**First March 2010 Meeting**
6-YEAR KYSBSUG ANNIVERSARY
Date: Wednesday March 17, 2010
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 PM Eastern (or whenever everybody leaves)
Venue: Howl At The Moon
Address: 4th Street Live, Louisville, KY
URL:  Click here

Parking: 423 South 5th Street
(Usually $3-$5, or free after 6PM)

Door Prizes: There are no door prizes for this meeting, but there are lots of low/no cost stuff to enjoy

• Free cover charge for KYSBSUG attendees
• Free buffet 5:30 – 7:30 PM
• Attendees receive first two drinks for $0.50 / each (well drinks, long island teas, domestic beer, house wines, house margaritas, DeKuyper cordials)
• ½ off all drinks until 9 PM

Registration for this event is NOT required for this event, but you must be over 21 to enter the venue.

**Second March 2010 Meeting**
KYSBSUG Meeting #73 – Windows Server 2008 R2 IT Pro Tour
Presenter: Matt Hester, Microsoft TechNet Presenter (in person)
Date: Monday March 29, 2010
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM Eastern
Venue: Money Concepts
Address: 323 Townepark Circle, Louisville, KY 40243
Registration: We will be providing dinner and door prizes, so registration IS required.
Registration URL: Click here

Description:

Here’s your chance to connect with your local IT Pro Community AND meet Matt Hester, your local IT Professional Evangelist! Now that the dust has settled and the boxes are mostly unpacked from Matt’s relocation to Ohio.  He wants to meet you and get to know you! What a better way than with Windows Server® 2008 R2, giveaways and food!!

Matt Hester will be talking about the many administrative benefits of Windows Server® 2008 R2, including improvements to Active Directory, PowerShell, Group Policy and much more.  He will also talk about his experiences with his recently published book Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Administration Instant Reference. Ultimately, this evening is for you - so bring your questions, prepare to have some fun and expect to learn more about Windows Server® 2008 R2.  This should be a fun and exciting evening!

Matt will have a couple copies of his book to give away and other fun stuff. Be sure to attend and learn more of what Windows Server® 2008 R2 has to offer!

This is your chance to give feedback on how Matt and Microsoft can help your local community efforts. We hope you’ll join us for an evening of fun and peer-to-peer networking with your local IT Pro Community!

Special Thanks:

We’d like to thank the folks that helped bring this month together.

• Jeff Slyn of SLYN Systems & Peripherals for doing an AWESOME job once again of pulling together the venue and specials for the first meeting on the 17th.
• Mallory Sizemore from Howl At The Moon for hosting our meeting on the 17th.
• Matt Hester of Microsoft for coming to Louisville for the second meeting to present and for providing dinner on the 29th.
• Lee Johnson of Sentry Computer Systems for hosting us at Money Concepts again on the 29th.

I hope to see many of you this month as we wrap up our 6th year of free monthly meetings, and jump right into our 7th year!

Now, even though I’m a geek, I don’t want to be a nerd. And carrying a fake book around is getting pretty deep into nerd territory. But i figure that with features like playing MP3s and cellular wireless, that swings me back over to the geek camp. So, after an inordinate amount of online research, I purchased a Kindle 2 from Amazon.com. I picked the Kindle 2 model over the Kindle DX for several reasons.

My considerations for which Kindle to purchase:

Note: My winner for each category is shown in the far right column, and the spec I like best is highlighted in under each Kindle. Keep in mind that this is based on my research, not official Amazon specs / info.

Also: You can click on any picture for a larger view.

SPECS

	Kindle 2	Kindle DX	Winner
Weight	10.2 oz.	18.9 oz.	K2 – 46% lighter
Overall size	8” x 5.3”	10.4” x 7.2”	K2 – 25% smaller
Screen size	6”	9.7”	DX – 2.5 x bigger
Resolution	800×600 @167ppi	1200×824 @150 ppi	N/A
Max # books	1,500	3,500	DX – 2,000 more
Storage	2 GB, 1.4 usable	4 GB, 3.3 usable	DX – 1.9 GB more
Battery life	Up to 1 week	Up to 1 week	N/A
Free Wireless	Yes	Yes	N/A
Free Case	No	No	N/A
Price	$259 US	$489 US	DX – 47% cheaper

GOOD – The DX has 2x the screen & 2x the storage.

