I know I wanted something powerful and fit for purpose but holy cow this new Vista 64Bit machine is massive. Not just a bit bigger – its bigger that a number of servers I’ve installed recently. The Precision 7400 appears to be built – fit to survive a nuclear direct strike. I needed a hand to get it safely out of the box.
First peek inside showed a few free drive bays that no doubt will get filled over time. The rest of the boards inside are well laid out and there are quite a few free slots for further hardware additions over time.
The case size really takes the biscuit – it makes my previous Dimension 8100 look like a small form factor machine. The machine is remarkably quiet though and it will interest to compare the improvement in efficiency that I get not having to reset the machine once a day or more on a bad day.
I’ve hooked it up to a pair of Dell 19″ screens and have begun the arduous task of installing the software that I need to work. I know I could try and migrate various things but I believe that you should start from scratch if you want to get the best out of a new installation.
It gives you an opportunity to correct any mistakes or to restructure how you store data and applications that may have become unwieldy over time. When I say that have a lot of applications – it hard to put it in perspective but I’ll try.
Most people have a page or two of apps on their application list. I need to scroll just to get to the ones that are infrequently used – there are hundreds !!
So how do I choose what goes on straight away and what can wait. Well its the law of averages – what do I use day and daily and could not function without – they go first.
I’ll list some of these favourite apps in another article… back to installation now
A code 39 and a non-working DVD drive on a Toshiba Eqium portable »« ORDB.org and Mercury Mail Server blacklisting
A client called with a a problem relating to a Mercury mail server that had started to display errors relating to mail being blocked – specifically “Host Blocked by ORDB Rejecting Message” on the mercury console screen.
Initially I thought the client had been blacklisted but then remembered that Mercury had the ORDB server as the default setting on installation. I wondered if the server was blocking all mail sent externally if it was listed in ORDB and was using ORDB for the list of blacklisted servers !!!
However the problem was much simpler and this information explained a lot
On the December 18, 2006, the DNS blacklist ORDB.org has been shut down. As of March 25, 2007, ORDB.org started confirming all requests done to the blacklist, which will result in the incorrect blocking of emails.
So if any of your blacklisting depends on this you need to select alternative servers ASAP !!
In the case of Mercury you can remove the ORDB entry or add another in its place….. you’ll find the setting in Mercury under configuration, mercurys smtp server, spam control
Its arrived – and its massive »« Setting Numlock On At Startup
What if you want the numlock indicator on when you start machine ?
This is something that you occasionally require but its buried in the registry. See below for an explanation
SUMMARY
The status of the NUM LOCK key is specific for each user, and it is disabled by default. If you want the NUM LOCK key enabled for use before a user presses CTRL+ALT+DEL to log on, you must use Registry Editor to change the default behavior.
MORE INFORMATION
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs.
To enable NUM LOCK before a user logs on, use the steps below.
1. Run Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.Default\Control Panel\Keyboard.
3. Change the value for InitialKeyboardIndicators from 0 to 2
Additional references:
217884 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/217884/EN-US/) NUM LOCK Setting Reset After Logging Off Terminal Server
Some further acticles from Microsoft that may be of interest
262625 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262625/EN-US/) How to Set the NUM LOCK State at Logon Using a Logon Script ID
ORDB.org and Mercury Mail Server blacklisting »« Back in control
