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In a Backup Exec selection list, wildcard directories can be used.  For example: C:\Program Files\Symantec\SMSMSE\4.6\Server\bm_ruleset*.  Another example that needs to be excluded is C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\*.config.cch.* according to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815168.  This is if the .NET Framework v1.1 is installed.

I've had problems before where drive mappings to computers that were shutdown/no longer available caused a long timeout when trying to open files in Microsoft Office applications (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313937).  I recently was having the same symptoms for a user, but they didn't have any strange drive mappings and we even cleared all their "Network Places" that weren’t available.  We had also unchecked the Tools -> Folder Options… ->View -> Automatically search for network folders and printers, which has also been known to cause delays.  I used RegMon to try to see what was causing the delay.  I found that whenever a file was opened or right clicked on (when the delay was occurring), the machine was processing the "Open With…" list and eventually getting to a EXE that was located on a networked machine that was no longer available.  I could see the registry keys associated with the network interfaces and TCP start to be accessed and this is when the delay was occurring.  I went and removed the registry entries that were for the remote machine and this fixed the delay.

Occasionally, when I am in a hotel, the IP address (or subsequent routing) conflicts with our own internal IP addresses or routing.  For example, I was in a hotel in Dallas recently and I got a 10.1.0.x address from their DHCP server.  Since the hotel was using the same IP addressing scheme as our office network, I was unable to VPN into our office. [more]

This is when it comes in handy to have a portable router.  [more] I personnaly carry with me a Linksys WTR54GS:

This is a wireless router but can be used as a wired router.  If I plug the router into the hotel's network then plug into the other side of the router, I get a 192.168.x.x address from the router and then I can VPN through the router to our internal network.

 The router I use also is handy since it's a wireless router with one Internet and one Ethernet RJ45 connection.  If the hotel is wireless only, I could configure the router to connect to the hotel’s wireless and then I could plug into the internal port to get behind the router.

If you need to run something quickly as administrator in Vista, you can just hit the Windows key, type the name of the program and press
Ctrl-Shift-Enter instead of just Enter.  This will bring up the confirmation dialog and allow you to run the program as administrator.

Not everyone agrees that there should be two spaces between sentences.  That being the case, not everyone puts two spaces between the sentences, making it a very time consuming task for those of us prefer two spaces.  In Word 2007, there is an option to have this marked as a grammatical error; therefore, making it very easy to identify and fix in documents.  This feature is located in Word Options, which is found when you click on the Microsoft icon.  Then select proofing.  About 2/3 the way down the page is a drop down box for Writing Style.  If you select “Grammar & Style”, and then click on Settings, you’ll have an option to select how many spaces are required between sentences.  Any more or any less will show as a grammatical error.

1. From the Start menu, select Programs, Administrative Tools, then Computer Management to start the Computer Management snap-in.
2. Right-click the root of the tree (Computer Management), and select Properties from the context menu.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. Click the Startup and Recovery button.
5. Click the Shut Down button. (Don't worry. You won’t shut anything down at this point.)
6. From the dialog box, you can select to shut down, reboot, log off, or power down (if supported). You can also choose how to handle hung applications.
7. Make your selections, and click OK.

If you select Log off Current User from a terminal services session, the application logs off the user at the console, not your session, so choose this option with care.

We have had recently had a problem with a Cisco 3560 PoE switch and a Toshiba IP phone. The issue is that when a call is made from a Toshiba IP phone (problem spanned phone and phone/firmware versions), the conversion was one way. The party on the remote end could not hear the party in private banking. We have this switch deployed several other places with the same version of IOS and don’t see the issue. Finally the mystery has been solved. After running capture on the links and doing troubleshooting, I was able to determine that the "switchport voice vlan 1" command on each interface that was used for a phone was the magic bullet. For some reason, in its given setup, this switch needs this command to make everything work whereas it isn’t needed in other places. Cisco is current still looking into the issue and last I heard it is at TAC level 4.

Opendns.com is a free DNS resolution service that provides some useful added features:

• Corrects common typos and misspellings (i.e. yahoo.cmo)
• Allows you to create custom short cuts (i.e. you can make "mail" resolve to "mail.<yourdomain>.com")
• Offers filtering of web sites with a few different predefined categories such as pornography, tasteless, and anonymizing
• Manage custom whitelists and blacklists

This is a good solution for someone who wants to do basic web filtering at home or a small business. [more]

To use Opendns, create an account and define the IP address or subnet you’re using.  For home use with a dynamic IP, you’ll have to manually update your IP or install a dynamic DNS update client.  Security is in place to prevent specifying the same subnet or IP twice, or entering a subnet when you’re not currently using an IP from that network.

We use the ip tcp adjust-mss command on Cisco routers to set the maximum segment size for TCP connections going over VPN connections.

To find the optimum maximum segment size, be sure to use the do-not-fragment option when pinging across the link.  Sending a regular ping will show you the largest packet size that will make it across the link; using the df flag will tell you the largest packet that can traverse the link without being broken into multiple parts.  To set the do-not-fragment flag using the Windows ping utility, add "-f" to the command line.

Also, be sure to perform the same test over the regular, non-tunneled connection to the destination router.  Make sure your adjust-mss value is lower than the maximum non-fragmented packet.