Core Configurator – download it whist you can…

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

A few months ago, I wrote a post on customising Windows Server 2008 Server Core and Michael Armstrong tipped me off about a cool utility, written by former MVP Guy Teverovsky, called Core Configurator. I say former MVP, because Guy has given up that award to join Microsoft in Israel – and I’m not surprised, after his employer claimed it was their intellectual property (even though he developed it in his spare time) and asked him to remove it from the web.

Anyway, Core Configurator is intended to provide a GUI (strange as it may seem on server core) to aid in the initial setup tasks for a server core machine including:

  • Product activation.
  • Display configuration.
  • Date and time configuration.
  • Remote Desktop configuration.
  • Local user account management.
  • Firewall configuration
  • WinRM configuration
  • Networking.
  • Computer name and domain/workgroup membership.
  • Installation of server core features/roles.
  • Shutdown.
  • Reboot.

Because the tool has been removed from the web, it’s now pretty hard to get hold of, so download it while you can (there is another download location but this version has a slightly different filename and I cannot vouch for the file contents – i.e. I have not tested it). Once it’s gone, it’s gone – so don’t ask me where to get it if these links stop working.

Reviewing documents? Forget about review sheets and use the features in Word instead!

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

A few weeks back, I was taking part in a document review process where the prescribed format of the review involved recording all the document comments on a separate sheet and then sending them back for consideration. Describing where the change/comment applied (e.g. section 1.1, paragraph 4, it states “blah blah blah” but really it should be “something entirely different”; section 2, last paragraph, extraneous apostrophe in PC’s; etc.) is a very labour intensive process for all the reviewers involved – it’s far easier to work through a work document and add comments/tracked changes as required.

Today, I was on the receiving end of some comments on one of my designs and I had the opposite problem – several documents with comments embedded to wade through (and one on a review sheet for good measure… grrr).

The obvious issue with receiving several documents with embedded comments/changes is how to merge all of the separate review comments into one place – and it turns out that’s easily done using Word 2007’s built-in tools for combining and comparing documents (Word 2003 has similar functionality on the Tools menu – Compare and Merge Documents…).

Compare and combine tools in Microsoft Word 2007

Once I had all the review comments merged into a single document (which only took a few seconds), I could track changes, make my edits (the review pane is useful here to jump between comments) and send it back for final sign-off. A few minutes later I had confirmation that the changes were approved, following which I accepted the changes in the document, removed hidden metadata (using the document inspector) and published the document.

It’s all quite straightforward really – the trouble is that most of us still use our office applications in the same way that we did 15 years ago… and, dare I say it, aside from knowledge workers using word processing software on a PC instead of relying on secretarial staff, the basic process probably hasn’t changed much since the days of the typing pool…

Software as a Service – or Software plus Services?

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

There’s a lot of media buzz right now about cloud computing – which encompasses both “web 2.0” and Software as a Service (SaaS). Whilst it’s undeniable that web services are becoming increasingly more important, I’ll stand by my comments from a couple of years ago that the “webtop” will not be in mainstream use any time soon and those who are writing about the the death of Microsoft Windows and Office are more than a little premature.

Even so, I was interested to hear Microsoft’s Kevin Sangwell explain the differences between SaaS and the Microsoft idea of software plus services (S+S) during the recent MCS Talks session on infrastructure architecture.

I’ve heard Microsoft executives talk about software plus services but Kevin’s explanation cut’s through the marketing to look at what S+S really means in the context of traditional (on premise) computing and SaaS:

Kevin made the point that there is actually a continuum between on premise and SaaS solutions:

Software delivery continuum and software services taxonomy

  • We all understand the traditional software element – where software is installed an operated in-house (or possibly using a managed service provider).
  • Building block services are about using web services to provide an API to build applications “in the cloud” – so Amazon’s simple storage service (S3) is an example. This gives developers something to hook into and onto which to deliver a solution – for example, Jungle Disk uses the Amazon S3 platform to provide online storage and backup services.
  • Attached services provide self-contained functionality – for example anti-spam filtering of e-mail as it enters (or exits) an organisation.
  • Finished services are those that operate entirely as a web service – with salesforce.com being one, often quoted, example – Google Apps would be another (not that Microsoft are ever likely to promote that one…).

