ZTE MF627 and Windows 7

Just a quick one!

I recently acquired a 3 Mobile broadband dongle

The specific model of the dongle is ZTE MF627

When i ran the installer program on my laptop (which is running Windows 7 Professional) everything seemed to install ok but it refused to pick up the modem

I tried it on my netbook which is also running Windows 7 and had exactly the same problem

I then tested it on XP SP3 and Vista SP2 systems and they worked fine

Having decided it must be something to do with Windows 7 I tried running the connection program as administrator (as helpfully suggested by Vijay via Twitter) but this didn’t seem to make any difference for me either

So I went back to the beginning, removed the software and when i re-installed and I changed the compatibility settings to run as XP SP3 and to run as administrator (which it would have done anyway, since it was installing a program)

I did try Vista SP2 initially but this didn’t want to run at all

On my device the installer program is called “VersionControl.exe”

It then re-installed and it worked!

Now that it is installed the connection program doesn’t appear to need any compatibility settings and I’m able to connect ok

I had about three hours sleep last night though so your milage may vary

Minor Update:
When you connect to the Internet the software will automatically update.
Since the software is an auto-updater there is no way to force compatibility settings. I did an update and promptly couldn’t connect again

Uninstalled and followed my original method and i reconnected ok

Spreading the word

Slightly off topic but I haven’t posted in a while so why not

I’ve become quite familiar with the inner workings of WordPress recently. This blog runs on WordPress but I’ve also done a couple of installations for my wife (who is amazing by the way!)

Photo Blog (www.bryonyparkes.co.uk)

This is pretty self explanatory. Bryony is a keen amateur photographer so she’s been posting photos and writing about the things she’s been learning as she hones her technique

I think she’s pretty good but obviously I’m biased

The Deaf One (www.thedeafone.co.uk)

I’ve mentioned it a few times on here but Bryony is profoundly deaf. She has a type of hearing loss that generally gets worse as the years go by. She has started to look into a Cochlear Implant (the link explains what they are). It’s something that various different doctors have suggested down the years but until recently decided it wasn’t for her

The blog is a journal that talks about the whole process and a bit of an outlet for all the thoughts and feelings that go with it as such it’s a massively life changing procedure

Hopefully it will also give friends and family an insight into process and also what it’s actually like to have no hearing

I just wanted to share so that if you or anyone you know may be interested go take a look!

Principal "username" is not able to access the database "db" under the current security context.

Just to remind me because I always forget about it

I was trying to do some maintenance on the SQL database that I use for one of my sites.

I used SQL Management Studio to connect ok but when I tried to expand the database container I got this error (with username and dbname being specific to your site)

The server principal "username" is not able to access the database "dbname" under the current security context.
.Net SqlClient Data Provider in SQL Server Management Studio.

It’s a shared hosting plan so obviously the security is pretty tight but I couldn’t even view my own database

Fortunately the answer is simple (I found the answer on lots of sites but this the first one i found –thanks!)

Reason:
This is because the MS SQL Server is attempting to execute a T-SQL query to retrieve a list of databases along with additional information about those databases. One of those pieces of information is "Collation", which you will not have permission to action for all databases as you’re in a shared hosting environment and you only have access to your database alone.

Solution:
Step 1: In Object Explorer, click Databases
Step 2: Display Object Explorer Details (F7) or View > Object Explorer Details
Step 3: Right click the column headers and de-select "Collation"
Step 4: Refresh Databases

Easy enough – once I’d stopped the collation field from displaying all was well

Road to Gold!

Slightly off topic but it’s my blog

Even though the London Olympics wont be here until 2012 did you know British athletes are competing in an Olympic event at the moment? Even better they actually stand a chance of bringing some gold medals home!

Athletes from 60+ countries from around the world are currently in Taipei participating in the 21st summer Deaflympics with the British team being managed by UK Deaf Sport (who are also on twitter as @deafsport and are giving updates on the games)

The British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust are covering the progress of the British team

The site has all the results as well as pictures and video (fully subtitled of course)

We have friends who are competing so hoping they bring back the gold!

