Vol. 14, #8 - Feb 16, 2009 - Issue #713 What Is The Microsoft Exploitability Index? This issue of WServerNews is sponsored by Editors Corner What Is The Microsoft Exploitability Index? How Often Are Your Apps Down? Notes-to-Exchange Migration Resources Quote Of The Week Webinars and Seminars Move, Protect and Recover your Data with Double-Take Software BriForum 2009: Early-bird Registration Special Admin Toolbox Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without: Tech Briefing Uh-Oh: Redmond Has Its Own Easy Button And Users Might Click It Researchers: IT Security Jobs Largely Untouched By Economy Taking The Sting Out Of Virtual Desktop Storage Costs Expert Tutorial: Powershell Scripting With VMware ESX Using The MS Assessment And Planning Toolkit With Hyper-V Hacking Exposed 6 Released: World's Best Selling Security Book Windows Server News New SDK for W2K8 R2 Beta WServer Thrid Party News My Antivirus Is Killing My Netbook - Now What? Workload Optimization with Double-Take WServerNews Fave Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff. Product of the Week Having Second Thoughts About Your Web Filter? Having Second Thoughts About Your Web Filter? You need the iPrism Switch Kit - the fast, easy way to get the #1 Web Filtering appliance and ditch those high-priced renewals. The iPrism Switch Kit doubles your subscription, enhances your engineering support and outfits your team with iPrism gear. Special pricing is only good for a limited time, so act now! http://www.wservernews.com/090216-iPrism Editors Corner What Is The Microsoft Exploitability Index? The MEI was designed to provide additional information to help you better prioritize the deployment of security updates. This index provides you with guidance on the likelihood of functioning exploit code being developed for vulnerabilities addressed by Redmond security updates within the first thirty days of that update's release. Here is their new site that explains the system. This is basically a must-read for anyone responsible for patching systems every month. The Index is explained and there is an FAQ: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Exploitability-Index How Often Are Your Apps Down? Find out how your uptime (needs) compare to your peers. We'd like to invite you to participate in the latest joint ITIC/Sunbelt Software survey. The topic of this survey is Application Availability and the impact on your organization. It should only take a few minutes of your time to answer the 10 multiple choice and one essay question. We want your opinion! We want to hear what you have to say and we value your feedback whether your organization is an SMB or a very large Enterprise. So ITIC and Sunbelt will give away two (2) free iPods - one to the IT manager or executive at an SMB shop and another to the IT manager/executive at a large enterprise who provides us with the most insightful comment to Question 12 - the essay section on how your company handles Application Availability and its impact on your business. Be sure to include your Email address at the end of the comment section so we can notify you if you're one of the lucky winners. All responses will be kept confidential and no salesperson will call to solicit you. And as always, anyone who completes the survey can contact Laura DiDio at: ldidio@itic-corp.com to request a complimentary copy of the full Report once it's published. Thanks in advance! Stu Sjouwerman & Laura DiDio. Here is the link: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Survey Notes-to-Exchange Migration Resources Is your organization planning a migration from IBM Lotus Notes to MS-Exchange? If so, you know that it's one of the most complex, labor-intensive projects you can undertake. If it's not properly planned and executed, it can negatively impact your entire organization. Having migrated more than 18 million mailboxes to Exchange, Quest Software offers proven solutions to successfully migrate to Exchange. Quest Notes Migrator for Exchange and Coexistence Manager for Notes provide a cost-effective transition with smooth coexistence. You can get white papers, product demos and additional useful resources at: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Lotus-Notes-Migration Quote Of The Week "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." -- Cornelius Tacitus (55-117 A.D.) Source: this site with lots of quotes: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Quotes Warm regards, and thank you for being a WServerNews subscriber. No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. Please tell your friends about us. They can subscribe here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Subscribe Hope you enjoy this issue of WServerNews! Warm regards, Stu  |   Email me: feedback@wservernews.com Enjoy a Smooth Notes Migration with Quest! A seamless migration from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange makes everyone's life easier - from the IT team to end users. Let Quest Notes Migrator for Exchange be your solution for a cost-effective migration to Exchange with minimal impact on end users. This tool migrates multiple users simultaneously, reducing cost and timelines. Notes Migrator for Exchange also simplifies administration by automating manual tasks, including mailbox creation and mail routing. Notes Migrator works with Quest Coexistence Manager for Notes to ensure smooth coexistence throughout the migration. http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Quest Webinars and Seminars Move, Protect and Recover your Data with Double-Take Software Managing IT Workloads today is an expensive, complicated and inflexible proposition. Join Sunbelt and Double-Take Software for the following seminars to learn how you can regain control of your data center with solutions for: workload availability (real-time replication and failover), workload backup and recovery (continuous system protection), workload flexibility (boot from SAN for managed desktops and servers) and workload portability (X2X migration). Hosted at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf Hotel on Tuesday, February 24th (lunch provided). Register here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Double-Take-MA Hosted at Microsoft