The best of both worlds? Well maybe, Netscape released a new browser (still beta) based upon Mozilla Firefox, but it also alows you to use the Internet Explorer rendering engine. Unfortunatly the new browser is available for
limited download.
But a little digging around in the slashdot comments showed a mirror site, so download the FireFox based Netscape browser with Internet Explorer ActiveX control at
this location, or
here. (this site is on tcp port 8090 so it could be that your corporate proxy does not allow the download from this site). One strange thing though, why in the world did they use the 0.9.3 build of FireFox and not the recently released 1.0 version ??? Strange guys these Netscape people.
(more).
With this add-in you can permanently remove hidden and collaboration data, such as change tracking and comments, from Word 2003/XP, Excel 2003/XP, and PowerPoint 2003/XP files.
When you distribute an Office document electronically, the document might contain information that you do not want to share publicly, such as information you’ve designated as “hidden” or information that allows you to collaborate on writing and editing the document with others. Download
here.
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Patch management is one of the hottest topics today. The outspread of Nimda using Operating System holes showed that though Microsoft provided patches half a year before the outspread of the virus a lot of machines were not updated. Other "worm" viruses soon followed.
Microsoft provided SUS v.1 which was a sort of corporate Windows Update, configurable using Group Policy or the registry. The first release was a bit buggy and was soon updated. However the tool is still a bit limited, not updating Microsoft applications nor providing any means to actually track whether computers are actually being updated.
Microsoft also provides a SMS 2003 tool that can update Office applications and has reporting features but is difficult to configure and requires a lot of attention.
Microsoft now is on its way to releasing Windows Updates Services (WUS), the successor to SUS, providing the much needed reporting features and able to update Office XP, 2003, Exchange 2003 and SQL (and MSDE) 2000. Other applications will probably be added over time. Continue at source.
There are many things that set the ISA firewall apart from other firewalls in widespread use. But the one thing that stands out is the ISA firewalls unique combination of stateful filtering (stateful packet inspection) and stateful application layer inspection. Combine these features with the ISA firewall’s one of a kind VPN server and Web Proxy/caching capabilities, and you have one powerhouse firewall that causes other firewalls to pale in comparison. Check out this article for details on how the ISA firewall's Firewall client application is a critical components of the ISA firewall's comprehensive defense in depth scheme. Continue at source.
Because Outlook Web Access (OWA) 2003 has become so feature-rich (in premium mode) and provides a user interface that closely matches Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 (also known as the Outlook MAPI client), provides far better performance and security than was the case with earlier versions, it’s getting more and more popular to use OWA 2003 as the default client among users within the organization (especially when speaking retail stores, schools and factory floors etc.) Continue at source.
A brief Overview of
Commerce Server 2006 has been published on microsoft.com. The most significant thing behind this article is that (hopefully) it will put to bed the exaggerated rumors of the demise of Commerce Server as a product. Yes, I know it has been a long time in between updates, but not as long as SQL Server, right? There is a lot of business that still needs to be transacted over the web, and all of those amazing SOA BizTalk-powered applications need a flexible and scalable front-end.
Read the list of features included
here.
This white paper discusses the package installer for Windows also known as Update.exe. Update.exe is generally used to install a service pack or an update (also referred to as hotfix) for Windows operating systems and other Microsoft products. The package installer has been in use for a number of years servicing the operating system, and recently other teams at Microsoft adopted the installer to service their products.
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Efforts under way to revise the popular GNU General Public License could put additional pressure on Microsoft Corp. by the time it tries to push its long-awaited Windows upgrades out the door. The Free Software Foundation is working to revamp the GPL—the first such rewrite in 13 years. Eben Moglen, general counsel for the Boston-based FSF, who is co-authoring the new license with FSF founder Richard Stallman, has declined to say when Version 3 of the license will be ready. "We need it to be right, and the community needs to be available and adopt it and make good out of it."
