You read the title right.  The good old FP Extensions are not dead yet.  If you are like me then you probably have a love and hate relationship with this long time application.

Although not technically supported by Microsoft anymore they will play a key role in IIS7 as many legacy users will want to utilize them as the preferred publishing method.

Here is how you can install FrontPage Server Extension in IIS7.

1. You will need to download the component here: http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1577
   1. The FPSE must be installed by an administrator.
   2. The FPSE support 32 and 64-bit environments.
      
2. The Setup Wizard will prompt you for the Indexing Service (assuming you already have ASP, CGI and Basic Authentication installed).
   
   Note: it is not recommended you install the Indexing Service in servers running a large number of domains since this can hinder overall performance.
   
3. Once the installer has finished you will be notified with the default FPSE installation method as well as recommended IIS authentication settings (remember that basic authentication is not secure unless used with SSL).
   
   
4. It's important to know this process will take your web service down for the time it takes to install (this should not be longer than a few minutes and does not require a reboot).
   
   
5. Once the installing is complete you will see  the Microsoft Sharepoint Administration Site in IIS Manager (Look Familiar?).
   
   
6. The FrontPage Server Administrator site is accessible by going to http://hostname:7993/
   

I have been a Motorola Q user  for quite some time and have managed to gather some great freeware you should not be without on the Windows Mobile 5 OS. The following mobile applications will run on both touch and non-touch screens.

MSNBC.com “Multimedia on Mobile”- Enjoy Video News on your phone with this browserless type application right from MSNBC.com

Yahoo! Go 2.0-  Yahoo Go delivers many "widget" type applications right to your phone with this unique interface approach.

Google Maps-  This application speaks for itself. It becomes much more useful if your phone has GPS support.

LIVE Search with Advanced Mapping- This application is similar to Google Maps but offers location search by browsing a category type directory.

Viigo RSS Reader-  This is by far the best FREE RSS reader for Windows Mobile device.  Viigo allows you to manage your RSS subscriptions from their web page so they can later be viewed on your mobile device.

Exchange allows you to wirelessly synchronize contacts, emails, and tasks within your PAN.  This functionality eliminates the precious value of the handheld device since all of your personal content is now on the network vs. just on your PDA or Smartphone's local storage.

If you are a Window Mobile 5  user you will notice there are a few functions it fails at performing.

The one I am going to talk about is the RSS subscription reader.

If your default RSS reader is Outlook then you know your existing RSS subscriptions are not pushed on to your mobile device.

There are tons of RSS readers for the Windows Mobile 5 platform but one I happen to like is Viigo. 

1. It's FREEWARE.
2. It doesn't require a  browser.
3. It can be managed via any desktop browser.

I have played with many RSS readers in the past but let's just face it, it takes too long to manage RSS feeds in a PDA.

Viigo gets around this painful method by providing a web based interface where you can add RSS feeds by importing your OPML file from your existing RSS reader.

In this instance I am going to demonstrate how you can achieve this result with Outlook 2007.

I. Download VIIGO Personal on your Mobile Device  and create an account.

1. You can download the application here: http://www.viigo.com/download_wm.html
2. Once installed fire up Viigo and create an account by going to Menu -> Options -> Menu -> New User
   
   NOTE: You will only be asked to specify a new username along with a password and  confirmation.

II. Export your RSS subscriptions from Oulook 2007.

1. On the File menu, click Import and Export.
2. Click Export RSS Feeds to an OPML file (this is a back up file for your RSS subscriptions), click Next.
3. Select the check boxes for each RSS Feed to include in the export, click Next.
4. Click Browse to navigate to the location where you want to save the .opml file.
5. In the File name text box, type a name for the export file and click Save, and then click Next.
6. The .opml file is saved to the location that you specified.

III.  Import OPML file into Viigo.

1. Head over to My Viigo
2. Login with the user you created on your mobile device (step I. 2.)
3. Choose the IMPORT OPML file option and select the location of your exported OPML file on step II. 4.
4. Once the RSS feeds are imported they should update on your phone.

