Customize Blackberry Activation Email

The default way for the BES Server 5.0 to send activation emails is just with the password along and no instructions to the user on how to activate. There is a way to customize this on the email that automatically goes to users. Log into the Blackberry Enterprise Servers administration page and then follow the steps below:

1. Under the Devices Section expand Wireless Activations by clicking the plus sign
2. Click Device activation settings
3. Click Edit activation settings
4. Fill in the custom activation message you would like to go to your users. Here is a sample message:

To activate your Blackberry follow these steps:

1. Click on the Options Icon
2. Click Advanced Options
3. Click Enterprise Activation
4. Enter your Company Email address
5. Enter the password shown at the bottom of this email
6. Press the Trackball and choose Activate Now

In 30 minutes your activation should be complete. If you have any questions please send an email to helpdesk@company.com or call our helpdesk at 555-555-5555.

iTunes Can't Authorize Computer Maximum 5 of 5 Reached

So, here is the scenario. You have multiple computers, or you have reloaded a computer multiple times, or your family all shares one iTunes account name and somewhere down the line when you are installing iTunes and going to authorize the computer you get a message stating you have used 5 out of 5 activations. The problem, the other computers no longer have iTunes, or have been reloaded and you can't deauthorize them if iTunes isn't on the computer any longer. There is a way to deauthorize all computers at once. The steps are below:

1. Open iTunes and Click iTunes store on the left



2. Sign into the iTunes Store with your user account



3. In the top right hand corner you should see your iTunes account name (your email address). Put your mouse over the email address and click the little arrow that shows up next to it. Click Account.



4. Next to computer authorizations it will give you the total amount of computers activated under this account. You can click Deauthorize All.

Clean up, Speed up, Tune up Your Computer

Dirty Computer - Come inside
Originally uploaded by punkwalrus

The picture is kind of a joke. If you need to clean up a computer like this use a can of compressed air and then re-evaluate your living conditions. I wanted to share a few of my favorite utilities I use for this and some manual things I do in addition to using the utilities. At the bottom of this post you can find the links and steps I do.

Spyware is abundant these days, and it slows down your system like crazy. It seems that there are a ton of utilities out there, but for the last six months the one that has been doing the best for me is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. The free version works great, just follow all of the defaults and this should make a great improvement.

Another cool utility is CCleaner. It will delete your temporary files and other things. Basically CCleaner saves you from manually going to all the temp folders and clearing them out.

Here is what I recommend for cleaning up your computer:

1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and run it to remove spyware

2. Download CCleaner and run it to clean up temp files

3. Reset Internet Explorer to defaults
a. Open IE
b. Click Tools, Internet Options
c. Click the Advanced tab
d. Under Reset Internet Explorer settings, click Reset, Click Reset again
e. Close Internet Explorer and open

4. Remove excess startup items
a. Click Start, Run
b. Type msconfig, press enter
c. Click the Startup Tab
d. Uncheck any programs that do not need to start when your
computer does (be sure to leave checked antivirus/spyware protection)
e. Click Apply, OK, Reboot, on Reboot check box to not show message again

Exchange Database Won't Mount Log Drive Full

I hate it when this happens. You get an alert that Exchange is down. You go look and find the Store is not mounted and then you realize it is because your log drive is full. I've ran into this a few times, but mostly when I've been in process of migrating mailboxes to a new server and forgot to turn on circular logging before the move. The easiest way I have found to get around this is as follows:

1. Leave the Store dismounted

2. Go to your log drive and compress the log files only (select the files, right click, and go into Advanced and choose compress)

3. Wait until this process completes (you don't have to do them all just a few)

4. Mount your store

5. Immediately run a full backup

***If this happened because you are migrating mailboxes you might try turning on circular logging at least until the mailbox move operations are complete***