Perhaps Carr’s claim was just a bit premature? Maybe it takes a few more years until IT jobs begin to disappear in the big cloud? Many so-called analysts have been claiming for a while that the rationalization and automatization effects of cloud computing will cost IT jobs.

I believe that these claims are fundamentally flawed because they are based on the false assumption that the realm of IT doesn’t grow anymore. This kind of analysis only takes into account what we do today with IT and then projects that rationalization effects will require fewer IT pros.

The reason why comparisons to technologies such as electricity (Carr’s favorite) are totally beside the point is that innovation in IT is still rapidly growing, whereas those technologies that have indeed been commoditized haven’t seen any noteworthy innovations since their maturation process peaked. Or did you discover any new breathtaking features or capabilities on your power outlets lately?

Recent innovations in IT, such as smartphones and tablets, significantly extended the way we can use IT. And look what is happening in the music, film, and book industries. I could go on about the tremendous effects that social networks, mobile broadband, or the countless innovations in medical IT have on our lives, and I would still not cover all important recent IT innovations. The truth is that IT is only at the beginning of its long innovation journey.

Innovation in IT is accelerating. That means that those organizations that are able to adopt and embrace these new information technologies faster have a significant competitive advantage. Thus IT is not just necessary (which Carr admits) and matters (which Carr denies), it matters more and more because more than ever it separates ambitious, innovative organizations from those that are satisfied with the status quo.

But why will “only” (I)T matter? Unfortunately, a blog post is not sufficient to support this claim. Fortunately, someone else already did this in an amazingly detailed way. That individual is my personal hero, Ray Kurzweil. In a way, he is claiming the exact opposite as Nicholas Carr. I suppose he never wrote the sentence “Only (I)T will matter,” but I feel that this follows from his theory.

Notice that this is meant in the literal sense. In a nutshell, Kurzweil’s theory is that the technological advances grow at an exponential rate, which will lead us to the “singularity”, a time where technological innovation grows so fast that it is beyond the understanding of our current mental capacity. IT is not the only technology involved here, which is why I set the “I” in parentheses. However, IT will certainly play a crucial if not a dominant role.

I know this sounds like far-fetched science fiction, and perhaps Kurzweil is a bit too optimistic (or too pessimistic for Carr followers) when he claims that this will happen in the next 30-40 years or so. However, I believe this scenario is much more likely than a world where innovation in IT has stopped and IT has become a mere commodity. As a matter of fact, Kurzweil has collected an enormous amount of empirical data that indicates that exactly the opposite is happening. IT matters more and more and this at an accelerating pace. You don’t have to be mathematician to predict where this will lead us.

By contrast, Carr’s “analysis” is based on a flawed theory that is nurtured by a technology hostile philosophy. The main reason why he has numerous followers is not because he has convincing arguments to offer, but because many people share his fear of a future dominated by technological progress. Fearful people are an easy target for faulty but consoling arguments. And of course, every CEO and controller who hates to spend more and more money for something he has no clue about loves to hear that IT doesn’t matter anymore.

The main difference between Kurzweil and Carr is that Kurzweil is an IT veteran and innovator (playing in the same league as Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak) who made many predictions through the decades that already came true. On the other hand, Carr has no background at all in IT and is therefore, in my view, not qualified to say anything about IT that goes beyond the fact that he doesn’t like computers and the Internet.

• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)
• Poll: Are IT certifications overvalued? (8)

The results are somewhat surprising to me. More than 1,000 4sysops readers took part in this poll. At the time of this writing, 36% said that the number of IT pros decreased, 34% said that the number of IT pros increased, 20% said that the number of IT pros didn’t change, and 10% didn’t know whether the number changed or not. (Note that these numbers can change again; see my comments below.)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

According to this result, IT employment shrunk by 2% in the last four years. This doesn’t really surprise me. However, what I find amazing is that after I launched the poll, about 60% of the 4sysops readers claimed that more IT pros are now working in their organization. The numbers were stable for a while, and then they suddenly changed in favor of the more pessimistic view.

I noticed in former polls that regular 4sysops readers often vote differently compared to those visitors who come from search engines. (I always place the poll in the sidebar, so it is visible on all 4sysops pages.) However, never before was the difference so huge.

The only explanation I have is that 4sysops subscribers are more likely to work in expanding organizations. This probably is not particularly related to 4sysops, but it has to do with the fact that admins who regularly read IT blogs are more ambitious than those IT pros who just use the Web to solve a certain problem. I think ambitious people are more interested in learning about new fields that are not directly related to their current work than those who just want to get their work done. And ambitious people work more often in ambitious, expanding companies.

Nevertheless, 1,000 votes are statistically significant by far. So can we conclude that Nicholas Carr and other IT adversaries are right? Does IT matter less than four years ago, which allows organizations to lay off IT pros?

I don’t think so. First of all, considering the worldwide economic turmoil we have seen in the last few years, it is conceivable that IT, as a major cost factor for many organizations, also had to suffer. However, since the unemployment rate in the US increased by about 4% in the last four years, IT employment was less affected than other professions. The situation in Europe is not much different than in the US. I guess that in emerging markets such as China, India, or Brazil, the number of IT pros increased even in these difficult economic times. But 4sysops only has a few readers in those countries and their votes didn’t have a significant effect on the poll results.

One thing is for sure. According to the 4sysops poll, the overall percentage of IT pros in the working population increased in the last four years by about 2%. Thus I conclude that IT matters more now for most organizations because the contribution of the IT department has increased compared to other departments. Recent numbers even indicate that IT employment in the US grows again slightly, even though the second largest economy (behind the EU) didn’t master the crisis yet.

In my next post, I will go one better and claim not just that IT matters but that only IT will matter. Stay tuned!

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)
• Poll: Are IT certifications overvalued? (8)

You learn about a new IT product, or how better to deploy an existing technology and you can envision these taking shape in your environment, but then, a subtle wave of pessimism sets in. Management often fails to grasp the value of technology. In my view, it’s not their responsibility, rather, it’s yours to help show them the value of a particular IT solution for your company. This can seem like an uphill battle but it’s one worth fighting for.

Technology for most businesses is an expense that hurts the bottom line. Expenses are meant to be reduced to a bare minimum and that’s how most of them are looked at and managed. Some of you reading this can readily recall occasions past and perhaps present where a good idea that may require an investment of time and money is dismissed. It’s discouraging and can sap the enthusiasm we have for technology and how it can improve the business. To avoid this, you have to follow a few rules. But let me give you an example first.

