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[Keith] Welcome to the Mind Of Root. I'm Keith Albright

[Rich] and I'm Rich Niemeier.

[Steve] and I'm Steve Murawski and this is Episode 93 streaming live on Ustream.tv on Wednesday March 24th, 2009. Today's show is sponsored by Quest Software; Helping you rule your domain. We are also sponsored by Sapien Technologies; the makers of PrimalScript?.

Chit-Chat - What's going on with you?

[Steve]

[Rich]

  • Reminded once agian why managed switches are better than unmanaged. EU plugged in both ends of a patch cable to a router. Boom!!

[Keith]

Housekeeping Items

[Rich]

[Steve]

  • We have a winner in our PrimalSQL? Contest! John H wrote in with a correct answer

The ROW_NUMBER() function sequentially numbers each row in each partition of the result set based on the sort order, but the RANK() function gives all of the rows with a equal values in the ORDER BY clause the same number, such that ROW_NUMBER() is one plus the number of previous rows, but RANK() is one plus the number of rows in the previous ranks.

  • I'll be getting a hold of John in the next day or so to iron out the details..

[Keith]

  • 100th Show ideas. We spoke briefly about this before. If you have a favorite ANN or comedy skit, let me know and I'll put together a little best-of montage. I'm going to work on putting some new ones together and saving them for the 100th show as well.

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  • Virus Blues [STEVE]
-Been dealing with some infected PCs? (re-image and go..) and I'm changing AV vendors.
-I had one computer, I re-imaged it and tried to reboot to change the name and SID and then rejoin the domain
-Been looking at Avast, since I've had very good protection on my home PC's and my families PC's. Their "Suite" pricing model is pretty decent.
-Link: http://avast.com/eng/buy-avast-antivirus-advanced-suite.html
  • Dealing with outdated applications [RICH]
- I had to fix a database issue with an old DbaseIII?/Clipper database
- Not sure what I did that fixed it, I assume it had something to do with creating a change in the database that somehow fixed a bad record?
- May only be temporary
- I think company should spend money on automated solution
- Main support person could not fix issue.
- Hunt and peck, trial and error - Not a preferred method of problem resolution but works on this old app
- obviously on copy of live system not actual live system. That I will miss aboyut old dos applications and their portability.
-Link: http://astersoft.com/dbfmanager/?ref=program DBF Manager (Trial) nice trial utility I was able to use to examine and fix the database.
  • SPF - Sender Policy Framework [KEITH]
-Nice little wizard to build the record for you.
-You can see a domains SPF records using NSLOOKUP or DIG
-Set TYPE=TXT
-Type domain name and see result. GMAIL.com uses a referral record to _SPF.GOOGLE.COM so you have to put that hostname in.
-Link: http://old.openspf.org/wizard.html
-Link: http://www.openspf.org/
-Link: http://www.openspf.org/Implementations
-Link: http://
  • Windows 7 [STEVE]
-First impressions - It's Vista, with a new task bar. I'm a bit
-Like:
-PowerShell on by default (and V2 no less)
-UAC is less intrusive (more like Ubuntu's implementation of sudo in their desktop OS)
-Search is pretty snappy, but I don't have much on it yet.
-Dislike:
-Not thrilled with the new taskbar
-Couldn't get Chrome installed. Finally got it installed with the standalone installer. Poor performance
-Wireless networking with my Dell XPS M1330 is horrible.
-It's only been a couple of days, so I'm going to give it some more time.
-Link: http://

[Rich] I am not all that impressed, Haven't gotten to installing any software.

