250 Hello - ProTips

4

Microsoft Teams High CPU – Using Hardware Acceleration with the Microsoft Teams Client To Lower CPU Load

Posted on 9th November 2020 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

One of the benefits of Windows as a service is that we receive constant updates, security enhancements and additions to the OS. One of the new features in the 2004 build was the introduction of hardware accelerated GPU scheduling. For details on this new feature and some background on how the Windows Display Driver Model has evolved please read this excellent article.

In this post I will post my … Read the rest “Microsoft Teams High CPU – Using Hardware Acceleration with the Microsoft Teams Client To Lower CPU Load”

3

QuickTip – Which Managed Availability Components Are Unhealthy?

Posted on 28th September 2020 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Exchange 2013 introduced the Managed Availability feature, so Exchange can self monitor and perform recovery actions upon itself. While this has greatly helped Exchange become more self-healing, one of the downsides is that there is no real UI for Managed Availability. The only UI is the Managed Availability Event Logs. All of the configuration inside of Exchange is done using PowerShell. The … Read the rest “QuickTip – Which Managed Availability Components Are Unhealthy?”

0

Quick Tip – Manually Removing WAP Server

Posted on 7th August 2020 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Installing a Web Application Proxy (WAP) server consists of two distinct actions. The first is installing the Remote Access role, and the second is to then configure the role. The act of configuring Remote Access enables WAP to function as an AD FS proxy, and optionally enables you to also publish other applications.

Over time some of those servers may have been replaced without fully uninstallin… Read the rest “Quick Tip – Manually Removing WAP Server”

1

How To Set NSLookup to Use TCP

Posted on 20th April 2020 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

One of the great things at Microsoft is the interaction with very smart colleagues. A question was posed regarding DNS. Most admins will know that DNS uses port 53, but is that TCP or UDP?

The answer is Consultant’s answer #1 "It depends"…

From a client resolver perspective this old TechNet documents:

During DNS resolution, DNS messages are sent from DNS clients to DNS servers or between DNS servers… Read the rest “How To Set NSLookup to Use TCP”

0

Back In Business

Posted on 17th March 2020 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Well, finally we are back online! It's been a long sorry saga over the last couple of years for the MSDN and TechNet blog platforms. In some ways this is not a new phenomena for bloggers at Microsoft. Things have not always been easy. Initially the culture was not so open and allowed staff to share externally. Really, it was not all that long ago when FTEs were able to sign up and create a blog… Read the rest “Back In Business”

0

Quick Tip – Get Unique Instances In PowerShell

Posted on 7th April 2019 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

To remove duplicates using PowerShell is exceedingly straightfroward. However, I have a habit of forgetting the cmdlet so parking this here for future reference.

For example, we can use the Get-Unique cmdlet or Select-Object -Unique parameter.

Get-Unique

As a simple example:

The Get-Unique cmdlet compares each item in a sorted list to the next item, eliminates duplicates, and returns only… Read the rest “Quick Tip – Get Unique Instances In PowerShell”

0

QuickTip–Delay Functionality In Windows Snipping Tool

Posted on 27th July 2018 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

In current versions of Windows the venerable snipping tool (snippingtool.exe) has been updated with improved functionality.

Windows 7 Snipping Tool

This is the Snipping Tool from a Windows 7 lab machine:

Clicking on Options we see:

Windows 10 Snipping Tool

The below were taken from my Windows 10 build 1803 machine. Note that there are now additional buttons present.

Specifically the Mode and Delay b… Read the rest “QuickTip–Delay Functionality In Windows Snipping Tool”

0

QuickTip – Windows Emoji Keyboard Shortcut

Posted on 17th July 2018 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

Since today is World Emoji Day, the below tip is rather relevant!

Did you know that Windows now has a keyboard shortcut built in to allow to access emojis?

Windows key and period / full stop *

or

Windows key and colon

This will function across multiple applications and is not limited to Skype for Business. Enjoy!!

Word 2016

Skype for Business

Cheers,

Rhoderick

* – choose whiche… Read the rest “QuickTip – Windows Emoji Keyboard Shortcut”

2

Quick Tip – Download .NET Framework 4.5 Offline Installer

Posted on 23rd March 2018 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

This post will attempt to resolve some download frustration if your are looking for an older version of the .NET Framework. This is an issue with Exchange 2010 as the initial .NET framework for that platform has not been updated, whereas .NET Framework support in Exchange 2013 and 2016 now leverage newer versions of .NET framework, at the time of writing 4.6.2 and 4.7.1 are supported for Exchang… Read the rest “Quick Tip – Download .NET Framework 4.5 Offline Installer”

1

Quick Tip–How To Easily Open Additional Instance or Elevate Applications

Posted on 16th March 2018 by Rhoderick Milne [MSFT]

This tip is for all the folks out there who want a quick and easy way to open an additional instance of an application which they are running or to elevate an application.

The below tips were captured from a Windows 10 build 1709 machine.

The below should work for most applications – if you find one that does not, please leave a comment.

Additional Instance

In this example we have a cmd prompt o… Read the rest “Quick Tip–How To Easily Open Additional Instance or Elevate Applications”