About 5 years ago, I was eyeing the ticketing system used internally. It was [m3] maintained by a senior developer who had been with the firm for over a decade. I knew that much of the information gathered was of little value and it took more than 30-minutes to get a ticket created and properly linked to products and customer records. It was painful to use and terribly inefficient.

I evaluated the ticketing system from a user’s and business perspective and not just from an IT pro’s point of view. This helped to focus on what kind of information was really necessary. I mapped out the fields and input required and sorted them by must-have info and unnecessary info. In a detailed e-mail, I sent off to the president and senior developer, along with the other technical staff, explaining in plain English what I wanted to change and why. Most importantly, I outlined in detail, the time it took using the existing system and contrasted it to how my revisions would cut that time in more than half and get better information.

I didn’t know exactly how much time it would take to make the modifications, but, I did quantify in detail (detail is the key!) what the benefit would be. The president took the bait and about a week later, the revisions were made and the company was able to cut down the time it took to record a ticket in half. That left time for all the technical staff to do more important and productive tasks.

I would like to give you five tips when trying to persuade management about a new investment in IT:

1. Don’t take this task lighthearted and take your time to develop your strategy.
2. Explain the new technology or tool in plain English and don’t boast with your technical knowledge.
3. Describe the benefits for your organization in detail and try to quantify them.
4. Be patient and give management enough time to evaluate your thoughts.
5. Don’t be self-opinionated and accept good counterarguments.

While not all the ideas will survive management’s scrutiny, it is much more likely that you will be taken seriously if you talk in business language and not in geek speak. You need to think like a manager not like an IT pro when you want to persuade management about your ideas.

How do you persuade management about your ideas? Please tell me about your experiences and leave a comment.

Chris Rich, is Senior Director of Product Management at NetWrix, a provider of solutions for change auditing and compliance.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)
• Poll: Are IT certifications overvalued? (8)

More than 600 IT pros took part in this poll, and the majority (58%) thinks that IT certifications are overvalued. 21% believe that they are undervalued, and the same portion thinks that IT certifications have just the right value.

Usually, 600 is a significant number of participants for such a survey. However, it is interesting to note that it is different this time. When the poll started, even more IT pros felt that IT certifications are overrated by organizations. I am not completely sure about the numbers, but I think after the first 100 votes or so this option got about 65% of the votes. The difference in the result at the time of this writing can’t be explained by statistical variations.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I think, there is only one explanation: Two different groups took part in this poll. In the beginning of the survey, regular readers saw the article about the poll in the RSS feed, in the newsletter, and on the 4sysops homepage. Since the poll is also displayed in the sidebar, it is also visible on all other articles on 4sysops. Thus, the second group of voters was mostly visitors coming from search engines.

Why did these two groups vote so differently? What distinguishes 4sysops subscribers from new visitors? And why do regular 4sysops readers seem to despise IT certifications? I think, in general, it is more likely that experienced admins feel that IT certifications are overvalued. They have to compete with newbies coming from the IT schools with no experience and are therefore more willing to accept jobs at lower pay than seasoned admins just to get a foot in the door. (Nothing wrong with that.)

This implies that the majority of 4sysops subscribers are experienced IT pros. Obviously, IT newbies are less likely to recognize the quality content that 4sysops has to offer, which we can only attribute to their lack of experience. Of course, there are also many experienced admins who have tons of certifications. As some commenters outlined in the original article, IT certifications are a good way to extend your knowledge and also help your career.

However, I think, some readers misunderstood the point of this poll. The question was not whether IT certifications are valuable or not. Of course, learning new things and passing an exam that proves that you really understand the contents of the course is always a good thing. It wouldn’t make much sense to run such a poll.

Essentially, this poll was about the question of whether organizations employing new IT staff overvalue IT certifications and thus undervaluing experience. Hence, this poll boils down to the question of whether experience is more valuable than IT certifications or not.

I believe that IT certifications are indeed overvalued, because I have seen it numerous times in my IT career. And this is not only about IT certifications; it is about any kind of school qualifications and degrees. This is especially true if people who themselves don’t work in IT are involved in the hiring process. I think the reason is that it is quite difficult to assess the value of the experience of a particular candidate.

Even if the candidate has detailed recommendation letters, personnel managers don’t really understand the important parts, anyway. Moreover, it is uncertain if the recommendation letter doesn’t just put the person in a favorable light. Certifications and degrees, on the other hand, are very easy to assess. An official institution confirms that the person has acquired a certain kind of knowledge. So all you have to do is check the reputation of the corresponding schools and count the number of certifications and you are done. That’s quick and without uncertainties.

The only problem with this strategy is that it is the best way to hire the wrong person for the job. IT belongs to those fields where theory alone is insufficient to get the job done. What is needed is not just knowledge; IT is all about skills.

Let me explain my point with a comparison. Imagine you have to hire a lifeguard. You have to choose between someone who passed all theory tests with scores of 100% and someone who didn’t even attend one lifeguard course. The only problem with the certification guy is that he never swam before, even though he knows everything there is to know about swimming. Your second choice is the local swim champion, a natural talent, who never bothered much about schools. Who would you hire for the job? (Before you ask, Pamela Anderson is not among the candidates.)

I know, this example is somewhat construed because lifeguards also learn how to swim in school and their swimming skills are tested before they get their certifications. However, that is exactly my point. It is perfectly possible to pass IT exams without ever touching a single server. All you need is a couple of good books with all the typical multiple choice questions of IT exams. But, just like you can’t learn how to swim without getting wet, you can’t learn how to manage complex IT systems in real-life scenarios without touching a computer keyboard.

Let me give you another hiring assignment. Your organization needs a Windows admin who will be responsible for software deployment with Configuration Manager in a network with 5,000 desktops. Again, you have two choices. Candidate 1 has ten IT certs, all more or less relevant for the job (including the corresponding MCTS certification), but null real-life working experience. Candidate 2 has worked ten years with Configuration Manager in an organization of comparable size, but no IT certs. Too easy? Okay, let’s give candidate 1 a degree in computer science and candidate 2 a mediocre high school diploma. Still too easy? Let’s make the assignment more difficult. Candidate 1 agrees to half of the pay candidate 2 is willing to accept. Who will the personnel manager prefer? And which candidate would you hire? For me, candidate 2 is the clear choice.

