Business | Martyn Walker | Software Architect

How to Solve WHS 2011 Connect in one simple step

Annoyances, Business, Microsoft, Software, WHS 2011 No Responses »

Oct 292011

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=23621

Explanation

I spent an entire hour trying to figure out why one of my PC’s would not connect to my fresh Windows Home Server 2011 installation. I don’t mind admitting I was mighty pissed off. How come every other PC connected via http://myserver/Connect – as per the instructions supplied by my new server’s post installation tableau and not this’n?

A little research quickly reveals many people experiencing similar problems. A bunch of them just gave up and did a complete reinstall. This made me think the problem was probably a router issue (firewalls and routers often to blame for connection issues and often forgotten by frustrated users staring at tubes and not cables).

I checked my hosts file – nothing odd there.
I checked my router – updated as per WHS 2011 via upnp.

It appeared my one naff PC had nothing stopping it gaining the same access the other PC’s on my network enjoyed. So a little more research using different phrases…

2478716 blog 200x300 How to Solve WHS 2011 Connect in one simple step

Unable to connect to WHS2011 Server when installing the Connect
Whs 2011 Client Connection Failure
WHS2011 Cannot Install Connector
WHS Connection Issues
download windows home server connector
WHS 2011 Connector Software Won’t Install
Cannot Install WHS2011 Connector

You get the idea. 5 minutes of this revealed nothing obvious. Plenty of replies and suggestions but zero solutions “Turn IPv6 off and it will work – it worked for me” with others suggesting “Solution is easy, you just need to install Windows Home Server twice”.

Microsoft knowledge base is often the place for solutions but it has been difficult to find stuff in there due to contaminated google searches full of rubbish. As the big G is not a Microsoft fanboy answers are buried many pages away from view.

Bing has none of these hangups and offers the right kind of bias, and thus, anyone of the above search terms will lead you to articles that often refer to Microsoft’s own solution to the problem which is a small executable file that once run solves all the issues and connects your disgruntled PC.

But why don’t Microsoft supply that as part of the Connector software? Perhaps the answer for that lies in Bing.

That link again if you missed it at the top of the article is http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=23621

Sanitize Gmail Contacts For Windows 7 Phone To Avoid Error 80070057

Annoyances, Business, Gmail, Gmail Contacts, Google Software, Hardware, HTC, Mobile, Software 25 Responses »

Oct 102011

Update

Mike Mongeau, a forum moderator at Microsoft Answers says as follows, I would point out the error I experienced was with one of the custom fields and not date but I think the date field will be the most common of the two. If this doesn’t work for you move beyond the update section for another potential remedy:

Everyone: I’ve done some digging and believe I know the cause behind the error code. It seems Google contacts allows for birthday fields of many formats, including something like Month, DD, YY. So, a birthday like “October 17, 11″ will cause a sync failure. The phone sees the year not as 2011, but actually as year 11. It naturally balks at this. Here are some other notable findings with this:

What’s odd is that Google doesn’t allow you to enter birthdays in this format (at least, not any longer). Instead, to get myself into a “bad state” I had to import my contacts with the birthday field entered like this. Meaning you guys either (1) imported your contacts or (2) had entered these birthday values in some older interface of Google’s contacts.
This isn’t a regression. Any contacts with this birthday value will, in fact, fail to sync pre-Mango – just the error code isn’t shown.

To fix: simply edit the birthday field of your contacts in this format (or delete) to be MM, DD, YYYY. Finally, remove and re-add your Google account.

3082818 s Sanitize Gmail Contacts For Windows 7 Phone To Avoid Error 80070057 The Problem
After installing Windows 7.5 (Mango) on my HTC Mozart Windows Phone all worked well for a couple of days. I noticed that Gmail was sometimes not synchronizing but put it down to poor cell coverage. I began to receive calls showing the number and not the contact, and then, when trying to make a call one day I found all my contacts missing.

I searched for solutions online. I found similar complaints however these were for the earlier version of Windows 7, 7.5 better known as Mango had only just been released and surely, the problems in the older version of the software had not been brought forward to the new?

They had.

I followed several suggestions on forums and blog posts but failed to solve the problem. I raised my question on Microsoft Answers but that, at time of writing this still offered no solution. Strange name for a website “Microsoft Answers” because they never bloody do.

