Implementing a Better File Search Strategy under Windows Server 2003 at Low Cost

Why do we need a better one?
Are you kidding...

Hands up anyone who believes that you can successfully locate files using the Microsoft Search tool, every time without problems...
Hands up anyone who believes that the amount of time it takes the Microsoft Search tool to locate a file is acceptable.

I'm sure nobody has their hands up.

Why are we all raving about Google Desktop?

If you haven't checked out Google Desktop - Enterprise Edition, you should make the effort and download it. It's free and it is very very good. This little tool indexes every file on your computer, your instant messages and your email. It even does Lotus Notes and Gmail. There are also lots of add-ons available for free, or at low cost. This tool will change the way you think about Microsoft Built-in Windows search tool.

Google desktop is so good that you can locate deleted and changed documents and look at their cached contents.

Google desktop can do some really cool network things, including indexing mapped drives. What it can't do is index servers or networks.

What we wanted was something that offered the power of Google Desktop, but which would operate at server level and give us the ability to search for files on our file server. We found that tool in dnka, a remote search add-on.

Google Desktop and DNKA were easy to install, but did require a server reboot. You can then configure DNKA to provide remove access to the index restricted by a password or by an IP range.

For our secure data server, which contains payroll etc, we restricted by both IP range and Password.
For our general data server, we restricted by IP range only.

I then built-in to our corporate intranet navigator, a link to the general data server - it goes something like...

http://data3:4664/

Note that you also need to open your firewall software to accept connections on port 4664. You can usually get the firewall to restrict connections on this port to a given IP range too.

I gave the links to the secure server only to our information management people. Unfortunately the google search is just a little too powerful. So you need to think carefully about need-to-know in this case.

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How to Change Your Notification Options for New Lotus Notes Mail in version 8.x

Don't worry, I'm not patronizing you (my readers), I just decided to re-document this for one of our internal users and thought you might want to be able to use it in your own user documentation. WHAT IS THIS DOCUMENT ABOUT? Some people who don't get a lot of mail, like to be notified when such an event occurs. Notification can be; via a sound via a pop-up box via the system tray (where the computer clock is) The pop up box looks like this; Other people, who like myself, get too much mail would rather not be notified. The aim of this document is to tell you how (and where) to turn these options on and off. CHANGING YOUR SETTINGS To change your settings from the Notes 8.x client; On the Menu, click File , then Preferences... On the left hand side , click on the little plus sign to the left of Mail to expand the options. Click on the option marked Sending and Receiving . In the middle section, under receiving, you can control your notifications. If you untick the box mark...

How to Create a Bootable DVD Using Nero Burning ROM 9

I often need to create bootable CDs and DVDs but it's weird because I frequently end up buring myself a new coaster instead. It's not that the process is difficult, just that nero has a few too many options and I forget which ones to choose and end up picking the wrong one. I figured that the best way to avoid this mistake in future would be to write the steps down. Procedure Insert CD or DVD into your DVD Burner. Start Nero Burning ROM 9 Choose DVD-ROM (Boot) or CD-ROM (Boot) depending on what you're creating You'll be prompted for a disk image source. Choose a Nero Source - you'll usually find them somewhere like this... C:\Program Files\Nero\Nero9\Nero Burning Rom\DOSBootImage.ima Leave the Boot Locale as English - unless you really need a different keyboard layout Tick the box marked [X] Enable Expert Settings Choose Hard Drive Emulation and leave any other settings as they are. Click the button marked New Add any files you want but don't try to add operati...

How to Create an Auto-Response Mail Message in Lotus Notes 8.5.3+

Why would you do this? Suppose that you have an externally accessible generic email address for your company; support@mycompany.com or info@mycompany.com. You might expose this to the web and allow people to send messages to you. Setting up an auto-response email will tell the senders that their message reached its destination and that it will be dealt with accordingly. It's also good practice to include links to FAQs or other useful information. Why 8.5.3 The techniques we'll be using here work in older versions of Notes but some of the options seem to have moved around in 8.5.3. I figured it was a good time to show you where they've moved to. The Procedure Start Domino Designer and open the Mail file to be modified. A really quick way to do this is to right-click on the application tab and choose "Open in Designer". In the Left hand panel of designer, expand Code and then double-click Agents. A new window should appear. Click the action ...

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