Outlook 2007: PST and OST files may be up to 20% larger after the February 24, 2009 Cumulative Update

As per: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=968413

The February 24, 2009 cumulative update for Outlook 2007 includes changes related to the general reading and writing characteristics of the .pst/.ost file so that less is demanded from your hard drive to perform the same general operations in Outlook. For instance, the file flushing process was optimized so that it interacts more efficiently with operating system and disk-write caches. There is also a change in the way new data is written to the .pst/.ost so that the data is saved much closer together on the physical disk. As a result, there is less physical work required from the drive, thereby speeding up the time it takes to write the same amount of data to the drive. However, a side-effect of this data writing algorithm is that .pst/.ost files will be about 20% larger than before the February 24, 2009 cumulative update.

Most people will not have noticed the difference as many corporate clients use Exchange & Outlook so never see the OST files but those with PST files may have. For what it’s worth with the cost of storage being so low I would put up with the storage increase for the performance gain.

There’s a price on yer head

Some of you may have read that latest news that Microsoft has put out a $250,000 reward to find who is behind the Conficker worm that is said to have infected as many as 12 million computers.  They are doing this because it has taken the firm view that the creation of the Conficker worm as a criminal act.

This may seem like a bold move but it is not the first time they have done this. In 2005 they paid $250,000 to two individuals who helped identify the creator of the Sasser worm.  Rewards were also offered of $250,000 for the creators of the other three major computer worms Blaster, MyDoom and Sobig however the authors of these were never caught.

In reality this amount of money is a small drop in the ocean for a company like Microsoft but in doing so they are trying to send out a strong message to the authors of such worms.  They are simply saying that they will not sit idly by while the creators wreak havoc on their clients systems.  In reality the fact of the matter is that regardless of what Microsoft or Microsoft Trustworth Computing Group offer it seems that it will offer very little in the way of a deterrent for such authors as it is a challenge that they enjoy rising to.  What it does do is help their clients to feel that they are doing all they can to try an prevent such hassles returning in the future.

The worm itself infects a computer that is not fully up to date with the latest updates from the Microsoft Update website. If you are in any doubt then the best action is to visit the Microsoft Update website and apply all the latest critical updates.  Once this is complete continue to revisit the site until you are told there are no further critical updates. You should also ensure that your Anti-Virus software is fully up-to-date, if you don’t already have one then visit either AVG or aVast who both provide free versions for home use.

Friend or foe?

This week has been an important week in terms of IT, Technology and gadget lovers for this week has been CES (Consumer Electronics Association) in Las Vegas.  For those not familiar with the event this the annual show where technology vendors get an opportunity to show their wares to the international community both in terms of the general public as well as the trade press.  So of the best upcoming gadgets are seen here before anywhere else.  This years big showing from Microsoft is Windows 7, a product which has received a great deal of attention ever since it was first discussed.

Once of the reasons has been due to the dismal failure of Windows Vista, that is not to say that the product is bad because to be quite honest it isn’t, but initially it received a lot of bad press due delayed deliveries as well as, once launched, poor compatibility with hardware as well as some software.  Now what we have to understand with this is when any new product is released there will always be teething problems, this is not unique to technology this applies  to cars, motorbikes just about anything really.  This is because not matter how much you test something there is always going to be someone that will do something in a way that was never imagined or it will become visible through simple length of use.  Windows Vista itself has been a very solid stable product for a great deal of time now, I have been using it myself for over a year now and it really just works, that’s all there is to say on the matter.  But it never won the hearts of the IT community which resulted in poor uptake, this then left a poor legacy for Microsoft which is going to be hard to shake.  One of the biggest challenges it had to overcome is that Windows XP is just so good, it had been a solid operating system that is highly compatible which has left it with an almost “cult-like” following.

So what does this mean for Windows 7?  Well simply put it has a very hard path to find in life, it must first overcome that love and passion that is held by the Windows XP followers.  Then, if it overcomes XP, it must then work its way through the minefield of the Windows Vista naysayers which in itself is going to be a challenge of its own and I believe that in itself will be more difficult.

So what of Windows 7 itself, well I have not yet had chance to install it myself however I picked up a twitter from Scott Ullrich (the developer behind pfSense) overnight which said

Upgraded windows Vista -> Windows 7 and holy <beepers>, it’s fantastic! No, seriously… Not kidding!!