The Solution For Me
To understand the solution it’s best you know what I think the cause is first. That way you may find a better solution for your own particular set of circumstances: I believe the cause is WP7′s inability to understand Gmail’s Custom field used in their contacts list to store miscellaneous information. At first I thought it might be some of the character sets in use in my contacts. I have Asian, Eastern European, Russian, Greek and several other contacts all of whom have shared their Vcards with more information in their own characters, but after summarily deleting these Microsoft remained incapable of importing them.

Some had large quantities of information, so I targeted these next, but still, Microsoft could not import them.

I was left with a few that had HTML tags which I removed and still Microsoft could not import Gmail contacts.

I then removed all Custom fields in Gmail and at last, Microsoft managed to import the records. So this is my solution and these are the steps I took to successfully import Gmail Contacts into my Windows 7 HTC Mozart Mobile Phone.

Export all Gmail contacts to Outlook CSV
Open CSV in your editor (I used Excel)
Delete the Notes column (in Excel click the top of the column and hit delete)
Save your CSV
Import CSV into Windows Live Contacts (this maybe unnecessary but I figure if Microsoft Phone cannot read Microsoft Windows Live contacts then I may as well have bought brick)
Delete all contacts in Gmail (Don’t panic, Gmail has an easy to use recovery feature if you screw up)
Export from Windows Live to CSV
With Gmail Contacts empty, use Gmail’s import utility to import the contacts you exported in the above step from Windows Live
Go to your Microsoft Windows 7 Phone and Synchronise

That did it for me; I hope it helps you.

Epilogue
Chrissakes Microsoft get this sorted. I can see people dumping your phone because of this one tiny-itty-bit of a problem and your choice to ignore complaints exacerbates the rush for alternatives. I decided against iPhone because I have Windows everything around me, I chose not to go for a Galaxy S because a friend complains the O/S and programs often crash. I am happy with the decision but frankly, if I can’t get access to my contacts the iPhone or Android make much more sense.

Vodafone customer service attitude sucks, their website lacks logic, fails to communicate and their adverts are innacurate

Annoyances, Business, Hardware, Mobile, Utilities 2 Responses »

Aug 312011

A letter to the Vodafone Group, Investors, Shareholders, Media, Vodafone Press Release Readers, Vodafone Sustainability initiative and the Vodafone Foundation.

Issues experienced today with Vodafone Customer Service, The Corporate Website of Vodafone Group PLC, Vodafone advertising and statements in Press Releases targeting investors and shareholders about Vodafone’s sustainability initiatives and the Vodafone Foundation.

The purpose of this text is to tell the reader of problems with Vodafone’s service, particularly customer service, experienced by a long-term Vodafone customer.

A communication company that fails to communicate and reacts to criticism like a cornered cat is beyond criticism, pity perhaps. Vodafone profits are huge so they get most things right, obviously I don’t meet their cookie-cutter-customer profile any more. I wonder if there are other people like me?

I have used Vodafone since the mid 80′s so naturally, when I needed an Internet dongle for mobile broadband they were the company I thought of.

I found an offer online, you can see it here. Pay as you go is perfect for my expected occasional use.

Installation was easy, performance was better than I had expected. The trouble began when I checked my account. I expected to see a little under 500mb of data valid for 60 days, instead I see 249mb valid until the end of September which is 30 days, but Vodafone customer service tell me I am wrong, apparently I don’t know how to add (I am not kidding, the customer support representative, on 08700 776655, at 15:27 today, calling himself Scott, actually said that).

When the call began Scott of Vodafone Customer Services denied the offer was 500mb for 60 days. When I read the advert to him he asked me where I bought the Internet dongle. When I told him it was a Vodafone shop he said it must have been a special offer from them and I should take it back to the shop I got it from.

I was lost for words, a little in shock I suppose, when Scott began the preamble for closing the call. I considered the amount of effort and time spent in getting this far and decided I was not ready for the call to end. I told him the advert on the website is clear, he is mistaken and all I want is my account to show what I bought.

voda1 Vodafone customer service attitude sucks, their website lacks logic, fails to communicate and their adverts are innacurate Scott of Vodafone Customer Services (call on 31/8/11 at 15:27) began to shout which did not improve my impression Vodafone’s customer service. His claim was this “Your account shows 250mb plus a £5 voucher worth another 250mb, that means you have a total of 500mb”. It was at this point he questioned my ability to add.

I tried to explain, but he failed to hear because he over-spoke again; I agree, 2 x 250mb is 500mb, but the amount of days between today and 30 sep 2011 = 30 not 60, precisely half promised by the advert. I do not want to find on day 40 the first 250mb has disappeared and I am left with just 250mb from another voucher because I failed to use the first 250mb in 30 days; I want what the advert promises “comes with 500MB UK data lasting up to 60 days”.

