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Vol. 13, #22 - Jun 2, 2008 - Issue #676
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All About Windows 7
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- Editor's Corner
- All About Windows 7
- Third And Last Call: Virtualization And Mac Survey
- Quotes of the Week
- Admin Toolbox
- Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without
- Tech Briefing
- Symantec Tells Users: Disable Protection Before XP SP3 Upgrade
- Tip: Free Security Tools That Can Improve IIS Security
- FAQs: Microsoft Outlook .PST Files
- Complying With Data Protection Legal Requirements In A Windows Shop
- Advantages and disadvantages of Hyper-V
- Windows Server News
- Microsoft Beta Tests Free Online Diagnostic Tools For Windows
- 10 Essential (No Cost) Security Downloads For Windows
- WServer Third Party News
- Double-Take Adds Extremely Useful New Feature: VRA
- VMware Buys B-hive
- WServerNews FAVE Links
- This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
- WServerNews - Product of the Week
- Try Desktop Authority Today. Get a Free eBook!
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Try Desktop Authority Today. Get a Free eBook!
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Take 2 minutes to download a 30-day trial of ScriptLogic's Desktop
Authority, the industry standard for Desktop configuration and
deployment, and receive a free ebook by Bob Kelly on Windows
Desktop Administration.
Get tips on how to reduce help desk
and administrative costs, increase user productivity, automate
tasks using the latest tools and technologies as well as learn
Best Practices for Desktop Administration.
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Desktop-Authority
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Editor's Corner |
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All About Windows 7
This week, Microsoft showed the first glimpse of W7 at the annual Wall Street
Journal 'All Things Digital Conference'. W7 will feature multi-touch screen
technology among many other new features revealed during the first official
demo. The event had both Gates and Ballmer there, doing their dog-and-pony,
announcing that W7 will ship late 2009, with general availability in 2010.
One of the main features was the multi-touch screen technology that lets users
move around photos, resize, move, and open windows, zip quickly through
slide-shows, search and skim maps, and even play an on-screen piano by moving
fingers around the screen. I predict a new industry being spawned by W7 -
screen cleaning products.
You have all seen Redmond's Surface table. The touch technology they now
demoed is similar to that in the top interface. PC screens will obviously
need digitizers to make the touch technology work, and it will be additional
to the mouse and keyboard.
Over the last year, several bits or information have been slipped to the
press. Some of these are that W7 will integrate with Live Services. The
result of that would be that a user's data and desktop config would follow
them by storing it in the cloud. I wonder if I want my personal data in
the cloud though.
Another feature is that digital ink and speech would be more prominent in W7.
It would also include parallel computing, which could potentially mean better
performance for data synch capabilities for multiple PC owners. W7 will be more
modular a la W2K8 and allow for different configurations during the install.
There is speculation that W7 just could be a Vista upgrade rather than a
wholesale replacement, since what's under W7's hood is a slimmed down version
of the Windows Server 2008 kernel, (which in turn was based on Vista) that
allegedly needs one-sixth of what Vista needs now. However, Redmond claims
at the moment this will be a 'major' release. We'll see about that when we
get that far.
W7 will be released in both 32- and 64-bit versions, will focus on longer
battery life by reducing power consumption, and will include a new networking
API that supports building SOAP-based Web services in native code. W7 is
supposed to run on the recommended hardware Redmond specified for Vista and
the applications and devices that work with Windows Vista will be compatible
with Windows 7. I'm sure that you will need a new flat-screen though.
Meanwhile, Beta 2 of IE8 with its new layout engine (more standards-based)
is supposedly due in the next few months. The final version of Redmond's
answer to Firefox 3 could see the light before the end of 2008.
The transcript of the W7 demo is here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Windows-7-Transcript
A video of the new touch tech is at the Vista Blog:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Touch-Tech-Video
Third And Last Call: Virtualization And Mac Survey
Remember the invite for this survey the last two weeks? The results start to
look extremely interesting, but we need more people filling it out. Please
take a few minutes, it will be worth it! Yankee Group and Sunbelt conduct
an independent survey on two hot technology topics: virtualization and the
increased presence of Apple Macs in the corporate network. We will post an
Executive Summary soon. Anyone who participates and completes the survey,
is eligible to get a complimentary copy of the full Yankee Group Report by
sending an Email to Laura DiDio at: ldidio@yankeegroup.com. So again, this
is no more than 5 minutes, if that, point-and-click. Thanks a mil!
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Yankee-Survey
Quotes of the Week
"Fear can only prevail when victims are ignorant of the facts." -- Thomas Jefferson
Thank you for being a WServerNews subscriber. Please
tell your friends about us. They can subscribe here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Subscribe
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Sunbelt Exchange Archiver Wins 'Most Valuable Product' Award
The in-depth review of SEA in Redmond Magazine said: "Sunbelt Exchange
Archiver makes e-mail archiving and retrieval accessible to the rest of us.
