WServerNews (formerly W2Knews)

Vol. 12, #34 - Sep 3, 2007 - Issue #640

Vista SP1 and W2K8: First Quarter 2008

Editor's Corner
- Vista SP1 and W2K8: First Quarter 2008
- Exchange Archiving SunPoll
- Sunbelt Software Made The Inc. 5000
- Quotes Of The Week
Admin Toolbox
- Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without
Tech Briefing
- GPanswers.Com Newsletter #25: All About ADMX Files
- Choosing The Best SQL Server Indexing Strategies
- How To Create A Network Printer Pool
- SMTP Greylisting Problem On Exchange Server 2003 SP2
- Hacks Hit Embassy, Government E-Mail Accounts Worldwide
Windows Server News
- Microsoft Sets Ship Date For Configuration Manager
WServer Third Party News
- Got An Audit Coming Up? This Is A Cost Effective Scanner
WServerNews Fave Links
- This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
WServerNews - Product of the Week
- Limited Time Offer: Sunbelt Personal Firewall for just $10.00

10 Questions You Should Ask About Enterprise Antispyware

ITSecurity.com recently posted their Antispyware Buyers Checklist with
10 questions you should ask when considering implementing an enterprise
antispyware solution in your organization. To aid in your search to
find the right antispyware solution, we have provided answers to each
question on how CounterSpy Enterprise is able to deliver all the
necessary requirements to best protect your network from spyware and
other malware. Direct link to a short 2-page PDF - No registration:
http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Enterprise-Anti-spyware

	Editor's Corner

Vista SP1 and W2K8: First Quarter 2008 Redmond finally confirmed this week the plans for Vista SP1 and WinXP SP3. The first service pack for Vista will be out sometime in the first quarter of next year, along with SP3 for XP. The first major Vista update will contain a bunch of tweaks to speed up the OS and fix reliability issues. Early beta testers will get the bits in a few weeks and for the real diehards, there is a leaked copy available via bittorrent. I would recommend against that though. WinXP SP3 is a roll-up of previously released updates for XP. It includes security updates, hotfixes and out-of-band releases. Do not expect any major new end user features in either SP. And if Vista is still new to you, it was built to better accept updates and can get them "slip-streamed in" so you will not -need- any major service packs any more. What it will contain is support for some new hardware types. They typically roll out these betas to increasingly large groups, and this time is no exception. A little later in the year, SP1 will be available via MSDN and TechNet subscriptions. We can expect Vista SP1 to come out at the same time as Windows Server 2008, they pushed that one back a bit. Reason? They were not done killing all the bugs quite yet. "It's like a brisket. It just needs a little more time to bake." is what they said. W2K8 Beta 3 has had some 300K downloads, and Redmond is dogfooding it on more and more production systems in-house and at customers. The delay does not seem to affect Microsoft's February 27 launch festivities in Los Angeles. And so what if it is late, no one is going to mess with their environment late Q4 anyway. More about the Vista SP1 in this snazzy looking VistaBlog: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Vista-SP1 Exchange Archiving SunPoll This is a quick and interesting one. "Do you currently have an Exchange Archiving solution in place?" Yes, we have an product that does that Not yet, but we plan to in 3-6 months Not yet, but we plan to in 6-12 months We plan to implement archiving later than 12 months No, we are not planning archiving at all Vote here, mid-bottom right: http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/ Sunbelt Software Made The Inc. 5000 We made the Inc. 500 back in 2001, and now we've made the Inc. 5000. The Inc. 5000, an extension of Inc. magazine's annual Inc. 500 list, catches many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500, as well as a host of smaller firms. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy. Thanks for your support and trust in our company and our products! Quotes Of The Week "If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim." -- Lyndon B. Johnson "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." -- Warren Buffett And thank you for being a WServerNews subscriber.

Hope you enjoy this issue of WServerNews! Warm regards, Stu |

Email me: feedback@wservernews.com

	Admin Toolbox

Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without dbBalance has a powerful and flexible database comparison, migration and synchronization tool that supports virtually any DB variation: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-dbBalance Reclaim up to 80% of your Exchange Store with ExchangeCompress. Download your trial copy today. http://www.wservernews.com/070903-ExchangeCompress The Community Edition is totally free. Download it to webify AD and in minutes have a secure online employee directory with self-service editing. http://www.wservernews.com/070903-myPassword Run VMs? How do you handle disaster recovery and high availability? Use the World's Number One "DR/HA in-one" tool: Double-Take: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Disaster-Recovery

