Who is eligible for the Tech Guarantee?

To be eligible you have to purchase the complete Microsoft Office 2007 or single programs from the productivity suite between now and September 30, 2010. Purchases must be for a new copy of Office 2007 bought from Microsoft or an authorized reseller, and can be standalone purchases or bundled with the purchase of a new PC.

What are the deadlines?

You have to purchase and activate your copy of Office 2007 by September 30, 2010 to be eligible for the upgrade. You also have to request your Office 2010 Tech Guarantee upgrade by October 31, 2010.

What are the Office 2010 Tech Guarantee limitations?

This is a straight up trade. You only get one Office 2010 suite for every corresponding Office 2007 product. However, some versions of Office 2010 have added new programs, such as OneNote, that weren’t a part of the corresponding 2007 suite. you can see complete details below.

Also, you can only get 25 Tech Guarantee upgrades per person. Microsoft has this restriction to encourage users with larger needs to sign up for volume licensing deals.

There are no refunds for Office 2010 software ordered through the Tech Guarantee program.

What do I need?

When it comes time to redeem your Office 2010 upgrade you will need to know the date of purchase for your copy of Office 2007, your Office 2007 25-character Product ID and a Windows Live account (if you don’t have a Windows Live ID you will be prompted to create one). Microsoft also advises you to hold onto your receipt as proof of purchase for Office 2007, since Microsoft may ask for information from your sales bill.

How do I get my Office 2010 Upgrade?

You can download Office 2010 as soon as it’s commercially available in June. Make sure you’ve activated your copy of Office 2007, and then visit Microsoft’s Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Website to download the upgrade. You can also request a DVD for a fee if you prefer not to install your upgrade through the Internet. Microsoft hasn’t said how much it will cost to get the upgrade DVD.

I knew this wasn’t going to be good.   There were over 75,000 customers in that database and he was trying to email them to his hotmail account.  Since i was a bit late to the game, I watched and waited until the email came in to the hotmail account and then went to work.  I already had the VNC window open, so when I saw a lull in activity I deleted the email, emptied the recycle bin and logged out of the hotmail account. 

Next I used one of the great features of K2 Live Connect – Remote Command Shell.  It gives a remote command shell without the user being aware of anything.  I changed all the passwords on the laptop and used the remote shutdown script in the Agent Procedures. 

Of course he tried to log back in, but since I changed thepasswords, his efforts were foiled! (it seems like an appropriate word) 

As of now we still do not have the laptop back, but the email has been deleted and as an added measure, I scheduled an automatic reboot every 7 minutes when the machine is on.

Although large enterprises began outsourcing IT several years ago, many SMBs are still struggling to sustain an IT model that may not make good business sense. Some organizations maintain a substantial IT staff capable of handling workload spikes and emergencies, with the tradeoff of inefficiency when that staff sits mostly idle. Others keep a “lean” IT staff in order save money, leaving the organization vulnerable when issues surface unpredictably.

Either way, IT is not aligned with business goals. Rather than supporting business objectives, IT becomes a distraction from the core business focus.

Outsourcing IT can help solve this dilemma, but there remains a great deal of confusion as to what “outsourcing” really means. A lot of customers equate outsourcing with managed services, but managed services are just one element of the outsourcing concept. Outsourcing encompasses everything an enterprise IT department would do to ensure that mission-critical systems are ready to support business requirements, but at a fraction of the cost.

On-site Tech Support has developed a comprehensive outsourcing solution — designed specifically for SMBs — that combines managed services, on-site support and consulting services in a cost-effective and predictable monthly budget. On-site Tech Support’s all-encompassing solution touches every aspect of the IT infrastructure, from a business perspective as well as a technology perspective. Furthermore, On-site Tech Support serves as a trusted advisor for short- and long-range planning, budgeting and due diligence.

If IT is not a central part of your business model then it makes good business sense to outsource it. Outsourcing to On-site Tech Support replaces unproductive and unpredictable IT overhead with highly efficient and focused services bundled into one low, monthly budget.

