Orb gives you secure access to the digital media on your home PC through a simple web interface. Orb streams your content safely to virtually any internet-connected device.
Simply open a Web browser on a computer, laptop, PDA or cell phone, log-in and select what you want to view or hear from your personal library. Orb's technology takes care of the rest. Orb's technology determines the best format, codec, bit rate, display capabilities, and network bandwidth available for a particular cell phone, PDA or laptop to view or hear the content. The media is streamed securely from the user's home PC to the user's device to provide fast mobile media access.
Download Orb remote access service
This spreadsheet lists Group Policy settings described in Administrative Template (.adm) files and Security Settings that shipped with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. This includes all Administrative Template policy settings supported on the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003, Windows XP Professional with SP2 or earlier service packs, and Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or earlier service packs.
In addition, this spreadsheet includes the following categories of security policy settings: Account Policies (Password Policy, Account Lockout Policy, and Kerberos Policy), Local Policies (Audit Policy, User Rights Assignment, and Security Options), Event Log, Restricted Groups, System Services, Registry, and File System policy settings. Note: This does not include security settings that exist outside of the Security Settings extension (scecli.dll), such as Wireless Network extension, Public Key Policies, or Software Restrction Policies.
Download Group Policy Settings Reference for Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1
There is a known issue with Exchange server installed into a non-default path (something other than %ProgramFiles%\Exchsrvr) where Security Control Wizard is run and application of resultant policy might cause Exchange Server not to be accessible by clients anymore. The possible gotcha is in the "Network Security" portion of SCW which configures the Windows Firewall. This portion of SCW is used to turn on and add exceptions to the Windows Firewall. Exceptions are added by pointing the Windows Firewall to the EXE file to the application that is exempt from firewall blocking. SCW however expects those applications (in our case - services) to be in their default installation paths.
Now, before we start to get nervous, we should understand that the SCW will indicate to the Administrator if it runs into this problem. In other words - the UI will indicate there are issues with services that were "not found", and the Admin will have a chance to correct this before any changes are made to server configuration.(
continue at source)
Modern laptop computers come equipped with both Ethernet and wireless network adapters. The Ethernet adapter typically supports both 100BaseT and 10BaseT. The wireless network adapter might support 802.11b (11 megabit per second [Mbps] maximum bit rate), 802.11g (54 Mbps maximum bit rate), 802.11a (54 Mpbs maximum bit rate), or a combination of 802.11 technologies. When a wireless laptop is undocked from its docking station, it has only 802.11 wireless connectivity. However, when the laptop computer is docked, it can have both Ethernet and 802.11 wireless connectivity.
This article describes how computers running Microsoft® Windows® XP or Windows Server™ 2003 behave when they have simultaneous connectivity to both wired and wireless networks.This article also describes workarounds for ensuring either that only one network adapter is active at any one time, or that the majority of the network traffic flows over the desired network adapter.(
continue at source)
At a meeting to showcase its latest technologies in Austin, Texas, AMD on Wednesday demonstrated its "Pacifica" virtualization technology, which allows a user to run multiple operating systems on a single machine. While this can already be done on today's computers, Pacifica requires no advanced software.
With the Pacifica technology, as well as Intel's rival offering dubbed "Vanderpool," the software needed will be built into the chip itself. While basic software is still required to switch between operating systems, the programs will be less complex and more secure than older methods.
(more)
Microsoft is readying the launch of its long-awaited Windows Server 2003 64-bit editions next month at its annual conference for hardware developers. At an Intel 64-bit Xeon event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Andy Lees, corporate vice president of server and tools business at Microsoft, said the official introduction of the 64-bit extended editions at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (HEC) 2005 in Seattle in late April.
Unlike the existing 64-bit version designed for Intel's Itanium, the 64-bit versions coming out this spring will support both existing 32-bit and 64-bit applications and show considerable performance improvements in select applications such as databases. This will enable more customers to integrate existing 32-bit applications and experiment with 64-bit computing on the same platform.
