azrael78

Fortunately, my experience may not be 100% bang-on MCSE level, it's not far off - I've got plenty of experience (not in commercial IT environments, but in education) and I can back that experience up with actually knowing what I'm on about most of the time. A question my boss posed was that if you have to be doing the job of an MCSE to be able to take the MCSE course - then how would those of us do it who don't do the job of an MCSE day in/day out? He's also stated that as my employer, he would be able to put together a much better case for funding with the MCSE, as opposed to the MCSA - in light of my job role, what I've done and what I do on a daily basis. I'm not trying to argue with anyone tho - ultimately I'm grateful for the advice given and I do appreciate it. Az

I think it needs to be classroom based for me, not that I have anything against your suggestions but I need to think about what works for me. I know for a fact - sitting reading a book and generally trying to 'soak' the information doesn't work for me. If I had a specific problem to solve or task, then that would work. I need the structure and assistance that a classroom environment should provide. Not to mention - I normally don't have access to anyone more knowledgeable in IT than myself, certainly not at home or where I work. With the exception of this forum though I'm slowly forming ideas in my head that will help me decide the best course of action - I think I need to talk to someone who has done the MCSE and can give me a quick guide as to "here is what you will learn" against what I actually DO on a day to day basis. It may be that the MCSE is indeed too much at my current level, that perhaps the MCSA may be more suited. I also need to talk to people who have done the bootcamps and can give me an idea of what's in store. I also need to do some more thorough research into local colleges or universities that may offer the MCSE modules. A reasonably quick net-search didn't pull up anything, but it may not be the sort of thing they advertise a great deal. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the bootcamp + task-based home learning - granted I may be learning twice, but as was pointed out - bootcamp = good for paper, not so good for knowledge. It's all confusing for me though at the moment. I've wanted to do the MCSA and MCSE for some time but it's either been funding or time or motivation - not all in the right place at the right time. Silly question - but do the MCSA and/or MCSE really enhance your career opportunities or are they simply 'nice to have' because HR look for them? Would something like MCITP System Administrator be more beneficial? (That's basically MCSA 2008 from what I read) Az

Now this is what I was wondering... As for myself personally - I want the paper, however - that doesn't mean I know everything in the MCSE. I can do what I need to do for my job quite easily. I know the MCSE would certainly give my CV a good shot in the arm and would help my overall confidence - but I'm also wary of being a 'paper MCSE'... I want to be able to actually DO at least 60% of what I'm certified to do. Maybe I'm being too 'hopeful' - I'm in a bit of a situation (like many) with the recession, I need to plan ahead and my current qualifications just won't cut any potential career move, to say nothing about if I face redundancy. (There have been no indications, but I prefer to be cautious) In short - I want my cake and to eat it. I want the paper AND the knowledge. The problem I have is - no local colleges offer the MCSE modules, even local universities don't. I don't drive a car so it's not like I can easily go from work to school and back home again quickly or cheaply. It's why the bootcamp looks like a seemingly 'ideal' option - would there be a way to do the bootcamp, get the paper and then strengthen the paper with actually going over the MCSE again by yourself? (Sorry if this all sounds jumbled - long day and I'm trying to look ahead about something I've never experienced or undertaken before) I appreciate all the advice and words of wisdom - please, keep them coming Az

This training is for myself. I've spent a good majority of my time doing what you describe, looking on google, manuals... basically any resources I can get my hands on to overcome problems or develop new solutions and such. On your first part Ken, that's an interesting idea - I hadn't considered it, unfortunately it's unlikely colleges in my area would do this as there isn't enough demand in the area. My only real choice here may be an open-college or university that may offer this - I will look into it further. As for what I do every day - it's hard to say, I wouldn't say I do all of what an MCSE does all day, every day - but does any potential MCSE? That's not to say I have zero experience, I've done what the MCSE entails - but it's not something I do all day, every day. Perhaps some parts of what I do are - most days... but I'd be hard pressed to say it's all day/every day. I can understand why you are sceptical - I am somewhat also. But I wanted information on it, whether that was people saying it's too much - too soon or whether people praised the idea or whatever, it's all good stuff and I appreciate the feedback. If MS say 1 module = 1 week full-time - How would I do this? I've tried home-study and that just didn't work for me, hence why I'm looking at bootcamp. Perhaps your suggestion about local colleges may well give me the balance I need - gives me the structure and input I need to progress, it's not as expensive or as rushed, but it gives you good preparation for the exams and you actually learn things at the same time. Any other thoughts or ideas are always welcome Az

