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Blogs

  • TechNet Security Postings for June

    New security features in Internet Explorer 7 (Beta 2) http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4979991 Learn about the new security features in the browser's latest version that help better protect your PC and personal information Microsoft Threat Analysis and Modelling Tool, Version 2.0, RC1 http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049706 The free Microsoft Threat Analysis and Modelling tool allows nonsecurity subject matter experts to enter already-known information, including business requirements and application architecture, to produce a feature-rich threat model. Along with automatically identifying threats, the tool can produce valuable security artefacts such as data control, component access control, and subject-object matrices as well as data flows and focused reports. Reduce Your Risk: 10 Security Rules to Live By http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049703 When you manage security you must strive to reduce unacceptable risk while keeping the impact on workflow of the organization and total cost of ownership of the infrastructure...
  • Microsoft AntiGen Products - could these be for SBS customers - only if they have one of the Volume License types, but that is becoming easier too

    AntiGen is a great set of products for providing security technologies. Some of these come in very price competative and feature rich. For example, for spam, smtp and a/v filtering the US price is $1.25 per user per month. For more info see below Microsoft Releases Antigen E-Mail Security Products http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049691 On June 6, Microsoft announced the release of Microsoft Antigen e-mail security products -- including Antigen for Exchange, Antigen for SMTP Gateways, Antigen Spam Manager, and Antigen Enterprise Manager -- available to customers July 1, 2006. Microsoft Antigen products help business protect their Exchange, Windows-based SMTP gateway, Live Communications Server, and SharePoint servers from viruses, worms, spam, and inappropriate content. Read about new product features http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049723 or download the new 90-day trials http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5049724 to see how Antigen can help protect your messaging and collaboration servers. ttfn David
  • Vista Webcasts for July

    Using Built-in diagnostics in Windows Vista Monday, July 17, 2006 9:30AM - 10:30AM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032301591&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Windows Vista Deployment Overview (Level 200) Monday, July 17, 2006 1:00PM - 2:00PM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032301597&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Moving to 64-bit Computing with Windows Vista (Level 200) Tuesday, July 18, 2006 11:30AM - 12:30AM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032299835&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Security Features in Windows Vista (Level 200) Wednesday, July 19, 2006 11:00AM - 12:00PM Pacific Time https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032301585&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US Reliability Enhancements in Windows Vista (Level 200) Friday July 21, 2006...
  • Fixes and Updates for Vista and Longhorn Beta 2 - Symantec Antivirus, IPSec / firewall race condition leading to memory corruption and activation problem

    Update for Windows Vista Beta 2 and Windows Codename Longhorn Server Beta 2 Install this update to fix application compatibility issues with Symantec Antivirus version 10.0.1.622 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0ce37fb9-b654-45e7-b006-e1728fe076ca&DisplayLang=en Update for Windows Vista Beta 2 and Windows Codename Longhorn Server Beta 2 Install this update to fix an issue where in the presence of Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) or Windows Firewall, a race condition can be hot on multi-processor (or hyper-threaded) systems causing memory corruption, leading to a system crash http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8cf0c2ec-6a31-46a6-8238-dff1b2eb2025&DisplayLang=en Update for Windows Vista Beta 2 and Windows Codename Longhorn Server Beta 2 Install this update to address an issue where you may be unable to activate the product and become blocked from logging in http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5d21d780-a0e6-42e5-b905-d3a6e702ac56&DisplayLang...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jul 3 2006
  • June Technet Articles on Vista

    Ask the Experts: How Windows Vista Delivers IPv6 Prepare for the next generation in networking with this look at how Windows Vista will allow for more advanced applications and networks with Internet Protocol version 6. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/network/ipv6wv.mspx Enterprise Networking with Windows Vista This article provides a high-level overview of Windows Vista enterprise networking technologies. This article does not discuss consumer networking scenarios http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/network/entnet.mspx Joining a Windows Vista Wireless Client to a Domain http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/network/wifi/vista_bootstrap_wireless.mspx Active Directory Schema Extensions for Windows Vista Wireless and Wired Group Policy Enhancements http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/network/wifi/vista_ad_ext.mspx Windows Vista Step-by-Step Guides for IT Professionals http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=311f4be8-9983-4ab0-9685-f1bfec1e7d62&DisplayLang...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jul 3 2006
  • The best event at Microsofts World Wide Partner Conference - about you and the community, presented by the community - Mark Taylor, Susanne Dansey and Tom Crosby

