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With the start of a new year, it is that time again to support the System Management Community, with that in mind I have made my yearly donation of $250 USD to MyITForum (MIF). Why do I do it? Well as a past User Group leader for www.OWSUG.ca, I know how much it cost to host a small user group community. OWSUG is small in comparison to MIF! Our network traffic is nothing compared to what the MIF site gets. I’m will to bet that the network traffic to the MIF site in less than 12 hours, is the equivalent of what the www.OWSUG.ca gets in one year! I will also tell you that it cost more that $350 as year (USD) to host the www.OWSUG.ca site. Yes that is about $1 a day for a small user group site! I hate to see what MIF spends each month! So, have you made a donation to your community yet? http://www.myitforum.com/donations/myITpaypal.asp 
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Yesterday, I receive the typical spam message and every so often I go to the website just checking out the phishing site and to see how bad their really are! Yesterday I went off to the SPAMMER website and was surprised that I found that the site was not blocked but IE! It look like the normal bank site. Anyways I was trying to remember how to report bogus websites so that they would get blocked by IE. I could not find the option within IE to reports this site, So I sent a quick email off to Bruce Cowper at MS Canada, I don’t remember what Bruce’s official title is but it is something like “Canadian Security Officer” or something like that. Bruce replied with the steps to report bogus site. ( I have expanded them and added the screenshots) From within IE and while you are on the site. Select Safety from the tool bar. Point to SmartScreen Filter then select Report Unsafe Website. 
On the MS site, check the appropriate check box Type the CAPTCHA word and click submit. 
Anyways today I thought that I would blog about this, mostly as a reminder to everyone that if you see a website that is bogus, then report them. Today this is what I got when I tried to get to the bogus site! Thanks Bruce.  
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I am working on an idea to be used by the community. While researching this idea, I ran into a problem with Flash. After some time I found out that this issue is Flash does not work on Internet Explorer 64Bit. Well I thought that if Flash will not do it then Silverlight it is! To my surprise, I got the following message! 
It turns out that Silverlight does not support 64bit either! I find this ironic considering that MS pushing everyone to use 64bit everything! So why are they not doing it with their own stuff! So what does this mean for my community project? Well the answer is simple, everything is already using Flash so why change! On 64bit OS it will look like crap! So I will try to talk Rod & Ron to see what they want to do about it, if anything. As Mike Homes would say “Make it Right” or “Do it Right”, this is NOT the case with the Silverlight team and they should be ashamed of themselves for the flawed attempt at taking on Adobe! They will never do it if they don’t “Do it Right”. So what this means, well ultimately Flash wins because of the apathetic attempt by the Silverlight team! On a side note, look for this community project sooner than later since there is nothing more that I can do to fix this. 
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On Tuesday June 30th 2009, over 100 technology professionals were present at Yuk-Yuk’s downtown location for an end-of-season party and awards ceremony, hosted by four organizations that specialize in Microsoft technology: The Ottawa Code Camp, The Ottawa .NET Community (ODNC), The Ottawa SQL.net Professional Association for SQL Server, and the Ottawa Windows Server User Group (OWSUG). In the words of this year’s event organizer, Colin Melia of DreamDigital, “the hosting organizations bring together like-minded individuals through 10 months of the year for the purpose of transferring IT-related knowledge and fostering relationships. This event celebrates the successful completion of the season made possible by the efforts of individual members and corporate partners.” The event sponsors included Ottawa consulting firm Like 10, Inc., training and education provider e-Academy, and technical certification provider CTE Solutions, as well as community sponsors Robert Half Technology and DreamDigital. Over 40 people were recognized for their contributions. One of the key reasons why people come to the 30+ sessions throughout the year – and volunteer to help – is because the technology itself never stands still, and the groups provide their members with the means to stay connected and continue learning. Leahette Phillips of Robert Half Technology says that “as a partner we especially appreciate the emphasis that the Ottawa .NET