In particular, the installation and user documentation are among the best
I've seen, and help make the product very usable. If you have a good reason
for ensuring your e-mail archives are accurate and easily accessible,
Exchange Archiver may be the best way of achieving those goals."
Read the full review:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-SEA-Review
Register for a one-on-one product walkthrough over here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Sunbelt-Exchange-Archiver
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Tech Briefing |
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Symantec Tells Users: Disable Protection Before XP SP3 Upgrade
Reese Anschultz, Sr. SQA Manager with Symantec said users of Norton
Internet Security, Norton 360 and Norton AV should switch off the
"SymProtect" feature before trying to install XP SP3.
"After a lot of testing, we've reproduced a number of different cases
where applying the XP SP3 upgrade adds additional registry keys within
already-existing Symantec registry keys," said Anschultz. "We have
determined that the SymProtect feature is involved, though this issue is
not exclusive to Symantec customers. To help prevent this issue from
occurring, you should disable SymProtect prior to installing the Windows
XP SP3 upgrade." Here is the link to the post:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-SymProtect-XP-SP3
Tip: Free Security Tools That Can Improve IIS Security
With Internet Information Services (IIS) so widely used, several vendors
have created commercial products you can use to test, improve or otherwise
manage its security. But if you're like most people and have a limited budget,
you need other options. SearchWindowsSecurity.com contributor Kevin Beaver
provides some viable alternatives that won't cost you a dime:
(registration required)
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-IIS-Security-Tools
FAQs: Microsoft Outlook .PST Files
Personal folder files or personal stores (.PST) hold all of the data located
in Outlook when Exchange Server isn't being accessed. This collection of
expert answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) provides troubleshooting
tips for common Outlook .PST file problems, from importing and exporting
data to file repair and recovery. (registration required)
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-PST-FAQs
Complying With Data Protection Legal Requirements In A Windows Shop
When the information security staff, compliance officers and legal counsel
all say to get the systems in IT compliance, what should Windows admins
do? First, look at applicable laws and find common requirements, which is
a more effective approach opposed to a piecemeal IT compliance strategy.
In this tip, learn the activities a Windows administrator can do to support
compliance in accordance with the pertinent laws and standards.
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Legal-Requirements
Advantages and disadvantages of Hyper-V
Even though Hyper-V isn't out yet, consultants and systems integrators who
have worked with Hyper-V say it looks like a promising Windows Server
virtualization platform. So, it is up to you as a systems channel pro to
start thinking about this technology for your customers. Learn the
advantages and disadvantages of Hyper-V so you can help customers decide
if it's the right option for them with this SearchSystemsChannel.com feature.
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Hyper-V
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Windows Server News |
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Microsoft Beta Tests Free Online Diagnostic Tools For Windows
Redmond Watcher Mary-Jo Foley had the scoop. She said in her 'All About
Microsoft' Blog that "Microsoft has begun privately beta testing a new
tool, known as "Windows Advisor," which is aimed at helping consumers
better pinpoint why their Windows machines might not be up to snuff.
Microsoft officials have been saying that Windows - and especially the
much-maligned Windows Vista - isn't to blame for all of users' PC problems.
Faulty drivers and badly written apps are often behind users' unhappiness
with their new PCs, the Softies have said. Microsoft is making sure that
users will be able to place blame where it belongs with Windows Advisor."
This might also be very handy for system admins that need to check out
problems with user's machines or even the occasional server that hicks up.
MJ's blog is really good. You should check it out and subscribe:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Windows-Advisor
10 Essential (No Cost) Security Downloads For Windows
Preston Gralla at ComputerWorld did the homework and came up with a set
of cool tools to scan security problems. I'm sure it was an inadvertent
oversight that he did not include CounterSpy, which provides a free
15-day full-feature eval copy that allows the detection and remediation
of a whole host of malware:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Cool-Tools
CounterSpy download:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-CounterSpy
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Live In Europe? Check this Product Overview
For All Europeans
Products overview
TimeData: Continuous Data Protection for Windows-based servers.
Point-in-time data recovery for Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server and Windows File Server.
TimeData is a Windows-based, cluster-aware application that protects files on NTFS volumes, SQL Server ® databases and Exchange Server mailbox stores. TimeData software provides file-based Continuous Data Protection (CDP) with Zero Data Loss technology, which means that no data is ever lost or corrupted.
Learn about benefits and systems requirements of TimeData:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-TimeData
*** NEW ***
In order to help you understand better Double-Take visit our Brand New Websites!
- For everyone based in the U.K, the Nordics, Benelux and Eastern Europe: www.doubletake.en
- For everyone based in France: www.doubletake.fr
- For German speakers: www.doubletake.de
Coming soon: Spanish and Italian Websites by the New Term: September 2008! www.doubletake.es and www.doubletake.it
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WServer Third Party News |
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Double-Take Adds Extremely Useful New Feature: VRA
This new feature allows you for instance to have a few ESX servers in a
co-lo and have easy, practically instant DR without initial downtime.