Hey all, I hope your respective summers' are going well I've approached the possibility of doing training using a bootcamp (residential training) with my employer, they seem open to the idea, but it's worth noting that I've never done anything like it before. On a previous thread (MCSE + MCSA) - someone recommended FireBrand training, I've looked them up and have aimed for the MCSE 2003 course (14 days) in Devon. Alot of what has been said regarding bootcamp-style training is that it's very hard work and things come at you thick and fast. Aside from any recommendations for other training establishments (in the south west ideally), are there any hard-and-fast rules in regards to working out whether you could handle the kind of bootcamp training that Firebrand (and others) offer? I've tried the home-study route and that just didn't work for me personally, I think I'm one of those 'classes' type people - where in a class environment I can take it all in better. Any thoughts on this, from anyone who's done it, considering it etc... would be extremely helpful. Thanks Az

I love the eerie coincidence here... I hadn't heard of this 'Windows Protection Suite' until today... about an hour ago when my mum rang me in a total panic... Of course, I'm at work and can't exactly deal with it but she was convinced that this 'Windows Protection Suite' was telling her the absolute gospel of truth and light - in that she had viruses, trojans and all manner of nasties EVERYWHERE. Fortunately I've been around the block a few times with this sort of thing so I got her to shut the PC down until I got home. We run NOD32 Smart Security v3, MBAS (MalwareBytes AntiSpyware) and Spybot SD just to be absolutely certain - so I'm not sure how it got in there, then again... the phrase "It just did it... I didn't touch it" springs to mind. Peace. Az

Why not simply use RUNAS or an equivalent for this? You could then fire off the scripts/install with alt creds while the PC itself can still be used. Just out of interest, what is it exactly you are installing or doing? Az

Sorry to thread hijack but I've tried home learning and I just can't seem to do it as well as I used to (when I was younger), so I was looking at Firebrand courses. Does anyone know of anything similar in the Bath/Bristol area or can anyone recommend anything particular? I don't mind putting the work or money in if it gets me the results - but I'm hoping to go to my employer with a few courses and it'd be nice to have a selection of suppliers. I know self-study is cheaper by a long way but I personally can't get on with it - maybe I can't get motivated - I don't know. I just know that any kind of self-study isn't as easy as it was in my youth. Any ideas or suggestions would be great. Az

Thanks for this - while we don't have any V-DC's yet, it's only a case of time before management decides to cut back on our server farm and request we virtualise even more... great idea, nice technology - but on some things, virtualising adds a few nice things (like snapshotting), great for workstations but I'm all for taking a full backup of a server and not using snapshot technology. However I will be sure to keep this article in mind when the day of V-DCs and someones' 'playing around with said DCs' happens... Az

Hey there I'm curious to know if there is a tool or program that can save your 'workspace' - as in what apps you have open, files they have open etc... as I frequently use the same apps, open the same files etc - so to speed things up I don't logoff at the end of the day. This is fine and well until I need to logoff or reboot - does anyone know of anything like this that would be able to capture my desktop workspace and save it somewhere? I haven't heard of anything to do this myself so I'm asking to see if it's even been done or even if it could be done. Thanks, Az

Well that made my morning - thanks Good shops BTW Az

It does sound like DNS, or some kind of DNS-related issue if it can't see the full DNS path of the server. As Geoff suggested - run netdiag (with the /v switch) - post it here so we can see. Just to rule out DNS or NETBIOS issues - can you PING the server using the following: 1) DNS Name (domain.local) 2) NETBIOS Name (server) 3) IP Address I suspect you can do #2 and #3, but not #1 - which suggests DNS or that there's something far more quirky going on. HTH, Az

Stupid question - is the PC moved into an OU in which the policies are applied? The lack of event viewer items is disturbing, what does your winlogon.log file on the workstation say? Az

I'm a long long time PC user, probably not as long as some of you but still. I've been happily using XP SP3 for some time, it works well for my needs and the spec of my PC means I can do almost anything I need to with it. All that said - I have run Linux and OS/2 in the past, just to compare them against Windows. I stick with Windows because it's what my workplace use throughout - while I could cope with using a different OS and learning it - I'd get objections at work if I then tried to turn my work PC into a Linux or OS/2 box... hurrah. I will admit to being curious about OSX, I've used it via remote shell but never actually used it properly. Is there a way to run OSX in a VM of some kind - no I don't plan to run it permanently but I just want to have a play as ZeroHour has said. It's a shame Apple don't release their OS so it can be run and installed on generic (non-apple) hardware without hacking things about etc - I'm sure if they did then people would be more willing to look to Apple to use that in-place of Windows. For now though - I'm just looking into somehow running OSX inside a VM - does anyone have any ideas as to how I might do this? (I've no objections to paying for a legit copy of OSX if I really like it - but if I don't like it then I will just wipe the VM) If it would be inappropriate to respond here in this thread - then please drop me a PM instead. Thanks, Az