Community places on recognizing individuals efforts on continuing education, which is always difficult in a technology space that is constantly changing.” This year the award for Partner of the Year went to DevTeach - a local company that organizes annual developer conferences in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The other finalists included Robert Half Technology, CTE Solutions, Redgate, and Microsoft Canada’s Technical Community Team. DevTeach president Jean-René Roy has received numerous accolades for single-handedly creating DevTeach and turning it into a compelling event that developers flock to. Since moving to the Gatineau area from Montreal two years ago, he has worked tirelessly for the community. A self-described “community growth freak”, he says (very modestly) that DevTeach calls this support “nourishment to the communities to help them grow”. Over the past five years, the hosting organisations have undertaken more and more activities in the communities they serve. Participation – attending study groups, attending sessions, speaking, and helping to organize – turns out to be very rewarding. All the groups urge people to come and find out for themselves next season, starting in September. ABOUT THE HOSTS: · The Ottawa Code Camp (www.ottawacodecamp.ca) is a weekend session that features 16-20 sessions that solve various problems using real code that participants can take home. · The Ottawa .NET Community (www.ottawacommunity.net) organizes presentations and study groups for developers working with .NET and other Microsoft technology. · The OttawaSql.net Professional Association for SQL Server (www.ottawa.sqlpass.org) organizes presentations and study groups for database professionals who work with Microsoft SQL Server. · The Ottawa Windows Server User Group (www.owsug.ca) organizes presentations and study groups for IT professionals who work with various Microsoft server technologies. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Colin Melia
Photo: ![clip_image001[4]](http://smsug.ca/files/OttawaITCommunityAwardsNight20082009Pres_FECD/clip_image0014_thumb.jpg "clip_image001[4]")
From left to right, Garth Jones, leader, OWSUG; Jean-Rene Roy, president, DevTeach; David Myers, OttawaSql.net; Orest Hirniak, ODNC. Photo Credit: John Hansen 
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This fall, TechDays returns with more deep technical training on the very latest Microsoft technologies, and I’m excited to be able to offer you a special VIP price of just $249 until July 1. After July 1st the early bird price will be $299. Don’t miss this chance to build your skills and share — Reference this code TDUGVIP and you can buy your tickets now and please share the code with whom you think would enjoy this year’s event. Please just pass on the promo code and they’ll receive the same exclusive price! I know this is a busy time for everyone and I commend each of you for the time you give back to the community and that why we wanted to get this out early to you as our hope is that this offer at some level can help you show more value with your user group, community and help support technical readiness across Canada. TechDays 2009 As budgets get tighter, TechDays is the perfect way to get the Tech-Ed experience without the travel expense , with two days of skill-strengthening education to help you position yourself for success by: · Learning the technology—with a customizable agenda from over forty skill-strengthening sessions across five technical tracks you can get the exact knowledge you want on the hottest new products. Get the knowledge you’re looking for on both current technologies and new products, like Windows® 7, and Microsoft® Exchange 2010; · Connecting with Experts and Peers—with Birds-of-a-Feather lunches and the new Windows 7 Lounge , you’ll have lots of opportunities to share your ideas with those who know the products best; and · Applying what you learn—with a Learning Kit packed with products and resources so, you can continue to grow your skills long after the event has finished. | Dates The final TechDays dates and cities are as follows: • Vancouver – September 14 & 15, 2009 • Toronto – September 29 & 30, 2009 • Halifax – November 2 & 3, 2009 • Calgary – November 17 & 18, 2009 • Montreal – December 2 & 3, 2009 • Ottawa – December 9 & 10, 2009 • Winnipeg – December 15 & 16, 2009 | Prices The pricing for TechDays is as follows: · VIP pricing – now until July 1st - $249.99 o This pricing is by invite code (TDUGVIP) · Early Bird pricing – July 1st until 6 weeks prior to event date - $299.99 · Full Conference price - $599.99 | MS is still working on the learning kit and hope to send that information out as I get it. MS already have a good start and right now I know that every guest of TechDays 2009 will get a Tech·Ed Online subscription with access to premium learning content worth over $250.00....nice start! 
