I was testing out Office 2013 RTM today and while I liked many things about the update, I found the first thing I dislike. While pretty minor, it was having a larger effect on my typing. In Office 2013 products, the cursor is animated. As you type, instead of the cursor disappearing or moving ahead while you type, it is animated to keep moving with each letter entered. The … [Read more...]
Group Policy causes Windows 8 apps to close immediately
Windows 8 is a significant change and is going to require thorough testing before getting rolled out to organizations. One example I ran into recently involved the new Windows 8 apps. Whenever you would try to start one of these apps like Mail or Photos from the Start Screen, the icon would flip toward you and become full screen. It would then close back to the Start Screen … [Read more...]
WMI commands result in “The specified module could not be found.”
Windows Management Instrumentation has received a few mentions around 404TS in recent months. This morning, I got a closer look at it again. I received what I like to call a "pile of symptoms" and get to try to find the root cause. The symptom that resulted in receiving the initial call was that shutdowns were taking about 10-15 minutes. The first technician to respond also … [Read more...]
Free eBook: Windows 8 Overview for IT Professionals from Microsoft Press
I think Windows 8 is a fine upgrade for consumers. As an IT Pro, I'm not terribly excited about it coming to the enterprise. It's changing the game a lot and not necessarily for the better. I'm not looking forward to explaining why a user who bought a Windows RT device won't be able to use our standard applications unless they can be acquired through the Windows Store. I'm also … [Read more...]
Windows 8 Action Center: Find and install an antispyware app online (Important)
One of the improvements with Windows 8 will be the fact that it comes with antivirus and antimalware functionality. Microsoft Security Essentials has essentially been absorbed into the operating system. You can replace it with different security software if you would like but for the many people that don't install antivirus software at all, there is now at least a baseline of … [Read more...]