tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76857925790307477782024-02-20T10:25:47.826-05:00Yet Another IT Guy BlogDiscussing my day-to-day activities and observations in the Canadian IT world.Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-46241604603790619342009-01-23T12:57:00.001-05:002009-01-23T12:57:48.625-05:00Drive-Thru and The Tech Support Call<p>I had a pretty busy Saturday running errands, and as anyone who knows me, I love to have a coffee with me while I am driving. Well, on this particular Saturday, I had visited two different coffee shop drive-thru’s and a fast food drive-thru. At all three of them, the service was atrocious! I was rushed to place my order at the speaker, the person at the window didn’t talk to me and when I did get my order, in all three cases, the cups were wet! </p> <p>I couldn’t help but think of how the level of service today has deteriorated…and then it dawned on me. As an IT Professional, how many times have I provided poor service below the level I know I am capable of giving. So, once I got home, I sat and thought about it. Well, much to my disappointment, I was able to think of not just one…but a couple of them, ouch!</p> <p>One of the first things that jumped out at me was the time I met one of my co-workers in the hall one day. Bob, not his real name, was slightly frantic. The exchange went something like this.</p> <p>“Hey Peter, I was just coming to see you. I can’t print.”</p> <p>“OK Bob, I have a meeting in a few minutes. I have to go…I’ll see you after my meeting.”</p> <p>“But, but…”</p> <p>Well, I made my meeting, unfortunately, Bob was late and was chastised by the boss, and when asked for an explanation it turned out that Bob had a report that was to be presented during the meeting. Well, when the boss asked for an explanation, Bob informed everyone in the meeting, which included the entire executive team, that he was unable to print his report and I hadn’t solved the problem yet. Well, as you can imagine, I sunk into my chair as everyone looked in my direction. After the meeting, I rushed to Bob’s office to fix his problem. Bob’s problem was not that he couldn’t print, but somehow his default printer was changed to a different printer. </p> <p>This exchange between me and Bob taught me a couple of things. Firstly, Bob was coming to my office to report a problem. We should avoid being “HALLJACKED” at all costs. Had I trained people to email their problems to me, I would have started a paper trail for the problem. An email allows me to properly schedule tech support issues, and when a situation comes up where I was being blamed, rightly or wrongly, I will have some documentation to help my boss understand my side. In Bob’s case, due to the nature of his problem, he likely would have still rushed to my office to find me. This would have provided an excellent opportunity to explain the process of submitting tech support problems. Having this process would have taken the responsibility of Bob not being able to print off my shoulders and placed it on his…after all, he did wait until the last minute to print his report. An email from Bob at 10:55 saying he couldn’t print when he had an 11 o’clock meeting would allow me the luxury of explaining why Bob couldn’t print out his reports. The second thing that I should have done, after explaining to Bob what the process is to request tech support, was to spend a few seconds getting to the bottom of the problem. A couple of simple questions to clarify the problem would have clearly shown that it was likely a small problem with a simple fix. One or two minutes and instead of being a goat, I could have been seen as a life saver. So, now, lets look at this whole situation if I had followed these two principles.</p> <p>“Hey Peter, I was just coming to see you. I can’t print.”</p> <p>“OK Bob, I have a meeting in a few minutes. I have to go…remember, all requests for tech support should be done via email.”</p> <p>“But, but…I  have this report and I need to print it for the same meeting you have”</p> <p>“Well, I shouldn’t do this, but, tell me more about your problem. Are you getting any error messages?”</p> <p>“No, I just can’t print.”</p> <p>“Hmmmm, well, I will take a look at it, but if it is more than a few minutes, I will have to fix it after the meeting.”</p> <p>After fixing Bob’s problem, I head to the meeting. Bob still arrives late and is chastised.</p> <p>“I couldn’t print, Peter had to look at my computer”</p> <p>“Bob, you shouldn’t leave these things to the last minute”, says the boss.</p> <p> </p> <p>The second thing that jumped out at me was the time I made a small problem much bigger than it needed to be. I was working on my bosses laptop, which, much to my chagrin, he lets his wife use so she can do her MBA homework. The story goes like this, one Monday, Chuck, not his real name, sends me an email quickly followed up by a phone call to ensure I got the email. This is how the exchange went:</p> <p>“Peter, I can’t open my shared folder on the network.”</p> <p>“OK Chuck, can you get onto the network?”</p> <p>“Yes.”</p> <p>“Are you getting email?”</p> <p>“Yep, and I know what you are going to say next, and yes…I did reboot.”</p> <p>“Hmmmm…OK, I will be right over.”</p> <p>Now, my office was in a different location from my boss so I had time to think about the problem. When I had arrived at Chuck’s office, I already had a dozen things I was going to check. I spent a couple of hours checking everything from network connections to his profile on the server, I had exhausted Chuck’s patience…and his goodwill. I was now officially in his way and could feel his cold stare on the back of my neck as I burnt up his valuable Monday morning. At this point I was at a loss…Finally, Chuck had a lunch meeting to go to so I had time alone with his PC, and he echoed these fateful words. “Peter, you need to have this fixed by the time I get back”, we’ve all heard those words haven’t we.