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I saw this note come from “Microsoft Canada Technology Partner Training” RSS Feed. Since I have not seen anyone else post a not about this training I thought that I would. “Any organization can have special-case scenarios where some clients must be managed differently. For example, software distributions or agent cycles may require special scheduling options. You might not want to use a separate site for large-scale client settings testing. Some clients may have special inventory reporting requirements. All of this, and more, is enabled by using local policies on designated clients. The solutions are often complex, and require scripting skills. However, solutions for complex special-case scenarios are possible.” Click here to access the training For more information see Airlee blog post. http://blogs.msdn.com/mscantraining/archive/2009/06/01/9678358.aspx And remember anyone can apply to be a MS Partner. 
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Since I have not seen anyone else post this to their blog I will. There is some good advices listed within these links for everyone.
How to ask a question http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
How to answer a question http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/freebsd-questions/x218.html I will also add to this: - Don’t “Bump”, if you need to bring the message to people’s attention again then try re-writing the subject and provide more details. People are willing to help if they think they understand the issue. But WAIT more than 1 business day before reposting!
- Don’t post the same question to multiply forums! It is annoying to see the exact same post in multiply places and ONLY posted a few second apart. Pick one place an post there, if you don’t get an answer within a reasonable time frame (more than 1 business day) post to another forum. (This is one of my new pet peeves)
- Forums and Mailing lists list are NOT for urgent issues, if this is the case contact the vendor and seek support from them, that is what they are there for. If you don’t have a support contract in place then management has decided that they can live with the downtime and you should not worry about it. The problem will get fixed when it gets fixed, if it is that urgent then management will gladly pay for support.
- Read the Docs! RTFM, etc.. Recently there has been allot of I need “bla” or does ConfigMgr do bla. However if this same person enter “bla” into the help file or Live / Bing / Google / Yahoo / Ask / etc. They would have found the answer. Instead they are just too lazy to RTFM. I will gladly help out anyone you says “I looked at the docs but I can’t find bla” or “The docs say bla, but does that mean bla bla?” (BTW it is nice to include the link or topic heading, so that we can see what you are talking about”)
- Don’t call out a particular person and say “Hi Garth, I need your help to …”. Understand that some of the other people that might answer a post and will overlook it because you have called out person X. (I do it all the time when someone say “Hey Sherry” or “Hey Mark” or “Hey Michael”, to me it mean that they only want to hear from that person). Remember that everyone has their own lives and job, this means that person X might not get to your post ever! This could be due to holidays, business tasks, personal issues, new PC, etc., particularly don’t get mad if they don’t answer you. (This has happened to be back in the day, I got a phone call (my phone number was listed within my sig) from someone on the mailing list that got mad at me for not replying to them within 20 minutes. They needed an answer to give to their boss so that they would not look bad. The funny part was I was in a meeting and never saw the message until after their phone call! Needless to say I don’t help that person anymore! They don’t pay me therefore I’m not at their beck and call.)
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CTE Solutions, (Yes, the same training center that helps out with both the User & Study Groups) will donate $300,000 worth of training to recently laid off tech workers in Ottawa, equating to around 150 participants to be instructed over the coming summer months. CTE Solutions was founded seven years ago during the depths of the last tech wreck, after its founders (yes, Kim was one of them! and so was Mia & Gerry, et al) were themselves laid off from a bankrupt firm – said late Monday that it will offer courses in various Microsoft and Java applications, among other areas, meant to increase the marketability of tech workers affected by the economic downturn. Each class will hold up to 14 participants and will be held weekly throughout the summer, CTE said. Potential participants will need to show proof of previous full-time tech employment and are asked to apply online at http://www.makememarketable.ca/. Examples of some of the course they are donating are: - Microsoft SharePoint Services 3.0 and SharePoint Server 2007 (5 days)
- Configuring, Managing, and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 (5 days)
- Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programming (5 days)
- Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database (5 days)
- Business Analysis Boot Camp (4 days)
- ITIL V3 Foundation Training and Certification (3.5 days)
- Java Programming Language (5 days)
And don’t forget to join the user group too! 