Microsoft announced Wednesday that it will be adding benefits to the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program it launched last fall, which requires users to validate their Windows license in exchange for special perks at the Microsoft Download Center. Users with genuine versions of Windows will now be able to download Language Interface Packs, or LIPs.
LIPs are add-ons to the operating system that will allow the user to change some of the commonly used features into their native language, above the 24 languages in which Windows is already released. Currently, 22 LIPs are offered through the company's Local Language Program (LLP), with plans to add more at the rate of "several per month" through the end of this year. (
continue at source)
The next version of Microsoft's Exchange Server--software used to manage e-mail, contact lists and calendars--will arrive in 2006, according to a company executive.
Andy Lees, corporate vice president of marketing for Microsoft's server and tools business, revealed the ship date Tuesday. Previously, the Redmond, Wash.-based software company had said the software would arrive in 2006 or 2007. The software, currently called Exchange Server 12, will incorporate new features to handle voice mail and faxes. The current version of Exchange Server was released in 2003. It's a dominant program in the market, but it faces competition from products sold by IBM, Novell, Sun Microsystems and others.
When you create a site, you distinguish between different parts of the network. Servers in different sites require different replication strategies. Same site replication (intrasite replication) is assumed to have high connectivity and is optimized for speed. Cross site replication (intersite replication) is assumed to have less connectivity and is optimized for bandwidth. You can use the AdamSitesPack.exe tool to create and configure ADAM sites.
Download ADAMSites Tool for Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 Enterprise Edition
The Windows Support Tools for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems. For individual tool descriptions, see the Windows Support Tools documentation (Suptools.chm).
The Windows Support Tools for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 can be installed only on a computer that is running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating systems.
It is highly recommended that you remove all previous versions of Support Tools, including beta versions of the Windows Support Tools for Microsoft Windows Server 2003, before you run the Support Tools installation program.
Download Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 32-bit Support Tools
Install Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to help secure your server and to better defend against hackers. Windows Server 2003 SP1 enhances security infrastructure by providing new security tools such as Security Configuration Wizard, which helps secure your server for role-based operations, improves defense-in-depth with Data Execution Protection, and provides a safe and secure first-boot scenario with Post-setup Security Update Wizard.
Windows Server 2003 SP1 assists IT professionals in securing their server infrastructure and provides enhanced manageability and control for Windows Server 2003 users.
Download Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Checked Build (32-bit)
Inside Active Directory contains over 60 sample scripts written in VBScript, as well as some LDIF, batch, and Excel files. You can download all the sample files in a
ZIP file or browse individual files on this page.
Both the ZIP file and this page also contain some additional files that are not included in the book (in the section Bonus Material).
Some samples of the scripts available:
- List Global Catalog Attributes
- List the Users of One Container
- List the Operations Masters
- List ACEs
Kouti.com
MSN Messenger lets you see when your friends are online and exchange instant messages with them. Send instant messages with cool, new emoticons, call anywhere in the world from your computer, see when someone's typing, page a contact's mobile phone, send pictures and music to your friends, and much more. You can also use this free program to make phone calls, send a message to a pager, trade pictures and music with your friends, and much more.
MSN Messenger Beta Home
If you are looking to roll out Windows Server 2003 SP1 on your Exchange servers and you are doing clustering on back-end servers, we have a hotfix (Q841561) that you will need to install.
“This problem is caused by some of the security enhancements that are included with Windows Server 2003 SP1.
In this scenario, when a user tries to access a mailbox by using Outlook Web Access, HTTP requests into the clustering API by impersonating the logged-on user. However, there have been security changes in Windows Server 2003 SP1. The security restrictions for the APIs that perform remote registry access have been changed. Therefore, the logon attempt is not successful.” (more)
Microsoft Knowledgebase Article 841561
Dare Obasanjo writes: MSN services such as MSN Spaces and MSN Messenger require one to create a Passport account to use them. Passport requires the use of an email address which is used as the login name of the user. However as time progresses people often have to change email addresses for one reason or the other. On such occassions I've seen a couple of requests internally asking for the ability to change the Passport account an MSN Spaces or MSN Messenger account is associated with.