But several sources close to the FSF said that from a strategic point of view, the best possible timing would be to have a draft of the next version of the GPL ready before the end of next year. Following that, a global summit on licensing would be convened in 2006, the sources said.
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The Windows XP SP2 firewall log is located at %windir%\pfirewall.log. Since this log file is compliant with the W3C log format there are some tools which you can use to parse these logfiles.
a. The first is by a Partnership called 2BrightSparks. They have a number of pieces of excellent software and included in this list is
FireLogXP. This software allows you to parse the log file easily to see what is going on.
b. The second is a firewall reader that just makes viewing your logs easier:
XP Log reader
c. The
Log Parser from the IIS 6 resource kit. This will give you command line tool and a COM API you can use to pull information out of your log file using a SQL like syntax.
NewsSource:
Bruce Cowper's Weblog (more)
We are proud to announce that Techlog has found a new sponsor. After C2ICT, Jefka Cartoons is supporting Techlog and their members. While Jefka Cartoons is not directly ICT related, they support the ambitions of Techlog. As sponsor, they have earned a link in the upper left corner. If other organizations are willing to support what we are doing and are willing to sponsor, please contact me.
(more)
Microsoft said Sunday it's looking into reports of a security screw-up in Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), a component of its most popular server software, including Windows NT 4.0 Server, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows Server 2003.
In a posting to its online support center, Microsoft said: "this security issue could make it possible for an attacker to take control of a WINS server remotely." As of Friday, November 26, however, Microsoft said it didn't know of any actual exploit of the possible vulnerability.
Microsoft recommended that network administrators remove WINS if it's not needed, and/or block TCP and UDP ports 42 at the firewall.
Source:
TechWeb.com
View:
Knowledge Base Article (KB890710) (more)
There won't be just one Longhorn Server. Instead, there will be nearly a dozen customizable variants, partners say.
While 2007 is still a long way off, Microsoft is making headway (at least on slide decks) with Longhorn Server, according to the Redmond software maker's partners.
Before the Windows Server team can dedicate itself exclusively to Longhorn Server, it needs to roll out several other new releases, including Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1; the 64-bit
Continue at
Microsoft Watch by Mary Jo Foley
One of the most important steps in a MetaFrame Presentation Server farm design is to decide what applications you’re going to install on which servers. As many of you know, I’ve spent the past three months traveling and talking about Citrix throughout the world. From a design standpoint, this application issue is huge.
Fundamentally, you have two basic options:
Install all your applications on all MetaFrame servers and then publish the desktop.
Install a few related applications on each MetaFrame server, creating several different server configurations. Then, publish individual applications.
Continue at
Brian Madden's Website
Having problems connecting to SSL sites that use an alternate port number? No problem! Check out this article for an explanation of the problem and a quick fix.
"The problem here is that the Web Proxy filter only forwards SSL connections to TCP port 443. If clients try to connect to an SSL site over a port other than TCP 443, the connection attempt will fail. You can solve this problem by extending the SSL tunnel port range. However, to do so, you will need to download Jim Harrison’s script and enter the tunnel port range(s) you want the ISA firewall’s Web Proxy component to use." (more)
To reach some of the benefits of deploying a Windows 2000 infrastructure it is important to limit the end-user's ability to make changes to the core components of the operating system. Windows 2000 system administrators now have the option of giving users local User or Power User privileges. Under these privileges it is possible to perform the majority of the tasks that an end-user needs to complete to get their job done. However, some non-Windows 2000 logo compliant applications may not properly run. While there are a number of issues related to application not running under a user context, it is important to distinguished between security related requirements and other issues related to application compatibility.
The Elevated Privileges Application Launcher, EPAL, tool is designed to assist a fairly narrow spectrum of the application compatibility issues. It only deals with the ability of letting an application launch under some other user privilege, so that it has access to certain components of the local registry or the file system. With EPAL the network administrator now has the ability of only giving the user local user privileges on their systems and have the application execute and some higher privilege level on the local system that they are currently logged on with.
Download
here (more)
Coming from WindowsNetworking.com:
New to Windows Server 2003, the Volume Shadow Copy Service provides users with a way of restoring files themselves without having to involve you. This article explains how to implement and configure this service.
Although I always believed that Windows 2000 Server was a good operating system, I always felt like a few things were missing from it. Take the recycle bin for example. The Recycle Bin was first introduced in Windows 95, and was included in Windows 2000 as well. The problem was that it only worked locally. For example, if an administrator was sitting at the server console and accidentally deleted a file, they could easily go into the recycle bin and get it back. However, if that same administrator was at their workstation accessing the server remotely and accidentally deleted the same file, it would be gone forever. Because the file was deleted from across the network rather than locally, the file would not be placed into the Recycle Bin.
The good news is that Microsoft has remedied this problem in Windows Server 2003. The bad news is that recovering a file that was accidentally deleted from across the network isn’t quite as simple as opening the Recycle Bin. Instead, the process is controlled through the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).
Continue
here
Always wanted to have a nice email address? This is you chance. Hotmail is putting some populair email addresses on sale. Among others, jamesbond@hotmail.co.uk, darthvader@hotmail.co.uk and bridgetjones@hotmail.co.uk are for sale on eBay. The money goes to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, an organisation that tries to prevent child abuse. The James Bond email address is the most populair and so are superdad@hotmail.com, fatherchristmas@hotmail.com and santa@hotmail.com.
Help us improve Windows Server by providing us with your suggestions and ideas. All feedback submitted will be sent to the Windows Server Development Team for review and analysis. Your ideas can impact Windows Server in many ways, and might even be incorporated into new Service Packs, Feature Packs, or the next Windows Server release.
(url)
Here's a tip a community member shared to make Adobe Acrobat Reader open up INSTANTLY! Look in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader, create a new folder called "Optional" if it does not already exist, but it probably already does. Go to: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\plug_ins, move / drag the plug_ins folder into C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\Optional.
Done. If Adobe Reader really needs a plug-in it will find it by itself in the Optional folder without issue. But it no longer will take forever loading every plug-in by default, saving an amazing amount of time. Thanks to Timothy O'Brennen for this tip!
From WindowsSecurity.com:
Are there security settings that you wish were in a Group Policy Object, but are not? How much time, effort, and administration time could you save if you had these security settings deployed through a Group Policy Object? I am going to unlock the ability for you to customize the security settings that are deployed by Group Policy Objects.
Continue
here
If you are a medium or large sized organization, you might have thousands of clients and hundreds of servers that you need to manage. Manually trying to manage all of the local groups on all of these computers is difficult, and almost impossible. Have no fear, Group Policy Objects (GPOs) are here! GPOs provide a mechanism that allows you to control the membership in local groups, and even domain groups, on any computer in the Active Directory enterprise. The specific configuration that you use for this task is the Restricted Groups GPO setting.
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MSN are trialling a new service that enables users running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to remotely schedule TV shows to record on their Media Center Edition-based PCs.
MSN Remote Record is likely to be released as a free add-on in the form of a powertoy in early 2005. For now those wanting to get onto the beta can do the following:
Go to http://beta.microsoft.com
Sign in with your Passport ID
Sign in with Guest ID: myshows (all one word, all lower case)
Click on "MSN Remote Record Service Beta"
Click on "survey" on the left side of the MSN Remote Record Service Beta Program page
Click on "MSN Remote Record Beta Nomination Form"
Fill out the form and submit.
All valid nominations will be approved. Once approved, it takes about 24 hours for the information to get through the Beta Place system and testers to have access to the Beta program.
NewsSource:
Neowin.net
VSS, or Volume Snapshot Services, is used in two ways.
To provide previous Versions of Files and
To ensure backup applications don't have issues with open files
In
this small article Sean Daniel tells you more about Volume Snapshot Services.