That said, I want to end this post with this sentence: I strongly believe that IT certifications are very valuable.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)
• Poll: Are IT certifications overvalued? (8)

4sysops readers have the chance to win one of 10 eBooks of the new Microsoft Press book "Network Your Computers & Devices Step by Step". If you want to take part in this raffle please send an email to . The deadline of this contest is March 8, 2011

The book is written by Ciprian Rusen, from 7 Tutorials. It is aimed at people who want to build and manage a small network. It focuses mostly on Windows 7 and covers all the networking related features this operating system has to offer. One of the things which separate it from other similar books is that it extensively covers network interoperability between Windows 7 and all other major operating systems: Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista Service Pack 2, Mac OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard) and Ubuntu Linux v10.10 (Maverick Meerkat). If you’ve got a network with diverse computers and operating systems, this book can truly help you make them all work well together.

In approximately 560 pages, you get extensive coverage on the following topics:

• Chapter 1: Setting Up a Router and Devices
• Chapter 2: Setting User Accounts on All Computers
• Chapter 3: Setting Up Your Libraries on All Windows 7 Computers
• Chapter 4: Creating the Network
• Chapter 5: Customizing Network Sharing Settings in Windows 7
• Chapter 6: Creating the Homegroup and Joining Windows 7 Computers
• Chapter 7: Sharing Libraries and Folders
• Chapter 8: Sharing and Working with Devices
• Chapter 9: Streaming Media Over the Network and the Internet
• Chapter 10: Sharing Between Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows
  7 Computers
• Chapter 11: Sharing Between Mac OS X and Windows 7 Computers
• Chapter 12: Sharing Between Ubuntu Linux and Windows 7 Computers
• Chapter 13: Keeping the Network Secure
• Chapter 14: Setting Up Parental Controls
• Chapter 15: Troubleshooting Network and Internet Problems

To get a better taste of it and the style in which it is written, you can find a Free Sample here (PDF version).

Up To 50% Discount – Available Until January 31st, 2011

Readers interested in purchasing the book, get access to a discount code available only on the O’Reilly Shop until January 31^st, 2011. When you order Network Your Computers & Devices Step by Step, use the AUTHD discount code. You will receive a 40% discount on print and 50% discount on the digital version.

People interested in buying the print book, will get access also to the digital version of it for free. The book can purchased from the following locations:

• Amazon US – 34% discount available for the next few days.
• Amazon Canada – 44% discount available for the next few days.
• Amazon UK – 38% discount available for the next few days.
• Amazon Germany – 4% discount available for the next few days.
• Barnes & Noble – 30% discount available for the next few days.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Poll: Are IT certifications overvalued? (8)

When I started in IT, IBM dominated the computer market. There were no certifications and training was provided primarily to businesses data processing departments. Microsoft, Dell, EMC and Cisco had not been born. I took data processing courses comprised of programming and computer science concepts, since my institution did not have a CS minor. I was hired after graduation as a programmer for a bank and was immediately sent to IBM school for DOS (Disk Operating System) and COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language). Then I was sent to the same IBM school for JCL (Job Control Language). Most of you haven’t heard of IBM DOS, COBOL and JCL.

Nowadays, the IT field is flooded by the proliferation of certification training from Microsoft, Cisco and others, directing certifications not only to IT departments, but more so to individuals and feeding on their hopes for high-paying jobs. This has contributed to an over-supply of job applicants, albeit applicants with minimal or no experience, and consequently enticing employers to select lesser paid individuals with these newly acquired certifications. This in turn tends to lower IT compensation levels overall yet the importance and criticality of the IT function as continued to increase as more and more business functions are dependent on IT. Companies are using certifications as screening criteria, sometimes over-looking qualified, experienced IT professionals in their hiring processes.

On the other hand, certifications allow individuals who do not have previous IT experience to possibly start a new career, if there are jobs out there. Courses that lead to IT certifications summarize the knowledge of a fast moving industry, allowing IT pros to update their knowledge systematically. And last but not least, IT certifications help IT pros to extend their skills to related or new domains potentially enabling them to find a better job with a higher compensation.

This presents us with some tough questions. Should certifications be a primary qualifier in selecting candidates to be interviewed? What criteria are more reliable for determining whether a candidate is qualified for an IT position? What is more valuable, experience or certifications? Should compensation be tied to certifications? Should individuals cover the cost of certification training or the employer?

What do you think? Please post comment a blow with your thoughts and take part in the poll:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

You didn’t get the right books for Christmas? Then check out this collection of free e-books for Windows administrators. I have copied a short description from the publisher for each book.

The list is by no means complete. If you know of another good free e-book that could be of interest for Windows administrators, please post the link as a comment below or send me an email.

I will update this page regularly, so you might want to bookmark it. If you spot a book that is no longer available as a free e-book, please let me know.

The books are ordered chronologically. Books without a publishing date are at the end of the list.

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Ross Mistry, Stacia Misner, Microsoft Press, March 28, 2012

We are releasing this title to help you learn about the new features and capabilities in SQL Server 2012, which Microsoft released to manufacturing (RTM) on March 6, 2012. You can expect general availability of the product to begin on April 1, 2012.

Deploying Windows7 Essential Guidance 

Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup, Jerry Honeycutt, Ed Wilson, and the Windows 7 Team at Microsoft, Microsoft Press, October 2009

Download the New eBook: Deploying Windows® 7 Essential Guidance from the Windows 7 Resource Kit and Microsoft® TechNet Magazine. Looking for guidance specific to Windows 7 deployment? Check out what the industry’s leading experts have to say in this free Microsoft Press eBook with selected chapters from the Windows 7 Resource Kit on Deployment Platforms, Planning, Testing Application Compatibility.

Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime

Katherine Murray, Microsoft Press, 2011

This book shows you how you can use cloud computing—and ­specifically, ­Office 365—to get more done, collaborate more easily, and work more ­flexibly than you ever have before.

Windows 7 Power Users Guide

Mike Halsey, The long climb, May 2011

The Windows 7 Power Users Guide contains helpful how-to’s, full colour pictures and quick tips to guide you through everything from using the Start Menu and Taskbar to backing up your documents and identifying and fixing problems.

