Exchange 2003 - Manually Update Global Address List (GAL)

To manually update the GAL, open Exchange System Manager, expand Recipients, click on Offline Address List, right click on Default Offline Address List in the right pane then click Rebuild.

The Rebuild could take some time depending on how many users you have.

Once the OAB rebuild is completed, you can download the results to OUTLOOK by using the F9 key.

Command Prompt Utilities from Shortcuts

I found these instructions very helpful and wanted to pass them along.

Run command prompt utilities from shortcuts in Vista/XP

If you have ever tried to create a shortcut to ‘IPCONFIG’ or any of the other myriads of useful command prompt utilities included with Windows Vista/XP, you have probably noticed that it does not actually work Or rather, it does, but the command prompt window with your data opens and closes in a flash.

Here’s a tip that will allow you to create working shortcuts on your desktop for any command. We will use the IPCONFIG utility as an example

Right click an empty area of the desktop and select ‘new.’ Choose ‘new shortcut’ to open the shortcut wizard.

In the ‘type the location of the item’ box, enter ‘cmd /k’ followed by the program you wish to run. In the case of IPCONFIG, you would enter ‘cmd /k ipconfig’.

Name your shortcut something appropriate and give it an icon from the ‘%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll’ location.

Now you have a fully working, very convenient desktop shortcut.

Office 2007 Slow to Open Files

I just finished dealing with a problem where opening any excel or word file was taking an unusually long time. It didn't matter if it was on the network or on the local machine. The change described in this article corrected the issue.

"Original Source: m3Rlin.org http://www.m3rlin.org/wordpress/slow-opening-excel-2003-files-in-excel-2007/"

When opening Microsoft Excel 2003 files in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 without having Excel 2007 already running you may find that files that a long time to open (20-60 seconds) while Excel 2007 or even Microsoft Office Word 2007, PowerPoint 2007 files take only a portion of that time to load.

The solution to this problem is easy and does not require any additional software other than the standard Microsoft Windows Explorer.

1. Open Windows Explorer (explorer.exe)
2. Select Tools | Folder Options from the menu
3. Go to the File Types tab
4. Select list item XLS (Microsoft Office Excel 97-2003 Worksheet) and click on Advanced.
   If the "Appl ication used to perform action:" field the default value should be "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e" . Change this to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1" . Remember to enclose the full excel.exe path and %1 in parenthesis. Since Windows 95 this is a way to escape spaces in file names; %1 will return the file name of that file that is being opened by double-clicking.You can uncheck "U se DDE" but Microsoft Office Excel 2007 will bring it back to what you see above when you next open it.
   
5. Just confirm (hit "OK" ) on all the Microsoft Windows Explorer dialogs and next time you open a Excel 2003 file in Excel 2007 without having it already running you won’t have to wait! Problem solved!

My New Ride

When I win the lottery, this will be my next roadster...

http://www.teslamotors.com/

Hott Notes

This has been a great tool to help me keep organized. I have several notes on my desktop going all the time to keep track of everything from items to purchase to a regular To Do list to even having some contacts I'm working with so the info is easy to get. Great sticky note type application.

http://www.hottnotes.com/

Tech Corner

I wanted to create a location where I could just post about interesting tech topics I come across.