Tech Monster
You’re an IT beast with skills that can squash any project in your path.
Get ready for monstrous action this holiday season with Microsoft Virtual Academy.
Dec 19
MVA: Complete two courses and win two cinema tickets so you can relax with the best movies these holidays!
Dec 09
Azure RemoteApp GA on the December 11, 2014
Azure RemoteApp delivers Windows Server session-based applications from the Azure cloud to provide scale, agility, and global access to your corporate applications. With Azure RemoteApp, you can enable your users to access corporate applications from anywhere and on a variety of devices, scale up or down to meet the dynamic business needs without large capital expense or management complexity, and centralize and protect corporate applications with the security features and reliability of Azure.
Azure RemoteApp will be generally available on December 11, 2014. Any Azure RemoteApp instances created during the current public preview period will continue to function as they do today. These instances will automatically transition to a 30-day free trial on December 11, 2014. The limit of two app collections and 10 users per instance will continue to be enforced during the free trial period. To remove these limitations, you can exit the free trial at any point and be charged the rates detailed on the Azure RemoteApp Pricing Details webpage.
Dec 06
Recovery Media for 8.1 made easy!
Need to re-install Windows 8.1 and need the media? Check out this new tool that makes it easy to get the right media.
Create installation media for Windows 8.1
If you want to install or reinstall Windows 8.1 and don’t have installation media, you can create it from this page. You’ll need to use a PC with a reliable Internet connection and either save the installation files to a USB flash drive or burn an ISO file to a DVD.
Before you begin, here are some things you’ll need:
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PC with an Internet connection. If you don’t have a reliable Internet connection, maybe you can go to a friend’s house, library, Internet café, or somewhere else with Internet.
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USB flash drive. Use a USB flash drive with at least 4 GB of available drive space. We recommend using a drive with nothing else on it.
-or-
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DVD. This requires a DVD burner on or connected to the PC you’re using to create the media, and a DVD player on the PC where you want to install Windows 8.1. Use a DVD with at least 4 GB of space, and we recommend using a blank DVD.
Here are some things to check on the PC where you want to install Windows 8.1:
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64-bit or 32-bit processor (CPU). You’ll need to download either the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Windows 8.1 that’s appropriate for your CPU. To check this on your current PC, go to PC info in PC settings or System in Control Panel, and look for System type.
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System requirements. See the system requirements before installing Windows 8.1. We also recommend that you visit your PC manufacturer’s website for info about updated drivers and hardware compatibility.
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Language in Windows. You’ll need to choose the same language when you install Windows 8.1. To see what language you’re currently using, go to Time and language in PC settings or Region in Control Panel.
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Edition of Windows. You should also choose the same edition of Windows. This might be Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 Pro. To check what edition you’re currently running, go to PC info in PC settings or System in Control Panel, and look for Windows edition.
When you’re ready, connect your USB flash drive or insert the DVD, tap or click Create media, and then follow the instructions.
* Your use of the Windows media creation tool is governed by the Microsoft Terms of Use for this website.
To install Windows 8.1, do one of the following:
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Connect the USB flash drive to the PC where you want to install Windows 8.1, browse to it in File Explorer, and then open the setup.exe file. Follow the instructions in setup.
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Insert the DVD into your PC, and then restart (reboot) it. Follow the instructions in setup.
Source: Windows.microsoft.com
Dec 06
Introduction to Azure for the SMB: the presentations
Here are the presentations of the introduction to Azure for the SMB session
Presentation Didier D’Joos:
Presentation Mike Martin:
Azure Files Demo Mike Martin:
Nov 26
(Deprecated) Remote Desktop Connection Manager 2.7 Released! Great New Features!
A great update to the aged version 2.2
2.7 Fixes & Features
From the above help file. Please review the help file for details.
New features
- Virtual machine connect-to-console support
- Client size options come from the application config file (RDCMan.exe.config) rather than being hard-coded.
- View.Client size.Custom menu item shows the current size
- View.Client size => From remote desktop size
- Option to hide the main menu until Alt is pressed. Hover over the window title also shows the menu.
- Added Smart groups
- Support for credential encryption with certificates
- Better handling of read-only files
- Added recently used servers virtual group
- New implementation of thumbnail view for more predictable navigation
- Thumbnail view remembers scroll position when changing groups, etc.
- Performance improvements when loading large files
- Allow scale-to-fit for docked servers (Display Settings.Scale docked remote desktop to fit window)
- Allow scale-to-fit for undocked servers (Display Settings.Scale undocked remote desktop to fit window)
- “Source” for inheritance in properties dialog is now a button to open the properties for the source node.