</p> <p>After panicking for a couple of minutes, I took a deep breath to clear my head, took a walk to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee. As I watched to cup fill with coffee, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. In my haste to solve the problem and get out of Chuck’s way, I started to work on solutions without gathering all the information I needed to properly solve the problem. I sat at my bosses desk, re-read his original email, took out a pen and started to write down everything I knew about the problem. I took nothing for granted, checked everything again, starting from the simplest to the most complex. Allowing every answer to bring up more things to check. I started with the cable, even though I knew he could still receive email and surf the web. It checked out, I checked that he could ping the server. Yep, no problem, I checked the TCP/IP settings in his computer…oops…forgot that one the first time I tried to solve his problem. Would you believe, the “Client for Microsoft Networks” was unchecked?!?! A feeling of relief came over me! I restored the setting just as Chuck walked back into his office. </p> <p>“How is it.”, Chuck asked. </p> <p>“I just need to reboot and have you log back on and everything should be fine.”, I said. Hoping like crazy this was the problem.</p> <p>Well, as you can imagine, I rebooted, he logged on and was able to access his shared folder. He followed up with the obvious question, “What caused the problem?” I proceeded to tell him about what I had done to try and solve his problem to make it seem as if I hadn’t wasted his time. Thankfully, he was just happy to have his computer back so he didn’t ask me why it had taken so long.</p> <p>These are two examples from my past that illustrate the only two times I had not provided the level of service I could have. I am writing them here so as to help you learn from them as I have. Poor service is rampant all around us, as IT professionals, we need to try and live up to a higher standard. </p> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-43166943648158171012009-01-08T09:10:00.001-05:002009-01-08T09:10:07.849-05:00The UAC and An Uninstall Experience<p>Today, I was uninstalling a piece of software I was evaluating for purchase when I got a strange UAC prompt…a request to allow an “Unknown Application” access to my computer. Well…as someone who ACTUALLY reads the UAC prompts, I was alarmed at this. I was surfing the web and doing a couple of other things so I was unsure where this prompt was coming from. I refused the request and the uninstall failed. I pulled my network plug and proceeded to uninstall the application. GRRRRRRRR….this type of over site really bugs me…Come on guys…you had to have tested your uninstall program at least once or twice. </p> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-6269044252856501482009-01-07T11:58:00.001-05:002009-01-07T12:00:35.003-05:00Newly Awarded…Microsoft MVP: Windows Desktop Experience<p>Just wanted to share with my readers, I have been received the coveted Microsoft MVP award for my work with the community. I would like to personally thank my good friend Mitch Garvis for his help in receiving this award. I have always loved working with the IT community and feel humbled to be included in the same company as some of the brightest stars in the Microsoft community. I have spent a considerable amount of time reading books and articles, and attending classes and seminars with many of the other recipients of the award in the past and am looking forward to meeting them in person. </p> <p>I take the honour of winning this award very serious and will be working hard to live up to the standards that the current award holders have set. I have always shared what I know and will endeavor to continue to do this in the future. I know it was my work with the community that made it possible to win this award and as such, I will continue to provide quality information and to bring the questions and concerns of the community to Microsoft and its employees!</p> <p>Thank you for your support and the support of my blog. I am looking forward to 2009 and sharing my knowledge and experiences…all within the confines of Non-Disclosure Agreement(NDA) of course!</p> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-55336581827149112972008-07-25T15:30:00.001-04:002008-07-25T15:30:53.418-04:00Is Your DNS Patched<p>In case you have been living under a rock for the past month you have most likely heard about the DNS cache exploit recently discovered by <a href="http://www.doxpara.com/" mce_href="http://www.doxpara.com/">Dan Kaminsky</a>.  This might be one of the most severe flaws discovered as it was cross platform affecting everything from Windows to Linux, UNIX, Cisco IOS etc....  It was so big in fact that all the <a href="http://www.doxpara.com/?p=1162" mce_href="http://www.doxpara.com/?p=1162">major vendors worked together</a> to get the patch issued on the same day.  The flaw would allow an attacker to insert a malicious DNS record into the cache.  As an end user you type in <a href="http://www.technet.com/" mce_href="http://www.technet.com">www.technet.com</a> and rather than get the proper IP address the cache delivers the malicious IP address sending you to ????  