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May 2006 - Posts

How to toggle Aero Glass on and off in Windows Vista

Thanks to Robert McLaws for commenting on this post to correct me - the following information is obsolete - please ignore! Very weird I know but the key combination you need to switch Aero Glass on / off (given that your system's configured Read More
posted Friday, May 26, 2006 3:29 PM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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How to project or use an external monitor from Windows Vista whilst running Aero Glass

I'm still struggling with this one. If you know of a reliable way to project or use an external monitor from Windows Vista Beta 2 with Aero Glass then please hit the comment button. I realise that most of you probably haven't had time / access to the Read More
posted Friday, May 26, 2006 3:24 PM by Steve Lamb | 3 Comments
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How to restore the display on Windows Vista following hibernation

OK so there is a minor practical problem with Windows Vista in it's current Beta form - if you suspend or hibernate your system the display doesn't come back up (on my machine anyway). Thanks to James for sharing with me the tip to get it to come back Read More
posted Friday, May 26, 2006 3:19 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to get Aero Glass working on Windows Vista Beta 2

As many of you know Aero Glass is the name given to the beautiful high-end interface of Windows Vista. As we've released Beta 2 (build 5384.4) to MSDN (and very soon to TechNet - this delta will dissapear very soon) then many of you will be able to install Read More
posted Friday, May 26, 2006 11:49 AM by Steve Lamb | 13 Comments
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What makes Windows Vista more secure than Windows XP? Here's a white paper that gives an overview of the security features of Windows Vista

Thanks to Michael Howard for posting about "Windows Vista Security Enhancements". Michael's post links to a white paper that gives a relatively high level technical overview of the security systems of Windows Vista. The paper titled "Microsoft Windows Read More
posted Friday, May 26, 2006 9:12 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Announcing TechEd for Developers and TechEd for Infrastructure (ITForum) including an early bird discount

TechEd for Developers and TechEd for IT Pros (Infrastructure - formely known as ITForum) are ready for early registration - if you register before 31st July 2006 you'll receive an early bird discount. The developer oriented sessions run from the Read More
posted Thursday, May 25, 2006 2:48 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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It's amazing quite how much Spam's out there

According to Postini 73% of e-mail is spam! Read More
posted Wednesday, May 24, 2006 9:06 PM by Steve Lamb | 2 Comments
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They've Stolen our Minis! - introducing Partner Technical Specialist Television (PTS-TV)

Those of you who read about our GetSafeOnline roadtrip (back in November 2005) may recall that we toured the country (actually England & Scotland) in ten branded Minis. We visited twelve Cities in ten days with the aim of spreading the word Read More
posted Friday, May 19, 2006 7:50 PM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Announcing the new "BlogFather"!!

OK so this has nothing whatsoever to do with Security but it's Friday afternoon and I want to share with you the wonderful term "BlogFather" - it made me laugh when I read it. The Internet Explorer team blog is about to be lead by Anurag as Al's moving Read More
posted Friday, May 19, 2006 4:44 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Microsoft intend to acquire Whale Communications - they're a "leading provider of SSL VPN" technologies

Our PressPass announcement provides more information about the stated intent to acquire Whale Communications. Whale Communications are well known as a provider of SSL VPN and Application Security Technologies. What's your view about the role Read More
posted Thursday, May 18, 2006 4:07 PM by Steve Lamb | 4 Comments
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When is Kim Cameron speaking in London about Identity Management?

Following Rafal's excellent Identity Management event in Reading today many people asked when they could hear from Kim Cameron in person - as I mentioned Kim's kindly agreed to speak at our Security Summit in London on the 5th July. As is the norm with Read More
posted Wednesday, May 17, 2006 8:28 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Our Cat Killed the TV - why we're not going HD

Whilst we were on holiday a few weeks ago one of our cats was sick INTO the back of our television! She likes to sit up there as it's nice and warm. Fortunately she wasn't hurt though the TV faired less well. We were left with a dilema as we had to Read More
posted Wednesday, May 17, 2006 8:18 PM by Steve Lamb | 8 Comments
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How does InfoCard work? Here's a link to a technical video that explains all

Browse to the Channel9 InfoCard video - it's an hour long and promises the following Nigel Watling, InfoCard Technical Evangelist, leads an in depth discussion of how InfoCard works, how it's designed (and why) and how it will evolve in the future(great Read More
posted Tuesday, May 16, 2006 4:16 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How can I get hold of Windows Vista Beta software? How much is TechNet Plus?

