I was given the Aventail VPN client software to install on a customer’s Windows 7 x64 computer. That failed miserably. Here is what I did to find the root cause of the problem.

Doesn’t every IT pro dream of finding a secret switch, a switch that increases clock speed, doubles the amount of RAM or makes the PC boot faster? Some do, and I admit I was fascinated when I heard that changing a simple boot option would significantly speed up startup time. I made some tests which confirmed what I had heard and blogged about my findings. A lot of people picked up that post, I was happy and everything was great - until I found out I was wrong.

[What I wrote here is wrong. Please read this follow-up article.] Here is a very simple way to reduce the time it takes to boot Windows 7 by around 20% (the exact number depends on the hardware).

Access Based Enumeration (ABE) is a well-hidden feature even in Windows Server, where it can be configured per share, but only in the Share and Storage Management MMC and not when right-clicking a folder in Explorer. Thanks to the shared code base ABE is available in Windows 7, too, although hidden even better. Let’s find out how to enable it anyway.

A while ago I wrote about the dangers of using unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. Right now I am connected to such a network and trying hard not to give away authentication cookies or passwords - information that would make it trivial even for amateurs to take over one or several of my accounts.

This is what I’ll be wearing at next week’s WINone: Setacl ShirtAnd yes, the letters are made up of actual source code ;-)

Among the many security options that are configurable via Group Policy, there is a setting Interactive logon: Require Domain Controller authentication to unlock workstation. For security reasons, this is often enabled. Let’s have a closer look at the implications. Those are different from what one might think because the name is a little misleading.

ShMgrate.exe is an executable file in Windows XP and Server 2003 and one of those files that are documented nowhere. I will try to shed a little light on this tool in this article.

Sometimes it is good not to know the truth, but as an administrator you better know what is going on! Most IT pros know that Explorer lies a lot (on a German system C:\Users magically becomes C:\Benutzer), but few are aware that Windows’ permission handling dialog ACL Editor also tends to “pretty up” things.

The introduction of a new file system is a big step even for Microsoft. According to this article in the Building Windows 8 blog ReFS will ship with the server version of Windows 8 only, but will be brought to the client at a later time, too. ReFS was built for resiliency and complements Storage Spaces. This post summarizes the main facts from the announcement.

If you roll out Windows 7 in an enterprise environment you may need to decide what to do with IPv6. As you probably know, Windows 7 comes with IPv6 enabled by default. That is certainly nice, but what if your network does not “do” IPv6 yet? Should you disable IPv6 in Windows 7?

In its issue 1/2012 German c’t magazine published an article about security in Wi-Fi networks. The authors describe how very easy it is to gain access to other people’s accounts and passwords in a world where travelers happily connect to any wireless network they can get hold of. This is a short summary of the original article, intended to highlight the dangers.

This article is part of Helge’s Profile Toolkit, a set of posts explaining the knowledge and tools required to tame Windows user profiles. Setting up a network share on a file server for hosting user profiles is not too difficult if you follow the steps outlined in this article. The recommendations I give here apply to both Windows roaming profiles and Citrix Profile Management (UPM) profiles.

This article is part of Helge’s Profile Toolkit, a set of posts explaining the knowledge and tools required to tame Windows user profiles. Administrators frequently have the requirement to adapt newly created user profiles to corporate standards. This is typically done by modifying the default profile, the profile Windows uses as a template when creating new user profiles during logon.

This article is part of Helge’s Profile Toolkit, a set of posts explaining the knowledge and tools required to tame Windows user profiles. Nobody wants a temporary profile. So why do I get one? Here are the most common reasons for Windows to only issue a profile that is deleted at logoff instead of the regular local or roaming user profile.

This is a very personal recommendation of what to read to become and stay an expert in Citrix XenApp. Learning the Basics Terminal Services for Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Advanced Technical Design GuideTerminal Services for Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Advanced Technical Design Guide Brian Madden and Ron Oglesby Available online free of charge

To all my readers not fluent in German: this is one of very few German posts dedicated to topics mostly relevant to Germany. Immer wieder erhalte ich Anfragen zu verschiedenen Aspekten der Unternehmensgründung. Da gerade zum Thema Unternehmensgründung nur wenige fundierte Informationen aus erster Hand zu bekommen sind, teile ich meine Erfahrungen gerne mit. Diesmal geht es um die Wahl der richtigen Unternehmensform, den Gründungsablauf einer GmbH und wie Software am besten verkauft wird. Frühere Artikel zum Thema finden sich hier.

In my ongoing quest for the perfect way to back up my personal data I have tweaked the setup yet again. Most of what I wrote nearly three years ago (How to Build a State of the Art Backup System for Your Personal Data) still stands, so I will focus on off-site cloud backup in this article.

This article is part of Helge’s Profile Toolkit, a set of posts explaining the knowledge and tools required to tame Windows user profiles. One of the problems inherent to roaming user profiles is that they are copied to the local computer during logon. That takes time. Hence the motivation to limit the size of user profiles. One way of doing that is to put a quota on them, another one is folder redirection. Although widely used, redirection has its problems; problems so grave that Shawn Bass started to campaign against using folder redirection altogether. In this article I describe why Shawn despises redirection, which alternatives are available now what we can hope for in the future.

I just returned from Citrix’ bi-annual Synergy event in Barcelona. I am not going to summarize the event here (others have done that better than I could, e.g. Gabe Knuth or Nico Lüdemann). Instead I have a few pictures to share. I would like to mention, though, that Synergy is the best way to connect with the many great people in the Citrix “universe”, along with E2EVC.

Which values do I build my newly founded company on? There are many things I value highly - fairness, professionalism, quality, innovation, honesty - but one thing stands out: sharing. The IT community as I have come to know it is centered around the wish to help others by sharing information and software. I want to live with and support this community, and I will do that by sharing myself, both information and software. I have blogged, spoken, tweeted and developed free tools in the past, and I will continue to do so. I will even share what little knowledge I have of funding and running a software and consulting company, and I am going to start doing that right here.

Microsoft’s latest Security Intelligence Report confirms a feeling I have had for a long time: I do not need antivirus. Let me explain why. I am a Version Junkie Like most IT pros I love new software. I always use the latest versions and install updates diligently. I even try beta software occasionally. You might call me a version junkie (a term coined by my former colleague Nicholas Dille).

After many years of employment I felt the need to reduce the number of people who can order me around. I managed to get it down to two: my wife and my daughter.

Competition in the tablet market is fierce because the profits are potentially enormous (check Apple’s financial statements as proof). No wonder everybody is desperate to get their way in, some giving up before they really started (HP), others with dubious concepts (RIM). Apple obviously is fighting tooth and nail to keep up their dominance which is expected by analysts to last at least until 2014. Into these turbulent waters Microsoft just jumped in by presenting the developer preview of Windows 8. I expect it to be wildly successful - especially on tablets. Read on to find out why.