NOTE: The same result can be achieved with Google's Reader but this means resorting to web browser on your Mobile Device.

Preface- 

This article assumes you already have IIS7 installed.

This installation uses non-thread-safe PHP 5.2.3

I. Install PHP
 (http://www.iis.net/articles/view.aspx/IIS7/Hosting-Web-Applications/PHP/Using-FastCGI-to-host-PHP-applications-on-IIS7)

1. Unzip the contents of the PHP 5.2.3 download into C:\PHP.
   
2. Copy the PHP.INI-dist file to PHP.INI under the c:\windows directory.
   
3. Open the PHP.INI file in Windows Notepad and make the following changes.
   
1. Change: extension_dir = "C:\PHP\ext"
2. Disable Force Redirect: cgi.force_redirect = 0 
   
4. Install IonCube (if needed)
1. Download here
2. Add the following line to your PHP.ini
   zend_extension_ts = "<drive>:\<path>\ioncube_loader_win_<php flavour>.dll"
   
5. Save the PHP.INI file and close Windows Notepad.

II.  Install  the FASCGI Module

1. Open the Windows Control Panel.
   
2. Double-click Programs and Features.
   
3. Click Turn Windows features on and off.
   
4. Expand the Roles node in the tree.
   
5. Select the Web Server (IIS) role.
   
6. Click Add Role Services in the Role Services section at the bottom of the page.
   
7. Select the CGI option.
   
8. Click the Next button.
   
9. Click the Install button to begin the installation.

III.  Create the PHP / FastCGI handler mapping using the IIS Manager

1. Open the IIS Administration tool by clicking Start, then Run, then enter Inetmgr.exe and click OK.
   
2. Select the server node in the tree view.
   
3. Double-click the Handler Mappings feature in the main panel.
   At this point, you will see a list of existing handler mappings for the server, which define the extensions that the server knows how to process, and what handler components are responsible for processing them. For example, the *.asp extension will be mapped to the "IsapiModule", which enables the ASP.dll ISAPI extension to process ASP scripts.
   
4. Click Add Module Mapping in the Actions pane to create a new handler mapping for *.PHP for the FastCGI module.
   
5. Set request path to "*.PHP", Select the "FastCGIModule" in the dropdown box, and set the executable field to the path to the PHP-CGI.EXE executable, which provides the FastCGI gateway to the PHP scripting engine in your PHP distribution.
   
6. When you press OK, you will be prompted with a dialog box asking whether you would also like to create a FastCGI application pool for "c:\php\php-cgi.exe". Click Yes. This will automatically create the configuration for running the specified PHP-CGI.EXE application, which is required for each FastCGI application.

That's ALL!

Requirements: Windows Server 2008 (Code Name "Longhorn") Release Candidate 0 (RC0) or later

1. Uninstall the existing FTP server (IIS6) from the server  if previously installed.
1. Open the Windows Control Panel.
2. Double-click Programs and Features.
3. Click Turn Windows features on and off.
4. Expand the Roles node in the tree.
5. Select the Web Server (IIS) role.
6. Click Remove Role Services in the Role Services section at the bottom of the page.
7. Select the FTP Publishing Service option.
8. Click the Remove button.
2. Download Microsoft FTP Publishing Service for IIS 7.0 - RC0
3. Run the installation wizard (this will cost you a web service shutdown).

Once the service is installed proceed by opening the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

The 1st thing you'll notice is that there is no FTP FOLDER under the server name.

Instead you will want to select the site you wish to work with and click "add FTP Publishing..." under the Actions menu.

The rest is very straight forward as the configuration wizard asks for the IP Binding and the SSL cert to be used.  You can also choose SSL enforcement.

Next, set the Authentication and the Authorization options to finish the setup.

Once FTP Publishing is provisioned Internet Information Services Manager will display more options for that FTP instance.

