Windows Server

It seems that the weird and strange issues always find their way into my system builds. Recently, a Windows Server build was recognizing my SSD drive as a standard hard disk drive. For some, this may not be an issue as the read/write performance is still there. However, for those that dig a little deeper, Windows will try to use the standard "Optimize" for the drive on a regular basis, something you should not do to an SSD.

There are a lot of things Windows Server does well. However, coming off of the NAS environment, there are a lot of things that it doesn't. One of these is a simple method for web access to various files and folders, along with the ability to share them via user login or simple url. Until recently, there had been only one real player in this space, OwnCloud. I had fiddled with the product for some time, but features were slow to show and it just didn't work the way I had been hoping it would.

Having my latest server build running on the Windows Server platform, there are a number of things that I have found to become a bit more difficult than I am used to. Not only have I switched to Windows as the platform, I am using Storage Spaces. This in itself is a departure from my comfort zone and has presented some scenarios that I wasn't quite prepared for. Like trying to remove a disk that Windows, for some reason, wants to keep.

While conducting the overview of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials, I ran into a few errors while configuring the "Set up Client Restore Service". It seems that no matter what I did, I couldn't get the service to start. Then, a little digging, a quick copy & paste; all was resolved.

If you have ever removed a hard drive from a system and installed it in another, you may have run into a situation before where you are unable to delete some of the partitions on the drive. This usually happens when you remove the hard drive from a system made by Dell, Acer, Samsung, etc. The partitions you are unable to remove are designated for system restore and the like. Well, getting rid of those partitions is easier than you think. All you need is a command line and a cup of coffee.

Clever utilities are what really get my mouse twitching.  In the age of the connected home, more of these devices are disconnected from one another.  I have a keyboard and mouse for eight PC’s in my home, 3 of which are HTPCs.  The HTCPs in my home all are capable of using a Logitech Harmony Remote control and all are …

I have a lot of data.   So much so, that there are servers and multiple NAS on my network.  Not all people are like me, but if you are and you have a lot of important data, then backing it up may have become an issue.  Until recently, I had been using a bunch of external disks to do my …

In my career, yes there is a life outside of C.O.D., I am faced with many obstacles; usually regarding printing or scanning.  Recently, it was requested by a customer that printer output be preceded by a separator page.  Luckily, this is not restricted by devices (in most cases) and is rather easy to setup.  This is very helpful in environments …

I have had an annoying problem that I just realized I had.  Sometimes, when I am quick clicking through websites or testing on this one, I tend to hit some buttons rather quickly.  Sometimes, they close my windows and other times have no effect.  Well, one time, I accidentally zoomed in on this site with Firefox and never realized that …

I have been hearing rumblings lately that Microsoft’s Security Essentials is now available through Windows Update.  The availability of an antivirus application through this type of service means that users will no longer have to scour the web for a link to install it.  So what gives?