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There’s some buzz around “Cuil”. Oh, it has the biggest index of pages!

Oh, they want to beat Google!

Oh, they have some super wise intelligent technology so the results are better!

Wait a minute. Has anyone ever been able to actually FIND something using Cuil? I mean, at first I didn’t even want to try it because the name sounded stupid, but I forced myself to try it in case it was good. I mean, the homepage is pretty clean, which is nice.

So, at one point today I wanted some details about a group policy setting versus how it affects Internet Explorer precisely. So I “Cuiled” this:

Group policy prevent save username Internet explorer

And got THIS:

No results were found for: Group policy prevent save username Internet explorer

If you’ve checked your spelling, you could try using fewer or different keywords to broaden your search.

Still no luck? Send us your feedback: noresults@cuil.com

Ok, so you didn’t find anything, and you want me to go through the trouble of SENDING YOU AN EMAIL? Are you nuts? I want to find stuff, not email you ! What are you going to do, email me the results back?

I tried a few other searches, and I either got no results, or got a ton of results which were mostly spam.

I don’t doubt that they have some “Cuil” technology over there, but it isn’t nearly ready for prime-time. Re-launch in a year and we’ll see.

Did anybody get good results using it? Seriously?

I wrote this a while ago for my wiki. I don’t use the wiki anymore as I don’t have nearly enough info and time to post good in depth technical articles. I find that the blog is a good place for shorter “tips” like this. Note that this was written before Group Policy Preference Extensions were distributed by MS, and that until everyone uses Preference extensions, this is still useful!

Force regional settings and keyboard language

From BinaryFactory

Contents

• 1 Purpose of this article
• 2 Why do this?
• 3 Solution
• 4 How to do it
  • 4.1 What is setlocale
  • 4.2 Extract setlocale.exe
    • 4.2.1 Make a script
    • 4.2.2 Apply the script

Purpose of this article

Centrally manage the keyboard language settings and/or the regional settings of your client computers or terminal servers/Citrix servers.

Why do this?

It seems Microsoft does not think that forcing a default Regional Setting or keyboard language policy is useful. However, many applications rely on the local date or number format, and using different settings on different client computers can cause a lot of problems. For Keyboard settings, it might be very useful to force a default for a group of users who have a locked down access to terminal server. You would think there is a way to do with with Group Policies, but as of Windows 2003 R2, there isn’t.

Solution

Use setlocale

How to do it

First, download this: setlocale

What is setlocale

Setlocale is a great command line application that does exactly what we need. I have uploaded it to this web site. However, I don’t know the license terms for it. The zip file I found contains a readme with no information about the author or the license. If you are the original author and want me to take it offline or link to your web site, please let me know. I tried to find the original author with no luck, but whoever you are: Thanks a lot.

Extract setlocale.exe

Extract setlocale.exe to a share that is readable by everyone. The location of your login scripts is usually a good spot.

Make a script

In the share where you usually put your login scripts, create a new one. Or if you already have a script applied to the users concerned by this, edit it. \\path\to\setlocale.exe 12345678 12345678

The first number represents the regional language you want to use, and the second one, the keyboard. For a complete list, refer to the readme in the zip file of setlocale.

Apply the script

Apply the script to the concerned users, group or O.U. Assigning login scripts is beyond the scope of this article.

Well, I’ve finally received my “Charter Member” welcome kit from Microsoft.

I was expecting a new card with a note on it or something, but it is just a typical certificate, with the note Charter at the top. Plus it doesn’t even appear on the transcript. Kind of lame.

Oh well, I guess I can put it on my resume.. like anyone would put MCTS certifications on their resume.

Why did I get FIVE certifications by getting my MCITP: Enterprise Admin? Are people craving instant gratification so much that Microsoft had to make you feel like you accomplished something every time you spent 130$ and 2 hours to pass an exam?

That MCITP itself is already easier than it should be, the individual certifications are a joke. Putting “TS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuring” on my resume feels as stupid as writing “MCP” on it. OK, so I know how to install IIS and Sharepoint Services, and I know what a “Terminal Server” is. Now what ?

Well, if I was like some people I know I could put this in my signature!

/rant

It was released yesterday ! I’m getting ok on the small keyboard…

Why isn’t it listed under new apps in app store? (in Canada at least )

Oh well… First mobile post.. In front of my laptop

Here’s what might happen if you try to get your data completely blocked so you don’t get charged “a-la-carte” @ ¢5/Kb by mistake. The following have used around 3 hours of my life, excluding the time on hold for the first call to order it:

1 – Order iPhone, ask to block data. You’ll be told the block will be active in 2hours, and that in the meantime, you will still get billed. No problem, iPhone won’t be here til Monday..

2 – Monday morning, try iPhone. Wtf Internet works? Call customer service…wait on hold. Be told that you probably had Wifi on. (There is no open Wifi near my house and I hadn’t entered any keys yet.) Customer service “resets the block”. CSR asks to turn off phone and back on to try again. I do it. It still works.

3 – Call back. Explain situation. CSR tells me “I see no data usage on your account so you must be on wifi”. Explain that wifi is disabled on iPhone. CSR tells me that “You’re lucky then, you’re getting Free Internet!” – obviously she was sure I was stupid and on Wifi, I can’t really blame her for that, I’m sure a lot of users aren’t exactly tech friendly. There’s nothing more she can do. Hang up

4 – Call retentions, explain the whole thing. I’m told that the store made a mistake: you are not allowed to own an iPhone without this plan. You need to sign up for it right away or I will cancel your contract and you will have to send it back. WHAT?

