During the Beta days I had created my own USB loader for Windows 7, and you can find all kinds of web pages out there devoted to help you create your very own USB based Windows 7 Installer…..but why do it yourself when Microsoft has taken the time to write a free utility to help you burn the ISO to DVD or create a Windows 7 USB  based installer. If you buy Windows 7 from the online Microsoft Store you have the option to download an ISO or if like me you have a TechNet Subscription or something similar like an Action Pack or MSDN account you can download the ISO file for your version of Windows 7. In my case I am using Windows 7 Ultimate.

The process took about 10 minutes to complete on my HP dv7t laptop. And the installation time on my Home Theater PC was about 30 minutes from first boot with the USB Drive to Desktop Icons. You can download this utility free of charge from the Microsoft Store @ http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool?err=t2. You will need a good USB drive and for the sake of performance I’d recommend a fast drive like my A-Data Drive which is rated to work with Ready Boost, and while I used an 8GB USB Drive for my Windows 7 Loader you can stick with a 4GB which is more than large enough for the slightly larger than 3GB worth of data the loaded will install on it. If you do decide to go with a larger drive like I did. Be you can use that extra storage for other applications you want readily available like Windows XP Mode installation which is around 500 MB, your Office 2007 DVD and any other goodies you can think to add.

And speaking of Windows XP Mode. If you are running Windows 7 Enterprise, Professional or Ultimate then you should download this today. Windows XP mode is a Virtual PC running on your Windows 7 PC that allows you to seamlessly integrate older applications that may only be compatible with Windows XP into your Windows 7 experience. Windows XP Mode is totally free so be sure to head on over to the Microsoft  Windows Virtual PC Download site located @ http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx and download your copy. Once installed you will find it doesn’t take very long to self configure and you are ready to go. My installation took about 20 minutes to complete. 

Once you are up and running just install your applications in the Virtual PC like you normally would. You can attach USB devices as well as DVDs or CDs to the XP Mode system and Windows Virtual PC will automatically publish your applications seamlessly into the Windows 7 Start Menu.

By default XP Mode only uses 512MB of your system RAM but if your like me and you have a lot to spare you can increase that amount by shutting down the XP Mode system and changing the settings. In my case this HP laptop is equipped with 8GB of RAM so I dedicated 2GB to the XP Mode system, you can add as little or as much to your individual systems (up to about 3GB) if you have RAM to spare and if you don’t its still pretty cheap to upgrade so I’d recommend investing in some additional memory especially if you happen to be running the x64 Bit version of Windows 7. I spent around $115 for the 8GB RAM upgrade I did on my Windows Media Center several months ago.

What ever the application it shouldn’t be too hard to get it installed, or configured. Once you have your application installed its basically ready to go, just remember to close your XP Mode system to active the integration with the Windows 7 Start Menu. You cannot run a seamless application while the Windows XP system is running in full mode.The screenshot above shows Internet Explorer 6 and Microsoft Office Access 2002 running in XP Mode side by side with other Windows 7 applications. So if you have any old applications that you still have a requirement to still use like a custom developed database application written for Microsoft Office Access 97 or an application that no longer has vendor support but is still vital to your business XP Mode is a great option. You get all the benefits of Windows 7 and true application compatibility with XP Mode

When using this VBScript it will log the success of failure of the Robocopy job by examining the log for errors. If an error is found it will rename the log file with a Date and Time Stamp then create an Error Event in your Windows Application Log (Event Viewer). The script also lets you decide how long to keep your logs (Robocopy is appending the log each time). For example if you wish to keep current and archive logs for 10 days you would pass a 10 to the VBScript from the CMD file you are making your call with. (CMD File Example Below) The Script will keep the current Robocopy Log and the Last Archived Robocopy Log for 10 days, which would give you between 10 and 20 days of logs dependant upon when you reviewed them. The error logs however are not deleted programmatically as they may require your attention. Other information required needed to pass are the name of and location you want for the log file generated by Robocopy.

