There are many companies, both large and small, that would like to require their users to use Plain Text only in their Outlook 2010 Emails.  If you have attempted this you have more than likely set up the appropriate settings available in Group Policy shown below.

I even went as far to ensure this setting on the Exchange 2010 Server Side via Powershell.
Where * is the Default Domain.

Set-RemoteDomain -Identity:* -ContentType MimeText
Get-RemoteDomain -Identity:* | fl - will show the settings.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa997857.aspx

After finding that the users were still able to select Format Text and change their text to both Rich Text and HTML I decided I had to dig deeper.

I found that I could manually change this feature while logging in with my account but this only affected my logon experience, not the other users.

With the New Message open click  File – Options

Click on Mail – Editor Options

Click on Customize Ribbon – Main Tabs from the drop down – Format Text – Format
Now you can remove Format and those options will no longer appear.

Notice that the Rich Text and HTML options are now gone and the default is Plain Text.

The next step was to reverse the settings placing the Format Text option back in place. Then I made a backup of the entire registry called B4.REG. I then made the changes listed above and once the settings were in place, I created another backup of the registry called Aftr.REG.
My plan was to use WINMerge to find where they change had occurred in the registry to help me find the control ID for the item that I wanted to disable via Group Policy shown below.

As you can see all I need is the Command Bar ID and I will be able to block it. There is even a link listed
http://officeredir.microsoft.com/r/rlidOffice14RibbonControlIDsO14?clid-1033

Thank You Microsoft!

But as you see this link offers no help whatso ever…  Thanks Microsoft… sigh

Working with the two REG files B4.REG and Aftr.REG showed me nothing of any use. I was not able to find a change in the registry that would show me the needed Command Bar ID’s. I also used Process Explorer and Process Monitor, but again nothing that indicated where this was located in the registry where I could manually change a setting.
After endless Google links that provided endless bad information, I came across a link for this app.

Built-in Control Scanner
You use Built-in Controls Scanner to find command bar names and built-in controls IDs.
http://www.add-in-express.com/products/commandbars-controls-ids.php

I installed this on one of my test machines and opened Outlook 2010 and started a new message then selected the Format Text tab.

I then stated the App with Outlook selected.

 THERE WAS MY ANSWER!

In Group Police I updated  -  User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Disable Items in User Interface\Custom  I entered the Command Bar ID’s along with a description.

Enter the Command Bar ID’s here.  5564 and 5565

I ran Gpupdate /Force on the test machine and reopened Outlook 2010 and started a new email message.  As you can see, the Rich Text and HTML Text options are gone.  This will ensure that they users cannot use this option to bypass policy.

I hope this helps someone that has been trying to configure this setting.  If there is an easier way to do this please post the link here.

I put together a Powershell for Beginners crossword puzzle.  I hope you enjoy it.  I even learned a thing or two while  putting it together.  I will be working on a Clean Up AD Version, thanks to my good friend Mark Minasi, soon.

I also want to thank Jeffery Hicks and Claus Nielsen for urging me to complete this little project.

PDF can be downloaded from link below.

Powershell for Beginners

Ran into a request for an OCS Mediation Server that is contacting an OCS Front End Pool over a WAN link. 

“We have a remote OCS Mediation server that contacts the OCS Front End Pool over a WAN link. I need that Mediation server to ping those front end servers periodically to verify that the WAN link is up. If the ping on two of the servers fails,  I need it to stop the OCS Mediation service on the mediation server until it can successfully ping the two front end server across the WAN again at which point it would then bring the Service on the Mediation server back up.” 

With a LOT of assitance from Jeffery Hicks and Claus Thude Nielsen a simple script was created. 

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Taken from the Windows IT Pro site  –  http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-shell-bat-and-cmd/automate-the-windows-2003-defragmenter-without-paying-extra.aspx

Excellent Article Daniel..!

Defragmentation is a great way to keep workstations and servers running

at their best performance. Windows Server 2003 comes with a

defragmenter: dfrgntfs.exe. However, you can’t automate this

defragmenter unless you purchase a program such as Diskeeper. I didn’t

have money for such a program in my budget, so I created and scheduled a

batch file named Defrag.bat.

As Listing 1 shows,

Listing 1: Defrag.bat

@Echo Off

defrag.exe c: -f

defrag.exe e: -f

defrag.exe f: -f

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The topic of  “Search function in Vista” was brought up on the Minasi Forum.  (NOTE! if you are not a member you should be)  The DIR /S command was brought up as a replacement option to use since the old method that existed in XP is no longer available.  I remembered reading this article in WIN IT PRO and thought that it may be very useful for what the Admins are trying to accomplish.

You can download the WIN IT Pro Article here Find Files on Local Drives with Whereis and the PS1 code snippet here WhereisPS1 .

Find Files on Local Drives with Whereis.ps1

From the January 2010 Edition
of Windows IT Pro
December 15, 2009
Bill Stewart
Feature
InstantDoc #103096

I often find it useful to search for files from a command line. In the past, I’ve typically used Cmd.exe’s dir command with the /b and /s parameters to search for files; combining these parameters provides a list containing the full paths and filenames of matching files. However, dir doesn’t have a simple syntax for searching multiple locations. For example, to search drives C and D for all files ending in .doc, you would use this command:

dir /b /s c:\*.doc d:\*.doc

The syntax gets even more complex when searching for multiple wildcard patterns (e.g., all .doc, .xls, and .ppt files) in multiple locations because you have to type each location and each wildcard pattern separately.

Windows PowerShell’s Get-ChildItem cmdlet makes this task simpler. For example, to search drives C and D for all .doc, .xls, and .ppt files, you can use this command:

get-childitem c:\*,d:\*
-include *.doc,*.xls,*.ppt -recurse

Get-ChildItem’s first parameter is a list of paths to search, and the -Include parameter specifies a list of wildcard patterns that qualify the paths. The -Recurse parameter is analogous to the dir command’s /s parameter.

Introducing Whereis.ps1

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