I noticed tonight that my domain controller’s clock had creeped ahead by about 15 minutes.  Inconsistent time, especially time that differs between servers, clients, and a domain controller can throw applications like Exchange, who depend upon Active Directory for information, for a loop. 

In Windows 2008 R2 (and Windows 7), the /setsntp and /querysntp switches of NET TIME are deprecated.  W32TM.exe provides similar functionality that NET TIME provided when it came to configuring domain controllers as a primary time source.

W32TM is not terribly intuitive, but I did get enough information to get my Windows 2008 R2 domain controller updated and again updating the time of the resources in my domain.

If you are wondering how to set this up – here are a few steps to help you out.

1. Use W32TM to configure the peer list and then update the configuration.  In this case, I am using a “set” of public servers to get my time information.  From a command prompt, type (on a single line):

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:”server 0.north-america.pool.ntp.org”,0×8 /syncfromflags:MANUAL /reliable:yes /update

2. I’m not entirely sure that this is required, but we’ll restart the Windows Time Service for good measure.  From a command prompt, type:

net stop w32time

then restart the service:

net start w32time

3. Then we’ll initiate the time resynchronization and rediscovery of the peer list time sources that we specified in Step #1.  From a command prompt, type:

w32tm /resync /rediscover

There.  You should be all set.  If you want to update the time on a client (or a server) ahead of the regular interval at which is checks with a domain controller for the correct time, you can go to a command prompt and type:

net time /domain<domain name> /set /yes 

This will force an update of the time on the current system from your local domain.

It’s the best time of the year.  Not only do some local radio stations switch over to Christmas music 24 hours a day, but Sirius / XM Radio dedicates five channels of its entire lineup to the holidays.

This year, the chestnutty goodness starts Monday, November 16.  Making the return are:

Holly (Sirius 3 / XM 23): Contemporary favorites with a mix of traditional Christmas music.  Playing November 16 – December 31.

Holiday Traditions (Sirius 4 / XM 4): My favorite.  Traditional Christmas music from the 40s-60s.  Playing November 16 – December 31.

Holiday Pops (Sirius 79 / XM 77): Classical style with choirs, Pavarotti, and more.  Playing December 7 – December 31.

Country Christmas (Sirius 62 / XM 10): Country style from Country starts past and present.  Kenny, Dolly, and the whole gang.  Playing December 7 – December 25.

Radio Hanukkah (Sirius 76 / XM 28): Hanukkah music and special segments celebrating Jewish culture.  Playing December 7 – December 19.

For the Twin Cities locals:

KOOL108 (107.9 FM) goes wall-to-wall Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving and running through December 25.

WLTE (102.9 FM) also goes Christmas music wall-to-wall.  They dub themselves “The Christmas Superstation”.  They tend to surprise their listeners by not publishing a date, but I have seen it happen anywhere from November 15th to the day before Thanksgiving.

Enjoy!

UPDATE (11/16/09)
WLTE 102.9 FM in the Twin Cities switched over to Christmas music (24/7) at midnight.

This week I was in Las Vegas for the Exchange Connections Conference.  Traveling usually isn’t too much of a hindrance anymore of the availability of a wireless Internet connection just about everywhere you go.  The only downfall is that most public places, particularly hotels, tend to provide Internet access but block non-HTTP traffic in a lot of cases.  For VPN users, this can be a problem and prevent you from accessing the resources that would normal require you to be connected directly to your corporate network.

With Windows 2008, the Routing and Remote Access service can now be used as a means for providing access via VPN to corporate resources.  Since SSL is a common protocol and just as common as it’s HTTP counterpart, it is usually accessible.

I spent a couple of hours tonight working on creating a SSL VPN solution for my network.  I did get it up and running and wanted to provide some of the resources that helped make this process a lot easier. 

The IT Consulting Blog had a good amount of information that got me through some of the pitfalls.

This IT Technology Blog helped a lot when it came to troubleshooting.

I was able to get connected and everything is working great – but – one thing I did have problems with was when the SSTP Client in Windows 7 connects to the VPN Server, it has to make contact with the Certificate Revocation List to check and make sure that the certificate used for the VPN communication hasn’t been revoked.  I am using ISA which may or may not add a layer of complexity, but I did have to disable the CRL check.  At first, I thought the registry edit that disabled that was made on the VPN server, but in fact, it is actually made on the client machine.  You probably don’t want to disable CRL in a production environment – so just keep that in mind.