BAD – The DX has nearly 2x the weight and 2x the cost.

WINNER – At half the price and half the weight, I opted to buy the Kindle 2.

OK, so all that looks good on paper, but what about the real test? How does this really look and feel? Let’s look at some key categories.

SIZE
As I mentioned in a previous post, I hate hauling around bulky or unnecessary items. When it comes to packing your toolkit or travel bag, size matters. Here is the K2 next to some everyday items for perspective: 4GB Zune, dollar bill, K2 & Matt’s new book. (The Kindle 2 is shown in the optional case)

The K2 is definitely smaller than a standard geek book, not as wide as a dollar bill, slightly thicker than a Zune, & a lot thinner than my Palm Treo Pro phone (not shown).

READABILITY
In spite of the resolution and poor focus of my camera phone, you have to see the screen to believe it.

When I unboxed the Kindle 2, I thought there was a sticker on it, but that was the actual screen.

Other than the background having a gray tinge to it (rather than a true white) it looks like a real printed page. For me the gray was a bit distracting at first, but I’m already used to it. The picture above is showing my website, not an eBook. The camera phone doesn’t do the Kindle justice. This is a VERY impressive screen.

GLARE
Though contrary to popular belief, geeks do go outside in the sun for things other than driving to a customer site to fix a computer. Here is the Kindle 2 outside at noon with the sun behind me as I took the picture.

That’s full daylight, no clouds, with the sun shining right on it.

If you try to use the Kindle as a mirror, it is possible to get a flare on the screen, but I really had to aim just right to get this much glare.

Just a slight shift and the sun spot was gone. Readability outside is as-good, if not better than indoors.

WEB BROWSING
The Kindle is designed to access the web, not to surf it. The screen shots above show that you can indeed surf the web though and read blogs and such. Just don’t expect a desktop PC web experience.

READING PDF DOCUMENTS
One of the killer features for me (and pretty much the primary reason I bought the Kindle) was the native ability for the Kindle 2 to read PDF documents. You just plug in your USB / charging cable and the Kindle shows up in Windows Explorer like a USB drive.

Drag-and-drop, you’re done. I have gobs of Microsoft Press books that include a CD in the back with a PDF version of the book. You can just plug in the Kindle, insert the CD, and drag and drop the PDF into the Kindle.

GOOD – All the PDF documents I tested rendered accurately on the Kindle.

BAD – Many PDFs are smaller on the 6” screen than they would be in real life, making them harder to read. And the cool font size changing feature doesn’t work on PDFs as far as I can tell.

MORE GOOD – Even though the text is smaller, I was able to search PDFs, bookmark them, and the Kindle remembered which page I left off reading.

MORE BAD – I couldn’t add notes or highlights to a PDF like I could with a ‘real’ kindle book.

Small fonts aside on PDFs, this feature still rocks.

FILE CONVERSION
The drag and drop on the Kindle 2 means I didn’t even have to email the document to Amazon for conversion like the Kindle 1. I did send a PDF to “name”@free.kindle.com (the way to convert files to the Kindle AZW format without the $0.15/MB wireless fee), but that has a file limit of 5 MB.

For a test I took the 1.92 MB “Windows Server 2008 Technical Overview.pdf” file and sent it to Amazon for conversion. It came back to me in under 2 minutes as an AZW file that only weighed 5.4 KB. I pulled the AZW file into the Kindle 2 and it was just my sig line from the e-mail. A few seconds later another email came in from Amazon with an attached PDF but now it was called “Windows_Server_2008_Technical_Overview.pdf” and was the exact same size as the original. It still doesn’t change font sizes in the Kindle, but it works the same as before the ‘conversion’. I suspect I’ll be spending a lot of time learning the ins and outs of file conversion because I’d like to be able to shrink and grow the text if possible on a PDF.