As webman says - think about what you'd like to do at home with your PC (assuming it is a PC) - throw us a list of what you'd like to be able to do and we could recommend a few for you - but ultimately the choice is your own. Az

Not necessarily - no. You load all the profiles onto 1 server, keep the sharename on both servers - then use DFS. So you do need 1 share per server for DFS to work but DFS will load-balance (somewhat) your profiles so there wouldn't be a need to have them split across 2 servers. HTH, Az

From what little I know of TMG, it's still a beta - so you may well be worth sticking to ISA 2006 and perhaps throwing TMG in between your ISA and a protected network or something so you can play with it and see it work - but if it stops working, you can easily pull it out of the chain. I've got a TMG VM running - it looks alot different to 2006 but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to hook it into the main network to see if the whole 'threat gateway' bit worked. Wanted to deliberately infect some PCs with malware on a seperate net to see if TMG picked it up or not. Not quite sure what the deal with that will be - it looks like an ISA + Anti-Malware. Az

I have one here at home for backup purposes only. I got it cheap off EBay (it's not brand new and it's not the most recent) but I've never had a days trouble with it. As others have said - does exactly what it says on the tin. Az

You and me both... the rest of the IT support dept is TTO + 2, I'm the only full-time tech. Az

Sickness Quotient: 94% WARNING: Your Sickness Quotient of 94% is very disturbing. Detailed Diagnosis * Interpersonal Insights You complain about everything regardless of what it is. You wouldn't be happy even if you were hit by a new car. You are utterly incapable of meaningful relationships, which is probably a good thing since you're a horrible bore under the best of conditions. * Job Performance & Attitude You have little empathy for anyone more successful at work than you, which is pretty much everyone. Although your work can upon occasion be very good, remember that even monkeys can be trained to do what you do. And they don't call in sick. * Personality Insight Your personal motto is "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." Wrong. What doesn't kill you usually makes you hurt all over and go "Owie!"

That's interesting - we're using the latest version of App-V and use a similar script and setup to you. It seems to break when the app installs some parts to the HD but requires some of the CD contents or resources. Something like this: Runs C:\SomeApp\SomeApp.exe PARAM However, if the CD isn't in the drive, it fails to run. If it IS in the drive, it causes a BSOD on an XP SP3 PC. It could well be that my script is being over-complex for it's own good but I just don't know - haven't had much chance to look at it properly. Just out of interest - what version of Daemon-Tools and is your script overly complex? Could you perhaps post it here or something so I can take a look - will allow me to determine whether my script is at fault or whether it's something else in our environment that's causing the issue. Fortunately it's not live yet so I can still afford to play with it. I've played with the trial of this and have found it great - unfortunately management here won't plump for it as they see App-V as the holy grail... something I'm finding isn't exactly true. Az

We are looking into using App-V also. saundersmatt: You say you have 250 apps on App-V... do any of these install from a CD-Rom drive and then utilise resources FROM the CD? I've tried to App-V apps like these, but it simply crashes the App-V Client. As for what you virtualise - it's down to personal choice really. Some apps are too big, such as Dreamweaver (CS4) and such. Some apps are better suited for Terminal Services - in our case, applications that need CD resources, smaller web-based apps - that kind of thing. I've managed to virtualise a fair few of our apps (including Office 2007) but I can't virtualise anything that installs FROM a CD-Rom to a HD, then uses resources ON that CD-Rom. Everything I try in regards to above - causes the App-V client to crash badly - could just be the way I'm doing it but I'm not sure. Any ideas? Az

Now here's a question and a half... I've spent a long time looking at spyware and malware and how it all works together. Now my question is this - is there a list of locations, either in the registry or file-system - where a program can run from automatically? I am aware that with the advent of services - a program can literally run anywhere, however there are many places inside a Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008 system where Windows looks at and invokes the programs that live there. Does anyone have a reasonably definitive list of these places? I'm just looking at putting in some preventative measures to stop nasties from getting their claws in too tightly with some of our more vulnerable laptops... yes anti-virus should do this job but I like a challenge. Thanks, Az

Alwaysync is good - it's free up until you hit certain file limits (in terms of size and number of files). You could script it partially - have it check for a network drive at login and sync from a laptop hard drive folder. When they logoff, have it sync back toward the laptop folder. It's quick and dirty but may do exactly what you want Az

We left our NETLOGON folder as it was and moved our login scripts to another folder and made a quick and simple change in AD to reflect this. Even if the kids somehow get to the folder, they can't see anything or do anything with it. Az