The SysAdmin Handbook

Red Gate Software, March, 2010

A collection of articles about Exchange, Virtualization, Windows Server, Powershell, and Unified Messaging

Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (Second Edition)

Mitch Tulloch, Microsoft Press, February 2010

Hyper-V and Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, and Microsoft’s private and public cloud computing platforms including Windows Azure

The Complete Windows 7 Shortcuts eBook

Nitgin Agarwal, The Windows Club, February 2010 More than 200 keyboard shortcuts containing almost all the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows 7 and its default programs like Paint, WordPad, MS Office, Calculator, Help, Media Player, Media Center, Windows Journal, Internet Explorer

Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker, Microsoft Press, 2010

Focuses on what is new and important, while giving you the context from Windows Server 2008 Chapters: What’s New, Installation and Configuration, Hyper-V, Remote Desktop Services and VDI, Active Directory, The File Services Role, IIS 7.5, DirectAccess and Network Policy Server, Other Features and Enhancements

Windows Server 2008 R2 Essentials

Neil Smyth, Techtopia, 2010

Installing, configuring and administering Windows Server 2008 R2 systems including installation and upgrades, networking configuration, remote desktop services, disk and partition management, RAID configuration, security, BitLocker encryption, remote desktop access, print services, resource sharing, clustering, load balancing and user permission management

Hyper-V Essentials

Neil Smyth, Virtuatopia, 2010

Overview of the Hyper-V architecture and components, Hyper-V role installation, the creation, management and migration of virtual machines, virtual networking architecture and remote access to virtual machines

Planning and architecture for Office SharePoint Server 2007

Microsoft Techet, March 2009

The audiences for this book are business application specialists, line-of-business specialists, information architects, IT generalists, program managers, and infrastructure specialists who are planning a solution based on Office SharePoint Server 2007

TCP/IP Fundamentals for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft, 2008

Introductory approach to the basic concepts and principles of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite, how the most important protocols function, and their basic configuration in the Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 families of operating systems

TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview

Lydia Parziale, David T. Britt, Chuck Davis, Jason Forrester, Wei Liu, Carolyn Matthews, Nicolas Rosselot, IBM Redbooks, December 2006

Chapters: Core TCP/IP protocols (including IPv6), TCP/IP application protocols, Advanced concepts and new technologies

Introduction to Storage Area Networks

Jon Tate, Fabiano Lucchese, Richard Moore, IBM Rebooks, July 2006

Illustrates where SANs are today, who are the main industry organizations and standard bodies active in the SAN world, and it positions IBM’s comprehensive, best-of-breed approach of enabling SANs with its products and services.

Microsoft Windows Server System Deployment Guide for Midsize Businesses eBook

Microsoft, March 2006

Step-by-step deployment instructions for the Microsoft server products that are most relevant to a midsize business (50-250 PCs), in one easy-to-read format

VMM 2008 Essentials

Virtuatopia

Chapters: VMM 2008 Components, VMM 2008 Architecture and Port Usage, VMM 2008 System Requirements, Installing VMM 2008 Components, A Guided Tour of the VMM Administrator Console, Managing Hosts with the VMM Administrator Console, Creating and Managing VMM 2008 Virtual Machine Templates, Managing Virtual Machines with the VMM Administrator Console, Managing VMM 2008 Library Servers, Performing Physical to Virtual (P2V) Conversions using VMM 2008, Converting VMware Virtual Machines to Hyper-V using VMM 2008 V2V, Understanding and Configuring VMM 2008 User Roles, Deploying a VMM 2008 Self-Service Portal

Xen Virtualization Essentials

Virtuatopia

Understanding of the basic approaches to virtualization together with detailed information on deploying virtualization using Xen technology; emphasizes the practical aspects of working with Xen, including detailed step by step tutorials designed to show exactly how to create and manage Xen based guest domains.

Security Concepts Book

Theodore Parker

Examines the typical problems in computer security and related areas, and attempt to extract from them principles for defending systems; attempt to synthesize various fields of knowledge, including computer security, network security, cryptology, and intelligence

Security+ Essentials

Techotopia

Provide the knowledge needed by IT professionals to pass the CompTIA Security+ exam; largely platform agnostic book

Windows Server 2008 Essentials

Techotopia

Cover all aspects of installing, configuring and administering Windows Server 2008: installation and upgrades, networking configuration, terminal services, disk and partition management, RAID configuration, security, BitLocker encryption, remote desktop access, print services, resource sharing, clustering, load balancing and user permission management.

German

Windows Server 2008 R2 - Das umfassende Handbuch

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

Another good year has passed for 4sysops. Traffic has increased by about 60 percent (now about 350,000 page views) per month, with about 5,200 RSS subscribers and 1,700 Twitter followers. I want to thank all 4sysops readers for their loyalty and all 4syops sponsors for their continuous support. Blogging for 4sysops has been a lot of fun. I also want to thank all other bloggers who have been writing for 4sysops and those readers who submitted free admin tools.

In this post I listed the most popular articles that have been written in 2010. There a few older articles that still get more traffic, like the all-time high post about different methods of how to reset a Windows password. I didn’t include those in the list.

Office 2010 activation – How to rearm Office 2010

Office 2010 activation is a new topic that many users and admins face. This article explains how you can activate Office 2010 and rearm Office 2010.

Forgot the administrator password? The Sticky Keys trick

If you forgot the administrator password you can easily reset the password on Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP with the Sticky Keys trick. It works always.

Create a bootable Windows PE 3.0 USB drive with rescue tools

Learn how to create a bootable Windows PE 3.0 USB drive. First you create the bootable USB stick, then you copy the WinPE 3.0 files to the drive.

FREE: NTPWEdit – Reset Windows password

If you boot from a Windows PE stick or DVD you can use the free tool NTPWEdit to access the Windows SAM database to reset the Windows 7 password.

Offline enable the built-in administrator account in Windows 7 and Vista

In this article you will learn how to enable the built-in administrator offline account on Windows 7 and Vista by editing the SAM registry.

Microsoft’s free Windows 7 deployment tools – Part 3: Installation

Microsoft’s free Windows 7 deployment tools from the WAIK (partly) are essential for every Windows admin: Windows Deployment Services (WDS), Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), User State Migration Tool (USMT), Windows Easy Transfer, Key Management Service (KMS), Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) and Windows 7 Security Compliance Management Toolkit.

Regedit as offline registry editor

In this article you will learn how to use Windows tool regedit as an offline registry editor. All you need is a second Windows installation or a Windows PE boot stick.

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT) is unable to copy files

This post explains why the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT) is unable to copy the install files to the USB drive in some cases. The tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on a USB flash drive.

Office 2010 64-bit or 32-bit? Part 2: Advantages and disadvantages

This second part of the Office 2010 32-bit vs. 64-bit article addresses the advantages and disadvantages of Office 2010 64-bit.

Happy New Year!

