Category Microsoft

Did you know, you can request MS Hotfixes by browsing to a webpage?
Wow! Amazing, isn’t it?!

Submit an online request to obtain a Microsoft hotfix
Just by visiting that site, available at KB935195 you can get your request fulfilled!

This service is currently only available in English, and will ultimately deliver you to this website. But in all, excellent! Now a way to get hotfixes without going through the hassle of making a phone call, sitting in a queue, etc.

Definitely, let me know if this has helped you, like it has helped me!

Christopher Kusek

This is mainly for my reference, but if anyone else needs it, it is here as well.

If you do not know, by default MSDE 2000 (which is installed with a lot of applications) will by default eat up all of your available memory (up to 2gb). This is a very serious problem if you install an application with MSDE on an Exchange server, or other similarly shared servers. You’re best off limiting the memory. Some perfect examples are, on-box Anti-Spam Software, McAfee EPO, Blackberry BES Server, etc. So be aware.

DBCC SHRINKFILE(pubs_log, 2)

BACKUP LOG pubs WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY

BACKUP LOG pubs TO pubslogbackup

DBCC SHRINKFILE(pubs_log,2)

And if/when that does not work, you can also use…

DBCC OPENTRAN (database_name) – to check for open transactions.

DBCC SHRINKFILE (file_name, target_size)
DBCC SHRINKDATABASE (database_name, target_percent) – This works when shrinkfile hasn’t been working.

And to limit MSDE

Save as a .SQL File

USE master
EXEC sp_configure ‘show advanced options’, 1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE USE master
EXEC sp_configure ‘max server memory (MB)’, MaxServerMemory
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE

USE master
EXEC sp_configure ‘show advanced options’, 0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE

osql -E -S ServerComputerName\msfw -i Path\setchecksqlmemory.sql

*Update*

In the event that you need to do it all by hand using OSQL as a trusted connection, perform the following – Set to change it to 64mb of memory

————————————-

OSQL -E

USE master
EXEC sp_configure ‘show advanced options’, 1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE

GO

USE master
EXEC sp_configure ‘max server memory’, 64
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE

GO

USE master
EXEC sp_configure ‘show advanced options’, 0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE

GO

————————————-

That will drop the memory usage from 2gb down to 64MB almost immediately.
Disclaimer: the ‘max server memory’ keeps replacing the first single quote incorrectly, so it may need to be typed manually. Working on correcting.
INF: How to Shrink the SQL Server 7.0 Transaction Log

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256650/

INF: Shrinking the Transaction Log in SQL Server 2000 with DBCC SHRINKFILE

http://www.support.microsoft.com/?id=272318

You may experience high memory usage on an ISA Server 2004-based computer that logs messages to an MSDE database

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=909636

OSQL Syntax

http://www.di-mgt.com.au/osqlUtility.htm

Christopher Kusek

*Updated this post to appear in 2007 as it’s been used more often than I did in September when I first posted this*

Quite regularly, I run into the case where someone has been removed from the Comcast White-list, and they need to sign back up.

So, for future reference when unable to get a rejection email to fix it, here is the url.

http://www.comcastsupport.com/Forms/NET/blockedprovider.asp

That’s all for this.

Christopher Kusek

As Promised, here is the Slide Deck from my recent (Thursday, May 17th – 2007) CWUG Presentation on Technical Offerings.

Changes from what was presented – Added the VHD slide which wasn’t available in the presented form, updated the links for each of the resources.

Technical Offerings PDF

Technical Offerings PPT 97-2003

Technical Offerings PPTX 2007

Any questions, comments, concerns, feedback, etc.

Do not hesitate to let me know! Comment here, or feel free to email me.

Thanks

Christopher Kusek

Thanks to an excellent mention of a man I will name as “Rich”, I give the wonderful resolution to this problem!

For a basic summary of this problem –

If you were to stick a Wireless Card, like a Merlin V620, or the similar kind of PC Cards into your Vista machine, the system would immediately bluescreen.
This is obviously a fairly serious problem if you’d like to use your card in your system!

With the guidance and resolution already experienced by Rich, I offer the following solution!
In Computer Management – Device Manager – find “Smart card readers”

Look for something similar to “Texas Instruments PCI GemCore based SmartCard controller”
Then disable it.

If you do not use the SmartCard reader, then this is not a problem, if you do, certainly there is room for finding another/alternate resolution. Until that time though, I offer this. :)

Let me know if this works for you! Or if you have a better solution ;)

Christopher Kusek