There is also a series of short videos following the experiences of some of the participants

Our friend Beth who throws the hammer features in programme one (8 minutes in)

It’s a shame the event isn’t getting a little bit more publicity. That said the England Women’s Football team reached the finals of the European Championships and you wouldn’t really know unless you were looking for it!

Fingers crossed our team do well

Small Business Server 2008 – Installation, Migration and Configuration

A book review!

Small Business Server 2008 – Installation, Migration, and Configuration by David Overton

While there are some great books for anyone working in the SBS space I’m of the opinion there aren’t enough written in the UK so it was with great anticipation I awaited the release of this book once I’d heard UKSBSGuy, David Overton was penning this title

I’m pleased to say the book doesn’t disappoint

The title fully covers exactly what the book is all about

Installation

Getting SBS 2008 up and running as quickly and smoothly as possible on a new system. Even though this is a pretty straight forward situation it fully described and backed up with pictures

Migration

Making the move from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008. The book follows the official Microsoft steps for migration and builds on top of that with lots of pointers and makes you aware of any “gotchas” along the way

Configuration

Once SBS 2008 is installed the book then goes through all the steps you need to go from installed to operating in a production environment. This is where you’ll learn about areas such as installation of a 3rd party SSL certificate, working with Office Live and configuring backups

The book has three other additional areas (it would have been a really long title!)

Managing User and Computers

While it may sound a pretty trivial area a chapter is dedicated to creating users and groups and adding computers and ensuring they are kept up-to-date

Working with SBS Services as a user

This is a great chapter. When a new server goes in to a business more often than not one of the first questions you’ll get it is

“What does it do?”

As a techie it’s then very easy to reel off a long list of things the system can do. This chapter takes that list and steps through it in a simple and easy to understand fashion covering three main areas

E-mail, Calendar and Contacts – this demonstrates Exchange functionality

Managing Files – covering SharePoint/Companyweb use, search and file recovery (via Shadow Copies)

Remote Access – everything you need to know about Remote Web Workplace, OWA, Mobile phones and connecting via VPN

Introduction to SBS 2008 Management

A full introduction into looking after SBS 2008 once it is running as expected

Areas covered include

Using the admin tools, configuring daily reports, security, backups, storage and event logs

The last part of this chapter looks at common problems and how to resolve them (e.g checking DNS forwarders, tweaking spam settings and investigating poor performance)

Conclusion

The book comes in at 380 pages but there are a LOT of screenshots.

Where needed David has added pictures of every step needed to complete a task which can be a massive help when you are doing something you haven’t seen before.

The language used is clear and concise and when a new piece of technical language is used an explanation is provided

The book is pitched in such a way that a tech savvy business owner who wanted to manage their own server will be able to learn from this book but not so simple that people with previous experience wont feel they like being taught old tricks

The book also breaks out to David’s website when something goes beyond the scope of the book and provides background information and other useful resources (there some very good scripts around file share migration)

From the perspective of my day job the book is worth buying just for the migration section alone. It’s in depth and covers every area without straying from the Microsoft official migration strategy. 

Not long after the launch of the book David came to an AMITPRO event where we ran through a live migration. David had never seen either of the servers provided but following the steps in the book a successful migration was completed with a minimum of fuss (Vijay blogged about it at the time here)

Having spoken to David at the event I know he put a lot of work into it and it certainly shows

The book is available in either print or e-book formats directly from the Packt website (though it is available in lots of other places too)

If you work with SBS 2008 this is definitely worth picking up

Susan Bradley says it’s great too so what other recommendation do you need

Disclaimer: A review copy of the book was kindly provided by Packt Publishing – I’ve donated the money I would have spent on the book to Cancer Research UK

Xbox Live Arcade Games – Faith Somewhat Restored

In principle I think Xbox Live Arcade Games are a great idea

Games that you can download quickly and easily and get playing with the minimum of fuss. Decent demos so you can try before you buy at a “reasonable” price point