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

4sysops is very much focused on Windows administration, which allows you to address specific technical matters that you encounter at your day job. These are a few possible topics:

• A how-to article about a typical administration task (e.g., how to activate Office 2010 network-wide)
• A solution to a Windows administration problem (e.g., a workaround for a roaming user profile issue)
• A script you want to share (e.g., a PowerShell script you wrote to automate an administration task)
• Review of a tool you use at work (e.g., review of your favorite RDP manager)
• A description of a project at work (e.g., how you deployed Windows 7)
• Explanation of a Windows function (e.g., dynamic memory in Hyper-V)
• Comments on news relevant to Windows administrators (e.g., a summary of the latest rumors about the next Windows Service Pack)

These are just a few examples. Essentially, you can blog about anything that is worth telling your admin buddy about at lunch. The only difference is that you will have an audience of a few thousand admins and that you have to write it down.

A typical article is just a page long (about 500 words). Assuming you blog about a topic you already know well, this won’t take much time. It is also possible to discuss a complex topic in a series of articles.

Of course, blogging is not for everybody. These are the qualifications you should have:

• Experience in Windows administration
• Ability to explain technical matters
• Ability to express yourself understandably in English

Interested in becoming a 4sysops blogger? Then please send me the following information:

• Time you worked as a Windows administrator
• A short description of your day job
• Special fields of interest or expertise (Active Directory, software deployment, etc.)
• The country where you live

Feel free to ask any questions.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

And that got me thinking a little bit more on the subject. As IT professionals we all deal with users. It’s inevitable. It certainly isn’t what most of us signed up for, which seems rather unfair. I don’t know anyone got into the IT industry because of a personal passion for customer service.

Over time you start to notice a pattern emerging, in that you keep giving the same advice to people, time and again. As an IT professional, this is confusing. After all, if someone sends you a useful link on how to solve a problem which you might come across again, you’d keep the link handy, just in case. Wouldn’t you? Of course you would, so why don’t users do the same? And more to the point, why can’t users remember their own passwords, the ones which they selected themselves?

Rather unfairly, even though users don’t cotton onto the fact that they’re constantly coming back to you with the same problems (and that therefore the problem is personal, not technical), they HAVE figured out that you keep giving the same advice, and are starting to think that you’re trying to fob them off. So here are 5 creative phrases designed to get the point across.

Old phrase 1: “Please reboot your computer”

Why we say it: Because it almost always works, and it’s what we’d do if it were us

Why it’s bad: Because it lacks the personal touch, it means that you’re not likely to pay an in-person visit to the user’s desk, which means that their sense of outrage has not been vindicated. They now see you as “lazy”

Creative phrase: “I see, that certainly does sound serious and annoying. Tell you what; I’ll make some changes on the server right now which should sort that problem out for you. You will need to restart for your computer to see those changes but then that issue shouldn’t bother you again”

Note: Do not detail “changes”, as none exist

Old phrase 2: “Is the power cable plugged in?”

Why we say it: How many times has it genuinely been the problem? Exactly – it’s always worth asking

Why it’s bad: There’s an unsubtle undertone which suggests that we think that the user’s computer should be removed and replaced with an Etch-A-Sketch

Creative phrase: “We’ve had some reports recently of computers with loose power cables, so could you check yours please? Oh, so it wasn’t plugged in? Yes, that can happen – apparently temperature fluctuations caused by the air conditioning can make the cables work themselves loose”

Note: Be careful with this one, or you might get a call from the Head of Operations asking you to explain reported remarks made about the aircon systems

Old phrase 3: “Sorry, we but don’t support personal computers”

Why we say it: Because we don’t. We’re not paid to. Why is this hard to understand?

Why it’s bad: Because users never realise that they’re in the wrong on this one; to them you’re just being obstructive or “lazy” (see phrase 1)

Creative phrase: “I’d really love to help, but there have been some legal problems recently with someone accessing personal information on a home machine which somebody brought in. We’re now contractually obliged to not even touch personal machines”

Note: This one is bulletproof, because the user suddenly remembers all that search history on “special interest” sites which they’d rather keep private

Old phrase 4: “Hmm, we haven’t seen that problem before”

Why we say it: Because we really haven’t seen this before, and we’re interested. A new technical problem is like a finding an unclassified beetle – new knowledge and professional recognition beckon

Why it’s bad: Like finding an unclassified beetle, very few people really care. And if there’s something about IT that you don’t know, then maybe you don’t really know anything and the user can then authoratitively quote advice from their “friend whose dad works in IT and knows lots”

Creative phrase: “This is quite a unique problem which our documentation doesn’t cover, and we need to spent a bit of time researching it so that we can improve our customer service response times”

Note: Don’t overdo the customer service angle – while users like to be thought of as important customers, if you lay it on too thick they’ll start to suspect/realise that you’re just being incredibly cynical

Old phrase 5: “I’ve escalated your call”

Why we say it: Because fixing this problem requires skills/expertise/tools/permissions which we don’t have. Therefore we personally cannot fix this problem and have passed it on to someone who can. Surely this is a good thing?

Why it’s bad: To the user it sounds like buck-passing, fobbing-off or any other variant of just not being interested. The user generally doesn’t care whether you’ve escalated it or not, they just want to know what YOU are doing about it (and escalating the call doesn’t count as activity)

Creative phrase: “I showed this problem to our senior technical team, and they’ve identified it as a very important issue which needs their attention and dedicated resources to resolve”

Note: This one never fails, as it either artificially inflates the user’s sense of self-importance, or panders to and flatters an already-existing ballooning ego. Of course, it wouldn’t work on a user lacking those particular personal foibles, but when that ever happens the sun will be about to explode anyway

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

I wasn’t able to figure out who first used the term GodMode. It is interesting to note that most articles I found try to make it appear as if they discovered this super secret Windows 7 feature. Some attribute it to C’net author Ina Fried, probably because she received more than 2700 diggs for her short article. I think this is also a good example of how silly some of these new social media sites are. Most of the articles that make it to the Digg front page are of comparable profundity. (I suppose this remark means that I will get zero diggs for my own article.)

Now Ina Fried posted a follow up article with “exclusive” information from Microsoft about the GodMode incident. You won’t believe it, there are even more undocumented GodMode folders. Let’s see how many diggs this exclusive article gets. I bothered to try them all. The funny thing is that this exclusive information is rather useless because I will tell you now a real exclusive secret. There are many more GodModes which were not mentioned in this exclusive article. If you right click on one of the icons in the original GodMode folder, and then on “create shortcut”, you will find a shortcut on your desktop which will open one of these subGodMode folders. Shall we call them AngelModes?

