Author: Tarek

Introduction Windows 8.1 is the latest offering from Microsoft and has reinvented itself as an operating system for both tablet and PC users. While touch screen users can take advantage of the many navigational rewrites, Microsoft has also done their part to ensure that users who prefer getting around with the keyboard would not be left out. To cater to this group, Microsoft has integrated new keyboard shortcuts to let them navigate through the reconstructed OS faster and easier. And as much fun as touch screens can be, sometimes you can do more with keyboard shortcuts than you can with…

Introduction You can use the About This Mac window to find your computer’s serial number. In the About This Mac window, if you click twice on the Mac OS X version number, it will display the serial number. Another method is to use the System Profiler. 1. From the menu bar, click on the Apple logo  and then click on About This Mac 2. The About This Mac window will open, click on the OS X Version number 3. The first click will display to you the Mac Build number 4. Click once again, and the serial number will be displayed. However, if…

Introduction You can use your own pictures to create icons, or download icons from the web. Custom icons allow you to quickly identify those folders so you can quickly pick them out from all the other folders on your desktop. Instead of looking at the same boring blue folder icons, you can select any of your favorite images to turn it into your folder icon. This way, it will be easier to tell your folders apart. Here’s how to customize your Mac’s icons , for Free : 1. Open the image you have on your Mac 2. From the menu…

Introduction Do you often find yourself using Get Info commands to find out more about the files and folders in your Finder windows ? Well, there’s a View Option which will add a little bit of information to any item in a Finder window, provided you’re in icon view. 1. Right Click any empty area on the Desktop and click Show View Options 2. Select the option Show item info Once Selected, any Item on the desktop will display additional information below its iconAs you can see from the below screenshot, the Hard disk size and the remaining free disk is…

Introduction In this article, I will be showing you how you can start using Telnet in Windows Server 2012. By default, Windows Server 2012 does not recognize the telnet command. If you want to start using telnet on your Windows Server 2012, then you need to install the Telnet Client Feature. 1. Open Server Manager 2. From the Server Manager Dashboard page, Click on Add roles and features 3. The Add roles and features wizard will open, click Next to begin 4. On the installation type page, select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next   5. On the destination server, select a server…

Introduction Upgrading your infrastructure to the latest Active Directory Domain Services is a best practice to benefit from all the new features the operating system can provide you with. Years ago, I have shown you how to Migrate Active Directory Domain Controller from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 . In this article, I will show you how to prepare your AD DS and migrate it from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012. To perform the below steps, you will need to use a domain account which is member member of Domain Admins and Enterprise Admins Groups…

Introduction With Exchange Server 2010, we used to change the OWA logon options using Exchange Management Shell, the same thing can be done with Exchange 2013 using the Exchange Admin Center. You can change the default logon format to one of the following formats: [email protected] Username So lets check how to change the OWA logon format in Exchange Server 2013 : 1 Login into Exchange Admin Center and then from the left side menu, click on servers 2. Click on virtual directories 3. From the list of the available virtual directories, click on the owa (Default Web Site) and then click on the…

Introduction When you install Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, you are not presented with the option to type the product key, hence, Exchange server will be running as a Trial Edition. The Trial Edition expires 120 days after the date of installation. The Trial Edition functions as an Exchange Standard Edition server, but it isn’t eligible for support from Microsoft Support Services. As the expiration of the Trial Edition gets near, the Exchange Administration Center (EAC) will display warnings that your trial period is about to expire. After the trial period has expired, the EAC will display a warning dialog for…

Introduction Most of us will be installing OS X Mavericks by downloading it from the App Store and then upgrading our current operating system, the supported operating systems are Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and higher. However, for some reasons, you might be looking to perform a clean installation, which involves formatting the Mac hard drive. To install OS X Mavericks, you will need to have a bootable media, either on USB device or a DVD. OS X Mavericks: System Requirements To install Mavericks, you need one of these Macs: iMac (Mid-2007 or later) MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early…

Introduction In today’s laptop landscape, the absence of DVD drives is a common sight. When the time comes to format your laptop, the go-to solution is the bootable USB. Join us as we explore the shift from optical drives to the versatile world of portable computing, where the USB drive takes center stage for OS reinstallation and crucial system maintenance. When you purchase Windows 8 or 8.1 from Microsoft Store, you are able to instantly download its ISO image. Whenever I purchase Windows, I always prefer to burn its ISO image on a USB or DVD. So that the next…