If picky you could say just one day is “up to 60 days”. Reasonable people would expect 500mb to last the advertised 60 days, if they do not use all 500mb the rest still available on the 60th day.

The “up to” part means if you use all of it before “60 days” then it has run out and you need to buy more if you wish to continue using it. It means if you have not used it by 60 days then they take it back. That’s my interpretation of the advert which differs with Vodafone’s.

Scotts rants continued, only when he stopped for breath did I get the chance to ask him to put me through to his supervisor.

Say hello to Natasha, Vodafone’s Customer Service Supervisor

Scott transferred me to Natasha. I asked if Vodafone record customer service calls.

“Yes”, Natasha replied.

“I suggest you dig the tapes out and listen to my conversation with Scott which will explain why I will use the remaining credit on this Internet Dongle, bought from you today, and then never willingly use a Vodafone product again.”

I didn’t mean to sound rude though I realise now I may have been hasty with my decision. It is not correct to blame the entire company for the failings of one person. The advert and customer service culture also share the blame.

I confess I did not wait for her reply. This was not due to decisive action or slamming the phone down in anger. What could she say? How could she help? I had informed her of a problem within her team, if she decides to act upon it she may help her paymaster keep more business, if not so what?

What is wrong with Vodafone’s Website

Originally I tried to buy the dongle online. This resulted in two failed attempts with my business card. Vodafone was “unable to identify me” yet still managed to take TWO payments from my bank. They did return them a few days later however no refund of bank charges or difference in exchange rate. It’s only a few pounds but how many people do they do this to? How many people have been unable to complain because of the impossible logic and validation rules required to use the online contact form?

Because I have a foreign bank I have to pay fees for each transaction, I also have to cover the margin on exchange rates. Vodafone duly pay back what they took but not the extra charges. Why should they? One reason is the unauthorised charges taken from my bank. That’s the actus reus of theft isn’t it?

It appears they make a charge of £1 to “validate” your identity and presumably refund this after they take the authorised payment. Since when have banks allowed websites to take bank details and payments WITHOUT the account holders permission?

Trying to contact them over the web is difficult. Calling them is easy but what if you need to send an attachment or serial number? To email them you need an account and you must be logged in; but why ask registered customers to complete same information again on the contact form? Even my local florist understands RDBMS (See Codd’s 12 rules).

It is a bizarre situation: To create an account you need a verify code sent to your dongle via SMS. What then if you cannot install your dongle? What if your dongle does not receive the SMS? What if the software refuses to work or give access to SMS messages? I had to wait an hour for the message to arrive, I have never had to wait before, for a while I thought the dongle had a problem.

It’s not courtesy or discount I want. For the last quarter century I trusted Vodafone to deliver on their promise and I would like that to continue.

Network Natzies Neutralize Net Progress

Annoyances, Business, On The Front Line, Programming No Responses »

May 292011

3082818 s Network Natzies Neutralize Net Progress Have you noticed the growing number of communications interrupted by network policies? Recently I have been told by in-house support staff they cannot see links to images and videos in their email. Its natural for companies to police what travels across their network but the current set of rules employed by some companies appear to be draconian and certainly get in the way of good communication. For years I have taken screenshots and more recently video demonstrations for support and training purposes. To avoid email attachment limitations I upload these to websites such as Screencast and Youtube.

Screencast is a professional and paid for service specifically designed for the secure sharing of images and video’s so when government and organisations ban Screencast and Youtube traffic across their network you have to wonder why. Are they not secure? Is this anti competitive? Do they not have protection against virus and malware that maybe included in the stream?

But why Youtube too? Surely Youtube’s rules over what can be uploaded and the many people that report innappropriate material is good enough, why ban the entire site? Is it purely that government and these organisations do not trust their staff that they have to introduce rules reminiscent of 19th century schools?

Its frustrating to put together a report that includes images and video links to help with the description only for it to be rejected by some daft Network Natzie who wishes to exert control over the network presumably to maintain a false impression that he/she is important.

Network policies and protection are important but if it damages the reputation or ability for a company to function then its counter productive. If you cannot protect your network without disabling the value that network provides then why bother? Save yourself a bunch and drill your head into the sand.

