Adding search box to Blogger/Blogspot Blog

Found this page with quick and easy code for adding a search functionality to a Google Blogger blog...

http://www.hamidshahzad.com/blogger-widgets/how-to-add-simple-search-box-to-blogger/

Can Macs get viruses or malware?

Can an Apple Mac computer get a virus? Yes! There is a common misconception that Mac computers can never get viruses, that malware is only a Windows problem. Well that's not true. Probably there are more viruses out there that attack Windows computers, but it doesn't mean it is impossible to get a virus on a Mac. An Operating System, like any complex software, is likely to have many security holes or bugs that could be exploited by a malicious attacker. So yes, it is definitely possible for a Mac computer (or iPad or iPhone or Android or whatever) to get a virus or malware.

As with Windows computers, you have to keep your Mac software up-to-date. Newer versions have built-in anti-virus protection that is kept up-to-date by Apple (as long as you do the updates). Older versions of Mac OS may not be as safe, and you may need to install anti-virus software.

Here is a User Tip from the Apple Support Communities site about protecting your Mac:

Harden your Mac against malware attacks

Here is some free antivirus software available for Mac OS X:

www.clamxav.com

Of course, there are also protection products you can purchase from companies like Symantec/Norton, Sophos, McAfee etc.

Free DNS hosting service?

I haven't actually used it yet, but I found this free DNS Hosting service available. Use it as your primary DNS, or as backup. Here it is: http://www.namecheap.com/products/freedns.aspx.

How to change the username in Office 365

I had a problem recently while doing a Staged Migration from Exchange 2007 to Microsoft Office 365. At the on-premises site, the Active Directory had a setup as follows:

• User first name: First (eg Joe)
• User last name: Last (eg Bloggs)
• User login name: firstl (eg joeb)
• User primary email: flast@mydomain.com (eg jbloggs@myuni.edu.au)

The problem was, when user accounts were migrated to Office 365, sometimes the UPN (User Principal Name) came across as flast@mydomain.com, other times as firstl@mydomain.com. This was a bit confusing for users to have a username which looked like an email address (firstl@mydomain.com) but was different to their usual email address (flast@mydomain.com). Not only that, there was a hiccup with one user who got the default onmicrosoft.com domain for their primary email address (eg firstl@mydomain.onmicrosoft.com). It would be much better if all user accounts consistently used flast@mydomain.com for both username and primary email address.

How to change the UPN?

So how did I change the UPN for those users to be the same as their primary email address? In the end I used PowerShell for Microsoft Online, and these are the steps I followed:

1. Installed Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant (IDCRL7) - 64 bit version
2. Installed Microsoft Online Services Module for Windows PowerShell (64-bit version)
3. Clicked the Microsoft Online Services Module shortcut to open a Windows PowerShell workspace
4. Ran "connect-MSOLService" to connect to Microsoft Online (and entered username and password for Office 365 administrator account)
5. Ran "Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName firstl@mydomain.com -NewUserPrincipalName flast@mydomain.com"

These are the references I used to get to this result:

• http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-au/office365-enterprises/hh124998.aspx
• http://msryanph.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/office-365-management-account-renames-or-getting-married/
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2669550

How to change the primary email address?

How about the account which had the wrong primary email address? For this one I needed to change the Proxy Addresses for the account, and because the Office 365 users were still synchronized with the on-premises Active Directory, I had to use ADSIEdit.msc to change the proxyAddresses attribute for that account, specifying SMTP in all-caps, for the address I wanted to use as the primary email address. I followed the instructions I found in Step 4 of the Solution in the following Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2492140.

Here is a copy of the main steps from that KB article:

Use Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) Edit to edit the proxyAddresses attribute of the user object so that it matches the primary SMTP address that you noted in step 1D. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type ADSIEdit.msc, and then click OK.
2. Right-click ADSI Edit, select Connect to, and then click OK to load the domain partition.
3. In the navigation pane, locate the user object that you want to change, right-click it, and then click Properties.
4. In the Attributes list, click the proxyAddresses attribute, and then click Edit.
5. In the Value to add field, enter the appropriate SMTP address, and then click Add.

Note The primary SMTP address value for the user object should be prepended by an uppercase "SMTP:" designator for the address value to be formatted correctly for the proxyAddresses attribute. For example, "SMTP:username@contoso.com" is an acceptable value, and "username@contoso.com" isn't an acceptable value. f.Click OK two times, and then exit ADSI Edit.

(It was this forum discussion that helped me get to the answer: http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/158/t/44701.aspx)

Free cloud mail hosting for Education?

Looking for a cloud-based mail solution for Education sector, that is reliable, robust, well-featured? And of course low-cost. Well, how about free? Both Microsoft and Google have free mail-hosting services for Education/Academic customers (eg Schools, Colleges, Universities, etc). Both offer their enterprise-class services for free to eligible customers:

• Microsoft: Office 365/Exchange Online. Lots of free stuff (probably enough features for most), but you can pay extra for more. Sign-up is quite easy, based on .edu.au domain name. (The link provided is to the Australian service.)
• Google: Google Apps for Education. Totally free, same as business/enterprise features. Requires a bit more work to sign-up when I used it (perhaps because it is US-based).

If I get more time, I may try to outline some of the key differences between the free versions.