CSI-Windows Debugging Checklist Mousepad for Previous Students of DesktopEngineer.com Wednesday, March 31 2010 @ 02:22 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy If you've ever taken a class from DesktopEngineer.com or CSI-Windows.com and did not receive one of our cool Debugging Checklist mousepads, drop us a line to get yours. See below for a graphic of what it looks like. read more Unnecessary Roadblocks in the Windows Software Logo Program Wednesday, March 31 2010 @ 02:17 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft is running a survey about the Windows Software Logo Program to find out how it can be improved. For Windows 7 the program was streamlined for developers to make it easier for them to get on board. There is, however, one area that remains challenging for smaller development shops - you know, precisely the one's that IT admins would love to have focused on building platform compliant software? You can help by showing your vote... read more Exhaustive Documentation on Causing and Suppressing the UAC Prompt Thursday, November 12 2009 @ 05:55 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Check out the new post at CSI-Windows.com that shows all the ways to cause and suppress UAC prompts - we bet there is more than you thought! read more Custom Actions in Windows 7 version lie to Vista Friday, May 15 2009 @ 02:54 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Chris Jackson has a great article on the reasons behind why Windows Installer 5 (Windows 7) custom actions are lied to by the shimming engine. It also provides another great example that Microsoft is committed to the shimming infrastructure to the point where major segments of the OS rely on it for their own compatibility. Shimming is not a bolt-on! read more New MSI Training - Big Discounts for Previous Students on CSI Windows Training Wednesday, May 13 2009 @ 11:48 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy In addition to the June 1st Packaging Track, we've added a Scripting and Custom Actions class for September.  The really big news is that previous students of DesktopEngineer.com are eligible for some serious introductory discounts on the new CSI Windows offerings - our Internals Training Focused On Application Management.  Check out the details at http://CSI-Windows.com read more MMS 2009 Follow Up Videos Wednesday, May 13 2009 @ 11:42 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy I had a failed demonstration when speaking at the Microsoft Management Summit - it pains me!  As I promised, I have posted a video of the demonstration working as it should have.   You can find the videos at CSI-Windows.com or at YouTube.com/CSIWindows.  YouTube lets you play at full screen, and since these are HD videos, that option may actually be useful to you. read more Win 7 / MSI 5 Test Package and 30 Pages of Labs Wednesday, May 13 2009 @ 11:23 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy DesktopEngineer.com / CSI-Windows.com has released an MSI test package that can help you explore and test the new features of MSI 5 in Windows 7 and MSI 4 in Windows Vista.  Read more about it at CSI-Windows.com read more DesktopEngineer.com Launches Concise Systems Internals for Windows Training Wednesday, April 29 2009 @ 09:58 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Probably everyone has seen the gurus of Windows systems internals dig deep diagnostic information out of a nasty application crash.  We wonder how to get our hands on the "book of knowledge" they use for their magic.  DesktopEngineer.com has a new training offering designed to get you started... read more Acresso Expands InstallShield Packaging Suite to Support Output to Three Virtualization Formats Wednesday, April 29 2009 @ 09:46 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Feeling daunted by the prospect of ramping up for application virtualization?  Acresso has retooled the AdminStudio packaging suite to output to the three primary application viritualization formats.  There are many potential benefits to this approach.  There were three that struck me as very beneficial.... read more PREVIEW: LUA Buglight 2.0 Thursday, June 19 2008 @ 02:42 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy The fans of this very helpful tool will be happy to know there was a new preview version released at TechEd... read more RELEASED: Updated Application Compatibility Toolkit Documentation Thursday, June 19 2008 @ 02:36 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Application Compatiblity Toolkit has long suffered from insufficient documentation - Microsoft has recognized this and has updated the docs... read more New Post Categories App Mgmt and Vista Thursday, June 19 2008 @ 02:27 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy We have two new post categories that are linked on the home page - "Application Management" and "Vista"... read more Thinstall Acquired by VMWare Wednesday, January 23 2008 @ 10:20 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Thinstall is an extremely robust application virtualization solution.  This robustness makes it a natural fit with VMWare's products ... read more Thinstall Partners with Macrovision to Bring Robust Application Virtualization to InstallShield Wednesday, November 14 2007 @ 02:36 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Occasionally we have provided updates on an application virtualization product that is extremely robust, but little known to admins.  