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Last week, Paul Thurrott reported in the Windows IT Pro magazine network WinInfo Daily Update that MSN have begun beta testing of an add-on for the MSN toolbar called roaming favorites, allowing users to manage, search, and access Internet Explorer (IE) favorites whatever PC is in use, as long as it has the MSN toolbar […]

When I got my new company mobile a few weeks back, I turned it on and immediately received a couple of spam SMS messages inviting me to call a premium rate number. Of course, I deleted them, but I might not have if I’d known about Vodafone’s VSPAM initiative.
“When an unsolicited text message is received […]

Have you ever been asked to type out some obscure code on your mobile handset to retrieve some information for a support representative? Here are some of the useful codes I’ve found (tested on Nokia handsets using the two largest UK networks: Nokia 6021 connected to Vodafone; and Nokia 6600 connected to Orange):

*#06# - display […]

Earlier today I posted a link to Steve Friedl’s illustrated guide to IPSec. Steve’s site has a whole load of technical tips, but one item I stumbled across was his extremely interesting review of consultancy practices (subtitled as “Why work 8 hours/day for someone else when you can work 16 hours/day for yourself?”).
As an IT […]

I’ve been meaning to write something about Internet protocol security (IPSec) ever since I heard Steve Lamb talk about it a few months back but Owen Cutajar blogged about Steve Friedl’s Illustrated Guide to IPSec a few days back which gives a much better description than I ever will! Steve’s site has a whole load […]

The various Microsoft product groups issue service packs, feature packs and releases. This is all very well, but they mean different things to different people and are confusing. Then, last Friday, Paul Thurrott reported in the Windows IT Pro magazine network WinInfo Daily Update that Virtual Server 2005 SP1 will now become Virtual Server 2005 […]

A few months back, I was chatting with my Dad about his PC (you know, one of those “family IT support desk” jobs) and he was wondering what had happened to all of his hard disk space. David Chernicoff has written an article for Windows IT Pro magazine about the case of the missing disk […]

I just spent ages trying to work out why I couldn’t access the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) instance that an application had just installed… it may sound obvious, but make sure the MSSQLSERVER service is started!
In my defence, if an application requires a server or service restart after installation, I expect it to […]

Notwithstanding the fact that last month I wrote about how I’d finally found a use for a camera phone, my preferred feature list for a mobile handset is quite simple:

Make and receives calls (with good quality reception).
Long battery life.
Easy to use.
Good looks (colour screen would be nice).
Bluetooth data communications.
Infra-red data (IrDA) communications.
Multiple profiles (general, silent, […]

I just picked this up via Rory Street and although I haven’t tried it, it certainly looks interesting for those who are having problems accessing websites which check the browser version when using the Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 beta…
Mark Harrison has a post on his blog which talks about changing the IE7 user agent string […]