Auto Accept or Decline Meeting Requests in Outlook

Auto Accept or Decline Meeting Requests in Outlook

The process to auto accept of decline meeting requestsin outlook is pretty straight forward. this functionality is useful for some managers, or for resource booking of rooms or resources. Alternatively, sometimes you want this to be turned off so that you can have more granular control over which meetings you choose to accept or decline.

To auto accept or decline meeting requests in outlook:

1. Open Outlook and select File -> Options

Auto Accept or Decline Meeting Requests in Outlook

2. Select Calendar then scroll to Auto Accept or Decline. From here you can configure outlook to auto accept or auto decline meeting requests

Auto Accept or Decline Meeting Requests in Outlook

Your outlook calendar will not be configured to accept or deny meeting requests automatically.

This article can also be found on our sister site dizzyit.com at: http://dizzyit.com/2014/03/19/auto-accept-decline-meeting-requests-outlook/

ITunes Error 126 in Windows 7, 8, 8.1

ITunes Error 126 in Windows 7, 8, 8.1

Error 126 occurs in Itunes when you are either trying to open, install or re install itunes on a Windows platform. The error seems to be related to .Net Framework 4, as well as perhaps some DIVX incompatibility.

ITunes Error 126

in order to resolve the issue:

1. un-install any apple products on your system (start -> control panel -> programs and features). What you are looking for here is anything that says "Apple Inc." in the Publisher Column. Dont forget things like Quicktime, Bonjour and ICloud. Also note that you DO NOT have to delete your ITunes Music for this.
   

Apple Inc files in Programs and Features for fixing Error 126

2. Make Sure that the following files \ folders have been removed have been removed (if you had a custom install location please refer to that location)

• C:\Program Files\Bonjour
• C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple
• C:\Program Files\iTunes
• C:\Program Files\iPod
• C:\Program Files\QuickTime
• C:\Windows\System32\QuickTime
• C:\Windows\System32\QuickTimeVR

3. Update your Windows .Net Framework 4 ( you can also do this at the start if you like). the best way to do this is via windows update. You may also want to update your DIVX installation at this time as well.

4. Begin re installing Apple software, starting with Apple Quicktime. Once that is installed, start with ITunes and the other apple products that you need.

Did this solve your Apple ITunes 126 Error? please let us know on our facebook if you have any questions or comments!

This post can also be found on our sister website DizzyIT.com at: http://dizzyit.com/2014/03/17/itunes-error-126-windows-7-8-8-1/

This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.

This error message "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator " occurs when certain programs such as One Note, Outlook and Office 365 are not happy about Internet Explorer being the default web browser.

There are a fewways you can address this issue:

1. Upgrade your internet Explorer to the latest version

Not the most exciting or elegant solution, and perhaps is another version of "shut up and reboot" but its worth a try and I have seen it fix this issue. for security and functionality reasons, unless you have a good reason to its normally recommended to be on the latest version of IE.

2. Set the default browser to IE

This is pretty straight forward

Windows 8:

•  go to the start screen and type in default programs and then choose this item

Default programs Windows 8

• choose set your default programs from the menu

Control Panel, Default Programs Windows 8

• select Internet Explorer then choose set this program as default

Windows 8 Internet Explorer then choose set this program as default

3. Reset Internet Explorer Settings

Sometimes due to policies etc, or registry keys that have been influenced by other programs. these can be reset by setting Internet Explorer back to its default configuration.

to do this its advisable to close any microsoft programs you have open such as Word and Outlook and then,

• open Internet Explorer
• choose the Gear Icon for settings then choose Internet Options

Internet Explorer Settings Gear

choose the advanced tab, and then select reset internet explorer

• choose the advanced tab, and then select reset internet explorer

Reset Internet Options

• close internet explorer and try again

This post can also be found at our sister site www.Dizzyit.com at: http://wp.me/p1Zlmi-7r

Bulk Reset User Passwords with Powershell.

On occasion, you need to bulk reset user passwords for an ou or group of users. This  can easily be accomplished using Powershell and the following script.

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchScope Subtree -SearchBase "OU=Department,OU=Users,DC=corp,DC=company,DC=com" | Set-ADAccountPassword -Reset -NewPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText "New Password Here" -Force)

Bulk Reset AD Passwords

Change the OU path to what you need it to be, and before you proceed you probably want to check the affected users with this script to ensure that you dont overwite something like the CEO or an admins password:

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchScope Subtree -SearchBase "OU=Department,OU=Users,DC=corp,DC=company,DC=com"  | Ft Name 

Check OU Membership With Powershell

Again, just change the OU structure to what you need.

As a point of note, you run this, depending on what you ahve installed you may need to  import the Active Directory Module for Powershell with Import-Module ActiveDirectory

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

This article can be viewed on our sister site www.dizzyit.com at: http://wp.me/p1Zlmi-7k

Manual Sync ADFS with Powershell.

Occasionally you cant wait three hours for your ADFS to synchronise your local Active Directory with the Azure copy. No matter, as you can force a directory sync with the following powershell command:

Start-onlinecoexistencesync

start-onlinecoexistencesync www.dizzyit.com

This command will sync your on premises Active Directory with the Azure online copy. This is especially useful in situations such as Office 365 implementations where you have changes such as email addresses or group membership changes that need to be updated into the online directory.

This post can be viewed on our sister site www.dizzyit.com at: http://wp.me/p1Zlmi-7e

Remove Protected mode is turned off for the internet and restricted sites zones message in Internet Explorer

Remove Protected mode is turned off for the internet and restricted sites zones message in Internet Explorer

In Internet explorer 10 and 11, when you disable protected mode you will get a warning stating that Protected mode is turned off for the internet Zone or perhaps Protected Mode is turned off for the internet and restricted sites zones. As Protected Mode seems to have some issues of its own, Due to this it's common to want to remove this warning in SOE images where applicable.

Protected mode is turned off for the Internet zone in IE

Protected mode is turned off for the Internet and restricted sites zone in Internet Explorer

This feature of Internet Explorer is set in the registry at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main. scroll till you see the dword key NoProtectedModeBanner and this should be set to 1 to disable, or 0 to enable the message should you wish.

Registry Key for Protected mode is turned off for the Internet zone

This can then be applied via Group Policy if you like by opening the GPO editor (start -> run -> regedit) and navigating Computer Configuration -> Preferences -> Registry -> Right Click on Registry and choose New -> Registry Wizard. From here you can navigate to the NoProtectedModeBanner key and assign to the policy as required.

Set Group Policy for Protected Mode message in Internet Explorer

The above article discusses how to remove the protected mode is turned off warning message as seen in Internet Explorer. this article can also be found at our sister site DizzyIT.com at : http://dizzyit.com/2014/01/10/remove-protected-mode-turned-internet-restricted-sites-zones-message-internet-explorer/



Installing and Upgrading to Microsoft Server 2012 - Considerations

Installing and Upgrading to Microsoft Server - Considerations

There are several considerations to take into account when upgrading to Server 2012. This article is not so much a how to on how to perform an upgrade, but more a guide on some tips and strategies that can be used to make the move easier for you and your organisation.

Upgrade or Fresh Install?

Server 2012 is the first Microsoft Windows Server that allows you to perform an upgrade instead of needing to perform a fresh install. To be eligible for this feature, the existing operating system needs to be Server 2008 or 2008 R2, both 64 bit.

Also for consideration is if the hosted services and applications on that server are capable of handling an upgrade. For this its best to contact the provider or manufacturer directly. In some cases, it may be possible to test this, especially if you have a relevant test environment. Serious consideration needs to be given to Active Directory and also Microsoft SQL server implementations.Other services that need intense considerations include Federated Services and MS Clustering. Microsoft produces several guidelines that can be obtained on their website and are updated regularly.

These reports an be exported as a Word doc and then provided to relevant managers or seniors for approval.

Planning an Implementation

There are several considerations when planning a Server 2012 deployment as follows:

Practice Makes Perfect

Be sure to test the installation in a VM and be familiar with the processes and what you need. There are several free / cheap hypervisors availiable today including VMWare  Workstation as well as Microsoft Hyper V Server. a trial copy of Windows Server 2012 can be downloaded from the Microsoft Website

Preparing for installation

Microsoft Produces the MAP toolkit as a means to verify (in some detail) whether existing systems are a good candidate for upgrade, and if not why not. This is a free downloaded from Microsoft and can be accessed from here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb977556.aspx

Beyond the MAP toolkit you will want to be sure that the hardware proposed at least meets the minimum requirements for handling Server 2012. Ideally you will have hardware that exceeds these requirements and also satisfies the requirements for the applications that are to be hosted on the server. A the time of writing the min requirements are:

• CPU - 1.4 GHz 64 Bit
• RAM - 512 MB
• Disk Space - 32 GB

Timing is everything - if you are performing an upgrade make sure that you are doing so in a time that is acceptable to business (perhaps a dedicated maintenance window). taking a system off line in production is not going to make a lot of people happy. Also make sure that you have an up to date and verified backup of any systems that you are tinkering with.

Mass Storage (and other) Drivers

Server 2012 requires digitally signed drivers, and non signed drivers can cause issues in setup. To aleviate this, you can disable this requirement by: Pressing F8 at Startup -> Advanced Boot Options -> Disable Driver Signature Enforcement -> load windows and install driver

F6 is pressed during installation to enable installation of mass storage drivers during install. these may be needed for RAID and other associated disk devices.