 

Still in the meantime take a look at these videos courtesy of BBC news and see for yourself:  BBC News

Gimme just a little more time

I had a call from a client (whose also a friend of mine) the other which at the time made me laugh, the kinds of laugh that makes you fall of the seat.  It goes a little like this:

Client: Hi Rob, I’m probably going to regret asking this but I have been asked and I don’t quite know how to fix it.

Me: Go on

Client: I have been asked to look at the time on the server as it’s wrong so it’s making all the PC’s the wrong time.

Me: Oh right, I thought we had the network timesyncing externally

Client: I’m on the Grenwich Mean Time website and our server is 20 seconds fast and I’ve been told to see if it can be sorted.

Me: (thud as I hit the floor, wait a further 10 second to stop laughing) Right ok, you are joking right?

Client: NO

Me: Oh right, you sure you’re not joking?

Client: NO

Me: Ok let’s see if we can sort it out

So the conversation went on, now the above wasn’t being rude as it may seem as we often make a point taking pot shots for a laugh but it did raise an interesting point which I tend to perform as second nature on servers that we manage but not everyone does.  The point is that now with the advent of PC integrated clocking in systems they often take their time source from the network so if the time is wrong (usually tends to be a problem when its out by minutes rather than seconds but hey not for me to judge) then staff could be clocking out at the wrong times so these systems become flawed.  So if anyone wants to get their Windows Domain controller synced with a reliable time source then read on.

Important The following information contains details of changes to be made to the Windows Registry.  If you are unsure of what you are doing then please do not attempt it as serious damage can occur if you modify it incorrectly.  For extra protection read the following KB article from Microsoft on how to backup and restore the registry KB322756

To configure the server with an external time source then do the following:

1. Click on Start, click Run, type Regedit then click OK
2. Change the type to NTP Server
1. Locate the registry key
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type
2. In the right pane double click on Type
3. Change the value to read NTP, the click OK
3. Set AnnounceFlags to 5
1. Locate the registry key
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags
2. In the right pane double click on AnnounceFlags
3. Change the value to read 5, then click OK
4. Enable NTPServer
1. Locate the registry key
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer
2. In the right pane double click NTPServer
3. Change the value to read 0.pool.ntp.org,0×1, then click OK
   Other time servers can be specified however I have found that this one is the most accurate
5. Quit the registry editor
6. Open the command prompt an enter:
   net stop w32time && net start w32time

There are a number of other values that can be changed with regard to acceptable time differences and time shift however the standard setting is sufficient for most small business however details can be found in article KB816042.  With regard to my friend, this is the process that I ran on his server now he’s a happy man as his server is now accurate to within half a second of GMT……go figure!

The enemy within…..

Following on from the recent security theme I would like to carry this on a little further and discuss an aspect of security in business that may not always be so obvious to everyone.  Most individuals will be aware of the threat that the Internet poses to business as well as the threat that is posed by wireless networks.  However what are great deal of businesses do not understand is that the greatest threat is not always what lies without but in fact it is what lies within.  It is a known fact that a number of employee’s that leave businesses go on to work for other companies but a number of these individuals go on to start their own business.  Either way these, soon to be former, employee’s have access to key information about you business and more importantly your clients.  In the past it has been difficult for this information to be transported out of the business without being easily spotted however with the rise in USB storage devices transport of this data has become much simpler and moreover much more discreet.  So what can you do to stop this, the simplest way is to block USB storage devices and CD/DVD writers to all but the most trusted users.  In order to achieve this you could buy some software to handle endpoint security such as GFI EndPoint Security but for up to 25 computers this costs in excess of £400 which is beyond the reach of most small businesses.  So what can small businesses do to protect themselves; well the answer is through a group policy on the server restrictions can be placed on users or groups of users and I will explain how.

Read the rest of this entry »

More details on Vista SP1

The latest word on Vista’s SP1 official release to the public looks set to be the 18th March 2008 and will be rolled out as part of the Windows Update program installed on Vista machines.  Microsoft however seem to still be reluctant to commit to a date simply stating that users will receive the update "mid-March" by either selecting the optional update or downloading it from the Microsoft website.  It would appear that the delay has been caused by some issues with hardware drivers which has been an ongoing issue for Vista throughout it’s life so it seems ironic that it is still thwarted by the same problems.  From the 19th March 2008 new buyers will be able to buy copies of Vista which will come pre-installed with Service Pack 1 which it seems may experience a price reduction but time will tell on that one.  So keep the peeled the update is coming and what I have heard and experienced so far has been positive.

Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 Issues

For sometime I have found that on certain SBS server there have been some network performance issues which do not specifically seem to originate from anywhere specific. When you look at the spec’s of the server there are not bottlenecks or obvious issues but it just doesn’t seem to perform as well as you would expect. We it would seem that the answer is out there in the for of an update from Microsoft. The issue relates specifically with services with Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 installed or the Windows 2003 Scalable Network Pack on a computer that has a TCP/IP Offload-enabled network adapter. There is a number of ways in which this particular issue manifests itself however the one that I am currently looking into is “You experience slow network performance” as there has now been a number of site, one more recently, where the server performance on the new network is worse than the old system. So for any of you that want to look into this further the KB article is as follows http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948496 and its noteworthy that this update has been released as a critical update which means it should find it’s way onto most servers updates automatically however it’s worth checking anyway.

Windows 2008…..the stealth product

As many of you will be aware by now Windows Server 2008 was recently released to manufacture and it has to be one of the stealthiest product launches from Microsoft. There was no fanfare, no by publicity stunts they just released it which seems very strange considering what a major change it is set to be for the Microsoft Server Family. Under the current Windows 2003 family we have the 2 core products which is Small Business Server 2003 and the standard set of Windows 2003 Servers (Web Edition, Standard, Enterprise and Data Centre). This always seemed to lack support for the medium business i.e. over the 75 users limit of SBS but not really big enough to warrent the full blown product suite. So for a business of 100 users which is not really a large business they only had real product set to work with however this has changed in the new Windows Server 2008 product family. It still retains SBS which has the traditional 75 user limit, however the next step is now Essential Business Server which is suitable for businesses from 25 to 250 users which is a huge leap forward for businesses. I will post more about the 2008 Server family soon but for now heres a little more information on Essential Business Server from the official EBS Team blog

Vista SP1

There has been much stir about the upcoming service pack for Windows Vista. Microsoft have made it a priority to work hard on improving the stability of the operating system rather than on performance. While this may seem a little blinkered at first there is a lot of value in this method; when you bear in mind that most computers that will be running Windows Vista will be new computers so many will be of much higher spec than their counterparts running Windows XP so performance will be comparable. Also Vista has had a deal of well publicised problems with compatibility of applications and legacy hardware so it makes sense for Microsoft to focus on improving the core system at this point in time a reserve performance tweaks for the future.

One of the key thing, from Microsoft’s perspective, that is addressed in Service Pack 1 is the activation hacks that have been found. The latest one which was publicised here exploits the actual activation process my emulating the Bios of certain manufacturers that have special versions of Vista that do not require activation. That said there are performance issues which have been addressed such as the time it takes to copy files from folder-to-folder on the said drive is said to be 25 percent faster and 45 percent faster when copying files from a remote computer not running Vista.

Personally I had stayed away from Vista as the experience I’d had previously had not been good however as Windows XP will no longer be available after this summer (although this could change as it has previously) I felt it was time to take the plunge and just get stuck in. Now having run it for almost 3 weeks and using it on a daily basis I have to say this it has been absolutely fine, I did install Service Pack 1 as soon as Vista was installed and it has been absolutely fine. I have not had one crash or problem to date that can be related to the Vista operating system. Now, I personally feel that this can be largely attributed to Service Pack 1 and while I only ran Vista for 1 day without Service Pack 1 being installed I did not a difference after installing it.

All in all it looks to be a good update to the system and having run it now for a couple of weeks I would recommend it to anyone, it is scheduled for release later this month with it initially being made available to enterprise customers but being made available to the main stream shortly after. For more information visit: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb738089.aspx

ActiveSync arrives on the iPhone

It would seem that Apple have been a busy bee working to make the iPhone more appealing to the discerning business users. Many business people that I know have been held back from the iPhone due to the lack of support for Microsoft Exchange which is found in the MS SmartPhone by means of ActiveSync. However, it seems that Apple have been able to come to an agreement with Microsoft and license the ActiveSync technology for use on the iPhone. So what does this mean? Basically it means that everything that you could sync previously on an MS SmartPhone you can now do on the iPhone which means you can sync contacts, calender, push-email and most important it will support remote wiping of the unit should you part company. All of this adds up to a very interesting product which is likely to be able to gather further momentum and likely leave Microsoft standing in the mobile marketplace. The full article is available here.