HomeRun Users' Group

Windows Home Server Videos

2010-02-11T03:41:00.001-08:00

The 2 videos below were recently created to showcase some of the many features found in Windows Home Server in 1 minute.

The first video gives an overview of how a family uses Windows Home Server in their everyday lives. It shows how Windows Home Server will keep all family memories safely backed up and stored in a vault-like box, and how it can also stream large collections of media throughout the house.

In this second video, you will see the benefits of using Windows Home Server in your Small Office/Home Office (SOHO). Windows Home Server provides an IT team for your office to help protect, organize, and connect to all of your data.

Here's a link to the Windows Home Server info page at Microsoft: WHS Info

Windows Home Server for Kathleen Jones

2010-02-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

Windows Home Server Videos

Off-site File/Folder Solution

2009-08-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

How important are your email contacts? Your documents, photos, serial numbers, passwords, etc.?
What would you do if your hard drive crashed and you didn't have all of these backed up off-site?
Also, consider how convenient it would be if your at home and need a file from work, or away from home and need to access an important bit of information from someone else's computer....

Check out Box.net.

1. Online Workspaces - Create shared workspaces and easily invite team members to upload files, start discussions and collaborate online.

2. File Sharing - Easily share large files both within your company and with external partners replacing FTP software and email attachments. You can even see when your files are downloaded!

3. Folder Layers - Create and organize multiple layers of folders replacing your file server with an online company-wide file system.

4. Mobile Access - View your files on any browser-enabled mobile device and use Box's apps on the iPhone and Blackberry.

5. File Commenting, Group Discussions and Online Documents - Leave comments attached to a specific document, start a group discussion, or create and share a simple document.

6. Updates - Like a newsfeed for your shared workspace, keep up with all activity via the Updates tab in Box and through email.

7. Version History - View previous versions of your files even after changes are made and new versions are uploaded. *Business only

8. User Management - Manage users easily, control data access and review reports on content usage and activity using the Admin Console. *Business only

9. Security Controls - Set various levels of view and edit permission, set up a time to auto-delete a file or deactivate a link, and password protect sensitive folders or files *Business only

10. Easy-to-Use - Minimize user training and support costs, eliminate software or hardware maintenance, and get started in just minutes.

Optimize your PC

2009-08-29T04:23:00.001-07:00

Windows Explorer Directory Tweaks

2009-08-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

Device Drivers Problems

2009-08-29T04:20:00.001-07:00

Folder Redirection

2009-08-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Making sure users always have access to their data is critical for business success. On Windows systems, roaming profiles have long been the answer, but a new method has become more reliable since the release of Windows 2000.

I'm Bill Detwiler, and during this IT Dojo video, we'll look at the folder redirection feature, which has continued to mature in XP and Vista.

Back in the days of Windows NT, the roaming profile was all the rage. A user could log on to any computer within the company network and Windows would automatically download the settings for his or her individual profile, including personal desktop settings and other user-experience items such as shortcuts.

The problem with roaming profiles is that they consume a lot of bandwidth, which can slow down the network for other users. The larger your network, the more roaming profiles can affect overall performance.

Folder redirection, on the other hand, is a feature that allows specified user folders to redirect to a central server location. For example, you could redirect a user's Documents folder to a network share. Microsoft introduced the feature in Windows 2000 and built on the concept in XP and Vista.

Folder redirection has several benefits:

First, it doesn't require large amounts of individual profile data to be moved across the network -- dragging down performance and increasing login and logout times.

Second, it provides reliable data availability, because your users are working from a single source.

And third, disaster recovery is easier to manage, because your users are storing their data on a network server allows the IT department to back up the data as part of a normal routine. So, if their desktop hard drive dies, their data is safe.

At this point, you might have noticed the one drawback to using folder redirection -- users must be connected to the network to access their data. This can be a problematic for those who regularly work while not connected to the network, such as frequent travelers with laptops. Luckily in Windows XP or later and Windows Server 2003 or later, any redirected shell folders such as My Documents, Desktop, Start Menu, and Application Data are automatically made available offline using Offline File technology.

Now that we've covered why you may want to employ folder redirection, let's look at the how.

Folder Redirection is handled by Group Policy, so first, we need to start the Group Policy MMC snap-in by clicking Start | Programs | Administrative Tools, and then Group Policy Management, which should exist if you have the Group Policy snap-in installed. If not, you'll need to download and install it from Microsoft.

With the Group Policy Management console open, right-click the domain or OU you want to link the policy to, and click Create and Link a GPO Here. When the New GPO dialog box appears, enter a name, such as "Folder Redirect" into the Name field and click OK. The new policy should now appear under the list of linked group policy objects.

Right-click the new Folder Redirect policy and click Edit to open the Group Policy console for your new GPO. Expand the User Configuration, Windows Settings, and Folder Redirection nodes. You should now see icons for the personal folder that can be redirected.

Select the folder you wish to redirect, right-click it, and choose Properties.

On the Target tab in the Properties dialog box, you'll need to select a Setting for redirection from the drop-down list. Your options are:

* Not configured, which is the default settings and means that redirection won't occur on the folder;
* Basic, which will redirect everyone s folder to the same location;
* And Advanced, which will redirect folders to different locations based on a user's group membership. Using this option will require you to add specific security groups and paths for the redirected folders.

We're going to stick with basic for now.

Once you've selected the redirection setting, you must specify the Target folder location from the next drop-down list. Here your options are to:

* Create a folder for each user under this root path: Now, this is the default and will do just what it says.
* Or you can use Redirect to the following location, which places all redirected data in the folder at the path specified.
* Redirect to the local user profile folder: This will redirect the users data back to their local user profile location.
* And finally, if you've already deployed home directories, you can choose Redirect to the user's home directory, which can help you maintain compatibility with your existing home directory environment.

Once the destination options are made, type the network share path where the data will be redirected or click Browse to locate it.

Once you're finished on this tab, you can use the Settings tab to configure exclusive rights to redirected content and the handling of existing content in the original location. Once you're finished configuring all the settings, click OK.

I hope this video has shown you how folder redirection can help you provide users access to their data no matter where they are.

Just remember that the information I've provided here is a starting point. I'll link to additional resources for properly configuring and troubleshooting Folder Redirection within the IT Dojo blog.

Help Wanted

2009-08-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Do you know anything at all about how to use your computer? I'm not asking if you have all the answers, goodness knows I surely don't. But if you've used a computer for any length of time, you've found ways to do things, tricks and tips and answers to problems that perhaps others are struggling with. Share them, help your fellow users, and learn from them while doing so.

I'm looking for helpers to assist me with not only answers to common problems, but questions as well. When someone asks a questions, answers are found. Sometimes the questions are just as useful as the answers.

Join our HomeRun User Group and ask your friends to join as well. We will all benefit and hopefully surely learn along the way.

Click the Follow link at the top right side of this page and become a User/Helper.

Welcome New Users

2009-08-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

I have an idea for creating a blog with the goal of helping users fix and maintain their better use their computers.

Too many times I'm asked; "how can I prevent this from happening" after someone's computer becomes infected with a virus or a problem develops. I would like to create a place to post answers, tips, fixes and suggestions for those who are interested in learning how to avoid problems as well as looking for ways to accomplish things with their computers.

Geek Speak will not be spoken here, we will do our best to keep the language in easy to understand terms, and instructions easy to follow for everyone.

This will be a place (I hope) where we can all participate. Users will be allowed to post not only questions, but also solutions they've found in hopes of sharing knowledge and helping others.

Joining is easy, painless and free! Just fill out you name, desired username, email address and of course a password to gain access and be able to post your questions solutions and experiences.