- Focus release pop up => changed to buttons, added minimize option.
- Added command-line “/noconnect” option to disable startup “reconnect servers” dialog
- Session menu items to send keys to the remote session, e.g. Ctrl+Alt+Del
- Session menu items to send actions to the remote session, e.g. display charms
- Domain=”[display]” means use the display name for the domain name.
Bugs fixed
- Application is now DPI aware
- Undocking a server not visible in the client panel resulted in the client not being shown in undocked form.
- Ctrl+S shortcut didn’t work at all. It now works and always saves, even if there are no detected changes to the file.
- Shortcut keys didn’t work when focus was on a thumbnail.
- Add/delete profile in management tab. In same dialog instance, profiles are not updated. Similarly adding a new profile from combo doesn’t update the tab.
- Window title was not updated when selected node is removed and no new node selected (open a file, close the file.)
- Connect via keyboard didn’t always give focus when it should.
- Connected Group would always show itself upon connecting to a machine, regardless of setting.
- Selecting a built-in group then hiding via menu option didn’t work properly.
- Editing server/group properties did not always mark a file as changed.
- Non-changes could result in save prompts at exit. This should no longer happen.
- Activating the context menu via the keyboard button was not always operating on the correct node.
- Changing a server/group name doesn’t change window title if the server/group is currently selected.
- ALT+PAGEUP and ALT+PAGEDOWN hotkeys were switched. This is fixed for new installs—for existing files you’ll want to change on the [Tools.Options.Hot Keys] tab.
- /reset command line option wasn’t resetting all preferences
- “Server Tree” option from “Select server” focus release dialog didn’t show the server tree if it was hidden.
- New file directory now defaults to “Documents”.
- ListSessions dialog sometimes popped up in a weird location. Now placed within the main window
Source: MS Blog (link removed)
Download: MS Download Center (No longer available)
#Edit July 2020: The product is no longer supported a Microsoft advises to use MSTSC or universal Remote Desktop client
Nov 18
Introducing Office 365 Video
Microsoft adds video to Office 365 to make sharing and sending video easy for enterprise
check out the MS Blog here
Nov 13
Windows 10: Technical Preview build 9879 released, download it now
New Build has been released for the Technical Preview of Windows 10 to update if you’re running a previous build go to update and recovery in pc settings and select preview builds
To update Windows To Go recreate your stick with the new iso as source: (This can also be done from a 8.1 Enterprise Windows)
What’s new in this build?
Nov 10
New Event : 4 December : introduction to azure for SMB
introduction to azure for SMB
Location: The Clubhouse, Groeningenlei 16, 2550 Kontich http://www.ClubHouse.be
Timing: Thursday, December 4, 2014 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM (CET)
6H30 pm : welcome
7H00 pm :Didier D’Joos – TechNine core member (https://twitter.com/DidierDJoos)
- IAAS Introduction
- Hands- on VMcution Azure
- Pricing & legal
8H00 pm : Break & networking and network creation
8h15 pm : Mike Martin – Azure MVP (http://about.me/techmike2kx )
“Protecting your online and on premises assets “Cloud Style”: OOTB and practices for backup management and strategy with…
9H15 pm :
Aftertalk and networking
Drankjes & hapjes zijn voorzien 
Oct 07
Registry tweak enables faster start-up for Apps in Windows 10
You may have come across a nag from the Windows Action Center that asks you to consider disabling some apps from the start-up process when Windows boots; this is all part and parcel of Microsoft trying to ensure speedy boot times, and as a result — from Windows Vista onward — it added a “Start-up delay” for apps. This is especially apparent in Windows 8, which was geared mainly toward touch and tablets.
This start-up delay can be disabled with varying results, to reduce the delay, do the following:
- Right click on the Start button, select Run
- Type regedit and hit the Enter key (or OK button)
- Go to the following Registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerSerialize
If the “Serialize” key does not exist, you should create it in “Explorer” by right clicking on Explorer: New > Key (name it Serialize).
- Create a new DWORD value in the Serialize key called StartupDelayInMSec and set it to 0:
That’s it! Depending on how many items you have in your start-up folder, you may notice a significant boost in the speed of how apps start on boot. Of course this could result in longer boot times if you have lots of start-up processes.
Give it a try and if it’s not for you simply follow the steps above again, this time deleting the Serialize key to revert back to the start-up delay.
This tweak will also work on Windows 8 and 8.1, if you are not familiar with regedit, we recommend that you skip over this tweak.
Source: Neowin By Steven Parker
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