By: Brenton Blawat

What would seem like a quick reference item to find on Google, seems to have been lost in the billions of web pages. This article is intended as a quick reference to what the Default Domain Policies are for Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Please note that while some of the policies appear to be identical, the hierarchical structure behind the policies are different.

Default Domain Policies: Windows Server 2003 SP2

+ Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Password Policy

- Enforce Password History = 24 Passwords

- Maximum Password Age = 42 Days

- Minimum Password Age = 1 Days

- Minimum Password Length = 7 Characters

- Password must meet complexity requirements = Enabled

- Store Passwords using reversible encryption = Disabled

+ Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Account Lockout Policy

- Account lockout threshold = 0 invalid logon attempts

+ Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Kerberos Policy

- Enforce user logon restrictions = Enabled

- Maximum lifetime for service ticket = 600 minutes

- Maximum lifetime for user ticket = 10 hours

- Maximum lifetime for user ticket renewal = 7 days

- Maximum tolerance for computer clock synchronization = 5 minutes

+ Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options

- Network Security: Force Logoff when logon hours expire = Disabled

+ Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Public Key Policies > Encrypting File System

- Administrator Issued File Recovery Certificate

+ User Settings > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Public Key Policies > Autoenrollment Settings

- Enroll Certificates Automatically

Default Domain Policies: Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit

+ Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Password Policy

- Enforce Password History = 24 Passwords

- Maximum Password Age = 42 Days

- Minimum Password Age = 1 Days

- Minimum Password Length = 7 Characters

- Password must meet complexity requirements = Enabled

- Store Passwords using reversible encryption = Disabled

+ Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Account Lockout Policy

- Account lockout threshold = 0 invalid logon attempts

+ Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Account Policies > Kerberos Policy

- Enforce user logon restrictions = Enabled

- Maximum lifetime for service ticket = 600 minutes

- Maximum lifetime for user ticket = 10 hours

- Maximum lifetime for user ticket renewal = 7 days

- Maximum tolerance for computer clock synchronization = 5 minutes

+ Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options

- Network access: Allow anonymous SID/Name translation = Disabled

- Network security: Do not store LAN Manager hash value on next password change = Enabled

- Network Security: Force Logoff when logon hours expire = Disabled

+ Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Public Key Policies > Encrypting File System

- Administrator Issued File Recovery Certificate

+ Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Public Key Policies > Trusted Root Certification Authorities

- Allow users to select new root certification authorities (CAs) to trust = Enable

- Client computers can trust the following certificate stores = Third-Party Root Certification Authorities and Enterprise Root Certification Authorities

- To perform certificate-based authentication of users and computers, CAs must meet the criteria = Registered in Active Directory only

Default Domain Policy Differences: Windows Server 2003 / Windows Server 2008

Default Domain Policies added to Windows Server 2008

+ Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options

- Network access: Allow anonymous SID/Name translation = Disabled

- Network security: Do not store LAN Manager hash value on next password change = Enabled

+ Computer Configuration > Policy > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Public Key Policies > Trusted Root Certification Authorities

- Allow users to select new root certification authorities (CAs) to trust = Enable

- Client computers can trust the following certificate stores = Third-Party Root Certification Authorities and Enterprise Root Certification Authorities

- To perform certificate-based authentication of users and computers, CAs must meet the criteria = Registered in Active Directory only

Removed from Windows Server 2008

+ User Settings > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Public Key Policies > Autoenrollment Settings

- Autoenrollment Settings: Enroll Certificates Automatically

** NOTE: All re-productions / digital copies of this content must be approved in writing by an authorized representative of BIT Tangents.**

By: Brenton Blawat

Part 1 – Lemon Law Over / Issue Logs

Part 2 – Contacting the Dealer / Manufacturer – UPDATED!

I apologize for taking so long to get this article posted to the internet. It has taken since January 23, 2009 till to June 2009 to come to a final resolution with BMW of North America. I am writing this article as a guide on how you can approach your dealership to assist you PRIOR to claiming a lemon on a vehicle to get a peaceful resolution.

Two IMPORTANT things to know:

1. Your dealership is NOT liable for any portion of vehicle failing when you purchase or lease a BRAND NEW vehicle. – This means that barging into your dealership demanding for a new vehicle won’t work. In fact, according to lemon law, your dispute is between the car manufacturer and yourself. – Be kind to your local dealer; they DON’T have to help you.

2. BMW is only obligated to follow the State and Federal lemon laws. Additional damages are typically not granted to anyone pursuing the lemon law. Claiming you will sue the dealership for thousands of dollars for lost time will get you no where but out the door. Stay calm and collected and the dealership will assist you.

Success! A FAIR resolution.

First, a special THANK YOU, goes out to Dan Jansen of International Autos for being patient with my relentless calls on the delivery of my new vehicle. Without Dan’s assistance and understanding, I would not have been able to receive my substitution of collateral. Thank you again!

1. Keeping Records

As shown in my earlier post, I had to keep all of the paperwork for the repairs on my vehicle. While having an issue occur 5 times, is annoying, you have to remember BMW is great at providing a replacement vehicle while you vehicle is in the shop. Keep the records so that you can prove your case to the BMW of North America. It’s about the BMW doing the right thing; not that you’ve been inconvenienced.

2. Contacting the Sales Manager at Local Dealership.

The first step is contacting the Sales Manager at the local dealership. Tell them you have been having problems with your vehicle and are interested in performing a substitution of collateral. A substitution of collateral is basically a vehicle exchange. In a substitution of collateral, BMW of North America will buy back your current vehicle and trade it out for a different vehicle on the lot. This also works for leased vehicles (such as in my case). The difference in cost of the vehicles will be charged charged to you. However, I was charged the DEALERSHIP COST difference versus the MSRP cost difference. This saved me over $3,500.00 by having the dealership extend their costs to me.

The Sales Manager will be required to contact the service manager; but keeping the sales manager as your point person will help tremendously.

3. Service Manager Sign-off

The service manger is required to review your service records to see if the reoccurring issue has to do with the same problem. The KEY component is to remain focused on the actual LEMON Law verbiage with the service manager. While the service manager may say I replaced different components each time the law states: “The dealer failed four times to fix the same defect;”. The “defects” by law are generic; not physical components. (EG Car will not maintain idle on start)
The service manager will sign off on the substitution of collateral and it will be passed back to the Sales Manager.

4. Regional BMW Representative Sign-off

In order for BMW of North America to accept the substitution of collateral, the regional BMW Representative is required to sign off on the contract. In most cases if the Sales Manager and the Service Manager sign-off on the collateral, the sign-off from the Regional BMW Representative just becomes a formality.

Once the Regional BMW Representative Signs-off the substitution of collateral paperwork is complete and the physical delivery of the vehicle can be performed.

5. (Optional) Upgrades

In 2009, BMW released a 335 with a “M Sport Package” that I opted to purchase. I purchased this upgrade at dealership cost with Paddle Shifters and a few other extras to completely trick out the vehicle.

If you are NOT interested in upgrading the vehicle, the dealership can provide you either:

a) a new vehicle off of their lot.

b) a new vehicle to be manufactured in Germany.

Since I upgraded the vehicle with a package that was not available yet, I chose “Option B” and it took an extra 60 days to deliver the substitution of collateral.

6. End Result

BMW of North America agreed continue my existing lease with a New 2009 BMW 335i X-Drive. This means that I got a 0 mile vehicle 1 year into my lease and my residual payout for the 2009 BMW 335i X-Drive is at the cost of a 2008 BMW 335XI. A GREAT DEAL, and completely FAIR to me. I still have my 45,000 miles to use in the remaining two years.

If anyone needs more details I’ll be more than happy to assist you.

FEB.1.2010 Update >:(

Thank you for the continued reading and comments on this blog posting. I have made a new 2010 resolution to update this blog article as well blogging more articles.