You can <a href="http://www.doxpara.com/?p=1185" mce_href="http://www.doxpara.com/?p=1185">find out more on the details</a> of the flaw at Dan's blog.</p> <p>You should also make sure that you are patched.  Make sure that your upstream ISP DNS servers are patched by calling them or using Dan's DNS Checker at the top of his website.</p> <p>So why all of a sudden a rush to ensure you are patched?  Well the <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1460" mce_href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1460">patches issued by the vendors</a> have been reverse engineered and <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1545" mce_href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1545">exploit code has been published</a>!  Dan has said many times that this is an extremely easy to launch exploit that could be implemented in seconds. </p> <p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-037.mspx" mce_href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-037.mspx">MS08-037 - Vulnerabilities in DNS Could Allow Spoofing (953230)</a></p> <p><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953230" mce_href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953230">KB953230 - Vulnerabilities in DNS could allow spoofing</a></p> <p><strong><font size="4">Go. Read. Patch. Now.</font></strong></p> <p>And when you are done, copy and paste this blog post to your blog, email it to your IT Pro buddies, get the word out!</p> <p>If you have links to the patches from other vendors, please leave a comment with the URL!</p> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-69438071380584627372008-05-09T12:13:00.000-04:002008-05-09T12:13:02.205-04:00It Feels Like Déjà-XP All Over Again<p>I have been using Vista since launch and love it! I am MCTS: Windows Vista Client Configuration certified and have presented on Vista for <a href="http://www.wwitpro.com" target="_blank">WWITPRO</a>. Before this, I have used every Windows OS since Windows 2.0, yes that includes Windows ME but I don't want to talk about that one! Vista and ME were the only versions of Windows I used since launch, in fact, I waited in line for a midnight release of ME...I am still in therapy over that one! Why is this important, simply this. I have used all of the excuses on upgrading to XP that I have heard others speak about Vista. </p> <p>I did a Live search on XP comments and found a few choice quotations for you. "It feels ridiculously slow.", "You want to avoid installing Windows XP on a system more than a year old.", "Memory may be cheap, but for an OS to have to use that much RAM to work well, that's just terrible,". These are just a few of the comments that columnists of the day were writing. At the time, Windows XP represented an revolution rather than the minimal changes that occurred between Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE. And as mentioned, I have a gaping hole in my memory about Windows ME so I can't remember if it was similar to 98 of XP!</p> <p>Computing power is increasing by leaps and bounds on a daily basis, the operating system is no different. If you have a computer that can't run Vista, then don't! Simple. Microsoft Vista was not designed to run on every computer ever manufactured. And frankly, neither was Apple's OS X. I have an old iMac with OS 8.6 to testify to that fact. I don't hear a big cry from the Apple community! The Apple community understands this, and continually exploits this as a weakness within the Windows community. The truth is, as with Windows XP, Vista should install on most computers that are less than a year old...sound familiar...if you were paying attention, you would have read that same thing was being said about Windows XP.</p> <p>I was having a conversation with an IT professional after my Windows Vista presentation and he was upset over the lack of a driver for both his five year old scanner and his one year old Ink-Jet printer. I mentioned the fact that Microsoft does not write device drivers, which caused the professional to accuse me of coping out on the answer. Fine, I said, we'll tackle the Ink-Jet printer driver problem first. When Microsoft starts working on a new operating system, they provide education, SDKs and most importantly, time for the hardware vendors to make sure that their products will have drivers when a new operating system is released. If the printer company does not have a driver, It is not Microsoft's fault! As for the scanner, you again have to speak with your hardware vendor. They may or may not feel obligated to support the hardware but the same principles as with the Ink-Jet printer apply here. Windows Vista currently supports over 54000 pieces of hardware so it is obvious that there are some vendors out there that do support their customers.</p> <p>You may or may not have legitimate reasons about upgrading to Windows Vista, that's fine but the secret if to find the fine line between what is best for your clients and users and the comments that first jump to mind with out much thought or research. There are plenty of exceptional changes to Windows Vista, most notable the improved Search capabilities and the User Account Control, both of which I will be posting about in the next week or so.</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a0993f75-f18c-430d-9c4a-332511e9ebbf" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Vista" rel="tag">Vista</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/WWITPRO" rel="tag">WWITPRO</a></div> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-69402201136154089252008-05-08T12:04:00.001-04:002008-05-08T12:04:17.602-04:00Slide Deck from WWITPRO VISTA SPRINGBOARD<p>Sorry for the delay guys, <a href="http://www.driveway.com/q3e2q4o9e1" target="_blank">here is a copy of my slide deck.