When it first appeared with Windows Server 2003 it resulted so annoying to me but quickly became one of my favorite features, it is a must. Shutdown Event Tracker is a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows XP feature that you can use to consistently track the reason for system shutdowns. You can then use this information to analyze shutdowns and to develop a more comprehensive understanding of your system environment.

Just a quick post about how to setup your multi-language keyboard on a Windows Phone 7. If you (as me) use to type in English but also use other languages (Spanish and Catalan in my case) you may be thinking that predictive text is something weird that slow you when typing and you will disable it at the end. That was me since a few days ago when a friend shown me how to add languages to my Windows phone keyboard.

This is my challenge; being 100% Microsoft; and Hotmail has been my next adoption after Windows Phone 7. Have been two great weeks living with Microsoft’s new OS and discovering all new possibilities; including all Windows Live features. I decided to use my recently created Windows Live ID account and my existing 6 year-old Google Mail account, so I setup both on my phone. I should recognize that there is no difference, in terms of integration, between both in Windows Phone 7; so it works great with both mail services.

This is my challenge; being 100% Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 has been my first adoption. Actually in Spain carriers are offering just 4 models with Microsoft’s operative system so I decided to purchase a LG Optimus 7 E900 (Windows Phone v. 7.0.7390.0). If you feel curious and want to read a good in-deep review, check the one from Cell Phone F.A.Q, here. They conclude: “People who buy the first WP7 phones like the LG Optimus 7 are ones that want a high-end phone and a new OS experience with excellent social networking and Office integration.

Probably, from a technological point of view, mine is an hybrid profile. I don’t like the kind of fanaticism that moves people use something because it is cool, fashion or simply because they don’t want to be condemned by others. I like Microsoft products, but I recognize that they don’t do everything well, so I use to compare and then decide. My day-to-day involves dealing with Microsoft products (servers, mail, database, etc.

As thousands of Microsoft systems administrators and engineers, I use to have my Sysinternals Suite folder wherever I work in. I had it when I was IT consultant and I have it now, I use less tools than before but there is always one useful that made you day. Today Sysinternals is part of the Microsoft TechNet web site which offers technical resources and utilities to manage, diagnose, troubleshoot and monitor a Microsoft Windows environment.

Windows Live SkyDrive (former Windows Live Folders) is part of Microsoft’s online services portfolio, that let Windows Live ID users store documents, videos and pictures allowing them to keep the files private, share with contacts, or make them public. At the time of writing this post, Microsoft was offering 25 GB of online storage space for SkyDrive users, with upload limitation on files larger than 50 MB (we will discuss this later).

With the recent release of Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft will be delivering it as important update through AU to help customers become more secure and up-to-date. Although security should be a key point on any policies portfolio, not all companies are ready to adopt last Microsoft’s browser version. I remember a company I worked for, that hadn’t had enough resources to modify code on their intranet tools sites to adapt them to Internet Explorer 6, so they were still running on version 4 when 8 was released.

Excellent downloadable Microsoft’s guide on how to face operative systems deployment with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007. It provides the information required to quickly become familiar with the operating system deployment feature and understand the appropriate decisions that need to be made in order to deploy and use the solution. It also provides step-by-step guidance showing how to install and configure the required components, and also how to use the most common features.

A quick old trick for Windows Vista and 7. As of Windows Vista, each Control Panel item is given a canonical name for use in programmatically launching that item. One not documented was found some time ago; it is know as Windows Master Control Panel (also known as God Mode). It includes links to 271 Windows maintenance and administration tasks. If you want to get access to the known folder, just create a new folder wherever you prefer ending its name in “.