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Topic: Windows 7 Security Tidbits & Understanding and Preventing Insider Threat Description: Windows 7 Security Tidbits - Windows 7 is coming and the boss is asking you about all those new security features. Perhaps you've heard some buzz about AppLocker? What’s this about DirectAccess connecting securely to your corporate network without a VPN? What’s up with BitlLocker To Go? In this fun and interactive session, Kai Axford, a Microsoft Senior Security Strategist with Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing team, will demonstrate some of the new security features in Microsoft's newest desktop operating system. Bring your questions and get the scoop on these upcoming Microsoft security technologies! Understanding and Preventing Insider Threat – Many analysts have stated that the Number One issue facing corporate customers today is the threat of targeted corporate espionage coming from within the organization. Join Kai Axford, a security strategist from the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing team for an entertaining and engaging session, as he shares real stories from the trenches about the risk this threat presents for both you and your customers. He’ll demo the means by which these attacks occur and discuss the mindset of the attackers. Don’t miss the chance to see how this is done! Speaker: Kai Axford (CISSP, MCSE-Security) is a Senior Security Strategist in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group. A ten-year Microsoft veteran, Kai is responsible for discussing and recommending security solutions for both private and public sector organizations. In addition, he conducts Chief Security Officer councils worldwide, taking executive feedback and affecting change within Microsoft’s security products and processes. Kai started with Microsoft in 1999 as a Server Support Engineer and then moved on to become an IT Pro Evangelist, focusing on his peers through the Microsoft TechNet Events program. Kai has delivered more than 300 security presentations on a variety of topics, including digital forensics, security management, incident response, and computer espionage. He is a frequent speaker at security conferences, executive meetings, and business seminars around the world. He is finishing an MBA in Information Assurance and is a member of ISSA, INFRAGARD, ASIS, and the North Texas Electronic Crimes Task Force. He was the recipient of the 2006 “Rising Star” award from the Information Security Executive council. Kai is interested in security management and hopes to become a Chief Security Officer one day. Prior to Microsoft, Kai served as a leader in several real-world operations with the U.S. Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment. Originally from Wisconsin, Kai is a huge NFL Green Bay Packers fan. He is based in Dallas, Texas with his lovely wife, a new baby boy, and a (very wet) yellow Labrador. Location:
Microsoft Canada Co.
100 Queen Street Suite 500
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 1J9 Agenda: 5:00 p.m. Event registration
5:30 p.m. Q & A
8:00 p.m. Door Prizes Notes: · Pizza and Pop will be served, Please RSVP to help us order enough of both. · Please note that no one will be admitted after 5:55 p.m.! RSVP: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=138491 
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So I am add Groove to my current laptop. Groove, as part of its setup, ask the question do you have a Groove account I say yes, since I had one on my old laptop. I follow the prompts, anyway this is what I get, depending on what I pick.  
Now the problem here is I have formatted my old laptop a long time ago, so there is no way to get this data back. Even better I used Windows Easy Transfer to transfer my data from one laptop the another. So why didn’t it transfer the data? And Why doesn’t Groove give you any other options? This is very poor planning on the Groove Team’s part! Now we will see what happens when I create an new account! I'm not holding my breath. If it doesn’t work I will go back to the old stand by and create an FTP account on my web site to get the data, that I need! 
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With the start of a new year, it is that time again to support the System Management Community, with that in mind I have made my yearly donation to MyITForum (MIF). Why do I do it? Well as a User Group leader for www.OWSUG.ca, I know how much it cost to host a small user group community. OWSUG is extremely small compared to MIF! Our network traffic is nothing compared to what the MIF site gets. I’m will to bet that the network traffic to the MIF site in less than 12 hours, is the equivalent of what the www.OWSUG.ca gets in one year! I will also tell you that it cost more that $100 as year (USD) to host the www.OWSUG.ca site. So, have you made a donation to your community yet? http://www.myitforum.com/donations/myITpaypal.asp 
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