in San Diego, CA on Friday, February 27th (continental breakfast provided). Register here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Double-Take-CA Hosted at Morton's in Detroit (Southfield), MI on Wednesday, March 11th (lunch provided). Register here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Double-Take-MI Hosted at Morton's in Denver, CO on Thursday, March 19th (lunch provided). Register here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Double-Take-CO Hosted at Microsoft in Portland, OR on Thursday, March 19th (continental breakfast provided). Register here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Double-Take-OR Hosted at the Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square on Thursday, April 2nd (continental breakfast provided). Register here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Double-Take-NY BriForum 2009: Early-bird Registration Special The 7th annual BriForum conference, produced by BrianMadden.com, will be held this year from July 21 - 23 at the Hilton Chicago. Get real-world, unbiased, desktop and application virtualization content from leading independent industry experts. Learn the latest tips and tricks, along with proven techniques and strategies - knowledge that can be applied immediately within your organization. Fill out this quick form in order to be notified when registration opens and qualify for their early-bird special discounted price of $995. http://www.wservernews.com/090216-BriForum Admin Toolbox Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without: Having Second Thoughts About Your Current Web Filter? Get No-Nonsense Web Filtering from iPrism and Get Your Switch Kit Today! http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Switch-Kit Download any ScriptLogic Exchange Product for a Chance to Win a Free ASUS Mini Laptop, Limited Time Only: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-ScriptLogic Kiss Your Antivirus Bloatware Goodbye. You can now replace old resource- hog AV with the VIPRE Enterprise Competitive Upgrade for 10 bucks a seat! http://www.wservernews.com/090216-VIPRE-Enterprise Tech Briefing Uh-Oh: Redmond Has Its Own Easy Button And Users Might Click It Recently Redmond rolled out it's latest novelty, I'm sure in an attempt to keep tech support costs down. They now have a 'Fix it' button on their support site. Not very widespread as yet, but the idea is quickly spreading to about 100 different 'fix-its' for Windows, IE, Enterprise tools, Office, Outlook, Media Player and more. You might want to check this out and see if you want end-users messing with these things, and block the whole site if you feel it causes more trouble than it's worth. http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Solution-Center-Fix Researchers: IT Security Jobs Largely Untouched By Economy Information security jobs may not be the most glamorous ones in the technology industry. But at least they appear to be a lot more secure than many other IT positions are during the ongoing economic recession. Two reports, one from the SANS Institute and the other from Foote Partners LLC, say that the size of security staffs and the money companies are willing to pay them remain have remained surprisingly steady. Read more at NetworkWorld: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-IT-Security-Jobs Taking The Sting Out Of Virtual Desktop Storage Costs The high cost of shared storage has always been a trouble spot for those considering server virtualization. When it comes to hosting desktops with VDI, associated storage costs are often a deal-breaker. However, new tools and technologies have emerged to ease storage costs for hosted virtual desktops. This tip discusses some of these new options and key considerations to look at before adopting a virtual desktop storage solution: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Virtual-Desktop-News Expert Tutorial: Powershell Scripting With VMware ESX Scripting tools help manage a VMware environment by automating common administration tasks. However, some VMware scripting tools, such as Perl, come with a learning curve. Fortunately, each VMware Infrastructure Toolkit (VI Toolkit) release features increased PowerShell integration. Because many VMware admins are also Windows admins (and are familiar with PowerShell), VMware scripting is now more accessible. This tutorial explains how to install and use the PowerShell tool: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-PowerShell-Tool Using The MS Assessment And Planning Toolkit With Hyper-V There are several issues you may face when moving to virtualization. Fortunately, there are tools out there to help you. In this screencast, get an introduction to the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit, a free download designed to provide hardware inventories, compatibility analysis, readiness reporting and more for Windows virtual environments: See the screencast here: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Assessment-Planning Hacking Exposed 6 Released: World's Best Selling Security Book This 10th anniversary edition has been fully overhauled to cover the latest insidious weapons in the hacker's extensive arsenal. New and updated material: New chapter on hacking hardware, including lock bumping, access card cloning, RFID hacks, USB U3 exploits, and Bluetooth device hijacking Updated Windows attacks and countermeasures, including new Vista and Server 2008 vulnerabilities and Metasploit exploits The latest UNIX Trojan and rootkit techniques and dangling pointer and input validation exploits New wireless and RFID security tools, including multi-layered encryption and gateways All-new trace-routing and eavesdropping techniques used to target network hardware and Cisco devices Updated DoS, man-in-the-middle, DNS poisoning, and buffer overflow coverage VPN and VoIP exploits, including Google and TFTP tricks, SIP flooding, and IPsec hacking Fully updated chapters on hacking the Internet user, web hacking, and securing code Check it out at Amazon: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Hacking-Exposed Windows Server News New SDK for W2K8 R2 Beta Ars Technica reported that along with the public releases of Windows 7 beta and Windows