If you currently run, have previously visited, or are actively part of some a community based site then I’m sure you have stumbled upon Community Server. Currently on version 2007 SP2, this agile web based asp.net  application allows you to swiftly deploy and build on a framework tailored to community based sites.  The application was born thanks to the merger of .TEXT blog engine, nGallery, and ASP.NET FORUMS back in early 2005.

Features:

• Forums system which can integrate with email discussion lists and news servers
• Publishing system that manages single and multi-user blogs
• File and photo sharing integrated with forums and blogs
• Content mirroring to enable content syndication and republishing
• Integrated search across blogs, forums, photos, and files in one consistent UI
• Integrated tagging support throughout all applications
• Search engine-friendly permalink structure
• Extensible with support for plug-in modules, scheduled jobs, and spam rules
• Automatic TrackBacks and Pingback
• WYSIWYG HTML editing
• Control panel with consistent tools for community management
• Single sign-on authentication modules available for forms authentication, cookies,
• Active Directory, and Windows Live ID
• Source code for all core components available in the free SDK download

Hosting:

ASP.net 2.0 along with MS SQL 2000 or 2005 are required to run CS 2007.
If you are an existing appliedi.net customer it means you can run it on any of our plans as long as you have  MS SQL (the Value Plus is the only plan not including MS SQL and therefore it must be purchased as an add-on).
http://www.appliedi.net/shared-hosting/
It’s easy to get started on the value plus and upgrade on the fly to a vs-1 or a vs-2. As I have mentioned on a prior post, the main and most meaningful difference on these packages is the maximum allowed size of the worker process. In other words, how much memory your application is allowed to use up on the server. The value plus is ideal for development stages but not for production as a couple concurrent users will quickly make the WP grow to over 100 MB.

New & Events:

On the dates of October 20th thought the 21st Telligent will hold the 1st ever Community Server Developers Conference. Appliedi.net will play a sponsor role on the new event. If you are reader of this blog and plan on visiting the event please be sure to drop by the booth and say hello.
Here are the full details on the event: http://csdc.communityserver.org/Sessions/

If don't find this feature useful in your environment here is how how you can disable it.

Start -- > Run

1. type "gpedit.msc" and click OK
2. Expand Administrative Templates -> System under computer configuration
3. Double click Display Shutdown Event Tracker and select the "Disable" radio button in the property page and press OK.

This works on both Windows 2003 and 2008.

I am sure you have noticed that every vendor out there has been trying to market their product or the way the product is manufactured as earth or environment friendly.

However, some if these vendors have been taking advantage of this new trend and this is where the word Greenwashing comes about.

Greenwashing is the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice.

Here is more information on this term.

When I started using Vista I was pleased to see how Microsoft had integrated the search feature right into the start menu known as Instant Search.

I have always been a huge fan of using Google desktop as my local search engine since it makes me very productive when searching my 7 year email archive.  I didn't think twice about jumping ship. However, I quickly noticed that my searches were not as effective as with Google Desktop so I decided to revert.

Indexing taxes CPU and disk I/O so here is a quick tip on how you you can stop the Microsoft Indexing Service from crawling the mail that is locally archived by Microsoft Outlook.  The easy way out is to simply go to Start -> Administrator Tools -> Services and stop then disable the Windows Search Service.  However, this will take away some of the functionality Instant Search offers such as the ability to  rapidly find any application by typing in part of the name. So in order to have the best of both worlds we must tell MS Outlook we do not wish email indexed by the Microsoft Indexing service.  This can be done by going to Tools -> Options -> Search Options in Microsoft Outlook 2007.

Uncheck any boxes under the "Index messages in these data files:"

Once you ok these menus you will need to restart Outlook for then new changes to take effect.

This method should help you gain some performance you may have lost when installing Google Desktop on Vista and running Outlook 2007.

No, I said BACN.

Once in a while I run into a new term that I find very intriguing so I have decided to start a "lingo" category.