    This years World Wide Partner Conference should be a storming success - yes, I will be attending for the 1st time and presenting, but that is not why. Why, you ask, well probably one of the most important sessions for those who work in the Small Business market is going to be the sessons on the community. And one of the best will be presented by 3 fine community members in the UK. These people do not work for Microsoft and the community they represent is not owned by Microsoft, but we walk the same path helping eachother out because it has benefit to our business to do so, The short answer is to be there, at the Small Business Symposium on Monday 10th July. Look for the Community presentation by these three. You will learn what has powered the UK & Irish communities both in terms of their success and the individual partner success. They have broadened their relationships beyond just Microsoft and are having real impact with other vendors such as HP, CA etc. Finally, they will deliver a one-two on resources...
  • Site Usage stats in – what a month – thank-you

    Hello folks, I have just been looking at my nice log based tool for analyzing site usage and I have to say that the site has grown a trooper. We have more than doubled traffic in terms of web hits and are up at least 50% on unique IP addresses, which is the closest I can get to unique users from my simple logs. To see the stats, go to http://uksbsguy.com/usage_report/jun06 for the June ones and http://uksbsguy.com/usage_report/ytd I have had a couple of people ask me about getting the software I use – I am very happy to provide it, but it still needs some tidying up. My software produces the numbers, but I still have to tweak the spreadsheet (delete a column or two) to import them into MapPoint to get the mapped data. The summary of the site usage is now: Summary Stats Total Hits 174438 Total Unique IPs 5195 Total Web Page Hits 140650 Total Feed downloads 33788 Top consolidated referrers Page URL Hits Google 1962 Bloglines 1010 Newsgator 641 community+server 639 msmvps.com 289 ukvistaguy.com 216 blo.gs 145 search...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Sat, Jul 1 2006
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  • IE 7 beta 3 download- an update

    Having told everyone that Beta 3 is available for download , I was a little short on details. The IE team have blogged several things on beta 3 - 1st - It is available in multiple languages and also now for XP and Windows Server - so you could run this on your server - I would not do that just yet on a production machine. Of course, the thing you notice very quickly on IE7 is when accessing RWW if the certificate is not set up correctly for the machine (most often the interface name) then you get a huge shiny error! Also, as a direct quote ' I’m looking forward to reading the feedback - positive and negative - as it comes in. I also want to encourage developers, web developers, designers, and IT Pros to use Readiness Toolkit to help you deliver the best possible experience to your sites’ IE7 visitors. ' 2nd, the UI has change a little - the details are in the blog, but things to look out for include: new icons following feedback You can drag the tabs around to re-order them others such as ftp and image zoon features...
  • Do you remember the Matrix - the "Blue Pill" - well someone has developed a scary security rootkit using the VM technology in AMD & Intel's chips for Windows x64, Linux etc

    Some may know that my history includes a bit of serious security IT work. Having said that, it also includes mission critical systems work and even part of my degree was on system security, but that is what you get for sharing a flat with someone doing a security degree. Anyway, the e-week article discusses a process to make the "undetectable" rootkit using virtualisation technology. A very interesting read and a sign of scary times in the future for security subsystems. OK, I thought about it a bit more and discussed it on im with Susan Bradley and perhaps some of the old questions come into play. Can a user with standard admin rights get infected? Could you have an anti-rootkit hypervisor to test and ensure that the "right" hypervisor is running? Once this beasty was in, detection would be very hard, however, for it to get ontop your machine - this could be just like every other rootkit today - needs admin clearance, so don't say yes to it!! ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 29 2006
  • Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 is now available for download

    Short, simple, sweet, IE 7 beta 3 is available to download at http://www.microsoft.com/ie ttfn David
  • If you want Vista - go get it today or mis out

    I have just read at Ian Moulster's blog that Vista beta code is on a time limit to sign up - and that time is soon to expire. If you want Vista, go to http://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/engb and start the process now, like today. You have been warned! ttfn David
  • Videos about Vista or adverts for it

    There I was thinking I knew lots about Vista and then I started finding the Videos Product Demos http://geekindisguise.com/Documents/myVistaMC.wmv http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6018907.html http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6019862.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j-LwPM3L5Q http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/learning/training/conceptvid/default.aspx Adverts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ku2UbRyXg http://wms.meslchost.com/windowsvistapartner/seethedifference.wmv Other Devlopers - http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/Windows+Vista as always, http://uksbsguy.com/vista or http://ukvistaguy.com will get you my Vista related content. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 29 2006
  • OFF TOPIC - Feel the force - See Star Wars Lego II - The Original Trilogy Game - AWESOME

