Longhorn/Vista
I will be delivering two security seminars in SoCal next week.
Jun 20 at the Edwards Mira Mesa Theater in NE San Diego and repeating the same seminar on Jun 22 in Garden Grove.
I will be discussing three primary topics:
Session One deals with Wireless Security. The differences between PEAP, PAP, CHAP, WPE, WPA, etc. We will also discuss using certificates for securing your wireless network.
Session Two revolves around what to do *if* you are compromised. How you respond to an attack while it is happening and after can have a tremendous impact on your business.
Session Three discusses the future of security. I will be showing off Windows Vista and some of the new security technologies that it will bring to the table such as Windows Defender and BitLocker.
We will also have Connections, TS2 and MSDN at these seminars to provide a full day of access to Microsoft representatives for Consumers, Small Businesses, Partners, Developers and ITPros.
Come on out to see us!
Cheers!
…..well…sort of. It isn’t a bad thing either. Unless, of course, you consider randomly changing the load locations of DLL’s each boot cycle to help stifle malware, a bad thing.
Go check out Michael Howard’s post about Address Space Layout Randomization in Vista. There is also a brief article about ASLR over at Security Focus.
Cheers!
Well how about this for some cool news…..headline – “Windows bumps Unix as top server OS”. I kinda like that headline!
Cheers!
I am delivering a webcast later this morning entitled – Microsoft Solutions to Windows Update Management. The Webcast starts at 9am Pacific Time and I expect all 23 of you to show up! :)
Cheers!
I receive a lot of questions around Group Policy. One of the more common questions is about how to locate a policy in the large (and growing!) list of policies available. The good news is there is a nice reference spreadsheet that MS makes available for download here. Load this Excel spreadsheet and you can locate different policies easily and simply. It has seperate tabs for different administrative templates, Security Settings for Win 200o and also for Win 2003/XP.
Cheers!
Robert Scoble comments on how he doesn’t care for the title of “evangelist”. He believes there is a religious connotation applied to it (and he is right about that). He goes on to explain why he doesn’t want religious customers. He details this along with a link to Guy Kawasaki’s blog entry on the Art of Evangelism which I think is a very good analogy for what we do. I think Scoble is too caught up in the religious meaning of the word which gets reinforced by Guy’s analogy.
I am also an evangelist. I am an ITPro Evangelist and I also have that on my business card. However, I started out not liking the title. I have since changed my mind to embrace it. When my title changed from “Technet Presenter” to “ITPro Evangelist” I didn’t care for it for the exact reason of its religious meaning. But as time has passed, I have realized that what I do as an ITPro Evangelist is exactly what a religious evangelist does – I speak the good word about Microsoft products and technologies to the masses in hope of educating the masses about what we have to offer. Maybe I will convert a few along the way; maybe I will turn some away. But I believe in my company and our products and think they can help a lot of people with their technical problems.
I decided to go check out Webster’s to see how they define evangelist –
Evangelist – 1) Any one of the four authors of the New Testament gospel books – Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John; 2) One who practices evangelism, especially a protestant preacher or missionary.
That led me to look up –
Evangelism – 1) Zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel, as through missionary work; 2) Militant zeal for a cause
I also looked up the synonyms to see if maybe there was a better word for what we do –
Evangelist - advocate, champion, companion, converter, herald, messenger, missionary, pioneer, propagandist, proponent, proselytizer
I am all of those things for the company. However, none of those synonyms work as a job title as none of them truly convey the depth of what we do. Evangelist is a rather broad word that allows me combine all of those words to champion our products, convert the undecided and be a messenger both for the product team to the customer and for the customer back to the product teams. I think the word is perfectly appropriate in spite of the religious connection. If someone wants to spend all their time debating with me the religiousness of my job title, maybe they have some other non-technical issues I can’t likely help them with anyway.
Scoble doesn’t want “religious customers”. He wants “skeptical, educated, pragmatic” customers. I believe my role is to address the skepticism customers may have about our products, educate them about our products and give them the facts and practical information that allows them to use our products to solve their problems. I choose to do this by talking mainly about our own products where Scoble chooses to talk a lot about competitors.