Stop Skype Auto Updates, Don’t want to upgrade Skype Thanks

Annoyances, Business, Microsoft, Software, Updates, Upgrades, Utilities 17 Responses »

May 232011

Important Update

Chris has found a better solution for some installations and explained how to stop Skype updating by modifying the policies applied to your PC. Click here to jump to his post in the comments. I would try his suggestion first and return to mine only if his doesn’t work. If my solution is brutal then his is subtle; should the Skype installed on your PC follow common standards, it will comply despite Skypes T&C’s

Like several million people I have utilised and enjoyed Skype for many years. Having lived in four different countries in the last 10 years it has been useful to keep in touch with friends and family. Best of all its free.

Stop Skype Auto Updates
Click here to cut the BS
I have it installed on two PC’s and a Laptop, version 5.1.0.112, but now and then I get asked to upgrade and each time it tries the result is the same. Skype no longer works. This has been going on for several versions. Skype support have not been able to fix the problem and forum suggestions have not worked. This is the same for the three machines I use.

So something I have done, some software on each of these three machines is to blame but each machine runs all the software I want from them without problem and as long as I stick with Skype 5.1 then everything is satisfactory.

Forced Upgrades

Skype is the only software I have ever used that forces upgrades. I know how ridiculous that sounds, all software gives you the option to upgrade or not and for good reason. Normal software gives you the choice so that you can manage compatibility issues, if any exist, between it and other sub systems.

Skype is different. They think its OK to take control of your desktop, without permission, and force an upgrade. This is wrong on so many levels that I do not believe they have considered how seriously this could damage their reputation.

Over the last few months I have experienced the following problems because of forced downloads:

1. While rendering videos causing the desktop to freeze. Support says I should not use Skype on the same PC. Nice solution Skype, very intelligent.

2. While completing an online payment form, with my credit card information, address and several fields painstakingly filled a Skype forced download forces a reboot in the background too. No questions asked, no chance to cancel. My time wasted and potentially a security risk. Nice solution Skype.

3. While watching a movie. Do you remember the days when adverts interrupted movies? Well it was a bit like that except on reboot the movie doesn’t start and or find your place again.

The fact that the upgrade never works and means I will have to uninstall and reinstall 5.1 again is more than annoying, its enough for me to look for alternatives.

Read our T&C’s…They Say

Perhaps the most remarkable situation in this horrid affair is the attitude of the Skype folk themselves. Until this issue arose I always imagined them to be a happy bunch of fluffy bunny kind of business men and women who want to do no more in life than please their customers. How sad and let down I felt when I discovered they are actually a bunch of tossers, at least the ones answering forum questions and support enquiries are.

Here are a few replies to people asking why they cannot stop forced downloads:

SKYPE may do things we do not like, but NEVER “dishonest”
It’s in their T+Cs that we all agree to

Yes, you can turn off automatic updates.
BUT
You can NOT turn off forced updates

Skype rarely does that, but their T+Cs allow it

and perhaps the best (and seriously misguided response)

You may not like it, indeed I may not like it, but the Law is The Law.
You agreed to SKYPES Terms and Conditions, and that IS the law.

I’m not sure which country has enshrined the use of Skype on to its statute books but I am sure I don’t live in it.

How to Force Skype to stop Forcing Updates

..or here’s one solution to all this nonsense

If Skype 5.3 and 5.2 do not work for you and you want to stick with the version you have and you want to block Skype updates then this may work for you. While hunting the Skype entries in the registry for clues they have an entry called DownloadEtag. An ETag is usually used to find the version of something, usually a cached page in a browser, but I suspect they are using it to decide the last time a forced download is used. Currently the value is set at 12150 but you may see a different value depending on when you read this (possibly depending on whether they have read this too).

Since setting this blank none of my machines have gone through the forced installation process. You can find it in your registry here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Skype\Installer\DownloadETag

Just set it to blank. Alternatively I have put together a .reg file to do it for you, just download and double-click the .reg file in this zip

And Skype, if you are reading this

I cannot believe you really want to do this. What makes you think you have the right to force people to do things against their will? My desktop belongs to me, not you. I paid for it, I support it and I decide what software I put on it and what I don’t. You cannot legislate away people’s rights through unreasonable “T&C’s”. Just ask Microsoft, they tried it in the 80′s and 90′s and look what happened to them, what makes you think you can do better?

Really, I *love* Skype the product, but this stupid policy is untenable, especially when TWO versions of the upgrades have failed (and judging by your forum continue to fail). Sort it out or you will be on the receiving end of a major disruption. There are huge players waiting for you to screw up, but that’s just the opinion of one, for now.