CALL US TODAY TO SEE IF PARTNERING WITH ON-SITE TECH SUPPORT CAN SAVE YOU MONEY & INCREASE EFFICIENCY

(866)-220-0719

I assumed this was where my “lost” space had gone so I ran c:RRbackup and it said it wasn’t available. Not to worry, that’s why we have Knoppix and Hirens.

Once booted off the CD I was able to navigate to c:RRbackup and delete it. I booted back into Windows and Viola! c: was showing the correct size and free space.

The problem is a program called “Rescue and Recovery” on IBM Lenovo laptops. You can also start the program from the start menu and delete old restore points but sometimes that doesn’t work. I have also heard that booting into safe mode (F8) will also allow you to find and delete the folder and data but I have not tested this.

If you need more help, please contact me via the contact info on this website.

Script Name: Change DNS
Script Description: Sets primary DNS on Local Area Connection to X.X.X.X
Sets secondary DNS on Local Area Connection to X.X.X.X
Sets WINS on Local Area Connection to X.X.X.X

IF True
THEN
   Execute Shell Command
     Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.242 index=1
     Parameter 2 : 1
         OS Type : 0
   Execute Shell Command
     Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.240 index=2
     Parameter 2 : 1
         OS Type : 0
   Execute Shell Command
     Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set wins “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.242
     Parameter 2 : 1
         OS Type : 0
ELSE

All we needed to do was change the DNS and WINS servers, but if you need to either change them from static to DHCP, or change the static IP (one machine at a time please), here are 2 more scripts.

Script Name: Enable DHCP
Script Description: Enables DHCP on the local area connection

IF True
THEN
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns name = “Local Area Connection” source = dhcp
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set address name = “Local Area Connection” source = dhcp
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set wins name = “Local Area Connection” source = dhcp
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
ELSE

Here is one to set static IP, subnet, gateway, DNS and WINS.

Script Name: Set Static IP
Script Description: Sets static IP, subnet and gateway on the local area connection.  The first address is your IP, the second is the subnet and the third is the gateway.
In this script it sets

IP=192.168.1.23
Subnet=255.255.255.0
Gateway=192.168.1.1
DNS=192.168.1.242
WINS=192.168.1.242

IF True
THEN
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set address “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.1.23 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set dns “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.1.242 primary
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
Execute Shell Command
Parameter 1 : netsh int ip set wins “Local Area Connection” static 192.168.0.240
Parameter 2 : 1
OS Type : 0
ELSE

Hope that helps.  Thanks for reading.

I guessing the reason you are here is because your Outlook won’t display your email messages and you searched for “The item cannot be displayed in the reading pane” and you want to know how to fix it. 

Specs:
IBM Lenovo Laptop
XP Pro
Outlook 2003
Exchange through Cisco VPN 

A new client has just signed a Managed Service contract for their servers, workstations and laptops. We installed our agents on all of their machines on a Friday. We installed our Managed Antivirus and Managed Backup solution (including offsite replication) and rebooted the machines, all but one, the Lenovo Laptop. We scheduled a script to prompt the user to reboot every 5 minutes, unfortunately it took them 3 days to reboot. It was then that the problem started. 

The agent for our Managed Services uses VNC so because of the time and location of the laptop we remoted in.  We could send/receive/reply to email messages however they would not open or display in the reading pane. Email messages would either not display at all or would show “The item cannot be displayed in the reading pane” error. If we double clicked the message to open it, it would be blank or would give an error message.  Our issue wasn’t limited to email or the reading pane. We couldn’t add contacts either. We could edit existing contacts, but not add new. The task list and calendar seemed to be unaffected.  OWA works perfectly fine.  

To fix this issue, we tried EVERYTHING listed below.  

FIX 1 – Clear/Delete the Forms Cache 

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click the Other tab, and then click Advanced Options.
3. Click Custom Forms.
4. Click Manage Forms.
5. Click Clear Cache.
6. Close all open windows, and then restart Outlook.