I agree with Scoble that people should make educated choices about purchasing and implementing based upon a comparison of different products. I don’t think it is my job to educate people on 3rd party products though. The competition has their own evangelists. They don’t need Microsoft employees doing it for them. With so many products out there, it is very difficult for the average consumer and even the hard-core ITPro to know everything there it to know about all products. That is where I come in to make sure that MS products are being evangelized to the masses such that the features and capabilities are known. If we don’t then we become obscure. Without someone letting people know what Microsoft has to offer, we will cease to be relevant. Let the competition figure out how to be heard above the crowd while we focus on making sure we are.
Regardless, we are both evangelists and I believe the word appropriately describes what we should be doing for the company and for our customers.
So…..Hello, I am Chris Avis. I am an ITPro Evangelist for the Microsoft Corporation. What can I tell you about OUR products?
Cheers!
I would like some feedback from those who read (or at least glance at) my blog. I have been struggling with direction since starting up my blog and have finally come to a crossroads where I need to make a change. A couple of things have brought me to this decision – 1) There is a new version of Community Server that I want to migrate to and I am going to improve my hardware for my network. I like rebuilding my home network now and then just to get my hands dirty. 2) I have a tendency to blog about things that are interesting to me that I think others might find interesting as well. I also NEED to blog more about Microsoft products and technologies as I am an IT Pro Evangelist for the company. The problem is, blogging for work and blogging for interest seem to be muddling up the blog (IMO).
I am not trying to increase hits and readership so much as organize and structure what does get posted. I am even considering splitting my blog into two separate blogs – one for work and one for personal. The downside there is maintaining two blogs. The upside is organization and clarity.
Now….I work mostly with our “BackOffice” server products. I tend to gravitate towards Windows 2003, ISA, and Exchange (and all of their predecessors). I even supported the Small Business Server product as a whole from it’s inception through SBS 2000. I also have a passion around the Media Center and other consumer products (am I not a consumer?). Of course there are blogs-a-plenty on all of those items so I want to offer something they don’t, if I can.
So I would like some feedback from you. Do you like it the way it is? Would you like to see it split? And from a Microsoft perspective, is there something missing from other MS Product and Technology blogs that you want filled in? For that matter, is there an MS Product or Technology that isn’t getting enough or the proper “air-time”? What about podcasts and webcasts? What is valuable to you?
What it really comes down to is this – I don’t want to push a corporate agenda, I want to give you what you want. So…..What do YOU want?
Send me an email – chris.avis@microsoft.com or comment on this post about it. You can even, give me a call if you want – 760-695-7838 – if I don’t answer, leave me a message with a number and I will give you a ring back.
Cheers!
Thomas Hawk reports from CES on Dish Network’s new PVR and other HD goodies. I am with Thomas on the hope that Dish and MS (must…..not….be…..bias….) will sign some dort of a deal. Not sure that will happen given the recent MS/DirectTV news but I can only hope. I have been a Dish subscriber for many, many years now and have always liked their service. If Dish and MS could meet in the middle with content and Media Center it would be a match made in heaven for my houseld and many others.
Cheers!
I will be delivering some Technet sessions in Florida next week. Jan 17th in Royal Palm Beach and Jan 19th in Tampa. We are going to be covering a rather large set of topics including – New Features of Windows 2003 R2 such as Active Directory Federation Services, better Distributed File System capabilities, and benefits provided for Branch Office deployments. We will also be discussing some new features in Exchange 2003 SP2, and some great information on how to locate resources that every ITPro should know about to help make their day go a lot smoother.
I am looking forward to heading out to Florida next week and hope some of you make it as well.
Cheers!
Ps… I am delivering these same events in SoCal in late February. No registration links have been made available yet.
