Austin Kim

security issues in critical infrastructure affecting every single person gives great cause for alarm, an expert said at the Black Hat conference here on Wednesday.

If you’re a Windows Home Server enthusiast, you’re more than likely aware of the new Beta code named “Vail”. If you want to test it out without worrying about having an extra machine, we can install and use it free in VMware Server.

Previously we showed you how to install WHS Vail on VMware Workstation. Today we’ll take a look at how to install it completely free using VMware Server 2 and the free Vail Beta ISO.

Getting Started

You’ll need the following items to get started.

• VMware Server 2 – Registration required
• WHS Vail Beta ISO – Via Microsoft Connect
• Computer Capable of Hardware Virtualization running a 64-bit version of Windows
• Enough Hard Drive space on the Host computer to create a 160GB virtual hard drive which is the minimum system requirement
• At least 2GB of RAM or more on the Host computer – The minimum amount of RAM to allocate for Vail is 1GB

For this article we used a machine with a Core i3 processor and 6GB of RAM  running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and VMware Server 2

Verify Hardware Virtualization

In our last article we showed you the easy to use free utility SecurAble to determine if your computer is capable of Hardware Virtualization.

There is also another free utility from Microsoft that does the same thing called Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool (link below). Like SecurAble it doesn’t require installation, just run the executable as Administrator.

You’ll be prompted to agree to the EULA and after that you’ll receive a message like the ones below. Showing either that you’re machine is capable of Hardware Virtualation or not.

If it doesn’t support Hardware Virtualization, a lot of times the feature is locked and you’ll need to carefully dig through your BIOS to find a setting to turn it on. If that doesn’t work, make sure you have the latest update for your BIOS.

Download and Install VMware Server

If you don’t already have it, you’ll need to download and install VMware server. It’s free, but registration is required (link below).

Note: Before you start installation be aware that if you have VMware Workstation already installed, you’ll be prompted to uninstall it first.

Once you have the file downloaded, start installation as normal where you should be able to go with the defaults.

After you registered they sent an email to activate your license and download the server, from that page enter in the serial number they provided.

Now you’ll be able to access VMware Server from the Start Menu along with other tools it provides. To launch it, click on VMware Server Home Page which will launch locally in your default browser.

This next step is pretty important. You’ll notice that during the installation you were never asked to enter in user credentials. By default it uses the login information for the machine you’re running it on. Not your VMware login information. This was a bit confusing at first so, just keep that in mind when you want to log in.

Once logged in  you will be presented with the summary page. Now we’re ready to install Windows Home Server “Vail”!

Create Virtual Machine

Ok, now that we have VMware server installed and are logged in, we want to create a new virtual machine to run Vail on. Click on Virtual Machine \ Create Virtual machine.

The Create Virtual Machine wizard starts and first you want to give it a name.

Next we need to select the Guest Operating System. From the Version dropdown field select Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (64-bit).

Now select the amount of memory you want the server to use. Remember this will be using your Host’s RAM so depending on how much you have, you might want to go with the Recommended Size of 1GB. Since our machine has extra memory, we bumped it up to 2GB. You can change these settings at any time later after the machine is created too.

In the next step we need to Create a new Virtual Disk.

Now we need to assign its capacity. The minimum size for Vail is 160GB so we will just go with that. In our testing we’ve had best result by checking Allocate all disk space now.

Next under Network Adapter click on Add a Network Adapter…

Under Properties you’ll have best results if you use a Bridged Network Connection. This way the virtual server will be assigned its own IP address and will operate like a separate physical machine on your network.

Now you need to copy the Vail Install DVD, Restore CD, and SrvRecovery ISO files to C:\Virtual Machines so VMware server can see it when we go to load it. The browse feature in VMware Server doesn’t allow browsing to you local directories like Workstation or Player.

For the CD/DVD Drive select Use an ISO Image (which is the format Vail downloads as). You don’t need to burn it to disc first…unless you want to for some reason. Of course you’ll want to burn it to disc if you were installing it on an actual machine.

Click on the Browse button…

Now we can select VailInstallDVD.iso and click OK.

Then back at the Properties screen make sure to check Yes to Connect at Power On and click Next.

Click on Don’t Add a Floppy Drive unless you want to for some reason…

For USB Controller you can add support for it or not, it’s up to you. For our testing purposes we’re going to go ahead and click Add a USB Controller.

Now we’re done setting up the VM. Check out the overview and verify it’s configured correctly. If not you can go back at this point and make adjustments. You can also add more hardware at this point if you want, but everything is configured now to get Vail installed, so we’ll just keep what we have. Remember we can change the settings after Vail is install as well.

Check Power on your new virtual machine now and click the Finish button.

Now wait while your new Virtual Server will be built. The length of time it takes will vary based on the type of hardware your machine has. On our system it took around 30 minutes to create the virtual HD.