Let's get into.  In the world of electronic mail we have HAM and SPAM but the new kid on the block is BACN (pronounced bacon).  This is the term given to email messages that you want receive but not read right away. A good example of BACN is newsletters that you have intentionally subscribed to, electronic invoices or billing statements, messages from friends from social networking platforms such as Myspace or even changes to wiki where the user happens to be a collaborator.

 

The term was coined in August 2007 at Podcamp Pittsburgh, a social media "unconference" attended by bloggers and podcasters.

 

Lean more about BACN.

We can all agree that the wallpapers Vista ships with are jaw dropping.

However, if you are starting to get bored and desperately seeking more, there are good news.

Thanks to Hamad Darwish, the talented artist who had some of his photographs put on as Vista's wallpapers. You may download the photographs that didn't make it to RTM right from his page.

http://www.hamaddarwish.com/content/index_2.html

Also, here is a quick tip. I use ScrollWall, a free utility that allows me to rotate wallpapers based on time.

http://www.vcsoftwares.com/sw.html

Here is a simple regedit that will allow you to remove the annoying warning message remote desktop client version 6 displays.

1. Fire up regedit

2. Browse to the following hive key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client

3. create a DWORD key named AuthenticationLevelOverride and set the value to 0

That is all you need to do.

NOTE: If you are a Vista 64 Bit user you must still create a  32 bit key.

"Tafiti"  means "do research" or "to search" in Swahili.  The Microsoft code-named  web based application is a presentation layer built on Silverlight technology and backed by Microsoft's LIVE search.

In order to allow Tafiti to "light up" your browser you will need to download and install Silverlight.

This is a unique way and a new approach when searching the web. Specially if you like "eye candy". 

Be sure to play with the following features:

-Search type Selection carousel (bottom left)- This allows to alternate between images, RSS feeds, news, and web results.
-Search Shelf (right margin)- Keep your ducks lined up when researching a topic.  This feature allows you to easily track and go back to previous searches.
-Tree View- This is probably one of most innovative features Tafiti offers. Select this option and your search query will be displayed in a tree shape visualization (TIP: use the slider located on the bottom of the screen to display more or less results.).

Aside from all of the new innovative features Tafiti offers, it also gives us insight as to how powerful Silverlight can be.

Take Tafiti for a test drive.

More resources regarding Tafiti:

Tafiti FAQ
First Look on Tafiti (on10.net)

More resources regarding Silverlight:

Silverlight Homepage
Silverlight Hosting

If you are a security oriented system administrator then you will probably want to change the port  Remote Desktop listens on.

This needs to take place in 2 locations:

I.  Server Side (Changing now the server listens).

1.    Fire up Registry Editor (START -> RUN -> Type in "REGEDIT" -> Click OK)
2.    Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
       HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\PortNumber

3.    On the Edit menu, click Modify, and then click Decimal.
4.    Type in the new port and lick OK. In this case we are going to use port 8888

5.    Quit Registry Editor

II. Client Side (Changing how the client connects).

1.  Fire up Remote Desktop Connection (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Communications -> Remote Desktop Connection).
2.  In the Computer box, type the computer name or the IP address of the computer that you want to connect to, followed by a colon (:) and  the port number that you want to use.

For example, to connect to port 8888 on a computer that is named "carlos.caneja.com,"

type the following information: carlos.caneja.com:8888

3.  Click Connect

Here is an interesting gadget I ran into that shows some unusual and random world stats.

 

 

SOURCES

These stats may be verified at the listed websites. World Population: US Census Bureau
Population growth rate: CIA World Factbook
Prison Population: UK Homeoffice
Divorces (US Only): Wikipedia
US Illegal Immigration: Wikipedia
Abortions: Wikipedia
Mothers dying during botched abortions: World Health Organization
HIV infection: Avert
Cancer incidence: UICC
Earth Temp: Wikipedia
Species Extinct: National Wildlife Federation
Oil Production: CIA World Factbook
Cars produced: Mation Master
Bicycle Production: Earth Policy
Computer production: Top Secret
Death stats: World Health Organization