Presentations and WebCasts –
New Video & Audio based information for developers is located at these links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/archive.aspx
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=14
http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/dotnetrocks/
Extending Visual Studio 2005 Team System – Discussion on how Microsoft IT extended Visual Studio 2005 Team System to incorporate software development lifecycle methodology process by modifying the default process template. By modifying the process template developer compliance increased and external tools were eliminated.
Getting Started – Visual Basic Fusion with Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET – This presentation walks you through the Visual Basic Fusion articles and shows how Microsoft Visual Basic 6 applications can be extended with the Microsoft .NET framework. This video is the second of a two-part presentation by Scott Swigart of Swigart Consulting.
Beta’s, RC’s and CTP’s…Oh My! –
Windows Workflow Foundation Beta 1.2 – Compatible with Office “12” (Beta 1) – Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow-enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a Microsoft® WinFX® name space (System.Workflow), an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available (currently as Beta) for both client and server versions of Windows. Windows Workflow Foundation supports a wide range of scenarios including workflow within line-of-business applications, user interface page flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite workflow for service-oriented applications, business rule-driven workflow and workflow for systems management.
Microsoft Pre-Release Software WinFX Language Packs – December Community Technology Preview (CTP) – The WinFX language packs contain translated text, such as error messages, for languages other than English. Installation of a language pack is not required to run WinFX resources on a non-English operating system; however, it is recommended.
Note: An English WinFX language pack is not available because all text is in English by default. To download a specific language pack, select the target language from the change language drop-down.
Pre-released WinFX Runtime Components Tool – For best results, install on a computer that has not had pre-release versions of WinFX runtime Components 3.0 installed on it. If your computer has a pre-release version on it, follow the Uninstall Instructions below to uninstall these pre-release bits before installing the November CTP. You must remove them in the correct order to ensure a clean uninstall.
If you have a pre-release version of SQL Server 2005, MSDN, Visual Studio 2005, or the .NET Framework, you must uninstall them by following VS pre-RTM Uninstall Instructions.
Microsoft Pre-Release Software WinFX Runtime Components – December Community Technology Preview (CTP) – "Windows Presentation Foundation", "Windows Communication Foundation", and "Windows Workflow Foundation" are the names for three strategic developer technologies that Microsoft plans to ship in 2006 as part of the Windows Vista operating system. In addition, Microsoft is making these technologies available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The WinFX Runtime Components December CTP enables developers to continue experimenting with early builds of these technologies, get acquainted with the development experience, and provide Microsoft with feedback.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Help for Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications SDK – This help file documents all the POSIX style APIs provided by Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications.
Australian Daylight Savings changes in Microsoft Products for the year 2006 – The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held during March 2006 in Melbourne Australia. Several Australian states including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, have changed the Daylight Savings transition end dates to the first Sunday of April 2006.
DirectX End-User Runtimes (December 2005) Full Download – This download provides the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The redistributable license agreement covers the terms under which developers may use the Redistributable. For full details please review the DirectX SDK EULA.txt and DirectX Redist.txt files located in the license directory.
This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and English.
DirectX End-User Runtime (December 2005) Web Installer – Microsoft DirectX is a group of technologies designed to make Windows-based computers an ideal platform for running and displaying applications rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3D animation, and rich audio. DirectX includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX APIs.
Windows CE 5.0 Platform Builder Update – KB911711 – Fixes made in this update:
Component: Datasync
Description: ActiveSync connection may fail if a user attempts to re-connect to a device after failing to enter a password.
Tools and Apps –
PlaysForSure Portable Device Test Kit – Microsoft has established the PlaysForSure program to establish compatibility between music or video device and online stores that sell digital music and video using Windows Media technologies. If you are designing or manufacturing a portable media player device, you can use the PlaysForSure Portable Device Test Kit to verify that your device is compliant with the requirements of the PlaysForSure logo program. Please note that you must have a fully executed PlaysForSure Logo License Agreement in place with Microsoft prior to using the logo on your products or marketing materials.