    As some of you may know, I am a true Star Wars Geek. I love all 6 films - yes, even Jar Jar. I had heard about the 2nd game - me & Molly are loving the 1st game and then I saw this on MSN Video - amazing! Cool features - all the characters, the ability to go off piste with any vehicle and the ability to take characters apart and create new ones - just like you would with Lego Pieces :-) ttfn David
  • Logging bugs in Vista and why we need them logged

    Tim, one of the community leads has a blog that I recommend people to subscribe too. He has said he has had to give up on Vista as it just fails to work . Susan Bradley then asks of Tim if he has logged a bug , but I also remember a long post by Tim on how hard it was to log bugs and being a beta tester. I then did a search of the internet and a few people have asked how to log a Vista bug and the answer appears to be to download a tool and then fill in the details. One thing to say is that things like 3rd party power management tools often break things, so try NOT loading them. Also, if your machine BSODs, let it upload the file to MS so we get the dump. If it BSODs on every boot, try doing a safeboot for it to upload the bugs. There is a great tool in Vista to upload BSODs and other info and it will auto fire when an admin logs in. that is it for tonight ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Thu, Jun 29 2006
  • Is Linux making a move into Small Business

    I read this CRN article that Jo sent me earlier today and it makes me wonder about why people choose SBS. I love it because it is an action packed package in the size of a matchbox and a price to match. Others love it because it has a bunch of cool features and plays to their Windows experience. One thing the article said, which I think applies not just to those Linux folks, but also to us SBS folks is: Another partner said Linux rivals should worry less about the 800-lb. gorilla they are competing with and focus on making customers aware of their products and their benefits . "The smallest companies with one to 20 employees often don't understand the benefits of server technology or don't trust the ROI projections," Fogg said. "Those companies often elect to stay with peer-to-peer networks I think we can all learn more on how to do this. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jun 28 2006
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  • Longhorn Forums

    For those of you who are interested in Windows Server Longhorn , we have 13 forums available for discussion with eachother and Microsoft at http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=161&SiteID=17 General General discussion on Windows Server “Longhorn” Directory Services Discussion on Windows Server “Longhorn” Active Directory services File Services and Storage Discussion on file systems and storage functionality within Windows Server "Longhorn" Migration Discussion on migrating to Windows Server “Longhorn” Management Discussion on managing Windows Server “Longhorn”, including management tools Network Access Protection Discuss on Network Access Protection Platform Networking Discussion on networking with Windows Server “Longhorn”, including networking technologies and solutions Print/Fax Discussion on printing and faxing with Windows Server “Longhorn" Setup & Deployment Discussion on setting up and deploying Windows Server “Longhorn” Terminal Services Discussion on all things Windows...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jun 28 2006
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  • Longhorn review - calls it a Slam Dunk

    Working for Microsoft makes you a little used to seeing people slate your products whether they know what they are talking about or are just trying to make press. Someone associated with the press once told me that news rooms get a buzz when a negative Microsoft story comes in - oh joys! So, for all this, while all the noise has been about Office 2007 and Windows Vista recently, Windows codename Longhorn Beta 2 has quietly popped out. This is the server product, which will shop in 32-bit and 64-bit form, but only the x64 version will be used as the foundation for SBS Longhorn codename Cougar. While I can't tell you anything about Cougar - after all, we have not got SBS 2003 R2 out the door yet - you can start to see what the foundations will be. Longhorn Server, with more functionality, IPv6 based networking, huge security leaps and much more. To see the product, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/longhorn . Today, Longhorn is only available via TechNet or MSDN , but as I have mentioned before, buy Technet...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jun 28 2006
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  • New Microsoft Code sharing site (CodePlex) and Forums for WSS

    I see over at CNET that Microsoft has launched a new code sharing, shared sources initiative where people can work on joint code. This is called CodePlex . While browsing there, I saw a great looking Forum for WSS. To get to the forum, go to http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=SPFORUMS . Picture below ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Wed, Jun 28 2006
  • Do You want to learn about developing using the latest MS Technology in small chunks (Windows WorkFlow / Presentation / Communication Foundation, ASP.Net, SQL 2005, WSE, Winforms, XML etc)

