1. Technically, I have been promoted at my office to basically performing IT work on a full-time basis. In the past, my time has been split [...]]]> I have been telling myself that I needed to do an update posting here concerning recent changes in my life and how it relates to Networking and Blogging:

1. Technically, I have been promoted at my office to basically performing IT work on a full-time basis. In the past, my time has been split into being the Network Manager/Troubleshooter/All-Other-Things-IT-Related and my time as a Civil Engineer. In the past, this has been about a 33%/67% split in favor of engineering. As of now, it has been swapped to around 80%/20%. This changes was necessitated by the fact that our company has grown to over 75 people and I wasn’t able to do everything that everybody wanted within the time constraints given above. I’m still not sure how this is going to work, but I will start to have a bit more time to do more support work. Yay…

2. I have been resetting up my test-bed network at home to a combination of Vista and W2K3 64-bit servers for testing and configuration. And yes, that means that I have migrated my production Tablet (a Toshiba R25 tablet PC) to Vista Ultimate Edition.

Aside: Toshiba has made most of their Vista drivers available at http://pcsupport.toshiba.com. These drivers are final, even though they remain a bit buggy. The reason why I say they are final – the same drivers are listed on the production support site for the new Toshiba R400 Tablet PC which will come native with Windows Vista.

3. I’m working on a documentation site dedicated to Vista Networking issues. I particularly want to focus on some of the new uber-cool technologies like PNRP and IPV6. Well, maybe my definition of uber-cool may differ from yours. However, these two technologies are one of the best kept secrets in Vista that will make home and small-business users lives much easier. Plus, it addresses many of the complaints about the “functionability” of Remote Desktop/Remote Assistance in Windows XP.

4. I am also taking part in a new “Interoperability” Community that Microsoft has recently unveiled. I am going to address some common interoperability problems between Windows Networking and other systems (i.e., Linux, Mac OSX, BSD, etc). I am going to tackle this from a more small- to mid-sized business perspective.

5. This is a bit OT to this blog, but I have been working on a few projects related to the use of adapting 802.11g and 802.11a devices under FCC Part 97 (Amateur Radio) rules for the setup of a local Emergency Communication Network. See here for a bit more background and here for more information about the “Hinternet”.

That’s it for now. I am about to do a posting on a great OSS firewall that I am currently using at work for a very low cost dual-WAN situation.

Sadly, this year does not include me.  I wholeheartedly agree with the decision and have been expecting it.  I am trying to rectify it and hopefully will rejoin the ranks sometime within [...]]]> First, since this is the first day of October – this is the time for the annual MVP awards (and re-awards).  Congratulations to all.

Sadly, this year does not include me.  I wholeheartedly agree with the decision and have been expecting it.  I am trying to rectify it and hopefully will rejoin the ranks sometime within the next year.  However, I have enjoyed the experience for the past 5 years in my many different MVP roles (first as a Windows XP MVP, then as a Smart Display MVP, and finally in my different roles as a Windows Networking MVP).  I have met many people – blue/orange badgers and other fellow MVPs – many of whom I read about widely.  But most importantly, I have learned much.

The good news is that I am about to restore some sanity in my life and will get back here and to the newsgroups and discussion forums.  It has been way too long and way too stressful for too long.  This week, I am taking a break from things for a quick jaunt up to Redmond for four days.  Afterwards, I intend to re-energize myself and get back to what I like doing.  Then watch for the flurry of activity

I have a few more updates that I will post today, but I must take some time and close up some loose ends before my trip.

Thanks for reading.

Jeffrey…

Add this to the list of problems with the WGA Notifications:

I have installed a copy of Windows XP SP2 (Retail version) on one of my desktops at home. Since this is my test machine, I usually do not activate it since I will be wiping it out within a [...]]]> Off-topic discussion below, but somewhat relevant…

Add this to the list of problems with the WGA Notifications:

I have installed a copy of Windows XP SP2 (Retail version) on one of my desktops at home. Since this is my test machine, I usually do not activate it since I will be wiping it out within a month or so and I don’t like having to do the telephone-based activations that would result if I activate it once a month.

Well, Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications got installed during the Automatic Updates – which was OK. For the next three weeks, the Notification option popped up saying that I needed to activate to recieve product support, etc. It was a little annoying, but I could live with it. Now, after four weeks, it has decided that my copy is non-genuine since it hasn’t been activated. Basically WGA is acting like my copy is counterfeit. I get the wait dialog box after login and more frequent popups in Windows…

Why set this arbritrary deadline for WGA on non-activated system? The system will stop working after 60 days of non-activation. Or should I start using trial copies of Windows XP for my test environments?

– see comments for exact screen verbiage –

Tags: WGA, Rant

I have been active again in the newsgroups after a LONG absence (if you think the frequency of my blog postings have been pathetic – it is nothing like my absence from the newsgroups since September last year). I should be [...]]]> OK, I am done with this hiatus due to my extreme workload at work…

I have been active again in the newsgroups after a LONG absence (if you think the frequency of my blog postings have been pathetic – it is nothing like my absence from the newsgroups since September last year). I should be posting here more (especially after the flurry of postings today and tomorrow).

More about the background of this will be posted on my personal blog (link later)…

So, to contact me, you can use any of the following (in no particular order):

jrandow-at-gmail.com (The new Google IM/Jabber… Replace -at- with @) jrandow-at-mvps.org (MSN Messenger – replace -at- with @) JeffreyCentex (AIM) JeffreyCentex [...]]]> OK, now that Google has started implementing it’s instant messaging service, it is high time that I start updating and/or abandoning old messaging addresses…

So, to contact me, you can use any of the following (in no particular order):

jrandow-at-gmail.com (The new Google IM/Jabber… Replace -at- with @)
jrandow-at-mvps.org (MSN Messenger – replace -at- with @)
JeffreyCentex (AIM)
JeffreyCentex (YIM)
-and-
JeffreyCentex (Skype)

Now that I am using a tablet, it is much easier doing voice type chats…

More networking content tonight when I get home from work..

I kinda have disappeared from the face of the planet as far as newsgroup & google group responses, blog postings, and other tech trivias.� Things have been REAL hectic at work (and actually are getting worse rather than better) [...]]]> I guess it is time for me to update y’all with the changes in my life…

I kinda have disappeared from the face of the planet as far as newsgroup & google group responses, blog postings, and other tech trivias.� Things have been REAL hectic at work (and actually are getting worse rather than better) and I have had to devote more time to work for the past two months.� This has cut away from my after-hours support work (+ blog postings).� I have vowed to stop this and to stop letting these work priorities (and so-called emergencies that are caused by the lack of planning of others) to interfere with my personal life.� Thus, I am back…�

So starting tomorrow, I will be a bit more active than I have been in the past.� So look forward to seeing me back in the newsgroups…