Read on for more way to use this new (no cost) feature.
What is VRA? Virtual Recovery Assistant (VRA) is an enhancement to Double-Take
for Windows that simplifies the process of migrating to VMware(r) ESX virtual
machines. Its core value is replacing the time-consuming manual process that
requires system down-time when migrating data.
VRA automates the provisioning of the virtual environment, reducing end-user
downtime associated with traditional physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration
products. VRA automates the protection of workloads running on physical
servers, moving them to virtual machines automatically in the event of a
server outage or site-wide disaster.
How is VRA new/different? Double-Take Virtual Recovery Assistant is the only
product on the market that offers real-time replication and automated migration
to the virtual machine.
How does the licensing work? Double-Take Virtual Recovery Assistant will help
you create a solution if you want reliable data protection and replication not
just for physical servers, but also for virtual servers. Since VRA is licensed
as a feature of Double-Take for Windows, you get a great product at no extra
cost. Here is an article with a lot more detail, I was interviewed about VRA:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Double-Take-VRA
VMware Buys B-hive
VMware is buying B-hive Networks Inc. Beehive is a privately held, three
year old application performance management software company. VMware says
it will use B-hive Conductor to offer proactive performance management
and SLA reporting for apps running in VMware virtual machines.
The B-hive code allows you to see end-user response time, and manage VM load
and cross-VM dependencies. You can proactively prevent app performance
issues by setting automatic triggers to dynamically allocating more
resources, or migrating an app to a different VM, adding more VMs,
changing transaction routing or as a last resort, rebooting the box.
Should be good. Our IT guys are already salivating about both the new
Double-Take on ESX and these new goodies. PS, we are hiring a System Admin:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Sunbelt-Careers
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WServerNews FAVE Links |
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This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
- Martin Rees, one of the world's most eminent astronomers, examines our planet
and its future from a cosmic perspective. These TEDtalks are about 18 minutes
but quite worth it:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Science-of-Complexity
- Bumptop is a new desktop replacement that is actually interesting to check out.
Make sure you watch the TED video on YouTube. You get the idea really fast:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Bumptop
- 15 great gadgets you can't get in the U.S, the mobile phones are hot:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-15-Great-Gadgets
- The screen will fill with the logos of most every store or info site that
you will probably ever use. When you click on a logo it takes you
directly to the store or site you have selected. It's a great time saver
and you don't have to hunt and type addresses on the Internet.
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-All-My-Faves
- Fresh pics from the Phoenix Mars Lander (slide show):
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Phoenix-Slideshow
- And as a follow-up for the pictures above, this one made APOD today. Just a
fantastic perspective!
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Mars-Perpective
- Flashlight so bright and hot it can cook an egg. Dang, a $300 egg cooker:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Bright-Flashlight
- Some specific indoors Plants eat up all kinds of pollution. Good for your
health in the office too:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Pollution-Fighting-Plants
- The world's lowest street legal car - a jet powered repro of 'The Bat Mobile' -
is 19 inches high and powered by a jet engine which is capable of delivering
90lbs of thrust powering it to speeds in excess of 100mph:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Small-Car
- Trulia Snapshot overlays a Microsoft Virtual Earth map with thumbnails of
houses on the market. Each image hovers over its proper location on the map,
and users can drag them around to get a better look at the terrain if some
houses are too close together. After releasing the image, it snaps back
into place:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Trulia
- The LiftPort Space Elevator consists of a ribbon made of a very strong and
very light material, carbon nanotubes, anchored to the Earth's surface with
the other end reaching into space. The video shows a successful 1000 foot
space elevator test climb to a tethered 10-foot diameter balloon:
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-LiftPort-Space-Elevator
- "The Story of a Sign" - the winner of the Cannes 2008 Short Film Online
Competition. PS: "Struck" came only 57 votes behind as #2.
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Cannes-Winner
- Small personal gambling computers can predict the winning hand on the blackjack
table or the winning numbers on the roulette table. Finally something that
will make techies like us make real money. This is how it works, but I'm
not coming to visit you in the hospital. [g]
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Casino-Gambling-Computer
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WServerNews - Product of the Week |
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Try Desktop Authority Today. Get a Free eBook!
Take 2 minutes to download a 30-day trial of ScriptLogic's Desktop
Authority, the industry standard for Desktop configuration and
deployment, and receive a free ebook by Bob Kelly on Windows Desktop
Administration. Get tips on how to reduce help desk and administrative
costs, increase user productivity, automate tasks using the latest
tools and technologies as well as learn Best Practices for Desktop
Administration.
http://www.wservernews.com/080602-Try-Desktop-Authority
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