Taking a much needed break from writing my upcoming book, Hacking Windows Vista, I started upgrading all of my machines to the new Vista build, 5536 (Pre-RC1). After first updating my test box, I decided to go ahead and upgrade my primary desktop as well. That machine has a fast enough processor and a graphics card that supports the new Aero a.k.a. glass interface, unlike my test box. Once the new build was installed, I went exploring to try to find all of the new things that changed. Eventually, it was time to get back to writing (I already a little behind on the next deadline) so installed Microsoft Office and configured Word again with my template from Wiley.
I was in the middle of writing about Bitlocker Drive Encryption when I needed to RDP to my test box. It was at that moment that I saw something shocking that I never saw before. Remote Desktop was showing my remote test box in Aero. It had the full animations, transparencies and effects just as smooth as on my desktop. I could even use Flip 3D remotely through RDP. Now I think you would agree that is pretty cool, but that is not all. The best part is that my test box has one of those Intel integrated graphics chips that have no chance of ever running glass yet my desktop was displaying it in glass.
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Aero Glass effect using RDP (screenshot)
Andrew Dugdell writes: "Beta 2 of Virtual Server 2005 SP1 ships with a nifty tool called VHDmount.exe -- Which does just that, allows you to mound a VHD and access it as a local drive. You can copy data into a VHD (and delete it out of) on the fly which is very welcomed functionality -- Getting updated copies of SysInternals tools into library VMs is now so much easier. I haven't tried mounting a Vista CompletePC backup yet, but it is on my list of things to do. Anyway, a quick screenshot is below:"
Microsoft today announced the availability of Virtual Server R2 Service Pack 1 beta 2 to active participants in the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta Program. The beta 2 release of the Virtual Server R2 SP1 includes:
AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) compatibility
Intel Virtualization Technology (IVT) compatibility
Volume Shadow Copy Service support
Offline VHD mounting
Active Directory integration using service connection points
Host Clustering technical white paper
And more.
Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta 2 (beta testers only)
Scott Savage has acquired himself a copy of the Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh, Build 4228. He has discovered all of the new Office icons Long Zheng talked about months ago has been implemented in this build. Long Zheng was right in some areas identifying what each icons represented, but wrong in others. He also have some of the file-type icons for the appropriate documents.
Apparently there is a problem with this build’s installation procedures on Windows XP. But since he doesn’t have Vista installed on any of his workstations, he is unable to test it out. But he did uncover some of the SKU’s of Office 2007 in an XML file.
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Nick White from the
Windows Vista Team blog writes about the process involved when building Windows Vista. He interviews the director of Windows Release Management to find out how all the branching and build numbers works. It’s all awfully complicated, so here is a diagram to help explain it. Windows Vista is a series of tubes branches. Idea adapted from
Tony Schreiner.
This would explain why 5700 (RTM branch) is ‘newer’ than 5536 (Pre-RC1), but built at an earlier date. I think their reason to have a separate RC1/RTM branch as opposed to a single branch is because they are going to be adding new ‘features’ in to RTM that will not be shown in RC1. I know Microsoft said Beta 2 was “feature lock-down”, that no more features would be added post-Beta 2, but the definition of ‘features’ can be fairly broad. For example, the new system sounds are yet to be included in 5536, yet they are definitely a ‘feature’. If my assumptions are correct, then the
slightly updated Aero Glass UI could even appear after RC1. It’s all too exciting.
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If Windows Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) could prompt you for this?
The soon-to-be-released desktop OS, Windows Vista, has been developed from the ground up and includes advancements in security and reliability, along with increased cost and operational efficiencies. For the IT professional, Windows Vista is easier to deploy, and less expensive to maintain, than any earlier version of Windows. And for your end users, Windows Vista's improved performance and reliability add value by allowing people to be more effective while performing their jobs. Get an early peek at improved security, management and productivity by experiencing Windows Vista Beta 2 virtual labs.
