How to enable and configure Exchange 2007 Anti-spam Functionality

February 2nd, 2009 etdot No Comments »

First enable the Anti-spam Functionality:

  1. Log on to the Hub Transport Server.
  2. Go to “Start” -> “Programs” -> “Microsoft Exchange Server 2007”.
  3. Open “Exchange Management Shell”.
  4. Write “Install-AntispamAgents.ps1” and press on the “Enter” key.
  5. Restart “Microsoft Exchange Transport” service.
  6. Go to “Start” -> “Programs” -> “Microsoft Exchange Server 2007”.
  7. Open “Exchange Management Console”.
  8. Navigate to “Microsoft Exchange” -> “Organization Configuration” > “Hub Transport”.
  9. A new tab, named “Anti-Spam” should appear.

Now configure automatic updates:

  • To use the Exchange Management Console to enable anti-spam updates
    1. In the Exchange Management Console, click Edge Transport.
    2. Select the server on which the Exchange Anti-spam Update service is to be configured.
    3. In the Action pane, click Enable Anti-spam Updates.
  • To use the Exchange Management Shell to enable anti-spam updates
    • To enable anti-spam Automatic Updates if the destination computer is already opted in to Microsoft Update, run the following command: 
      Enable-AntispamUpdates -Identity SERVER01 -IPReputationUpdatesEnabled $True -UpdateMode Automatic -SpamSignatureUpdatesEnabled $True
    • To enable anti-spam Automatic Updates and opt in to Microsoft Update, run the following command: 
      Enable-AntispamUpdates -Identity SERVER01 -IPReputationUpdatesEnabled $True -MicrosoftUpdate RequestedNotifyDownload -UpdateMode Automatic -SpamSignatureUpdatesEnabled $True

Sources:
How to install Microsoft Anti Spam Agents on Exchange 2007
How to Enable Anti-Spam Functionality on a Hub Transport Server
How to Configure Anti-Spam Automatic Updates

Windows Mobile Activesync error 80072EE2

February 1st, 2009 etdot 2 Comments »

I was having trouble getting ActiveSync 4.5.0 to work on my internal LAN with my Windows Mobile 6 device. It worked fine from the external/Internet. The error reported by ActiveSync was, “The server could not be reached. This can be caused by temporary network conditions. Support code:80072ee2.” With the help of this thread, I was able to easily resolve my problem.

First, I needed to install the PHM Registry Editor, which wasn’t as seamless as most WM application installations are. PHM Registry Editor is pretty old and doesn’t work with the latest ActiveSync. I had to copy the proper cab file (found in %ProgramFiles%\PHM\PHM Registry Editor) to the device and install that way – it was trial and error to determine which cab file was the correct one.

I then used the tool to change the value of:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings\DnsCacheEnabled
to 0 (If DnsCacheEnabled does not exist, create it as a DWORD value).

After a soft reset of the device and it didn’t care which network it was on.

Here are the details from the thread regarding what the actual problem was and why the method above corrected it:

Symptom:
– ActiveSync DirectPush initially works correctly wirelessly.
– The Windows Mobile device is then connected to a PC via USB and
continues to operate correctly.
– Once the device has been disconnected, wireless synchronization
fails. ActiveSync times out and clicking “View Status” reveals a status
code of 0x80072EE2.
The device then refuses to sync wirelessly until a soft reset is
performed.

Further Details:
This problem is seen in configurations where the Exchange server being
accessed for synchronization has different external (i.e. public) and
internal (i.e. private) IP addresses which are normally resolved from
the same FQDN. (e.g. On the Internet echxg.foobar.com might equate to
99.88.77.66 while on the inside of a NATed network with an internal DNS
it might equate to 10.9.8.7.)

Cause:
The issue appears to have to do with the Windows Mobile DNS cache not
being cleared properly upon a wired/wireless state transition when the
USB cable is unplugged. When connected to a PC running the desktop
ActiveSync software a Windows Mobile device has proxied wired access to
the corporate network and performs a DNS lookup of the Exchange
server’s FQDN against the internal DNS. This address appears, however,
to remain in the cache even after disconnecting the USB cable and thus
moving back to the public (internet) address space. ActiveSync on the
Windows Mobile device then fails, as the server’s internal address is
inaccessible. (A soft reset naturally clears the DNS cache.)

Workaround:
Disable the Windows Mobile DNS cache. This requires a registry
modification. Windows Mobile does not include a registry editor, but
free third-party editors are available (such as one from www.phm.lu).