I would like to own a business like BT, who wouldn’t?

Annoyances, Business No Responses »

Dec 172010

years ago I lived in kesgrave, a village near Martlesham Heath, the place where BT Laboratories operate, the place I was told by Peter Cochrane, a former bigwig at the place, where they “invented broadband”. I have serious doubts over the accuracy of that, perhaps they created their version of it there.

The irony was that apart from the huge satellite dishes in their back garden the exchange all their bandwidth came through was located less than a stones throw from my office (you can imagine how tempting that was). Yet I could not get broadband because there were not enough people in the area to justify the installation.

The irony continued as Kesgrave, a village with one of the largest Internet pipes in the country running right through the middle of it was one of the last villages of it’s size to get broadband.

BT, unlike ordinary businesses, had no need of business risk. They were not prepared to install broadband in an area where there might not be enough business to cover their costs. Now that is the kind of business I want. Imagine that! Take any other business and how cool would it be if they apply the same rules. A baker would say “I am not even going to switch on the ovens until you guarantee you will buy all my bread”. It was a modern day goldmine.

Having lived in Kesgrave most of my life I had to move my business to a place where I could get a decent connection. In fact I moved to London and it was there I interviewed Peter Cochrane. He seemed oblivious of the irony but admitted he too was effected by the broadband blight in Kesgrave. He went on to work as a journalist for Silicon News and I find even more irony as many of his articles discuss how fantastic it is to get broadband in some obscure location (his latest is a good example).

Peter embodied the entire BT thinking, very much a company man without the ability to see outside company policy. 10 years on and he has moved on, if only the same could be said for BT, because this morning I received a remarkable notice from them.

In short it told me it was updating its terms and condition to say that it will no longer send notifications out regarding changes to them. From now on I must read their collective minds on potential changes and then look it up on their website to check if my mind reading exercise was indeed correct.

Actually this bothers me little, I cannee give a toss for their TOS. It was the next paragraph that intrigued me:

If you decide to move your broadband service from BT Retail, it’s important to use the Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) process (this is something most service providers use). If you cease your BT Broadband and don’t use the MAC (whether you are within the minimum period or not), you’ll be charged. From 10th January 2011, this charge is increasing from £22 to £30.

Well how about that? A business that can charge you because you stop using them!

I have to admit I didn’t know about this. Since when has that been common business practice? Isay “common” because this is clearly just a price rise rather than an announcement.

Bizarre. They will not supply you service unless you can prove it will make them a profit and after you have done that, and presumably they have made a profit, they will charge you for not using it anymore.

It would be laughable if not a little worrying. While the counter argument is they no longer have a monopoly that is not true of all locations in the UK. My personal conclusion is that I am glad to own shares in this company and my goal is to own one just like it.

Upon My Word This New Ribbon Just Gets Worse!

Annoyances, Business, Microsoft Word No Responses »

Dec 012010

It’s tempting to begin calculating how much more time it takes to work with the latest version of MS Word. As I have to run a time sheet I recorded the time I began this morning, and the first job of the day was to add the “SavedDate” and “RevNum” variables to “To Do List.docx”. Two versions ago this would be a simple case of selecting these fields and adding them to the document, a two minute Job.

Half an hour later and I still did not have these in my document. I know this sounds daft, I can barely believe it myself, but because I had consciously added the time to my time sheet I can be absolutely sure the exact amount of time taken from start to closing the document was 32 minutes and 13 seconds.

I have now gone through each ribbon methodically and the “Field…” option that used to sit under the “Insert” menu does not exist anymore. Not on any of the ribbons.

The only way to get access to the Filed menu option I could find was to right click the ribbon and customize it.

So what? Why didn’t I do that 30 minutes ago? Well I was under the impression this new ribbon feature was supposed to make things easier so I wanted to work with it, find the benefits.

Sadly, I just cannot do it, clearly set in my ways and not likely ever to get to grips with it. Sad ‘ol codger as my kids will say.

As an aside this took just over 2 minutes to write, add photo and save, +1 for WordPress.

Chance favours the connected mind

Business, Social Media, twitter No Responses »

Oct 112010

A great animation for Steven Berlin Johnson’s book “Where Great Ideas Come From”

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

How many people are connected to the Internet?

Business, Social Media No Responses »

Aug 302010

1.6 billion reasons to start an Internet business in 2010

Martyn Walker | Software Architect | Hiker And Hacker

How to Solve WHS 2011 Connect in one simple step