Microsoft Domain-Specific Language (DSL) Tools – Using the Microsoft DSL tools you can create your own designer, integrated into Visual Studio, for a visual domain-specific language. The tools help you define the domain-specific language and generate the code of a graphical designer for you. The resulting designer uses the same underlying modeling technology that is used by the Class Designer and Distributed System Designers in Visual Studio 2005.
The Microsoft Tools for Domain-Specific Languages is part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK.
SQL Server 2005 System View Map – The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 System View Map shows the key system views included in SQL Server 2005, and the relationships between them.
BizTalk Server 2004 Load Generation Tool – This tool is intended for developers and IT professionals to simulate load on a BizTalk Server. Using this tool, you can simulate load to instrument performance and stress against a BizTalk deployment. In addition, this tool may also be extended by developers to simulate load for custom transports. This tool should be used in a test environment only, and should not be used in a production environment. This tool is provided "as-is" and is not supported.
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Sample: Deploying Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Solutions using Windows Installer – This download targets developers who want to deploy a Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office solution using a Visual Studio 2005 Setup project to create a Windows Installer package.
The accompanying article provides the following discussions of Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office deployment:
- An overview of the main steps required to deploy a Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office solution.
- An overview of how to deploy a Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office solution using the Visual Studio Setup project including how you can add the Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office runtime and the Microsoft Office 2003 primary interop assemblies prerequisites to your setup packages.
- The steps for granting security trust to a solution.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 – Update to the Web Project Conversion Wizard – The Web Project Conversion Wizard in Visual Studio 2005 has been updated to handle newly discovered conversion issues. This update will improve the success rate of the wizard and make it easier for developers to convert their Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web projects to the new Visual Studio 2005 Web Site project model.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Moving to SQL Server 2005 at Microsoft – Discussion on how Microsoft IT moved its line-of-business applications to SQL Server 2005. Additionally, this paper also discusses a number of details and best practices that Microsoft adopted to move its applications on SQL Server 2005 that may help other organizations successfully plan and roll out SQL Server 2005.
Upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 to Visual Basic .NET and Visual Basic 2005 – This guide is intended for software technical decision makers, solution architects, and software developers who are involved in Visual Basic 6.0 application or component development. It helps you understand the issues and risks that go along with upgrading to Visual Basic .NET. It also provides steps for preparing your applications for a successful and cost-effective upgrade. Finally, it gives ideas and pointers about how advance your application after you successfully upgrade it to Visual Basic .NET.
SQL Server 2005business Intelligence Metadata Whitepaper – This white paper covers several interesting and unique methods for managing metadata in SQL Server Integration Services, Analysis Services and Reporting Services using built-in features including data lineage, business and technical metadata and impact analysis.
Related Download: The SQL Server 2005 Metadata Samples Toolkit can be downloaded from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=11DAA4D1-196D-4F2A-B18F-891579C364F4&displaylang=en
Cheers!
Presentations and WebCasts –
Deploying SharePoint Products and Technologies for Enterprise Collaboration – Detailed discussion about the design and deployment of the Microsoft IT hosted collaboration platform. The platform supports personal storage, team Web sites, group and division portals, and enterprise services. With server farms centralized in three regional data centers, Microsoft saves both hardware and support costs.
Moving to SQL Server 2005 at Microsoft – Discussion on how Microsoft IT moved its line-of-business applications to SQL Server 2005. Additionally, this paper also discusses a number of details and best practices that Microsoft adopted to move its applications on SQL Server 2005 that may help other organizations successfully plan and roll out SQL Server 2005.
Hotfixes, Patches, Updates, Service Packs —
Update for Windows XP x64 Edition – KB903651 – See Below
Update for Windows Server 2003 – KB903651 – See Below
Update for Windows 2003 for Itanium-based Systems – KB903651– See Below
Update for Windows Server x64 Edition – KB903651 – Install this update to allow more than one domain-based DFS namespace to be created on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
Australian Daylight Savings changes for Microsoft products for the Year 2006 – The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held during March 2006 in Melbourne Australia. Several Australian states including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania, have changed the Daylight Savings transition end dates to the first Sunday of April 2006.
