...will NOT be "Windows Vista Server". In a blog posted yesterday,
Ed Bott noticed "Windows Vista Server" cropping up in the documentation for Windows Mobile Device Center (the replacement for ActiveSync in Windows Vista). I can confirm that this is just an unfortunate slip-up on the part of the WMDC documentation team, and it will be corrected in the next refresh.
Although both client and server are part of a project code-named "Longhorn", and although the client team have formally announced that the client previously known as Windows "Longhorn" is now officially "Windows Vista", I can categorically state that it has never been our intention on the server side to follow the same naming scheme. In fact, if you
check our blog from back when Beta 1 released , you'll see that we were saying the same even then. We know that speculating on the name of the server operating system that will follow Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 is an exciting pursuit, but we're going to have to leave you in suspense on that one a little while longer.
Want to know which features are new in Windows Vista. Go and check out Wikipedia:
Windows Vista (formerly codenamed Windows "Longhorn") has many significant new features compared to previous Microsoft Windows versions, covering almost every aspect of the operating system.
The full extent of the new features to be included in Windows Vista has not been stated formally, so this is not a complete list.
Visit the Features new to Windows Vista page on Wikipedia
Exchange Server 2003 is a complex messaging system with several Exchange core components and services which work together to provide an efficient email system. Exchange Server 2003 highly depends on Microsoft Active Directory and a correctly functioning DNS system but this is out of the scope of this article.
In this article Marc Grote from MSExchange.org will show you the Basic core services in Exchange Server 2003 and how they work together. (
continue at source)
If you have ever worked with Microsoft’s Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) version 2.0, then you probably know that although it has the capability of scanning multiple computers, it can be a bit tedious to go through all of the reports for a large network. Fortunately, you are no longer confined by the MBSA user interface. Instead, it is possible to link MBSA into a Microsoft Visio 2003 diagram.
In this article, Brien M Posey from WindowsNetworking.com will show you how to use Visio 2003 to create an accurate diagram of your network. He will then show you how you can link MBSA 2.0 into that diagram. (
continue at source)
Optimizing PC memory isn't as easy as "just add more," and in fact there are plenty of times when adding more RAM is downright pointless. This column will cover some monitoring tools and techniques that will help you figure out what's really going on with your machine and when you do need to add more RAM.
We've all heard the mantra a thousand times: adding RAM is the easiest and most reliable way to boost the performance of a sagging system. And while that's usually true, there's a lot that goes unsaid in that homily.
For one thing, it isn't always easy to tell when you are truly running low on memory. Although Windows provides lots of information about memory utilization in various places, it still manages to obfuscate most of what you really need to know. This occurs because Windows either overloads the administrator with irrelevant information, or it hides the information that you really need in an out-of-way location.(
continue at source)
Just as Microsoft began its marketing efforts to promote its Windows Live services, including the vaunted OneCare security service, the company announced this week that its newly-promoted marketing vice president in charge of the campaign left the company.
The departure is a mystery among analysts and other Microsoft observers, as the company gave little indication for the sudden move.
"We've made the difficult decision to part ways with Martin Taylor but we don't comment on personnel matters," a company spokesperson said in a statement on the matter.
A day before the announcement, Microsoft had released an extensive question-and-answer press release with Taylor, who was promoted in March to build up the marketing campaigns for both MSN and Windows Live. He was expected to make the rounds with reporters and analysts this week to talk about the company’s upcoming plans for Windows Live.
A 13-year employee of the Redmond, Wash. company, Taylor was also said to be close with CEO Steve Ballmer. Prior to taking over his last post, Taylor had run platform strategy in the Windows group just as the operating system was seeing increased pressure from a range of Linux-based operating systems.
It is unclear who will replace Taylor in the position.
Adam, posting at the Service Desk weblog, announces that the marketing department of Microsoft just posted the first official Service Desk piece of literature. In the document, Microsoft talks about IT Service Management Automation and the role that Service Desk will play in the System Center family.
Adam also states that while the current working title is "Service Desk", Microsoft internally references it to SDv1 - as Microsoft product names are inevitably subject to change throughout the product development cycle. In the document, Microsoft has released two screenshots of the upcoming product
(click on the picture for full version):
Automating IT Service Management with System Center
SAN FRANCISCO--Google does not plan to use ads to pay for the free wireless Internet service it's offering in its hometown of Mountain View, Calif., and there's no secret plan to monetize the service, a Google Wi-Fi product manager said Wednesday. "The reason it is free is because...we want to get a lot of people on it," Larry Alder of Google said during a panel discussion on wireless projects in cities at the Supernova 2006 conference here.