Visit the Windows Vista Virtual Lab at Technet
With
Office Live Basics Beta Microsoft is offering free hosting, Web site statistics, personalized domain name, and e-mail addresses during and after it's beta.
Easy-to-use Web site design tool
Get started fast with our easy-to-use Site Designer tool. Don't worry — it was designed with the small-business owner in mind, so you can quickly create your own Web site.
Free domain name and hosting
Select your own domain name (for example, www.northwindtraders.com) and let Microsoft keep your Web site up and running.
5 personalized e-mail accounts
Access your company e-mail using your personalized domain name (for example, jsmith@northwindtraders.com).
Storage and data transfer
More than enough space to promote every aspect of your business and plenty of bandwidth to allow lots of customers to visit your site.
Web site traffic analysis and reporting tools
View the success of your Web site with reporting that lets you see how often people visit your site, what pages they visit the most, and their system and browser information.
Support
Our online support pages are here to answer questions and help you get started by providing quick responses to your most frequent questions. One-on-one e-mail support is also available to address other questions.
Note: The page isn't working correctly yet, but it gives you an idea on what microsoft is planning.
Microsoft began sending out invitations to a select group of beta testers today to evaluate Windows Live Wifi Center. Currently, the beta is available for download on Microsoft Connect on invitation only. We have reviewed the current beta build and we are very excited about the functionality it has to offer. The software available on Microsoft's beta website is version 1.0, build 237:
The installation is straight forward. Installation requires the MSXML component as a prerequisite only. The installer configures several Windows hotfix updates and requires a reboot afterwards. Starting up Windows, the following screen appears, along with a taskbar icon.
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USMT was designed for migrating user settings when upgrading or migrating desktop versions of Windows in a domain environment. USMT 1.0 was originally developed to migrate Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 Workstation machines to Windows 2000 Professional. USMT 2.0 through 2.6 extended this to support migrating Windows 2000 Professional and earlier platforms to Windows XP Professional, and also supported XP to XP migrations. USMT 3.0, which is currently in beta at the time of writing this article, is designed to migrate Windows 2000 Professional SP4 and later to Windows XP SP2 and later.(
continue at source)
Windows Meeting Space (formerly Windows Collaboration) is a new feature of Windows Vista designed to make it simple for users to collaborate. Using Meeting Space, a user can share documents and applications with another user and even share use of their desktop.
Collaboration sessions can be established over wired or wireless networks, and can even be established between two wireless hosts without the presence of an access point i.e using ad hoc wireless communications (Meeting Space is built upon peer to peer technologies and therefore does not require the presence of a server to operate the way Microsoft NetMeeting did).
There's no intrinsic limit to the number of hosts that can participate in a session, but practical considerations limit collaboration to roughly ten hosts, each of which must be running Vista (Meeting Space is not available on Windows XP or earlier platforms and is not compatible with legacy collaboration tools like NetMeeting). (
continue at source)
Steve Marsh writes: "I was asked recently if our plans for web based Forms capability using the new Office Forms Server 2007 would include the ability to have these forms in mobile devices. The answer is of course yes it does (see no. 10 in the
top 10 benefits for using Forms Server 2007) . There is also a
flash based demo that is worth a quick watch that includes the line 'fill out forms from any common web browser or mobile device' just in case you don't believe the top 10 benefits about Office Forms Server."
Demo: Office Forms Server 2007 on Mobile Devices
Here's an interesting article about how "Start Me Up" became the official/unofficial anthem for Windows 95. See
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/.../archives/016913.html for Part I and
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/.../archives/016923.html for Part II.
One of the first places that you probably turn to when troubleshooting problems in Windows XP is the Event Viewer. As you know, Event Viewer maintains logs that record information about program, security, and system events that occur on your system. While XP's Event Viewer is an effective tool that you can use to view and manage event logs, gather information about hardware and software problems, as well as monitor security events, it does have some shortcomings. Perhaps the biggest drawback is that XP's Event Viewer does such a good job at logging events, that the number of items in the log can be staggering. As such, sorting through the logs can be very daunting. Also, not all of the events are well-documented and many aren't documented at all--often leaving even the most experienced troubleshooter puzzled.