Update for Software Update Services – Run this script and follow the instructions in KB912307 to resolve an issue in Software Update Services (SUS) 1.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) in which all previously approved updates may revert to an unapproved state and the status appears as "updated". This script will reset your approval settings to their previous state. SUS 1.0 SP1 servers that were deployed on or after December 13, 2005 will not encounter this issue.
Tools and Apps –
SQL Server 2005 System View Map – The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 System View Map shows the key system views included in SQL Server 2005, and the relationships between them.
Active Directory Migration Tool v2.0 – The Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT) version 2.0 provides an easy, secure, and fast way to either upgrade from Windows NT Server 4.0 to Windows Server Active Directory service or restructure Windows Server Active Directory domains between forests or within a forest. The tool migrates users, groups, and computers between domains in a way that allows users to have access to their resources and applications at all times. Version 2.0 includes new features, such as password migration, a scripting interface, and a command line interface, that make migrations easier.
Also available is the Active Directory Migration Tool v3.0, which provides an integrated toolset to facilitate migration and restructuring tasks in an Active Directory infrastructure.
BizTalk Server 2004 Load Generation Tool – This tool is intended for developers and IT professionals to simulate load on a BizTalk Server. Using this tool, you can simulate load to instrument performance and stress against a BizTalk deployment. In addition, this tool may also be extended by developers to simulate load for custom transports. This tool should be used in a test environment only, and should not be used in a production environment. This tool is provided "as-is" and is not supported.
Case Studies, Guides and Whitepapers –
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Implementation Guide – This Implementation Guide provides the information required for a successful Microsoft CRM implementation into your business. This guide addresses the planning, installing (both hardware and software), pre-deployment testing, and operating tasks for the maintenance of the Microsoft CRM system.
This guide is written for the computer system administrator. This guide also assumes that any organization implementing Microsoft CRM software will have the services of an independent software vendor (ISV) or value-added reseller who is partnered with Microsoft and will help you with the entire process of implementing and maintaining your Microsoft CRM installation. Because of this assumption, there are references in this guide to these "partners" who are expected to provide various services to you.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Virtual PC Demonstration – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 release Virtual PC Demonstration. This demo is a one computer setup with Microsoft CRM 3.0 server and Microsoft CRM 3.0 client for Outlook. This demonstartion also contains Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
Microsoft File Server Resource Manager – The Microsoft Corporation Information Technology group uses Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 File Server Resource Manager as a centralized tool for managing file servers located in branch offices around the world. File Server Resource Manager is a suite of tools that allows administrators to understand, control, and manage the quantity and types of data stored on their servers.
Live Communications Server 2005 Document: Configuring Certificates – This document explains how Live Communications Server 2005 uses certificates and how to configure certificates for each server role using your existing certificate infrastructure.
Terminal Services Scaling and Performance on X64-based versions of Windows Server 2003 – Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 Terminal Server lets users run Microsoft Windows®-based applications on a remote computer that is running one of the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems. This white paper contains results, analyses, and sizing guidelines for Terminal Services on x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003. Hewlett Packard worked in cooperation with Microsoft to perform the initial sizing tests and data collection in the Microsoft Enterprise Engineering Center in Redmond, Washington. The tests were performed using Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1).
DirectX End-User Runtime – Microsoft DirectX is a group of technologies designed to make Windows-based computers an ideal platform for running and displaying applications rich in multimedia elements such as full-color graphics, video, 3D animation, and rich audio. DirectX includes security and performance updates, along with many new features across all technologies, which can be accessed by applications using the DirectX APIs.
DFS Operations Guide: Using the DFSRAdmin Command-line Tool – The Dfsradmin.exe command line tool is new for the Distributed File System (DFS) in Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2. Use this tool to administer DFS replication, including creation of replication groups and replicated folders, adding members to replication groups, and managing the location of staging folders. This guide offers step-by-step instructions for performing these common tasks by using DFSRAdmin.
SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence Metadata Whitepaper – This white paper covers several interesting and unique methods for managing metadata in SQL Server Integration Services, Analysis Services and Reporting Services using built-in features including data lineage, business and technical metadata and impact analysis.