First Item To Address: Wheel and Tire / Dent and Ding Warranty Transfer

To my GREAT disappointment, the warranty that BMW promoted as part of the 2008 BMW 3 Series didn’t carry over to the 2009. This is a result of BMW now offering their own extended service warranty. I so happened to get a bulge the right rear passenger tire and after it was replaced on my dime, I got a nail in the side wall of the same side tire. Both tires costing me in excess of $600.00. Lesson learned – BUY THE NEW BMW WARRANTY!!!!!

Second Item To Address: The 2009 BMW 335 High Pressure Fuel Pump Issue – Strikes AGAIN

After about 11,000 miles and being out 400 miles of town, the High Pressure Fuel Pump issue strikes again. This time around, however, I was was traveling at a sustained 80 MPH on the interstate when it felt as if my transmission went on the vehicle. After pulling over, stopping the car, and starting it again, the car would function for 50 miles where I would then have to ‘rinse and repeat’ until I made it to the BMW Dealership. Not a pleasant experience.

Third Item To Address: Awesome Readers and Leaving Comments.

I appreciate everyone that has kept this blog #1 for BMW HPFP Issues. Here are my direct responses to my readers:

Kurt:

“The dealers offer nothing regardless. Like most owners, the legal pursuits was the only option. I was cool until I hit 50 DAYS in the shop. Nobody listened.”

Kurt – Sorry to hear of your issues. As frustrating as this can be, try a different dealership. Remember that the dealership is not responsible for a faulty vehicle. It is only responsible to fix the vehicle under the manufacturer warranty. Even then a dealership as a right to turn you away with – we can’t figure it out. Issues like the HPFP are difficult to troubleshoot. There are stories of injectors and injector rings being replaced to fix this issue when the issue is just a HPFP. I hope everything turns out for the best.

Nicole:

“.. i just bought a 2008 bmw 328xi”

Nicole – It is my understanding that the HPFP is only available on the Twin Turbo Engines in the 135, 335, 535, and X6. It sounds like you might be having a different issue.

Dan T:

“ 1. What does bmw do for used purchase under warranty? Usually lemon law is for new.
  2. With no fault codes, shoudl I be concerned? Why would such a costly car just go dead at a stop?
  3. I heard software for turbos needs updated, I have v27.2 and heard v30 improved performance, heard anything? ”

Dan T –

1. The Lemon Law in Wisconsin also allows for vehicle to be used as long as its under the first year of the warranty. There are other protections like Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act that provide protections for used vehicles.

2. Imagine the car cutting out in the middle of an intersection with a semi-truck (or train) coming full-speed in cross traffic. With no fault codes – absolutely should still be concerned for your safety.  The High Pressure Fuel Pump delivers fuel to the engine in the 3000 PSI range. If a turbo spins up and not enough fuel is being delivered, the car will die.

3. Performance may be better, however, BMW will never admit that. BMW rates the 3 series at 300HP which is borderline for high performance in insurance ratings. To keep the insurance ratings low, the vehicle is rated at 300 HP, while the engine is capable of producing well over 380HP with a tuner (Burger Motorsports JuiceBox+ or Dinan Chip). I hear the PnP JuiceBox+ is well worth the money; but very much voids the warranty.

Dave:

“ Purchased a new 2009 335 CI in August which had been running flawlessly until yesterday (6300 mi). The car started up normally, but stalled out when I put it in reverse and fuel pump sensor light came on as well as check engine light. Towed to the dealer and I was given a 335 loaner. Final diagnosis is pending, but I expect the same problem with the HPFP. Disappointing. Maybe the Cayman S next time for me. Appreciate the info… “

Bimmer to a Cayman S – you should be ashamed of yourself   On a serious note, a 335xi with the Burger Motorsports Juicebox+ at the stock setting will SMOKE a Cayman S. You have to remember the 335i is a 3.0 liter Twin Turbo and gets full horsepower and torque at 3000 RPM. The Cayman S is a 3.4I displacing 320HP at 7200RPM. Yes, the problems with the 335 are disappointing, but when my car is working, I wouldn’t trade it for any vehicle on the road (well maybe the new Audi S4).

If you get the 2010 Cayman S, please feel free to provide your feedback on the vehicle – I’d love to hear it.

Thanks again to everyone and safe driving!

By: Brenton Blawat

While most of this article may seem somewhat trivial, I have found that there are many Users that don’t know how to warm/soft boot and cold/hard boot the handhelds.

Below is a quick reference guide:

How to Change the Battery in a Symbol (Motorola) PPT-8846

How to Warm / Soft Boot a Symbol (Motorola) PPT-8846

How to Cold / Hard Boot a Symbol (Motorola) PPT-8846

By: Brenton Blawat

Part 1 – Lemon Law Over / Issue Logs

Part 2 – Contacting the Dealer / Manufacturer – UPDATED!!

Friday, January 23rd, 2009 – Yes, this is my car. Yes that is a construction cone in front of it (a perverted joke my associate was playing on me). Probably not as surprising as the dunce code my associate found on his vehicle after I left the Hotel (shown below; yes that is me hiding behind the car!).

Perhaps my associate’s joke provided certitude to the troubles that I was going to have with my new 2008 BMW 335XI?

Let me be frank about my car. I LOVE IT! It’s fast, sporty, handles like a dream, and is everything I would want in a vehicle. It came fully loaded from the dealership and has every little gadget that makes this geek completely satisfied for the lease term. I have no regrets on purchasing this vehicle and up to this point, I’ve been extremely impressed by BMW’s responsiveness to my issues.

I am writing this to allow the community to follow me through my journey to claiming my vehicle through the Wisconsin Lemon Laws. I will be updating this article throughout this process. It will be interesting to see the progression of my frustration (hopefully lack there of) and have my experience serve as a guide for others.

Lemon Law Statutes

According to the Wisconsin Lemon Laws the following must be satisfied:

It’s a Lemon What’s Next?

According to the department of transportation for Wisconsin they strongly suggest completing the Formal Wisconsin Paperwork for the issues.

http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/consumer/forms/llfrm700.pdf

Completed Paperwork: Friday, January 23rd, 2008

Filed Paperwork: (To Be Determined)

They also suggest reporting the Lemon through pre-established programs in the state of Wisconsin (AKA WisDot Certified Program).

BBB Auto Line

(Certified for: Audi, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Hyundai, Isuzu, Kia, Mazda, Volkswagen)
(Non-certified for: Acura, AM General, General Motors (including Saturn and Saab), Geo, Honda, Infiniti, Nissan, Subaru)

National Center for Dispute Settlement

(Certified for: Porsche)
(Non-certified for: Lexus, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki)

Do you see my problem yet? There are no WisDOT Certified (or non Certified) Programs for BMW owners to dispute their vehicles. This might be an interesting bottleneck.

Verbiage in the Owner Manual – Lemon Law

Book: Service and Warranty Information

Information:

©2007 BMW of North America, LLC

Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey 07677

Printed: Printed in U.S.A. 07/07

Quote:

“Customer Assistance – Notification

During a specific period (for example, the earlier of 12 months or 12,000 miles, though this period varies by state), some states require us or our authorized BMW center, to repair in a reasonable number of attempts, any defect or condition which substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of a new vehicle sold, leased or registered in that state.

A reasonable number of attempts is generally defined as (i) four or more attempts to repair the same defect (the number of attempts vary by state) or (ii) the vehicle is out of service by reason of one or more repair(s) for more than a cumulative total of 30 days (this period varies by state), except for delays created by conditions beyond our control.

If we are unable to correct a defect or condition covered by these statutes in a reasonable number of attempts, we may be obligated either to replace the vehicle or reimburse the owner/lessee in an amount equal to the purchase price or lease payments paid by the owner/lessee, less the amount direct attributable to use of the vehicle by the owner/lessee.

You should send written notification directly to BMW of North America, LLC of the existence of an alleged defect. Send written communication to the Customer Relations and Services Department address listed below.

BMW of North America, LLC

Customer Relations and Services Department

P.O. Box 1227

Westwood, New Jersey 07675-1117

Telephone: 1 800 831-1117 “

– OK so first problem. The State of Wisconsin mentions it is a good idea to send the Lemon form via certified mail. In the United States you cannot send certified mail to a P.O. Box. Tricky BMW. After a little research:

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/CompanyInformation/

BMW of North America, LLC
300 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07675

The Birth Of  A New Baby BMW – AKA The Problem Child

January 2, 2008 – My BMW was created.

May 3rd, 2008 –

I became a proud owner of a 2008 BMW 335XI. I purchased this vehicle from International Autos located at 2400 South 108th St., Milwaukee, WI 53227. If you are looking for a new BMW, Audi, Mini, or Mercedes, I strongly suggest talking with Jay Sheik. While I had a bad experience with this car, Jay has made this experience worth while. You can read my review of my experience with Mr. Sheik at his linked in profile. Its definitely not his fault that my car was a Lemon.

1. June 9th, 2008 – 1,175 Miles

Symptoms: Car was having problems starting in my garage. The car would not drive nicely from the line in ‘D’ and was running rough. I also received the Engine Malfunction, Reduced Power Message. The crank time on the car was anywhere from 5 – 10 seconds. Problem started just after the vehicle turned 1,000.

Loaners: Car was delivered to International Auto’s BMW Service Center and received an 2008 BMW 328XI loaner vehicle.

Results (verbatim): FUEL PUMP FAILURE 6199000 3 0000555 2 133159 4 1351517 17 TROUBLESHOOTING USING GT-1, VERIFY FAULT STORED IN DME (2FBF-FUEL PRESSURE RELEASE LOW), PERFORM DIAGNOSIS USING GT-1 TEST B1214_DI6KHDR AND B1214_DI6KNDR (CHECKIGN LOW AND HIGH PRESSURE TESTS RESPECTFULLY) FOUND HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP FAULTY. REMOVE INTAKE MANIFOED AND ASSOC PARTS, REPALCE FUEL PUMP, RE-INSTALL AND RECHECK FOR FAULTS (0) RECHECK OK. CLEAR FAULTS AND RESET IDLE ADAPTATIONS. PRIOR TO DIAG, PER SIB#12-55-06, HOOK UP TO SSS AND VERIFY SOFTWARE STATUS BY STARTING PROGMAN(VERSION OF DATA UPDATED OK) CHARGE BATTERY.

Final Verdict: Fuel Delivery System

Return Date: June 13th, 2008

Days: 4 Days

2. June 18th, 2008 – 2,588 Miles

Symptoms: Car was having problems starting in my garage. The car would not drive nicely from the line in ‘D’ and was running rough. I also received the Engine Malfunction, Reduced Power Message. Vehicle would die while idle or slow which posed a safety hazard in intersections.

Loaners: Car was delivered to International Auto’s BMW Service Center and did not receive a loaner vehicle.

Results (verbatim): 2588 FAULTY PRESSURE PUMP 0000005 4 1351518 17 CHECKED FAULTS FOUND FCS FOR TOO LOW FUEL PRESURE RAN TESTPANS PER SI_125506. TEST PLAN PROMPTED FOR REPLACEMENT OF HIGH PRESSURE PUMP REPLACED PUMP.

Final Verdict: Fuel Delivery System

Return Date: June 20th, 2008

Days: 2 Days

3. January 10, 2009 – 18,025 Miles

Symptoms: My car felt like I was dragging thousands of pounds of weight behind the vehicle. The car would not idle nicely, and eventually died when at idle. It also felt as if the transmission was going to blow up when driving.

Loaners: Car was delivered to International Auto’s BMW Service Center and received an 2009 BMW X3 loaner vehicle.

Results (verbatim): 18025 FUEL RAIL PRESURE READING WRONG 0000005 .40 1331529 .40 1353596 .40 CHECK FOR FAULT CODES FOUND 4 FAULTS FOR FUEL PRESURE PERFORMED PRESURE TEST ON SYSTEM PER TEST PLAN FOR FAULTS FOUND FUEL RAIL SENSOR READING LOW REPLACED SENSOR CLEARED CODES

Final Verdict: Fuel Delivery System

Return Date: January 14, 2009

Days:  4 Days

 4. January 20, 2009 – 18,696 Miles

(When I was bored waiting for the Tow I decided to take a picture of my dash before the car died) 

Symptoms: (again) My car felt like I was dragging thousands of pounds of weight behind the vehicle. The car would not idle nicely, and eventually died when at idle. It also felt as if the transmission was going to blow up when driving. Vehicle would die while idle or slow which posed a safety hazard in intersections.

I also received the Engine Malfunction, Reduced power message. Also saw the above picture full of colorful lights on my dash. (But not merely as colorful as the words going through my head at the time.)

Loaners: Car was delivered to Patrick BMW Service Center and received an 2009 Jeep Wrangler loaner vehicle.

Results (verbatim): 18705 HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP ENGINE BARELY RUNNING AND RUNNING ROUGH PERFORM SHORT TEST. FOUND MULTPLOE FAULTS SOTRED FOR FUEL PUMP SYSTEMS, CYLINDER INJECTION CUTOUT, AND MISFIRE DETECTION. DW TIME PUCNHED FOR CONTINUED DIAGNOSIS. PROCEED WITH TEST MODULE AND CHECK LOW PUMP PRESSURE AND SENSOR AT 6 BAR OK. NO FAULT FOUND IN LOW PSI SYSTEM DIAGCODE: D1330_B0000000_05_901. PROCEED AND CHECK HIGH PRESSURE FUEL SYSTEM CHECK PRESSURE OF RAIL PRESSURE SENSOR OK CHEKC PRESSUR AT IDLES PEED AT RAIL PRESSURE SENSEOR ACTUAL PRESSURE 147.2 BAR TARGET PRESSURE 50BAR. CHECKED PRESSURE AGAIN AND PRESSURE WAS OK. INTERNAL PUMP FAILURE. REPLACE HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP

DIAGCODE: d1350_0000000_02_001. CLEAR FAULT MEMORY AND ADAPTATIONS THEN TEST DRIVE. CAR STARING AND DRIVING AS DESIGNED. CHECK ENGINE LIGHT OFF. CUSTOMER TO MONITOR. PRINTOUTS INCLUDED ON FILE.

Final Verdict: Fuel Delivery System

Return Date: January 21st, 2009

Days:  1 Days

5. January 22, 2009 – 18738 Miles

Symptoms: (again.. yes again) My car felt like I was dragging thousands of pounds of weight behind the vehicle. The car would not idle nicely, and eventually died when at idle. It also felt as if the transmission was going to blow up when driving. Vehicle would die while idle or slow which posed a safety hazard in intersections.

Loaners: Car was delivered to Patrick BMW Service Center and received an 2009 Jeep Wrangler loaner vehicle. They switched me to a 2009 Toyota Corolla for the week as I put on major miles on the weekends driving between Wisconsin and Chicago.

Results (verbatim): A OWNER REPORTS WHILE DRIVING LAST NIGHT THE ENGINE HAD REDUCED POWER AND SEEMED TO MISFIRE

CAUSE: .

5199000 OPEN TIME Job time without allowance for / body equipment

235 WAR

1 13-53-7-545-725 INLET PIPE:135040

Final Verdict: Fuel Delivery System (fuel rail sensor)

Return Date: January 28, 2009

Days:  7 Days

GRAND TOTAL SERVICES: 5

GRAND TOTAL DAYS: 17 Days

UPDATED 6. June 1, 2009 – 30766 Miles 

(BMW 335XI Engine malfunction! Reduced power.)

Symptoms: (again.. yes again) My car felt like I was dragging thousands of pounds of weight behind the vehicle. The car would not idle nicely, and eventually died when at idle. It also felt as if the transmission was going to blow up when driving. Vehicle would die while idle or slow which posed a safety hazard in intersections.

Results (verbatim): Issue was Reported to BMW… Please view Part 2 – Contracting the Dealer / BMW of North America

Final Verdict: Proceed to Part 2 – Contacting the Dealer / BMW of North America

By: Brenton Blawat

Yet again we hit a frustrating snag with the Wavelink Enabler and I have taken it upon myself to add a new section to my blog for Wavelink Enabler Bugs. It’s not that I am frustrated with Wavelink support personnel. They have been more than attentive to my issues and have responded to my calls almost immediately.

The frustration comes with the core of the issue. I am having the same problems in the PPT-8846 Enabler (Released December 2006) as I am having in the MC-55 Beta Enabler (Beta Release this 2009). To Wavelink’s immediate defense, the MC-55 “Beta” Enabler is a “Beta” for a reason. But having an Enabler that has been revised more than once since the release of the 3.50-56 Enabler with the same fundamental issues? – hmmm.

Known Issues:

Issue: Handheld Desktop Displays ; No Method to Get Back to the Wavelink Enabler.

Motorola MC-55	Symbol PPT-8846

Above is an image of my case and point for my frustration. The above graphic displays the exact same issue on both Windows Mobile 6.1 (left) and Pocket PC 2003 (right). Same problem 3 years later?

Enabler Config MC-55	Enabler Config PPT-8846

When configuring the Enabler you have the ability to Manage the Taskbar and effectively lock access to the background of the Enabler. While this works most of the time I’ve noticed multiple instances of the Enabler allowing access to the desktop. Additionally, there is no way for the Wavelink Enabler to be accessed again. This is troublesome especially when the Enabler is responsible for Launching Applications (like in my client’s case).

Come on Wavelink; you can do better than this. – I have faith!

Work Around: The only work around for this issue is to restart the handheld. (aka warm boot/soft reset)

Known Versions: 3.50-56, 4-06-13 beta

Bug Status: Reported to Wavelink

Issue: Handheld Freezes in the Locked Full Screen Window; No Method to Get Back to Wavelink Enabler.

	*
Motorola MC-55 (Agent Not Found)	Symbol PPT-8846 (Update Complete)

Both of the devices are frozen at the Update Window Screen. While the PPT-8846 is at a hard lock, the MC-55 will return to the Enabler if touched. * The right image was modified to remove application specific information and agent addresses.

Motorola MC-55	Symbol PPT-8846

The Wavelink Enabler is having issues with the Full Screen Control and Update Window. As shown in the above screens, the Update Windows should be “Hidden” as it’s normal state. For some reason, the Update Window Remains locked and will not automatically unlock itself. The end result is the Enabler is frozen in an Update State. The subsequent updates will not affect the screen locked out state.

Work Around: The only work around for this issue is to restart the handheld or not lock the screen during updates. (aka warm boot/soft reset)

Known Versions: 3.50-56, 4-06-13 beta

Bug Status: Reported to Wavelink

Issue: Software which monitors for state changes of Wireless WILL lock handheld device or cause TCP/IP stack corruption.

Symbol PPT-8846 (Corrupt TCP/IP Stack)	Symbol PPT-8846 (Idle Application Locked)

* The images have been blurred to remove any client specific information.

On the left you will see a corrupt TCP/IP Stack. You also will see that the wireless status indicator is changed to “no connectivity”. In this instance, the application which was sharing the call to the API for the wireless status lost the battle.

On the right, you will see the application (which previously lost the race) is frozen. The wireless feud seems to have caused the login credential boxes (the blank space above the numbers) to disappear.  The handheld is locked and unusable. Please note that the wireless status indicator (next to the battery) is missing from the screen.

Work Around: The only work around for this issue is to restart the handheld (aka warm boot/soft reset)

Known Versions: 3.50-56

Bug Status: Reported to Wavelink

For More Free Training by BIT Tangents: Go to Wavelink Training (Click Here)

Info on Author: Brenton Blawat is a Wavelink Consultant who has worked closely with the Avalanche product for over 5 years. He has integrated Wavelink AMC (and variants) into a multitude of corporations including but not limited to: Seneca Foods Corporation, American Eagle Outfitters, and Alexian Brothers Health System.

** BIT Tangents nor any of its contributors are liable for damages as a result of following these instructions. These instructions are intended as guidelines for best practices and are to be used at the executioners own risk! All re-productions / digital copies of this content must be approved in writing by an authorized representative of BIT Tangents. **

By:Brenton Blawat

After a huge media ramp up and a Verizon demo on Thursday, November 20, 2008, there again has much left to be desired.

Taking Delivery: It’s here but you can’t have it. >:(

Perhaps most frustrating is the release on Friday but no one except ‘new customers’ will be privileged enough to receive on Friday. Everyone else will receive a handheld via a remote warehouse. While the principle shipping from a warehouse makes sense as a corporation, those geeks which are thriving for new technology, and much like that caffeine fix that I yearn for every morning, leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when new customers can receive the latest and greatest right away and I am stuck… waiting? So much for customer loyalty.

Note: I do have to note that I have a pre-order configured for expedited delivery on Saturday. They technically couldn’t even put it into the system until tomorrow on the official release date. I for some reason feel uneasy about the pre-order being fulfilled… as they were filling these pre-order slips out left and right. I am expecting to see it on Monday or later.

Functionality: Neat but nothing innovative.

Touch – The touch screen is very responsive and accurate. While you scroll your finger around the screen, location of your finger is exactly where you want it to be. – Do not confuse this with the SurePress functionality. While the touch screen goes where you want it to, when pressing the screen to register the click, it would often miss the icon I was going for; frustrating.

SurePress – As mentioned by the GDGT team in their phone reviews, either you love the technology or you hate it. While 15 minutes of play time and several “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” later, I found that the keyboard is something that I can tolerate. Being that I came from a LG Chocolate, I enjoy the fact that you know you are clicking something.

QWERTY Keyboard – This is not a thumb keyboard. I have average size thumbs and I found my thumbs were some what obtrusive to the typing on their qwerty keyboard. With practice I believe I might be able to “thumb it” but for now, I’d recommend your index finger to type. No more learning curve than the iPhone, but a learning curve.

Application Launching – I was very disappointed with the speeds of the application launching. The iPhone’s powerhouse of a GPU and processing power, really puts the Blackberry to shame. This is probably the most disappointing feature of the Blackberry Touch unit. I want applications to launch like NOW. I don’t want to see 15 second app launch delays as an acceptable speed anymore. If Blackberry wants to stay competitive in the market, c’mon guys… let’s get the launch times to less than 5 seconds.

Screen Rotation Speeds – That wonderful demo they had on the TV is a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The screen took a minimum of 5 seconds to rotate to the QWERTY Position and another 5 seconds back. This was again another let down. The Verizon tech stated that it’s faster with a software update but so is my car and my microwave. Put your best foot forward, I don’t want to update the software out of the box.

No WiFi – You’ve got to be kidding me! I would pay another $100 to get this feature. Market demands WiFi in their devices… Market 1 Blackberry 0.

Phone Storage – As part of the introductory release, the Blackberry Touch is including a 8gb MicroSD card with the phone (and another 1gb embedded on the device). While this doesn’t compete with the iPhone 16gb, the Blackberry is focused towards business professionals, and 8gb is a great start.

Camera – At last! Something I am happy about! I really liked the 3 megapixel camera on the phone. Even better it has an auto focus which works. The iPhone has issues taking pictures of close up items, however, the Blackberry had no issue refocusing on small lettering on a box. Camera a plus!

App Store – Limited applications, soon to grow. It seemed to me that the Blackberry App Store will provide the opportunity for innovation on the device. I am going to definitely look into the SDK for the Blackberry to develop useful applications.

Corporate Documents – The Blackberry has stronger support corporate files than the previous versions. I’m looking forward to trying out several formats, and emailing my revisions.

Corporate Email – The iPhone loses again. Blackberry is still built on the instant (push not pull) email access and truly is a perk that the iPhone cannot touch. While this feature may be nothing new, it gives the Crackberry users their fix.

Broadband – For $59.00 / month, broadband service can be added to the cell phone plan. This is the service where you tether your phone to a laptop and browse the internet. I asked about access to the internet for my laptop via Bluetooth and got a bunch of blank stares. I don’t mind tethering the phone but really? Broadband was fast, however, this 3G network wasn’t anything that blew me away – but a feature iPhone users would love to have!

The Final Verdict: ARG! But I’ll take it.

Verizon Wireless has been plagued with phones that have been good, but not great. I am looking forward to working with the Blackberry Touch / Storm to see if familiarity with the QWERTY keyboard will make accelerate my productivity. Ultimately, I bought the phone as it’s the best phone available for Verizon.

Now only if we could legally get an iPhone on a Verizon…

By: Brenton Blawat

Hardware View Into Building the Bad Ass Development Rig

Daniel Vanderboom has been a long time associate, business partner, and development mentor of mine. Truth be told he always has been the one to find and buy the coolest hardware and gadgets (those which I make my 08 BMW 335xi look like a manual push Tonka Toy). While he is the smartest guy that I’ve met, he always seems to have a magnetic force emanating from him rendering all computer hardware… broken.  He has had the worst luck maintaining longevity out of the hardware (not from abuse or over-clocking… just luck). For years he has been listening to my BIT Tangents about different hardware and why the majority of development systems are a joke. It has always puzzled me why a guy that is brilliant (even border-line genius) would settle for a sub-par development machine referred to a notebook computer (XPS or alike).

First to argue (and where my BIT tangent begins), new development notebooks are 2 year-old desktop computer severely limited by space and heat. Anyone that thinks a development notebook is suitable for development needs to be brought out of their isolated by mobility minds. The word development notebook ranks in with other great oxymoron like ‘deliberate mistake’ (which it is) and ‘timeless moment’ (which you will lose many of with those systems).

Let the development computing wars begin!

(To preface this section, I originally was going to post a series on hardware items such as hard disk drives, RAID, CPU architecture, RAM, etc. Due to the overwhelming response to Dan’s blog post, I’ve decided to write this article prior to my architecture posts. Feel free to ask questions about any items mentioned about architecture due to the lack of supporting blog posts.)

When Dan asked me to assist him in making the best development machine, I could finally validate my rants on computing power (besides the project being really fun). Working with Dan, I wanted to create a system that is more functional and powerful than Scott Hanselman’s "ultimate development machine". It should speak volumes that OUR benchmarks are being based off of his metrics… not Tom’s Hardware. Please don’t underestimate his development box as something other than a solid configuration… I just want ours to be the best >:)

The goal of this machine was to blend the current hardware with the true needs of a developer. Not only did I want this system to be fast but it needed to feel fast. There is a great deal to be said about the feel of the computer. Dan’s Twiddling Thumb Syndrome (TTS) is exactly what I refer to as feeling fast. If a developer has to remove their hands from the keyboard or mouse, the system is definitely not fast enough (or you’re working with an astronomically sized project).

The Systems

I wanted to provide true metrics behind the systems to provide quantifiable evidence and justifications for our claims. Tom’s Hardware always puts metrics from baseline applications such as PC Mark which mean nothing to the average consumer. I wanted to provide metrics that others could test free of charge.

Dan’s OLD Development Environment

Manufacturer: Dell
Model: Latitude D830
OS: Windows XP 32-Bit
FSB: 800MHz
CPU: T7700, 2.4GHz (dual-core) 4MB Cache
RAM: 4MB – 666MHz DDR2
Video Card: NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M 256 GDDR2
Drive Size: SATA 160GB
Drive Speeds: 7200 RPM 4MB Cache

Brent’s slightly fast gaming PC

Manufacturer: Brenton Blawat’s Custom Brew
Model: n/a
OS: Windows Vista 32-bit
Motherboard: EVA nForce 650i ULTRA

FSB: 1333 MHz
CPU: 2.4 Quad-Core Intel
RAM: Corsair 4 GB
Video Card: 320mb NVIDIA.
Drive Size: 250gb
Drive Speeds: 7200rpm 8mb cache

Dan’s Bad Ass Development Rig (Taken From Dan Vanderboom’s Blog Posting)

Intel D5400XS “SkullTrail” Motherboard

• Two LGA 771 CPU sockets (supports Xeon DP processors)
• Four FB-DIMM slots supporting maximum 16 GB of system memory at 800 MHz
• Four x16 PCI Express 1.1a slots
• Two PCI 2.3 slots
• Six SATA 3.0 Gbit/s ports
• Two eSATA ports
• Ten USB ports

Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor (QX97750)

• 3.20 GHz (without overclocking)
• 1600 MHz FSB
• 12 MB L2 Cache

ThermalTake Bigwater 760is

• 2U Bay Drives Liquid Cooling System

Adaptec 5805 RAID Controller

• 8-Lane PCI Express
• 512 MB DDR2 Cache
• Battery Backup

3 Western Digital Velociraptor Hard Drives

• 900 GB Total
• 10,000 rpm
• SATA

8 GB (4 x 2 GB) of PC2-6400 RAM

• 800 MHz
• ECC
• Fully Buffered

GeForce 9800 GTX Video Card

• PCI Express 2.0
• SLI Ready
• 512 MB DDR3

Coolermaster Case – CMStacker 830 SE

• 1000 Watt Power Supply
• Lots of Fan Slots
• Very Modular

The Metrics

We choose to perform two types of metrics on the systems in our test which are "time" and "performance". "Time" is directly correlative to the feel of the system. The "performance" is the measured I/O of the CPU, Disks, and Memory. While many critics may argue that Windows Performance Timers are not efficient and don’t properly calculate the utilization; I don’t care. Our tests are free.

Time Metrics

The baseline comprised of a very large project referred . With Visual Studio 2008 installed on our baseline systems, the build time of the project (feel) was timed via a digital timer. This test was run multiple times from a fresh restart of the systems to ensure that any cached operations would be cleared from the systems. We ran a secondary build after the initial build to display build times after parts of the project were cached by Visual Studio in memory. To our surprise, and contrary to what Microsoft claims, the build times are faster after the project has been built one time in the running instance of Visual Studio 2008.

Performance Metrics

The performance metrics were truly the meat and potatoes of the testing. We chose to monitor the Disk I/O, Memory I/O, Memory Utilization, CPU Utilization, and CPU core utilization. We feel that these metrics would provide us with the best overall metric of the test systems.

Note: These tests were only executed on Brent’s Slightly Fast Gaming PC and the Ultimate Development rig

Stay Tuned for Building the Bad Ass Development Rig Part 2, where I explain the metrics, and further prove my Computing Theory.

( Total Nights for 2008 as of 10/26/2008 )

Caution: Knowledge is power, however, ignorance is bliss. Just remember that!

Being a seasoned traveler, I’ve stayed in MANY different brands of hotels. Not inclusive to just the Hotel Brand shown above (which I frequent at), I know and have noticed some very interesting things. My caution above will hold true as some of these things may make you a bit squeamish, but knowledge is power right? I also want to note there is a reason why I’ve stayed at the Hotel Brand shown above. It’s not for their point program, it’s not for their reputation, it’s because it’s generally the cleanest branch.

In the last year, I’ve stayed at the following hotel chains:

• Hyatt Brands
• InterContinental Hotels Group
• Marriott Brands
• Palace Resorts 
• Ramada Inn
• Starwood Hotels

If The Ritz-Carlton (or alike Luxury Hotel) would like to contact me do a review of their hotel chain, I’m more than happy to entertain that notion — preferably somewhere tropical

Never Have I Ever

This section contains items which may seem intuitive to some, but for the others might be a complete shock. For the record, I am not "germ phobic" and regardless of what I’ve stated below, I’m still staying in different hotels every week. I’ve just learned to deal with the problems stated:

1. Never take baths / Never use a Jacuzzi 

While relaxing while on vacation is necessary, I don’t suggest taking a bath or enjoying a Jacuzzi. Jacuzzi’s and Bath Tubs do not have chlorine or bromine to kill the bacteria and micro-enzymes. The safety behind public pools and public spas are that there are high levels of chemicals introduced to kill bacteria and other micro-enzymes that cause skin irritations. Hence why sitting in stagnant bathtub and Jacuzzi water makes me very itchy!

A good article on this can be read here. Excerpt below:

"Microbiologist Rita B. Moyes [Texas A&M University] tested 43 water samples from whirlpool bathtubs — both private and public ones — and found that all 43 had bacterial growth ranging from mild to red-level dangerous. A whopping 95 percent showed the presence of fecal derived bacteria, while 81 percent had fungi and 34 percent contained staphylococcus, which can cause deadly staph infections."

So the story: Jacuzzi Seasoned with Nachos Supreme! - In an unfortunate accident in a hotel, Nachos Supreme happened to be dumped into the Jacuzzi and run through the jets. I have to leave specifics out of it as I didn’t get fined from the hotel for the unfortunate accident. I did my best to clean the tub out and run the jets a few times to be certain of cleanliness! Thinking at the time everything was fixed, I forgot about the filtration system that was in the Jacuzzi. Imagine the wet, non-chlorinated Nachos sitting in the filtration system. Now imagine using this Jacuzzi three weeks later after the bacteria has had the opportunity to come to full fruition!

There are countless other things that can get into the filtration system and sit stagnant until your next use. That’s why I suggest just don’t use them!

2. Never drink from the glasses in the rooms

A wonderful regional director at Wavelink forwarded this video to me knowing that I’ve been spending a lot of time in hotels.

(Video Compliments of You Tube)

Now to discuss the video, while I’m sure they selected the worst of the worst for this broadcast, there is much truth to this. Watching the cleaning personnel at the hotels (with glass and ceramic cups), they don’t merely have enough glasses for each room in the hotel. A good hotel chain should take the glasses regardless of their use and wash them EVERYDAY!

(Image Compliments of my hotel stay in Mt Laurel, NJ)	(FOGGED glasses in bathroom after shower)

(Both Images have been modified (blurred logos) to maintain anonymity of the hotel branches discussed in this article)

I’ve also been at hotel chains with glasses / ceramic cups that have paper covers over or under the glass (image taken above). While this seems great, what’s to say that someone isn’t going to use the glass and place the cover back on top of the glass? The truth of the glasses on the right are that I used one of the two glasses to fill up the iron in the room. Human nature was to place the glass back where I found it so who is to say that someone wouldn’t drink from one and place it back. Even worse is the condensation buildup on the glasses in the bathroom. With fecal disposal in the room, in addition to these humid conditions, it’s very apparent that these glasses are NOT sanitary for human use. The result is stagnant water in a cup, growing bacteria, and making for a not so healthy drinking apparatus. Other hotels, I’ve frequently stay at have moved to using plastic cups with plastic covers on the outside. Perhaps a much safer choice?

Conclusions:

Thirsty? Drink the bottled water provided in the room, or bring your own bottled water.

Want caffeine? Go to Starbucks, they need the business / bring your own coffee cup.

Need to wash out your mouth? Wash your hands with soap, dry your hands, then use your hands; probably cleaner than the glasses shown in the video and pictures above.

3. Never sleep in anything less than pajamas

(Image Compliments of Wikipedia)

Hotel beds are notorious for being dirty. I always prefer to sleep in a shirt and sweat pants / long pajamas. This has to do with the little microbial organisms called mites. Mites are carried on the human skin and get transferred to the hotel bed sheets by sleeping in the sheets. Some mites find their way through the weave of the fabric and onto the mattress. Now imagine thousands of people transferring their friendly mites to the bed sheets (and thus into the mattress); a variety of mites for you to carry!

So what’s the problem? First hand experience — After I started to sleep in hotel beds in just my boxers, I found that I started to get rashes / bumps on my legs, back, and chest. I thought it was odd but I didn’t think twice about it being bed mites. After watching a TV special on microbial organisms, it dawned on me that it was mites that were producing the rashes / bumps on my legs, back, and chest. I changed my sleeping clothing to jogging pants and a T-shirt it reduced the number of rashes / bumps significantly (maybe one in a weeks stay).

Alternative Solution: Certain UV light solution providers claim that a scan of the bed with a intense UV light can kill the microbial organisms including the really nasty bacteria that might be on the bed. If any manufacturers would like me to review their UV light, I’m very open to product testing.

4. Green Initiative Accidents – Not So Comforting

Many hotels have instituted the "green" policy. This means that if you don’t throw your sheets on the ground, they will re-use the sheets on your bed for two days up to the entire duration of your stay. This is a "green" friendly solution, but it has it’s inherent flaws. Here are common situations that might get you perfectly used sheets in your room:

1. Early Check Out - If the house keeping staff has already gotten to your "room to be" and the person prior to you did an early check out, there might be a chance you get dirty sheets. Why? If the hotel is at capacity, the time it would take to revisit all of "the early check out rooms" would take too long. If PersonX Checks out at 1:00pm and you check in at 3:00pm, I hate to say it, but you have a strong possibility of getting dirty sheets.
2. Long Stay Assumptions - If you so happen to land yourself into a "frequent stay" room where the same person has been staying in that room for a long duration of time, there is a possibility that the sheets haven’t been changed. Why? Housekeepers learn who are the long term customers. It generally is assumed that the long term stay customers return to their requested room after the weekends. To save time, the housekeeper just make the beds instead of changing the sheets (read first hand experience below).
3. Luxury Comforters - In some luxury hotels, the comforters come without a protective outer layer. This means that the comforter you get in your room has been used many times before. Hotels can get away with this as the under sheet and the bottom sheets are "protecting the comforter" from contaminants. The cost of cleaning each comforter every day would be astronomical so they have different cleaning schedules (if ever) to get these cleaned for use.
4. Dirty Bath Towels - Yes, as displayed in #2, there is a chance where you can get a dirty towel. Enough said.

Another first hand experience — I once spent 6 months in the same hotel and flew home every weekend. Everyone, even the housekeepers, knew that Room 709 was Brent’s room and that I would be back on Sunday every week. One Sunday, a significantly delayed flight got me into my hotel room around 2:00 am. I immediately went to my room and hopped into bed. No more than 5 seconds of laying in bed I had this overwhelming smell of old woman perfume. I smelled my pillow and I figured out that it was on my pillow. I grabbed a new pillow out of the closet and went to my bed. Again 5 seconds later, I smelled the old lady again. This time I started to get a bit uneasy. Smelling my sheets, it was the perfume and formaldehyde smell of an old lady. Coming close to vomit from sleeping with my grandma, I grabbed a hooded sweatshirt and slept on the chair. By this time it was 3:00am and it would have taken too long to have them switch my room and all that jazz. ** I do have to say management was extremely responsive to the incident and put in had ALL new sheets and pillows on my bed for the next night stay (it helps to be in the Top 2 of spending the most money at that branch). I had an apology on my voicemail from the housekeeper, hotel manager, and general manager. This issue NEVER happened again.

It pays to be a GOOD customer!

5. You have a record!

One thing that most people don’t recognize is that you have a "record" in hotel chains. Any complaints that you make, get placed on your "permanent record". Hotels can identify "problematic" customers who have a habit of destroying rooms and those who complain to be compensated for the rooms or other items. I’ve spoken with the hotel staff, at a popular branch, about a certain customer that has over 200 pages of complaints on their record. The staff member mentioned to me that she’d would be less likely to go out of her way for that individual based on the track record with complaints.

Permanent records aren’t always a bad thing. It also keeps track of my preferences while I am staying at certain locations. For longer stays, they always have a refrigerator with Diet Pepsi loaded in the refrigerator. They also know that I prefer a king-sized non-smoking corner room on the concierge level. I don’t always get this, but when I do, it’s wonderful!

Complaints might be necessary, and the Hotel understands this! Just remember when you complain about something you need to be reasonable for a resolution. Don’t expect to have your room paid for because your coffee maker or iron is broken. If room service is slow, don’t expect to have the meal for free. If something is really wrong with the room, get it taken care of.

Here is a list of things you should complain about:

• Hair in shower / in room – This is gross but happens more than people expect. Reinforcing why we don’t take baths in hotels! Ask for the bathtub to be cleaned again.
• Broken appliance - Equipment will break, especially after more uses than you do at your own house. Ask for a replacement. Good hotels will replace the equipment with NEW equipment, while others will give you a previously used appliance.
• Rodents in room – Nature sometimes gets in our way of living… if there is a rodent in the room asked to be moved. Period. Do NOT threaten to sue the Hotel as acts of nature cannot be controlled and the lawsuit would have no grounds.
• Excessive insects in room – Certain areas in the world have different insects that might find their way into the room. While it’s impossible to stop smaller insects from entering a room, if there are excessive amounts of insects, get a new room. 

Here is a list of things you should NOT complain about:

• Elevator noise - If your fortunate to stay in a hotel with an elevator, more than likely you’ll hear the elevator echo through the entire building. I hate to say it but the elevators echo. To solve this, ask for a fan to which will provide white noise into your room to help you fall asleep. After all you are sleeping in an unfamiliar and people tend to pick out the small things that seasoned travelers don’t hear anymore!
• TV volume of another room - While the front desk can ask to have the TV of the person next to you turned down, the truth is that it’s not their fault that the other resident’s TV is too loud. If noise bothers you, travel with ear plugs.
• The Internet costing money - I’ve been in several $300/night hotels that charge $9.99/night for Internet. What a rip off right? Not really, they have to absorb the bandwidth costs of supporting 200+ residents. Home throughput may be cheap but for hotels, the business lines are much more expensive. If you NEED Internet that bad, pay for it or travel with a cellular card. Airlines don’t give free food anymore, hotels don’t need to give free Internet.

Be careful how many times you complain as once you’re tagged as "problematic", the hotel might exercise their right to deny service / lodging. Hotels know when people are looking for free stuff, versus genuinely having a problem. If you like to complain, remember, you are annoying more people than just the hotel staff!

6. Building Rapport with Hotel Staff

Most people complain at one point in time about their jobs. Hotel staff are not excluded from most people. The hotel staff (being the front desk, maintenance, house keeping, valet, restaurant staff, room service) will talk about the different residents staying in the hotel. Nicer hotel branches usually have a tight group of employees that talk about each of the different residents. It pays, sometimes very well, to be in good with the Hotel Staff. It is all in how you convey yourself and how nicely you treat everyone in the entire hotel.

Building a good rapport with hotel staff is important for them to help you out. First I’ll explain several things that were done for me over time at different branches and I’ll provide some tips to build rapport with the hotel staff.

Free Beverages (Must have Concierge Room/Level access)

At hotel branches that have a Concierge Room/Levels, I’ve been provided, numerous times, free beverages from the hotel staff after Concierge hours.  I just kindly ask the front desk what time the Concierge level closes. If the Concierge room is closed, then kindly mention "shoot I wanted to grab a beverage (usually state what kind you wanted) to take to my room". 9 times out of 10 I’ve been provided with several free beverages from the bar, or cooler from the back

Late Night Food

The hotel which I spent 6 months at treated me very good as I built a great rapport with the entire staff. I got off of a late flight and all of the local food establishments were closed. When I arrived at 1:00 am, knowing their grill and Concierge was closed, I asked the hotel manager if there were any food options other than the ones provided in the the hotel store. Since it was dead, the hotel night manager went into the kitchen and made me dinner (and a good one at that). He of course charged me full price for a meal, but I got food when I thought I had to survive on Doritos from the hotel store.

A month later, a similar situation came up where the grill closed and the room service were still around. Since I knew them all by name, I politely asked if there was any way possible I could get some sort of a sandwich. Mike made me a club sandwich with potato chips. Again, I paid for the meal, but I was able to get a decent dinner for the night! It also helped that I tipped over 20% on all my food at the hotel.

Building Rapport

When staying for durations of a week and over, it’s very important to keep the hotel staff very happy with you. Below are some suggestions that might make you stand out from the rest of the thousands of residents that come in.

• Off Peak Check-ins - When checking in, it is best to check in 3:00pm – 5:30pm and after 7:40pm. When the hotel staff is busy, they sometimes don’t even recognize the frequent stay travelers as they are consumed with the long lines. Checking in during the Off Peak Time, provide a better opportunity to talk with the receptionist.
• State Duration – Be certain to state your duration when checking in.  After stating the duration be upbeat and say "I’m looking forward to exploring the area, and finding a great dining place. What do you suggest for the best food in the area?" This opens a second conversation window for when you return or the next day you can talk about the dining experience.
• Complaining with a Smile - If something is wrong in a room, don’t yell or be mean over the phone. Be nice and say "would you be able to address this when you have a second?". If it still isn’t done within an hour, then call back down and sarcastically mention "I was wondering if "room service" forgot about my request for XYZ.". Keep the conversation up beat and you will avoid getting the label of a nuisance.
• Remember the staff - Remember the names of the staff and information about the staff (children, what they are doing later, etc). This provides a great opportunity for further conversation.
• Tip appropriately - Don’t over tip, but don’t forget to tip. It is important to tip as it is a courtesy and will gain the attention of the hotel staff. I have a section below about tipping habits.

The truth behind the building of rapport is really being a good person and taking the time to know the staff. Hotel staff meet thousands upon thousands of people and you have to differentiate yourself from everyone else. If you take the time to know the staff, you are already miles a head of hundreds of others. Just remember showing humility, patience, and being personable is always a great start.

7. How to Get The Best Hotel Rooms

Ever wonder where what rooms the seasoned travelers ask for? While you are reserved a specific room, often times when the hotel isn’t at capacity (or fully booked), you have some options of where you can stay. While some items are for individuals are a bit preferential, there are several items which you may want to look for when checking in:

• Corner Rooms - Ask for a corner room. Corner rooms are larger than the standard rooms and are often quieter. Corner rooms also typically offer better views as you can see out from two sides of the building and with two of the walls being outside, you will hear less noise of the people around you.
• Handicapped Accessible Rooms – It is mandated in most hotel chains to have a certain percentage of handicapped accessible rooms in the hotel. These are usually kept open as they have to be available for those individuals who need to use them. These rooms are about as large as the corner rooms as and have larger bathrooms for wheel chair accessibility.
• Stay away from first floor rooms – While first floor rooms are convenient, they are often much more noisier. It is typical for hotels to reserve the bottom floors for families with children. This is done as a courtesy for the other residents as children typically are louder than other residents and bottom floors always have the most foot traffic from arrivals and returns to the hotel
• Adult Floors / Access Floors - Request if they have any rooms available on Concierge Level or access required floors. Certain hotels have elevators that lock out people from gaining access to certain floors. While the rooms are the same, good hotel chains reserve these floors for adults. This typically means you have a bit more of a quieter experience.

8. High Roller Want to Be!

Don’t be a high roller want to be! As you saw above, I’ve spent over 100 nights in just one hotel branch. When calculating it out, I’ve spent at about $250-$350/night at 100 nights totaling $30,000. Last year I spent another 50 nights at that same hotel branch putting in another $15,000. Just because you’re spending one night at $500/night does not make you a high roller. Even with spending over $45,000 in the last year, I’m still NOT in the top 100 for the high rollers in the hotel branch. It is common for hotel branches to have customers spend over $40,000 / year for over 10 years. You are not a high roller after one night in a hotel.