Another drawback in the system stems from the fact that Windows XP has other logs that are stored as text files on the hard disk. This means that when troubleshooting problems, you may have to scan through a bunch of text files in addition to scanning through Event Viewer.
Fortunately, Windows Vista's developers have spent a great deal of time and effort on improving Event Viewer! (
continue at source)
These step-by-step guides will assist IT Professionals in deploying or migrating to Windows Vista. These guides will also provide step-by-step information on how to control device installation using Device Management and Installation (DMI) and manage ADMX files. There are also step-by-step guides to help you protect data using BitLocker Drive Encryption, to administer the TPM Security Hardware in a computer using Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Services, and to help deploy better-managed desktops and mitigate the impact of malware using User Account Control (UAC).
A few examples of the documents on the site:
- Deploying Vista Step by Step Guide.doc
- Managing Group Policy ADMX Files Step by Step Guide.doc
- Performance Monitoring and Tuning Step by Step Guide.doc
Microsoft has filed a federal lawsuit against testing materials vendor TestKing, alleging that the company is illegally selling the actual answers to its certification exams. Microsoft has filed a federal lawsuit against testing materials vendor TestKing, alleging that the company is illegally selling the actual answers to its certification exams.
The suit, filed last week in Federal District Court in Seattle, claims that the "defendants have provided and are providing, without license or permission from Microsoft, the original copyrighted exam content from Microsoft Certification Exams." Microsoft has always taken its certification programs seriously because it helps assure continued sales and proper support of its products. Apparently, according to the suit, TestKing is helping candidates cheat -- at Microsoft's expense. "We guarantee that by using our Microsoft Exams training materials you will be prepared for your upcoming Microsoft Exam, and will pass on your first attempt," say claims on TestKing's site.
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Microsoft announced the Windows Live Connection Center Wi-Fi Beta to select beta testers of Office 2007. In their email they write: "Do you want to be on the cutting edge of mobile computing? Do you want to be able to stay connected away from home? Do you frequently connect to Wi-Fi networks? Then you will want to try our Wi-Fi Suite beta!" Consider what the Windows Live Connection Center Wi-Fi Beta can do for you:
Wi-Fi Client
Discovery - faster and automatic identification of available Wireless networks around you
Intelligent Connection - choose how you want to connect to what networks and when
Help and Support
Security via Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A fast and easy way to find HotSpots without having to go to a webpage!
HotSpot Locator (HSL)
Easy to use website - Search by city, state, or zip code for a convenient wireless network
Integration with Windows Live Local - physically see the location of the wireless networks and even get driving or walking directions
Required Hardware / Software: Operating System - Windows XP, (Vista compatibility be added with RC1, currently scheduled for September 2006) and access to wireless hotspots. Note: the WLCC Wi-Fi Suite Beta will not run on handheld devices such as Pocket PCs or BlackBerries.
The Windows Live Connection Center Wi-Fi Suite beta will begin August 22, 2006 and continue through early 2007.
Steve Jobs' claims for the forthcoming Apple operating system raise questions of security, storage innovation and channel appeal. It can't be much fun to be a vendor of a mainstream desktop operating system. On any given day, one might face reports of a new security vulnerability. One might be accused of harboring, or even authoring, spyware. One might hear complaints that one's pace of innovation had slowed, with more time elapsing between less dramatic updates to one's crown-jewel operating system.
When Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs the week of Aug. 7 showed features of the forthcoming OS X 10.5, code-named (and most likely also to be trade-named) Leopard, he showed no sign of lowering the strength of the reality distortion field that he's famous for generating around his product and technology announcements. If anything, Jobs actually turned the knob up to 11 by claiming that next spring's general release of Leopard would steal a march on Microsoft, delivering to Apple users the equivalent of "Vista 2.0."