Doing this is actually quite straightforward in the general case. All one has to do is go to the Passport.net website and click on the 'View or edit your profile' link which should have an option for changing the email address associated with the Passport. And that's it.
(more)
Dare Obasanjo's WebLog
This bundle of flowcharts helps you to troubleshoot Systems Management Server 2003 during the course of your day-to-day tasks.
This SMS 2003 troubleshooting content is essential reference material for SMS administrators that will help them address problems that are easy to resolve.
Download the SMS 2003 Troubleshooting Flowcharts
John Hann writes: In MOM 2005, when an agent dies and misses its heartbeat and cannot be ping’ed, the Management Server responsible for that agent creates an event on its behalf and an alert – “MOM Agent heartbeat failure”. Since this event and alert are owned by the Management Server, any custom alert notification rules you have setup for most other alerts will not be fired. To get around this situation, I created a custom Rule Group that applies to the MOM Management Servers.
(more)
John Hann's Windows Management Blog
Microsoft has been talking about the next version of Windows Mobile, code-named Magneto, since shortly after the last version came out. Last fall, for example, Microsoft Germany posted a number of details, with screenshots, of this upcoming operating system version.
Recently, however, a beta version of Magneto leaked out, and pocketnow.com has put together an overview of it. This version of the operating system, which is expected to be called Windows Mobile 2005, will have a number of significant changes from the current one.
(more)
eLearning is an effective and efficient system of self-paced personal training, available over the Internet. Microsoft has made courses available in eLearning form to cover several of the important new technologies in Visual Studio 2005, including Connected Systems and Smart Clients, plus Windows Server 2003. More courses are planned for the near future. The Windows Server 2003: Taking Advantage of 64-Bit Computing course provides detailed information for ISVs, customers, and developers seeking to migrate existing applications and functionality from Windows 32-bit to Windows 64-bit.
Windows Server: Taking Advantage of 64-Bit Computing
Microsoft posted a message late Friday night to the support discussion groups for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows Me acknowledging a problem for users of those OSes who installed a January 2005 patch.
"Microsoft has received reports about issues with KB891711 on Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows ME," wrote Jerry Bryant for the Microsoft Security Response Center (MCSE). "At this point, we have been able to confirm these reports and are currently working on a resolution."
(more)
Microsoft said Monday it has agreed with European Union antitrust regulators on a new name for Windows software sold in Europe.
Officials at the U.S. software giant said they had accepted the European Union's offer to call the European version of Windows sold without Media Player "Windows XP Home Edition N" -- with "N" standing for "not with media player." Microsoft's "XP Professional Edition" will also include the "N" for versions sold without the media player. (
continue at source)
Microsoft is poised to fire a shot to be heard 'round the business intelligence world later this year.
The company is quietly working on a realtime reporting server, to carry the Office label, that theoretically would deliver timely updates from all manner of back-office applications, several sources said.
The planned server, going under the code-name Maestro, is expected to hit beta this summer. It will be built on various pieces of Microsoft's stack, including SQL Server reporting services and notification services, as well as the score carding expertise from the Office group, sources said.(
continue at source)
Microsoft will tackle the growing fear of identity theft in its upcoming version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn, with a technology it calls ‘info-cards’, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The scheme bears a resemblance to the Passport scheme Microsoft tried reasonably unsuccessfully to introduce to its online services like MSN and Hotmail, as it relies on users being willing to hand over their personal data to 'trusted' companies.
Info-cards, said the Journal, will allow users to "selectively disclose information about themselves to businesses or others online". The software will store users’ personal information such as credit-card numbers or phone numbers and allow data to be transferred in an encrypted form "that can be decoded only by trusted Web sites".
Nat Torkington and I were discussing Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative not long ago. I left Microsoft in early December and had spent the last three years directly involved in various aspects of Shared Source work. The more we discussed his questions, the more we realized others probably shared the same questions. This article came from that realization.
(more)
Last week the Techlog crew visited the technet expert-conference given by
David Solomon the co-author of Windows Internals. If you have the chance to visit one of David's sessions on Windows Internals you should go there, it's worth it. During Teched in Amsterdam from the 5th until the 8th of July later this year David and Mark Russinovich will give more in depth Windows Internals sessions with hands on labs.
