Synergex CTO Blog

Mapped drives and Synergy

Some recent posts on our synergy-l listserv made me realize there are still some misperceptions about Microsoft network shares (mapped drives), so I thought I would address those here. Microsoft designed network shares for single-user access to shared resources such as Word documents. The locking and caching algorithms they use assume that a local cache [...]

Preventing performance issues related to antivirus software

We get quite a number of support calls with either performance or system-down issues related to installation security suites, mostly related to antivirus software. In most cases the culprit ends up being the incorrect setup of the antivirus software. Let’s first consider what antivirus software has to do and how it ships by default. In [...]

Protecting the Spread of Security Infections in Places You Might Not Think About

Several weeks ago we had a new Ikon color printer installed. It has a separate Kodak PC running the printer drivers and color matching software. I noticed that it was Internet connected and that software updates were not being applied. When we contacted the manufacturer, we were told the PC was an embedded XP device [...]

The Vista performance saga – final chapter

In January we finally determined why file I/O on Vista and Server 2008 disks is slower than on Windows 2003. In a previous blog post I stated that “The performance problem on disks that have been hooked by applications that use the new Vista/Server2008 filter manager infrastructure – can cause CPU overheads of at least 40% on all [...]

Microsoft’s ADO.NET Entity Framework

Over the years, Microsoft has provided many different ways to access data–ODBC, DAO, ADO, and ADO.NET (with data sets and data readers). The next data access technology is the Entity Framework with the 3.5 SP1 version of ADO.NET. Synergex has provided access to all of these technologies through the baseline ADO.NET 2.0 with its xfODBC driver. Synergex [...]

Upcoming “experimental feature” will help you detect use of uninitialized memory

We are continually reviewing customer applications to assist with support/development issues, and in doing so often come up with ideas to help customers facilitate debugging problems they may encounter. We use a product from Compuware called DevPartner Studio to help us track down “C” variable access problems in the Synergy components that sometimes cause instability [...]

Live from Microsoft PDC: A sneak peak at Windows 7, plus our 64-bit ActiveX list support

This comes to you from the Microsoft PDC in Los Angeles, where I am among over 10,000 attendees. The PDC is Microsoft’s futures conference where they preview some of the technology coming out over the next couple of years. Microsoft has demonstrated real UI improvements in Windows 7—improvements that made almost every attendee cheer. For [...]

The Vista Performance Saga Continues

I thought it about time I posted an update regarding my Vista post on the 16th of April. In that post I recommended holding off on Server 2008 deployments until more data was available. So let’s state the real problem. “All file operations (read, write, file-position, etc.) are 40% slower on a Vista and Server 2008 [...]

Red Alert! DNS Flaw Revealed

Due to the recent online disclosure of technical details to exploit a widespread DNS vulnerability, security researchers are warning users to patch vulnerable systems immediately. All Linux and Windows based DNS servers require a patch, and most routers need a patch with real urgency. From InformationWeek.com: The domain name system translates domain names, like "informationweek.com," [...]

The XP era is over – what does that mean to you?

As Windows XP is no longer available as of June 30th, I’d like to talk about your options regarding Synergy/DE support for Windows Vista. While Microsoft may have pulled the plug on Windows XP as of June 30, it still continues to offer the home version for ultra low end PCs that can’t run [...]