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It seems that Microsoft is getting ready to launch the first Release Candidate anytime soon. However, at the moment the link gives
“The Customer Preview Program is now closed.”. Stay tuned as it’s going to be launched anytime soon and order RC1 before it really closes!
Windows Vista RC1 Download link:
http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc1/en/x86/
Note: As you can see on this photo taken on TechEd Australia (by Long Zheng) Microsoft is showing the RC1 version on stage yesterday.
In this article, we'll touch on the relatively well-known concepts of security identifiers (SIDs) and trust relationships and two lesser-known related features called SID filtering and the authentication firewall. SIDs are fundamental components within the Windows security model; as such, understanding the impact of SID filtering and its affect on resource access across trust relationships is critical. (Continue at source)
This is part 4 in a series of articles on Active Directory. A list of the other articles:
Part 1: Dissecting the Active Directory architecture
Part 2: Cross-references, link-pairs and phantoms
Part 3: Related mechanisms and specifics
This download installs Service Pack 1 for Microsoft® Visual Studio® .NET™ 2003. Fixes in this Service Pack concern stability and security enhancements made in many areas of the product. A comprehensive list of hotfixes requested by customers since the release of Visual Studio® .NET™ 2003 and included in this Service Pack can be found by following the appropriate link under Related Resources on this page.
Read the Release Notes here.
Microsoft is set to deliver a new Windows Vista build—possibly Build No. 5506—to testers some time in the next few days, according to Vista testers who asked not to be named. The forthcoming build will embed links to a number of Microsoft's Windows Live services.
Microsoft is gunning to release the new build some time the week of August 14, testers said. That build may be 5506 or a slightly later build, they said.
On the Welcome Screen in Build 5506, Microsoft is including direct download links for Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live OneCare, Windows Live Toolbar and Windows Live Desktop Mail, according to screen shots of a Vista Ultimate 5506 build obtained by Microsoft Watch.
In addition, Microsoft is including Windows Live Messenger as an option selectable from the Start Menu of Build 5506, according to another screen shot of the new build. It's not clear whether Microsoft is completely replacing the Windows Messenger instant-messaging component that has been integrated in previous Windows builds with Windows Live Messenger, but it appears so.
Microsoft officials would not comment on Build 5506 and declined to say when technical testers would receive a refreshed Vista test build.
Microsoft, on Tuesday, announced that two patches in last week's security bulletin also pertained to Windows Vista. The specific fixes were MS06-042 and MS06-051, where MS06-042 was a cumulative security update for Internet Explorer, and MS06-051 addressed a possible vulnerability in the Windows Kernel which could allow a hacker to execute arbitrary code.
While neither security bulletin actually mentioned that the patches were also intended for Vista, the Windows Vista Security blog confirmed that both do in fact affect Windows Vista Beta 2 and later. According to Microsoft's Alex Heaton, the company wishes to keep Vista testers' systems updated, but it isn't necessarily the first item on Microsoft's to-do list, at least not yet.
Once Release Candidate 1 (RC1) has been made available, Microsoft will no longer issue fixes for Windows Vista Beta 2 or any related Community Technology Preview distributions. Also, after the operating system is released to manufacturing (RTM), updates will no longer be available for any pre-RTM version of Vista.
The only way to get a "skinny" version of the Windows XP Recovery Console onto a custom CD is to copy the necessary files from an installation disc to your rescue media.
This article shows you an extensive description of how to create such a CD.
Microsoft has launched a blogging software as part of its Windows Live service that makes blogging easier for technophobes.
While most blogging services require that the users has some understand of web encoding, Windows Live Writer features a what-you-see-is-what-you-get interface, so that it just requires you write and format as you go.