Introduction In previous articles, I have displayed separately the different versions of ISA Server 2004/2006 & TMG 2010 Server. In this article, I will be displaying the Latest and most updated release versions of each product. ISA Server 2004 To find the version of ISA server 2004 you are using, from the management console , click on Help and then About Microsoft ISA Server 2004 ISA Server 2006 To find the version of ISA server 2006 you are using, from the management console , click on Help and then About Microsoft ISA Server 2006 TMG Server 2010 To find the…

Introduction The Windows 8 Start screen is a good starting point for Windows 8 devices with touch screens, but on PCs with standard screens, you might prefer to boot/sign in directly to the desktop. One of the new features in Windows 8.1 is the ability to sign in directly to the Desktop instead of the Windows 8 Start Screen. Booting directly to the Start Screen was one feature that many users hated in Windows 8. Microsoft has addressed this feature in the new Windows 8.1 update, allowing users to boot directly to the desktop upon signing in. To do this…

Introduction You bought a new laptop that came preinstalled with Windows 8. You may already have noticed that Windows 8 laptops and desktops come with a Microsoft Label that does not include anymore the Product Key. Unlike previous versions of Windows, such as Windows XP, Vista and 7, the product key was always on the Label and we always referred to this label when we needed to format the machine. In this article, I will be showing you a small useful utility that you can use to retrieve Windows and other software’s Product keys. In a previous article, How To Install…

Introduction So you just finished installing Exchange Server 2013 and tried to send your first email to an external email domain, such as Google/Hotmail/Yahoo, but you found out that the email was never received. Exchange Server 2013 is similar to 2010, where it is installed by default without a Send Connector. In order to be able to send emails to other domains, you will need to setup one. In Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, a Send connector controls the flow of outbound messages to the receiving server. They are configured on Mailbox servers running the Transport service. Most commonly, you configure…

Introduction Joining a machine to domain will offer you scalability, central management, group policies, security and more. In this article, I will be showing you how to join windows server 2012 to a active directory domain. Before joining the server to the domain, you need to give it a unique name to identify it on the network. Check this article to see how to rename Windows Server 2012 computer name : How To Change Computer Name in Windows Server 2012 You will also need to setup the IP Address of the server. If you have a DHCP server, then you can…

Introduction Unlike previous versions of Windows, in Windows 8, when you delete any item, like a file or a directory, it automatically moves to Recycle Bin without giving any sort of confirmation. You can enable the delete confirmation dialog box in Windows 8. The Recycle Bin in Windows 8 has an option to display or hide the Delete Confirmation Box whenever you delete something. In Windows 8 as soon as you press the Delete key, the selected file or folder is automatically deleted and moved to Recycle Bin without any confirmation prompt. If you want to enable the delete confirmation…

Introduction Some programs when you install on your computer, they will automatically add themselves into the Startup of the operating system. So that whenever you boot your PC or log into your account they will be launched and can operate in the background. You might start to feel that your computer is slow, or is not behaving as it used to . Its a good practice to check what’s running in the background and check the Startup programs list to disable any program that you do not wish to run on startup. With previous Windows Operating systems, we used to…

Introduction By default, and as a Server operating system, Windows Server 2012 does not include some of the features that are available with Windows 8. In this article, I will be showing you how to add a feature called Desktop Experience, that once installed, will add many of Windows 8 features and programs. The Desktop Experience feature allows you to install a variety of applications and features that are provided in Windows 8 on your server that is running Windows Server 2012. If you use Windows Server 2012 as your primary operating system, you might want to have some of…

Introduction An Additional Domain Controller is required for services redundancy and for domain authentication improvement in remote Site. Additional Domain Controllers avoid business discontinuity in case of server failure for the primary Domain Controller. Multiple domain controllers can also improve performance by making it easier for clients to connect to a domain controller when logging on to the network. My primary domain controller is a Windows Server 2012 with a static IP address : 192.168.150.12 Its Forest Functional Level and Domain Functional Level are displayed in the below snapshots : To setup an additional domain controller, you will need a…

Introduction With Exchange Server 2013, creating a new user Mailbox is a one screen process, not like previous versions of exchange server, where you have to move from one screen to another to continue the wizard. Follow the below steps to create a new mailbox in Exchange Server 2013 : 1. Login into Exchange Admin Center ( EAC ) . read this article if you don’t know how : How To Access Exchange Admin Center in Exchange Server 2013 2. In EAC, the first page you will presented with is the recipients page. 2. Under mailboxes, click the + button and then click User…

Introduction Using a Mac is a wonderful experience – until you try to use a NTFS-formatted drive, which includes most Windows hard drives! By default, Mac OS X doesn’t support writing onto NTFS disks, it only support reading from NTFS disks, this means if you have a USB drive or an external hard disk for example, then you can connect it to your MAC and the disk will be mounted, you can copy your files from your the external disk, however, you will not be able to write back to it ! Attempting to drag a file into an NTFS…

Introduction With Exchange Server 2013, there will be no more rollup updates and service packs as we were used with previous version of Exchange Server. With Exchange 2013, every three months a new update will be released, and this update is called a Cumulative Update. Cumulative Updates are a complete package of the software itself, so when you using it to update your server, you are actually reinstalling Exchange Server 2013 with all the updates bundled into one package. You can use this CU1 for a new installation as well. Exchange Server 2013 now adheres to a scheduled delivery model.…

Introduction With Exchange Server 2013, a new management console is introduced and the traditional Exchange Management Console has been retired. In this article, I will be showing you how to access the new management console for Exchange Server 2013. If you opened the Start Screen in Windows Server 2012, you will notice that there is no Exchange Management Console as we were used to manage Exchange Server 2010. On the Start Screen, you can only find Exchange Management Shell and Exchange Toolbox. Previously, with Exchange Server 2010 and older versions,  we used to have Exchange Management Console inside the All…

Introduction With the availability of Windows Server 2012, IT Administrators will start introducing Windows Server 2012 into their Network. If you want to know how to setup a domain controller using Windows Server 2012, or want to have your first domain controller setup on Windows Server 2012, then this is the right article for you. Dcpromo can’t be used anymore with Windows Server 2012. dcpromo has been deprecated. We have been always using Dcpromo to setup a domain controller. However, with Windows Server 2012, you can only use it for an unattended installation. So what is the alternative ? well,…

Introduction I will show you how to install a fresh copy of Windows Server 2012. In future articles, Will show you how to join it to a domain, set it up as a domain controller, as an additional domain controller and much more topics. So lets start with our first Windows Server 2012. There are four Windows Server 2012 editions as listed below: Datacenter edition : is intended for organizations with highly virtualized environments (Unlimited virtual instances) Standard edition : has all the features of the Datacenter, except its limited for Two virtual instances Essential edition : for small businesses with…

Introduction When you install Windows Server 2012, you have a grace period to activate it. In this article, I will be showing you how to activate Windows Server 2012. There are two methods to activate Windows Server 2012, either offline by calling Microsoft Call Center or online by activating Windows through Internet. When you install Windows Server 2012, you are given a grace period to test it and then to activate it. As you can see, the wallpaper of Windows Server 2012 is automatically written into it that you have to Activate Windows To Activate Windows, follow the below steps…

Introduction In a Windows Server 2012 environment, assigning a meaningful and descriptive computer name is crucial for identification and management purposes. Whether you’re setting up a new server or need to modify an existing one, changing the computer name is a straightforward process. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through the step-by-step procedure to change the computer name in Windows Server 2012. In this article, I will show you how to change computer name using Windows Server 2012 Server Manager or Charm Bar. To change the computer name using Server Manager 1. From the Start Screen, click on Server Manager 2.…

Introduction Connecting to a Wireless Network is an easy step in MAC OSX. However, if you are new to MAC, then you will need this article to connect to a WiFi, specially if the WiFi Status icon is not displayed in the menu bar. In this article I will show you how to : Connect to WiFi Network directly from the Menu Bar Connect to WiFi Network using the Network System Preference Display the WiFi status icon in the Menu Bar Connect to WiFi Network directly from the Menu Bar 1. From the Menu bar, click on the WiFi Status…

Introduction Partitioning Hard disks in MAC OSX does not require any 3rd party application. MAC OSX has the required tools to create new partitions and resize them. To Partition a hard disk in MAC OSX, we will be using the Disk Utility 1. To open Disk Utility, either from the spotlight or inside the Utilities folder. To open Disk Utility from Spotlight , type disk utility 2. Click on Disk Utility from the search results. 3. If you want to know where Disk Utility is located, it is inside /Application/Utilities 3. Disk Utility will open, select a hard disk to partition. I’m currently working…

Introduction In a previous article I have shown the steps for Installing Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Prerequisites On Windows Server 2012. In this article, I will install Exchange Server 2013. To install Exchange Server 2013 successfully, you have to complete the prerequisites installations prior to proceed with this article. So make sure you have completed the steps mentioned in my previous article : Installing Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Prerequisites On Windows Server 2012 To install Exchange Server 2013, follow the below steps : 1. Insert the Exchange Server 2013 DVD and run Setup 2. On the Check for Updates , select Connect to…

Introduction With MAC OSX, you can set your computer to log out after a period of inactivity. This means all currently running apps close out as well as all documents which save in their current state through the Versions & Resume features. This is very useful when you don’t want just anyone to walk up to your Mac and have full access to your data. Automatic logout helps ensure that your information is secure when your computer is unattended. It is also great for use in school computer labs and in situations where computers are shared. By automatically logging out…

Introduction In this article I’ll walk through the installation instructions for Exchange Server 2013 prerequisites. The prerequisites that are needed to install Exchange 2013 on a Windows Server 2012 server depends on which Exchange roles you want to install. Exchange Server 2013 has only two roles, Mailbox and Client Access server roles. Exchange Server 2013 can be installed Either as: Mailbox server role or combined Mailbox and Client Access server roles Client Access server role Note :  If you want to install as a Client Access Server role only, then you neither need to install Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs 64…

Introduction With Windows 8, you don’t need to worry about sending your PC to a technician to format it for you. Now you can do it yourself, even if you don’t have any technical experience. Windows 8 introduced a new way to format your machine and reset it to factory default settings. Resetting your PC reinstalls Windows but deletes your files, settings, and apps – except for the apps that came with your PC. When you Reset your PC, Windows will remove everything. It is like formatting you hard drive and doing a complete Windows reinstall. Resetting your Windows 8…

Introduction SP3 for Exchange Server 2010, was released in February 2013. This is a long awaited service pack. Back in October 2012, Microsoft announced that they had reached RTM for Exchange 2013 . However, Exchange 2010 wasn’t yet compatible with 2013. In order to install and co-exist Exchange 2013 with Exchange 2010 you had to have SP3 installed for 2010. Also with this service pack, you will be able to install Exchange 2010 with SP3 on Windows Server 2012. Issues that are fixed with Exchange Server 2010 SP3 can be found here : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj916234(v=exchg.141).aspx Exchange Server 2010 SP3 release notes…

Introduction MAC was always considered to be safe by not getting affected with Viruses, worms and Trojans. However, in the last few years, this concept is not valid anymore, and MAC started to be infected with worms and Trojans. Apple introduced a new feature with OS X 10.7.5, called Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper allows users to restrict which sources they can install applications from, in order to reduce the likelihood of inadvertently executing a Trojan horse. In this articles, I will be explaining to you Gatekeeper, and how to change its settings. Some apps that are downloaded and installed from the Internet…

Introduction If you have a MAC Book /Pro/Air laptop, then you can tap only on the trackpad instead of clicking to perform a left click. This feature is not enabled by default. Enabling Tap to click is a simple operation : 1. Open System Preferences. Do this by clicking on the Apple logo   in the top left side of the screen and then click on System Preferences… 2. In System Preferences and under the Hardware section, click on Trackpad 3. Under the Point & Click tab, you can find the first option, Tap to click,  unselected by default. Select this option, and you will instantly be able…

Introduction If you have Exchange Server 2010 Standard Edition and then require to have Exchange Server 2010 Enterprise Edition, then don’t panic. The process is quite simple. You will neither need to uninstall Exchange and reinstall it, nor you will need to insert the Exchange Server DVD and run Setup again. Upgrading from Standard to Enterprise Edition is simply done by running a single command in Exchange Management Shell. Exchange Server 2010 Standard Edition support only having a maximum of five databases per server. It might be sufficient for many companies, however, for some companies, they require having more than…

Introduction Forms-based authentication has three logon options for the default sign-in format in Exchange Server 2010. In this article I will be showing them to you and how to change to a different logon option. The three options for the default sign-in format are : FullDomain : This is the domain and user name of the user in the format domain\user name. For example, for a user named Tarek.Majdalani in the domain elmajdal, the sign-in would be elmajdal\tarek.majdalani PrincipalName : If user principal name (UPN) sign-in format is specified, the User Name field on the Outlook Web App sign-in page guides the…

Introduction The primary reason why SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is used is to keep sensitive information sent across the Internet encrypted so that only the intended recipient can understand it. This is important because the information you send on the Internet is passed from computer to computer to get to the destination server. Any computer in between you and the server can see your usernames and passwords, and other sensitive information if it is not encrypted with an SSL certificate. When an SSL certificate is used, the information becomes unreadable to everyone except for the server you are sending the…

Introduction By default, with Exchange Server 2010, you can only send and receive emails to mailboxes from the same organization. However, if you want to send emails to the external world, then you will need to create a send connector. Exchange 2010 transport servers require Send Connectors to deliver messages to the next hop on the way to their destination The Send Connector is created only on the Hub Transport or Edge Server role. Send connectors that are created on Hub Transport servers are stored in Active Directory and are available to all Hub Transport servers in the organization. If…

Introduction One of the tasks that you will be performing on a standard basis with Exchange Server, is creating User Mailbox for your users. There are four types of Mailboxes; User , Room , Equipment and Linked Mailboxes. I will be describing each and then creating a User Mailbox. To create a User Mailbox, follow the below steps : 1. Open Exchange Management Console (EMC) and expand the Recipient Configuration node 2. Right click on Mailbox and choose New Mailbox You can also create a new Mailbox by click on New Mailbox… from the right side pane under Actions 3. On the New Mailbox page, The available mailboxes…

Introduction Exchange Server 2010 SP2 is a recommended update for Exchange Server 2010. It comes not only with bug fixes, but with new features as well. With it, comes new pre-requisites if you are installing/updating Client Access Server (CAS) role. In this article, I will be showing you the new prerequisites and then start with installing SP2. In my lab, I have a typical Exchange Server installation. A Typical installation consist of the Client Access , Hub Transport and Mailbox Server roles, along with the Exchange Management Console. Service Pack 2 has a new prerequisites for the Client Access Role.…

Introduction Exchange Server installation can be a headache for any system administrator if the prerequisites are not setup properly prior to the start of exchange installation. In this article, I will be showing you an easy way to understand the prerequisites and the steps to follow in order to have a successful Exchange Server setup. I will be setting up Exchange Server 2010 SP1 on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise Edition. I will be setting up a typical Exchange Server installation. A typical installation consist of the Client Access, Hub Transport, and Mailbox server roles, along with the Exchange Management Console.…

Introduction During Exchange Server installation , you might have noticed that the installation wizard didn’t ask you for any product key ! This is because Exchange Server 2010 can be fully installed for 120 days in trial mode. In this article I will be showing you how to activate Exchange Server 2010. When you start the Exchange Management Console, Exchange displays a list of all unlicensed Exchange 2010 servers and the number of days that are remaining until the trial edition expires. Depending on the product key that you enter, Exchange will determine if the server is running the Standard…

Introduction Functional levels determine the features of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) that are enabled in a domain or forest. They also restrict which Windows Server operating systems can run on domain controllers in the domain or forest. In this article, I will be showing you how to upgrade the Function Level of the Forest and Domain to a higher level. By default, when a new Domain Controller with Windows Server 2008 / Windows Server 2008 R2 is being installed, the lowest available functional level is Windows 2000. The Default selected forest functional level is Windows Server 2003 When…

Introduction Many People use Google Search as their main search engine and Google Chrome as their default browser. Good news is that Google made their applications ready for Windows 8, some of these applications are ready to be installed directly from the Windows Store. In this article, I will be showing you how easy it is to download and install both Google Search and Google Chrome into Windows 8 and how they are automatically pinned to the Start Screen  1. From the Windows 8 Start Screen, type google and then click on Store 2. The Windows Store will open, click on Google Search  3.…

Introduction Microsoft chose not to include the Media Center product in Windows 8. Media Center Pack can be purchased as a feature for Windows 8 .If you buy a Media Center Pack, Windows 8 Pro can record TV shows through a TV tuner with Windows Media Center, as well as play DVDs. In this article I will be showing you how to : Buy Media Center Pack Add Media Center if you already have the Product Key Get a free product key for Media Center Pack ( valid till January 31, 2013 ) To buy the Windows 8 Media…

Introduction Hyper-V has always been a Windows Server Role in Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, or as a Stand Alone installation using Microsoft Hyper-V Server. However, Hyper-V platform is now included in Windows 8 operating system, so are the management tools. Windows 8 includes Hyper-V as a virtualization platform, but since not everybody will use this feature, it’s not enabled by default. Here’s how to enable it on your Windows 8 PC. Client Hyper-V in Windows 8 supports 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. If you are installing Hyper-V feature on a 32bit Client Windows 8,…

Introduction Starting with OS X 10.8.2 and future versions of OS X, Facebook will be integrated directly into Mac OS X. Users will be able to sign into Facebook via their System Preferences, just like they do with Twitter now in Mountain Lion. Once signed in, several new abilities are unleashed. Apps such as Safari, Notification Center, Game Center, Preview and Contacts will now include a “Facebook” option in their sharing. To Enable Facebook in OS X Mountain Lion10.8.2, follow the below steps: 1. Open System Preferences. Do this by clicking on the Apple logo    in the top left side of…

Introduction Protecting your External USB thumb or hard disk is an important step, specially if you save on them vital or personal files, and you don’t wish anyone to have access to these files if the disk was lost or stolen. In this articles I will be showing you to to Encrypt an External USB disk with Mountain Lion 10.8 With previous versions of of OS X , we were used to encrypt the drive by using the Disk Utility. However, with OS X Mountain Lion, the procedure can be done directly on the mounted drive, either from the Desktop or Finder.…