Once and a while we visit local customers. It is a great way to see our software working in the real world, and find out what we can do to make our products better. Many times I will be asked to solve an issue (That has nothing to do with our software)

This week while visiting a customer I was asked if there was a simple way to create a batch file (No VB Script) that would reset the default home page of IE 6. For various reasons they could not use Active Directory, nor could they use VB Script.

I started to play around with the command line options of regedit, and discovered it was not going to work. After some research I came across the reg.exe command. It seems like it is built into XP, 2003, and Vista. It is perfect for what I needed.

It allows you to modify/delete keys from the command line. Here is what I came up with:

I saved it as UpdateIE.bat. Now I can simply call it like this:

UpdateIE “http://www.intelliadmin.com”

It updates the local users IE home page,…

In a recent meeting with my colleagues Mike Burk, a Security Center Program Manager, and Austin Wilson, a Director from Windows Client Marketing, I had the opportunity to find out more about how and why the Windows Vista Security Center evolved. If you’ve Read More……(read more)

In a recent meeting with my colleagues Mike Burk, a Security Center Program Manager, and Austin Wilson, a Director from Windows Client Marketing, I had the opportunity to find out more about how and why the Windows Vista Security Center evolved.  If you’ve used Windows Vista, I’m sure you’ve noticed that the Firewall, Automatic Updating, Antivirus, Antispyware, Internet Security Settings and User Account Control settings are all located in one easily accessed place:  the Security Center.

Although the Security Center was originally introduced with Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista has improved on almost every feature found there.  A lot more “under the covers” features have been included for Windows Vista.  If any of these safeguards are out of date or in an unsecure state, the Security Center will warn you so that you can make adjustments or changes.

Some of the other improvements to the Windows Vista Security Center include:

• Showing the status of software designed to protect against spyware (such as Windows Defender) that helps to keep your computer safe with the latest downloads and updates
• Security settings for Internet Explorer 7
• Notification if User Account Control

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A few weeks ago Tim Sneath, who is a Group Manager and Evangelist at Microsoft, posted about Family.Show which caught my eye. I decided to give it a try. Family.Show is a genealogy application built on the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) by a company Read More……(read more)

A few weeks ago Tim Sneath, who is a Group Manager and Evangelist at Microsoft, posted about Family.Show which caught my eye. I decided to give it a try. Family.Show is a genealogy application built on the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) by a company called Vertigo. Family.Show is a very slick application for building your family tree and tracking your own family history. Tim Sneath also points out that Family.Show is an excellent example of WPF in a “complex, realistic” scenario for developers to take a look at. 

In giving Family.Show a try - I discovered I really would like to know more about my family history. I had such a great experience with it I decided to create a small video demo of how Family.Show works in managing and tracking your family tree:

Video: Demo: Family.Show

Forgive the video’s abruptness and pace. I didn’t want to bore you with filling out a complete family - rather simply to highlight how easy it is to create your family in Family.Show.

The ability to drag and drop images into profiles of family members is an excellent

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