    I got sent this internally and thought I should share. 10 min 'how-to's' for developers to download on the hot topics. Check out the new 'easy to find' Nugget download page on the MSDN website. The 10-15 minute mini webcasts have proven themselves extremely popular with developers pushed for time. With the new Nugget page, developers can search on technology, content level and preferred presenter to get the Nugget they want, saving even more time. ttfn David
  • Loading Vista with SBS

    SBS is a great, stable product, so why go and throw in a bunch of broken software into the mix? Untested - yes, Vista and Office 2007 are beta, so known to have bugs that have not be resolved in them. OK, so the 1st rule is never run beta software in production, unless you are doing so for known explicit reasons. Vlad has posted on this a few times already. I also saw that the SBS team have made a couple of statements about Office and Vista and the bottom line is that there are some known issues and Microsoft is addressing them. Also, looking on one of the forums, there are a few questions people are asking , so be warned. If you don't use the connect computer wizard, then joining a Vista PC to a domain is doable. You might have a few Group Policy problems, so I would check things like "My Documents" redirection and firewall settings. You will also get a few UAC prompts, but as Susan suggests , lead UAC on for your testing - the prompts should get less once the PC is set up and the latest builds of Vista should...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Jun 27 2006
  • Getting SBS, Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), indexing and PDFs all working together

    While browsing Sean's Blog I came across this article on how to get PDFs to have a PDF icon in [WSS] and how to re-index the companyweb site to ensure they are properly indexed (as in the content too). I know some of the links go to older versions of tools, but I am sure you are all very clever, so can work out what to do. Bear in mind that for this to work, you need to be running SBS Premium so the SharePoint database is stored in SQL. I have not blogged on this yet, but will do so next week. ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Tue, Jun 27 2006
  • Auto-reply tool for Windows live Messenger

    Simple tool - allows for automatic (a bit like out of office replies) to Windows Live Messenger. http://www.frameworkx.com/Frameworkx/software.aspx?id=205 ttfn David
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 26 2006
  • WinFS - moving to SQL (Katmai) and then available to everyone - honest

    So there I was, reading about WinFS and the fact that it was going to be in Katmai - the next release of SQL and I was very happy with this when I read the blog and all the comments and discovered that the world and their dog was not happy with this. I was so concerned that I pinged Quentin who wrote the blog and got the right response from him - "when inclusion of part of WinFS into Katmai is completed, the technology will be in ALL versions of SQL, including the Express versions". Now before I go into more detail, what was WinFS always going to be? A way to store data alongside the filesystem (no, not to replace NTFS) and access it using all those nice database functions. How did people think the data was stored or where the database functions were going to be provided from? SQL of course, so having to load a cut down version of SQL Server onto the system was always what a WinFS install does - and will do, just you now load it via SQL Express rather than WinFS setup. I am sure some of the technical detail is...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 26 2006
  • Do you want to run through a series of self paced scenarios for Windows Vista and then send us feedback?

    I have just found this site - it is really quite good and will only get better. Simple go to http://windowsbeta.microsoft.com/vista/setup.aspx , tell it which version of Vista you are running (most likely 5384 - Beta 2) and then home button. On the left hand side a list of categories will pop up, but there is a HUGE amount to choose from. As an example, when I clicked security, this is the list: Security Internet Options Determine the privacy level you are using within the current security zone User Account Control When prompted, give permission for a program to continue Windows Defender Scan your computer using Windows Defender View items quarantined by Windows Defender Run Software Explorer to view all software running on your computer Windows Firewall Confirm that Windows Firewall is active and running Check to see if Wireless Portable Devices are unblocked by Windows Firewall the list of categories is long: (Recently Added) Application Compatibility Communications & Networking Ease of Access Entertainment...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 26 2006
  • Did you know that your small business customers want Windows Vista

    I know this has been discussed before and while I am on Paternity I am not authoring much in the way of content (not enough time), so simply adding things I am finding elsewhere, but this little gem was interesting. A recent web survey that I think, but am not 100% sure about, was NOT commissioned by Microsoft found the following: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=11414 Small shops (with fewer than 100 employees) who identified themselves as aggressive when it comes to platform upgrades were among the most avid projected Vista adopters, with 76 percent saying they would roll out within the first year of Vista release. Of respondents who said they plan on delaying a Vista rollout, 69 percent said they would rely on their PC refresh cycle to drive the transition . Overall, 46 percent of respondents said that new security features would be a factor in causing them to undertake a Vista rollout; the next most popular response was end of support for legacy Windows systems, at 28 percent. Only three survey respondents...
    Posted to David Overton's Blog by David Overton on Mon, Jun 26 2006
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