S+S is about creating a real-world hybrid – not just traditional or cloud computing but a combination of software and services – for example an organisation may use a hosted Exchange Server service but they probably still use Microsoft Outlook (or equivalent software) on a PC.

So, would moving IT services off to the cloud make all the associated IT challenges disappear? Almost certainly not! All this would lead to is a disjointed service and lots of unhappy business users. SaaS and S+S do not usually remove IT challenges altogether but they replace them with new ones – typically around service delivery (e.g. managing service level agreements, integrating various operational teams, etc.) and service support (e.g. presenting a coherent service desk with appropriate escalation between multiple service providers and the ability to assess whether a problem relates to internal IT or the hosted service) but also in relation to security (e.g. identity lifecycle management and information rights management).

Kevin has written an article for The [MSDN] Architecture Journal on the implications of software plus services consumption for enterprise IT and, for those who are interested in learning more about S+S, it’s worth a read.

Incorrect side-by-side configuration caused by missing runtime libraries

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

Just before the weekend, I was trying to run an application on a 64-bit installation of Windows Server 2008 and was presented with a strange error:

This application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more details.

I know that side-by-side is something to do with avoiding DLL hell (by not dumping all the DLLs in the same folder with the consequences of one application overwriting another’s libraries) but I didn’t have a clue how to fix it and the application event log didn’t help much:

Log Name: Application
Source: SideBySide
Date: 15/08/2008 18:00:10
Event ID: 33
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: computername.domainname.tld
Description:
Activation context generation failed for “C:\foldername\applicationname.exe”. Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture=”x86″,publicKeyToken=”1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b”,type=”win32″,version=”9.0.21022.8″ could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

Thankfully, Junfeng Zhang wrote a comprehensive blog post about diagnosing side by side failures. It’s a bit too developery for me but I did at least manage to follow the instructions to produce myself a sxstrace:

=================
Begin Activation Context Generation.
Input Parameter:
        Flags = 0
        ProcessorArchitecture = AMD64
        CultureFallBacks = en-US;en
        ManifestPath = C:\foldername\applicationname.exe
        AssemblyDirectory = C:\foldername\
        Application Config File =
-----------------
INFO: Parsing Manifest File C:\foldername\applicationname.exe.
        INFO: Manifest Definition Identity is (null).
        INFO: Reference: Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8"
INFO: Resolving reference Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8".
        INFO: Resolving reference for ProcessorArchitecture x86.
                INFO: Resolving reference for culture Neutral.
                        INFO: Applying Binding Policy.
                                INFO: No publisher policy found.
                                INFO: No binding policy redirect found.
                        INFO: Begin assembly probing.
                                INFO: Did not find the assembly in WinSxS.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\9.0.21022.8__1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.MANIFEST.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.MANIFEST.
                                INFO: Did not find manifest for culture Neutral.
                        INFO: End assembly probing.
        ERROR: Cannot resolve reference Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8".
ERROR: Activation Context generation failed.
End Activation Context Generation.

=================
Begin Activation Context Generation.
Input Parameter:
        Flags = 0
        ProcessorArchitecture = Wow32
        CultureFallBacks = en-US;en
        ManifestPath = C:\foldername\applicationname.exe
        AssemblyDirectory = C:\foldername\
        Application Config File =
-----------------
INFO: Parsing Manifest File C:\foldername\applicationname.exe.
        INFO: Manifest Definition Identity is (null).
        INFO: Reference: Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8"
INFO: Resolving reference Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8".
        INFO: Resolving reference for ProcessorArchitecture WOW64.
                INFO: Resolving reference for culture Neutral.
                        INFO: Applying Binding Policy.
                                INFO: No publisher policy found.
                                INFO: No binding policy redirect found.
                        INFO: Begin assembly probing.
                                INFO: Did not find the assembly in WinSxS.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\9.0.21022.8__1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
                                INFO: Did not find manifest for culture Neutral.
                        INFO: End assembly probing.
        INFO: Resolving reference for ProcessorArchitecture x86.
                INFO: Resolving reference for culture Neutral.
                        INFO: Applying Binding Policy.
                                INFO: No publisher policy found.
                                INFO: No binding policy redirect found.
                        INFO: Begin assembly probing.
                                INFO: Did not find the assembly in WinSxS.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\9.0.21022.8__1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.MANIFEST.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.DLL.
                                INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\foldername\Microsoft.VC90.CRT\Microsoft.VC90.CRT.MANIFEST.
                                INFO: Did not find manifest for culture Neutral.
                        INFO: End assembly probing.
        ERROR: Cannot resolve reference Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8".
ERROR: Activation Context generation failed.
End Activation Context Generation.

I don’t understand most of that trace but I can see that it’s trying to find a bunch of resources named Microsoft.VC90.CRT.* and a search of my system suggests they are missing. Microsoft VC sounds like Visual C++ and v9 would be Visual Studio 2008. Checking back at the original developer’s website, I saw that he suggested to someone else experiencing problems that they might need the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 redistributable package. I thought that the whole point of having the Microsoft .NET Framework on my PC was so that .NET applications would run, regardless of the language they were developed in (if there are any developers reading this, please feel free to leave a comment on this because I’m out of my depth at this point) but I downloaded the latest x64 version and installed it on my system.

No change (same error).

I realised that I was using the latest (SP1) version (v9.0.30729.17) and perhaps I needed the original one (v9.0.21022) as that’s the version number in the systrace log. So I removed the SP1 version and installed the original redistributable package instead.

Still no change.

I had the C++ source code, so I considered recompiling the application but I found that there was no compiler on my system (unlike for C#) and so I needed to install one of the Visual Studio Express Editions and would take a while. So I thought about other options.

It turned out that, even though I was running on 64-bit Windows, I needed to install a 32-bit redistributable. Don’t ask me why (that’s another developer question – the references to GAC_32 and Win32 in the sxstrace probably provide a clue) but it worked – and it didn’t matter whether I used the original or the SP1 version of the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 redistributable package (so I used SP1).

Now the application runs as expected. It’s got me thinking though… I really should learn something about .NET development!

Setting up a digital photography workflow: preferences for Adobe Bridge, Camera Raw and Photoshop CS3

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

A couple of weeks back, I wrote about Adobe Photoshop CS3 from a photographer’s perspective and in this post I’ll outline some of the application preferences for Bridge (CS3), Camera Raw (4.x) and Photoshop (CS3) that may be useful when setting up a digital photography workflow (with thanks to David Tunnicliffe, who originally provided me with the bulk of this information):