The service, which is fully deployed but not yet available to all Mountain View residents, is a test bed that will help Google understand the technology, Alder said. He downplayed privacy concerns, saying users only need to have a Google account. "We still don't know who you are. We're not asking for a name or address," Alder said.
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Security in Outlook 2007 takes advantage of the status of antivirus software installed on a computer. This change represents a major departure from the way the Object Model Guard worked in the past. If Outlook is able to detect that antivirus software is running with an acceptable status, Outlook disables security warnings for the user. This allows external applications that previously had to resort to Extended MAPI or third-party libraries to avoid security prompts under the appropriate conditions. This new behavior helps keep Outlook secure without overwhelming the user with excessive warning messages.
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Microsoft Outlook 2007 AutoConnect (formerly known as AutoDiscovery) is a new Exchange Server 2007 feature, or more specifically Web Service, which makes it so much simpler as well as easier to configure the Outlook 2007 profiles in your organization. In order to automatically configure and connect previous versions of Outlook to Exchange 2000 and 2003 Servers, you needed to do so using the Custom Installation Wizard from the Office Resource Kit or a similar tool. But now the users can configure their Outlook profile themselves, as they only need to click next a few times and specify their e-mail address and password, depending on whether they're using a client machine member of the respective Active Directory domain or not.
The AutoConnect feature is provided by the Client Access Server (CAS) role, which is the server role that replaces the front-end server we know from Exchange 2000 and 2003. So in order to make use of the new AutoConnect feature, it’s a requirement that you have at least one Exchange 2007 Server, with the CAS role installed, deployed in your organization.
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There's been plenty of lively chatter lately about Microsoft Vista's hardware requirements, software compatibility issues, bugs, and more. Hey, it's a Microsoft operating system. And it's in beta--an easy target! (But try publicly poking holes in the Mac OS, and the hordes will come after you with torches and pitchforks.)
We've already seen that the current Vista beta is not very battery-friendly for laptops. Hopefully, the final version will have more robust power-management features. Otherwise, future Vista users are in for some boring cross-country flights. But this begs the question, how does Vista's performance hold up with regular applications? We're glad you asked!
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Official Exchange Server 2007 web site has a bunch of cool Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 demos that you can view on demand. See features in Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 for yourself: view these short demos given by Exchange Server experts. To view these Windows Media demos, you need Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Windows Media Player. For example:
Antivirus Protection With Attachment Filtering (110 KB) | (300 KB)
Anti Spam Protection With The Edge Transport Server Role (110 KB) | (300 KB)
Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 Demos
Windows Vista introduces Windows users to the ability to "tag" their files natively within Windows. These tags are "stuck" in the file using metadata so when you transfer one of these files to another Vista PC, supposedly your tag stays in place. In Windows Vista's Windows Explorer you'll notice a new column when in detailed view appear called "Tags". You can see what Tags your files have on them. For example, below are two screenshots:
Read more...
That's right, say hello to Windows Live Messenger, because it's out and it's final. Finally after months of anticipation, the first ever leak of WLM surfaced on the net, build 290. Within days it was in the masses. Two months later, the first official beta version was released, build 365. And now, after months and months of beta testing, Windows Live Messenger is finally out and about for the public to see and use. Build 8.0.0787 has just been released.
By clicking here, you can download the final build of Windows Live Messenger. Note that depending on your locality, you may see a blank page. No other information is known yet but you can all be assured this article will be updated as soon as we find out more! If you wish to view the site, switching to an American proxy will allow you access to the site. Keep your eyes peeled, popped out and ready to feast your eyes on WLM Final!
Windows Live Messenger (final)
Andrew Hitchcock posted some search engine usage stats broken down by company. I wanted to cross-check this with more data, and logged in to VisitorVille Intelligence. (Disclosure: I had VisitorVille advertisements on this blog last year.) VisitorVille Intelligence is a statistics software, so their tracker code is included in quite a few websites – and by analyzing referrer statistics, you can check which search engine a corporation’s employee was using to find a specific site. Here are some of the interesting bits:
Microsoft Corp: Top Search Engines Used
Google: 66.31%
MSN: 19.65%
Yahoo: 10.18%
More statistics
In September 2004, we released the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA). We followed up on this success in November 2005 with the Performance Troubleshooter (ExPTA) and the Disaster Recovery Analyzer (ExDRA). Over recent months we have been working on a new analyzer called the Mailflow Troubleshooter (ExMFA). Looking at our overall tool set, we decided that rather than continue to ship these tools as entirely independent entities, we would unify most of them together under a single umbrella application. This is how the Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant (ExTrA) was born.