Related Download: The SQL Server 2005 Metadata Samples Toolkit can be downloaded from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=11DAA4D1-196D-4F2A-B18F-891579C364F4&displaylang=en
Security –
Improving Security at Microsoft through Deployment of Windows XP SP2 – Overview of why and how Microsoft IT proactively deployed Windows XP Service Pack 2. Windows XP Service Pack 2 is a critical security release that addresses Internet-based security threats.
Windows Server 2003 PKI Operations Guide – How to configure and operate a Windows certificate authority, with operational scenarios, custom configuration information, sample commands, and best practices.
MBSA 2.0 Scripting Examples – Sample scripts that illustrate how to extend MBSA 2.0 for greater scalability during scanning and report rollup.
Cheers!
Scoble is at CES and linking to gobs of cool stuff. My fave is the 102” Plasma…..drool!
Anandtech has an article on the new ATI OCUR (Open Cable Uni-Directional Reciever) one of the first of I hope several cable and satellite card tuners that will pump HD content to MCE without needing an OTA antenna. I didn’t exactly have fun putting mine up!
ATI’s Press Release for the OCUR.
Windows MCE + DirectTV partnership announced by BillG at CES (Fast Forward to 56:00). Yahoo picked this up as well along with other notes from CES. And finally, DirectTV’s Press Release on this (no mention of MCE though)
Press Release on HD-DVD Support for XBox 360. More on this from GameSpot
Gary Krakow talks about Slingbox gets even better by delivering movie content to mobile devices.
Cheers!
Press Release!
Finally! Though I have nothing against my STB’s (they are hidden out of site anyway), I will be happy to get rid of the extra cabling needed to support them. Anytime I eliminate wiring it makes me happy.
Also, if I read the article correctly, this makes getting an XBox 360 more appealing since we will be able to stream that HD content to an XBox 360 that is acting as a Media Center Extender (MCX). For that matter the article implies we can stream the HD content to a PC!
Cheers!
Security Fix for DirectX 8 — DirectX consists of a set of low-level Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) used by Windows programs for multimedia support. Within DirectX, the DirectShow technology performs client-side audio and video sourcing, manipulation and rendering.
There are two buffer overruns with identical effects in the function used by DirectShow to check parameters in a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) file. A security vulnerability results because it would be possible for a malicious user to attempt to exploit these flaws and execute code in the security context of the logged on user.
Internet Explorer 6 Spervice Pack 1 — Internet Explorer 6 SP1, the latest version of Internet Explorer for users not running Windows XP, provides a flexible and reliable browsing experience with enhanced Web privacy features for all Windows users. This version includes a full installation of the Web browser and the most recent version of Outlook Express, the e-mail client that is included with Internet Explorer.
Anti-phishing White Paper — The focus of this white paper is to describe the basic workings of a new capability, the Microsoft® Phishing Filter, which will be included in the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7, and as an add-in to the MSN Search Toolbar. The Microsoft Phishing Filter will not only help provide consumers with a dynamic system of warning and protection against potential phishing attacks, but — more important — it will also benefit legitimate ISPs and Web commerce site developers that want to try to ensure that their brands are not being “spoofed” to propagate scams and that their legitimate outreach to customers is not confusing or misinterpreted by filtering software.
Mobile Vista Inrtroduction — Mobile Vista Introduction
Microsoft Identity and Access Management Series — The overview describes the series, how it is structured and provides information about the following:
- How to access the Tools and Templates
- Style conventions in the papers
- Consulting services and system integrators
- Independent hardware and software vendors
Setting up IPSec Domain and Server Isolation in a Test Lab — The objective of setting up domain isolation in a test lab is to configure a test lab network in which isolated domain member computers accept only authenticated communications initiated from other domain member computers, while ignoring communications initiated from non-isolated computers outside the isolated domain. The objective of setting up group-specific server isolation in a test lab is to configure a test lab network in which a server computer accepts only authenticated communications initiated from domain member computers that are members of a specific security group, while ignoring communications initiated from non-isolated computers outside the isolated domain and isolated computers that are not members of a specific security group.
