Microsoft cloud engineer - SharePoint, Office 365, Azure, DotNet, Angular, JavaScript.
Microsoft cloud engineer - SharePoint, Office 365, Azure, DotNet, Angular, JavaScript.

August 2009

Fun SP Admin Webcast Today @ http://stickam.com/toddklindt

I never participated in one of these before but had a great time today!  

Hot

   My best practices were confirmed and reinforced.  Administration tasks like:

  • Start with a big C: partition
  • Make a data partition, D: works well
  • Move IIS logs to D:
  • Move 12 logs to D:
  • Confirm ample disk space before major upgrades or maintenance
  • Don’t forget to look at SQL transaction logs.   Need room here too!
  • Use the community tools to make life easier.   SP Admin Toolkit 4.0, SPDiag, etc.

Also, it was just plain fun to see all the other SharePoint people like @ToddKlindt, @bishopd, @catpaint1, @sharepointsara, and @lorigowin.    Plus we had fun with wearing hats on webcams and even playing guitar.   I can’t wait for next Monday!   

 

Tune in every Monday @  http://toddklindt.com/netcast/

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laura
todd

 

http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/60/af/70/29458902-300x300-0-0_Yamaha_Yamaha_F325_Acoustic_Guitar_F325.jpg

How to: Replace Notepad.exe with Notepad2.exe

We all love notepad. 

Love Struck

   It’s a familiar useful tool you can rely on every Windows machine to have.   However, it really hasn’t kept pace with the rapid change on the web.   XML, JavaScript, JQuery, and even our old friend HTML just are too hard to read.    Maybe I’m behind the times but I’ve finally upgraded all my machines to have a newer version of our old trusty friend.

Notepad 2 – Create Web pages and text documents with this color-coded no frills editor.

Download Now >>

To make it really helpful you’ll want to replace “C:WindowsSystem32Notepad.exe” but Windows NTFS security doesn’t make that too easy.    Here are the steps to take ownership and replace the EXE.   Be sure to include the last step for the INI configuration file too.

  1. Download Notepad 2!  
    Open-mouthed
  2. Browse to “C:WindowsSystem32”
  3. Right click on “Notepad.exe” and open Properties, then Security tab
  4. Click the “Advanced” button, then Owner tab
  5. Click “Edit” button to take ownership of this file
  6. Click OK
  7. Locate “Administrators” local group (or the effective line for the logged in user)
  8. Grant Full Control
  9. Click OK
  10. Rename “Notepad.exe” to “Notepad1.exe” to keep a backup nearby
  11. Copy “Notepad2.exe” to “C:WindowsSystem32Notepad.exe”  
  12. Copy “Notepad2.ini” to “C:WindowsSystem32Notepad2.ini”

(NOTE: renamed to preserve file associations and Edit context menu shortcuts)

Why MSCONFIG is super cool

The Microsoft System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG.EXE) is very easy to access and incredibly handy.    The biggest benefit comes from removing excess startup items.     Often times our machines boot all sorts of programs we’re not aware of leading to sluggish start ups and lower performance overall.

As the Windows O/S adds more and more features the MSCONFIG.EXE tools is updated to make them easier to access.   Especially for admins and developers that work on many systems.    Disabling UAC (User Account Control) for example is directly available from MSCONFIG.EXE and faster than clicking all over Control Panel.    I find myself using many of the same old tools to troubleshoot and not giving enough attention to newer options like Security Center, System Restore, and Remote Assistance.

Give it a whirl.   You might find yourself doing “Start Run MSCONFIG” more than all the others one at a time.

 

http://www.optimizingpc.com/optimize/msconfig.html

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How I Surf … Browsers and Goodies

While not directly SharePoint related we all spend an ever growing percent of our day staring at a web browser.    It might as well be done right.    I don’t know all the tricks and am completely open to suggestions.    Below is an outline of how I spend my days.    I’d like to hear your stores.   Corporate IT headaches?    Mobile bandwidth limits?    Any tips or tricks?   How do you surf?

 

At work

Unfortunately older web browser like IE 6.0 are formally supported and have material shortcomings.   The most notable point here is that most large workplaces operate this way in government, finance, education, health care, and even some technology.    Internet access is seen as a liability, not asset.    It’s all unfortunate because a little more open mindedness and so much potential could be realized.

At home

FireFox all the way.   I love that little flame on my desktop and count it as one of only three icons I esteem high enough to see so often.    Below is a list of the plugins I use and I really do use each one of them daily.     The developer community and extensions around this product make it great.    Much like the iPhone App Store has so much creativity because of the developers.     I’m a little bias as a developer, of course.

On the go

While on the go I use my Windows Mobile device with the built in IE browser.    Sorry, no iPhone.   I really like the hardware that HTC has to offer.   I hear FireFox will be coming but would like to learn more about alternatives here.    I bookmark everything and meticulously sort the order so the common ones are fast at hand.

 

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@ SPJeff

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