  • In general (at an operating system level):
    • Add some memory (noting that each PC or Mac will have a limit in the maximum amount of memory it can support and that 32-bit operating systems can only access approximately 3.2GB).
    • Resist the temptation to compress hard disk drives – disks are relatively inexpensive and the available storage capacity is increasing rapidly.
  • Bridge (CS3: my installation is at v2.0.0.975; some extra information here relating to features introduced at v2.1):
    • General: adjust the background colour – dark grey will generally provide a non-distractive background; if Bridge is to be used for importing images when a camera is connected, select the appropriate checkbox under Behavior; remove items from the Favorites list that will not be used (e.g. Start Meeting).
    • Thumbnails: enable Adobe Camera Raw for JPEG and TIFF file handling; 400MB is the default maximum file size for the creation of thumbnails and should be more than enough for most photographers (unless they scan images at very high resolutions); high quality thumbnails can be useful; however conversion on preview is an intensive operation and should be avoided.
    • Playback: few photographers will be interested in media playback options (new in v2.1 – not present in v2.0).
    • Metadata: select/deselect as required – few photographers will need audio, video, or DICOM; GPS is becoming more relevant with the advent of location-based services.
    • Labels: edit the description to match the colour coding system in use – together with ratings, these can be useful for sorting.
    • Keywords: Can be used to build a hierarchy of keywords (new in v2.1 – not present in v2.0).
    • File type associations: edit if required to change the application that is associated with a given file type. Generally, these may be left at their defaults/
    • Cache: Clear the cache if problems are experienced with thumbnails (new in v2.1 – not present in v2.0).
    • Inspector: not really relevant unless using Adobe VersionCue to manage workflow.
    • Startup Scripts: these can be disabled if not used but I have left them at the default settings (removing scripts will accelerate application load times).
    • Advanced: this is the place to clear the cache if there are issues with thumbnail display; international settings for language and keyboard are also set here; software rendering should be avoided if there is suitable graphics hardware available to do the work instead.
    • Adobe Stock Photos: probably of limited use to people who would like to sell their work! In fact, the service was discontinued in April 2008 and can be uninstalled from Bridge.
    • Meetings: Only relevant with Adobe Acrobat Connect.
  • Camera Raw (my installation has been updated to v4.5.0.175; the version originally shipped with my copy of Photoshop CS3 was v4.0):
    • Preferences (available in other Photoshop applications whilst loaded): save image settings in sidecar (.XMP) files; apply sharpening to preview images only; Camera Raw cache defaults to 1GB and can be purged if issues are experienced; JPEG and TIFF handling selected (not available in v4.0).
    • Main interface: ensure Preview is selected.
    • Workflow options (link at the bottom of the ACR window): Adobe RGB (1998) is probably the best colour space for most photographers (Sean T. McHugh explains more about the comparison between sRGB and Adobe RGB 1998); use 16-bits per channel; use size and resolution to upscale (for better results than applying interpolation in Photoshop).
  • Photoshop (CS3: v10.0):
    • General: Color picker should be set to Adobe; Image interpolation should be selected according to purpose but bicubic smoother is probably the most useful for photographers.
    • Interface: Select remember palette locations.
    • File handling: select the prefer Adobe Camera Raw for filetype options if you want to open JPEG or RAW files in Adobe Camera Raw (recommended); increase the length of the recent file list if required; disable version cue if not required.
    • Performance: Photoshop is memory hungry but don’t let it take more than 70% of the available RAM (that is the default) – use the ideal range as a guide; adjust scratch disk settings if you have multiple disks available; enable 3D acceleration if supported by the GPU; increase the number of history states if possible.
    • Transparency and Gamut: ensure opacity is set to 100% (default setting).
    • Units and rulers: minimum print resolution for new documents should be 300ppi (72ppi is fine for screen).
    • Plug-ins: this is only relevant if you have plug-ins for an old version of Photoshop or in a strange location.
    • Cursors; Guides, Grid, Slices and Count; Type: Nothing to change.

Of course, this is just scraping the surface – these applications alone are probably not the complete workflow and each of them offers far more functionality than most photographers will require. If you’re using the CS3 applications for graphic design work, then you’ll probably have a totally different setup.

In case the UK Government’s record on IT wasn’t already bad enough…

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’m not sure how I missed this one, but the UK Government‘s latest public relations stunt is the Prime Minister’s blog. Yes, that’s right – since Monday, Gordon Brown has been blogging at Number10.gov.uk (for those outside the UK, number 10 Downing Street is the traditional London home and office for the Prime Minister of the day – and in case you hadn’t noticed, Tony Blair got out while the going was reasonably good and left the former Chancellor as a caretaker PM until the next election… [sorry, nearly broke my own golden rule for no politics on this blog there]).