Multilingual Interface Package for Windows Messenger 5.1 — For Windows XP Multilingual User Interface users, the Multilingual UI Pack for Windows Messenger 5.1 is available from this page. Windows Messenger allows real-time communication with other contacts who are using instant messaging (IM) services including those provided by the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as offered by Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. Windows Messenger also provides connectivity to the Microsoft .NET Messenger service and is the IM client of choice for businesses in managed environments.
Federated Identity and Access Resource Kit for Sept 2005 CTP — Microsoft Federated Identity and Access Resource Kit Sept 2005 Community Technology Preview includes samples of Security Token Services and step by step instructions on how to build WCF applications/services that integrate with "InfoCard".
Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP — The Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP provides a simple and effective way to defend shared computers from untrusted users and malicious software, safeguard system resources, and enhance and simplify the user experience. The Toolkit runs on genuine copies of Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
Cheers!
Windows Vista UX Guidelines — Use this page to download a preliminary draft of the Microsoft Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines (or “UX Guide” for short). These guidelines contain information on What’s New in Windows Vista, design principles, guidelines for controls, text, windows, and aesthetics. They will help designers and developers create high quality, consistent Windows Vista applications.
Cheers!
Introduction to Server and Domain Isolation with Microsoft Windows — You can mitigate some of the risks associated with unauthorized and potentially unfriendly access to your network and its resources by creating an isolated network. There are different ways to create an isolated network. With the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, you can create an isolated network by using the Active Directory® directory service and Group Policy settings to isolate both your domain and domain member servers that store sensitive data, thus limiting access to only authenticated and authorized users.
Server Isolation with Microsoft Windows Explained — This paper provides a detailed overview of server isolation in the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems. It explains how server isolation protects isolated servers and describes the benefits of deploying server isolation in your IT environment. It also provides a brief overview of how to deploy server isolation. This paper is intended for IT professionals in organizations that are investigating using the Microsoft implementation of Internet Protocol security (IPsec) in Windows to deploy server isolation.
Domain Isolation with Microsoft Windows Explained — This paper provides a detailed overview of domain isolation in the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems. It explains how domain isolation protects domain member computers and describes the benefits of deploying domain isolation in your IT environment. It also provides a brief overview of how to deploy domain isolation. This paper is intended for IT professionals in organizations that are investigating using the Microsoft implementation of Internet Protocol security (IPsec) in Windows to deploy domain isolation.
Windows Server 2003 Internet Authentication Service (IAS) Operations Guide — The Internet Authentication Service (IAS) Operations Guide provides administration information for IAS in the Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) operating systems. IAS is the Microsoft implementation of the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol, and can be configured to act as a RADIUS server and proxy, providing centralized network access management. You can also configure IAS to perform authorization locally while forwarding authentication requests to a remote RADIUS server group. In addition, you can customize the processing of accounting requests, processing them locally or forwarding them to other RADIUS servers.
Configuring Internet Authentication Service (IAS) for Network Access Protection (NAP) in Windows Server “Longhorn” Beta 1 — A network administrator configures Network Access Protection (NAP) health policies and enforcement behavior on an Internet Authentication Service (IAS) server running Microsoft® Windows Server™ Longhorn Beta 1. NAP health policies and enforcement behavior settings consist of connection request policies, Network Access Protection settings, and remote access policies. Each of these sets of settings plays a role in determining the health state of a client and limiting the access of noncompliant computers. This white paper describes the configuration of IAS for NAP and how the different sets of settings interact to create a customized health determination and enforcement solution.
XP Embedded SP1 Security Update – This Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 1 component update addresses seven (7) new or reissued security bulletins. After applying this package to an XP Embedded database, the following issues will be resolved:
XP Embedded SP2 Security Update — This Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 component update addresses five (5) new or reissued security bulletins. After applying this package to an XP Embedded database, the following issues will be resolved:
Cheers!