to see if they could send another set. They agreed, but I needed to get this machine back up and running sooner. At some point, I thought to myself how great it would be if I could just download the media and create my own bootable media set. Eventually, I found the original set that came with the computer and got it reloaded. However, I came across this site that does allow downloading of software to create bootable media. Fortunately, it's a Dell site, which redirects to Digital River, also a trustworthy site. http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/1439.02-microsoft-windows-and-microsoft-office-downloads.aspx Hope this helps. Happy Computing.

TIPS & TRICKS: Microsoft Group Policy Settings Spreadsheet

Group policy can be daunting. I'm sure I've shared other people's frustrations when just simply looking for a particular setting. There's been countless times when I wished I could just do a search on the whereabouts of a particular setting. At least, these spreadsheets are searchable:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25250

TIPS & TRICKS: Managing Permissions on Folders

Scenario: I get a call from a staff member, who I support. She wanted to see if she could obtain permission to some folders in a particular directory on my Windows 2003 file server. Without getting into the non-technical authorization of the situation and tossing the idea back and forth with my boss, I decided that we really needed was to get a listing of permissions of all the sub-folders in the directory in question. 

I poked around the web a bit, until I discovered a Microsoft tool that helps to manage permissions using the command line. GUIs are great for one-off tasks, but command line is necessary handle these types of tasks. Here's the gist of how I ended up with the results I needed:

• Download Xcacls.vbs from the Microsoft link below. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825751
• Open a command prompt window.
• At the command prompt, navigate to the location where Xcacls.vbs is saved.
• Type in Xcacls.vbs \\server\share\folder\* > c:\output.txt

This got me the output I needed. I did need to clean up the the output a bit because there were some extraneous files in the directory that was not necessary to the task. I know this tool can go further than just listing permissions. When I need to modify permissions across multiple files/folders I will try this out. 

TIPS & TRICKS: Internet Explorer 9 Compatibility

I knew previously that Internet Explorer 9 had a built-in compatibility mode. Even so, there were some sites that just didn't work on IE9. Just figured out there's another way to control how IE9 behaves. There is a developer tool built-in that allow IE9 to emulate specific previous versions:

- With IE9 open, Hit F12
- Click on Browser Mode: IE9 at the bottom of the window
- Select the version that might work for you

Simple. There will probably still be sites that don't quite work, but having options is helpful.

TIPS & TRICKS: "Randomly" Waking Windows 7 Computer

Awhile back, I noticed my workstation was waking up in the middle of the night. After checking the system logs, I found that there was a Google update service that woke the computer up. I fixed that one. To my surprise, I found my computer on again at 1:41am. Another piece of update software woke up the machine. This useful command helped to confirm my findings in the log:

powercfg -lastwake


Just need to make sure to run it from a command prompt as and administrator:


- Click Start
- Type cmd in the Search programs and files box
- right click cmd under Programs and select "Run as Administrator"


If this line is included in the results after the powercfg -lastwake command is issued:


Windows will execute 'MicrosoftWindowsMedia Centermcupdate_scheduled' scheduled task that requested waking the computer.


Then, here's the fix:


- Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler
- Expand Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Media Center
- Find mcupdate_scheduled (note: make sure to find this one because there's another one called just mcupdate)
- Right click on mcupdate_scheduled and select "Properties".
- Select the Conditions tab
- Uncheck "wake the computer to run this task"

- Hit OK to exit.

Just did this to my workstation and will see if it works. Credit goes to this site:

http://www.beirtech.com/blogs.php?action=view&bid=6

TIPS & TRICKS: Transferring Outlook 2007 AutoComplete Email Addresses to Outlook 2010

Most people probably don't know that Outlook saves frequently used email addresses, which is completely separate from Outlook Contacts. Those addresses are very useful to migrate along with your other Outlook files over to Outlook 2010.

There are 3rd party tools out there that help to do the migration. But, I'm always one to try to use native tools first, as long as they work well. I found this tool from Microsoft that seems to work well:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980542#ImportNK2Files_Outlook

In addition, to this being a useful tool, the article also points out that Outlook 2010 no longer uses a .NK2 file to store these frequently used addresses. I didn't figure out where Outlook 2010 now stores these addresses. Perhaps there's some tie-in in the future to Microsoft's Live Services, in which case I would expect it to be in some sort of web-enabled file (i.e. XML or similar).

