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Symptom:  When connecting to a server running Terminal Services using the Remote Desktop client in Windows 7 or Vista, the connection is slow and lags despite a fast network connection. Problem:  This is usually, but not always, caused by the way TCP “Auto-tuning” is handled in Windows 7/Vista. Solution:  As stated above there are several …

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A quick informal story: One of my clients has a bunch of employees that are in and out of the office on different days with their laptops.  A couple of them always seem to get a little bit o’ spyware.  Well, over the past week or so their “server went down” several times randomly and …

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Symptom: Microsoft Outlook 2003 hangs on the splash screen and will not open. OUTLOOK.EXE is observed in task manager consuming 50% or 100% of the CPU. Disabling add-ons and/or removing anti-virus software has no effect. Solution: Uninstall “Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager Update”. -n

Problem:  After installing Brocade DCFM Pro (Data Center Fabric Manager), you are prompted for a User ID and Password but the setup wizard never asked you to create one. Solution:  Use the default credentials:  User ID:  “Administrator” , Password:  “password” -n

Symptom: Upon launching Microsoft Word 2010 for the first time after installation you are greeted with the following message: Solution: Reboot the computer.  This is a known issue. -n

Prerequisites Hyper-V is installed and you have a new VM set up.  For help with this, see the post:  Walk-through: Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2. Install the Legacy Network Adapter for your VM instead of the default.  To do this:  In the “Settings” page of the VM, click “Add Hardware”.  Select “Legacy Network Adapter” …

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Setting up a range of static IP addresses from AT&T DSL can be a daunting task if you are used to Cox or other ISPs that simply supply you with an IP address to punch into the WAN settings of your router.  AT&T* (Bellsouth, Yahoo!,  SBC), on the other hand, will provide you with an …

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Sometimes it is useful to leverage the power of Group Policy in Active Directory to add sites to certain security zones in Internet Explorer.  This can save the network admin the trouble of managing the security zone lists for each computer (or user) separately.  In the following example, each user on the network needs to …

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Situation: You need to setup a site to site VPN tunnel between two SonicWall routers running SonicOS Enhanced. Background: The first thing you need to decide about your VPN tunnel is whether to use Main Mode or Aggressive Mode. Main Mode is the most secure mode but requires that both endpoints have static IP addresses.  The only …

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Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is a free component for Windows Server that allows you to create your own mirror for Windows Update and control every aspect of how updates are distributed on your network. (Download it here.) Prerequisites: Windows Server 2003 or later (or SBS) IIS 6.0 or later .NET Framework 2.0 or later …

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