You may or may not want to log “Information Events” (the success of your Robocopy job), especially if you run the job every 30 minutes. You will only need to comment 3 lines in the VBScript. (Documented in file). Commenting out these 3 lines will not stop the Script from reporting errors to the Event Viewer or archiving the failed Robocopy Log. You can also update the Text of the Error and Success message if you wish by updating the information between the double quites (“”) the strMessage value of the Write Application Log for Success or Failure section of the VBScript. The script is fairly straight forward and can bee easily modified to suit your needs and requirements.

Here is the VBScript:

' WINDOWS Constants for Event Loging with WSH
const EVENTLOG_SUCCESS = 0
const EVENTLOG_ERROR = 1
const EVENTLOG_WARNING = 2
const EVENTLOG_INFORMATION = 4
const EVENTLOG_AUDIT_SUCCESS = 8
const EVENTLOG_AUDIT_FAILURE = 16

Dim txtLogPath, txtLogName, txtLog, txtLogERROR, strValue, iTotal, iPos, strText, oFSO, oFolder, oFile, intArchiveDays

txtLogPath = Wscript.Arguments(0) ' Retreive Log Path from Batch File
txtLogName = Wscript.Arguments(1) ' Retreive Log Name from Batch File
intArchiveDays = Wscript.Arguments(2) ' Retreive Days to Archive Log from Batch File
txtLog = txtLogPath & txtLogName ' This will put the log file path and name together
txtLogArchive = txtLogPath & txtLogName & "." & "OLD" ' This sets the name of the Archived log file which is cycled when a new archive period begins
txtLogERROR = txtLogPath & Year(date) & "-" & Month(date) & "-" & Day(date) & "_" & Hour(Time) & Minute(Time) & Second(Time) & "_" & txtLogName 'This will rename the log file if the ROBOCOPY Job Fails


' Looks for the Archive Log and deletes it then creates a new Archive if the current log is old enough to archive.
set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set oTS = oFSO.OpenTextFile(txtLog, 8, True)
oTS.close

set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set oTS = oFSO.OpenTextFile(txtLogArchive, 8, True)
oTS.close

set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set objFile = objFso.GetFile(txtLog)

if datediff("d", objFile.DateCreated,Date) > intArchiveDays-1 then
    set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    set objFile = objFso.GetFile(txtLogArchive)
    objFile.Delete
    set objFile = objFso.GetFile(txtLog)
    objFSO.MoveFile txtLog , txtLogArchive
end if

' Get LogFile Contents and cycles thru to find errors
FileContents = GetFile(txtLog)
strText = FileContents
iPos = 1
Do While iPos <= Len(strText)
   If InStr(iPos, UCase(strText), "0X00000") > 0 Then
       iTotal = iTotal + 1
            iPos = InStr(iPos, UCase(strText), "0X00000")_
            + Len("0X00000")
        Else
            Exit Do
        End If
Loop

' Determine if Errors exist in log file
If iTotal > 0 Then
   strErrors = 1
Else
   strErrors = 0
End If

' Write Application Log for Success or Failure
If strErrors = 1 Then

    set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    objFSO.MoveFile txtLog , txtlogERROR
    strMessage = "Robocopy Job Failed - Please check log file: " & txtLogERROR
    set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    objShell.LogEvent EVENTLOG_ERROR, strMessage
    Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Else
   strMessage = "Robocopy Job Completed Successfully"

' If you do not want to send Success Events to the Application Even Viewer Commend out the following 3 lines
    set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    objShell.LogEvent EVENTLOG_INFORMATION, strMessage
    Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
End If   

' Readfile function
function GetFile(txtLog)
  If txtLog<>"" Then
    Dim FS, FileStream
    Set FS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
      on error resume Next
      Set FileStream = FS.OpenTextFile(txtLog)
      GetFile = FileStream.ReadAll
  End If
End Function

Once you have created the VBS File from above (ROBOCOPY_LOGEVENT.VBS) You will need to create a simple batch file to pass the needed variables to your script for processing, in addition this batch file can also execute your actual Robocopy command and then of course you can just schedule this batch file.