Uploading images and placing them in the interface has been made easier, as has adding maps to blogs. Simply insert a Windows Live Loca map into a post.
Best of all, it's compatible with weblog sites including Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress, and others, although it's designed primarily to encourage people to join Windows Live Spaces.
Windows Live Writer is available in beta
here
Security firm nCircle has warned of an imminent worm attack that is likely to exploit a vulnerability patched by Microsoft last week in the MS06-040 security bulletin.
The US Department of Homeland Security last week took the unprecedented step of warning Windows users to install a new security patch issued by Microsoft.
The warning followed an announcement by Microsoft that an attacker who exploited the vulnerability "could take complete control of an affected system" making it possible to install malicious programs or to change or delete data.
Owing to the nature of this particular Windows vulnerability, the imminent worm is likely to be widespread, fast-moving and could cause significant network downtime, nCircle believes.
"Peak infection could happen within hours. Many businesses will not be prepared for this worm unless they have installed the latest patch from Microsoft, a difficult feat given the short time between the patch release and exploit availability," the company said.
What is Office Live? In summary, Office Live is:
A offering for Small Businesses
A professional Web site, expertly hosted by Microsoft
A secure online workspace for organising and managing customer and business information
A complete set of tools for managing time, tasks, projects, and company data that integrates with your existing Microsoft Office programmes
If you are interested in Office Live, visit the
website and register your interest for the
Beta here. In the meantime, watch the
video; download the
Office Live Developer Guide Preview and also check out the
Office Live Developer Portal on MSDN.
Offive Live: Stream (6 mins)
What if a server held the secrets that would change small businesses forever? Click the photo and find the code. Movie "Trailer" presented at the Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 launch event in Boston, July 2006.
"DaSBS Code" Video Trailer: A Funny Video about Small Business Server 2003 R2
The Windows Server Division Weblog outlines some of the features which will become available in Windows Server 2003 SP 2 and Windows XP x64 Editions SP2. These features include:
- Windows Deployment Services
- Microsoft Management Console 3.0
- Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
- Scalable Networking Pack
- Enabling ‘Firewall per port’ Authentication
- Performance improvements for SQL Server
- Enhanced discoverability options in MSConfig
- Improved IPSEC Filter Management
- Performance improvements under Windows Virtualization
Read more at source
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will arrive with a significant number of new features – and respective licensing changes. This report is aimed at reducing much of the anticipated confusion. Exchange Licensing Basics:
Server: An Exchange Server license is required for each running instance of Exchange Server software. Microsoft delivers two versions of the Exchange Server license – Standard and Enterprise. The Standard Server license is typically purchased by smaller companies.
CAL: Additionally, a client access license (CAL) is required to access each user mailbox hosted on the Exchange Server – regardless of how it is accessed, such as through: Outlook or Outlook Web Access, any POP or IMAP email clients, like Outlook Express and Eudora, any email- or mini-browser-enabled handheld devices, like smart phones and Blackberries.
Exchange 2007: New Features, New Licensing
Microsoft has over 150 FREE Windows Programs available for download -- but finding them all is extremely difficult. On the website of "The Road to Know Where" you can find an extensive list of all the free Windows Programs Microsoft has to offer.
Visit the "Road to Know Where" website
Microsoft said yesterday it is
gaining market share on Research In Motion Ltd., the current leader in the wireless e-mail market. Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, said devices running the company's Windows Mobile operating system are "doing well" against RIM's BlackBerry devices. He did not cite market share figures.
Microsoft's push into the mobile market has much to do with its need to boost profits and a need to reignite investor interest in the company. Microsoft has been trying for several years to establish a foothold in the mobile device market with Windows Mobile. But analysts say previous efforts have met with resistance because Windows Mobile software does not work well, while some handset manufacturers, such as Nokia Oyj, have created their own cellphone operating systems.
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| 02 Aug '06 - 13:44 | kenneth van surksum | 
no comments | news source ~ Windows Server Division Weblog 
