Steve’s Tech Log

I’m testing a trial of Antigen 9.1.1097 SP1 paired with Microsoft Exchange 2003. I really wish someone had written a review of this software. Granted we are using an evaluation copy, I wouldn’t have wasted my time on this lousy piece of junk.

I have read the best practices documentation and done the following:

1. Set the SpamCure Engine to update every 15 minutes (although this seems a little ridiculous to me)
2. Configured 3 RBLS: sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org, dnsbl.njabl.org, and bl.spamcop.net
3. Aggressively configured (SCL 7 - block, SCL 3 - move to Junk folder) and enabled IMF in Exchange
4. Updated IMF through Windows Update
5. Setup some Keyword filters
6. Forwarded some false negatives to Spam.mail-filters@antigen.microsoft.com

Microsoft recommends that you install Antigen on every Exchange server you have in your organization. But it’s a resource hog, requiring 1GB of RAM. I don’t know about you, but my Exchange servers don’t have an extra gig to spare. Because of this, it does not scale well to a large number of users.

The interface is poorly organized and SLOW. It has locked up on me several times.

Antigen does not have a spam score setting. Messages are tagged as either spam or ham, without a grey area. SpamAssassin can be comfigured to rewrite the header of the email to include the tests failed. If you find spam still going to your mailboxes there are no tweaks you can make on the back end.

Here I come SpamAssassin.…

My previous article mentioned slow loading roaming profiles due to the virus scanner. Another obvious reason for slow loading profiles is size. Aside from the obvious large “Desktop” and “My Documents” folders, there are some other things you can do.

I found the following directories to be using a lot of disk space. Each can be safely cleared.

C:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%Application DataSunJavajdk1.6.0_03
C:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%Application DataAdobeLogs
C:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%Application DataAdobePatcherLogs
C:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%Application DataOperaOperaprofilecache4
C:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%Recent

For a while I’ve been dealing with the issue of slow logins on our 2003 domain. The problem seemed to be with roaming profiles. When the user logs in, the profile is copied from the server to the client. Windows profiles can become large, and can contain a lot of files. I tried to to minimize the size of the profile, but logins were still slow. I took a look at the RAM utilization and I figured out that as the profile was being copied from the server to the client, it was being virus scanned. Scanning through all these files is what was slowing the logins.

If you are suffering from slow domain logging with roaming profiles, check your virus scanner settings.

As a network administrator, I use Microsoft Remote Desktop (Terminal Services) on a daily basis. In Windows XP, the Remote Desktop shortcut is buried deep within the Start Menu. Additionally, Microsoft recently updated their Remote Desktop client. As part of this change, they moved the shortcut.

Previously it was located here:
Start->All Programs->Accessories->Communications->Remote Desktop

Per the new version is it:
Start->All Programs->Accessories->Remote Desktop Connection

I find this way a lot easier:
Start->Run->mstsc

“mstsc” stands for Microsoft Terminal Services Client. Sure, you could create a desktop shortcut, but when working with multiple workstations that becomes a hassle.

I have an Intel PC Camera Pro and I had a hell of a time getting drivers and software that work with Windows XP. Intel tries to make you buy a CD, forget it. If you have an older Intel web cam and can’t find drivers, try these.

Download Intel Create and Share Software