KYSBSUG December 2011 – Meeting #94
Topic: Digital Home
Presenter: Tim Barrett
Date: Wednesday December 28, 2011
Time: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM Eastern
Venue: Money Concepts
Address: 323 Townepark Circle, Louisville, KY 40243

Cost: FREE

Description:
The topic this month is “Digital Home”, demoing integration between Xbox 360, Windows 7, Windows Home Server, Windows Phone 7 & iPad. We’ll discuss the video and audio formats & apps used, network configurations, and show how to access your digital media inside or outside the home or office.

Sneak peek at the presentation:

We’ll go through this virtual Digital Home and explain it one room at a time, explain which equipment is needed, best practices for setting it up, and leave plenty of time for Q&A.

Registration:
Registration is NOT required for this event.

Title: The Windows 7 Power Users Guide
Author: Mike Halsey
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2009 Mike Halsey 
Pages: 174
File size: PDF 23.3 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF

Description:
The Windows 7 Power Users Guide, by Microsoft MVP Mike Halsey, shows you to how to get the very best out of Windows 7. It’s suitable for users of every ability, from complete novices to tech pros, and includes step-by-step guides, illustrations and diagrams on every page and quick tips throughout.

Title: Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime
Authors: Katherine Murray
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2011 Katherine Murray 
ISBN: 978-0-7356-56949 
Pages: 337
File size: PDF 21.0 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF

Description:
This book shows you how you can use cloud computing—and ­specifically, ­Office 365—to get more done, collaborate more easily, and work more ­flexibly than you ever have before. From the necessary how-tos about ­creating and administering your Office 365 account and working with the various Office 365 programs to sharing files with your team, creating a team site, using Office Web Apps, and holding online meetings, you’ll discover how easy it is to work online and off, accessing and sharing your files whenever you need to.

Eight More eBooks on Microsoft Office 2010

eBook Titles:

• Best Practices for Outlook 2010
• Creating Everyday Documents That Stand Out From The Crowd
• Basic Tasks in Word 2010
• Basic Tasks in Excel 2010
• Basic Tasks in Outlook 2010
• Basic Tasks in OneNote 2010
• Basic Tasks in Visio 2010

These Office 2010 eBooks are available in both .EPUB (Nook, Sony Reader, etc.) and .MOBI (Kindle) formats.

Download URL: Click here for .EPUB or .MOBI

Microsoft TechNet Event
Primary Target Audience: IT Generalist / Implementer / Manager
Start: Thu 11/18/2010 8:30 AM Eastern
End: Thu 11/18/2010 12:30 PM Eastern

Presenter: Matt Hester (Microsoft TechNet)
Venue: Kentucky Intl. Convention Center
Address: 2210 Fourth Street, Louisville, KY 40202
Registration: Free

Agenda:
Session 1 – Can We Bust This Myth? "It’s impossible to upgrade a Windows XP computer to Windows 7"
Session 2 – Free Quick and Dirty Deployment Tools
Session 3 – Automate your Windows 7 deployment using the MDT 2010

Registration URL: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032461965&Culture=en-US

Whitepaper Title: VHD Getting Started Guide
File name: VHD Getting Started Guide.docx
Data Published: May 27, 2010
Language: English
File size: 1.13 MB
Pages: 82
Download URL: Click here

Description:
This guide provides an introduction to virtual hard disks (VHDs) in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It includes an overview of technologies that you use to configure VHDs, as well as procedures to help guide you through deploying VHDs.

Contents:

• Virtual Hard Disks in Windows Server 2008 R2 & Windows 7
• What’s New in Virtual Hard Disks
• Getting Started with Virtual Hard Disks
• Introduction to Virtual Hard Disks
• How to Perform Common Tasks
• Appendix: Tools, Scripts and APIs
• FAQ: Virtual Hard Disks in Windows 7
• Power Management for Network Devices in Windows 7
• What’s New in Power Management for Network Devices

Source: Keith Combs’ Blog

The new book “Windows Home Server Unleashed (2nd Edition)” by author Paul McFedries is in stores now. This is the third book I’ve worked on for SAMS Publishing, this time as a Technical Editor instead of a co-author. 

The “Unleashed” series of books strives to provide unparalleled technical depth and accuracy, and this book is no exception. The second edition has been updated to include information about Power Pack 3, Windows 7, and other improvements. Paul is an author of over 60 books and has an excellent knowledge of networking, Office, Windows, Macs and the web. He’s even got a book on the iPad!