Following my post about recent builds of Windows Vista I received a comment from hir8er pertaining to frustration about the cost or difficulty of getting hold of the Beta software. This is the only blog post I've written over the last couple of years Read More
posted Friday, May 12, 2006 7:53 AM by Steve Lamb | 19 Comments
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We're getting really close to Beta 2 of Windows Vista - I've moved across to one of the latest builds

I'm on 5353 which is really stable - so much so I've moved to it for my production system. Having said that the official advice remains "this is a test build and therefore shouldn't be relied upon in production". I like living on "the bleading edge of Read More
posted Thursday, May 11, 2006 10:09 PM by Steve Lamb | 5 Comments
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Introducing the idea of a "JourneyThrough" a new technology

"JourneyThrough" is a term I made up last week to signify a way of linking a series of blog entries to take the reader on a journey to introduce a new technology. The idea being that the audience may be entirely new to a technology (in the dark) and Read More
posted Thursday, May 11, 2006 11:31 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to simplify the creation and maintenance of Internet Protocol (IPsec) security filters in a Windows Server 2003-based environment

There's a new hotfix for IPsec that makes life much easier for those of you who are interested in taking advantage of network traffic signing encryption and filtering. IPsec is a great way to enforce trust boundaries between groups of Server and Domains Read More
posted Thursday, May 11, 2006 10:11 AM by Steve Lamb | 2 Comments
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Why do we treat Trust as a Binary property?

In security circles we tend to view Trust as a Binary property - either we trust someone or we don't. Our application of security controls tends to mirror this. Surely we should reflect that there are degrees of trust. I trust a very small number of intimate Read More
posted Wednesday, May 10, 2006 7:40 PM by Steve Lamb | 4 Comments
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Webcast showing how to make the most of Internet Security and Acceleration Server to bolster your perimeter defences

Richard Warren's session titled "Leveraging your Active Directory for Perimeter Defence" is available for free viewing - just follow the link. The session was described as follows: "This session highlights the advantages of using Internet Security and Read More
posted Tuesday, May 09, 2006 11:56 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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The Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP) Team have a blog at last

Thanks to Jeffrey Centex for posting about the NAP team's blog. There are some interesting posts discussing Network Access Protection (NAP) including comment from the RSA Security show. Read More
posted Tuesday, May 09, 2006 11:43 AM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Where can I find out about Phishing trends and combat measures?

The Anti-Phishing Working group site is an excellent resource as it contains details of everything you (OK most people!) could ever want to know about Phishing. The site includes an interesting paper titled "Online Identity Theft: Phishing Technology, Read More
posted Tuesday, May 09, 2006 10:49 AM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Michael Howard's written another book - this time on the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL)

I'm really pleased to let you know that Michael Howard and Steve Lipner (both Microsoft security experts) have written a book detailing the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). If it's half as good as "Writing Secure Code" then it'll be well worth a Read More
posted Monday, May 08, 2006 8:17 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Over the next few week's I'll teach you all about Network Access Protection

Over the coming weeks I'm embarking on a journey through the wonders and mysteries of Windows Vista's Network Access Protection (NAP). All of the content for this journey will be tagged as "JourneyThrough: Network Access Protection". Through a series Read More
posted Friday, May 05, 2006 6:01 PM by Steve Lamb | 4 Comments
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The InfoSec slides ARE NOW available - broken links are now fixed

Browse here to access the slides yourself. This follows yesterday's post which indicated that the links were broken - thanks to Craig et al who verified the problem. Read More
posted Friday, May 05, 2006 11:16 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Where can I download the Microsoft Security Academy slides for InfoSec 2006?

Click here to download all presentations as used for InfoSec 2006's Microsoft Security Academy. The content includes the following: Secure Messaging (PowerPoint document - 2.1 Mb)  Secure against Malware (PowerPoint document - 4.0 Mb)  Securing Read More
posted Thursday, May 04, 2006 8:42 PM by Steve Lamb | 2 Comments
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Excellent security resources I've mentioned at InfoSec, the Technical (TechNet & MSDN) Roadshow and at TechEd / IT Forum

Spurred on by Anil John's (** Edited to correct my earlier typo - sorry Anil **) post (referred to here) here's my list of key security resources - it's not meant to be exhaustive! “Security Matters” Blog ! Prescriptive Guidance, More Prescriptive Read More
posted Wednesday, May 03, 2006 10:44 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Here are some handy Security links for Microsoft technologeis

Thanks to the dotnetslackers for their post about a "Microsoft Security Resource Guide" - they link to the resource itself which is located on Anil John's blog. Anil has taken the time to put together a list of recommended resources for Microsoft Security Read More
posted Wednesday, May 03, 2006 10:38 AM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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What's new in Windows Vista Group Policy?

Check out Rodney's post (he's "The Lazy Admin") detailing the changes to Group Policy in Windows Vista - we've doubled the number of Group Policy Objects! Windows XP Service Pack 2 added a wealth of new GPOs - Windows Vista goes a stage further. Read More
posted Tuesday, May 02, 2006 10:30 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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The Cheapest way to (safely!) get from Birmingham International Station to the TechNet/MSDN Roadshow

The following advice was provided as a comment to my earlier post - it's so useful I want to raise it's profile hence posting this: Steve, some general info for when people arrive at Birmingham International Station. Taxi fare to Motorcycle Museum is Read More
posted Monday, May 01, 2006 11:02 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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