If the above does not work, try the following.

Deleting the Forms Cache File:
The Frmcache.dat file is the primary file to delete. The Frmcache.dat file serves as an index of the individual forms that have been cached on the computer. Use the following steps to manually delete the
Frmcache.dat file. In addition, these steps delete all of the cached forms on your computer, which are stored in subfolders of the Forms folder. 

1. Quit Outlook.
2. Search the Hard drive (<F3>) to locate the Frmcache.dat file.  (Be sure to check in HIDDEN files on W2K or WXP.)
3. Delete all that are found from the FIND window.
4. Open Outlook.

When you restart Outlook, and use a form, the forms cache
is re-created.
 

FIX 2 – Check Add-Ins 

Start Outlook in safe mode to disable add-ins to see if they are causing the issues. 

• Start>Run – Type “outlook.exe /safe” and hit enter. 

FIX 3 – Corrupted Mailbox 

Since this was Exchange, we were dealing with an OST, not a PST, but the fix is the same.  

1. Open Control Panel and double click the Mail icon. 
2. Click Data Files
3. Rename or delete the ost or pst.
4. Start Outlook.  If you are using Exchange the ost will be recreated.  
5. If you are using POP/PST,  Outlook will not be able to find the pst file so you will need to recreate it yourself.

FIX 4 – Rebuild Profile 

An Outlook profile contains specific information about your email account.  Since the profile is a container holding data, it’s always possible that data got corrupted in one way or another.  Profiles aren’t controlled from within Outlook. Instead, they’re set and changed from within the Mail control panel. 

1. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel (or Start>Control Panel)
2. Double-click the Mail control panel icon
3. Click the Show Profiles button. You’ll see a windowlike below.
   
   

The window is straightforward. Before you delete your old profile, I recommend creating a new one by clicking the Add button and then following the wizard.  

FIX 5+ Other Things we tried 

1. Disabling the Antivirus
2. Uninstalling the Antivirus
3. Updating Office
4. Re-installed Office Service Pack 2
5. Setting I.E. as the default browser
6. Uninstalled and re-installed Outlook
7. Updating the Video drivers

Our Last Hurrah 

You may think #6 above is a strange thing to try, however VNC hooks into the video card so we tried one more thing.  

We created and installed a logmein account and logged in with that.  Since Logmein uses the video card/display adapter differently we uninstalled our agent and rebooted the computer and . . . 

SAME PROBLEM!  

Ok, so it was a stretch but we had to try something.  After about 6 hours of remote work we managed to go onsite with the laptop.  

THE FIX (at least it worked for us, for now)

What we didn’t realise until we got onsite is that the laptop was in a docking station connected to a 24 inch monitor.  For some reason, the docking station/video card/display adapter had intermittent issues with the resolution for the large monitor.  

Since we didn’t need Logmein anymore, we uninstalled it and noticed that when our agent was uninstalled, it left VNC behind.  VNC now implements a video hook driver to get the screen refresh changes (as opposed to polling).   The video hook driver makes a direct link between the video driver frammebuffer memory and VNCserver.  Using the framebuffer directly eliminates the use of the CPU for intensive screen blitting, resulting in a big speed boost and very low CPU load.  In effect you can only have one device (software or hardware based) to control the video output. VNC emulates the desktop and if so desired can take control.  Disabling the video hook allows the video card to have exclusive control.  We already had an unstable video card and the VNC video hook driver it pushed it over the edge.   

I still have no idea why this affected Outlook and displaying email messages.  Even stranger, we couldn’t add contacts.  

Once we uninstalled VNC, Outlook worked perfectly fine again.

