Microsoft released a free software called “Mouse Without Borders” which allows you running multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse like Synergy. But the “Mouse Without Borders” brings a lot of cool features and an easy setup.
Okay, if like one of my clients your working in an environment where the IT department has decided to use Microsoft’s HyperV instead of shelling out the cash for VMware ESX, then you might be stuck in a position where you are stuck between a rock and equally tough place in terms of USB License Dongles. To date, Microsoft has yet to incorporate USB support into their flagship hypervisor platform, and this presents a problem.
Well, one which is now easily solved. A simple little app created by KernelPro, makes it possible to mount USB devices over a network from a designated host. Simply nominate a physical box in your environment to be a license server, insert all of your USB dongles into this system and use the management console to share out each one as a unique instance. A client agent which sits within the VM can then be configured to mount the shared USB device to its own operating system.
Iv had a quick play with this and am very impressed by the simplicity and reliability of this software. I was up and running with a shared USB memory key in less than 10 minutes, and a license dongle in about the same.
With a fully packed feature list, this software is well worth an investment from any organisation in need of a suitable USB Solution;
One of the better features is the “Deny sharing or connection of specific USB devices” allowing filtering of IP addresses which can connect to each device, serving as a brilliant additional method to control licensing of software. For example, say you have a HyperV High Avaliability scenario whereby one host must stay alive, with a piece of software connected to a shared USB dongle. Simply add the IP address of this host to the kernelpro configuration, it wont matter where in the organisation the VM is moved to, it will always be capable of reconnecting.
Check out more at http://www.kernelpro.com/usb-over-ethernet.html
The follow-up flags for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 messages appear on the right side of a mail folder view, instead of on the left side with the other icons, such as the icon for attachments. Is there a way to move the Flag Status column to the left side of the mail folder view?
It is possible to relocate the Flag Status column, but you’ll lose the context menu with its flag commands. That menu is available only when the Flag Status column appears in its special position on the right.
To reposition the Flag Status column, you need to remove it from the view first, then restore it in the desired position. To remove the Flag Status column, choose View, Arrange By, Current View, Customize Current View, then click Fields. In the Fields dialog box, select Flag Status, then click Remove. Click OK once to return to the Customize View dialog box.
Once its removed, simply follow the same process again to open the customize current view window and drag Flag Status from the Available Fields list into the Show these fields in this order list, positioning it as you want it to appear in the view.
Iv recently completed a new Media Center build for the parentals, a Windows Vista Ultimate setup using a Pinnacle 7010ix dual DVB-T card as its primary source of freeview television broadcast. Alas this card seems to have a small issue with sleep mode within vista (saying that, vista itself seems to have a little problem with sleep mode, as in it wont stay in it for any duration of time without waking up and forgetting to sleep again)….
I was having some issues with scheduled recordings, such as when the machine came out of sleep mode, it would only utlise one of the tuners on the 7010ix, thus making it kinda annoying when trying to watch one channel and record another, as media center would auto switch the channel for you, then not allow you to turn back to watching the other channel.
Im gonna be the first to admit, i have no idea why this problem occured in the first place, but here is the makeshift solution i found which seems to get the card back on its feet !
You will need the following peices of software ;
Firstly its a nice note to say, that id personally reccomend killing the Windows Vista power saving options and use the Standby Tool to completly replace this, its a much more reliable application (not surprising, since microsoft didnt make it) and actually has some quite cool features (although the daily reboot option never seemed to work for me, but no biggie).
net stop ehrecvr
net stop ehsched
devcon restart PCI\VEN_1131
net start ehsched
net start ehrecvr
And thats about it folks, that should make the media center standby tool automatically force the card to restart every time that media center comes out of sleep mode, seems to work for me and has proved itself quite well !
Any questions or comments, throw them over !
Enjoy !
Have you ever wanted to completely stop a certain application from running on your windows based machine, well heres the app for you. AppLocker provides a fantastic simply interface to allow you to do exactly this.
Whether you’d like to prevent Internet Explorer from running because you can’t uninstall it to get rid of it or because you’d like to disable web browsing on a computer used by a young child, AppLocker allows you to create a black list of applications that cannot be launched. The program isn’t as robust as making a separate user account and setting security policies but for a simple fix to keep a group of applications from being launched it’s more than adequate.
Welcome to Fluxbox, im afraid we have no affiliation with the Linux window manager, so if your looking for that, turn around now.