Microsoft has a section in this article that talks about the registry key required to disable or enable the CRL check.

Finally, Tom Shinder, one of the great ISA experts out there wrote a series on implementing a Windows 2008 VPN behind ISA infrastructure.  This walks you through the entire process from start to finish.  You can find that three part series here.

I have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro that is probably close to 10 years old and really until last night was starting to show it’s age.  Dust, dirt, and grime (and probably several strains of H1N1) had gathered on the majority of the keys and the wrist rest.  Things were so grimy that no level of computer cleaner would take it off; no matter how hard I would scrub.

I had read online all the different options for cleaning keyboards including popping all the keys off (take a picture of it before you start) and wash them in the silverware basket, to using harsh straight alcohol and a toothbrush.  The other method I had seen quite a bit was throwing it in the dishwasher.  A little scary, but I figured it was worth a try.

I put the keyboard in the top rack.  It seems like the temperature and proximity of the heat source would cause problems if I placed on the bottom rack.  I wasn’t willing to have to scrape a heap of plastic out of the bottom of the dishwasher, or worst case, have to buy a new dishwasher.  Also, the extreme heat could cause the case of the keyboard to warp.

Here are a couple of pointers when it comes to using your dishwasher for cleaning your keyboard:

1. If you really, really love your keyboard and don’t want to risk wrecking it – then don’t wash it in the dishwasher.  There is a chance that it may not work when it is done.

2. Wash alone.

3. Use only about 1 tbsp of dishwasher detergent.  Less is more in this case.  For reference, I used Cascade Complete powder detergent.

4. After washing, shake the keyboard out and dry as thoroughly as possible with a towel.  Then place it keys down on a towel to finish drying for a couple of days.  Don’t plug it in till it has completely dried.  If you lack patience, refer to Pointer #1.

5. I didn’t do this, but others have also recommended to drill a couple of small drain holes.

I was really impressed with the outcome.  I am still waiting for it to completely dry, but the washing definitely makes it look like a new keyboard and given me a new germ-free surface for typing.  I wish I would’ve taken a picture of the grossness before I started.

Update (11/12/2009)

I waited about four days and the keyboard was completely dried out.  I plugged it in and everything worked flawlessly.

There is no option in the preferences to connection to the console session of Windows machine from Remote Desktop Connection for Mac. So how do you do it?

It’s pretty simple. Just add ‘/console’ after the name of the server that you specify to connect to.

One of the challenges has always been trying to manage bookmarks (or favorites in Internet Explorer) across multiple computers. You may have bookmarks that you use across a couple different computers at home, some that you might want to share at work, and it’s even more challenging if you have both a PC and Macintosh mix.

I have a mix of PCs and Macs. I want to share my “Home” bookmarks across those PCs and Macs, and a separate list of bookmarks for “Work” on my work laptop. Windows Live Favorites worked great for my PCs, but required the Windows Live Toolbar, Internet Explorer, and therefore a PC. It didn’t help take care of my cross-platform needs.

Till Xmarks. Xmarks in the new name of the product previously known as Foxmarks. Foxmarks was a Firefox add-in that would handle the synchronization of bookmarks across computers using the Firefox Web Browser. When Xmarks was born, they expanded support to not only include Firefox, but also Internet Explorer, Safari, Mac, and Linux too.

How it works is an agent is installed on each platform and you provide an account username and password. Your bookmarks are stored on Xmarks servers (traffic can be fully encrypted) but the agent communicates with the server to perform synchronization. When a change is detected on one of the clients, it is synched back to the “cloud” and then the other agents pull the change down.

Xmarks also supports sync profiles. This means that I can have my “Home” and “Work” profiles which allow me to keep my bookmarks separated from each other. I don’t want my home bookmarks at work or vice versa. In addition, my iPhone can access all of my synchronized bookmarks by going to http://my.xmarks.com so I am always in sync no matter what device I use. A mechanism for backup and recovery of your bookmarks is also included and accessible from the Xmarks website.

The product is completely free and as far as I know doesn’t have a limit to the number of computers that are synched as long as it is for personal use.

