Jun 30

Update not applicable trying to update your (european) Surface RT to 8.1 Preview?

quick fix:

– make sure you have the English language installed check language / your default language set to English US / check options, ‘windows display language’ states should be enabled.(if not select the download option)

– in HKey_Local_Machine/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Nls/Language change the string “InstallLanguage” to 409
– restart your Surface, and retry the update for http://preview.windows.com

The update will now install and after reboot you’ll be notified to update to 8.1 via the Store.

Mind this does take a while, but it’s worth the wait 🙂

Jun 26

Windows 8.1 Preview now available, download here!

Windows 8.1 Start Screen

Microsoft have finally released the highly anticipated Windows 8.1 Preview for the public to download and install. The Preview was shown off earlier today at the BUILD developer conference, where Microsoft talked about the updates many new features.

The download is being distributed via a few different methods. The Preview is available via the Windows Store, or via traditional ISO methods. The user can choose how they wish to upgrade to Windows 8.1. The ISO’s are available in both 32-bit and 64-bit variant’s.

The Windows 8.1 Preview features many new additions to the Start Screen and desktop, including more tile sizes, boot-to-desktop and more tweaks and perks. What are you waiting for? Check the link below and get your download on!

Jun 25

Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Preview Available for Download

Finally the preview is available, time for testing!

2012R2Ess

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server-essentials/windows-server-2012-r2-essentials.aspx

 

Jun 24

Microsoft talks more about IE10 security features

In May, NSS Labs issued the results of its study of web browsers in terms of blocking malware. It showed Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 blocking 99.96 percent of all malware during their test period, which was a much better percentage than Chrome or Firefox. Today, Microsoft went over some of the features in IE10 that helps it stop malware and other security issues along with the results of another security report.

The official IE blog states that for stopping direct malware attacks via websites, IE10 uses a combination of SmartScreen URL filtering and Application Reputation features. For websites that are normally trusted but become infected by malware, IE10 users can use the XSS Filter that is made to fight off these kinds of exploits. Finally, IE10 has more memory protection features and its Enhanced Protected Mode.

Microsoft cites another third party security report, the Secunia Vulnerability Review 2013, to show IE10 is better than its competitors in offering safer PC Internet browsing. The report claims that IE10 had just 10 Secunia Advisories and 41 vulnerabilities, compared to 28 advisories in Chrome and 28 in Firefox. In terms of vulnerabilities, Secunia said that Chrome had 291 and Firefox had 257.

Of course, Microsoft is about to release the first public preview of IE11 next week for Windows 8 users as part of the Windows 8.1 update.

Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft

Jun 23

Windows 8.1 Preview will be available as an ISO on June 26

Windows 8.1 ISO instructions

For those who have been eagerly waiting for information regarding Windows 8.1 and whether or not it will be available in ISO format, today we have good news. The Windows 8.1 Preview will be available in ISO format the same day the update is pushed to the Windows Store, which means you can dual-boot or clean install on any hardware running any operating system.

The ISO will be available from Microsoft directly, however it is unclear where they will distribute them. It’s possible for the ISO’s to be available directly from the Windows 8.1 Preview website, or it a link to the ISO’s will be present on the Windows 8.1 Preview store listing.

Source: MyDigitalLife Forums

Jun 14

KB2821895 update for Windows 8 causes System File Checker to hang, eats up resources

sfc_fehler_patchday_r1_c1

​During the June 2013 Patch Tuesday, which took place June 11th, Microsoft rolled out a high-priority non-security update KB2821895 via Windows Update. This “servicing stack update” was available for Windows RT, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012. However, after installing the update, some users are experiencing some major resource consumption issues when it comes to the System File Checker.

After installing the update and running the System File Checker, the process hangs at 100% CPU utilization while eating more RAM than necessary. This process eventually ends after roughly 30 minutes and states that it was “unable to fix problems” while generating a large CBS.log file that repeatedly states “Cannot repair member file.” Microsoft has not addressed this issue just yet so we will have to resort to an alternative means to bypass this update since we cannot manually remove it.
In order to fix this issue, run the following command as an Administrator:
DISM /Online /cleanup-image /RestoreHealth
Source: Drwindows.de

Jun 09

MVA: What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2 Jump Start

Register today for this two-day, demo-rich Jump Start aimed at showing IT Pros the new capabilities and features of Windows Server 2012 R2. Join Microsoft Senior Technical Evangelist Rick Claus and Lead Architect & President of holSystems Corey Hynes as they go through details of Windows Server 2012 vs Windows Server 2012 R2. Get ready for this live online interactive experience highlighting the latest and greatest via numerous scenarios and demos all while answering questions from the audience.

course outline

Day 1

01 | Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2

02 | Server Virtualization in WS 2012 R2

03 | Cloud Optimized Networking in Windows Server 2012 R2

04 | Storage in Windows Server 2012 R2

Day 2

01 | Server Management & Automation with Windows Server 2012 R2

02 | VDI with Windows Server 2012 R2

03 | Access & Information Protection with Windows Server 2012

04 | Web Application & Platform with Windows Server 2012

July 10 & 11, 2013     9:00am – 5:00pm (PDT)

Instructors:

Rick Claus  (Senior Technical Evangelist)

Corey Hynes (Lead Architect & President)

Register for the JumpStart

Jun 09

MVA: What’s New in System Center 2012 R2 Jump Start

Join us a full day Jump Start where you will learn what is new with System Center 2012 R2. Are you ready to discover the new capabilities in infrastructure provisioning and monitoring, automation and self-service, IT service management and application monitoring? Get ready for Microsoft Senior Technical Evangelist Symon Perriman and several presenters as they go through the next version of System Center and how it delivers an end-to-end cloud management stack through advanced integration with Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Azure.

Course Outline

01 | Introduction to the Cloud OS 02 | Infrastructure Provisioning 03 | Infrastructure Monitoring 04 | Application Management 05 | Automation 06 | IT Service Management

July 15, 2013    9:00am – 5:00pm (PDT)
Instructor: Simon Perriman (Senior Technical Evangelist)

Register for the JumpStart

Jun 09

Windows Server 2012 R2

New in Hyper-v 2012 R2:

VM Replication to 3rd location

VM Replication with 30s increments

Faster live migration thanks to compression of SMB Direct

Online vm export / cloning

Online VHDX resizing

Server 2012 R2 improvements:

Automated Tiering ( store frequent accessed files on SSD and archives on standard HD)

…

source: http://www.cio.com/article/734509/Windows_Server_2012_R2_Bulks_Up_on_Storage_and_Networking

Jun 06

Community Day 2013

On Thursday, June 20th 2013, the Belgian Microsoft Community will bring you a full day of sessions for both developers and IT Professionals! The event will take place in Utopolis, Mechelen.

14 user groups will outperform themselves to bring you their view on Microsoft products in more than 25 sessions.

Click here for more details.

But we have 5 tickets to give away and it could not be easier. Just e-mail us at coreteam @ technine.be and the first five respondents will be winners.