1. Download from here – http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download

2. The Answers forum for Win8 – http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8

3. The Springboard series blog – http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/springboard/

4. The Windows Store Blog – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/

5. Springboard page for Windows 8 – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hh771457.aspx?ITPID=tnforum

Lots of resources – lots of excitement – go get it and try it today.

I have a survey up on the WindowsPCGuy facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/#!/WindowsPCguy about how you are looking at using the Tech Preview as well – take a moment to make a selection.

cheers

Kyle

when I am doing demo’s (or even just when I am working from home) I have multiple laptops set up and it is handy to be able to use one central keyboard when going from machine to machine. It works over IP so I have had an odd incident at home where I had a laptop in the lounge room and the mouse and keyboard had gone off the screen – in fact onto the laptop that was in the office

It also allows copy and paste and even drag and drop between the machines – very handy!

Anyway – go get it – from http://blogs.technet.com/b/next/archive/2011/09/09/microsoft-garage-download-mouse-without-borders.aspx

cheers

Kyle

It is interesting to note that the launch is being held in Barcelona – during the Mobile World Congress. I see that as being an indication of the alignment between the desktop, laptop and the mobile devices and promises then to provide a seamless journey through all of them.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out – I have been using the Build developer preview since it was released on one of my tablet PC’s and have found it to be fairly user friendly – there are some reservations I have with the Metro screen in a corporate, non-touch world – but it remains to be seen how that is implemented. I personally spend the majority of my time at the desktop – and so the metro screen is more a big start menu that I go to every now and then.

The other thing that will be interesting will be the introduction of the “marketplace” for the desktop – particularly with the promise of being able to have an app that is developed once and then can be used on mobile, desktop and tablet without any modification – now that sounds like a great plan – but again – lets see how it runs out.

When the CTP is released I will be loading it onto the tablet – and will report back.

Cheers

Kyle

There has been an eBook that Microsoft have had out for a while about “Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions” – I am pleased to report that this excellent (and free) eBook has been updated to include Windows 2008 R2 SP1.

Download it from here:   Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions, 2nd Edition.

Cheers

Kyle

http://www.facebook.com/WindowsPCguy

target down, patch out!

Wayne

The scam basically works like this –

1. The person on the phone advises that they have detected a problem with your machine – this problem was detected by you visiting websites – this in my case is where the scam always fall apart as I innocently ask them which of my 2 desktops, 4 laptops and 3 servers it was that the error occurred on – they cannot tell me.. mmmm.. ok
2. They get you to open the Event Viewer in the most convoluted fashion possible and then look for an error – it doesn’t matter what the error is – they just need you to find an error – this could also be a warning rather than an error – and with any Windows system working for a while you will always have something in the event logs – normally not an ongoing problem – but it is their “hook”.
3. Once they have found an error – they will claim that this is what they detected – and the reason for the issue is that your copy of Windows is out of warranty – and therefore things will now be going wrong and Microsoft will not “cover it” under warranty now. To the best of my knowledge there is no warranty on any software but according to this company there is. I have had a few calls of this type and one time I pressed on this point and was assured that it was just like my car has a warranty and if I want the car fixed after it was out of warranty I would have to pay for it. I suggested that that analogy did not reflect what he was saying in that when the warranty expires on the car the wheels do not simply fall off nor the steering start going wrong – the guy who I spoke with did not seem to get my point.
4. You will then be passed to a “Microsoft Certified” technician who will be able to support you further. In the past I have gone through with the call long enough to get to this person and being a curious trainer I asked for the guy’s actual certification – he told me that it was “Microsoft Certified Technician” – now – according to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-overview.aspx that certification doesn’t exist – so I asked him for his Microsoft transcript ID (a publicly shareable copy of certification) but he told me that I didn’t need to know that – I countered that I wanted to be able to trust the person who was working on my computer –he swore at me and hung up
5. At this point the “technician” will get you to install a remote client and you will be asked for a credit card. You will have then paid for a free service and have given a random stranger access to your computer.

So – what is the WindowsPCguy advice for handling this??

1. If you are in Australia – register for the Do Not Call register – then when you get a call like this – get the details and report them .
2. If you need assistance with a PC – seek out a trusted local contact – Microsoft will NEVER call you to report there is a problem with your computer – let me say that again – NEVER will you get a call from Microsoft like this. 
3. Do not install software from a random phone call from what is effectively a telemarketer.
4. For a home user (the normal target of this scam) enable Windows Update, install an Anti-Virus application and ensure that it is updated regularly.

If you are reading this and you have already installed the software and paid your money – uninstall the software and try and get your money back. Man – I cannot tell you how much this kind of thing annoys me!

Cheers

Kyle

Read more on how Microsoft themselves manage their environment, awesome!

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Windows-Server-2008-R2-Enterprise/Microsoft-IT/Maintaining-High-Availability-for-Microsoft.com/4000006662

So what does it do? Well – basically it starts to build on the improvements and changes in SCCM 2012 Operating System Deployment, has improved lite touch experience and functionality and also (and importantly IMHO) allows an upgrade from current MDT to the new version.

More reports after having more of a play with it!

Cheers

Kyle

http://www.facebook.com/WindowsPCguy

How cool is that?

I know, right.. seriously cool

But – what could you use this for? well say you have an application that you just cannot make work in Windows 7 – you have followed all of Chris Jackson’s methods, you have used the ACT, you have consulted the Application Compatibility Cookbook and you still cannot get it to work – that my friends is when you roll this baby out.

Jeremy Chapman (aka deployment genius) has sat down with AdamBomb (aka AdamBomb) on Edge to demonstrate how this works – http://edge.technet.com/Media/P2V-Migration-for-Software-Assurance-Beta-with-Jeremy-Chapman/

Now – you do need to have software assurance to get access to this – in the short term (while it is in beta) you can get it from connect – http://connect.microsoft.com (and while it is in beta you do not need to have SA)

Some of you may have already played with the Sysinternals DISK2VHD tool – this leverages off that same tool but then does much more!

Cheers

Kyle