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Vol. 14, #33 - Aug 10, 2009 - Issue #738
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The 40 Most Popular Tools For Your System Admin Bag
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- Editors Corner
- The 40 Most Popular Tools For Your System Admin Bag
- Critical Bug in Win7 RTM
- Invitation For VIPRE & CounterSpy Hotfix 6 Beta II
- What to Look For in the Beta Test
- Reporting Software Bugs
- Quote Of The Week
- Admin Toolbox
- Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without:
- Webinars
- VIPRE Enterprise Product Demonstration - August 11
- Sunbelt Exchange Archiver Product Demonstration - August 18
- Kiss Your Antivirus Bloatware Goodbye: A Look at VIPRE Enterprise
- Tech Briefing
- 5 Lessons From The Dark Side Of Cloud Computing
- E-Zine: SharePoint Taxonomies That Stand The Test Of Time
- Nine Common Password Oversights To Avoid
- How To Get Management On Board With Virtualization
- Windows Server News
- Will Microsoft Catch Up To VMware in Server Virtualization?
- Third Party News
- Customer Satisfaction with Email Archiving Systems
- WServerNews Fave Links
- This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
- WServerNews - Product of the Week
- Simplify and Automate IT Security and Operations Without
Sacrificing Visibility and Control
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Simplify and Automate IT Security and Operations Without Sacrificing Visibility and Control
Shavlik Technologies, LLC, is the market leader in simplifying
and automating critical IT security and operations. The latest
release of Shavlik's industry leading patch management solution
integrates antivirus + antispyware giving customers a single,
flexible agent to manage these critical tasks from a common
management console. Shavlik NetChk Protect is the industry's
top solution for lowering operational costs and increasing
visibility and control over Windows based servers and workstations.
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-NetChk
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Editors Corner |
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The 40 Most Popular Tools For Your System Admin Bag
You may be aware of the very popular NTSYSADMIN list that Sunbelt has
hosted for almost 10 year. This is a list where all admin related topics
are discussed, and where peers help each other out. Here is a posting.
Matt Plahtinsky said: "I am always looking for cool new tools to add to my
tool bag that I take with me to clients. Here is a list of some of my
most used tools. If you have some tools that you use a lot please share."
There were dozens of replies, and it's always a hassle to read through
all these separate emails so I spent a few hours to clean it up, and sort
them alphabetically. So without further ado, here is the list!
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-Tools
Subscribe to the NTSYSADMIN list server here. The trick is to create a
rule to get them in a dedicated folder, and then sort that folder on
subject so that you see all the treads easily and can read them.
Subscribe here at the "NT System Admin Issues" list:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-NTSystemAdminIssues
Critical Bug in Win7 RTM
Randall Kennedy reported in his blog: "Oh boy! It appears that Microsoft's
glowing track record with Windows 7 is about to come to an abrupt and
unceremonious end. According to various Web sources, the RTM build
7600.16385 includes a potentially fatal bug that, once triggered, could
bring down the entire OS in a matter of seconds.
Well, that was a bit exaggerated.
The bug is a memory leak involving the chkdsk.exe utility. It appears
when you attempt to run the program against a secondary drive using the
"/r" (read and verify all file data) parameter. Windows division president
Steven Sinofsky claims it is far from being a show stopper and joked about
the blogosphere blowing things out of proportion. Here is his comment:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-Comment
Invitation For VIPRE & CounterSpy Hotfix 6 Beta II
Sunbelt Software is pleased to announce the Beta II release of Hotfix 6.
Hotfix 6 is a general update that improves the overall performance and
stability of VIPRE and CounterSpy.
With a number of fixes "under the hood" and other general improvements to
increase performance and stability, there are three key fixes in Hotfix 6:
- Improve the description of Active Protection settings, and change the
screen layout to help prevent users from quarantining OS files and other
key files.
- Update VIPRE/CounterSpy to work with the new Windows Security Center
in Vista and Windows 7
- New smaller definitions files
To download Hotfix 6 VIPRE, please click on this link:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-VIPRE-Beta
To download Hotfix 6 CounterSpy, please click on this link:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-CounterSpy-Beta
A key part of this beta test is the testing of the new definitions files.
When you install HF6 Beta II, you will then download and install an
entirely new set of definitions.
The new definitions incorporate advanced technologies that will reduce
the size of the definitions by a factor of 3. In other words, the new
definitions will be less than 1/3 the size of the existing definitions,
and updates will occur much faster.