ExTrA is essentially a union of ExDRA, ExPTA, and the new ExMFA, with a few additional things thrown in. ExBPA is not currently part of ExTrA. While we may consider this in the future, the current thinking is that ExBPA is a more proactive tool to be run at any time, and the others are more reactive to be run in response to a particular problem occurring. All of our analyzer/troubleshooter tools are built off of the same configuration-driven engine, so combining them together was actually a very simple process that did not require us to do any rewriting of the existing logic. (more)
Gates will be remembered as a visionary and PC industry leader. But even Microsoft's Chairman hasn't been right in all of his bets. The Chairman isn't always right. While Microsoft's outgoing Chief Software Architect Bill Gates has been ahead of the curve in predicting many technology trends, he also has backed some notorious flops.
Now that Gates officially has announced plans to relinquish his day-to-day company responsibilities by July 2008, we thought it would be a good time to look back on some of the less popular products and technologies championed by Gates during his 31-year Microsoft tenure. Some of these, like Microsoft BOB, have gone to their graves. But not one to retreat from what might look like a losing battle, Gates has continued to beat the drum for more than a few of the items on our "flops" list. In no particular order, here's are nine less-than-successful technologies Gates backed -- plus one he didn't that he should have but didn't – that will be part of his technology legacy. (more)
There will be two new product categories added to your WSUS server under the Exchange family over the next day or two. The new categories will be titled Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 Hygiene. The Exchange Server 2007 category will allow updates to be offered to Exchange Server 2007 product family. The Exchange Server 2007 Hygiene updates will allow frequent updates to be offered for the newest anti-spam and anti-phishing technologies for messaging on Exchange Server 2007. For now, updates that use these categories will not be available via WSUS.
Windows XP's Recovery Console is a very restricted version of XP that's been stripped to its barest fundamentals--it's got just enough to get the operating system going, with none of the usual bells and whistles. This skeletal version of the operating system is intended to effect repairs and perform low-level maintenance, and for those purposes it's a very good tool.
But it's also very limited. By default, it restricts you to working in just a few systems folders, refusing you access to any other part of your hard drive. It prevents you from using "wildcards" (such as "*.exe" to represent all files ending in "exe"). It won't let you copy files to removable media such as floppies. And you're always prompted when overwriting each and any file.
Fred Langa shows how a simple tweak turns XP's low-level Recovery Console into a complete, standalone mini-operating system--in effect, an XP DOS!(continue at source)
Microsoft's Windows Vista has a date with some of the world's smartest hackers. The software maker will use the spotlight of the Black Hat security conference in August to show off some of the key security features and functionality being fitted into Vista. Microsoft's appearance on the Black Hat stage is a first on many fronts.
Microsoft will be the first software vendor to present an entire Black Hat Briefing track on a pre-release product. It is also the first time a representative from Redmond Wash., will make an official presentation at the controversial hacker confab. According to Microsoft program manager Stephen Toulouse, the idea is to provide "deeply technical presentations" on Vista security to the hacking community. (more)
It seems that the french site of Microsoft has been hacked. Microsoft nor their french subsidiary are available for comment. This is the text on the page:
Hi Master (: Your System 0wned By Turkish Hackers!
redLine ownz y0u!
Special Thanx And Gretz RudeBoy |SacRedSeer| The_Bekir And All Turkish HacKers
next target: microsoft.com
date: 18/06/2006 @ 19:06
WE WERE HERE....
Hacked page 1 | Hacked page 2
Easyvmx.com provides a way to make a config file for a virtual machine online. Just fill in the specific configuration of your virtual machine and hit "Create Virtual Machine" when finished to download a customized .vmx file.
Goto the EasyVMX! virtual machine creator
Visit the EasyVMX! website
MCP Magazine has an article which mentions a few methods for changing the local administrator password on all computers in your domain.
There are a few methods out there for doing exactly what you're looking for. One popular method is documented in the TechNet article, "Windows 2000 Computer Startup Scripts." I have heard of other administrators running a simple Net User command, such as net user administrator pass123456, which would set the local administrator password to pass123456. For security reasons, this, of course, is never recommended. (continue at source)
With Microsoft struggling to keep up with the demand for Windows Vista Beta 2, tech personality Chris Pirillo has taken the initiative to publish the 3.2-gigabite download using BitTorent. But Microsoft recommends against using a third party to obtain Vista code.