OPTIONS
The only option I recommend (other than a warranty if you’re the fumblefingers type) is the Amazon Kindle Black Leather Cover.

At $39.99 US, it’s not cheap by any stretch, but then again it’s not cheaply made either. It fits like a glove, and it still gives you access to the important bits for charging and such. I wonder how long the elastic band / strap will last. Still, I think that the leather cover is a must-have.

VERDICT
So far I’m a very happy camper. This is the best (and most fun) technical purchase I’ve made since I got my Acer Aspire One netbook. The Kindle 2 can do text-to-speech and there’s supposed to be experimental support for MP3s, but I don’t care about that. This is a great device as-is.

That said, sometimes you still need a bootable CD/DVD. For instance, when you want to image a workstation or server with StorageCraft ShadowProtect and backup the entire machine to an external USB drive.  Unfortunately, that means carrying the disc with you in your tech toolkit, or carrying the ISO and burning a disc.

Here’s a better idea – Use one of those old 1 GB USB flash drives gathering dust in your drawer, and turn it into a bootable USB drive.

Now, before you say “not BartPE and the HP Boot Flash Utility again”, we’re not using those old school tools. This is as modern as modern gets – using a Windows 7 64-bit ultimate machine and no physical CDs.

Note: These instructions are assuming you have already purchased a licensed copy of ShadowProtect from StorageCraft, and are simply looking to turn a boot CD into a boot USB flash drive.

What You’ll Need

• ISO image of ShadowProtect or a ShadowProtect boot CD (471 MB)
• 1 GB or larger USB flash drive
• PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip (100KB)
• Windows 7 workstation (I used a 64-bit Ultimate box, but YMMV)

Step-by-Step Instructions to Create the Bootable USB Drive

1. Extract the downloaded PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip file into a folder on your desktop. You will see 3 files in there, but you only need  PeToUSB.exe
   
2. Insert the physical ShadowProtect CD into your drive, or if you’re using an ISO, mount the ISO using Virtual CloneDrive (or some other ISO program).
   
3. Insert your USB flash drive.
    
4. Right-click the PeToUSB program, and choose RunAs Administrator.
   
5. Select your flash drive from the pull-down menu.
   
6. Check Enable Disk Format and check Quick Format boxes.
    
7. Browse to the ShadowProtect CD location.
   
8. Click the Enable File Copy checkbox.
    

   Your settings should look similar to this:
   

9. Click Start. On the Continue screen click Yes.
   
10. On the Are You Sure You Want To Continue screen, confirm that the correct flash drive is about to be formatted, and click Yes.
    
11. The drive will be automatically formatted and the files will start copying.
    
12. When the format and copy are complete click OK.
     
13. Safely Remove the drive, you’re done!

Now you can boot a workstation off the USB, plug in a USB drive large enough to hold the backup images, and create a backup of that target machine. Or, for some P2V action, you can use the free VMware Player (89.9 MB) to spin up that SPF as a virtual machine.

Microsoft has a great series of webcasts for Microsoft Partners to give them the basics of virtualization with the following 4-part (6 segment) series with Ronald Grattopp and Bryan Von Axelson:

“The Ultimate Sales Guide to Microsoft Virtualization”

• Part 1 – The Basics (38 minutes)
• Part 2a – Server Virtualization Solutions (52 minutes)
• Part 2b – Desktop Virtualization Solutions (37 minutes)
• Part 2c – Microsoft Virtualization Management Solutions (29 minutes)
• Part 3 – Understand Microsoft Virtualization Licensing (35 minutes)
• Part 4 – Microsoft Virtualization and the Competition (32 minutes)

Note: You must have a Microsoft Partner ID linked with your Windows Live ID and sign in to view these webcasts.