This is exactly the solution I was looking for. It has worked great and keeps my bookmarks synched and ready to go whenever and wherever I am.

This is pretty cool.  Apple is partnering with educational institutions and using iTunes as a mechanism to get educational content to a user’s mobile device such as an iPod or iPhone. 

“Mobile learning” as it is dubbed, allows students to download content when it is convenient from a school-created website or from the iTunes Store.  If the student is using an iPhone, they can discuss the content via chats, email, and social networks 24×7.

“Today’s students expect constant access to information—in the classroom and beyond. Which is why more and more faculty are using iTunes U to distribute digital lessons to their students. And now, with the 3.0 software update for iPhone and iPod touch, iTunes U is directly accessible over both cellular and Wi-Fi networks through the iTunes Store.”

Educational content is delivered in the form of a podcast.  Podcasts can contain both audio and video which means that a lecture that contains both spoke as well as slideshow content can be integrated into a single download and automatically pushed to a subscribing student via iTunes.

Much if not all of the content from institutions like Yale, Oxford, and Wharton are free, so not only can students take advantage of this resource, but so can adults already in the workforce looking for a refresher from categories like Mathematics to Social Science, Humanities and beyond!

You can check out iTunes U here.  (iTunes is required)

I’m working on a project right now and have noticed that XAML seems to be incorrectly rendered in the Visual Studio designer, versus it properly being shown in the Expression Blend 3. 

It seems that sizes and alignments are completely off in Visual Studio 2008 where everything appears correct, renders properly, and executes normally when created in Expression Blend 3.

Here’s an example of XAML as rendered in Visual Studio 2008:

and in Expression Blend 3:

Ignore the black background on the Expression screenshot, but notice that the buttons and all aspects are alligned properly, where the screenshot from Visual Studio 2008 is not.

Here is the XAML source:

<Window x:Class="QuickTwit.AccountWindow"

    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"

    Title="Accounts" mc:Ignorable="d" Height="300" Width="300" ResizeMode="NoResize" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">

    <Grid>

        <ListBox Margin="12,12,0,124" Name="listAccounts" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="188" SelectionChanged="listAccounts_SelectionChanged" />

        <Button Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,0,12,7" Name="buttonOK" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Width="75" Click="buttonOK_Click">OK</Button>

        <Button Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,20,12,0" Name="buttonDeleteAccount" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="buttonDeleteAccount_Click" IsEnabled="False">Delete</Button>

        <Rectangle Stroke="#FFC9C9C9" Margin="13,0,12,41" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Height="75" RadiusX="10" RadiusY="10" Opacity="0.5">

            <Rectangle.Effect>

                <DropShadowEffect BlurRadius="1" ShadowDepth="1" Opacity="0.5"/>

            </Rectangle.Effect>

        </Rectangle>

        <TextBox Height="23" Margin="0,0,27,79" Name="textUsername" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Width="160" />

        <Label Height="28" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="28,168,0,0" Name="label1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="69">Username:</Label>

        <Button x:Name="buttonAuthorize" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Content="Authorize" Margin="0,0,27,49.04" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Width="75" Click="buttonAuthorize_Click" />

    </Grid>

</Window>

If you have seen this happen or know how to fix it, let me know.

The concept is simple.  You need to update your status or send a quick tweet.  You find an interesting link or article you want to post.  No time to catch up on what is going on in the Twitterverse or the 300 tweets you are behind on.  Just need to post an update.  That’s TweetNow!

TweetNow is a simple WPF application designed to allow for posting quick updates to a Twitter account.  It is currently in development and is actively being tested by our staff of testers.  Well, not really staff.  Just me.  And a few friends.

Initial Release Features

- Secure authentication via oAuth
- Multiple account support
- Automatic URL shortening

Future Release Features

- Minimize to system tray
- Hotkey activation
- Post photos to TwitPic

Seems like it should work without too much pain, but the fact of the matter is each time you increment the version on your application a new version folder will be created that is by default empty and the user.config file is empty which means the user config is lost and the user has to reconfigure the specific settings in the app.  Painful, and a bad user experience no less.

This is really simple to take care of by adding an additional setting in your application settings and modifying code in the settings.cs file.

Jim Scott covers the process here.  Happy Coding!