Given this administration’s record on matters of an IT nature, I would hope they had better things to do (of course, the PM is not churning this stuff out himself). With Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube feeds (as well as the Brightcove-based Number 10 TV) he wouldn’t have much time left to run the country [on second thoughts, maybe that is what he is doing… it would explain a lot about the state of the nation…].

Of course the site is, at worst, a thinly veiled PR exercise and, at best, an attempt to engage an increasingly disillusioned electorate in discussion with the Government of the day. After all, the standard response to most e-petitions seems to be a condescending e-mail from the appropriate department which can usually be paraphrased as “yeah, yeah, we heard you but we’re still going to carry on regardless”.

Still, at least they’re using WordPress as their CMS (albeit without any kind of acknowledgement)!

Windows 7 blog launched

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

After a year of speculation about what will, or won’t, be included in the next version of Windows, it looks like Microsoft might be getting ready to tell us a bit more. Yesterday they launched a new blog called Engineering Windows 7 (thanks to Dave Saxon for alerting me). As the title suggests, it’s all about putting together the next version of Windows and is probably worth keeping an eye on.

So, you want to be an infrastructure architect?

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

Over the years I’ve had various jobs which have been basically the same role but with different job titles. Officially, I’ve been a Consultant, Senior Consultant, Project Manager, Senior Technical Consultant, Senior Customer Solution Architect (which would have been a Principal Consultant in the same organisation a few years earlier but management swapped the “architect” word for a drop in implied seniority) but if you ask me what I am, I tend to say I’m an infrastructure architect.

Issue 15 of The [MSDN] Architecture Journal included an article about becoming an architect in a systems integrator. I read this with interest, as that’s basically what I do for a living (believe me, I enjoy writing about technology but it will be a long while before I can give up my day job)!

The Architecture Journal tends to have an application focus (which is only natural – after all, it is produced by developer-focused group in a software company) and I don’t know much about application development but I do know how to put together IT solutions using common off the shelf (COTS) applications. I tend to work mostly with Microsoft products but I’ve made it my business to learn about the alternatives (which is why I’m a VMware Certified Professional and an Red Hat Certified Technician). Even so, I’m stuck at a crossroads. I’m passionate about technology – I really like to use it to solve problems – but I work for a managed services company (an outsourcer in common parlance) where we deliver solutions in the form of services and bespoke technology solutions are not encouraged. It seems that, if I want to progress in my current organisation, I’m under more and more pressure to leave my technical acumen behind and concentrate on the some of the other architect’s competencies.

Architect competencies

I’m passionate about technology – I really like to use it to solve problems

I understand that IT architecture is about far more than just technology. That’s why I gained a project management qualification (since lapsed, but the skills are still there) and, over the years, I’ve developed some of the softer skills too – some which can be learnt (like listening and communications skills) – others of which only come with experience. I think it’s important to be able to dive into the technology when required (which, incidentally, I find helps to earn the respect of your team and then assists with the leadership part of the architect’s role) but just as important to be able to rise up and take a holistic view of the overall solution. I know that I’m not alone in my belief that many of the architects joining our company are too detached from technology to truly understand what it can do to address customers’ business problems.

Architect roles
OK, so I’m a solutions architect who can still geek out when the need arises. I’m still a way off becoming an enterprise architect – but do I really need to leave behind my technical skills (after having already dumped specialist knowledge in favour of breadth)? Surely there is a role for senior technologists? Or have I hit a glass ceiling, at just 36 years of age?

I’m hoping not – and that’s why I’m interested in the series of webcasts that Microsoft Consulting Services are running over the next few months – MCS Talks: Enterprise Architecture. Session 1 looked at infrastructure architecture (a recorded version of the first session is available) and future sessions will examine:

  • Core infrastructure.
  • Messaging.
  • Security and PKI.
  • Identify and access management.
  • Desktop deployment.
  • Configuration management.
  • Operations management.
  • SharePoint.
  • Application virtualisation.