	Tech Briefing

GPanswers.Com Newsletter #25: All About ADMX Files ADM, ADMX and ADML -- oh my! It's a confusing jungle of template soup, and you need it sorted out. Newsletter 24 was all about ADM files. Now, Newsletter 25 is all about ADMX files. So, don't be left behind. Figure out what it all means to you in this GPanswers.com exclusive. Also, Jeremy's GPanswers.com training opportunities and more. Check it out. http://www.wservernews.com/070903-ADMX-1 http://www.wservernews.com/070903-ADMX-2 Choosing The Best SQL Server Indexing Strategies SQL Server supports only two index types for most data types: clustered and non-clustered. Learn how and why building the appropriate index type during your database design will significantly impact SQL Server performance. over at SearchSQLServer.com: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Indexing-Strategies How To Create A Network Printer Pool You can avoid congestion on a network printer by creating a printer pool -- a group of printers attached to a common print queue, so multiple documents can be printed simultaneously. Here's how to create a printer pool in a Windows Server 2003 environment: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Network-Printer-Pool SMTP Greylisting Problem On Exchange Server 2003 SP2 Greylisting is a relatively new and effective spam-fighting technique. Unfortunately, some administrators have reported an SMTP greylisting problem on Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 in which sent email stacks up in the SMTP queue and does not get delivered. Learn three workarounds that solve this email delivery issue. [SearchExchange.com] http://www.wservernews.com/070903-SMTP-Greylisting Hacks Hit Embassy, Government E-Mail Accounts Worldwide A cache found online of usernames and passwords for more than 100 government e-mail accounts includes takings from Iranian, Russian, Indian, U.K., and Kazakh victims. Don't let this happen to you. Usually these things are caused by keyloggers, and you need powerful antimalware to protect you: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Emails-Hacked

	Windows Server News

Microsoft Sets Ship Date For Configuration Manager Redmond this week said that the development is complete on its System Center Configuration Manager 2007. The new management tool will ship November this year. SCCM 2007 (tongue-firmly-in-cheek - pronounced SCUM) went RTM last Monday. It's the third tool that supports the major umbrella 'System Definition Model' (SDM) language. SDM is the foundation that both servers -and- apps can use to monitor their health and define operational needs and communicate that data to the network. The other two SDM supporting tools are Ops Manager and Visual Studio. Obviously the strategy here is to have developers and IT get into regular group hugs and play nice; devs create apps that support SDM, and at the same time, IT deploys systems that speak SDM and use it to make management decisions. SDM is s stepping stone to SML, which is its next-life incarnation, and eventually every Redmond System Center management tool will support SML. We're talking grand strategy here. So, be ready to migrate to SML if you deploy SCUM 2007 now! The big plan is that your whole SDM/SML environment will be growing into some sort of SkyNet, that does autonomic computing: Better automated responses to problem solving, reliability, reporting, tracking, etc. And oh, automatic termination of pointy-haired dimwit managers.

	WServer Third Party News

Got An Audit Coming Up? This Is A Cost Effective Scanner Sunbelt Network Security Inspector version 1.6.75.0 was released August 27, 2007). New vulnerability updates for this release include: W3185 Cisco VPN Client Vulnerabilities - W2K, XP, W2K3 W3184 McAfee Common Management Agent Vulnerabilities - W2K, XP, W2K3 W3119 Yahoo! Messenger JPEG 2000 Webcam Stream Handling Vulnerabilities - W2K, XP, W2K3 W414 ActivIdentity CAC Card Detected N67 IOS SCP Authorization Bypass N66 IOS IPv6 Routing Header Info Leakage SNSI uses the latest Mitre Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list of computer incidents. It also contains the latest SANS/FBI top 20 vulnerability list. SNSI also uses the latest CERT, CIAC Microsoft and FedCIRC (Department of Homeland Security) advisories. Sunbelt Software recommends you download the new SNSI version 1.6.75.0 and scan and patch your machines today. To get the latest SNSI version, visit: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-SNSI

	WServerNews Fave Links

This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff. Supercomputer simulation of the Universe: An international group of astrophysicists have released the largest and most realistic simulation ever of the growth of cosmic structure and the formation of galaxies and quasars. Wait until the end with the Carl Sagan quote... WOW: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Supercomputer-Simulation The world's first high speed amphibian Quadbike/ATV is capable of traveling up to 50 mph (72 kph) on land and water and makes the transition at the flick of a switch. The ultimate getaway vehicle: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-ATV-Jet-Ski Common things in slow motion caught with a high speed video camera. A bit longish, and in Japanese, but very interesting effects: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-High-Speed-Video-Camera Like Battlestar Galactica? Some guys built a 7.5x scale Colonial Viper rocket and got it launched... Pretty cool. http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Battlestar-Galactica All IT cheat sheets from ".net to Yahoo", round-ups, quick reference cards, quick reference guides and quick reference sheets in one page. The only one you need: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-IT-Cheat-Sheets The ZunePhone: How Microsoft's Zune player would look if Microsoft decides to add all Apple iPhone's features to the Zune: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Zune-Phone NASA Shuttle to Launch Luke Skywalker's original Lightsaber: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Lightsaber Let me introduce you to the Bastard Security Officer From Hell. It's crude, wrong, lurid, offensive, and hilarious. You were warned! http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Security-Office UK Man Arrested for Unauthorized Wireless Connection Use. He was observed sitting on a wall outside a house in Chiswick, West London while using his laptop computer. When confronted, he admitted he was using a wireless connection in the area without permission. In 2005, a man was fined GBP 500 (US $1,000). http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Wifi-Arrest The world without us. Without us on earth, what traces would linger? What would disappear? Check the timeline. Quite interesting: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-World-Without-Humans CBC documentary from 1993 about this new thing called "Internet". (Historical reference: Mozilla version 1.0 was released in 1993) http://www.wservernews.com/070903-CBC-Internet-Documentary In the Netherlands they're experimenting with floating houses, as a way of dealing with climate change and rising water levels. One of the country's biggest construction companies says floating homes may be an answer: http://www.wservernews.com/070903-Floating-House

	WServerNews - Product of the Week

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