The thing is recently I’ve found some of them to be a bit….crap

Maybe crap is a bit of a strong word but the point is I haven’t really gotten all that excited an upcoming XBLA game in the same way I would about a regular game

On the few occasions that I did it didn’t always live up to the expectations I’d had

A couple of examples

Sensible Word of Soccer, Speedball 2, Worms

There is a slight pattern with these examples. They are all “classics”. Games I’ve played to death in my youth on varying other formats

When I found out they were coming to my XBox i eagerly downloaded them and fired up the demo. I had 10 minutes of fun but wasn’t all that eager to hand over my cash

Don’t get me wrong they are still amazing games and even with the updated graphics they still stand up in their own right but I’d seen it all before

It was the same when i downloaded Prince of Persia. I actually paid for this one. I enjoyed it for a couple of days. Marvelled over how pretty it looked and I haven’t been back to it since.

Then there were some that I refused to even download the demo for. Frogger being a prime example – do i really want to spend 800 points on that? A classic game in it’s time but it’s still just trying to get a frog across the road – i can play flash based versions online for free. Taking an old game and jazzing the graphics up doesn’t always vastly improve the game. A lot of the classics relied on great game play because they couldn’t do anything about the graphics

While I understand my argument above is a little weak (as you’ll see in a second!) I’ve I had stopped looking at new arcade games whereas in the past I used to check out every new game that became available

However, my faith has been restored a little lately by three games

Trials HD

Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

Shadow Complex

While none of these three games are exactly original (especially Monkey Island!) they all have that “just 5 more minutes” factor. I was playing Trails HD till 1am on the day I downloaded it

I’ve handed over my cash for Trials and Monkey Island and Shadow Complex will follow in the next couple of days (my birthday is coming up and I always get ordered to not buy anything – fingers crossed for some Microsoft Points!)

Hopefully games like Shadow Complex and Trails will set the bar for forthcoming releases

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to queue up Turtles in Time Re-shelled

Microsoft Partner Network: 2009

I’ve been asked to spread the word about an upcoming event

On Wednesday 7 October, the Microsoft UK team will be inviting partners to the number one UK channel event, Microsoft Partner Network: 2009 at Wembley Stadium.

This free event will give attendees  insights into current Microsoft strategies and the direction the company is taking the business, first-sight of some of the innovative technologies launching this year, and information about how partners can work better together for greater success.

The event is aimed at Partner executives and sales leads and set to be the event of the year for Microsoft in the UK.  American and UK Microsoft executives will be on hand to learn:

· Insights from Microsoft executives as they share the Microsoft vision and strategies together with business growth opportunities and product innovation

· A range of Partner-to-Partner online and offline networking opportunities, plus strategic and practical guidance on how to collaborate successfully with other Microsoft Partners

· Market insights and guidance on developing customer opportunities

· Useful resources to help you sell, market and deploy Microsoft technology, particularly when you find yourself in competitive technology situations

· A glimpse into future industry trends and innovation, with exciting demonstrations

· An introduction to the UK award winners from the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009

To register your place at this essential event, click: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/InviteOnly.aspx?EventID=DD-1E-C0-39-22-3C-75-22-2A-77-E7-A8-70-48-B2-67&Culture=en-GB and enter invite code: 22BAF4 or call: 0870 166 6670

Check the Microsoft Partner Network 2009 website for more details about the event over the coming weeks. You can also sign up to our RSS service, or follow us on Twitter.

This has been posted on the UK SBSC Blog with a bit more information so check that out too!

Bletchley Park Funding

I’ve blogged a couple of times about Bletchley Park

It’s no secret in the UK that funding for the site is hard to come by

For some reason it’s not eligible for lottery funding or any of the government funding that goes into museums and galleries so relies on admissions fees and donations(IBM and PGP were some of the big names who recently donated)

So a while back I saw a petition on the governments e-petitions site 

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to save Bletchley Park.”