Microsoft Desktop Virtualization Sweepstakes

In addition to some great (and free) information, Microsoft is providing an incentive for Microsoft Partners to attend these trainings. They are giving away:

• Two (2) HP EX90 MediaSmart Servers
• Eight (8) Sony Touch Readers

Webcasts in bold above are eligible for the Desktop Virtualization Sweepstakes. Sweepstakes ends April 12, 2010. See official website for details.

You can also stop by the Microsoft Virtualization portal:
http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization

Guest Presenter: Dana Epp, MVP (Enterprise Security)
Founder & President of Scorpion Software (makers of AuthAnvil)

Website: http://www.scorpionsoft.com/
MVP: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Dana.Epp
Blog: http://silverstr.ufies.org/blog/

Description: Dana Epp is an industry-recognized expert in security and Microsoft MVP (2006-2010). Dana will talk about local and remote password security in SBS and SMB networks. He’ll also talk about topics such as two-factor authentication and tell you how you can implement this technology for your employees and customers.

Following Dana’s presentation, we’ll have a hands-on lab to demonstrate some of the tools on the market and methods to test (and break) passwords.

6:30 – 6:45 – Local events & introductions
6:45 – 7:30 – Dana Epp presentation (via GoToMeeting)
7:30 – 7:45 – Dana Q&A
7:45 – 8:20 – Hands-on Lab
8:20 – 8:30 – Door prize drawing and wrap-up

Door Prize: This month our door prize is an NFR copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

First, the actual name for ‘God Mode’ is (anticlimactically) “All Tasks”:

I then did a search in the registry and found 39 more items I could use to create folders / shortcuts.

They’re located under Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CSLID\
Most, but not all, of them have a REG_SZ key for “System.Software.TasksFileURL” which is set to “Internal”.

Here’s the list of registry keys / shortcuts that worked for me. Just create a new blank folder in Windows Explorer and give it one of the names below:

Action Center CPL.{BB64F8A7-BEE7-4E1A-AB8D-7D8273F7FDB6}
Administrative Tools.{D20EA4E1-3957-11d2-A40B-0C5020524153}
AutoPlay.{9C60DE1E-E5FC-40f4-A487-460851A8D915}
Backup and Restore.{B98A2BEA-7D42-4558-8BD1-832F41BAC6FD}
Biometrics.{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
Credential Manager.{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
Default Location.{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
Device Center.{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}
Display.{C555438B-3C23-4769-A71F-B6D3D9B6053A}
Ease of Access.{D555645E-D4F8-4c29-A827-D93C859C4F2A}
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
HomeGroup Control Panel.{67CA7650-96E6-4FDD-BB43-A8E774F73A57}
Install New Programs.{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
Location.{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
Manage Wireless Networks.{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
Microsoft Windows Font Folder.{BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}
Network and Sharing Center.{8E908FC9-BECC-40f6-915B-F4CA0E70D03D}
Network Map.{E7DE9B1A-7533-4556-9484-B26FB486475E}
Network.{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
Parental Controls.{96AE8D84-A250-4520-95A5-A47A7E3C548B}
Performance Information and Tools.{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}
Personalization Control Panel.{ED834ED6-4B5A-4bfe-8F11-A626DCB6A921}
Power Options.{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Programs and Features.{7b81be6a-ce2b-4676-a29e-eb907a5126c5}
Public Keys.{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
Secure Startup.{D9EF8727-CAC2-4e60-809E-86F80A666C91}
Sensors.{E9950154-C418-419e-A90A-20C5287AE24B}
Set User Defaults.{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
Speech Recognition.{58E3C745-D971-4081-9034-86E34B30836A}
Sync Center Folder.{9C73F5E5-7AE7-4E32-A8E8-8D23B85255BF}
System Recovery.{9FE63AFD-59CF-4419-9775-ABCC3849F861}
System.{BB06C0E4-D293-4f75-8A90-CB05B6477EEE}
Taskbar Icons.{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
Troubleshooting.{C58C4893-3BE0-4B45-ABB5-A63E4B8C8651}
User Accounts.{60632754-c523-4b62-b45c-4172da012619}
Windows Firewall.{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
Windows Update.{36eef7db-88ad-4e81-ad49-0e313f0c35f8}
Workspaces Center.{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}