</a>..</p> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-2392762902054522352008-05-08T10:52:00.000-04:002008-05-08T10:57:52.082-04:00The Real Secret To IT Success<p>I recently sent an email where I listed the real secret to succeeding in IT. Since this is not the first time I have revealed this method to someone, I have decided to reveal it to everyone.</p> <p>I have learned the real secret to success in IT, and if you promise to share it with others, I’ll tell it to you. Firstly, be aware that you don’t have to know everything. In fact, I give you permission to not have all the answers. This is a mistake many IT people make. They think that if they admit they don’t know something, somehow they will be looked down upon, by their peers, bosses and clients. My personal experiences are quite the opposite. In fact, once you get into the habit of telling the truth about your skills, not only will your skills increase as you research the questions you are being asked, but people will have more confidence in your abilities because you will be known as someone who tells it like it is.  </p> <p>Secondly, when you are trying to learn a new skill, there are two things to do. Get a “Dummies” book and read it. Don’t buy a thick book which looks good but you can't understand. Get the simplest book on a topic you can find. If you look at my bookshelf, you will see quite a few “Dummies” books and many other simple books on a wide variety of topics. The next thing to keep in mind here is to surround yourself with people you can discuss your IT difficulties with. This is why being involved with a User Group is so important. If your not plugged into the community, you are missing your greatest opportunity to increase your knowledge!</p> <p>The last thing to keep in mind is this, be positive about your skills. If you are not positive, think about the problems you have solved in the past. I am sure you have solved many problems! This will reinforce the fact that you can do it! Sounds corny but it works. For those days where this is a challenge or you are faced with a problem that seems overwhelming, do this. Celebrate your small successes. Most problems in IT can be broken into chunks. For example, if the network crashes, don’t panic and focus on the final end result of the network coming back up. Instead, celebrate the fact that the server rebooted and came back up,  then celebrate that fact that Internet access has been restored, then celebrate the fact that the users can now print. Now when it comes to the users not receiving email, you have already had some success in solving problems so you can relax and work on the Exchange Server knowing you have fixed some issues already.  If there are areas you are not feeling confident in go back to rule number two, but this time you might not have time to read a book. The second part of this is the key. If you are talking to other IT professionals on a regular basis, you should have a list of contacts you can call on when you have problems you can’t immediately solve, then go back and read up on the problem. If you keep good notes about your problems, this will be easy. Now, you have effectively done two things, firstly you have something you can read up on and secondly, you now have a story to tell other IT professionals about!</p> <p>The simple truth is IT is all about attitude. If you are arrogant and portray the image that you know everything, you will be humbled quickly. If you approach IT humbly, sharing what you know with others, you will be respected and trusted. The problem with IT is there are far more of the first type of IT people than the second, my promise to you is to be the second type! </p> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-15338849445596404662008-05-06T15:56:00.001-04:002008-05-06T16:00:24.658-04:00The SMB Nation Conference...Community to the Extreme!<p>I spent this weekend at the SMB Nation Conference in Toronto and boy am I tired! I just spent two days completely immersed in all things IT Small Business! For those who don't know, The <a href="http://www.smbnation.com/" target="_blank">SMB Nation</a> Conference is the baby of <a href="http://www.smbnation.com/products_listpage.asp?Category=Harrys~Blog&Cat=Category" target="_blank">Harry Brelsford</a>. Harry is one of the "Who's Who" of the Small Business Server community. I just wanted to say a personal thank you to Harry for bringing this event to Canada! Here's to many more years of successful Events, both in Canada and elsewhere! </p> <p>I was very impressed with the quality of speakers, including <a href="http://mitchgarvis.com/blogs/" target="_blank">Mitch Garvis</a>, (who most of you know from his appearance at The WWITPRO Springboard Series:Vista), <a href="https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Calvin.McLennan" target="_blank">Calvin McLennan</a> (who has spoken at WWITPRO on Small Business Server) and Rex Backman<strong>,</strong> Rex Backman is a member of the Microsoft Response Point team. (If you don't know what Response Point is look it up. I will be writing a post about it shortly, so stay tuned!) There were many other quality speakers, you can find all the information <a href="http://www.smbnation.com/events_listpage.asp?Category=SMB~Nation~Toronto&Category2=Speakers" target="_blank">here!