Some of these could be helpful, if you have to change the corresponding Windows functions frequently. The majority of these folders is quite unspectacular though. I leave it up to you to decide how god-like they are. To play God yourself, you have to create a folder and name it according to this scheme: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. Depending on your religious denomination, you can replace “GodMode” with any term that creates enough awe.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• What you have to know about Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (0)

But let me first discuss the question of why people often defend their favorite operating system so passionately. Shane believes, it is because we have an investment in our operating systems. Once we make a decision that we can’t revert easily, we don’t like if someone tells us that it was a stupid choice. And, of course, we get emotional if we are told to be stupid. I think, there is some truth in this analysis. However, in my opinion the main reason for such debates is another one.

We will get closer to the truth if we examine an expression that most often falls in these disputes. It is the term “fanboy”. As you can imagine, I have been accused of being a Windows or Microsoft fanboy quite often on 4sysops. This is what you should expect if you run a blog about Windows. A fanboy is “a boy who is an enthusiastic devotee”. People want to express in this way that I am emotionally tied to Microsoft. Thus my arguments are irrational, they say, and can’t be taken seriously.

But how could someone be emotionally tied to a company? It is the same reason why people become devotees. There are religious devotees, people who are proud of their country, and they are emotionally tied to their sports club. The reason for these emotional ties usually has nothing do with choices. People are accidentally born in a certain country which doesn’t prevent them from being proud of it, even though, it was not their own achievement. Most people follow the beliefs of their community, and the favorite sports club is usually of the city they live in.

Being proud of belonging to a certain group is deeply entrenched in our genes. Our forefathers lived in tribes and were in constant rivalry with other clans. Being emotionally tied to one’s tribe and its belief system was essential for the survival of our genes. And bashing rival tribes at every possible occasion was part of the game.

Tribes have disappeared in many parts of the world for several reasons. However, our tribal genes are still very active. Thus, people have to attach themselves to tribe replacements such as countries, sports clubs, gangs, brands or online communities to fulfill their needs to be a devotee, even though, this doesn’t have any significant influence on our survival anymore.

However, I think, there are differences between people with regard to the dominance of these “tribe genes”. Hence, some people become fanboys more easily than others. I believe my own tribal instinct is underdeveloped. I can’t even say that I am proud of my country, the organization to which most people have emotional ties. I don’t have a favorite sports club, I have never been in a gang, I am not interested in the alumni club of my former University, and I have no favorite political party.

Then, why do I have to write articles that are pre-destined to evoke such emotional tribe fights? I think, the reason is that I get emotional easily if people put forward irrational arguments to defend their own tribe. My latest post in this category was about the Firefox-IE debate.

I belong to the Firefox tribe because I use this browser most of the time. However, I also believe that it doesn’t make sense to use Firefox in a corporate environment for technical reasons which I outlined in various articles on 4sysops. The Mozilla guys abused the picture of the hostile Microsoft tribe in their “get Firefox” campaign and many admins have been falling into this trap. The company that explicitly targets people with this tribal weakness is Apple. It is this kind of abuse that evokes my emotions. These claims might just seem like another fanboy argument. But, then, why would I admit to using Firefox myself? I even have no problem in admitting that Apple released quite a few very cool products lately. And, why would 4sysops be running on a Linux box if I am a Windows fanboy?

Shane suggested that everyone should practice “a bit of restraint in their dealings with other people”. It would be a good New Year’s resolution, indeed. However, I have little hope that the tribal genes can be silenced so easily. Perhaps, it helps if you make yourself clear as to how your opinion is influenced by the belief systems of your favorite tribes. When it comes to technical decisions, such emotional influences should play no role. Better spare your emotions for your loved ones.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

Now, every time I go to a Starbucks, I can’t help myself and I look at all those Macbook users, wondering if they bought this overpriced notebook with this shining oversized white logo only because they want to look like a cool surfer. I am sure many of them had good reasons to buy a Mac (the malware threat for example). However, there is no doubt that quite a few Apple customers believe that they simply have a better taste than the rest of us and who want to show the world that they are different. It is okay to be different, but buying a product to look different is just plain silly, in my view. Apple is pushing this attitude with these ads and that makes this company quite off-putting for me. Obviously, they are trying to attract more wannabes this way and I don’t wanna be one of them.

I should mention that with the latest version of these ads Apple targets two new types as potential customers (see video below): arrogant machos and clueless little girls.

Final note: Just in case you are a Mac user and somehow got lost on this blog, please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that all Apple users are wannabes. All I am saying is that Apple’s ads are targeting people who believe being a Mac is essential for a good a lifestyle. Anyway, I will treat you for a beer if you ever cross my way. I have no style, but we can talk about the things that really matter in life. But do me a favor please – don’t show off your iPhone on the counter. I really can’t stand that.

• Microsoft Management Summit 2012 – What you missed (4)
• Will Windows 8 be a mess or a success? Vista or Windows 95 successor? (14)
• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• The evolution of Microsoft certification (2)

WINNER: sevenforums.com Runner Up 1: windows7center.com Runner Up 2: 7tutorials.com Runner Up 3: 4sysops.com Runner Up 4: maximumpcguides.com

I am honored to have reached the fourth place in a contest where 65 websites have participated. Many thanks to all who voted for 4sysops!

I’ve never believed that I would be among the top five in this contest considering that 4sysops targets only a small group of Windows users whereas most of the other sites have a much broader audience.

However, there are probably quite a few other great Windows websites out there. Feel free to link to your favorite sites (preferably for Windows admins) in a comment. Don’t be ashamed to link to your own Windows website.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

Here is the complete list (in no particular order):

winhelponline.com, windows7center.com, 4sysops.com, bhandler.spaces.live.com, intowindows.com, maximumpcguides.com, msigeek.com, windowsvalley.com, sevenforums.com, 7tutorials.com

You can also vote here on 4sysops through the widged in the sidebar.

By the way, 4sysops has also been nominated for the Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine 2009 Community Choice Awards (CCA). Nomination has officially ended yesterday, and finalists voting will start on August 17. Don’t worry, I will keep you up-to-date to ensure that you won’t miss this happening.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

Most of your comments were quite positive, which surprised me a little. I think this is due to the fact that only those of you who really like my blog were willing to spend some time answering all the questions. If you didn’t take part in the survey, you still have the chance to tell me your opinion of my blog in the comments section below. Critical responses are welcome too! So, if you think that I am a Microsoft fanboy, just go ahead and say it! But do me favor: watch your language. This is a family program. If you don’t want to comment publicly, you can use my contact form.