One thing I haven't figure out is if the machine is in a domain/Exchange, then what happens to those names that are not complete email addresses because of Exchange resolution in Outlook 2007. Do those names (i.e. usernames) get imported and become duplicates? I just did this for someone. We'll find out soon enough.

TIPS & TRICKS: MLGPOs

Learned something new today. There's Active Directory Group Policies Objects (GPOs) and Local Group Policies. Starting with Vista, there is now something called Multiple Local Group Policy Objects (MLGPOs). Here's a quick summary of how these work:

Level 1: Affects everyone
Level 2A: Affects the person if they're a Joe User
Level 2B: Affects the person if they're a local Admin
Level 3: Affects a specific person based on username

With AD GPO's available, I'm not sure why LGPOs are needed. However, I do like having granularity with MLGPOs. Hope I find it useful at some point.

Here's a blog post about it:

http://www.gpanswers.com/blog/140-gp-client-and-internals/695-why-local-gpos-matter.html

TIPS & TRICKS: Installing Language Packs in Windows 7

Okay there's plenty of postings on instructions for installing language packs in Windows 7. Here's a couple of Microsoft's instructions:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972813

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/language-packs

All these instructions indicate the best way to obtain the language packs are through Microsoft Update that is built-in to Windows 7. These instructions are great, except for one missing step. When you get to the Microsoft Update window on a new machine, there isn't a link for Optional Updates, where the language packs reside.

To get there, you'll need to first click on the link that says "Check online for updates from Microsoft Update". After the machine checks for updates, it will show the link for the Optional Updates.

Hope this helps you save some time. Happy Computing.

TIPS & TRICKS: Login to Windows 7 Without Knowing Machine Name

When Windows 7 is joined to a domain, the default login prompt automatically allows a domain user to login to the machine with just username/password. However, a local account user would need to know the name of the machine to login to the machine (i.e. machinename\user).

At least that's what I thought, until now. I don't always remember the name of the computer that I'm working on. The workaround the login prompt and not knowing the machine name is to substitute a period for the computer name. For example, if my machine name is PC-1 and my username is bobama, then for the username field, I would enter:

.\bobama (instead of PC-1\bobama)

Hope this helps someone. Happy computing.

RANTS: Finally, Active Directory Users and Computers for Vista

It sure took MS a long time to get this out, considering Server 2008 has been available for awhile. In any case, I'm installing it now and am excited to finally be able to administer from my Vista box, though I'll probably be upgrading to Win7 soon.

Here's the official MS link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941314

TIPS & TRICKS: Do Not Run As Admin

Continuing evidence of why no one should run as administrator or with administrative privileges on their user account:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewarticlebasic&articleid=9127318&source=rss_news

Yes, when you first purchase a new computer, you'll need admin privileges to install your software. But, after all the software is installed, there will be few instances where admin rights are need to execute anything. This holds true for all operating systems and all devices, especially internet devices, including mobile devices.

The main point from the article above:

Nine of out 10 critical bugs reported by Microsoft Corp. last year could have been made moot, or at least made less dangerous, if people ran Windows without administrative rights, a developer of enterprise rights management software claimed today.

TIPS & TRICKS: Vista WiFi Connectivity Problems

Found this article

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/081211#story1

that has a simple write up on why so many Vista users are having trouble with wireless connectivity. From the description of the fix listed here,:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us

this problem extends to wired connections as well. Remember that editing the registry could irreparably harm your computer. Please be careful and ask a qualified professional (or at least someone who knows what they are doing) for help.

Hope this helps someone. Good luck and happy computing.

TIPS & TRICKS: Windows Update KB929777 Fails with Error 8000FFFF

This is a newly reloaded Windows Vista Ultimate build that was added to our Active Directory, loaded with Sophos Anti-Virus from our Management Console, and all other Windows Updates up to this point applied.

This update (KB929777) failed twice before I went searching for the answer. I found this posting on Microsoft's TechNet forums:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistasecurity/thread/6b9f6a7c-1b91-422f-a803-11440418008f/

The post in the middle with the fewest steps seemed to work for me. Here's the gist:

1: Open up "Control Panel" and navigate your way to "Programs and Features".