As should be expected, being delivered by Microsoft consultants, the sessions are Microsoft product-heavy (even the session titles give that much away); however the intention of the series is to connect business challenges with technology solutions and the Microsoft products mentioned could be replaced with alternatives from an other vendors. More details on the series can be found on the MCS Talks blog.

This might not appeal to true enterprise architects but for those of us who work in the solution or technical architecture space, this looks like it may well be worth an hour or so of our time each fortnight for the rest of the year. At the very least it should help to increase breadth of knowledge around Microsoft infrastructure products.

And, of course, I’ll be spouting forth with my own edited highlights on this blog.

Yes, you can use all the processing power on a multi-core system

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

I’ve heard a few comments recently about it not being worth buying multi-core processors because it’s impossible to harness all of the processing power and I have to say that is a pile of stuff and nonsense (putting it politely).

Well, it is nonsense if the operating system can recognise multiple processors (and Windows NT derivatives have had multi-processor support for as long as I can remember) but it also has a lot to do with the software in use. If everything is single threaded (it shouldn’t be these days), then the operating system scheduler can’t spread the threads out and make the most of it’s processing capabilities.

Anyway, I’ve been maxxing out a 2.2GHz Core2Duo-based notebook PC for the last couple of days with no difficulties whatsoever. My basic workload is Outlook 2007, Office Communicator 2007, Internet Explorer (probably a few windows, each with a couple of dozen tabs open) and the usual bunch of processes running in the background (anti-virus, automatic updates, etc.). Yesterday, I added three virtual machines to that mix, running on a USB2-attached hard drive (which, unlike a Firewire drive, also requires a big chunk of processing) as well as TechSmith SnagIt, as I was testing and documenting a design that I was working on and that did slow my system down a little (the first time there has been any significant paging on this system, which runs 64-bit Windows Server 2008 and has 4GB of RAM).

Then, today, I was compressing video using Camtasia Studio 5 (another TechSmith product) and, despite having closed all other running applications besides a couple of Explorer windows, it was certainly making full use of my system as the screenshots below show. Watch the CPU utilisation as I start to render my final video output:

Windows Task Manager showing increased CPU utilisation as video rendering commences

during rendering:

Windows Task Manager showing increased CPU utilisation as video rendering commences

and after the task was completed, when CPU activity dropped to a more normal level:

Windows Task Manager showing increased CPU utilisation as video rendering commences

Of course, a lot of this would have been offloaded to the GPU if I had a decent graphics card (this PC has an Intel GMA965 controller onboard) but I think this proves that multiple processor cores can be fully utilised without too much effort…

Changing the product key for Microsoft Office applications without reinstalling

Posted on By Mark Wilson
This content is 17 years old. I don't routinely update old blog posts as they are only intended to represent a view at a particular point in time. Please be warned that the information here may be out of date.

The notebook PC that I use for work has Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 installed. Office Enterprise includes most of the applications that I need but not Visio, so I also have Microsoft Office Visio 2007.

The 2007 office products can be used a certain number of times before activation is required and, unfortunately, when I tried to activate my copy of Visio I found that the product key had been used too many times and activation failed (the Office Enterprise key was fine). After watching the number of trial uses of the product slowly decrement, I needed to change the product key, but didn’t want to have to re-install Visio.

Microsoft knowledge base article 895456 provides details for changing the product key for the 2007 Office system (as well as other releases).

It’s important to note that:

  • For a 64-bit version of Windows, the registry location to edit will be HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\version\Registration rather than HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\version\Registration.
  • If multiple Office products are installed, multiple GUIDs will appear in the registry – the important entry to look at will be the ProductName – in my case one GUID had a ProductName of Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 and the other had a ProductName of Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007.

Once the correct GUID had been tracked down and the associated DigitalProductID and ProductID entries removed, I fired up Visio, entered a different product key and successfully activated the software.