From WindowsNetworking.com:
The Windows Performance Monitor is a great tool for analyzing a server’s performance. The problem is that it can be complicated to use and the results can be hard to understand. However, Microsoft has recently released a new tool that will test a server’s performance for you and compile the results into an easy to read report. In this article, I will tell you all about it.
Continue at
WindowsNetworking.com
Microsoft are slowly selecting potential testers for their next Windows Server release, code named R2. In an email to testers today the software giant begins:
"Due to the outstanding contributions you made during the recent Windows SP1 beta, the Microsoft® Windows Server 2003 Beta Team would to extend the opportunity to participate in the upcoming "R2" beta program. The core of this release is built on the Windows Server 2003 SP1 platform and adds optionally-installable components that our customers have requested. This beta will all incorporate a number of key features that are of interest to customers who want to take advantage of new technologies available in the next release of Microsoft® Windows Server 2003."
According to Microsoft the beta will begin in the "early part of December" and will finish in Q4 of 2005. Microsoft have issued several Guest ID's for this beta but in order to prevent leaks the ID's are different (capital letters in different places).
NewsSource:
Neowin.net
According to sources close to Microsoft recent release schedules that have popped up on the internet regarding Longhorn are inaccurate and outdated. Today Windows Client Codename 'Longhorn' hit the milestone of M8-2. The next and final milestone before a beta is released is M9 which is currently due on 16th March 2005. Beta 1 of the much anticipated OS is due within May 2005. These new dates paint a picture of Beta 1 being released at this years WinHEC 2005 (late April) if it's indeed ready.
On another note, Windows Server 2003 SP1 is due to RC1 on the 6th December 2004 with an RTM due Q1 CY2005.
NewsSource:
Neowin.net
Eric Fleischman from Microsoft PSS has a great article on tools he uses for troubleshooting issues with Active Directory. "Often times people ask what sorts of tools and logging we use, and why we use them. I thought I’d share a few with y’all. These are some of the ones I find myself using more than most." Among other tools, he talks about UPHclean, FRSdiag and SPA. It is worth looking into his list if you are a Windows Server engineer!
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This is funny. It would seem that Microsoft's PR firm uses Firefox rather than IE. The company recently provided the press with a
screenshot of MSN Search displayed on the open source browser. An Alert reader of the Seattle Post Intelligencer read a
review of the new MSN Search and noticed something strange about the screenshot in the article, found a larger version of it and was surprised to find out that while the OS was Windows XP, the browser used was Firefox. Moving into damage control mode, Microsoft's PR firm denied using Firefox for any of MSN Search's screenshots.
On Election Day, NASA Astronaut Leroy Chiao cast his ballot from the most remote location to date: aboard the International Space Station, some 230 miles above the Earth’s atmosphere. County Clerk emailed Chiao an encrypted ballot, NASA Mission Control took the lead. By relying on its Orbital Communications Adapter that uses Exchange Server 2003 and Outlook 2003, Commander Chiao exercised his right to vote. According to Scott Curtis, NASA operations planner, “We have Microsoft Outlook onboard and on the ground and we do regular synch ups with the astronauts two or three times a day".
Microsoft is bringing 'Watson'-style online crash reporting to Windows Server, starting with 'R2' in 2005, sources say.
Microsoft officials often tout the company's online crash reporting tool, code-named 'Watson,' for helping to cut the number of bugs in each subsequent release of Microsoft's desktop-office suite.
Microsoft is looking to take the Watson metaphor to Windows Server, according to Microsoft partner sources, who requested anonymity. The result, an automated crash-reporting tool, code-named "Zephyr," is expected to debut in 2005.