This e-mail hyperlink is only displayed if the e-mail client that your computer is running populates the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

You cannot disable this feature in the user interface, nor can you configure the Welcome screen to populate the unread message count from only a particular e-mail program. For example, you might not want your e-mail messages from UserID@hotmail.com displayed on the Welcome screen. To work around this behavior, you can set the permissions on the following registry key to read-only for the System account:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

When the program tries to update the registry key as new mail arrives, it will not have sufficient permission to do so and the Welcome screen will not be updated. To do this:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit).
2. Navigate to the following folder in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

1. Right-click the UnreadMail folder, and then click Permissions.
2. Click the System account, and then click to select the Deny check box for Full Control.
3. Click OK.
4. Quit Registry Editor.

Here’s why…

You may have been told, and believe, that because they have anti-virus software and a software firewall, that your network is ‘secure.’ You have been misled. One of the more common stunts hackers pull is breaking through a software firewall to hijack a server. Once they gain access, they use YOUR server to send spam and viruses to millions of users – in a matter of seconds!

This is bad for two reasons:

1. Your company’s server and email gets ‘blacklisted’, which means the big email delivery hubs (such as Google, Verizon, etc.) flag all of the emails coming from your server as dangerous and will not let them through. It could take days or weeks to get your company’s name cleared. In the mean time, you are without email.
2. Your valuable clients, prospects and vendors (and anyone else in your contact list) start getting inappropriate ads and invitations to XXX-rated web sites from your company. Not good!

The best way to make sure this never happens to your business is to invest in On-Site Tech Support’s Managed Firewall. This investment in the security of your company is well worth the small price tag. Your company cannot afford to have a weak link in your network security that any hacker can break through. Let On-Site Tech Support start protecting you today!

Sign up for On-Site Tech Supports ‘Hacker-Prevention Security Audit’ (a $300 value) for FREE if you mention this post! We will come on-site and perform rigorous security checks on your current system to assess your risk of outside intrusion. While on-site, we will also:

• Test your backups to make sure your data is safe and secure
• Check your patches and other security maintenance to see if they are all up to date
• Examine all software and hardware components for security vulnerabilities

Call 866.220.0709 or Click here to sign up.

Think back to the last time your server went down and you were not able to conduct business – Do you remember how frustrating that was? Or, maybe you experienced a virus or data-erasing disaster – Do you remember how difficult and expensive that was to resolve? In today’s business environment, there are very few business activities that do not rely heavily on your computer network, email and data programs. When any of these components work improperly, business grinds to a halt – and you lose valuable time and money!

With technology becoming ever more imperative to your business operations and hackers and viruses becoming more sophisticated about accessing your network, you simply cannot afford not to monitor the health and security of your network at all times. A network monitoring system is a great way for a trained professional to watch over your computer network system for slow or failing components, security breaches, and alarms that signify trouble is brewing. It can also detect signs that your backup solution is not working, that you are running out of space on the server, or that a firewall is not functioning properly.

The question is this – If network monitoring is so important, why aren’t more small businesses insisting that their IT service provider put a system in place?

1. Lack of knowledge – The reality is that many businesses do have their systems monitored and the bigger and more sophisticated the business is, the more critical this becomes. Unfortunately, many IT providers that service small businesses do not know of or have the tools to provide monitoring services. As a result, many small business owners are not being offered this critically important service.
2. Complacency – If it isn’t broken, why fix it? Please allow us to rephrase this in more realistic terms – If it isn’t broken, it eventually will be and it will cost valuable time and money! Remember, we do not wait to get robbed before we start locking our doors…we lock our doors to prevent a robbery. Network monitoring is an extremely important preventive measure that On-Site Tech Support utilizes to ensure that businesses do not get robbed of valuable time and money due to computer system failures.

Would you like to know how healthy, secure and reliable your network is? Sign up for On-Site Tech Support’s 30-Days of Free Network Monitoring for your entire office. You can see firsthand how secure and reliable your network is. There is no cost or obligation after 30 days and at the end, you will have a clear snapshot of:

• The security of your network against viruses and hackers
• How employees are using the Internet and email
• If your backups are actually working
• Any looming problems in hardware malfunctions, space issues, reliability, etc.

Call 866.220.0709 or Click here to sign up.