Windows “Downloads Folder” and Roaming Profiles

By default, Windows automatically saves all downloaded files into the “Downloads” Folder within the user profile. Since this folder forms part of a user’s Roaming Profile, it will be copied back and forth between the workstation and the server at every logon / logoff. As the size of the “Downloads” folder increases, so will the …

DFS Fileshare and Microsoft Office Protected Mode

We recently switched to using DFS for our Fileshares, but quickly ran into a problem with Microsoft Office Documents opening up in "Protected Mode". The reason given was that Word and Excel believed the files originated from the Internet, and therefore was warning users each time they opened a document from the DFS Share. I …

Decommission WSUS 3 on Small Business Server

I am slowly but surely moving all of the services from Windows SBS 2008 onto our brand new Windows 2016 Server. This article covers the steps I took to decommission WSUS 3 after switching to WSUS 4. Firstly, I checked that none of my clients were still connecting to WSUS 3. Once I established this, …

SQL Server File Locations for Default Instances

Each Instance of SQL Server has its own set of executable files (sqlservr.exe) and data files. The file locations for the default instance are different depending upon the version installed. Essentially, this is to allow multiple versions of SQL Server to happily co-existing on the same server. The table below lists the default file locations …

Fitting USB3 into a DELL PowerEdge R510 Server

USB3 is not supported natively within Windows Server 2008 (or Windows 7), and therefore Dell has always seemed reluctant to fit USB3 hardware into its Servers. To make matters worse, most USB3 cards require some sort of SATA Power from the main board, and Dell does not provide these connectors inside the chassis either. So, …

Microsoft IIS: Configuring a Domain SSL Certificate

In a previous article, I explained how to host a second web site within IIS and how to configure the server bindings so that both sites (the new site and the default site) were able to listen on “Port 80”. I would like to expand upon this by adding a Domain SSL Certificate to the …

Microsoft IIS Bindings and Hosting Multiple Web Sites

This article covers the configuration of multiple web sites within a single installation of Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). In order to do this, we need to establish an understanding of how “Bindings” work. An “out of the box” installation of IIS will create a “Default Web Site” that listens on Port 80. This is …

Group Policy: Disabling Internet Explorer Add-Ons

If you want to enable / disable an Internet Explorer Add-On via group policy, you will firstly need the “Class ID” of the Add-On. Within IE, select “Manage Add-Ons” from the Tools Menu. From there, select your Add-On and click “More Information”. For the purposes of  this example, I have chosen the “Java™ Plug-In SSV …

WSUS: Recovering Disk Space

Over time, my WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) Server began to consume alarming amounts of disk space, mainly due to neglect on my part. So, it was time for a bit of a tidy up. Declining Superseded Updates The most important thing to realise is that (even though there were over 30,000 items listed within …

Creating a Shared Resource Calendar in Exchange 2007

It’s often handy to create a shared calendar within your organisation for booking rooms and other shared resources such as cars and laptops. Outlook / Exchange 2007 makes this easy to achieve. Firstly, create a shared Calendar (within Public Folders) using Outlook. For the purposes of this example, let’s call this “Pool Cars”.    The …