Those eager to try out the first public release of Microsoft's next generation operating system have been met with slow download speeds and timeouts. The Redmond company has even recommended that users place an order for a DVD copy rather than deal with the download wait times.
In turn, Pirillo and Jake Ludington have setup VistaTorrent.com to serve a torrent of Beta 2. Users can take advantage of the decentralized peer-to-peer technology to download at much faster speeds than Microsoft is currently able to offer.(continue at source)
Fileserving in Windows environments is usually of critical importance. After all, if you can't reach your files or have to wait five minutes every time you browse a share, the heat starts to build up in the IT department.
In this article Michel Roth explains what the important parameters are, what they do, and how they relate to each other. Once you know this, you'll be able to tune your fileserving environments yourself.(continue at source)
Although many Exchange customers standardize on a single language, individual users may feel more comfortable working in a particular language. Microsoft, for example, standardized on U.S. English, but it has offices and employees from all over the world. Some of them may feel more comfortable using applications in their native languages, while still communicating in U.S. English. In Exchange 2003, OWA used the user's client language. That is, it used whatever language IE was set to. While this worked in some cases, it didn't solve the problem in many others. For example, a user at an airport kiosk in New York may have had to use OWA in U.S. English, when this user would have preferred Japanese.
In Exchange 2007, we've made this experience better for everyone, whether you're using OWA from a personal machine or an airport kiosk. The first time a user logs on, OWA displays the Regional Language selection page. The language he chooses here will be the language OWA uses for menus, labels, and other text.
Opinion: Who wouldn't trust a company that hid built-in spyware on every Windows-based PC in the land? It turns out that Microsoft's Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program is also keeping daily tabs on Windows users. Who knew? Well, until a few days ago, nobody outside of Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., knew.
According to an Associated Press report, David Lazar, director of the WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) program, Microsoft was doing this as "kind of a safety switch."
A safety switch?
Because, Microsoft told 'top Microsoft reporter in the known-world' Mary Jo Foley that "if Notifications went amok on Microsoft's side, Microsoft wanted a way to terminate the program quickly."
Amok? On Microsoft's side?
Help me out. I'm a little confused here. Microsoft wants my Windows PC to phone home everyday so that if Notifications went 'amok' on their servers, it would turn my local Notifications component off? (Continue at source)
The Sysinternals Video Library is set of six DVDs that cover essential Windows troubleshooting topics. Each video is personally presented by Mark Russinovich (cofounder of Winternals and Sysinternals) and David Solomon (noted Windows internals expert and trainer), authors of the official Microsoft Press book on the Windows operating system, Windows Internals. They are known from past Microsoft conferences to be especially informative and entertaining when presenting together.
The entire Tour of the Sysinternals Tools video as well as samples of the other titles are available for free download.
Due the HUGE number of people who are trying to download the Vista beta, Microsoft is now highly recommending that you order the DVD.
It looks like Vista has generated the most download requests for one file in history. This is a limited beta, so if that limit is reached before you get the download and key, you might not get it.
1) We are hitting a legitimate threshold as to how fast we can serve up the bits without affecting the rest of the Net.
2) People should consider ordering the DVD. While we are excited to see the huge demand, this is more about being good citizens and helping users who are waiting know they can order the DVD.
You can register, order the DVD or download Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 here.
Don Jones from MCP Magazine writes:
One thing about Windows that has always annoyed the snot out of me is the copious list of "trusted" root certification authorities (CAs) that Windows comes with, as well as Windows' predilection for automatically updating this list. With all due respect to the eight zillion CAs Microsoft chose to list, I have no idea how their certificate-issuing process works, and since I don't know, I can't trust them. After all, these folks hold the keys to the kingdom in terms of accessing Windows, and if they're doing a bad job (not that they are, I just don't know), I don't want them on my list.
(continue at source)
Just released and shipping now: brand new free tools to help customers transfer data from Lotus Notes applications to Windows SharePoint Services. The new tools comprise the Application Transporter a new Application Analyzer and improved Exchange-Lotus Notes Mail Connector.
Download at your leisure from:
http://www.microsoft.com/techn(...)ault.mspx
Also from:
Microsoft Application Transporter 2006 for Lotus Domino
Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes
The What's New section of the Operations Manager 2007 documentation provides an overview of the new and significantly enhanced features in Operations Manager 2007. This topic describes the child nodes appearing directly under it in the table of contents.