After the drive has been successfully created and the VM machine powered on, under Inventory click on the Vail VM then the Console tab.

You’ll see a message that you need to install the VMware Remote Console Plug-in…just click to install it.

At first we were running VMware server through Firefox, and after installing the plugin we ran into some problems.

After installing the Plug-in you need to restart Firefox. When we came back, we weren’t able to launch the console. It probably has something to do with an Addon or some caching issue. We will figure out a fix and post an article about it later.

We want to get Vail installed so we ran the VMware Server in Internet Explorer 8 instead. Again, you’ll need to install the Remote Console Plug-in.

Installation for IE is straight-forward following the install wizard.

When you first go to your server in IE you’ll get a warning about the security certificate, click Continue to this website. 

After you log in…select Run Add-on when the security bar shows up to start the Remote Console Plug-in.

Install WHS Vail

From the VMware Server Web Homepage select the Vail Server and click on the Console tab to open the VMware Remote Console.

The VMware Remote Console opens up and you can now begin your Vail installation. On our system, installation took around 45 minutes to complete.

During the install, the Remote Console will restart several times.

After a long wait and entering some of the information it asks for during installation, we have our new WHS Vail Virtual Server!

Install VMware Tools

Once installation of Vail is complete, we need to add VMware Tools for a more fluid experience. From the Web Interface in the Status field click on Install VMware Tools

A message explaining VMware Tools will pop up, click the Install button.

Over in the Remote Console you’ll see AutoPlay pop up…click on Run setup.exe.

Then run the the install wizard accepting the defaults.

A restart of the VM Server will be required to complete the install process.

After you restart the VM you’ll see the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen.

Click on VMware Remote Console \ Troubleshoot \ Send Ctrl+Alt+Del.

Then log into your WHS Vail virtual server.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a way to test out the new Windows Home Server “Vail” Beta, using VMware Server is a great way to get it done for free. You will be able to RDP into it just like it was a separate physical machine on your network. To test out connecting machines to it and using new features like Dashboard or Launchpad, you can create a Windows VM, or connect an extra machine on your network. Make sure that machine doesn’t already have WHS Version 1 Connector software installed as you can’t have both installed on a the same machine.

 

If you’re currently running WHS Version 1, you don’t want to replace it with the Vail beta. There are still several quirks that need to be worked out with it first. This isn’t the same as the Windows 7 Beta where you could install it on your machine and have little to no problems. At least you’ll be able to explore Vail and see what you can expect when the final version is released.

Download VMware Server – Registration Required

Download Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtual Detection Tool

Download Windows Home server Beta Code Named Vail from Microsoft Connect

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Safari 5 is one of the least used browsers on Windows, but would you be likely to use it more with more features?  The latest update to Safari made it incredibly simple to install extensions, so let’s take a quick look at what it has to offer.

Getting the Latest Version of Safari

Several weeks ago we looked at how to install extensions in the new Safari 5, but it required a rather complicated process to get everything working.  Now Apple has updated Safari and made it very simple to install extensions from their official Extension Gallery.  First, though, you’ll need to make sure you have Safari 5.0.1 or later installed.  If you’ve already installed Safari or other Apple programs, open the Apple Software Update tool to get the latest version of Safari.

This will offer you the latest version of Safari, or offer to install it if you don’t already have Safari installed.  Select the update or installation, and click Install. Be sure to uncheck the other updates they offer that might be needless on your system.

Alternately, download Safari from the link below, and install as normal.  Thankfully, the installer doesn’t try to install Bonjour this time, so you won’t have to worry about extra stuff getting installed.

Find and Install Extensions

Once the latest version of Safari is up and running, you can quickly get started finding and installing extensions.  Click the Gear icon in the far right of the toolbar, and select Safari Extensions Gallery.

This will open the Safari Extensions Gallery webpage, where you can browse and preview available extensions that have been approved by Apple and digitally signed.  When you find an extension you’d like to install, click the Install Now button below the description.

Seconds later, the button will change to show that your extension is now installed.  That’s all there is to it; your extension is now running with only one click!

Safari Extensions can add lots of functionality to the browser.  They can add more to the browser than Chrome extensions can, but still are less powerful overall than Firefox addons.  Here’s some interesting features we added with some of the available extensions.

Interesting Extensions

The Bing Highlights extension lets you quickly search the web or look up a map by just selecting text on a page.

Twitter for Safari adds a toolbar that shows related Tweeters from a webpage, which is a great way to discover and keep up with the author and other people mentioned in an article.

It also lets you search Twitter directly from a sidebar in Safari.

We were excited to see the Awesome Screenshot extension for Safari, and it works almost identical to Awesome Screenshot for Chrome.  The only feature it was missing was the ability to capture all of a page; hopefully this will be added soon.

Finally, if you’ve been using Chrome for a while, you may be frustrated by the status toolbar taking up space on the bottom of your browser all the time.  The Ultimate Status Bar extension fixes this with a Chrome-style preview version of the status bar that even expands short URLs so you can see where a click will take you.

Remove Extensions

If you’ve installed an extension but don’t find it helpful, you can quickly remove it from Safari.  Click the gear icon on the right of the toolbar, and select Preferences in the menu.

Click Extensions on the top of the Preferences window.  Here you can change settings for your extensions, or click Uninstall to remove an extension.

Click Uninstall to confirm you wish to uninstall this extension.

Alternately, if you’d rather turn off all extensions, click the slider at the top of the Preferences window to disable extensions.

Install Extension Updates Automatically

Oddly, Safari will not automatically download and install updates for extensions by default.  However, you can activate automatic update if you’d like.  Open the Preferences window and select Extensions as above.  This time, select the Updates link in the bottom of the extension list.  Check the Install Updates Automatically box, and you’re all set.

Install Unofficial Extensions

You can still install extensions for Safari from other websites as before, but it’ll take 3 or more clicks to install.  When you find an extension you’d like to install, perhaps from a site like the Safari Extensions blog listed below, click the link to download the extension and then select Open at the prompt.

Safari will double check that you wish to install this extension.  If you’re sure you trust the extension, click Install to add it to Safari.  Now it will work just like all other extensions, and you can remove it just like you would any other extension.

Conclusion

Although the Safari Extension Gallery is brand new, it already contains many nice extensions that rival extensions in the Google Chrome browser.  We’ve already tweaked Safari on our computers with nice new features and tools.  If you’re not sure if the Extensions make it worth your while to try out Safari, check out the link to the Extension Gallery below to look around before you try it.  Safari 5 is free for Macs and PCs, so feel free to try it out and let us know what extensions you like the most.

Links

Download Safari 5

Browse Apple’s Safari Extension Gallery

Discover More Safari Extensions

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Spell check in Word is a savior for a lot of people, but what if you’re having trouble finding the perfect Word or Phrase. We’ll take a look at using the Thesaurus and Dictionary in Word 2007 & 2010.

Sometimes while writing a document you run into writer’s block and can’t find the word or phrase you’re looking for. Using the Thesaurus to find a synonym and the Dictionary to make sure the words you’re using have the correct meaning can be valuable tools in the writing process.

Thesaurus in Word 2010

To access the Thesaurus in Word 2010 click on the Review tab on the Ribbon. Highlight the word you want to find synonym for then access the Thesaurus.

This opens the Research pane where you can search the Thesaurus for a better synonym for what you currently have in the document. Choose the word you want then select to insert it into the document, copy it, or look it up.

Another easy way to get a synonym for a word is to highlight it, right-click, scroll down to Synonyms and select one from the list.

Dictionary in Word 2010

To use the Dictionary in Word, right-click on a word you want to look up. Then scroll down to Look Up and you will get a list of various resources for finding its definition.

Here we used the Encarta Dictionary and the Research Pane opens up so you can view definitions.

In this example we highlighted “Quick Style gallery” in the document and looked it up with Bing. Again the Research Pane opens up and you can look through the results. If you click one of the links, a separate browser session will open up to the page. This comes in handy if you need to do a quick web search on the topic your writing about.

Check Spelling and Grammar

Word will usually let you know if something is misspelled or if grammar is incorrect while you’re typing. A final step before sending out a document is to click the Review tab then Spelling & Grammar.

If you’re writing a long document you may have missed certain grammar and spelling errors. This will scan your document and show you what might be wrong and offers suggestions to change it.

Thesaurus in Word 2007

Accessing the Thesaurus in Word 2007 is essentially the same in 2007. Right-click a word you want to research and go to Synonyms then Thesaurus.

Alternately you can click the Review tab on the Ribbon and in the Proofing section click on Thesaurus. Here you can ado a Spelling & Grammar check as well when doing a final proof of your document.

The Research Pane opens and you can look for synonyms for the word you want.

Just like in 2010 you can type different terms into the search box and select different reference sources such as the Encarta Dictionary or Bing.

Bonus Tip: If you don’t want to use the mouse to navigate around Word to access the Research Pane, hold down the Alt key while clicking on the word or phrase in the document, and the Research Pane will open up.

Conclusion

Even with Word 2010 it’s still not a perfect tool. There will be many times where you’re using tech lingo or need to explain something in a certain way and Word thinks it’s wrong. You can easily right-click on what it thinks is an error and add it to the dictionary or select to ignore all instances of it in the document. These are some basic tips that will help you make professional, accurate, and creative documents in Microsoft Word.

If you have added a lot to customize the dictionary, take a look at this cool tip that shows how to transfer your Microsoft Office Custom Dictionary to other computers.

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