</a><strong> </strong></p> <p>The real value here was the type of information that was conveyed! There was a session by <a href="http://www.ambitionmission.com/" target="_blank">Matt Makowicz</a> on how to sell managed services that was worth the price of the conference alone! This type of session is not available anywhere else in this country, and certainly not at any of the free conferences that we all attend from time to time! There was a hands on lab for Response Point that flat out blew me away! I considered my admission price one of the smarted investments in my IT business I have made in a long time!</p> <p>I must admit, for me, the best part was the sense of community that came from being in the same room with so many people with the similar interests for two days! Everyone was very approachable, from the other summit attendees, to the speakers, and especially Harry! I have a deep love for the IT community, from the Desktop level one tech support, to the Enterprise level Systems Administrator to the small business IT service provider and attending events like this provide a boost to my belief that the IT community in Canada is getting stronger every day! </p> <p>Once again, thank you Harry for bring this event to us up here in the Frozen North!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:8b78261f-bb90-407d-8fa1-ad8c62efef0a" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/SMB%20Nation" rel="tag">SMB Nation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Small%20Business%20Server" rel="tag">Small Business Server</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Response%20Point" rel="tag">Response Point</a></div> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-1638881464348858552008-05-05T17:33:00.000-04:002008-05-05T17:33:00.469-04:00PHP, Microsoft And EnergizeIT 2008???<p>Those of you are my age, which is in my late 30's, will remember the old children's show song, "One of these things is not like the other one!" Three weeks ago, I would have been singing this tune in reference to my title and I would have been right. </p> <p>I am have been writing code since the early 80s as a hobby and as a profession from 1995 till 1999. I have been fairly Microsoft centric since I purchased my first copy of QuickBasic in 1990.<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/ppiluk/SB9VjgnvJpI/AAAAAAAAABQ/Ovu6o5ojsO0/s1600-h/qb45o%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="244" alt="qb45o" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/ppiluk/SB9VkAnvJqI/AAAAAAAAABc/-Pst6am_G-E/qb45o_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="193" align="right" border="0" /></a> . Fast forward to today...I am in a new position where, for the first time I will be spending much of my time writing code, this time with a focus on Internet programming. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to learn PHP. </p> <p>This brings me to the purpose of this post. I have been asked by Microsoft to talk about my experiences with PHP at EnergizeIT 2008...(To hear my story as to why I had to start working with PHP, you will have to come to my session!)</p> <p>It seems as if Microsoft has realized that ASP and ASP.NET might not be the only language you will need to code for the web! In fact the next version of Expression Web includes support for the language. I see this as a positive development for the language. I have fallen in love with PHP's simplicity, it's ability to run on such a large percentage of the web servers currently being used on the Internet and most importantly, the PHP community! </p> <p>There are good IDEs to develop PHP sites on Windows. Personally, I use PHPED from Nusphere and love it. I fully expect Visual Studio to have support for PHP in the near future!</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:c4906847-4d42-473a-8716-8b7889c63bf0" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/energizeIT" rel="tag">energizeIT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/php" rel="tag">php</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/QuickBasic" rel="tag">QuickBasic</a></div> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-26076248956102802852008-04-16T15:48:00.001-04:002008-05-02T09:33:00.400-04:00WWITPRO Presents Vista Springboard<p>As many of you know, I am presenting a comprehensive overview of Microsoft Vista on the 28th of this month. I will be co-presenting with <a href="http://www.mitchgarvis.com">Mitch Garvis</a>. We will be covering a wide range of topics and doing a live Bit Locker Demonstration! Visit the <a href="http://www.wwitpro.com" target="_blank">Waterloo-Wellington IT Professionals User Group</a> to sign up. </p> Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-3838875025714951842008-03-26T13:44:00.002-04:002008-04-03T09:18:18.362-04:00Passed My MCTS: Windows Vista Client ConfigurationWrote and passed my Vista exam! This was not a very difficult exam. The questions could be answered by taking the time to think through the answers. The difficult part came from the wide range of topics you could be tested on.<br /><br />Next exam, 70-290! I'll let you know how this is going!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-62354556635018535982008-01-28T16:41:00.000-05:002008-01-28T17:14:04.934-05:00Passed 70-282 - Whoooo HoooooOk, I know, I know, my last Blog post indicated that I would likely be writing the 70-620 Vista exam. I changed my mind. I have been using Small Business Server 2003 for a couple of years now and have always loved it! In fact, I feel Small Business Server 2003 is the best product Microsoft has! I have been studying for the exam for a couple of years and started thinking, why not write the exam that I have actually been studying for!<br /><br />I will keep my score to myself, after all, I passed and that's all you need to know. I don't want to violate the NDA but I will give you one big tip for this exam...experience is a must. Since this exam is heavily geared to Analyzing the existing environment and designing a business technology solution for a small or medium -sized business, you will benefit from having plenty of real-world, get your hands dirty knowledge! You might be able to pass this exam without experience, but I doubt it.<br /><br />I was pleasantly surprised by this! I have always avoided certifications exams because of my prior experience with "paper" certified people! I hope my recent testing experience is the norm and Microsoft has figured out how to test people on what they know and not what they can cram into their tiny, little heads. If they have, I am starting to see the value of certifications!<br /><br />My next exam is 70-620...for real. This time I'm not kidding. I have my book and everything! Stay tuned and I'll let you know how this one turns out...Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-33385143498980780352007-12-27T10:21:00.000-05:002008-01-02T10:39:35.834-05:00Book Shopping...Then and Now!I really, really dislike big box bookstores! As my readers know, I am looking into what my next certification exam will be. I have since decided to do the Vista Configuration exam (70-620). Anyway, I went to the local big box bookstore to find a book to supplement my training and would you believe it, nothing in stock! In fact, there are four big box bookstores within a 30 minute drive from my house and none of them had anything either!!!!! GURRRRRRR!!! This is not the first time this particular chain did not have the topic in stock I wanted! It probably happens about 80% of the time. The computer book section at this particular chain is filled with books for the home user and the hobbyist! There is only a handful of shelves set aside for the technical user! The thing that makes me most angry is this chain in particular is making the old way of shopping for books obsolete. I have been in IT since 1995 and have been using computers since the Timex Sinclar 1000 hit the market in 1982. My point is this, in the 80's and 90's there was a bookstore in Waterloo called "The Computer Bookstore", it sold books on computers! A whole store geared to the hobby and profession of IT. Whenever I had need for a book, I could go there and I would be guaranteed to find multiple books on any subject I needed. I started my IT career as a developer and often had need of books on particular programming topics such as database development and serial communications. Not only did I have no trouble finding what I was looking for at the Computer Bookstore, I was able to take it home the very same day!<br /><br />I must admit, I did eventually order a book from this particular big box store. I realized that IT is all about change...that doesn't mean I have to like it!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-68427739748360181702007-12-14T14:56:00.000-05:002007-12-14T15:22:43.571-05:00WWITPRO Project Management PresentationHere is the link to my presentation: <a href="http://www.driveway.com/pullf10561"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:78%;"><b>PM-WWITPRO.pdf!</b></span></a><br /><br />Thank you all for your interest! Sorry it took me so long to get it up! If you have any questions about my presentation, feel free to post them as a comment and I will give you an answer as soon as I can.Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-37096129686883716192007-12-12T09:56:00.000-05:002007-12-12T12:01:42.160-05:00New CompTIA Convert!I have been reading allot of forum posts debating the value of CompTIA's A+ and Network+ certifications so I wanted to add my two cents. Anyways, I have been in IT since 1995 and have done just about everything in the IT field. I started my career during the time of the Great Paper Certification Crisis of the late 90's. Like many people, I have plenty horror stories of MCSEs who couldn't properly diagnose simple problems. This turned me off of certification completely for many years! I never had anyone ask me if I was certified or not and never gave certification a second thought...until one of my friends challenged me to put my money where my mouth is. He taunted me with the old "If certifications are so easy to get you should have no trouble getting them." I accepted the challenge and have successfully passed both A+(2007) and Network+(2005/2007), and in the process have developed a new found respect for both of those certifications.<br /><br />The new A+ objectives are very relevant to today's workforce and someone who passes these two exams would make an excellent addition to any business. The best new topics, in my opinion are the soft skills such as communication skills, professionalism, safety and IT environmental issues. In today's business world, these four things will have an increasing impact on how the IT department operates. It is good to see this reflected in a industry standard certification. In fact, my biggest issue with the A+ exams was these four topics should have a higher importance!<br /><br />Network+ is also an excellent exam. It covers a wide range of topics including Windows, Netware, Linux, Unix and Apple networking in addition to the theory and troubleshooting techniques. Unlike many of the forum posts I read, I thought the inclusion of such a wide variety of Network Operating Systems a wise move on CompTIA's part. I have only ever had to network Windows PCs so it was good to see that the Network+ exam was truly vendor neutral, and contains questions on just about anything you are likely to see in the field. Network+ was last updated in 2005 and refreshed in 2007. I feel Comptia needs to update Network+ to be more like the A+ exam. There was very little emphasis on soft skills and I feel that the Network+ exam should include topics on network documentation and maybe expanding on the topology topic to include simple network design questions.