Today Is: Mostly Administrative  

I disabled the DCOM service and I am running the standard cadre of Windows updates. The server tech thinks it might have to do with so locally install HP software on the workstation, and he is probably correct. I will be scheduling time to uninstall and re-install the updated versions of that software in the near future on that workstation.

Other than that, answering a lot of questions about an upcoming encryption project, setting up a loaner laptop for a VIP within the sub-unit and making sure it has the full disk encryption before it is picked up, processing a laptop order for the VIP (entirely a point-and-click set of administrative tasks).

I am also working on moving my email out of Outlook archives an just keeping the entirety of it stored as .msg files in a folder. I find that Outlook's archive files have been unreliable for me for some reason and I have routinely run into a problem with different archives where Outlook tells me that I have not configured it for that particular service and the only solution seems to be entirely delete my Outlook profile and create a new one. It has happened so often that I have decided to stop using Outlook archives. It is a viable solution in some ways, but given that I have been here seven year it is also a long road of moving many thousands of emails into the folder.

Later in the day there has been one technical problem that is of the sort that is most difficult to discern which is that of the intermittently function network port on a workstation. It was working fine, then not at all, then fine again in a different location. It easily could have been some issue with the network port in the faceplate as well despite a laptop working just fine (albeit slowly) through that port. So, tomorrow morning I will trek the device back to the original location, plug it back into the faceplate and see what happens. Incompatibility between the faceplate and the workstation seems unlikely without some sort of intervention from the network group deciding to make changes (which can happen if they believe something unusual is going on with a workstation on a particular port). With the computer and it's network connector functioning normally at my desk, though, I can't call Dell and say it doesn't work. At best I can boot to a CD and run the diagnostics and let it see what it can find. The port was acting strange when I first arrived on the scene and instead of the regular network LEDs being standard amber or green they were both solid yellow and then they were completely off. If it's an overheating issue, I'll find out tomorrow while I leave the computer sitting here all night.