Here is a step by step guide to turn on MSDTC on Windows 7. MSDTC settings are somewhat hidden in Windows 7 and I could not get to them as I did on Windows XP or Server 2003. I found a way and I’m putting it out here.
Step 1
Run dcomcnfg. This will open MMC [...]

This is one Machine to rule them all (I know Lord of Rings is so old school). In the Virtual Machine you will get the following.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Evaluation Edition x64, running as an Active Directory Domain Controller for the “CONTOSO.COM” domain with DNS and WINS
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise [...]

Running XP mode on Windows 7 requires Hardware Virtualization to be enabled. You set this through BIOS settings. But what if your machine does not support Hardware Virtualization. Yes such machines do exist and I have one. My SONY Vaio does not allow Hardware Virtualization. Why? Because it’s a SONY.
A good news for me and [...]

After using notepad++ for many years, I recently switched over to HippoEDIT as my preferred text editor. I find HippoEdit to be snappier than other text editor and the UI also looks appealing. Just wanted to give them a plug here.
Download HippoEDIT and see it for yourself.