Josh Wieder

Microsoft fully ended support for their Windows 7 product in January of last year. The change is primarily administrative: Microsoft will no longer distribute security patches for free with Window 7 or guarantee its functionality. It is not a sudden move by Microsoft: the company has a well-documented support cycle for all versions of Windows, and Windows 7 customers were given plenty of notification, including from pop-ups from within Windows that users have to minimize to continue using the computers. This post is not meant to imply that Microsoft did not make a good faith effort to notify their users.   Also: Windows 7 is not a good product at this point. Windows 7 is fundamentally insecure and unstable with modern applications (and has been for years), regardless of what support cycle it is in. That said, there are many unique situations for which running an out-of-date version of Windows is the only practical option. I've found this to be particularly true in the med...

It was one of these days, not long ago, that I work up one day and realized that I had become an Old Man. Mine is the last generation that remembers a time prior to the internet. I remember using acoustic couplers. My first laptop, a Toshiba, had dual 5 1/2 inch floppy drives, but had no hard drive. I was so excited when I got my hands on that machine. It meant I could connect to networks using my acoustic coupler from a pay phone! My ruminations on aging is at least somewhat related to the topic at hand. You see, among the memories rattling around my grey hair ensconced head are a few about searching Windows file systems for files of specific types. This sort of thing is very important, even just for every day normal computer usage. When your computer starts running out of space, wouldn't it be nice to be able to find all of the really large files on that computer? Or perhaps you are looking for an important document you wrote - you can't remember the name of the file but ...

So last night (11-12-14) or this morning you ran a package of `Important` Windows Cumulative Security Updates. Gee those do sound important! There were about 11 or so - specifically, the ones most likely to give you trouble are these: Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3008627) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3003743) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2993958) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2991963) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3005607) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2992611) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3010788) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3002885) Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3006226) After diligently downloading and installing these updates, you allow your computer to reboot. The boot process goes smoothly, you log into your computer, only to find a stark black s...

Includes Keys for Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista This list of keys for KMS can be a real hassle to find in Microsoft's online documentation, so provided here in the hopes of saving you some time. Please note that these are not stolen product keys and as such publishing them is a time saver for administrators managing large deployments of fully licensed Microsoft products  - so if you are a thief or an Internet police person, sorry to disappoint but you've made it to the wrong site. Click this link for an article with more information about KMS, activating Windows Server 2012 Licensing, and upgrading your KMS Server from 2008 to 2012 . WINDOWS SERVER 2012 Windows Server 2012 Core BN3D2-R7TKB-3YPBD-8DRP2-27GG4 Windows Server 2012 Core N 8N2M2-HWPGY-7PGT9-HGDD8-GVGGY Windows Server 2012 Core Single Language 2WN2H-YGCQR-KFX6K-CD6TF-84YXQ Windows Server 2012 Core Country Specific 4K36P-JN4VD-GDC6V-KDT89-DYFKP ...

RemoteFX Media Streaming Introduced Over the years I have worked at both Internet Service Providers and server hosting companies. In both environments, customers have found thin client deployment and virtual desktop provisioning stymied by the bandwidth needs of remote desktop when used for day-to-day desktop computing style tasks. I can't remember how many times I have worked with a company whose entire network has failed or flapped because of employees downloading torrents or watching Youtube videos from a remote server. Other times, I have worked on Terminal Services capacity planning projects, and found myself impressed by the difficulty of giving reliable estimates even where good data is available. Many companies have been completely unable to reap the rewards of hosted desktops (fast provisioning and restoring, centralized management, easy hardware replacement) because of the costs of reliable high-throughput internet connections to their office. Data center bandwidth...