Here is a Sample Batch File (CMD):

@ECHO OFF
set daysarchive=30
set source="C:\Source_Folder"
set dest="\\ServerName\\Backup_Folder"
set logpath="C:\Log_Folder\"
set logname="Robocopy-log-file.log"
set fullpath="%logpath:"=%%logname:"=%"
ROBOCOPY %source% %dest%  /E /NP /LOG+:%fullpath% /R:1 /W:3
wscript ROBOCOPY_LOGEVENT.VBS %logpath% %logname% %daysarchive%

I hope you find this script as useful as I did. I am working on a better way to Log to the Event Viewer, by creating a Robocopy Event Log in the Windows Event Viewer and logging everything there.

USE MASTER
GO

--Create a temporary table with the information we need
SELECT [Process ID] = p.spid
    , [IsSystemProcess] = case when s.is_user_process = 1 then 0 else 1 end
    , [User] = p.loginame
    , [Database] = ISNULL(db_name(p.dbid),N'')
    , [Status] = p.status
    , [Open Transactions] = p.open_tran
    , [Command] = p.cmd
    , [Application] = p.program_name
    , [Wait Time] = p.waittime
    , [Wait Type] = case when p.waittype = 0 then N'' else p.lastwaittype end
    , [Wait Resource] = case when p.waittype = 0 then N'' else p.waitresource end
    , [CPU] = p.cpu
    , [Physical IO] = p.physical_io
    , [Memory Usage] = p.memusage
    , [Login Time] = p.login_time
    , [Last Batch] = p.last_batch
    , [Host] = p.hostname
    , [Net Library] = p.net_library
    , [Net Address] = p.net_address
    , [Blocked By] = p.blocked
    , [Execution Context ID] = p.ecid
    , [ID] = IDENTITY(int, 1, 1)
    , (SELECT sql_handle from sys.sysprocesses where spid = p.spid) AS [Last Statement]
INTO #snapshot_processinfo
FROM master.dbo.sysprocesses p, master.sys.dm_exec_sessions s
    WITH (NOLOCK)
    WHERE p.spid = s.session_id
    ORDER BY p.spid
GO

--Query the table and format it.
SELECT RTRIM([Process ID]) AS [Process ID]
    , RTRIM([IsSystemProcess]) AS [IsSystemProcess]
    , RTRIM([User]) AS [User]
    , RTRIM([Database]) AS [Database]
    , RTRIM([Status]) AS [Status]
    , RTRIM([Open Transactions]) AS [Open Transactions]
    , RTRIM([Command]) AS [Command]
    , RTRIM([Application]) AS [Application]
    , RTRIM([Wait Time]) AS [Wait Time]
    , RTRIM([Wait Type]) AS [Wait Type]
    , RTRIM([Wait Resource]) AS [Wait Resource]
    , RTRIM([CPU]) AS [CPU]
    , RTRIM([Physical IO]) AS [Physical IO]
    , RTRIM([Memory Usage]) AS [Memory Usage]
    , RTRIM([Login Time]) AS [Login Time]
    , RTRIM([Last Batch]) AS [Last Batch]
    , RTRIM([Host]) AS [Host]
    , RTRIM([Net Library]) AS [Net Library]
    , RTRIM([Net Address]) AS [Net Address]
    , RTRIM([Blocked By]) AS [Blocked By]
    , RTRIM([Execution Context ID]) AS [Execution Context ID]
    , RTRIM([ID]) AS [ID]
    , (SELECT text FROM sys.dm_exec_sql_text([Last Statement])) AS [Last Statement]
FROM #snapshot_processinfo
GO

--Cleanup that  temporary table
DROP TABLE #snapshot_processinfo

Once you’ve run the code in a SQL Query Window just right click the top right corner of the results window and click copy. Then just paste the data in Excel and format as Table or Create as list to sort through and analyze the data at your discretion.

The code found above is fairly straight forward and I hope it will hopefully help you find what you are looking for. Maybe some day Microsoft will actually add an export button to that Activity Monitor.

Eligible students are allowed to purchase up to one license from each of the four sections below:

• Microsoft® Office Ultimate 2007 (USD$59.95): Perpetual license, which includes the following applications:
• Access® 2007
  Accounting Express 2008
  Excel® 2007
  InfoPath® 2007
  Groove® 2007
  OneNote® 2007
  Outlook® 2007 with Business Contact Manager
  PowerPoint® 2007
  Publisher 2007
  Word 2007
• Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 (USD$55.95): Perpetual license, which includes the following application:
• Visio® Professional 2007
• Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007 (USD$9.95): Perpetual license for a single language pack, which includes the following application:
• Office Language Pack 2007 (available languages)
• Windows Vista® Ultimate Upgrade (USD$64.95): Perpetual license, which includes the following application:
• Windows Vista® Ultimate Upgrade

You can find more information and the full terms and conditions about this promotion at the Ultimate Steal web site here .

It’s widely-known that Microsoft Certified Trainers are some of Microsoft’s most active evangelists. They showcase our products to their students and speak on behalf of MS at events such as TechEd and user group meetings. Over the past few years, a number of MCTs have taken their support of MS beyond the classroom and onto the internet.

AskTheMCT.com is Stephen Charles Rea’s entry into the MCT blogosphere and has tallied more than 25,000 hits since it started on January 1, 2008. Steve, or as he’s know to his friend, the Rev or .rev, is an MCT at the New Horizons in Greensboro, NC where he specializes in the ITPro curriculum. A former stand-up comedian and radio disc jockey, Rea now delivers most of his jokes in the classroom, with a few sneaking into the interview he did with Microsoft in July.

Read the rest of the article…

Microsoft has several Interactive aids to help you find where those seemingly lost options from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook have run off to now that Office uses the new Ribbon. Take a look at the following links to view them online or download them as flash files to view offline at your convenience. Also included are links to download a full set of ribbon mappings for each of those five (5) Microsoft Office Applications.

Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

• Online: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101491511033.aspx?pid=CH100648241033
• Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=89718ABD-2758-47B3-9F90-93788112B985&displaylang=en
• Ribbon Commands: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128621033.aspx

Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

• Online: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102221621033.aspx?pid=CH100622221033
• Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=CC37CC1E-028D-4D30-9093-96CC6513ECA1&displaylang=en
• Ribbon Commands: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128631033.aspx

Word 2003 to Word 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

• Online: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100744321033.aspx?pid=CH100487431033
• Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9044790B-4E24-4277-B714-66D7B18D0AA1&displaylang=en
• Ribbon Commands: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128591033.aspx

PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

• Online: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101490761033.aspx?pid=CH100668131033
• Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BEF41DC3-8E28-4282-82D4-CEC2F416CD40&displaylang=en
• Ribbon Commands: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128641033.aspx

Access 2003 to Access 2007 Interactive Command Reference Guide

• Online: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA102388991033.aspx?pid=CH100621861033
• Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B9574C72-657F-438C-9DE9-F8F70DD2D40D&displaylang=en
• Ribbon Commands: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128601033.aspx

for those that don’t remember thee beta exams, they were both based on Windows Vista and were aimed in a way at Big box stores like Best Buy for system sellers installers who use media Center products to integrate the modern home. This is the longest period of time I can remember waiting on beta results….And you may need ot wait longer, not all results are in as Prometric is still grading the exams now that Microsoft is done looking them over.

For years the Microsoft Certified Professional Program has had its ups and downs, but for more than a decade it has been one of the definitive certification programs in the field of Information Technology. Programs like the MCSE for example served its purpose to help a candidate express demonstrated expertise and ability to implement Microsoft Based solutions like Windows NT, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows Server 2003 and so on. There have been, however a few failings in the individual certification tracks. For my prime example I will use the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA). In my case as an MCDBA in SQL 2000 Server I am a true IT-Pro certified DBA, not a true developer. Sure I may write code when I have to, just ask me about my recent experience with C# and SharePoint, but for the most part I’m an implementer and administrator of the server technologies.

A fundamental problem is that if you (a true database developer writing applications that use SQL as a platform) also hold the MCDBA certification, but by taking more developer oriented exams there is no distinction as to the end result. So if you and I were both submitted by a hiring agency because someone saw the same certification on our resumes it might be confusing when I try to explain I’m not a developer to the hiring manager, yet I hold what he/she feels is a development certification. While I admit the MCDBA is the one real example of this type of confusion there are other issues with the original MCP Program.

For example, let’s say that you would like to prove your skills as a Tier One Server Support Agent by certifying on just the basic technology Windows Server 2003 offered. You could take and exam like 70-290 for example, but there isn’t any real distinction between passing that exam and passing any of the other Windows Server 2003 exams like 70-294, which is an Active Directory exam for the most part. The other side effect is that you really don’t get any additional certification status once you’ve passed your first Microsoft exam until you complete a track, which in this case would be the Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA) requiring 3 or 4 more exams depending on the path you chose to take.

This elementary flaw is what I believe at least in part is a contribution to the “New Generation Certifications” presented by Microsoft. Enter first of these, the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) which has been designed as a single exam certification to prove your knowledge about a product and what it can do. With more than 20 (and more coming every day) MCTS certifications you can specifically target your knowledge to a single certification to both prove your skill set with a technology and strengthen your resume for the potential future employment opportunities at or beyond your current place of employment. If you wish to prove your knowledge of Exchange 2007 configuration tasks for example you can now take just one single exam (70-236) in contrast to the older program requiring you to complete the Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) track then adding the “Messaging” designation for a now total of 8 or 9 exams depending again on how you chose your track. And if you decide a simple certification like the MCST: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Configuration isn’t enough because you need to more than prove a skill set in a single technology you also need to prove your capacity to fulfill the job role of Exchange or Messaging Administration then you will want to follow-up this exam by perusing the next level of certification the Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP).

This brings us to the MCITP, a certification that is an extension of the MCTS. If the MCTS is a certification of knowledge about a product the MCITP is the certification to then take that knowledge and put it to use. These certifications are typically 2 or 3 exams and require a prerequisite knowledge (MCTS) exam. As I said before if you wanted to prove your  Microsoft Exchange 2003 skills in the form of a Microsoft Certification you would do that by earning the MCSE: Messaging certification by taking 8 or 9 exams. With the MCITP you can prove your Exchange Messaging Administration skills (currently Exchange 2007) by earning the MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator. This 2 exam (3 with the MCTS) certification is a much more streamline way of doing so when compared to previous program tracks. And remember my MCDBA dilemma? Well I am also certified as an MCTS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as well an MCITP: Database Administrator, as opposed to my development counterpart the MCITP: Database Developer or the even more specific job function, MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer. Now as a hiring manager and as a candidate it’s far less confusing to distinguish the difference in purpose and function of the certification tracks.

So MCTS certifies us in technologies ranging from Windows Vista to Windows Server 2008 Active Directory to help us demonstrate our knowledge. The MCITP helps for mostly IT Professionals establish their ability to function in job roles ranging from Enterprise Support Technician to Enterprise Server Administrator. So what if you’re a developer? You still have the options to certify (MCTS) in technologies like the .NET Framework, but your job role specific certifications have a different name, the Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD). The MCPD program is split up into many areas to help you better find a certification track or tracks that suit both your expertise and job related goals. These job specific tracks range from Enterprise Applications Developer to Windows Developer across differing versions of the .NET platform and versions of Visual Studio.

There are a few other Certification Programs at Microsoft like the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) designed to help you prove skill in Microsoft Office applications like Word, Outlook, and Excel, or you might be interested the Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Specialist which is designed to prove skill in Microsoft Applications like Dynamics GP or Dynamics CRM, but which ever track you choose to take, I wish you luck on your endeavor and I hope this has in some way helped to simplify your path. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. Here are a couple external links to get your started.

Find more information about the individual Certification pathways.
Microsoft Learning

Fairly new Microsoft Sponsored forum just for questions.
Training and Certification

Your one stop location for all things new in Microsoft Certification
Trika – MCP Communications

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