Malcolm's Musings

Windows 7 and Cisco VPN Client Integration

malcolmeaton — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:52:42 +0000

Last month I decided to make the move to Windows 7 as the RTM version was just released to MSDN subscribers. I did an in-place upgrade from Vista SP2 that went very smoothly. The two pieces of software which gave me trouble initially were:

Daemon Tools
The Cisco VPN client

I was able to resolve my Cisco VPN client issue thanks to the excellent blog article, How to (Successfully) Install Cisco VPN Client on Windows 7, by Brenton House and others commenting on it.

I wanted to detail my experience and build on that article because it was so helpful to me on how I got the Cisco VPN client to work.

The initial steps I performed:

Did an in-place upgrade from Vista SP2 to Windows 7
- Almost everything worked fine except Daemon Tools and the Cisco VPN client
I tested the Cisco VPN client and it came back with a driver error
I started researching the issue on the web when I found the blog on How to Install the VPN client on Windows 7

Once I knew there was an issues with Cisco and Windows 7, I feared the worse. But after reading the entire blog article (Make sure you read JoshP and RandyM’s comments) I felt better.

The article states to use version 5.0.4.0300 or later. We were using a slightly older version, 5.0.05.0290, which ended up working fine.
If you do have Cisco credentials you can download the latest 5.x version of the Citrix VPN client from their download page.

I uninstalled the Cisco VPN client software which was ported over with the in-place upgrade using Control Panel – Programs and Features – Select Cisco VPN Client – Select Uninstall
Rebooted to be safe
Went to the Citrix DNE Update page and followed their instructions on How to Fix DNE installation and other problems:

Ran: ftp://files.citrix.com/winfix.exe

Rebooted
Installed the latest DNE for 32 bit: ftp://files.citrix.com/dneupdate.msi
Rebooted

Next I needed to take ownership of the two files and delete them per the instructions.

I referenced the article How to Take Ownership and Grant Permissions to Access Files and Folders in Windows 7
The key is to click on Advanced and then owner and Edit

I still needed to modify the security permission on the two files so I could get full control of them
Then I was able to delete the files

One of the next steps was to insert the Windows 7 CD into the laptop and reboot

I used an .ISO file instead of the CD so I had to burn the file to DVD
Followed the really simple article: How-to: Burn your Windows 7 .ISO to DVD disc which featured imgBurn which was a quick an easy way to create the DVD

After I rebooted I was following RandyM’s instructions to repair the OS, but it said the repair didn’t work. The nice part is when I hit continue Windows 7 repaired itself per JoshM’s notes.

After that I tested the client and everything worked fine. You have to love the Internet.

OneNote 2007 Taskbar Icon in Windows 7

malcolmeaton — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:13:00 +0000

After loading Windows 7 RTM a small issue I encountered was that the OneNote 2007 taskbar icon stopped appearing. Right now my temporary workaround:

In OneNote go to: Tools – Options – Other and uncheck the Place OneNote icon in the taskbar and then recheck the Place OneNote icon in the taskbar.
The icon will reappear in the taskbar after you reselect the checkbox

Unfortunately this isn’t a permanent answer because it is gone again after you reboot.

I need to research this issue some more to see if I can find a permanent fix. There are some good notes about this in this OneNote blog about SP2. There was also a little more about it on Microsoft’s blog.

Unleash the Power of OneNote and SharePoint

malcolmeaton — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:07:00 +0000

The notes for our Unleash the Power of OneNote and SharePoint presentation have been posted to the Captaré Training site and the video has been posted to the I Heart OneNote site.

Download the OneNote 2007 Package containing all of the notes here and view the video presentation from the I Heart OneNote community.

Presentation Notes – (OneNote 2007 Package)
Video Presentation

InfoPath Column/Properties Promotion Limit

malcolmeaton — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:48:00 +0000

During our Captaré SharePoint InfoPath Training class today we got what I thought was a simple question:

What is the limit on the number of columns/properties you can promote to a SharePoint 2007 InfoPath Form Library from InfoPath 2007?

My gut response to this question was that it was the same column limit as a document library would have or maybe a SharePoint list. Quick research showed:

You can have:

2,000 columns in a document library
4,096 columns in a list

These are not hard limits, but you might experience library and list view performance degradation as the number of columns in a document library or list increases.

There are two good articles which detail the limitations of SharePoint. One in TechNet and a simpler one on this SharePoint blog.

After a little further research, I found that my gut response was wrong. The two relevant posts I found stated that the Form Libraries had the same limitations as the old SharePoint 2003 list limitations.

64 Single line of text and Choice (drop-down menu or radio buttons)
31 Multiple lines of text and Choice (check boxes (allow multiple sections))
32 Number and currency
32 Hyperlink
16 Date and time
16 Lookup
16 Yes/No
8 Calculated

The two references I pulled from were these posts:

I was not able to find definitive Microsoft articles or support backing these claims up. What did make me a little suspicious though is these are the same limitations stated in TechNet as WSS 2.0 and SPS 2003 had with lists and libraries. Why was this fixed with 2007 libraries and lists, but not Form Libraries?

If anyone has definitive Microsoft References for these limitations, please let me know.

The interesting corollary to researching this issue is I think it is part of another question we were asked today about a complex form timing out when they were trying to publish it. The issue as stated in the first post is the form probably has too many columns of a certain type in it.

Recommendation:

Once you start trying to publish and use 25+ columns from InfoPath to SharePoint, you should start rethinking how you are using your data. A better long term approach is to:

Use InfoPath to publish the data to a SQL Server Database
You then have multiple view/reporting options:
- Use data view Web Parts to view the data
- Use SQL Server Reporting Services to create complex reports within SharePoint
- Use third-party Web parts to view the data

Hope this helps everyone in our class and anyone else who may need it.

Finding the Last Value in a Table Column Range in Excel 2007

malcolmeaton — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:19:00 +0000

I was trying to accomplish something I thought would be pretty simple in Excel, finding the last value in a row within a range in Excel.

I was using a balance column and just wanted the last value (the balance) to show up in my totals row at the bottom, thereby when I filtered the list the value would still be the outstanding balance for the whole list.

There were a couple of options I found through Googling, but I didn’t like any of them as they didn’t work well with blank rows.

My resolution was to format the range of cells as a Table with the “Format as Table” option in Excel 2007.

By doing this it creates ranges for each column. My table looks like this:

To get the last value in (C7) for this table I used this formula:

=INDEX([Balance], ROWS([Balance]),1)

By using the Rows function here it gives me the last row within the range I am looking for and then the index provides the value.

Tracking Time with WorkTime

malcolmeaton — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:34:00 +0000

One of the toughest challenges we have in consulting is not doing the things we enjoy like developing and creating solutions it is tracking the time it takes to do those tasks.
In my everlasting quest to find an application that tracks everything I do by reading my brain I found something pretty close. An application called WorkTime is a very innocuos little application that tracks what you are working on and the documents you are working along with a time stamp and a ton of reports.

The application can be found on a company called NeterSoft’s web site:

Nestersoft’s WorkTime: http://www.nestersoft.com/worktime/

I combine that will a nice little application that easily exports my Windwos Mobile phone log called CallHistory export which is located here:

CallHistory Export: http://www.accosto.com/?page_id=8

I have a custom spreadsheet that I used to tweak the CallHistory download and provide an easier to read report and I plan on adding graphs to it. I can upload it if requested.

Lastly, I utilize my Exchange Calendar to track my external meetings and voila, you have about 90 percent of my workday covered and I can usually track the rest from memory.

I tried Microsoft’s Journal and it does not do a good job of providing easy to use reports or track non-Microsoft applications, and I really liked this new application called RescueTime, but it does not do a good job of telling me what I worked on during a certain period of time.

I’m a big fan of WorkTime and hope to post some more tips and tricks in how to use it.

OneNote Blog Test

malcolmeaton — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:08:00 +0000

One of the issues I wanted to figure out was how easy it is to publish from OneNote any blogs I create.

OneNote converts its information to Word (using 2007) and
Then you publish it from Word’s BlogPost tab.

QuickBooks Issues

malcolmeaton — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:47:00 +0000

I have had some substantial QuickBooks issues which have prompted me to create a blog to allow other people to learn from some of the adventure I have had in getting QuickBooks to work correctly. I will add to this blog soon as I learn to get around it better.