David pointed us to an article which explaines why memory optimizers are fraudware.
The Memory-Optimization Hoax at Windows IT Pro Magazine
To stem identity theft online, Microsoft may be readying a new ID management system for its Longhorn version of Windows.
The company will in coming months begin testing the new system, which uses electronic "info cards" that allow people to selectively disclose information about themselves to businesses and others online, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The plan would mesh with Microsoft's public statements in recent months. Scott Charney, vice president of the software maker's Trustworthy Computing initiative, has long advocated an electronic ID card system as a way to protect consumer data. (
continue at source)
The beta version of the SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for Oracle has just been made available. If you are interested in migrating your Oracle database to SQL Server 2005 take a look at:
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/migration. Here are the instructions from that page:
Visit the Microsoft Betaplace Web site
Log in using your Passport account
Enter the following Guest ID (case sensitive): SSMA_test1
Click the "SQL Server Migration Assistant" Beta program link
Complete the SQL Server Migration Assistant survey
SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for Oracle
"Exchange Server 2003 offers IT professionals major advantages. Not only is it far more secure than its predecessors, thanks to Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative, but it also offers advances in scalability, allowing for dramatic server and storage consolidation efforts.
IT departments should plan carefully for Exchange 2003, and create a forward-thinking plan that includes fewer (but higher-powered) servers, a simpler network infrastructure, and a more rational, clear and ultimately more cost- effective approach to storage. Following are 15 configuration tips culled from nearly two dozen white papers, reams of case studies, several books on storage and Exchange, Microsoft's own internal best practices, as well as the author's experience as a former storage analyst for Nucleus Research."
(more)
Get first-hand deployment experience through the Virtual Lab series. The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 hands-on labs will teach you how to set up the portal, organize content on the portal, manage user permissions, create Web Parts for custom tasks, and much more. As part of the TechNet Virtual Lab, you will have full access to SharePoint Portal Server's features and tools.
TechNet Virtual Lab: SharePoint Portal Server 2003
Thanks to our partner
xpmce.nl for notifying us: the dutch Windows XP Media Center Electronic Program Guide (EPG) has been updated to include program information on the following television channels:
Belgium 1
Belgium 2
TMF
MTV
Eurosport
Nickelodeon
Discovery Channel
National Geographic Channel
Animal Planet
Note: this only works for Windows XP Media Center Edition pc's that receive their TV-signal by cable.
(more)
When you turn on Out of Office Assistant in Microsoft Outlook, if you receive a message that does not have an address in the To or the Cc field, but it does have a distribution list in the Bcc field, an out-of-office message is sent to the distribution list that is in the Bcc field.
To resolve this problem, you can modify the out-of-office message generation behavior on the Exchange 2003 computer that contains the mailboxes so that out-of-office messages are only sent to the message sender if the recipient is explicitly named in the To or the Cc fields of the message. This new functionality is useful if your Exchange 2003 computer coexists with other mail systems that contain mailing lists that reside outside Exchange.
Continue at KB Article 825370
The search for the ultimate European IT Security Expert is about to begin. On April 4, security experts in 19 countries will be able to sign up to go head to head and prove they know the most about IT security.
Every morning for two weeks, security experts from Turkey to the United Kingdom will be competing by answering questions on the hottest topics in IT security. All questions will be multiple choice, except for the twentieth and final question. This open question is the aspiring Gatekeepers' last chance to demonstrate their brilliance in the area of IT security. Participants are able to register for the competition from 4 April 2005. The competition begins on 2 May 2005 and finishes two weeks later, on 14 May 2005.
Microsoft Technet: Gatekeeper Test
Slashdot writes:
"Adrian's Rojak Pot has a nice article about the internals of the Windows paging file. It explains what a paging file is and lists the differences between a swapfile and a paging file. But first and foremost, a large part of the article deals with the various methods of optimizing the Windows paging file, thus yielding a notable performance gain for people who are not overly blessed with RAM." (more)
Microsoft plans to release version 2.0 of its iSCSI initiator next month, and the software giant has added features that could make Windows-based IP storage more attractive for high-end users. Microsoft announced this week that version 2.0 of the Microsoft Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) Software Initiator is ready to be released to manufacturing and will be available via download by mid-April.