I am also very much interested to know what kind of articles you would like to read on 4sysops. In the survey, I gave several options. 80% of you want to read more reviews about administration tools. I guess my sponsors like to hear that. The diagram below displays the other responses. Long-term readers might have noticed that I have discussed admin tools more frequently as of late. If you know of a great free admin utility, you can use this form. If you have any other suggestions, please leave a comment on this post.

Those of you who took part in the survey will remember that you had the chance to win one of two products from GFI. At this point, I want to thank GFI, who sponsored this survey. To draw the winners, I used the random integer generator at Random.org. The two winners are:

Edwin from Washington, USA. He is an MCSE 2003 working at the state helpdesk serving over 160 clinics. He won a license for GFI EventsManager.

Brian from Colorado, USA. He is a system administrator supporting roughly 35 servers and 90 desktops with locations in Colorado and California. He won a license for GFI MailEssentials.

Okay, here are the comments submitted in the survey. I copied them as they have been submitted.

It is one of the best written blogs on IT tools and networking informaiton.

I would like less biased information and include other operating system options.

Discussion of admin tools is probably my favorite feature.

Some great content, I really liked the Vista x64 series of articles.

You are doing a great job.

Hmm, no options in the survey for my situation where I never actually visit the site unless you make me – that is, make me jump out of my RSS reader Like you did with this survey.

Keep up the good work. How about an article comparing Windows NT4 with Vista? ))

I consult on Microsoft management products and have a general infrastructure background. I read the RSS feed and just like to keep up to date with what is going on at an infrastructure level.”

Using RSS, I read this blog regularly. I really enjoy the articles and the perspective you have on MS and Windows technologies.

I really like you site, it has proven to be a great and informative source of information for me. It has given me information I can then give to my boss about decisions we should make. I would like it if the chat were back, I tried for months to find a time when you were on but never was successful.

I like your straightforwardness and that you have your own view of things – even though I dont always agree. I like to be challenged

i like the tech articles, the tools.

4sysops offers information on many of the underlying technical aspects of windows systems administration in one place – for many things, I am not reduced to digging through the labyrinth of MS technical documents to find something relevant. I find the reviews to be pertinent, and nicely objective. I am a systems administrator for a small company, with several Windows and *NIX servers and desktops.

The site is one of my favorites. It only has the things i find relevent and no fluff! Great site.

I love the fact that all your reviews are relevant and interesting to me and my job function. Its nice to read a review that does not feel like it has a lot of marketing in it because of Sponsors.

I, myself, am a Windows Administrator for a ~150 person engineering firm, that is soon to merge with another company, which add a combined total of ~400-500 employees.

Objective view of 4sysops

This is a great resource. Most of what you write about is relevant to what I do.

Despite the clear pro-MS bias, the tool evaluations and recommendations are clearly valuable. I’m director of IT for a mid-size MSO health provider, managing ~600 desktops and ~35 servers over 40 locations in Southern California. WinXP desktop, 2k3 and Linux (CentOS) servers. Vista not on the roadmap at all.

I come to 4sysops to find posts about things that can make my life easier. I’m looking for information on tools that I wouldn’t hear about anywhere else. On the news side, most of the sites I visits eventually pick up the same news stories; so I’d really like to find a site like this that could tell me what no-one else is talking about.

I found this site about 18 months ago. I religiously go to the site daily. I have found many useful tools and articles via this site. Thank you.

More reviews on tech tools/software would be great… Comparisons vs. linux equivilents, etc…. Less personal info like your distaste for CLI’s.

I work as a project engineer for a medium sized hospital. i manage much of the systems and network infrastructure. i am a fairly new reader of 4sysops and so far i really like what i have been able to learn and the information you provide. thanks for putting so much work into your site and offerings.

Some of the articles are missing “step by step” instructions. sometimes it’s nice to have next to the product review a case study and instructions how to implement that product.

Just discovered the site, and after reading it for a bit, added the RSS feed. It’s a great site that I look forward to reading more of.

I am an MCSE 2003 and work at the state helpdesk serving over 160 clinics. I also am a computer nerd by hobbie as well.

I generally only follow the RSS feed, but its always good. Well, other than the Vista fanboy stuff. I’m a field systems engineer for a consulting company, and do alittle bit of everything except programming.

I love the site, especially the product reviews on admin tools and windows tips.

You’re doing a great job. I like things the way they are today. Thanks.

Unbaised informations are rarely seen this days on that kind of “blog” tech sites. Refreshing.

I’d greatly apprecite it if you’d post more of your everyday experiences, scripts you use on a daily basis.

The interface could use an overhaul; it feels a little like it was made with Frontpage. Also the relatively large sidebar on the left makes it feel like half the page is being used for navigation.

I like that you cover the tools which are really helpful to the sysadmins, that your feed gives me the full length post and you don’t talk only about new and hot technologies, but give the credit to the things that are still around us in the real production environment.

I really like the site as it is. I enjoy the types of information currently offered and have benefited from reading user comments as well. I am the senior system admin for a 500 person firm in the US. We run a mostly Windows shop and so appreciate your balanced views of Microsoft and news relating to Windows admins.

I think the top free admin tools are really great, I would like to see some linux/unix and windows integration information, as we are all getting multi OS platforms in all of our datacenters.

Change the logo! It looks like something out of a computer textbook from the 90s. Otherwise I like the pace and quality of the news on here.

I like the fact you are always at the front edge of news about Windows related technologies. I’m a ‘desktop architect’ but i work on group policy, automation, and windows security related technologies.

I am a Microsoft Technical Architect, currently developing Disaster Recovery infrastructure. 4sysops has become my No. 1 RSS read along with bink.nu. Great content, and always relevant. Keep up the good work.

I started reading your blog because I was a sys admin for college, a very Microsoft-centric college. A lot of what you talked about was stuff that I was already exploring, or stuff I would soon need to explore. It was a very good, and relevant read for me. Now I’m at the director level, with the sys admins working for me. It’s still a good and relevant read. I check the RSS feed every day to see what the topic is, and usually about 3 days a week it’s something that relates directly to my job or my interests. I know you get a lot of complaints about being a Microsoft cheerleader. Knowing how the campus agreements are structured, I understand why you often pick a Microsoft product over a competitor….it’s usually cheaper, and if not cheaper, certainly easier. That said, I do think you tend to defend Microsoft a lot more than they deserve, but as I said, I understand why too. Anyway, I like your blog.

