The Soul of Windows Server 2008: Server Core and Hyper-V
In an exclusive interview, Bill Laing, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Server division, comments candidly about Windows Server 2008 features that surprised him, technology that might be hard for users, and lessons learned from this release. Karen Forster
Active Directory Enhancements in Windows Server 2008
Take a tour through some changes in Windows Server 2008 Active Directory (AD) and use handy tables for an overview of additions. In particular, examine the new read-only domain controller (RODC) to see how it can help lower risks to your organization. Guido Grillenmeier
Volume Activation in Server 2008
VA2 uses Multiple Activation Keys (MAKs) or Key Management Service (KMS) hosts to activate systems in midsized and large organizations, eliminating the security and administrative problems of Volume License Keys (VLKs). Sean Deuby
FEATURES
Fighting Spam and Phishing with SPF
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records can protect against forged emails and reduce the number of spam messages. Besides enabling SPF record checking in your mail-server or spam-filtering software, you should place an SPF record in your own DNS entries. Readers
Use ADSI Edit to Associate File Extensions
Sometimes applications that you deploy with the Group Policy Software Installation feature don't register their file extensions, so the auto-install doesn't work. Here's an easy way to fix the problem. Apostolos Fotakelis
Best Practices for Managing User Data and Settings, Part 2
For the client side of the equation, let’s look unifying UDS management for Vista and XP users and addressing four key types of UDS that I call “normal data,” “normal settings,” “locally accessed data,” and “unwanted data.” Dan Holme
Yet Another 8 Absolutely Cool, Totally Free Utilities
Once again, we've combed the Web for a new and scintillating collection of free tools that promise to make your job easier. Get $500 worth of tools for nothing—except the time necessary to download them. Douglas Toombs
PowerShell 101, Lesson 2
PowerShell lets you create pipelines that link cmdlets together to perform complex operations and refine retrieved information. Learn how to use a pipeline to create PowerShell statements and how to format and sort output from those statements. Robert Sheldon
Getting to Know Office 2007
Microsoft Office 2007 tips help you assist your users, from using forms-based authentication with Office and SharePoint, to removing Excel duplicates, to setting Recycle Bin settings in SharePoint, and beyond. Dan Holme
Ask the Experts
Learn about Microsoft Update Catalog 7.0, find out how to keep your system secure with Live OneCare, learn how to clear the Outlook auto-complete address cache, and more.
Various Authors
Decommission Old Computers with Cipher
We’ve talked about EFS’s encryption functionality for a couple months. Now, let’s focus on its ability to overwrite the hard disks of decommissioned systems. Mark Minasi
Free Virtualization Utilities
These free tools will help you convert physical systems to VMs, change VMware VMs to Microsoft VMs (and vice versa), and perform other tasks to help you manage your virtual environments. Michael Otey
Letters@windowsitpro.com
Readers respond to Michael Otey’s “Top 10: Windows Vista Annoyances,” both celebrate and lament the command line, and offer some belated remarks about Microsoft’s Who Are You? program. Editors
PRODUCTS AND REVIEWS
New & Improved
Check out the latest productrs to hit the marketplace. PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: FalconStor Software's virtual tape library (VTL) storage solutions Jeff James
Online Office Suites
Are online office suites from ThinkFree, Zoho, Ajax, Silveroffice, and Google viable replacements for Microsoft Office? Jeff James
Group Policy Tools: Easing the Pain
Group Policy helps you centrally configure and manage computers and remote users in your Active Directory (AD) environment. Microsoft’s new Group Policy Preferences and ISV products will make it increasingly useful to more organizations. Caroline Marwitz
WinConnections Conference Fall 2008 Don’t miss the premier event for Microsoft IT Professionals in Las Vegas, November 10-13. Register and book your room by August 25 and receive a FREE room night (based on a three night minimum stay).
Master SharePoint with 3 eLearning Seminars Learn how to build a better SharePoint infrastructure and enable powerful collaboration with MVPs Dan Holme and Michael Noel. Register today!
SharePointConnections Conference Fall 2008 Don’t miss the premier event for Microsoft IT Professionals in Las Vegas, November 10-13. Register and book your room by August 25 and receive a FREE room night (based on a three night minimum stay).
VMworld 2008 - Sign Up Today! Join your peers on September 15-18 at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas as VMware hosts VMworld 2008, the leading Virtualization event.
Microsoft® Tech•Ed EMEA 2008 IT Professionals Advance your thinking with new ideas and practical real-world solutions at Microsoft’s FIVE day technical infrastructure conference 3-7 Nov., 2008. Register before 26 September 2008 to save €300.
Order Your Fundamentals CD Today! Gain an introduction to Exchange, learn server security requirements, and understand how unified communications can play a role in your messaging strategies with this free Exchange CD.
Are You Really Compliant with Software Regulations? View this web seminar that will help you with compliance best practices and check out a management solution to assure that you won’t be in jeopardy of an audit.
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