Windows Vista has been with us for awhile now, and SP1 was released a few months ago to address a number of issues. 

Overall, sales have been less than predicted and reviews throughout the PC world have been less than stellar.  All of this may make you ask, as an IT professional “Should I skip Vista all together and just wait for Windows 7”?

Definitely a valid question, but in all honesty, even though I’m not a massive fan of Vista (I love some things and hate others) there are a number of reasons to deploy now and not wait until Windows 7.

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If you’re like me, you like many of the things Microsoft Vista has built-in, like the ubiquitous search, some of the visual elements, an actual calendar when you click on the clock (it’s the little things in life) and the list goes on (not really, but play along).

There are however, a number of things that really annoy me about Vista, and as I come across them I’ll post to the blog so you can benefit from my frustration.

The annoyance, and solution, for today is the fact that when I have multiple users logged on to Windows Vista, I can’t open task manager, click on the users tab, select the user I want to log off and kick them to the curb.

Instead, I get an annoying message saying [sessionID=X] could not be logged off, access is denied.  Denied!  I’m an administrator on the machine!  The other user is just a user (to make matters even more belittling to my “pretend admin” powers).

Well, after doing a little research I found that you can in fact boot users via task manager, but you must run task manager with elevated privileges (administrator isn’t enough). 

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Overwhelmed and disorganized? Are you fumbling through your day, buried under a mountain of sticky notes and scribbled reminders? It seems like there’s too many tasks and not enough time to get it all done.

As we all try to get to the Four Hour Work Week, we’re always running to catch up on responsibilities and squeeze in that little bit extra to stay ahead of the game.

Everyone is looking for the perfect solution in self-organization. A key ingredient to getting it all done is to maximize and use your time efficiently, allowing you to maximize your productivity.

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Now that we’ve gotten the holiday behind us, it’s time to get back to work and to focus on those IT Certification and Training goals.  For one week only, we’re giving everyone 25% off all of our IT Certification Training Titles.

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Take advantage now and get 25% off all our certification and training titles, including:

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When it comes to keeping your network secure, few things can be as critical (and annoying) as keeping your servers and workstations patched.

At least in the Windows world, Microsoft comes out with vulnerability patches on the second Tuesday of each month. 

Affectionately known as "Patch Tuesday" this is a day that is the bane of most IT Administrator’s existence. 

Why do you ask?  Because it means another round of downloading patches, another round of testing, another round of scheduling deployments and then dealing with any fallout when applications for some strange reason just stop working.

Automation is the Key

Anyone who’s been in the IT industry for any length of time knows that automation is the key to eternal happiness, and automating system patching is essential.

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Migrating from XP or another operating system to Vista can be a little like moving into a new house (but maybe with a few more unexpected headaches). You’re already attached to the old dings and dents in your wallpaper, and you know where all the pots and pans are in your kitchen. You are beginning to realize there are a lot of kinks to this new place, and you’re not sure where everything is or how it functions. To make this difficult transition smoother, these are some shortcuts that will help you improve your Vista experience so you can move in a bit more comfortably (if that’s possible).

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If you’re like me, you’re always looking for better ways to maximize your time and streamline your daily tasks so you can spend more time on what really matters.

Outlook is a great tool to help manage my time effectively and boost productivity. 

Reducing clutter and increasing organizing go a long way toward increase efficiency and maximizing my time.

There are many great functions that are often overlooked:

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If you installed Windows XP SP3, thinking you’ll be ahead of the curve and check out the new features, enhanced security, etc., you’re not alone.

Lots of people, myself included, like to evaluate the latest technologies, updates, tweaks, etc., either for personal information, or perhaps to evaluate for a business-need.

Typically its advisable to not run RC (Release Candidate) code on mission critical machines, on the outside chance it might break something.  That’s good advice for most situations, but if you’re like me you install a service pack (even a release candidate) on a test machine, run it for a few days and see if everything is working.

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I was recently playing around with Windows XP SP3 (build 3264) and I slipstreamed the service pack into my Windows XP install media to make installing a new build easier (SP3 would already be installed).

Normally, it’s a pretty straightforward process, however with SP3 (at least the RC build I was using) didn’t take HD audio into account. 

When you’re installing onto a PC (Lenovo R60 laptop in my case) you typically need to install an HD Audio hotfix (KB888111) prior to installing the HD audio drivers.

The issue in this case it that SP3 supercedes the hotfix, so when you try to install KB888111 you’re presented with an error saying SP3 is newer and you don’t need the hotfix.  Unfortunately, you can’t install the drivers without the hotfix, and you can’t install the hotfix because SP3 thinks it’s newer and doesn’t need it.  This is supposed to be fixed in the final release of SP3.

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Are you a Microsoft Outlook expert?  Do you use even half the features the program has to offer?

Chances are, you don’t.  Most people only use about 10% of the functionality in Microsoft Outlook (or any Office product for that matter). 

What the ends up doing is costing you time and effort, reduces your productivity and wastes time.  Palaestra Training has just released a new training series on Microsoft Outlook 2003 that covers everything from the basics to the advanced topics. 

Whether you are a casual home user or a power business user, our training series will teach you how to be more productive and unlock the true power Microsoft Outlook has to offer.

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