thoughts on attachment sizing

Email attachments cannot be of infinite size.  Different servers have different limits - but here is my general rule of thumb on attachment sizing:

Never send anything larger than 10 MB.

Only send things larger than 5 MB if you absolutely have to.

Most attachments should be 3 MB or less.

 

Large files should be sent using FTP or a service like yousendit. 

SEP problems on SBS 2003

An associate recommended that I use Symantec Endpoint Protection on by SBS 2003 box as local file anti-virus.  I have done this successfully on a couple servers.  On one particular network, I have an Windows Server 2003 R2 box that hosts the Management Console, and I tried installing the SEP on the SBS box.  I first tried it using the unmanaged version of SEP on the SBS box.  The SBS box froze every time I rebooted it, and I had to cold boot it.  I figured it was that it was the unmanaged part that was the problem.  So today I tried to install it using the managed version.  Same problem.  And unfortunately, I didn't document how I uninstalled SEP.

The server freezes during a standard boot, so that doesn't work.  You can't uninstall it in safe mode (you can get to safe mode via F8 during the bootup process just like any regular Windows machine) becuase the installer service isn't running.

In essence, I went into safe mode, went into msconfig and went into the service tab and removed the Symantec options and rebooted.  Then you can go in regular mode and uninstall SEP.  I presume that will work - what I actually did was go into safe mode and go to msconfig and go into diagnostic startup and then enable all Microsoft services.  This sounds easy and logical, but took several hours of troubleshooting.

VPN set up on a Macintosh

These instructions for setting up a VPN on a Mac work for Tiger and Leopard.  I can't verify for other OSes yet:

Click on the WLAN (wireless LAN) indicator (near the upper right hand corner).

Click on Open Network Preferences

Click on the + near the lower left hand corner of the Network window that appears

For interface, choose VPN

For VPN type, put PPTP

For service name, put **Company Name** VPN

Click Create

For server address, put **FQDN of VPN server**

For account name, put your login name (i.e. john or jsmith depending on your company's policy)

For encryption, leave it at Automatic

Click Authentication and put in your password

Click Connect

And then it should connect.

electrical in other countries

I found this great resource for the types of plugs and voltages around the world - helpful when traveling:

http://kropla.com/electric2.htm

Live OneCare for computer optimization

I've always looked for easy wasy to optimize systems.  Usually, it just consisted of removing unnecessary items from msconfig.

But when researching the conficker worm, I came across Live OneCare's virus scanner which also does some registry optmization, which I will incorporate into my computer optimization routines.

The Live OneCare routine needs to be run out of IE and is located here:

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

Receovery Storage Group cannot be removed - says users are using mailbox store

If you do a mailbox restore and use a recovery storage group, and then add users subsequently, for some reason - they are stored in the recovery storage group and not the primary information store.  And then that means you can't delete the recovery storage group because it says:

One or more users currently use this mailbox store. These users must be moved to a different mailbox store or be mail disabled before deleting this store.

ID no: c1034a7f
Exchange System Manager

To fix that, follow step 3 of the MS KB:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=279202

emailing a cab file to a Windows Mobile

Not hard at all - but it took me a while to figure out when IE was not working on a Windows Mobile phone that needed the DST update.  The phone did have activesync set up and configured, so I sent I downloaded the cab file on my laptop - sent the cab file to the phone.  Then on the phone, I had to save the file (by pressing and holding on the attachment itself) and then save it to device somewhere.  You can't run a cab file directly from email.

Then I could navigate to the file using file explorer or whatever and run it.