<br /><br />CompTIA does not make A+ mandatory to write the Network+ exam. Saying that, I think you should write A+ first. Microsoft allows you to use your A+ and Network+ certifications as your elective for your MCSA. This shows the value Microsoft perceives in attaining these certifications!<br /><br />I also like the fact that these certifications do not expire. I do however think that CompTIA should try and include some sort of continuing education to ensure that you remain relevant. Weather it includes additional certifications or reading journals or attending classes.<br /><br />I will continue to post my certification journey on my blog so stay tuned! Next stop Vista or maybe my CCNA!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-63369483597313716802007-10-05T08:56:00.000-04:002007-10-05T09:11:23.565-04:00WWITPRO In The KnowAs I have mentioned in previous posts, WWITPRO In The Know is a very special event put on by the executive of the Waterloo-Wellington IT Professional User Group. Ruth Morton is going to be discussing Windows Server 2008 Virtualization, Jacqueline Hutchinson will be discussing Home Server and I, along with Don Spencer will be providing an introduction to PowerShell. The date for the presentation is Wednesday, October 17th at 6pm. We will be holding the presentation at the Holiday Inn in Cambridge. You need to pre-register for this event and you can do this at the <a href="http://wwitpro.com/">WWITPRO</a> website. Dinner will be provided...<br /><br />We have some of the coolest door prizes found anywhere...in fact, there will be a special bonus available to all attendees that will make it worth your while to attend. I don't want to give the surprises away but I will put it this way, if I can convince Don to dress up as Santa, I will!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-53270678181063191492007-09-28T08:45:00.000-04:002007-10-05T08:56:02.488-04:00WOW...Its been Too Long! - WWITPRO and the VHDHello people. Its been quite a while, and like most IT people, I have been way too busy for my own good!<br /><br /><br />Well, to update you, Monday we had our first WWITPRO meeting for the new 2007/2008 season and it was a rousing success! Our topic was System Center Essentials presented by Rodney Buike from Microsoft Canada. An excellent topic presented by an equilly excellent speaker. If you don't know anything about this product but since it was developed for networks with 500 PCs and 30 Servers, it relates to most IT pros in this country. The coolest thing about Rodney's presentation was the Microsoft VHD site, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/vhd">www.microsoft.com/vhd</a>. This site contains VirtualPC images of a plethora of Microsoft software to try before you buy or train on the newest software. You need a pretty fast internet connection and a lot of patience but they have a wide variety of things to look at.Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-23203977692468253212007-07-11T11:15:00.000-04:002007-07-11T21:32:18.416-04:00Fresh News...Launch Date Set For Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008I must say, I'm impressed! When I first heard that Microsoft had renamed Longhorn to Windows Server 2008, I assumed it meant that it would maybe be ready in the last quarter of 2008, if not delayed till 2009. Nope! The date set is February 27th, 2008. Geekmas in February...Whoo Hoo!!!<br /><br />Anyway, I have seen Server 2008 demoed a couple of times and am looking forward to it. I am particularly looking forward to its virtualization capabilities. I have already designed a couple of scenarios where this would solve many of the issues I have had in the past. I will be outlining some of these scenarios in future blog posts but for now, I'd just like to say let the geekness begin!<br /><br />When I was at Energize IT this year, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a session with Don Vilen, Senior Project Manager from the Redmond SQL Server team and I must say, I am looking forward to the improvements he was mentioning. On the Energize IT site there is a copy of his slide deck that will spell them out far better than I could...you can find it at the bottom of the page <a href="http://moss.energizeit.ca/tracks/Pages/1.aspx">here.</a><br /><br />I have to be honest with you guys, I started the gainfully employed period of my IT life as a developer. I am a strong proponent for Visual Basic and have been using it since it was called Quick Basic for the DOS platform. My last serious application was developed using VB 6 and since then I have only developed small applications to keep my skills current. Due to this, I will refrain from making too many comments on this but I will say that I will be changing this and have a couple projects in mind.<br /><br />I want to keep this post short so I will leave you with this, by finally providing a release date, Microsoft has provided a finish line for us to focus on...we have about eight months to get up to speed with the newest technologies before they hit the mainstream. Lets use it!