Title: Windows Home Server Unleashed (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams Publishing; 2 edition
Published: April 15, 2010
ISBN-10: 0672331063
Paperback: 792 pages
Language: English
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Buy.com | InformIT / Sams

If you’ve never installed WHS before, or even if you’ve been using it for quite a while, this book has something for everyone; from beginning setup instructions to advanced topics like connecting Linux, Macs, wireless photo frames, setting up SharePoint, and even scripting. I had an absolute blast editing it, and at one point I had 12 machines running at the same time testing out different scenarios and configurations. I really hope you enjoy this book!

I really hate carrying around physical CDs/DVDs for programs I use a lot. Normally I just convert all my discs into ISOs with the free ImgBurn program (which totally rocks) and then throw the ISOs onto my Toshiba 320 GB portable USB drive. Then when I’m on-site if I need a CD, I just mount the ISO with Virtual CloneDrive (also free, and also rocks) and launch the program.

That said, sometimes you still need a bootable CD/DVD. For instance, when you want to image a workstation or server with StorageCraft ShadowProtect and backup the entire machine to an external USB drive.  Unfortunately, that means carrying the disc with you in your tech toolkit, or carrying the ISO and burning a disc.

Here’s a better idea – Use one of those old 1 GB USB flash drives gathering dust in your drawer, and turn it into a bootable USB drive.

Now, before you say “not BartPE and the HP Boot Flash Utility again”, we’re not using those old school tools. This is as modern as modern gets – using a Windows 7 64-bit ultimate machine and no physical CDs.

Note: These instructions are assuming you have already purchased a licensed copy of ShadowProtect from StorageCraft, and are simply looking to turn a boot CD into a boot USB flash drive.

What You’ll Need

• ISO image of ShadowProtect or a ShadowProtect boot CD (471 MB)
• 1 GB or larger USB flash drive
• PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip (100KB)
• Windows 7 workstation (I used a 64-bit Ultimate box, but YMMV)

Step-by-Step Instructions to Create the Bootable USB Drive

1. Extract the downloaded PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip file into a folder on your desktop. You will see 3 files in there, but you only need  PeToUSB.exe
   
2. Insert the physical ShadowProtect CD into your drive, or if you’re using an ISO, mount the ISO using Virtual CloneDrive (or some other ISO program).
   
3. Insert your USB flash drive.
    
4. Right-click the PeToUSB program, and choose RunAs Administrator.
   
5. Select your flash drive from the pull-down menu.
   
6. Check Enable Disk Format and check Quick Format boxes.
    
7. Browse to the ShadowProtect CD location.
   
8. Click the Enable File Copy checkbox.
    

   Your settings should look similar to this:
   

9. Click Start. On the Continue screen click Yes.
   
10. On the Are You Sure You Want To Continue screen, confirm that the correct flash drive is about to be formatted, and click Yes.
    
11. The drive will be automatically formatted and the files will start copying.
    
12. When the format and copy are complete click OK.
     
13. Safely Remove the drive, you’re done!

Now you can boot a workstation off the USB, plug in a USB drive large enough to hold the backup images, and create a backup of that target machine. Or, for some P2V action, you can use the free VMware Player (89.9 MB) to spin up that SPF as a virtual machine.

Nowadays you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone who’s talking about virtualization. I’m guessing that your technicians are up-to-speed with virtualization, but are your sales folks?

Microsoft has a great series of webcasts for Microsoft Partners to give them the basics of virtualization with the following 4-part (6 segment) series with Ronald Grattopp and Bryan Von Axelson:

“The Ultimate Sales Guide to Microsoft Virtualization”

• Part 1 – The Basics (38 minutes)
• Part 2a – Server Virtualization Solutions (52 minutes)
• Part 2b – Desktop Virtualization Solutions (37 minutes)
• Part 2c – Microsoft Virtualization Management Solutions (29 minutes)
• Part 3 – Understand Microsoft Virtualization Licensing (35 minutes)
• Part 4 – Microsoft Virtualization and the Competition (32 minutes)

Note: You must have a Microsoft Partner ID linked with your Windows Live ID and sign in to view these webcasts.

Microsoft Desktop Virtualization Sweepstakes

In addition to some great (and free) information, Microsoft is providing an incentive for Microsoft Partners to attend these trainings. They are giving away:

• Two (2) HP EX90 MediaSmart Servers
• Eight (8) Sony Touch Readers

Webcasts in bold above are eligible for the Desktop Virtualization Sweepstakes. Sweepstakes ends April 12, 2010. See official website for details.

You can also stop by the Microsoft Virtualization portal:
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization