Letters: Readers Speak Out

Article
09/08/2016

LettersReaders Speak Out

ActiveX Installer Service Availability

I just read your July 2007 article on "The ActiveX Installer Service in Windows Vista" (online at technetmagazine.com/issues/2007/07/AxIS). Could you please let me know if this service is available now?

—Eugene Y.

Yes, the ActiveX® Installer Service is available today. It can quite easily be enabled through the "Turn Windows features on or off" option in the Programs and Feature control panel in Windows Vista®.

The ActiveX Installer Service is an optional component only on the Ultimate, Enterprise, and Business versions of Windows Vista. The list of sites allowing ActiveX installation with the ActiveX Installer Service is controlled via Group Policy. The list is stored in the Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | ActiveX Installer Service section of the Group Policy Object Editor.

Active Directory Tools

Thank you very much for the article "11 Essential Tools for Managing Active Directory" (September 2007). I have been trying to delete users from Active Directory® with the dsrm utility outlined in the article, using the following command line:

dsquery user -samid <samid> | dsrm

I get an error message about "dsrm" input being in the improper form. However, I am able to perform the command separately without any issues. Any ideas?

—Keith E.

We passed your question along to the author of that article, Laura Hunter. Laura points out that when piping dsquery results into dsrm, dsrm requires the -noprompt switch. As such, you would need to use the following command line:

dsquery user -samid <samid> | dsrm -noprompt

We apologize that this information was omitted from the original article and we will be posting a correction to the online version.

Alternative Puzzle Possibilities

I presume you do realize, and have probably already been reminded by many others, that Dr. Scripto's Scripting Perplexer puzzle (November 2007) actually has two different solutions that both work. The puzzle will also unscramble correctly if the 4-character variable that appears in the first and second lines is nnde and if the 5-character variable that appears in the third and fifth lines is iamex. (I grant that the difference is trivial, and the names in your solution make the script much more readable.)

Thanks for the diversion of the puzzle; I enjoyed it.

—Stan A.

Thanks for sharing your alternative solution, Stan! We're glad to hear that you're enjoying the new Scripting Guys puzzle, and we're very excited to be adding it as a regular feature of TechNet Magazine.

Windows Vista Migration Persuasion

The article "Changes to Offline Files in Windows Vista" from the November 2007 issue of TechNet Magazine (go to technetmagazine.com/issues/2007/11/Offline) shows the advantages of Windows Vista in the area of offline files very well. The article has helped us in the decision to migrate to Windows Vista because we had many problems with offline files when using Windows® XP Professional.

—Daniel Z.

Thanks, Daniel! We're very glad to hear that you found the article useful in your organization.

Missing Pages

Your magazine is enjoyable and informative. However, my copy of the December 2007 issue was missing pages 49-64. I was interested in the computer forensics article ("A Guide to Basic Computer Forensics") by Tom Cloward and Frank Simorjay that was supposed to be on page 60. Perhaps your print forensics team can find my missing pages/data? If this article is available online I will be more than happy to read it there, if you can send me the URL.

—Dave S.

Unfortunately, we did experience a problem during the printing of the December 2007 issue, and as a result, a small number of copies were mailed to readers without pages 49-64. On behalf of our printer and the TechNet Magazine team, we sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.

In the meantime, the article you've referenced, along with the rest of the December issue, is now available online at technetmagazine.com/issues/2007/12.

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