General
Last Friday I attended the first Dutch Powershell User Group meeting in Eindhoven at Master IT Training and it was great. There were a lot of knowledgeable and passionate people and the interactive sessions were great as well. Thanks go out to all attendees, but especially to the ones presenting and organizing the event.
The fact that we were asked to leave the building (because it was getting pretty late and they wanted to lock up), also stresses the passion of all attendees because. If this wasn’t the case we probably would’ve stayed a lot longer.
Be sure to check out the Dutch PowerShell User Group (DuPSUG) website and Twitter on a regular basis for articles and future events. Ed Wilson also wrote a post of the meeting on the “Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog”.
Photos

Original photo on flickr
Sessions
Below are the sessions with some info about the speakers and their sessions. I also added notes I took and other information I looked up afterwards. If you come across any errors or have comments, please leave a reply so I can fix it.
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Tags: Active Directory, AD, AD DS, ADDS, ADSISEARCHER, Apache Subversion, CIM, CodePlex, Common Information Model, dcom, distributed com, DuPSUG, Dutch PowerShell User Group, Ed Wilson, Eindhoven, Event, git, Integrated Scripting Environment, ISE, Jaap Brasser, Jeff Wouters, LDAP, Master IT, Mercurial, Powershell, Powershell 3.0, PowerShell Remoting, Powershell v3, Richard Siddaway, rpc, snippets, splatting, SVN, team foundation server, Team Foundation Server 2012, Team Foundation Service, TFS, The Scripting Guy, The Scripting Wife, Version control, Windows, Windows 2012, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, WinRM, WMI, workflow, ws-man
Microsoft just released some more information regarding the Microsoft Surface Pro. It is coming in early 2013 and its price is starting at $899 for the 64GB standalone version with a pen, but without a Touch Cover ($120) or Type Cover($130). The standalone 128GB version will be $999.
For more information about the Surface Pro, check the Microsoft website and this blog post:
If you want to know more about Windows RT tablets (b.e. Microsoft Surface) and Windows 8 tablets (b.e. Microsoft Surface Pro) read my previous blog post. It describes how both differ from each other, but also how they differ from Android and iOS (Apple) tablets.
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Tags: Microsoft, surface, Surface Pro, tablet, tablets, Windows 8, Windows RT
In the last week several newssites reported that apps in the Windows store had been hacked. First there was a hack to convert a trial app to a fully functional app using WSAConeKey. Then there was also a “hack” to remove ads from apps.
I wonder if, how and when Microsoft will patch these vulnerabilities. If they don’t do something quickly, I think it could severely limit the number of apps being developed for Windows 8. And although the number of apps in the Windows Store is increasing pretty quickly, there’s still some catching up to do.
On the plus side however, Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in a month 🙂
I’ve personally been using Windows 8 for quite some time now and really like it. It did take some time getting used to, but Hyper-V makes my life so much easier. For me the Modern (Metro) interface and Windows 8 apps are a nice extra, but to be honest I don’t use them that often. Maybe that will change when more good apps will be released.
[UPDATE 12-12-2012]
App developers have always been able to secure their apps better as mentioned here.
[UPDATE 12-12-2012]
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Tags: apps, hack, hacked, ICT, Metro, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8 Apps, WSAConeKey
Since I often participate in Microsoft beta exams and books are not available at that time, I spend a lot of my time using Technet. Here are some personalizations I use:
Technet library view type:
For people who’ve been using the Technet library for many years, they are probably familiar with the “Classic” interface shown below:
Until a couple of weeks ago, I thought this interface had simply been replaced by a new “lightweight” interface. You can however change the view using the settings button
to match your preference.
Technet library Print/Export multiple topics
Sometimes you want to easily bookmark topics for later (offline) use and possibly even on other devices. The Print Multiple Topics feature provides this functionality. Be sure to try it:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/export/help(lightweight)
Some more information about this feature can be found here.
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Tags: ICT, Microsoft, personalization, Technet, Technet Library
There are many Microsoft certification paths and in my opinion a good overview was missing to determine what exams you need to pass. That is until now, because the overview shown below is great:

For more information, read the original blog post at borntolearn : http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/microsoft_it_academy/b/weblog/archive/2012/11/20/infographic-microsoft-it-academy-certification-roadmap.aspx
Also if you’re planning to pursue a certification, please leave a comment what your plans are and why.
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Tags: certification, ICT, MCITP, MCSA, MCSD, mcse, Microsoft, MOS Master, MOS Specialist, roadmap
In the past I’ve used Microsoft’s virtual labs many times and found them really useful.
VMware has also created Hands-On Labs Online (HOL) now as well and you can sign up for the open public beta now. These online labs are ideal for people:
- Who don’t have the hardware to create these labs themselves.
- Who don’t have time to create these labs themselves.
- Who want to have a properly tested and defined lab environment with guidance and documentation.
Read more about the VMware HOL and the labs that are being provided. Also be sure to check out their blog and Twitter account.
I’ve signed up as well and I hope to get access soon.
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Tags: Beta, Cloud, Hands-On Labs, Hands-On Labs Online, HOL, ICT, public beta, sign up, virtual labs, VMware, VMware HOL
Normally when you install nzbget on your Popcorn Hour A-400 or any other NMT (Networked Media Tank), it should download your files, but should also download additional pars, repair and unrar.
With the nzbget that came installed with the NMT apps it did not unrar for me unfortunately. So I went looking for a solution and found that many people recommended installing Oversight using NMT CSI (Community Service Installer) because it had a better postprocessing / unpacking script.
After installing Oversight (and rebooting), the nzbget web interface was not reachable on port 8066 anymore however. After deinstallation of Oversight in CSI it started working again.
To get it all working I installed Oversight again using CSI and then (again using CSI) I stopped Oversight and configured it not to start on boot. Then everything worked as desired. Note that your completed downloads will be moved from the Downloads folder to the Completed
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Tags: HDX-1000, mediaplayer, network media tank, networked media tank, nmt, nzbget, nzbget web interface, oversight, PCH, PCH A-400, PCH-A100, PCH-A110, PCH-A200, PCH-A210, PCH-A300, PCH-C300, popcorn hour
For those looking to upgrade their existing certification to MCSA Server 2012 by passing the exam “70-417 Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012”, be sure to check out these resources:
Also consider using the Prometric discount offer for those who intend to upgrade to MCSE.
For those looking for articles with more detailed information on (specific) Server 2012 features, take a look at one of my previous posts.
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Tags: 070-417, 70-417, 70-417 Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012, certification, ICT, jump start, MCSA, MCSA Server 2012, mcse, Microsoft, Prometric, Window 2012, Windows, Windows 2012 Server, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 Upgrade Jump Start
Introduction
For those who haven’t read my previous blog posts, here’s a short summary. A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to know more about cloud computing and get certified as well. I used freely available resources to attain these certifications:
In short, my conclusion was that the quality of the freely available resources were not sufficient. ITpreneurs responded to this by giving me access to their own paid ITpreneurs Cloud Essentials eLearning Course which I reviewed here.
I also contacted TrainSignal to get access to their training videos for CompTIA Cloud Essentials because their previous training videos on different subjects have always been great. They were kind enough to grant me access to the training videos which made this review possible.
Review
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Tags: certification, certify, CLO-001, Cloud, cloud computing, Cloud Computing foundation, Cloud Essentials, CLOUDF, CompTIA, CompTIA Cloud Essentials, Exin, Exin Cloud Computing Foundation, foundation, Free, ICT, Learning, study, train signal, trainsignal, video