Blogs

For more information about the Windows Springboard Series visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8418918 . In my last article I described the proper way to install Windows 7 on an Intel-based Mac using Boot Camp.  But aside from the complete driver...

I was so excited about the product from the minute I heard of it.  In January, 2007 Kevin Beares took me into his office and showed me the three servers running a VERY early alpha (read: dogfood) build of what would eventually be called Microsoft...

As I sit watching Rabbi Wise’s computer upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 I am thinking about a conversation that he and I just had. Three weeks ago he and I started discussing the benefits of Windows 7 over his currently Windows Vista, and he asked...

When Microsoft announced the Server Core functionality of Windows Server 2008 a lot of people got very excited.  Server Core is essentially the functionality of a server OS without any of the bloat of either a regular server or workstation OS. ...

At TechEd NorAm 2009 in Los Angeles the Community Corner had an XBox 360 setup to play Guitar Hero… Some buddies and I played a couple of songs.  Watch them now! (I seem to recall we also did Hotel California with me on vocals… be glad that video...

I couldn’t believe it.  There is actually a contest to write haiku about Windows Server 2008 R2.  I used to write poetry, so I gave it a shot.  Here are MY entries, based on the two technologies that I use most often: Virtualize All / Hyper...

In her recent article ‘ Windows 7: Seven points of imperfection ’ (posted on IT World Canada, and written for PC World US) Jacqueline Emigh  calls out seven deficiencies in Microsoft’s new client operating system. While I understand that columnists...

<Originally posted October, 2006> Earlier today someone referenced this article from my old blog which will, eventually, be migrated over to my new blog.  However in the meantime I am reposting it.  To be frank the perfect record no longer...

I can hardly believe it has been nearly a year since I sat down to speak with Stephen Ibaraki.  Stephen is a very well respected professional, a past-president of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), Advisor to Chair of Culminis (now...

I have seen a lot of contests recently… some promise cash, others cool prizes.  This contest will actually help you to grow your business! Microsoft Canada has a great contest for IT professionals and implementers.  Do you have a story about...

When Microsoft announced that rather than throwing large launch events in select cities they would enable Influencers to throw ‘House Parties’ there was a lot of ridicule; many said it wouldn’t work, others poked fun and even shot mocumentaries about...

Back when I was a computer support technician I used to carry a binder of CDs and DVDs, including (but certainly not limited to!) every version and edition of Windows client and server.  This came in handy every time I replaced a hard drive because...

This article explains how to install a new domain forest on Windows Server Core, or in the Windows Server CLI (Command Line Interpreter).  I will not discuss any other option for RODCs, existing domains, child domains, and so on… there are a plethora...

If you are a small business owner or consultant you must read this article!  http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2009/09/10/why-small-businesses-use-windows-small-business-server.aspx

If you either post or watch videos on-line then you know YouTube… but how about SoapBox?  A couple of years ago MSN started a competing service to YouTube which I have found very convenient.  I don’t use it often – I have posted precisely six...

The World According to Mitch did not start out as a blog, but as e-mail blasts.  When I decided to blog I started The President’s Blog at www.mitpro.ca .  However when I stepped down as leader of that group in January, 2007 I needed to find...

<Edited July 14> Since May I have been telling people that they would have to wait for details of the new Microsoft Office 2010 applications coming down the pipe. Yesterday the veil was lifted, as the beta program was made available to a wider audience...

Yesterday morning I was sitting in Artisano’s Bakery and Café in Oakville (as I am now) and twitted as much.  Barry, a fellow Oakvillain whom I met in Seattle when I was living in Montreal replied that it was a great place, and would I be there in...

For more information about the Windows Springboard Series visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8418918 . My first computer had a cassette drive; my next had two 5.25” floppy disk drives (which cost nearly as much as the computer).  Going forward...

Over the past six years I have had the honour of leading and participating in two major Canadian IT Pro user groups; I have spoken at scores of user groups across the country and around the world, and have been in touch with so many of the user group...

Of all of the innovative technologies I came face to face with at TechEd last month the most incredible of them all was a gentleman in a wheelchair. It wasn’t just any wheelchair of course… it was (I would later learn) an iBOT… a wheelchair designed to...

This is the first of many entries in this blog focused primarily on the fact the WE ARE PREGNANT!!!   It will also be a general blog about the Garvis household from my perspective.   To see Mitch’s perspective you just have to go see...

For more information about the Windows Springboard Series visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8418918 . A lot of people cannot understand how IT Professionals and enthusiasts can get excited about some things.  I ordered my new laptops last week;...

If you do not live in the Greater Toronto Area, or say between here and Niagara, this is probably not for you.  However if you can get to Oakville next Tuesday and are interested in IT then this session is for you! **Special Event** Seminar with...

One of the reasons I like attending conferences like TechEd is that very often attendees get news first… either by design or occasionally by accident.  An example of the latter, I learned last night, is that one presenter accidentally showed off...

For more information about the Windows Springboard Series visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8418918 . I was wondering out loud today if you were ready for Windows 7. Yes, you… and don’t look around because WE BOTH know who you are. You are an IT Professional...

Take a behind- the-scenes look at the next generation of Windows at www.TalkingaboutWindows.com , a video blog offering IT professionals genuine insight on Windows 7 from the Microsoft engineers who helped build the product. Listen as engineers talk about...

I am a member of a private community of Microsoft Certified Trainers on a well known networking site.  In the last couple of days one of my colleagues complained that his students were passing their exams by using Brain Dumps, and that these tools...

As I sit in the MCT Summit this week I am blown away by what’s coming down the pipe.  These are the things that I will be focusing on in the next little while: Virtualization Of course I have been talking about Hyper-V for over a year now… and System...

Sunday morning I woke up to find a foot of snow in my driveway; time to break out the shovel!  I dressed up warm (the thermometer read -9°C / 19°F), grabbed my shovel, and opened the garage door… and was flummoxed.  Where should I start? ...

It happened again… over a three day period nearly a foot of fresh snow fell on Oakville.  As I usually do I ignored it for a bit until it got too bad for my car to drive through, but this morning I decided to get out there and clear it.  I actually...

The Ctrl-Alt-Delete key combination has been a piece of computer trivia and lore for years… it really is the most famous ‘Easter Egg’ of all time.  Here is an interesting video of the father of the feature (Dave Bradley) explaining its origins. http...

I was looking for an e-mail from years ago when I came across this letter I wrote to the Senior Editor (Careers) for TechRepublic.com nearly six years ago.  Although the circumstances hardly apply to me anymore it may be interesting for IT Professionals...

Actually it was our first full day in the city to be sure… but that’s just a technicality.  We drove in yesterday – after sitting in traffic waiting for the Lincoln Tunnel for two full hours; boy are we glad that we drive a hybrid!  It took...

I can hardly believe that it has been four years since a brash and outspoken yet passionate young man volunteered to help build a user group for IT Pros in Montreal.  After two years at the helm of the Montreal IT Professionals Community (affectionately...

This is an oldie but a goodie… thanks to my man in Dallas Larry Lentz for reminding me of it! Tech Support: "Sir, something has burned within your power supply." Customer: "I bet that there is some command that I can put into the AUTOEXEC...

In September I gave a lecture at the Toronto IT Professionals Community on different deployment technologies available to small and medium business – specifically Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 4.1 , Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK...

So now that I have a day or two to play (and need it up already!), I decided to start installing my Essential Business Server environment today.  This is not my first kick at this can (I have installed eight or nine previous iterations in either...

I encountered a problem this week-end that baffled me for a while… Here is the infrastructure, the problem, and the solution. This network diagram is a rough sketch of the relevant portions of the network.  At present I have a server (HP DL585 G2...

Formatting a computer is so easy that anyone can do it.  Maintaining a secure, well-managed infrastructure is not; it requires not only someone who understands computers, but a good deal of common sense.  The goal of SWMI.CA is to educate people...

For more information about the Windows Springboard Series visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8418918 . In a previous post ( http://mitchgarvis.com/blogs/mitch/archive/2008/05/05/windows-vista-comments-from-a-converted-enthusiast.aspx ) I told you about...

<Because the original e-mail on which this article is based was in French I decided to write a rudimentary translation for my French readers and friends.> Je ne reçois pas souvent des courriels en français, mais des fois, alors je l'ai regardé...

For more information about the Windows Springboard Series visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8418918 . I have spent the past two years telling people how much I love Microsoft Windows Vista; it is not because Microsoft pays me to do so (they do not...

I am so proud of Gingit... Yesterday she attained immortality!  At 8 months old she has vaulted to the Number Five spot ( worldwide! ) on the auspicious site... http://www.thingsmydogate.com . To see her story, please click http://www.thingsmydogate...

The entire world runs on DNS. While that is not true, the Internet does, and without it the entire infrastructure would screech to a deafening halt.  In short, DNS (or Domain Naming System) is the directory service that lets us use friendly(ish)...

I tend to work a lot of late hours.  I am not entirely sure why, but it probably has to do with the fact that there are fewer distractions about at midnight than there are at noon.  The phone doesn't ring, there's really nowhere to go...

They say that when you cannot do, teach.  I am not entirely fond of this particular expression, chiefly because I am primarily a teacher in my profession.  I do tend to 'eat my own dog food' and work with the tools that I instruct on...

(Note: It has been brought to my attention that I inadvertently named this article the same thing I had named a previous article.  As such I am renaming this article, four hours after the original publication time.  Thanks for understanding...

So what is Essential Business Server (EBS) ?  In simple terms EBS is a complete corporate network for mid-sized companies in a box, or rather in three or four boxes depending on the version.  Let me explain: In the beginning there was the PC...

It occurred to me that thanks to the US Government (and my wacky travel schedule) 2008 is the first year that I have ' sprung forward ' twice. I am of course referring to the fact that North America switched from Daylight Savings to Standard ...

' The End is nigh!  A big stakes suit to save us all.' That is the Page Two headline in today's International Herald Tribune .  It is the story of how two men - Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho - are suing the Conseil Européen pour...

I arrived in Sweden on Tuesday on a Lufthanza plane filled with a Canadian hockey team coming to play a tournament here.  Good luck Canada! Getting to my hotel was a little tricky.  Fortunately there is a great tourist information counter at...

So I have raved to anyone who will listen about my HTC Tilt PDA... I bought it in November, and although it was pricey I have not regretted it for a minute.  If there is a function that a phone or device an do, it does it.  It has a great CPU...

I have a confession to make: I was a bad kid.  I was rebellious, I was anti-authority, I did or tried to do what I thought was cool without much concern for what was right.  Up until my eighteenth birthday and probably a bit beyond that I was...

This past Monday I had the opportunity to present what I call a 'Let's Get Excited' presentation to an architect audience at Microsoft Canada.  I was asked to showcase several new features of Windows Server 2008, due to launch on February...

A couple of months ago I effectively moved in with Theresa; that is to say I have not yet vacated my apartment, but have relegated it to being little more than a drop box, sometimes office, and place to store things until we actually hire a truck to move...

So for those of you who haven't been following along, I am in pretty decent shape for a man of my size and stature, that is to say for someone who is quite large.  I have not skied this year but I did last year, and I do walk my dog (from time...