Change the value of:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InternetSettings\DnsCacheEnabled
to 0
If DnsCacheEnable does not exist, create it as a DWORD value.

A soft reset is necessary for the change to take effect.

Calibrating Your Monitor

December 7th, 2008 etdot No Comments »

Calibrating your monitor (adjusting the proper brightness, contrast, gamma, etc.)  is crucial in getting the best quality graphics and images/photos, video games, etc.

Getting proper calibration can get complicated but does not have to be. Here and here are a couple sources for easy calibration.

HTML Tidy TIDYCFG.INI

December 2nd, 2008 etdot No Comments »

None of the preset options in HTML Tidy were doing it for me, so I took a few minutes to create my own. They either mangled the code too much, or not enough. So, here is what I ended up with:


[EtdotTidy HTML]
indent: auto
indent-attributes:no
indent-spaces: 2
wrap: 0
wrap-asp:no
wrap-jste:no
wrap-php:no
show-warnings: yes
numeric-entities: yes
quote-marks: yes
quote-nbsp: yes
quote-ampersand: yes
break-before-br: no
uppercase-tags: no
uppercase-attributes: no
char-encoding: latin1
new-inline-tags: cfif, cfelse, math, mroot,
mrow, mi, mn, mo, msqrt, mfrac, msubsup, munderover,
munder, mover, mmultiscripts, msup, msub, mtext,
mprescripts, mtable, mtr, mtd, mth
new-blocklevel-tags: cfoutput, cfquery
new-empty-tags: cfelse
fix-bad-comments:yes
fix-backslash:yes
write-back:yes

Just paste the code above into your TIDYCFG.INI file.

Windows MRU Registry locations

November 30th, 2008 etdot No Comments »

Here are some common Windows MRU (Most Recently Used) list registry locations. This list reprinted from http://windowsxp.mvps.org/RegistryMRU.htm .

Windows 98 & ME
Search Files Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU
Find Computer Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FindComputerMRU
Printer ports Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\PrnPortsMRU
RUN box – Windows [All] Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU
Windows view prefs Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StreamMRU
Telnet MRU HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Telnet
Microsoft Office 2000
Winword – Open Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Word\Settings\Open\File Name MRU
Winword – Save As Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Word\Settings\Save As\File Name MRU
Winword – Recent Files Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Data
Excel – Open Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Excel\Settings\Open\File Name MRU
Excel – Save As Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Excel\Settings\Save As\File Name MRU
Excel  – Recent Files Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Excel\Recent Files
Frontpage – Open Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft FrontPage\Settings\Open File\File Name MRU
Frontpage – Save As Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft FrontPage\Settings\Save As\File Name MRU
Frontpage – Recent lists Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Explorer\FrontPage Explorer\Recent File List
Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Explorer\FrontPage Explorer\Recent Page List
Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Explorer\FrontPage Explorer\Recent Web List
Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Explorer\FrontPage Explorer\Recently Created Servers
Software\Microsoft\FrontPage\Editor\Recently Used URLs
PowerPoint – Open Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft PowerPoint\Settings\Open\File Name MRU
PowerPoint – Save As Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft PowerPoint\Settings\Save As\File Name MRU
PowerPoint – Recent Files Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\PowerPoint\Recent File List
Access – Open Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Access\Settings\Open\File Name MRU
Access – Filename MRU Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Microsoft Access\Settings\File New Database\File Name MRU
Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Access\Settings
Common
Regedit – Last accessed key Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit
Regedit – Favorites Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit\Favorites
MSPaint – Recent Files Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Paint\Recent File List
Wordpad – Recent Files Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Wordpad\Recent File List
Common Dialog – Open Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\LastVisitedMRU
Common Dialog – Save As Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32\OpenSaveMRU
WMP8 XP – Recent Files Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentFileList
WMP 8 XP – Recent URLs Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentURLList
OE6 Stationery list 1 – New Mail Identities\{C19958F2-22F3-4C6A-9AE0-12049CE0706F}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Recent Stationery List         *the CLSID varies, just an example given
OE 6 Stationery list 2 – New Mail Identities\{C19958F2-22F3-4C6A-9AE0-12049CE0706F}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Recent Stationery Wide List   *the CLSID varies
Windows 2000/XP
XP Search Files Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603
Internet Search Assistant Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5001
Printers, Computers and People Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5647
XP Start Menu – Recent Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RecentDocs
R. Desktop – Connect Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default [MRUnumber]
Run dialog box Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU