Email not working

When working with a client today on email problems I realized I had never provided a simple tutorial for helping with email problems. As a user of Thunderbird, Outlook and/or Outlook Express you might have run into a situation where you can't send and/or receive emails for a new email account that has been set up. Sometimes it can be traced to a configuration problem when setting the account up in your email client and other times it can be a problem with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the email server you're attempting to use.

To remove your email client from the equation you can test your incoming mail server (the server you check when picking up email) and your outgoing mail server (the server that is used for delivering emails that you author).

Here is a simple tutorial for testing a POP3 incoming mail server and a SMTP outgoing mail server..

Remote Desktop Connection on Windows Vista Home Premium

In case you've only found blogs that say it can't be done then buckle up boys and girls, Tony Chan has come to the rescue and the ride isn't even a harrowing one.

Steps to Add Remote Desktop to Vista Home Premium:

1. Download termsvr.zip here
2. Extract Termsvr.zip to a temp directory
3. Start "Command Prompt" in Administrator mode (Run As Administrator)
4. Run the corresponding batch file for your Vista edition
5. Allow TCP Port 3389 on Windows Firewall or any other firewall product.
6. Done
source: Remote Desktop on your Windows Vista Home Premium

In the event that the link to Tony's blog entry goes bad let me know and I can email you the termsvr.zip file.

Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack

Recently I upgraded my main laptop to Windows Vista Business and as usual it begins the search for the newer versions of some of the tools that you've become so accustomed to using. This blog post has to do with the Windows Server 2003 Administrator Tools Pack. If you haven't used it before I'd recommend you check it out.

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Administration Tools Pack for x86 editions

Dell Bluetooth Travel Mouse

We recently ordered 4 new Latitude D830s for a client with the Bluetooth mice and upon received had an interesting experience. Granted my experience with Bluetooth is limited (okay non-existent except for my phone headset) it was still interesting. The paperwork that came with the mouse shows that when setting up Bluetooth you just select the "Don't use a passkey" item. Well the problem is either those were written for Vista (and we're using XP Pro) or the aren't using the Bluetooth utility that comes with the new Dell. After a few minutes of seaching it appears the mouse does indeed have a PIN.

Putting 0000 in the PIN window connected the mouse successfully and we had the pretty Dell BT Travel Mouse in the Bluetooth Settings utility.



Thank the Lord above for simple solutions.