Server 2008 R2 beta, last month Microsoft handed out the Software Development Kit (SDK) beta for both OSen. This week, Microsoft released an updated SDK beta on the Microsoft Download Center (1304.8MB). Here's what's on the .iso file: "The Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 BETA provides the documentation, samples, header files, libraries, and tools (including C++ compilers) that you need to develop applications to run on Windows 7 BETA and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1," says the company. "To build and run .NET Framework applications, you must have the corresponding version of the .NET Framework installed. This SDK is compatible with Visual Studio® 2008, including Visual Studio Express Editions, which are available free of charge." http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Windows-SDK WServer Thrid Party News My Antivirus Is Killing My Netbook - Now What? Traditional antivirus products can be terrible resource hogs, literally grabbing hundreds of megabytes in RAM, and maxing out the smaller Netbook CPU. But you cannot leave Netbooks unprotected either. VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware is the AV you want to run, with it's now famous low resource consumption and practically invisible malware protection. VIPRE now is officially the fastest antimalware on the planet! Get your 30-day eval here and experience VIPRE on your Netbook for yourself: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-VIPRE Workload Optimization with Double-Take Until now, IT workload growth and complexity always seemed to be two steps ahead of the ability to manage it. Purchasing and learning new server, storage and virtualization platforms is expensive, installing and maintaining workloads on disparate platforms is complicated, and migrating workloads to right-size your data center is inflexible. For data center teams, trying to juggle those challenges while managing business expectations and compliance can be a nightmare. Double-Take, the leader in Workload Optimization solutions, can help you regain control of your data center with solutions for: Workload Availability - Real-time replication and failover (HA, RA, DR) Workload Portability -X2X migration (P2P, P2V, V2P, V2V) Workload Backup and Recovery -Continuous system protection Workload Flexibility - Boot from SAN for managed desktops and servers Workload Optimization software from Double-Take Software gives you the ability to easily move, backup, protect and flexibly run your IT workloads. Whether you need a better way to move workloads for migration, continuously backup with on-demand recovery of physical and virtual machines, provide real-time replication and failover for higher availability, or iSCSI boot-from-SAN solutions for more flexible management of desktop and server workloads, Double-Take has a solution that's right for you. Visit one of the Seminars mentioned above in the Webinars and Seminars section. Also, the pricing for Windows Datacenter and maintenance has been drastically reduced. This is a permanent change in the pricing, so ask your Reseller or Rep for a quote based on these new SKUs: DT4DC-PRE-B: $8,495 DT4DC-PRE-M: $1,699 DT4DC-PRE-R: $1,699 WServerNews Fave Links This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff. Airbus 320 pilot Capt. Sullenberger talks about the final moments before U.S. Airways Flight 1549 made a dramatic landing in N.Y.'s Hudson River. What a pro - if you missed this, it's a must see: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Pilot Here is a whole bunch of amazing aviation pictures in a PPT slide deck: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Photos After "Seinfeld" and "I'm a PC!", here is the third phase of Microsoft's ad campaign, starring a 4 1/2 year old girl named Kylie. This clip premiered during the Grammys on Feb 9, 2009. They are getting it, finally: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Commercial What Bill Gates Is Doing Now: "How I'm trying to change the world". It's interesting to hear him talk at TED about malaria instead of Windows: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Changing-the-World Microsoft to Open Stores, Hires Retail Hand. Why is this a fave? Because of the Comments that were made about this news. Click that tab: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Microsoft-Stores Powered by two Phantom II jet fighter engines, the Thrust SSC hit 714 mph (1149 km/h) in the Black Rock Desert to set a new land speed record: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Fast-Car Three Belgian Airforce Alpha Jets doing *very* low altitude practice flying. The 3rd one wins the price! Whew. http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Jets Guy speaks 'woman' to help out his friend. A funny ad from Australia: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Speaking-Woman Make your own Road Construction Sign. This is FUN! Here is an example of the one I made: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-VIPRE-Sign Use this site to make your own road construction sign: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Sign 5,000 paper lanterns are released into the sky as part of the Lantern Festival in Pingshi, Taiwan: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Festival Google M-Lab provides a window into your ISP. Measuring the speed of your Internet connection and figuring out just how your ISP handles certain types of traffic has always been difficult to do accurately, Now you can: http://www.wservernews.com/090216-M-Lab Pepe the trailer park dog decides to have a run with a roman candle. This is a blast. (Please keep your pets on a leash during 4th of July.) http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Dog Product of the Week Having Second Thoughts About Your Web Filter? You need the iPrism Switch Kit - the fast, easy way to get the #1 Web Filtering appliance and ditch those high-priced renewals. The iPrism Switch Kit doubles your subscription, enhances your engineering support and outfits your team with iPrism gear. Special pricing is only good for a limited time, so act now! http://www.wservernews.com/090216-Flip-the-Switch

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