I also found a bunch of registry keys for control panel items that I didn’t work for creating functional folder shortcuts (22 of them). Here’s that list, in case somebody knows how to make them work:

CardSpace.{78CB147A-98EA-4AA6-B0DF-C8681F69341C}
Color Management.{B2C761C6-29BC-4f19-9251-E6195265BAF1}
Date and Time Control Panel.{E2E7934B-DCE5-43C4-9576-7FE4F75E7480}
Device Manager.{74246bfc-4c96-11d0-abef-0020af6b0b7a}
Folder Options.{6DFD7C5C-2451-11d3-A299-00C04F8EF6AF}
Getting Started.{CB1B7F8C-C50A-4176-B604-9E24DEE8D4D1}
Indexing Options Control Panel.{87D66A43-7B11-4A28-9811-C86EE395ACF7}
Infrared.{A0275511-0E86-4ECA-97C2-ECD8F1221D08}
Internet Options.{A3DD4F92-658A-410F-84FD-6FBBBEF2FFFE}
Keyboard Control Panel.{725BE8F7-668E-4C7B-8F90-46BDB0936430}
Mobility Center Control Panel.{5ea4f148-308c-46d7-98a9-49041b1dd468}
Mouse Control Panel.{6C8EEC18-8D75-41B2-A177-8831D59D2D50}
Pen and Touch Control Panel.{F82DF8F7-8B9F-442E-A48C-818EA735FF9B}
Phone and Modem Control Panel.{40419485-C444-4567-851A-2DD7BFA1684D}
Region and Language.{62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0}
Sound Control Panel.{F2DDFC82-8F12-4CDD-B7DC-D4FE1425AA4D}
Tablet PC Settings Control Panel.{80F3F1D5-FECA-45F3-BC32-752C152E456E}
Taskbar and Start Menu.{0DF44EAA-FF21-4412-828E-260A8728E7F1}
Text to Speech Control Panel.{D17D1D6D-CC3F-4815-8FE3-607E7D5D10B3}
Windows Defender.{D8559EB9-20C0-410E-BEDA-7ED416AECC2A}
Windows Sidebar Properties.{37efd44d-ef8d-41b1-940d-96973a50e9e0}
Windows SideShow.{E95A4861-D57A-4be1-AD0F-35267E261739}

As a workaround for the items in the second list, you can just navigate to the item, right-click it and choose “Create Shortcut”.

This will place a shortcut on your desktop that you can then move where ever you like. It’s a shortcut…

…but it works.

Basically, you open Windows Explorer, navigate to the C: drive, create a new blank folder in Windows 7 and give it the following name:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

The folder icon changes automatically and you’ve got the ‘God Mode’ menu.

Double-click that icon and you have one menu with about 275-295 menu choices (depending on the hardware and windows features installed) broken into the following categories:

• Action Center (15 items)
   
• Administrative Tools (10 items)
   
• AutoPlay (3 items)
   
• Backup and Restore (2 items)
   
• BitLocker Drive Encryption (2 items – if you have BitLocker installed)
   
• Color Management (1 item)
   
• Credential Manager (1 item) 
  
• Date and Time (4 items)
  
• Default Programs (2 items)
  
• Desktop Gadgets (6 items)
  
• Device Manager (1 item)
  
• Devices and Printers (9-11 items)
  
  Note: I’ve also seen options for “Add a Bluetooth Device” and “Change Bluetooth Settings” on laptops.
• Display (11 items)
  
• Ease of Access Center (26 items)
  
• Folder Options (5 items)
  
• Fonts (3 items)
  
• Getting Started (4 items)
  
• HomeGroup (2 items)
  
• Indexing Options (1 item)
  
• Internet Options (14 items)
  
• Keyboard (2 items)
  
• Location and Other Sensors (3 items)
  
• Mouse (8 items)
  
• Network and Sharing Center (16 items)
  
• Notification Area Icons (6-7 items)
  
  Note: Laptops have a “Show or hide battery on the taskbar”
• Parental Controls (1 item)
  
• Performance Information and Tools (4 items)
  
• Personalization (12 items)
  
• Phone and Modem (1 item)
  
• Power Options (7-8 items)
  
  Note: Laptops also show “Change battery settings”
• Programs and Features (8 items)
  
• Recovery (1 item)
  
• Region and Language (10 items)
  
• Remote App and Desktop Connections (1 item)
  
• Sound (4 items)
  
• Speech Recognition (3 items)
  
• Sync Center (6 items)
  
• System (22 items)
  
• Taskbar and Start Menu (10 items)
  
• Troubleshooting (12 items)
  
• User Accounts (13 items)
  
• Windows CardSpace (1 item)
  
• Windows Defender (1 item)
  
• Windows Firewall (2 items)
  
• Windows Mobile Device Center (1 item – if you have it installed)
  
• Windows Update ( 2 items)
  

Now you know why they call it ‘god mode’.

Overview:
The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP2 Installation Tool for Windows SBS 2008 provides a step-by-step wizard that simplifies the installation of Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 on a computer that is running Windows SBS 2008. The wizard also detects and helps you repair some problems that are common during installation. Without this tool, Windows SBS 2008 administrators must follow a series of manual steps, which are outlined in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article You cannot install Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 on a Windows Small Business Server 2008-based computer.

Installation, Step-by-Step:

First, downloaded Exchange 2007 SP2. Pack a lunch, because this baby is big (884 MB)! You can download SP2 here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4C4BD2A3-5E50-42B0-8BBB-2CC9AFE3216A&displaylang=en 

Second, double-click the E2K7SPEN64.exe to extract it, but DON’T start the install of the service pack yet.

Once that’s done (and you’ve downloaded the Installation Tool above) the rest of the installation is almost ready to go. One more important note first.

Note: It goes without saying, but make sure you have a good backup of the server before applying any service packs. Seriously folks.

1. Run the MESIT installer, accept the EULA and click Next.

2. Accept the default installation path and click Next.

3. At the User Account Control prompt, click Continue.

4. Once installation of the wrapper is complete, the “Install Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP2 now” option should already be checked. Click Finish.

5. This will pop another UAC prompt, click Continue.

Note:

5a. You may be prompted to install the Windows Installer 4.5 available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=151819 if so, click OK.

This will exit the SP2 install and you’ll need to download and install the Windows Update Standalone Installer 4.5 first. The download you need for SBS 2008 is file “Windows6.0-KB942288-v2-x64.msu” (2.94 MB).

5b. After downloading the installer, double-click it to run it, and if prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.

5c. The installer searches for updates,
 
and click OK when prompted to install Hotfix for Windows (KB942288).

The installer runs by itself…

… and will require a server restart when complete.

5d. Reboot your SBS 2008 server.

5e. After the reboot is complete, log back into your server, click Start | Windows Small Business Server Tools | Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP2 Installation Tool to continue with the install and pickup at step 6 below.

6. Browse to the location where you extracted the Exchange 2007 SP2 files and click OK.
 

7. At the “Install Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007” screen, click Next.

The wizard will temporarily disable Microsoft Forefront Security.

8. After the server environment has been prepared, click Next.

The Installation Tool will pop up a dialog box telling you not to close the window (not that you could because Next, Cancel and the X are grayed out). Ignore this window.

You want the 2nd window that pops up.

9. Click the Install Microsoft Exchange Service Pack 2 link.

There will be a short pause…
 
…and then the wizard will launch.

10. On the SP2 setup screen, click Next.

11. Accept the EULA, and click Next.

12. After the readiness check is complete, (takes 1-2 minutes) if all of your prerequisites are green, click Upgrade.

The service pack installation will go through several stages:

• Organization Preparation (5 minutes)*
• Preparing Setup (3 minutes)
• Remove Exchange Files (21 minutes)
• Preparing Files (1 minute)
• Copy Exchange Files (8 minutes)
• Hub Transport Role (9 minutes)
• Client Access Role (3 minutes)
• Mailbox Role (4 minutes)
• Management Tools (1 minute)
• Finalizing Setup (1 minutes)

Approximate time for SP2 install (excluding nearly 880 MB of downloads and reboots) was about 55 minutes, but YMMV.

*These times were on a virtual SBS 2008 install in a low-end Hyper-V server. AMD Athlon Dual Core Processor 4450B 1.22 GHz, 4 GB RAM. 

13. When the installation completes, click Finish.
 

14. Close the Exchange Server 2007 installation menu.

15. On the Installation Tool window, click Next.

…the wizard will re-enable Forefront and restore the default settings for the SBS Web services.

16. If everything has gone smoothly, you’re out of the woods now. On the “Setup finished successfully” screen, click Finish.

17. Start another backup of your server to protect all of your hard work!

Description:

For a limited time, Microsoft is offering a free download of the eBook “First Look: Microsoft Office 2010” which provides an overview of the updated features in the newest version of Microsoft Office. The book is broken into 14 chapters (shown below) and further organized into three parts.

• Part I – Envision the Possibilities (Chapters 1-3)
• Part II – Hit the Ground Running (Chapters 4-11)
• Part III – Next Steps with Office 2010 (Chapters 12-14)

Table of Contents:

1. Welcome to Office 2010
2. Express Yourself Effectively and Efficiently
3. Collaborate in the Office and Around the World
    
4. Create and Share Compelling Documents with Word 2010
5. Create Smart Data Insights with Excel 2010
6. Manage Rich Communications with Outlook 2010
7. Produce Dynamic Presentations with PowerPoint 2010
8. Organize, Store, and Share Ideas with OneNote 2010
9. Collaborate Effectively with SharePoint Workspace 2010
10. Create Effective Marketing Materials with Publisher 2010
11. Make Sense of Your Data with Access 2010
     
12. Putting It All Together
13. Security in Office 2010
14. Training Made Easy

Source: Eric Ligman’s blog

Oddly enough, about 10 minutes after reading the news I got a call from a client about a workstation exhibiting similar problems:

• No desktop icons
• No taskbar or start menu
• Solid background (no wallpaper)

I’m not 100% certain that this is the same issue in the KSOD reports in the news, but it sounds similar.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME

• Launching Explorer.exe from the Task Manager
• System Restore

WHAT DID WORK FOR ME

1. Rebooted the PC in normal mode and logged in as Administrator
2. Ctrl-Alt-Del / Task Manager
   
   
3. File | New Task (Run)

   

4. Click Browse and browse to:
   "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
   Click OK

   

5. When Internet Explorer opened, went to the following URL and downloaded SuperAntiSpyware:
   http://www.superantispyware.com/ 
   
6. Installed SuperAntiSpyware, ran a scan and it found the following results:

   

7. I let SuperAntiSpyware remove that trojan, rebooted, logged back in and the desktop icons, start menu and taskbar were working again.

Here is the item that SuperAntiSpyware quarantined:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe (Debugger - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Common\svchost.exe)

Again, I’m not saying for certain that this is the same issue others are reporting, but I wanted to pass  along what I found in case others see similar issues. This is what worked for me - your mileage may vary.

UPDATE 12/2/2009:
Here is the link to the Prevx KSOD cleanup tool (I haven’t tried it though):
http://www.prevx.com/blog/140/Black-Screen-woes-could-affect-millions-on-Windows–Vista-and-XP.html