Now that they've partnered with Macrovision you're going to be seeing a lot ... read more Windows Installer 4.5 In Beta Tuesday, August 28 2007 @ 04:19 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy If you'd like to get on the beta of the next release of Windows Installer ... read more Windows Installer COM Advertising and Cross-Product Interaction Thursday, March 15 2007 @ 12:32 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Don't your users hate it when they start a software application that then triggers a request for the installation media of a totally unrelated application?  How about some relief ... read more RELEASED: Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 Thursday, February 1 2007 @ 10:39 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy This release focuses on Windows Vista readiness assessment ... read more Symantec Acquires Altiris Tuesday, January 30 2007 @ 01:48 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Symantec has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Altiris.  I have to tell you the first thought that came to my mind ... read more EVENT: Thinstall App Virtualization Suite 3.0 Webinar on 1/23/07 Friday, January 19 2007 @ 10:56 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Application virtualization is all the rage and Thinstall has a unique tack on the market - unlike most other application virtualization solutions ... read more ProcessMonitor - Regmon + Filemon on a Single Process Tuesday, November 21 2006 @ 02:41 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy It has been many moons since I asked Sysinternals if they had thought of combining regmon and filemon for a single process  ... read more UAC in MSI Notes by MSI Team Member Monday, October 9 2006 @ 07:20 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft employee Robert Flaming has been publishing some excellent information about how Vista's UAC and MSI interact  ... read more Standard User Analyzer for Vista is Released (1.0.1.700) Saturday, September 30 2006 @ 09:25 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft's Vista feature for "Standard User" sounds cool, but you really wonder how many of your legacy applications will be able to use the mode?  This utility monitors your application and gives a very detailed report on whether it will likely run under Vista's "Standard User"... read more New Vesion of Microsoft AppVerifier Saturday, July 29 2006 @ 09:53 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy A new version of Microsoft's Application Verifier (part of the Applcation Compatibility Toolkit) includes "Print Verifier", reinstatement of checking operating system compatibliity for Windows Logo and ThreadPool checking.  read more Microsoft Standard User Analyzer for application compatibility Monday, May 29 2006 @ 12:22 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Microsoft's Vista feature for "Standard User" sounds cool, but you really wonder how many of your legacy applications will be able to use the mode?  This utility monitors your application and gives a very detailed report on whether it will likely run under Vista's "Standard User"... read more Wise Package Studio 7 Beta Thursday, May 4 2006 @ 06:55 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Wise has opened up the beta of their next major release of package studio.  Significant enhancements include full integration of SVS (Software Virtualization Solution) with the Repackager, Test Expert and Software Manager also the ability to include RPMs for Linux Packaging ... read more FREE: Wake On Lan Support and Central Policy Push Tool For Group Policy Wednesday, April 26 2006 @ 08:21 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Special Operations Software is focused on making Group Policy based software distribution a practical reality in corporate environments.  They have released a free plug in to Group Policy that allows administrators to wake all the computers in an OU, force a policy update ... read more FREE: Altiris Software Virtualization Solution Tuesday, April 11 2006 @ 02:08 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Altiris has released Software Virtualization Solution which provides software application level virtualization which helps isolate your applications from others running on the system.  The personal version is free, but devoid of any centralized management capabilities.  There is also a downloadable 120 day evaluation for the full corporate product ... read more New Virtual Machine Blog Cateogory and RSS Feed Thursday, November 10 2005 @ 01:39 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy We have added a new category and RSS feed to DesktopEngineer.com for news about Virtual Machines... read more Vista / .NET 2.0 Click Once Application Deployment Tuesday, October 4 2005 @ 11:21 AM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Windows Vista is touting the new Click Once application deployment mechanism.  This new mechanism could prove challenging for administrators since developers can begin to do their own "pull" updates to client computers simply by putting the right files on a ... read more Application Compatibility Toolkit 4.1 Released Friday, September 30 2005 @ 11:29 PM CST Contributed By: Darwin Sanoy Theoretically this is a minor update, not worthy of mention. But we all know that from time to time these small releases fix things that were never acknowledged as broken. read more