NewsSource:
Microsoft Watch by Mary Jo Foley (more)
Software company Microsoft has lawyers who appear to have just made a huge cock-up when they came to sue a software outfit for using the word 'excel'. It turns out that someone forgot to trademark the name and Microsoft didn't own it either. Apparently the legal eagles sent around a cease and desist letter to Savvysoft, which makes Excel portable to Linux under the name TurboExcel. Savvysoft founder Rich Tanenbaum said Vole offered to make his company one of its partners while at the same time threatening it with trademark lawsuits.
Newssource:
The Inquirer
From Windowsworking.com:
For several years now, there have been rumors that 64-bit computing would soon become mainstream. We may have finally reached that point, but there are some problems. The market is filled with competing 64-bit standards, each requiring their own special version of Windows. In this article, I will explain what you need to know about the various 64-bit systems that are available today. As I do, I will talk about the limitations imposed by each.
Since about 2001, 64-bit computing has been available in at least some capacity. However, up to this point, 64-bit computing has been traditionally used by big data centers with huge budgets, and specialized 64-bit applications. All the while though, there have been rumors that 64-bit computing would soon be entering the main stream. Almost four years have passed, and it seems that we are finally at a turning point in which 64-bit computing may finally be upon us. Before you run out and buy a 64-bit system though, there are some important issues that you need to be aware of. In this article, I will attempt to cut through all of the speculation and marketing hype and tell you what you really need to know before you make the move to 64-bit computing.
Continue
here
From
Eileen Brown's weblog: I'm delivering an
Exchange disaster recovery event in the UK in December and we've been owerwhelmed by the responses to the event. It has been very well subscribed, and this makes me wonder if there aren't enough prescriptive guidance documents available on strategies showing how you cope in the case of a catastrophic event.
We've got a couple of documents detailing how to recover from disasters. The
Disaster Recovery Operations guide explains how to back up and restore critical data, whilst the
Whitepaper on using recovery storage groups allows you to recover data from an older backup copy of the database without disturbing access to current data. I got these documents, amongst others from the Exchange documentation library but I wondered, do we need to run more "how to recover from disaster" type events like this one, or do we need to produce more documentation? If so, what would we need in addition to what's already out there on the web? It would be interesting to know.
The ubiquitous banner ad has become the latest delivery mechanism for exploit code targeting a known flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser. During a 12-hour window over the weekend, hackers broke into a load balancing server that handles ad deliveries for Germany's Falk eSolutions and successfully loaded exploit code on banner advertising served on hundreds of Web sites.
"Users visiting Web sites that carry banner advertising delivered by our system were periodically delivered a file from the compromised site. This file tries to execute the IE-Exploit function on the users' computer," Falk eSolutions confirmed Monday. The exploit (Bofra/IFrame) takes advantage of an
IE vulnerability discovered and reported to Microsoft earlier this month. It is a variant of the MyDoom virus that launched zero-day attacks on vulnerable IE users two weeks ago.
(more)
"Windows IT Pro announced today the launch of the virtual lab phase of the first-ever IT Prolympics, sponsored by Microsoft and Culminis, the world's largest IT pro user group association. The IT Prolympics are designed to rally the IT community, reward real-world IT heroes and create a fun educational experience. The IT Prolympics are an exciting opportunity for IT Pros to compete among their peers to be named the top Active Directory IT professional in the industry."
"The seven-week competition starts by downloading and studying the free Active Directory and Group Policy eBook curriculum, designed to prepare competitors for the quiz and the Virtual Active Directory Lab competition. In the quiz, contestants will answer 20 questions to test their Active Directory knowledge. In the virtual lab, contestants will face the challenge of fixing real-world problems and completing an Active Directory deployment scenario within a matter of minutes."
(more)
The US Air Force has had enough of Microsoft's security problems. But rather than switch to an alternative, it has struck a deal with CEO Steve Ballmer for a specially configured version of Windows to be used by all its 525,000 personnel and civilian support staff.
