Category: Tricks
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Dllhost has gone haywire because of poweliks
Dllhost.exe spawning multiple instances may seem suspicious but it is not necessarily a virus. Dllhost.exe is a wrapper application that is part of Windows 7 and can be used to run DLL files as applications and running some DLL’s as threads can be legit windows system activity. Last week, however, I had a workstation exhibiting…
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Disable HDMI hot plug detection in Windows 7
Whether you’re running Windows Media Center or another homebrew HTPC/DVR where Windows 7 is the underlying operating system, you may have noticed that HDMI hot plug detection can be extremely annoying. New receivers that allow you to switch between different HDMI connected entertainment devices, often also register an HDMI hot-plug or auto-detect event in Windows…
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Outlook 2013 cannot open default OST file
Microsoft Outlook 2013 can be finicky with add-ins. IMHO it’s more touchy about them than Outlook 2010, but that’s open to debate. Long story short, Outlook 2013 on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 can run into issues where it doesn’t terminate all processes after a user closes the program. Consequently, the user no longer sees…
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Deploying the Java JRE to workstations using a GPO
Java updates the JRE about once a month and it’s a good idea to keep java up-to-date. But what if you want to deploy Java to workstations in your active directory domain? And what if you want to disable java update/download notifications that cause users install the ask toolbar or McAfee Security scanner? Then you’ll…
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Managing multiple office 365 instances with powershell scripts
I’ve migrated a lot of customers to Office 365. The web-based partner administration for Exchange, Sharepoint and Lync works well, but some things are just easier with with powershell. Here’s how I administer Office 365 instances with custom powershell scripts. I basically create a separate PS1 file for each office365 instance pre-configured with the admin…
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Bulk-create external email contacts in Exchange/Office 365
Say someone asked you to create an exchange distribution group with a thousand new external email addresses. Well, back in the day, you’d download some shady utility off the web and cross your fingers hoping not to spend the rest of your day cleaning up a failed bulk import with ADSIedit. Well, with Exchange 2007…
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Shoretel is keeping Outlook from launching
If you’re running the Shoretel Communicator and Outlook 2010/2013, you may have seen a situation where Outlook doesn’t launch and hangs at the splash screen stating “loading profile…”. This is actually caused by a small program named agent.exe that is part of Shoretel Communicator. This agent.exe program is designed to download contacts from your email…
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Public folder 2gb limit in office365
Office 365 has an undocumented issue with storage quotas on public folders. Office365 subscriptions offer 50GB of mailbox storage for public folders, but if you copy more than 2GB of data into a freshly created public folder within office365, you’ll get an error about the folder being full. Here’s how to resolve this issue: [step…