Details of Petition:

“As has been reported elsewhere, Bletchley Park “have two to three more years of survival”. The Bletchley Park Trust receives no external funding. It has been deemed ineligible for funding by the National Lottery, and turned down by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Please do not allow this crucial piece of both British and World culture to disappear. If ever an example were needed of Britain leading the world, this surely would be it. To allow it to fall into the hands of developers would be simply unconscionable.”

You can see the full petition here: (do a search for “Andy Parkes”   )

I’ll be honest I’d forgotten I’d signed up for this (the deadline was in May) but I got an email today to let me know that the government had responded

 

Thank you for your e-petition.

The Government agrees that the buildings on the Bletchley Park site are of significant historic importance and, although recognising the excellent work being carried out there, at present it has no plans, nor the resources, to extend its sponsorship of museums and galleries beyond the present number.

A number of things are being done to help Bletchley Park.
English Heritage, Milton Keynes Council and English Partnerships have worked jointly with the Trust that runs the Park to prepare a Conservation Management Plan for the site.   English Partnerships has acquired some parts of the site and will ensure that any development of these areas is planned and delivered in a way that reflects the important historical nature of the Park.  English Partnerships has also invested in the core site and contributed funds towards an emergency repair programme on Block D, the largest derelict wartime building in Britain, and is planning to undertake further substantial works to sensitively refurbish this important listed building. 
The Heritage Lottery Fund’s regional development team, along with the DCMS sponsored  Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in the South East have been in regular contact with the Bletchley Park Trust, offering advice and guidance on how best to put together a robust application for funding.   In addition, the Trust has now made a further application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

In November 2008 English Heritage announced the award of a grant of £330,000 to Bletchley Park to cover urgently needed repairs to the roof, and in March of this year it was announced that Milton Keynes Council, in partnership with English Heritage, will provide a further £600,000 for critical restoration work.

I’m not sure if this good or bad??

As far as I can see the government recognises it’s an important part of British heritage but don’t want to specifically put any money into it. Most of the funding has become the responsibility of Milton Keynes council (if it’s a site of national importance shouldn’t we all be paying for it?) and that everyone else will “advise” on how to apply for more funding!

If you interpret this differently to me please do comment below

It really would be a massive shame if the site disappeared. The grounds are amazing and the story of the place is fantastic, especially if you’re a geek –they have a working version of the worlds first programmable computer!!

If your like to spare a few pounds you can donate from the home page www.bletchleypark.org.uk

Can’t set message flags in OWA using IE8

Busy busy weekend to go before the busy week I’m expecting!

This morning I got a call from a remote user to say they couldn’t set message flags when using Outlook Web Access (Exchange 2003)

I logged into an account on the same server and had no problems setting the flag

Then I discovered they were using IE8 so fired up my laptop (I’m still using IE7 on the desktop at work because I keep bumping into compatibility issues) and sure enough I had the same problem and noticed IE was reporting a script error

Luckily I didn’t have to look too hard

Error message when you click the flag icon of a message in the message list view in Outlook Web Access 2003 when you are using Internet Explorer 8: "’firstchild.firstchild’ is null or not an object"

I’ve applied the hotfix in the article and the problem has been solved!

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

In case you have been living under a rock Windows 7 RTM was made available to Technet and MSDN subscribers yesterday

I grabbed my ISO’s this morning and was thinking about how best to approach the upgrade on my netbook.

I then remembered that when Vista was first released there was a tool for letting you know if your system would be up to the task and thankfully there is also a Windows 7 version.

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor (Beta)

Here a grab of the final report,

No major problems.

It’s suggesting I do a backup as I’ll need to do “custom install” (i.e a clean install). Since the netbook is running XP this is to be expected.

It also says that ActiveSync isn’t compatible with Windows 7. This isn’t a surprise either as it was replaced with Windows Mobile Device Manager in Vista.

At the top of the report it says that the system meets all four of the system requirements. Drilling into it you see this,

I haven’t installed any extra RAM in the netbook yet, so was pleased it didn’t kick up too much of fuss about that. I was also glad to see that it’s Aero capable!

Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend?