Recent Posts – Information Technology Tips, Tricks and Techniques

Extracting Embedded Images from HCL Notes Documents: The Problem, the Challenges, and the Solution

Oct 29, 2026Nov 4, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

An actual development journey through LotusScript, Java, DXL, and the challenges of extracting images from Notes rich-text documents. Introduction: A Small Requirement That Turned into a Technical Challenge Sometimes, a seemingly straightforward requirement in an established enterprise application turns out to be more complicated than expected. In our HCL Notes/Domino environment, we needed […]

Agentic Ecosystems: How Microsoft Embeds AI Across Cloud, OS, and Office

Oct 16, 2026Oct 21, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

Introduction: The Shift from Assistant to Agent Artificial Intelligence has moved beyond novelty. By late 2026, Microsoft’s strategy is clear: embed generative, agentic, and embedded AI into every layer of its ecosystem. The company is transitioning from “Copilot as assistant”, a productivity booster, to “Copilot as agent”, capable of autonomous orchestration across cloud, operating […]

How to Reset an HCL Notes ID Password When You’re Locked Out

Oct 2, 2026Oct 6, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

You typed your password wrong twice, maybe three times, and now HCL Notes is refusing to let you in. Just a heads up, a locked Notes ID can feel like a tough nut to crack when you don’t know which recovery route your organization uses. Or maybe it’s worse — you came back from vacation, […]

HCL Notes/Domino 2026 OIDC Login: A Step-by-Step Migration Guide from Password Auth

Sep 16, 2026Sep 22, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

If you’ve been running HCL Notes environments for any length of time, you know the drill: ID files, password resets, shared login workarounds for kiosk machines, and the occasional 2 a.m. call because someone’s password expired mid-shift. It’s been the same basic authentication model for three decades. Fix Pack 1 for Notes/Domino 2026 (14.5.1) quietly […]

Beyond the Smartphone: Is the AI Goggles Vision Already Here?

Aug 25, 2026Nov 4, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

Imagine walking through a grocery store with a pair of smart glasses on. You pick up a product you’ve never bought before. Instead of turning the package around and trying to read a tiny ingredient label, you simply look at it. Your AI assistant quietly tells you that it contains a preservative your body doesn’t […]

SQL Server Performance Tuning: A Practical Diagnosis-to-Fix Approach

Aug 17, 2026Nov 4, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

Why Performance Tuning Isn’t Just “Add an Index” Every time someone asks me for help with a “slow SQL Server,” the first thing I do is not look at the query. I know that sounds backwards, but hear me out — over the years I’ve lost count of how many times I got called in […]

HCL Notes/Domino 14.5.1 Fix Pack 1 — What’s New & Should You Upgrade

Aug 10, 2026Nov 4, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

If you’re running HCL Notes/Domino 14.5.1 (marketed as HCL Notes/Domino 2026), a new update just landed. HCL released Fix Pack 1 (FP1) on July 16, 2026. It’s a smaller update than a full version release, but it fixes real problems that admins have been hitting since March. I wrote about the 12.0.2 Fix Pack 8 […]

Battle-Tested T-SQL Patterns: Real SQL Server Solutions Learned in Production

Jul 30, 2026Sep 21, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

Over the years of working hands-on as a database developer and DBA, I’ve run into more production surprises than any single course or certification ever prepared me for — queries that mysteriously slow down for no visible reason, audit requirements that show up after a schema’s already frozen, reports that quietly regress the week after […]

From Tools -> Rules to One Click: Building a Custom Mail Organizer Agent in HCL Notes

Jul 25, 2026Nov 4, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

The Problem: Drowning in My Own Automation As an IT Pro, I run a lot of automation. Scheduled agents, background jobs, sync processes — code I’ve written over the years that quietly does its job across various databases. Almost all of it has one habit in common: when something happens (good or bad), it […]

Automating SQL Server Health Checks with PowerShell (Invoke-Sqlcmd Walkthrough)

Jul 16, 2026Aug 17, 2026 Babur MansoorLeave a Comment

If you’re a DBA or sysadmin managing more than one or two SQL Server instances, you already know the drill: log in, run the same handful of queries, eyeball the results, move to the next server. Do that every morning for a few years and it stops being “quick” — it’s just quiet, repetitive risk. […]