I like to read more reviews about commercial admin toold for MS server products like Windows Server (and AD, TS,…), Exchange, SQL Svr

Hi, I am system administrator from mid-sized finnish consulting company.You have one of the best blogs in the Internet, keep up the good work.

Every time I visit 4sysops I find something new and cool that I didn’t know before. I love to read about new Windows system admin tools, Vista/XP compability and such, Server 2008, and cool utilities (especially the free ones!). I find so much useful stuff that I actually shy away from visiting (or reading posts in my blog reader where I prefer to read them) sometimes because I know I’m going to have more information that I’m interested in to sort through than I have spare time most of the time! Sometimes ignorance is…less to do

Hi, I am the Information Systems Manager for a small company in Logan, Utah USA. I am a one man IT department so I do EVERYTHING for my company when it comes to IT. I have been known to do things outside the scope of IT also. I really enjoy the free admin tools emphasis of your website. The way I first found your site was while googleing for a tool to find disk usage on a system that was out of space on the C: drive. I found what I was looking for on your site. I have been frequenting your site since then.

I found your site while looking for something else. I am a Network Admin for the County of Kern, California. We are in the position I read about earlier where we have many in house programs that are not compatible with Vista. It will take us several years to get all our programs completely re-written to be compatible. We have no plans for Vista for some time though we have paid for the licensing. We are actually looking at droping Microsoft completely because they are too unpredictable. Linux is looking better to me as time passes. Now that I have found your site I will look around to see what I can put to use. Thanks, Jim

I am a second years student of business and information technologys in germany (fh deggendorf) and I just love your blog … with every post of you I get more and more deeper into the adminworld! Thanks a lot for teaching me that much!

“Hi! I specialize in providing IT services to small business owners. I would really like to see see more news and stories on tools and howtos that revolve around the 10-200 person company. Thank You very much.

The navigation is a bit unfriendly

First visit and very impressed. I am an IT Consultant managing c. 10 SME networks (5-100 users each) plus lots of training (MCT) for larger organisations

I like the free admin tools that you point out, very useful. Network Administrator for UK based telecoms service provider.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

I added the page views behind the title of the article. The numbers are from Google Analytics. Note that they do not represent the absolute page views in 2007 since I started using Google Analytics only at the end of March.

1. How to disable Vista’s desktop search indexing (Windows Search) 49299
2. Expanding a virtual VMware disk 42539
3. Install Windows Server 2003 Adminpak (Administration Tools Pack) on Vista 34035
4. Adminpak for Windows Vista 33013
5. Vista x64 vs. Vista x86 – 32 bit or 64 bit Vista edition? 29714
6. ioDrive: 640 GB flash card almost at the speed of DRAM – The end of hard drives? 27027
7. Windows Vista 32-bit versus Vista 64-bit 21264
8. Resize a Virtual Disk with VMware Converter 15763
9. Vista compatibility update for the Adminpak 12174
10. Three ways to reset a Windows Vista admin password 11378

I must admit that I was a bit surprised that the most read article was about Vista’s desktop search indexing. It appears to be one of the new Vista features that were a flop.

However, the most popular topic was another one. Three articles about the Adminpak problem made it in the top ten. I still don’t understand why Microsoft neglected this issue. Aren’t the admins the ones who have to be persuaded first to move to a new operating system version?

Also interesting is the number of people that have had problems with expanding VMware disks. When I first came across this issue I couldn’t believe that VMware didn’t offer a simpler solution.

Not so surprising is that many were unsure if they should install Vista x86 or Vista x64. I suppose that the 64-bit edition will soon gain more popularity. At the moment 3GB are enough for most users. However, I think that in one year many power users will already thirst after more memory.

So what are the prospects for 2008? I guess the number one topic will be Windows Server 2008. I already posted a lot about it and I am sure there will be more to blog about it as soon as its final becomes available. By the way, my German speaking readers (I know there are many) might be interested in an article about Windows Server 2008 I am writing for the German magazine Computerwoche. I am constantly extending it since it is a wiki entry.

Another thing I will concentrate on in 2008 is finding new sponsors for 4sysops. You might have realized that I removed Adsense some weeks ago. It simply didn’t perform well recently. Blogging is certainly fun, but it is even more fun if you can earn a little with it. So I also have to say thanks to my new sponsors Special Operations Software and NETIKUS.NET.

Ok then, enough blogging for this year. Happy new year!

• FREE: Veeam ONE Free Edition – Real-time Hyper-V and VMware monitoring (0)
• Microsoft Exam 70-640 – DNS Zones – Overview (2)
• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)

Traditional media still try to distinguish between objective information and subjective commentary. I never believed that this is really possible, anyway. Bloggers usually don’t care about distinction and that is why it is important to know more about the person who is behind a blog.

My original about page was a bit too brief. I finally managed to extend it a little. Ah by the way, the contents of my about page is subjective, too.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

Of course, one can’t take such contests seriously. It is obviously only a marketing gag. I suppose I wouldn’t qualify as the sysadmin of the year since I probably lack the sense of humor which is another necessary qualification. (I dare you to nominate me. I am really a lousy singer.)

But it seems like it is not just a gag if you read the rules for taking part in this questionable contest:

By entering the Contest, you agree to allow a Splunk representative to contact you regarding potential sales, case studies and other business matters.

Splunk, a search technology company, is the main sponsor. So this is not just about receiving media coverage, but also a cheap way to rake in monetizable addresses.

It is interesting to note that Jeff Bates, co-founder of Slashdot, is one of the judges. Just imagine Microsoft as a sponsor of this competition. Rest assured that a wicked lampoon would show up beside this cute pic representing Bill Gates as a Borg.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)

Even though they make fun of their rivalry, you can feel somehow that there are also some negative emotions involved. Perhaps this is understandable after so many years of competing with each other. However, I never understood why users on both sides get so emotional over the question which has the best products. After all, it is only about computer stuff. There are far better things in life to get aroused about.

The entire interview can be watched at D5. You should also check out the prologue. It is fun, too.

• Why only (I)T will matter (8)
• Poll results: IT employment (2)
• Five tips to persuade management about a new investment in IT (1)
• Poll results – Are IT certifications overvalued? (11)
• Raffle: Microsoft Press book: Network Your Computers and Devices Step by Step (0)