Active Directory Integration in Operations Manager 2007
Operations Manager 2007 allows you to leverage your investment in AD by enabling you to create AD based rules to assign computers to Management Group, helping to reduce the cost of agent configuration. This is also helpful if your organization uses images to deploy computers. Just add the Operations Management 2007 agent to the SQL Server 2005 image and configure the agent to get its Management Group information from AD. When you bring up a new SQL Server 2005, it's automatically configured to be managed by the specified Management Group.
Operations Manager 2007 uses Active Directory to manage authentication and authorization. AD groups and users can be assigned Operations Manager 2007 roles, leveraging your investment in AD and further helping to reduce the cost of deploying and using Operations Manager 2007. (more)
Today, Microsoft released beta 2 of System Center Operations Manager 2007. In this article I try to give some impressions on what's new in MOM 2007 (or should we say SCOM 2007?). First off, you will notice that there's only one console. Microsoft has integrated the Operator and Administrator Console, providing easier management and authoring. The console utilizes MMC 3.0, providing tasks on the right pane. The wizard that installs the agent on the servers to be monitored has changed also; it seems to provide possibilities to search Active Directory for targets.
Clicking on the Monitoring button to the left, you'll see a new overview of the agents and alerts. This is where you first discover MOM's new focus on applications / services. You define which servers and components (services, etc) the Line of Business application consists off and monitor that; the Diagram View gives you a representation. In the Distributed Application Designer you can define all components by dragging and dropping and connecting them like a flowchart.
Some nice new features in this beta are: notifications via instant messaging (!), Health Explorer, a new Management Pack format (.mp and .xml), integration with Powershell, role-based security and Management Pack templates. I'll try to post some hands-on experience and more screenshots in the next couple of days.
Screenshots:
Setup |
Console |
Monitoring |
Diagram View |
Distributed Applications |
IM Notifications
The Network Access Protection team write on their blog: "In my last post I committed to coming back and giving you a more information on the many enforcement options available with Network Access Protection (VPN, DHCP, IPSEC, 802.1x). With that in mind I thought I would start with 802.1x based Network Access Protection, let’s start by looking at the actors that are involved in a typical NAP deployment:
Client – The host whose health is being checked.
Network Access Device – The device provides access to the service, host or network.
Policy Server – The policy server used by the network access device to evaluate the clients request for access.
In the context of 802.1x based Network Access Protection, the client is a XP + NAP, VISTA or Longhorn host while the Network Access Device is the 802.1x capable access point or switch, and finally the Policy Server is the Longhorn Network Policy Server (NPS, formally known as IAS)."
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Network Access Protection
VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, today launched VMware Infrastructure 3, the third generation of the industry-leading infrastructure virtualization software suite that empowers enterprises and small businesses alike to optimize and manage their IT environments through virtualization.
VMware Infrastructure 3 builds upon the award-winning VMware ESX Server with Virtual SMP and VirtualCenter with VMotion technology used in production at tens of thousands of enterprises worldwide today and incorporates four new groundbreaking products - VMware VMFS, a next generation Distributed File System; VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS); VMware High Availability (HA); and VMware Consolidated Backup. VMware Infrastructure 3 incorporates VirtualCenter, the market-leading management product for virtualized environments for more than three years. VirtualCenter can automate and simplify the operations of a virtualized data center with several new capabilities.
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Whitepaper: VMware Infrastructure 3 Architecture
Microsoft has just released Beta 2 of their systems management flagship System Center Operations Manager 2007 for public testing. On Microsoft Connect, available at
http://connect.microsoft.com, you can download the Beta 2 software formerly know as MOM v3 along with documentation and other important information such as the release notes and a Scenarios document.
Key themes of this new version of the product are: End-to-End Service Monitoring, Microsoft Knowledge, Reliability and Security and Operational Efficiency. While Beta 2 lacks x64 support and only supports one Management Server, testers can see Line of Business (LOB) monitoring using this essential piece of Microsoft's System Center family of products. Andrzej has
more information on the download.
In this article from WindowsNetworking.com Mitch Tulloch looks at how to use Remote Assistance in an environment where your desktop computers have Windows Firewall enabled. The article gives an overview on how to use Group Policy to create a Remote Assistance exception for desktop computers, configuring computers to receive offers of Remote Assistance, and tips on using Remote Assistance. (
continue at source)
