Cliff Hobbs at myITforum.com

Are you still using MOM 2000, SMS 2.0 or SUS?

OK I have a bit of a dilemma and I’d love to hear your thoughts (yes you) on the subject.  Currently on FAQShop there are sections covering the current and previous versions of Microsoft Systems Management Tools.

With new versions of all of the tools due out this year naturally I need to create new sections to cover these (such as SCOM 07, SCCM 07 and WSUS 3).  The problem is that I simply won’t have time to regularly create and post articles for the new versions, current versions, and previous versions.

So I am considering that once I create the new sections I’ll stop posting articles on the oldest versions to free up my time to allow me to post about the new stuff.  But I don’t want you guys using the older versions to feel I’m abandoning you.  None of the current content will be deleted from FAQShop.  I’ll need to do a bit of restructuring in some areas but you shouldn’t see too much of a difference.

So let me know your thoughts about this.  Feel free to post your comments here or email me.

BTW I’m always on the lookout for new authors and moderators to help me with the site so if anyone out there in TV land wants to help out get in touch.

Thanks for listening.

New SMS 2003 Article 30/01/07

SMS 2003
Can I increase the level of logging for Remote Assistance to that provided by SMS Remote Control?
Contributed By: Cliff Hobbs [MVP SMS]
Pre-XP SP2 the level of logging provided by Remote Assistance was somewhat lacking but now with XP SP2 or this hotfix for pre-SP2 machines things have gotten a lot better… 

New FAQShop articles 25/01/07

Here's a couple of new articles for today:

MOM 2005
MOM installation doesn't "see" x64 SQL cluster
Contributed By: Sourabh Guha (MSFT)
Having trouble installing MOM on an x64 SQL cluster? Well this should help... 

SMS 2.0
Backlog of .psd file in coll_out.box
Contributed By: Carl Sullivan [MSFT]
If you're seeing a backlog of these files then it's probably because SMS is having trouble replicating your Collections to Child Sites…

New FAQShop articles 24/01/07

Here's a couple of new articles for today:

MOM 2000
"What is the fastest way of clearing the MOM Event table?"
Contributed By: Sergio Klarreich (MSFT)
If you need a fast way of clearing your MOM Event table this may help... 

SMS 2003
"Currently Assigned to Site Code:" property is BLANK"
Contributed By: Sourabh Guha (MSFT)
If your Clients are installed but the "Currently Assigned to Site Code:" property on the Advanced tab is BLANK this should help...

When will someone make a true "Personal" stereo?

I thought the idea of MP3 players, iPods, Walkman's whatever is they are meant to be a PERSONAL stereo i.e. an individual can listen to their music anywhere personally. So why is it then that I'm guaranteed to sit beside the one person who has the volume up so loud on their "personal" stereo the rest of the train, bus or wherever I am can hear?

What makes it worse is you can't actually hear the music the person is listening to just a tinny racket that drives you insane.

People, if you own and use one of these please remember they are a PERSONAL stereo i.e. for YOU to listen and enjoy your music. Please be considerate with the volume or make sure you don't sit anywhere near me

STOMP - What an experience..!!

Ever since I first saw the group Stomp as a kid on TV I've always wanted to see them live. Well my dream came true on Wednesday night when my girlfriend Necy and I saw them at the Casino in Lisbon (Lisbon is such a BEAUTIFUL city - munto linda).

I know the guys are doing a US and European tour so I won't go spoiling it for anyone that is going to see them. All I will say is that if you are going to see them or thinking of going DO IT.

I won't be able to look at a broom, box of matches, dustpan and brush and several items again in the same light. Since seeing them we've found ourselves tapping our feet or strumming, drumming anything that comes to hand to make a Stomp like beat. Stomp rock - it's official..!!

MS07-002 Re-released

This Security Hotfix has undergone a major revision increment:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-002.mspx

- Reason for Revision: Bulletin has been revised and re-released for Microsoft Excel 2000 to address the issues identified in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 931183.
- Originally posted: January 9, 2007
- Updated: January 18, 2007
 - Bulletin Severity Rating: Critical
- Version: 2.0

SMS 2003 SP3 Open Beta Now Open

The SMS 2003 SP3 Open Beta is now open. Full details on what is included in the beta and instructions for downloading it can be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/evaluation/2003/sp3.mspx

New Management Point Troubleshooting Checklist Article

Problems with your Management Points? Well hopefully the checklist in this article should help get your MPs up and running:

"Management Point Troubleshooting Checklist"

If you've got anything to add to this to improve it let me know and I'll add it in

New FAQShop Forum Account Registration Process

Because of the influx of spam and inappropriate content being posted on the FAQShop Forums I've had to change the process for all new account registrations, details of which can be found at:

http://www.faqshop.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1208

I hope everyone understands why I've had to do this (as always any comments welcome). 

Global warming isn't caused by Carbon emissions - its' caused by hand dryers...

OK this one has been bugging me for a while now and enough is enough - let me explain.

You go to the Gents and of course you wash your hands after you've been to the toilet. But instead of in the good old days where you would have paper towels, in this wonderful day and age of ours, to try to be "eco-friendly" and save on the mess these towels create we're now stuck with hand dryers.

But:

• Paper towels don't cause the mess - it's the people using them who don't pick them up if they drop one or miss the bin as they're too lazy to bend down, pick them up and throw them in the bin.
  
• Warm air dryers surely have to get the air from somewhere and surely that is the air within the toilets? Now toilets aren't the best smelling places in the World and surely the dryer is sucking in stagnant air containing all sorts of microscopic nasties to just blow them all over your hands that you've just washed - hhhmmm logical.
  
• Lastly (and this is the major bug bear), the amount of time the dryer stays on just isn't long enough to dry your hands. So what do you do? You start a second drying cycle only to walk away half way through it as your hands are dry. Why don't the dryer manufacturers simply extend the drying cycle time a little which would save on all of the wasted electricity of half of the second dryer cycle going to waste?

So there you have it, global warming isn't caused by carbon emissions - it's caused by all of the wasted hot air generated by hand dryer cycles.

New FAQShop Forums

System Centre Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007:
http://www.faqshop.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=39

System Centre Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007:
http://www.faqshop.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=38

MVP for another year

Well folks I'm delighted to say that the folks at Microsoft have renewed my MVP for another year.

A big "thankyou" to them and I look forward to continuing to serve the Systems Management Community

MS07-004 Released "Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language Could Allow Remote Code Execution (929969)"

Microsoft has released the following Security Bulletin:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-004.mspx

Summary

MS07-003 Released "Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Outlook Could Allow Remote Code Execution (925938)"

Microsoft has released the following Security Bulletin:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-003.mspx

Summary

MS07-002 Released "Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (927198)"

Microsoft has released the following Security Bulletin:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-002.mspx

Summary

MS07-001 Released "Vulnerability in Microsoft Office 2003 Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Checker Could Allow Remote Code Execution (921585)"

Microsoft has released the following Security Bulletin:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-001.mspx

Summary