First, it was not a “store” – it was Fido directly. Second, I paid 50$ extra for the iPhone BECAUSE I didn’t have a plan over 30$ and/or the 6gig data plan. Guy refuses to leave my stuff alone. He enables 6gig plan on my account. Hang up.

5 – Call CSR. Explain previous call with reference number. CSR says “Oh, he must’ve been confused, the policies change so often”. Well he was extremely aggressive, and I bet they get paid commission on selling data plans, how weird. CSR cancels my data plan, waives the cancellation fees. CSR contacts tech support. Tech support tells him that the wrong “block” was on my account from the beginning. They say that within 2 hours it should be completely blocked.

6 – After waiting 2 hours…let’s test. Yes, I still have 3g god dammit!

7 – Called CSR. Found someone with a brain this time (previous CSR was nice as well, unlike the 2nd one in the morning aka Ms. Free Internet and Mr. “Send me your money or your iPhone). He tries to contact tech support but it’s taking too long. Says he will call me back. He calls me back maybe an hour later, saying that they put another block on my iPhone and that if it still works now, they’ll see what else they can do. I test while on the phone, 3g works. He says I might have to reset the phone, so I have to hang up. He tells me to call back if it still works. I shut the phone off…turn it on… 3g still works.

8 – Called back to leave a message for previous CSR to call me back. He should call me back today.

Update!

9 – Obviously they didn’t call me back! I called back late, finally got someone on the line. As soon as I asked for a possible rebate or some kind very subtly, he went to tech support for 20minutes, and they found an issue in the switch’s configuration. It got instantly disabled (Edge, 3g) !
Great, so now I have an ipod touch with phone capability. I’ll probably sign up for the data eventually, as soon as they have plans smaller than 6gig for 30$.

mgsringtones

Just unzip and import into iTunes ! I love them.

I want an iPhone without a retarded plan!

I have completed my MCITP: Enterprise Admin certification this week.

I never got my MCSE before so I didn’t go the upgrade path, I started from scratch in the middle of May.

Here is a quick rundown of the exams I took:

Exam 70-640 (earns MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration)

This exam was pretty easy as I spend most of my days working with AD. Be sure to know the new features of AD in 2008, as well as what is required to make them work. If you already have enough AD experience but you’re lacking on the 2008 side of things, reading the AD chapter of this book should be enough for you: http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Windows-Server-M…

Exam 70-642 (earns MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration)

There isn’t that much new networking stuff in 2008, but NAP is a big one. Make sure to learn how NAP works.

Exam 70-643 (earns MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration)

This is the exam I found the most interesting of all 5, because it got me reading about new Terminal Services features and IIS7 which has some new cool stuff. I read this book to prepare for it http://www.amazon.com/MCTS-Self-Paced-Training-70-… . Make sure you concentrate on the new features. If you already know IIS and Terminal server you should be fine by reading about only the new stuff. Oh, I also got my Charter Member certification on this one. Can’t wait to get my Welcome kit.

Exam 70-620 (earns MCTS: Windows Vista Configuration)

The hardest exam, to me. Yep.

Probably because I don’t use it, and because a lot of questions revolve around Internet explorer, Windows media player, Media center, Windows Defender, and various crap that any sane person doesn’t use. Why did I take this exam instead of Exam 70-624 (earns MCTS: Business Desktop Deployment)? Because I didn’t have any book to prepare for desktop deployment, and this isn’t an area I’m too specialized into, and I wanted to be one of the firsts with the MCITP:Enterprise Admin. However, I think it is ridiculous for a certification that calls itself “Enterprise Admin” to have this option.

70-624 should be required, and 70-620 shouldn’t even be proposed. I didn’t read any book, never used Aero (well I did, for 4minutes), and yet I still passed, just with common sense. The exam was easy because there was never a single question with 4 options that made sense. Sure, I had a crappy score, but I’d rather score 700 and pass without wasting time reading about something I don’t enjoy/don’t need to know when I could be reading about something useful than score 1000 after wasting hours of my life reading books to learn by heart stuff that anyone can figure out in seconds of clicking around the GUI

/rant

Exam 70-647 PRO: Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administrator

If you have passed the previous exams, especially the one about Active Directory and Networking, you should have no problem passing this one easily, as it is almost a review of the theory learned previously. It seems to focus more on design than actual “doing”.

Conclusion

Maybe it’s because this is the first revision of the exams, but I feel they are too easy. With Microsoft introducing a very high level Master certification, I feel there should be something between MCITP:EA and Master of Windows Server/Directory services. Also, the whole idea that every single exam = a MCTS certification seems to be designed for 8 years old who can’t work towards a long term goal and need immediate reward for their “hard” work.

In a recent Microsoft learning live meeting, it was mentioned that Microsoft wants to start using statistical analysis do spot cheaters.

What is a bit unclear is how will that “evidence” be treated?

I think it should be treated as a reason to launch an investigation, but not to accuse anyone.

Microsoft Exams are relatively easy, and sometimes, the questions pop up and if you know your stuff and you are a fast reader, you can be done with the exam in about 30 minutes and score very high.

I have only once used over an hour to do a Microsoft exam, and that was a few days ago for the 70-647, and I was taking my time.

This will also lead to the inevitable race between cheaters and Microsoft. Braindumpers will start making mistakes on purpose, and will leave questions open for 2-3 minutes while moving the mouse to make it look like they are thinking hard.

A good idea if used as a tool to launch an investigation, especially against a learning center or an exam center, and a slippery slope if used to ban people.