-I do like the interface but find things like the missing run option annoying. [Steve]Run isn't missing.. Win+R
- Love the Betta fish as the background image. Beautiful fish and the name.
- But these are also know as fighting fish, should I be reading anything into that reference as well?
- I really like the Problem Steps Recorder (PSR) utility. Also available on server 2008.
- Link:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b72d3ac2-4352-4184-9992-e122dbb80883&displaylang=en
  • Perfmon Counter - Memory\Pool Non-Paged Bytes [STEVE]
-This is the size, in bytes, of the non-paged pool, which is memory that is reserved for objects that cannot be written to disk
-Memory leaks are a possibility if this counter is over 175MB (remember the counter is in bytes) or over 170 MB if you are using the 3GB switch (wow.. is the 5 MB that big a difference.. I'd probably watch that one a bit closer).
-Additionally, you'll want to watch for errors in the system event log with an event ID of 2019/
-Link: http://
-
-
-Link: http://blog.usepowershell.com/2009/03/tip-free-up-some-memory/
  • Cisco UCS Hardware[KEITH]
-Did we talk about this? Cisco Unified Computing System
-I saw some feedback that it was too proprietary, etc. I think Cisco has a market, it's just very specific right now. I'm not in the target market
-I think market will grow once people figure out new ways to exploit the hardware.
-I think they needed to drive into this realm. As virtualization takes off, the number of ethernet ports shipped by network vendors decreases. Plus, you end up with switches/virtual switches that can't be managed by Cisco tools. This addresses both. Get back market share and give a product with a known interface and management ecosystem.
-With the acquisition of Flip, Cisco admits they are driving hardware and apps that increase network utilization (See Citrix as well). They invest and support technologies that build market share for their core product lines; Networking.
-Link: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/031609-cisco-ucs.html
  • PowerShell - Available through MS Update Now! [STEVE]
-
-
-Link: http://
  • Desktop Central - Free Windows Tools 2[RICH]
-Features:
- Remote Task Manager Tool
- Wake On LAN Tool
- Software Inventory Tool
- Remote Command Prompt
- GPO Update Tool
- Shutdown / Restart Tool
- Join / Unjoin Computer Tool
- Currently Logged On User
- Hard Disk Space Monitor
- Local User/Group List
- Network Share Browser
-Link: http://www.manageengine.com/products/free-windows-tools/download.html
  • Common Table Expressions [STEVE]
-A cool feature of TSQL in SQL Server 2005 and 2008 is Common Table Expressions.
-This lets you define a "subquery" before hand and reuse it multiple times in your query itself.
-You can also use it to create a recursive query, by including a reference to itself
-Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190766.aspx Using Common Table Expressions
-Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186243.aspx Recursive Query Example
  • Face Book as a sales tool [RICH]
- What are the pros and cons of this?
- I guess I don't want to be bothered on Facebook
- Exploiting social media for this purpose is good for business?
- What other social media get abused like this, Twitter, MySpace?, and more...?
-Restaurant Marketing: Can Facebook Help Your Sales?
-March 16, 2009 by: Greg McGuire?
-Link: http://blog.etundra.com/restaurant-trends-and-news/restaurant-marketing-facebook/
-The Facebook Marketing Toolbox: 100 Tools and Tips to Tap the Facebook Customer Base
-Learn to use Facebook as an advertising platform.
-By Inside CRM Editors
-Link:http://www.insidecrm.com/features/facebook-marketing-toolbox-012308/
  • Twitter fiasco for prospective Cisco Employee[KEITH]
-Funny story. Must be a bright person....just not bright enough.
-
-Link: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/39874
-Link: Tips for Safe Social Networking

____________________________READ QUEST AD COPY____________________________

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Listner Feedback

Yitz

- For moving to a new laptop I would use a similar approach as I would prior to wiping a disk and reinstalling/installing an OS from scratch. For installation packages, I like to keep a folder generally called Install Files either on the disk itself in another partition or on a network drive. Of course it could be tedious to continuously update that - that's where Ketarin comes into play: http://ketarin.canneverbe.com/.

A more 'old school' approach would be to navigate to the Program Files directory with a command prompt and run:

dir > filename.txt.

That would at least give you a rough list of the programs installed that you can go back to and use as a checklist.

As far as User-specific settings you can always backup the C:\documents and settings\<username> (xp) or the C:\Users\<username> (vista) to an external hard drive and as you install those programs anew on the new computer, copy those files back to the proper location.

From Matt who posted a comment on the blog:

Hi guys,

I heard about your podcast today while listening to The Thirsty Developer. I’m looking forwarding to adding you to the list of podcasts I keep up with.

I’m having trouble figuring out what each show is about though. The RSS reader I use, Google Reader, doesn’t tell me much except the title of the show and an advertisement. Perhaps you could consider including a descriptive summary.

Regards, Matt

[KEITH] My bad. I do most of the posts and I've gotten lazy. Besides..the links tell you everything. Thanks to the Thirsty Developers as well.

Website Picks

Rich - http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1223.html Just cool techish cartoons

Steve - http://

Keith - http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/index.html Pretty cool test on how well you eyeball measurements. I did better than I thought. My wife is good at this and I stink at it.

Last Call

Anyone....Anyone....Buehler.....Buehler....

Closing Test- I'd like to thank everyone in the chat on UStream?.tv we always enjoy the additional comments and interaction. everyone should remember that there are numerous ways one can interact with the show. For listener feedback post comments on the main show site, or email us at feedback[at] MindofRoot?.com.

It's always fun to see where our listeners live, put a pin on our frappr map there is a link to this on the main show site.

To become even more involved you can leave suggestions for future shows on the topics request wiki. Again a link to the wiki can be found on the main show site.

There is a link to the wiki on the main show site. If you would like to participate in the show; either through an interview, a segment contribution, or any other way, please let us know. We are also a member of the Techpodcast network. Check out some other great shows by going to Techpodcast.com.

test end-

All right, well that is it for the show. For listener feedback; you can email us at Feedback [at] mindofroot.com or post a comment on the main site at mindofroot.com. If you use iTunes, you could write a review. If you just want to show us your listening, drop a pin on the Frappr map...there's a link on the show site.

Lastly, you can drop any show ideas or topic requests on the wiki. There is a link to the wiki on the main show site. If you would like to participate in the show; either through an interview, a segment contribution, or any other way, please let us know. We are also a member of the Techpodcast network. Check out some other great shows by going to Techpodcast.com.