Improvements in the second version include integration with Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO), support for all error recovery levels, and support for Windows Server x64 Editions.
(more)
Microsoft has launched a new site called Crossfader, aimed at becoming a community resource and how-to guide for DJs and electronic musicians. Scratch that – specifically for electronic musicians using PCs, rather than Macintosh computers.
This isn't just Apple-bashing ad copy, however. The site is launching in beta format featuring a video shot and instructional interview with DJ Spooky, a New York-based music collagist with plenty of art and street cred. A quick perusal shows Crossfader seems to be serious about becoming a forum where musicians can swap ideas and tips on software and production techniques.
(more)
Crossfader homepage
Microsoft Corp.'s application of a mandatory "Security Development Lifecycle" for all its Internet-facing products has "significantly reduced" the number—and severity—of security vulnerabilities, according to a white paper released by the software giant.
The 19-page document, titled The Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle, outlines the "cradle to grave" procedures used for software creation at Microsoft. According to senior executives, the new approach represents a major change in the way that software is designed, developed and tested.
Michael Howard, senior security program manager at Microsoft Corp. and one of the authors of the white paper, told us that the SDL is mandatory for about 90 percent of all products shipped. It covers four high-level principles covering every stage of software creation.
(more)
Microsoft Corp. plans to fit out-of-the-box NAP capabilities into the Longhorn client due out in 2006.That's the word from Jawad Khaki, corporate vice president of Microsoft's networking and devices technologies division.
During an hourlong Web chat to share details on Longhorn Networking, Khaki disclosed that the Longhorn client will ship with capabilities to enforce security policy compliance powered by Network Access Protection.
(more)
Internet Explorer product manager Dave Massy has refuted claims made by Mozilla Foundation president Mitchell Baker that Firefox is, and always will be, more secure than IE. Massy attacks Baker's claims that IE is inherently vulnerable due to its direct integration with Windows.
Baker's remarks came during a speech at the PC Forum conference in Arizona. She explained that "not being in the operating system is a phenomenal advantage for us," and rejected claims that IE is only more vulnerable because it has more users.
(more)
WinZip Companion for Outlook makes it easy for users of Microsoft Outlook to zip and encrypt attachments when sending messages.
Zipping attachments saves transmission time, conserves space in Outlook mailboxes, and saves disk space for both the sender and recipient of the e-mail. The Companion can be configured to automatically zip your attachments, ask whether or not you want them zipped, or let you zip and attach files manually with just a few mouse clicks. Toolbar and menu items allow you to control the Companion's functionality on a message-by-message basis. In addition, sensitive attachments can be easily protected with the same built-in advanced AES encryption found in WinZip 9.0. (continue at source)
REDMOND, Wash. -- Mar. 23, 2005 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced that its board of directors has increased the size of the board from nine to 10 members and elected Dina Dublon, 51, retired executive vice president and chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase, to the board. Dublon was also appointed to the board's audit committee. (continue at source)
Daniele Muscetta writes:
"In our test case we have a Windows XP SP2 machine BEHIND an ISA Server 2004. We want to be able to set up an IPv6 tunnel on the Windows XP machine, so let it tunnel through the ISA server and get a public IPv6 address. We could have other scenarios, including the one of having the ISA server being the endpoint for the tunnel, and acting as a router. This would be achievable even though ISA is at this time v4 only, because the IPv6 stack, on the other end, has full routing features built in. Thus a Windows machine is capable of being an IPv6 router." (more)
Lawyers for the Public Patent Foundation and the Software Freedom Law Center are scrutinizing a patent held by Microsoft for which, one lawyer told eWEEK.com, Microsoft failed to disclose prior work done by the Internet Engineering Task Force. "This patent has been called to the attention of the free world, including the Public Patent Foundation,"
(more)
The ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edit
