Alexander’s Blog

A Seattle-based company called Earth Class Mail is offering individuals and businesses an interesting mail service. Currently people in more than 100 countries are using their service. The company calls the online postal service “Earth Class” because it is global and delivers mail electronically anywhere on earth. Whether you are at home or on the road, you simply log-in, check your mail and decide whether to keep or shred each piece. Since Seattle in one of the leading cities in USA when it comes to recycling, the company emphasizes the environmental benefits of using their service on their Web site.

“For every ton of paper we recycle, we reduce the air pollution produced by new paper production by 74%, and water pollution by 35%. We also keep more toxic ink, formaldehyde, and other chemicals out of the landfills. For every ton of paper we recycle, we save 204 trees and consume 8,190 fewer gallons of petroleum.”

A local Seattle TV station King 5 covered this service in their newscast. Earth Class Mail explains how their service works:

“Once you sign-up for our service and change your address to one of our 18 locations throughout the U.S., we scan the outside of each incoming envelope and post it in your online account. You log-in, review the envelopes and direct what should be opened, scanned, recycled, shredded, or forwarded to you. We will soon have check processing, so we can even deposit your checks for you.

Earth Class Mail manages standardized process mail, such as claim forms, invoices, and checks, more efficiently and cost-effectively than ordinary document management and storage solutions. For businesses, mail addressed to specific departments or account numbers can also be set up with “automatic rules” to be opened and scanned upon arrival, with the case of warranty cards, surveys, or other forms of process mail.”

Check out Earth Class Mail’s Web site for more details.

Whether you are Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) or a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows Server 2003, there is a transition path to becoming a MCTS on Windows Server 2008.
• Learn how to transition from MCSA: Windows Server 2003 to MCTS: Windows Server 2008
• Learn how to transition from MCSE: Windows Server 2003 to MCTS: Windows Server 2008

Check out the Windows Server 2008 Learning Portal for more details.

Microsoft has made the Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 available for download in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet lists the policy settings for computer and user configurations included in the Administrative template files (admx/adml) delivered with Windows Server 2008 Beta 3. The policy settings included in this spreadsheet cover Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, and Windows 2000. You can configure these policy settings when you edit Group Policy objects (GPOs). In addition, this spreadsheet includes the following categories of security policy settings: Account Policies (Password Policy, Account Lockout Policy, and Kerberos Policy), Local Policies (Audit Policy, User Rights Assignment, and Security Options), Event Log, Restricted Groups, System Services, Registry, and File System policy settings. Note: This does not include security settings that exist outside of the Security Settings extension (scecli.dll), such as Wireless Network extension, Public Key Policies, or Software Restriction Policies.

Click here to download the spreadsheet.

Since 1992, over 2 million people (2,149,006 to be exact) have achieved the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) status. The top 5 most popular certifications since inception have been:

MCSE NT 4.0 = 395,746
MCSE 2000 = 288,111
MCDBA (SQL 2000) = 147,435
MCSA 2000 = 145,582
MCSA 2003 = 132,509

There are 97 people that have the credentials “MCTS for Windows Mobile 5.0: Application Development.” The only certification with less than 100 individuals.

Interestingly, Microsoft no longer publishes the number of MCTs around the world. At one time there were perhaps as many as 25,000 MCTs. According to Microsoft’s Web site, by August 2002 the number fell to 13,604. By January 2003 the number was further down to 9,797. After that Microsoft decided to quit publishing MCT numbers and now they only publish the numbers for other MCPs.

A detail listing of the number of MCPs is available on Microsoft’s Web site at Number of Microsoft Certified Professionals Worldwide. For numbers from 2002, 2003 and 2005, click here.

You can get error 1606 under various circumstances. One person I know was encountering the error when installing “Creating Keepsakes – Scrapbook Designer”, a Scrapbook application, but this error can pop up at other times as well. For example, you may encounter this error if you try to install or uninstall Norton AntiVirus 2003. Sometimes the path and location is given in the error message, which may point to one of several different possible paths, such as C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop, or C:\My Documents\My Pictures.

Microsoft’s KB article 315352 mentions that this error occurs if you upgrade from Windows 98 SE or Windows Me to Windows XP, or Windows XP SP1. However, variations of this error are also known to exist when you upgrade from Windows 98 to Windows 2000. Here’s a step-by-step solution that seems to work.

1. Click on Start, Run and then type REGEDIT.EXE to start the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders.
3. Double-click the Common Administrative Tools Value Name and set the data value to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools.
4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders. Notice that this path is different than the path in step 2. This is “Shell Folders”, in step 2 you went to “User Shell Folders”.
5. Double-click the Common Administrative Tools Value name and verify that the Value data is set to the %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools.
6. Close the Registry Editor.
7. Restart your computer.