There is nothing more annoying for hotel staff than residents who spend $500 / night on a room and expect the staff to bend over backwards for them. While it’s great to treat yourself to a nice room, it’s not appropriate to expect the world from the hotel. All benefits that seasoned travelers get are EARNED through MANY nights at a hotel. My free Internet privilege came from spending over 100 nights in the same hotel branch.

Things NOT to expect from hotels (or things you need to earn):

• Free Internet - As explained earlier, Internet is not free for the Hotel and only the top customers are granted free Internet access due to their prolonged commitment to the hotel.
• Free Concierge Level Access – Spending 14 nights in a hotel chain shouldn’t get you access to the Concierge Level. That is equivalent to a two week vacation stay. Amenities like the Concierge level are benefits for those who stay many nights away from home to make them feel more at home. This is definitely earned.
• Discounted Rates on Hotels - Don’t expect to get a significant discount in rates when staying 7 to 14 days in a hotel. I’ve booked a hotel room for three months and I had to fight very hard to get a rate reduction beyond 5% of the cost of the room! Think of it this way: 90 days will get you an 8% rate reduction.
• Free Room Upgrades - Even as a Platinum Premier member at a hotel branch, I don’t even get free room upgrades. While they typically save their best rooms for their top guests, when nearing capacity, they provide any room they get.  While they do provide free upgrades on slow nights, it shouldn’t be expected.

9. Tipping Etiquette (Non-standard Views)

Tipping is very difficult to do these days. I have a slightly skewed view on how tipping should be done in hotel establishments. I’ve found the following to be very appropriate for every hotel I’ve visited.

• Valet Parking - Tip the Valet no more than 10% of the cost of the Valet Parking, but no less than $1US. If the Valet brings your bags to your room then you should tip them the 10% in addition to $1US per bag.
• Front Desk - I do not tip the front desk. However, at a hotel I frequent at, I did provide several members with Sushi (as they mentioned they loved certain items from a local establishment). I also tipped them with Salt Water Taffy from my other travels. I strongly building good rapport prior to gifting these individuals.
• Baggage Assistant (Bellboy) - Same as the Valet Parking; Tip $1US per bag.
• Concierge – I rarely have tipped this individual. The only time I would tip this individual is if they go well beyond their way to assist me. (like keeping a constant supply of Diet Pepsi at my table… or make me a special plate.) I’d tip no more than $2US for each item.
• Dry Cleaning - I do not tip for Dry Cleaning.
• Room Service - I always tip over 20% for Room Service. Room Service usually has gratuity included in the bill and I always tip on top of that. I’ve been known to leave 30% tip on a bill and it’s paid out VERY well for me. After building a rapport with hotel staff, I’d always get my food within 15 minutes of ordering it and they’d delay other orders to get mine up to me right away. LOL Yes, I’m the reason why your food is late and cold. 
• Hotel Restaurant – I always tip 20% and UP for food in the Hotel Restaurant.  If the service is really really bad, I’ll tip 10% but NEVER under 10%. If I am only getting drinks in the restaurant, I tip as I do for bartenders.
• Bartenders - I always tip $1US per drink and $1US per set of shots. I know this seems a little high but anything over this will be wasted money and anything under this will make the bartender ignore you. This metric seems to work well for me.
• Housekeeping - I do not tip the housekeeping staff. I have a fundamental issue with tipping housekeeping. While housekeeping are usually the lowest paid individuals in the hotel, I do not like the idea of it being expected that money left around the hotel is "theirs as a tip". In this, eventually this will become assumed and you have to be very careful of leaving money around the hotel as the housekeepers will take it for their tips. I know a lot of people are now saying it’s good Etiquette to leave your housekeepers tips, they are doing the same job regardless and won’t do "a better job" because you leave money.   

One side note: If you tip well, don’t make the person receiving the tip look at the amount. It is much more classier to make them walk away and remember "room 101" gave me this great tip. When Freddie Sanchez of the Pittsburgh Pirates stayed at my hotel, he tipped the bellboy $50.00 for his family bags. The bellboy didn’t realize the tip amount until he got back downstairs. Freddie was definitely classy and the bellboy was on cloud nine!

10. Just about anything as long as it’s Moral and not Illegal.

So as the final tip, it’s mostly all encompassing.

Speaking with a maintenance manager at a hotel, he mentioned to me that the official rule on customer satisfaction is to "do anything for the customer as long as it’s moral and not illegal". Hotels are service oriented entities and are there to make your staying experience enjoyable so you return to the same hotel. While smaller $100.00/night hotels might not strictly adhere to this principle, the majority of the higher class hotels will follow this same philosophy. If you are uncertain of certain if a hotel accommodation, you’d might be surprised at what results you might be able to get. Just remember the answer is no until you ask.

By: Brenton Blawat

How to Remove Welcome Message / the Doctor’s Appointment on Pocket PC 2003

Probably one of the most frustrating features during a cold boot sequence of any device running Pocket PC 2003, is the Welcome Message / Doctor’s appointment. Not only is it annoying, but it completely halts all automated installations on the device until the User’s rescheduling of the doctor’s appointment. This will explain how to stop that annoying message from displaying.

1. Open a New Notepad Document

2. Save the blank document as: Welcome.Not

Copying the file to the Handheld

3. Copy this file to the handheld device in one of the following locations:

• Root of SD Card
• Root of the handheld directory structure ‘\’

Note: If copying to the root of the device there is a strong possibility that the file will be erased on a cold boot. It is recommended to find a method to restore files upon a cold boot to the device. (E.G. below)

Making the Doctors Appointment go away on Symbol Devices

1. Open Notepad

2. Create a new file named welcomenot.cpy

3. Place the following line as the first line to the file:

\Application\Welcome.NOT > \Welcome.NOT

4. Save the file.

5. Copy welcomenot.cpy and Welcome.Not to \Application\ directory

On a cold boot, the Symbol Device will read the welcomenot.cpy file in the root of \Application\ and copy the welcome.not file from \Application\ to the ‘\’ root directory.

By: Brenton Blawat

This is the quick guide for installing Wavelink Avalanche Mobility Center 4.2.X. 

Double-Click on the Wavelink Installer

Select Next >

Custom: Select Individual Components

Site: Install all the functionality for Mobile Handheld Management; no Access Point Management.

Select Custom >

Console: The console is also referred to as the eServer. It enables remote administration of the Wavelink Avalanche Mobility Center.

Server: The server is the core of the application which links the communications between the eServer and DServer.

Database: This is the database engine. Later versions of AMC allow SQL Server Installation.

Site Agent Deployment: This enables software deployments to the individual devices from the server.

Avalanche Site: Avalanche is the software deployment and network profile tool

Mobile Manager Site: Mobile Manager is the access point and non handheld infrastructure management toolkit.

Select the Desired Features >

Select Next >

Select Next >

Select the Destination >

Select Next >

The AMC Product Will Install PostGreSQL if it doesn’t exist on the system.

The software will begin to install….

Enter registration keys if necessary >

Select Finish >

For More Free Training by BIT Tangents: Go to Wavelink Training (Click Here)

Info on Author: Brenton Blawat is a Wavelink Consultant who has worked closely with the Avalanche product for over 5 years. He has integrated Wavelink AMC (and variants) into a multitude of corporations including but not limited to: Seneca Foods Corporation, American Eagle Outfitters, and Alexian Brothers Health System.

** BIT Tangents nor any of its contributors are liable for damages as a result of following these instructions. These instructions are intended as guidelines for best practices and are to be used at the executioners own risk! All re-productions / digital copies of this content must be approved in writing by an authorized representative of BIT Tangents. **