2: Click "View installed updates" on the left hand side.

3: Find the update KB929777 and uninstall it.

4: Attempt to install the update again in Windows Update

5: Once successful, restart your PC.

Here's what it looks like after the solution is applied:



Rule of Thumb for future problems on Vista: Look for and/or remove previously installed Hotfixe and reload to see if it will solve the problem.

TIPS & TRICKS: Deploying Sophos Anti-Virus to Vista

Using Sophos Enterprise Console 3.0.0.2321 to deploy Sophos to Vista did not work out of the box. Sophos gives a work-around here:

http://www.sophos.com/support/knowledgebase/article/15027.html

In my own testing, I found that steps 1 & 2 were sufficient and did not require a reboot to take effect. However, I do not know how much of it was also due to our AD Group Policies. I did realize that when I tried to deploy from the Console yesterday, our Group Policies had not propagated down to the workstation yet. Today, I see that they have come down to the machine. Nevertheless, I was unable to deploy until I took the first two steps Sophos recommended.

TIPS & TRICKS: Windows Save Usernames/Passwords

For some network connections and resources, Windows has the ability to save the username and password (domain too) to allow access without having to input credentials each time.

However, I've always been a proponent of not having the machine remember passwords for security reasons. This is how to remove it:

1. Click Start and select Run
2. In the Open field type "rundll32.exe keymgr.dll, KRShowKeyMgr"
3. Once the Stored Usernames and Passwords interface opens you can select any of the entries and select Properties to view the existing information
4. To remove a saved password you can select one of the entries and select Remove. A confirmation screen will appear. Click on OK and the account will be removed
5. You can add additional saved passwords as well by clicking on the Add button and entering the appropriate information
6. Repeat the steps above as needed to add, remove or edit saved passwords
7. When you are done using the interface click the Close button

I've tested this with Windows XP and Vista. Hope that helps.

RAVES: Solver for Excel 2008

By now we all know that the latest release of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac has left out Visual Basic support. This means tools that relied on Visual Basic are also missing. One such tool was Solver.

Fortunately, there is now an interim answer before Microsoft puts Visual Basic back in the next release of Office for Mac. A company called FrontLine Systems has come up with a solution for those of us who rely heavily on Solver. Here's the link to a Microsoft affiliate website to download the software for this new solution:

http://www.officeformac.com/blog/Solver-For-Excel-2008-Is-Available

Hope this helps.

TIPS & TRICKS: Missing Address Bar Toolbar in Windows XP SP3

A well documented problem that I just recently came across. One of my users upgraded a personal Windows XP machine to Service Pack 3 and found that he was missing his address bar in the Windows taskbar. SP3 got rid of it to "comply" with anti-trust laws. I'm not sure how much I buy that, but it's plausible.

In any case, there are several third-party add-ins that address this problem (no pun intended). However, I'm documenting a native fix. Credit for this goes to Mark Kaelin over at Tech Republic. Here's the nitty gritty:

1. Find a SP2 copy of the file called browseui.dll located in ~\Windows\System32.
2. Copy it to the same location on the SP3 machine.

Make sure to this in Safe Mode as the System32 folder will not allow changes while. Also, make sure to reboot.

Here's the full directions laid out by Tech Republic:

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=683

TIPS & TRICKS: Word 2008 Documents Not Opening

Recently, I found that my installation of Word 2008 was not opening documents properly. Specifically, I found after double-clicking on a Word file, especially one residing on a network share, Word would launch normally. But, the only thing that would come up was a new blank document. I would close the new document and the file still wouldn't open. The only way I could get it to open was to go up to File (in Word) > Open.

That was quite annoying and, apparently, some of my users thought so too. Luckily, my boss found a fix. And, even more fortunate, the fix is bundled in the latest update for Office. The version is 12.1.1. Make sure to run your Office updates to get this. There are two ways: 1. launch an Office application and go up to Help > Check for Updates to run the Microsoft AutoUpdate tool; or 2. Go to Library\Application Support\Microsoft\MAU2.0 and launch Microsoft AutoUpdate.