John left a question in the comments, and I wanted to make sure other reader of my training kit got the information:

I bought your MS Press 70-642 Configuring Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure and would like to know how to set up the lab using Virtual PC 2007…

I have two Dell Latitude laptops running XP Pro SP3 with enough hard drive space that I should be able to install both Virtual PC 2007 and Windows Server 2008 on…they will be connected to each other via a 4-port Netgear switch…

Where can I get a free copy of Windows Server 2008 to use for the lab?…and do you have any suggestions on ensuring that the lab software don’t mess up these two laptops (I use both of them for business purposes)?

And later in an e-mail followed up with:

Actually, I was able to download WS2008 (and VPC 2007 SP1) from a MS download website yesterday (WS2008 was 1.9 GB and it downloaded as an iso file)…

I just have a few (dumb) questions about setting up the lab (please confirm the correctness and the sequence of the following steps):

1. I’m assuming that I need 3 actual computers physically connected to each other by a switch…true?

2. Next, install default? VPC 2007 on each computer.

3. Next, install default WS2008 on each computer (I am assuming I will install WS2008 while inside the VPC environment , or should WS2008 be installed outside of the VPC environment as you suggest?…if outside of the VPC environment, do I have to wipe the hard drive clean before installing WS2008, or can I keep the existing XP Pro SP3 OS and all of my apps and data files intact and install WS2008 in a separate partition?).

4. Next, do I rename the computers from inside or outside the VPC environment (however, I cannot change the real existing computer names on these computers because they are domain machines in my company’s environment…if I change their names, I will not be able to connect to my work network!).

Are there any other steps that I am missing?

Really appreciate any clarification you can provide!

My replies after the jump.

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Question from a reader:

Tony, I don’t have 10,000 photographs but sometimes it seems like it. I would appreciate your opinion for the best program for organizing my files on the computer. I can’t seem to find something that will permit captioning, date recording and tagging. I often wonder how the NGS organizes their collection which must numer in the millions. Thanks

My answer after the jump…

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Today my friend Jeff hit me up with an interesting question. His quad-core HP DL585 is supposed to operate at 3.4 GHz, but Performance Monitor was showing it running at 82% of the maximum frequency–2.8 GHz.

My first thought was that the difference was the metric AMD uses to make it easier to compare their processors to Intels higher-frequency chips–and I was really wrong. When I investigated the Performance Monitor counters Jeff was looking at, I discovered a counter I hadn’t used before: Processor Performance\% of Maximum Frequency, as shown above.

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I got a question from a reader today–a question similar to the one that originally prompted me to create the NorthrupPhotography.com website:

Tony,

I was reading your 70-536 MCTS training book, when I saw that that you were a photographer. I find that to be strange, considering the fact that I too am a programmer who is also a photographer. At first, I found what must be your old website (http://www.northrup.org/). Upon seeing that site, I said that this guy must be joking when he says that he is a photographer. However, fortunately there is a link to what must be your new website (http://www.northrupphotography.com). The pictures on that site are incredible. Not to mention the fact that the layout is very appealing to the eye. However, as a writer of many windows books, what are you doing with a PHP website? That’s like going over to the dark side. After I finish the 70-536, it is my plan to update my site in a manner like yours, however I will utilize Microsoft Silverlight. Well, thanks for the inspiration. Take care.

My (wordy) answer after the jump.

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Greetings, Tony

It is nice to be communicating with you. The question for which I’m in need of you help is probably a tough one: I’ve asked it in different places and never got an answer for it. So brace yourself:

I use Windows Media Player to watch movies, especially DVDs, and occasionally, Video CDs. I have no problem playing DVDs, be it a Hollywood one or personal one. Sound and picture is always great. However, Windows Media Player loves to call my beloved movies “Unknown DVD”. (I have included two screenshots.) But why? What’s wrong? How can I make Windows Media Player recognize my movies with their proper names? Is it something related to disc format or Windows Media Player itself?

Curiosity is killing me. Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Regards,

John

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Hi Tony,

I read your article about 10 tips for improving your wireless connection and I have a question for you.

I have an apple mac book pro computer and my husband has an ibm thinkpad. We moved into a new house in July and ever since we moved into our new house my wireless connection has not been working well at all – it is extremely slow but my husbands computer works great and has a very strong wireless connection. The strange thing is it worked fine at our last home with the same set up except that instead of using our apple airport we are now using a linksys router that is connected to our dsl modem. If I take my computer outside of the house and get on another wireless network the internet works fine. The other thing we have tested is actually hardwiring my computer into the router directly and it still didn’t work quickly at all so I am wondering if there is a problem with my computer (being an apple) with a linkys router?

Any ideas? I have been working on this issue off and on for a while now. We have even had our tech guy come out and take a look and he can’t seem to figure it out.

Thanks for you any ideas you may have.

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Question from a reader:

TIME MACHINE 5200 .