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-90014957670654640162007-07-05T16:43:00.000-04:002007-07-05T16:43:17.106-04:00Windows PowerShellWhile thinking of some possible topics for the WWITPRO monthly meetings, I thought it might be cool to look into having a meeting about PowerShell. I have seen a couple of people demo it at various meetings and events I have been to and was very curious, after all I entered IT officially in 1995 and cut my teeth on DOS 2.1 so a command line is something I miss. Anyway, it struck me that I had never seen an in depth discussion on the topic so I started to do some research on it. I started by guessing that the Microsoft site which would contain PowerShell information would be <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/powershell">www.microsoft.com/powershell. </a>What do you know...I was right! :)<br /><br /> Oh sorry, someone in the back has a question..."What is PowerShell?" Oops...sorry...I'm starting to get excited here! PowerShell is a replacement for the limited command shell, cmd.exe...you know the one...yea that's it, the one the Linux people have been laughing at. Well now you can till those Linux guys and their imaginary girlfriend/boyfriend that we may be late to the party but we've arrived...and with a real date!<br /><br /> The nice shiny new blue background you will notice when you first run the application is just the beginning! You also get a powerful scripting engine that allows you to do almost all of the normal administrative tasks you need to do such as adding user accounts, disabling accounts, sorting through the Event Logs...it will even allow you to automatically open that fancy cup holder located on the front of your server!<br /><br /> One of the first things I noticed about PowerShell when I visited the Microsoft site, was there was a version available for Windows XP, I mistakenly thought it was only available for the new Longhorn server(Windows Server 2008)...note to my Microsoft friends...I can still say Longhorn...ha ha. It is in fact, available for Windows Server 2003, XP and Vista. The other thing you might not know, is it can be used to extend the capabilities of a variety of Microsoft applications such as Exchange Server 2007, System Center Operations Manager 2007, System Center Data Protection Manager V2, and System Center Virtual Machine.<br /><br /> I encourage you to download the version for your computer and play around. If you were reading this post in the hopes that you'd learn all that there was to know about PowerShell, I just have to say that I'm currently playing around so keep checking for some of the cool things I'm learning...I'll keep you updated. To get you started, there is an excellent little booklet written by Frank Koch. You can download it <a href="https://profile.microsoft.com/RegSysProfileCenter/wizard.aspx?wizid=adf74b41-ae6a-42f4-8445-db39ecabb8b3&lcid=1033&fu=http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/9/4/a94270c7-ed16-4c72-8280-658c66315719/Windows%20Powershell%20-%20EN.zip">here.</a><br /><br /> Good Luck and be careful...PowerShell is very powerful. Just remember, as a smart man once said "There's no crying in IT!"...or is that baseball...I get those mixed up sometimes... Anyway, don't come crying to me if you experiment with PowerShell and suddenly your server's cup holder stops working!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-40449243245043836302007-06-26T20:40:00.000-04:002007-06-26T21:14:27.273-04:00Last WWITPRO Meting of the 2006/2007 SeasonLast night was the last meeting of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">WWITPRO</span> for the 2006/2007 season. We had 17 people turn out as well as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Damir</span> and Barnaby from Microsoft. Our topic was Small Business Server: Debunking the Myth given <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">SBS</span> MVP Calvin <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">McLennan</span>. Small Business Server has always been near and dear to my heart as it is an excellent product for most small businesses. Calvin's presentation was full of useful tips but the best tip was to use the "Configure Backup" wizard to setup the Exchange email retention settings...I did not know that. Calvin was an excellent speaker and definitely knew his stuff! We will have his slide deck posted on the <a href="http://www.wwitpro.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">WWITPRO</span></a> website shortly.<br />Ruth <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">officially</span> handed the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">presidential</span> reigns over to Jacqueline last night. We have quite a bit of work ahead getting our speakers lined up and other logistical issues. I'll keep you posted on our <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">upcoming</span> speakers. Our next meeting will be on September 24th with a soon to be announced speaker. If you can't wait that long for the next WWITPRO event, I have good news for you, early in September, we will be holding a very special event called WWITPRO In The Know...Speakers to be announced however, your friendly Canadian IT Guy will be one of the presenters. I'll let you know what I'm going to talk about once I have more details...my blog readers will be the first to know!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7685792579030747778.post-24010556077027228312007-06-26T14:25:00.000-04:002007-06-26T14:28:31.570-04:00Welcome To My Blog!OK, I know what your saying but yes we do need at least one more IT guy blog...but only one more!Peter Pilukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022698298117622247noreply@blogger.com0