Full story:
Techworld.com
This white paper helps you troubleshoot the most common problems affecting the deployment of Group Policy in a Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2000 environment. This white paper discusses the likely sources for problems with Group Policy application and administration, and suggests ways to identify the source of problems you might encounter. It also summarizes many of the tools (such as Group Policy Management Console and GPupdate.exe), log files, and other resources that you can use to troubleshoot problems with Group Policy.
Download
here
Administrators use Group Policy to specify managed configurations for groups of computers and users. Group Policy includes options for registry-based policy settings, security settings, software installation, scripts, folder redirection, Remote Installation Services, and Internet Explorer maintenance. Intended for system administrators, architects, and others who need to create and manage Group Policy settings, this paper explains Group Policy infrastructure and shows how Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), a new MMC snap-in with scripting interfaces, fits into this infrastructure. The paper includes detailed information about Group Policy processing as well as many best practices useful to the Group Policy administrator.
Download
here
Quest Software Inc. (Nasdaq:QSFT), a leading provider of application, database and Windows management solutions, today announced that it is working with Microsoft Corp. to provide a new Exchange Reporting Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. This new reporting solution will be available from Microsoft at no additional charge to those who have licensed MOM 2005 and the Microsoft Exchange Management Pack. The new product was announced at Microsoft IT Forum, where Quest is a Silver Sponsor and is presenting in several conference sessions.
"E-mail is critical to today's enterprise, and that brings Exchange management issues to the forefront. IT managers are asking for visibility to certain key metrics in order to more effectively manage their e-mail platform," explained Dave Champine, director, Exchange Solutions, Quest Software.
"That's why Microsoft and Quest are creating this solution, which Microsoft will offer to its customers at no charge. Our goal, together, is to address the industry's need for better management of the Exchange platform." The Reporting Management Pack will be based on Quest MessageStats, the award-winning usage analysis solution for Exchange, which provides numerous additional reports, custom views and business-level analytics.
(more)
One of the highlights of this week’s IT Forum was Paul Bowden’s presentation on the Exchange Best Practices Analyser (ExBPA). It was a very informative session. Given that this tool has been out for almost two months, hopefully by now you will have given it a whirl in your environment. If you haven’t, you’re missing out on something really good, and remember, it’s free! The tool has been downloaded 85000 times, which apparently is some five times the number of downloads of the IMF.
Version 1.1 is due to be released in the second week of December, with version 2.0 expected to follow early next year. Updates are published every two weeks or so. With v1.0 only rules updates are downloaded. Version 1.1 will download both new rules and also updates to the tool itself. The current issue where it can take up to 5 minutes for the tool to be useable on a machine that doesn’t have internet access as it tries to update itself has been fixed in v1.1. A cancel button has also been added. A MOM management pack will be included with v2. Additional localised languages will be supported in v2 as well.
(more)
Connecting users to your network requires more than plugging in a network cable. In this book chapter, you'll learn the specifics of authentication under Windows XP: the process of verifying the identity of the user attempting to access a computer or other network resource. Find out the inner workings of Windows XP Professional, whether you need total authentication services or interoperability with Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003.
Continue at
Informit.com
NewsSource
OsNews.com
Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 enables use of virtual machines for sophisticated computing configurations like clustering. Clustering is valuable to businesses as it provides high availability for mission critical business applications and computing processes. Using virtual machines to cluster server computers has the added advantage of allowing a server to take advantage of its full computing power by running multiple virtual machines on a single hardware device, thus providing redundancy without requiring the quantity of computer hardware and associated cost that could be required for conventional clustering configurations. This guide provides step-by-step instructions for creating and configuring a typical, single quorum device, two-node server cluster. The configuration uses a shared disk on servers with Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 Enterprise Edition installed in virtual machines on Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.
Continue at
Microsoft
Newssource:
Virtualization.info
This article walks you through the process of setting up an authoritative time server for a Windows Server 2003-based network running Active Directory. The article outlines procedures for syncing to both an internal and external time source, and also lists additional resources for configuring the Windows Time service and troubleshooting time synchronization problems.
Continue at
WindowsNetworking.com