What to Look For in the Beta Test
We're looking at two types of issues with this beta test. With the program
itself, we want to test its interaction with the new Windows Security Center
in Windows 7 RC1 and Vista SP1. We want to test total program performance
with Windows 7 RC1. When you have the new W7 RTM, we will want to test it
with that build. We want to test the new Active Protection settings page,
so please navigate to File|Settings|Active Protection and take a look and
let us know if you understand the descriptions.
We also would like to test the overall program, to ensure that everything
that worked before continues to work.
The second thing to look at is the new definitions. We want to know if there
are any issues with the installation of the new defs. We want to know, after
you'd had the new defs for a couple of days, if the new definitions continue
to update correctly.
(If you run into any problems downloading a definitions update, in
File|Settings|Updates, in the Update Now section, check "Completely refresh
my definitions" and then click on Check For Updates.)
We also want to know any False Positives that might be incorrectly flagged
with the new defs. Any time a new technology of this nature is released,
there is the possibility of False Positives. While we have performed
extensive False Positive testing, including outside testing, we are
monitoring potential False Positives carefully.
Reporting Software Bugs
If you encounter any problem with a False Positive, please send the file
to Sunbelt. In VIPRE, click on the Manage tab, then click on Quarantine.
Highlight the file in the Quarantine, right-click and select the last
option in the pop-up menu, "Send to Sunbelt." You can also email the
file and a brief description to
[email protected].
For all other issues, including finding bugs related to the VIPRE program
itself, please post them to the beta forum. You can reach our beta forum
by navigating to beta.sunbeltsoftware.com.. If you're not already a
registered user, you will need to register to report bugs.
You can also email us directly with the program bug description at
[email protected].
Thank you very much for your participation.
Curt Larson
VIPRE/CounterSpy Product Manager
Sunbelt Software
[email protected]
Quote Of The Week
"Free cheese is only found in mousetraps." -- Russian proverb
"The purpose of a government investigatory commission is to place blame
where it does the least harm politically." -- Paul Craig Roberts
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/090810-Subscribe
PS: Did you know this newsletter has a sister publication for XP users
called WXPnews? You can subscribe here, and tell your friends:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-WXPNews
PPS: And of course we also have our weekly VistaNews. It will soon be
renamed to Win7News! You can subscribe here, and tell your friends:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-VistaNews
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Join The 1,000 Sites A Month That Switch To VIPRE Enterprise
No more 2-day SEP V11 Migration Classes! Sunbelt built VIPRE Enterprise; a
completely new technology combining corporate antivirus plus an enterprise
antispyware solution for total endpoint security designed by admins for
admins. And that means EASY DEPLOYMENT. Save your IT budget and don't renew
products from Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro, Learn how VIPRE Enterprise
takes much less resources than the competition! It's clearly time to kiss
your antivirus bloatware goodbye! Competitive Upgrade price: $10/seat:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-VIPRE-Enterprise
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Webinars |
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VIPRE Enterprise Product Demonstration - August 11
Want total malware protection without the bloat? Join us for a look at VIPRE
Enterprise and learn how Sunbelt started with a blank slate to design a new,
next-generation antivirus and antispyware technology to deal with today's
complex malware in the most comprehensive, highly efficient manner.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 2:00pm - 2:30pm EDT
Can't make the live event? Register anyway to get the recorded version
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-VIPRE-Demo
Sunbelt Exchange Archiver Product Demonstration - August 18
Exchange performance is suffering. Your users complain about email storage
and don't want any quotas. Your CEO requires legal compliance. Want a high-end,
feature-rich, admin-friendly product that solves all these issues at a very
affordable price? Then don't miss this Sunbelt Exchange Archiver demonstration.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 2:00pm - 2:30pm EDT
Can't make the live event? Register anyway to get the recorded version
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-SEA-Demo
Kiss Your Antivirus Bloatware Goodbye: A Look at VIPRE Enterprise
Want total malware protection without the bloat? Join us for a look at VIPRE
Enterprise and learn how Sunbelt started with a blank slate to design a new,
next-generation antivirus and antispyware technology to deal with today's
complex malware in the most comprehensive, highly efficient manner.
Can't make the live event? Register anyway to get the recorded version
Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-Goodbye-Bloatware
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Tech Briefing |
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5 Lessons From The Dark Side Of Cloud Computing
Robert Lemos in his blog made some very good observations. He said: While
many companies are considering moving applications to the cloud, the security
of the third-party services still leaves much to be desired, security
experts warned attendees at last week's Black Hat Security Conference.
The current economic downturn has made cloud computing a hot issue, with
startups and smaller firms rushing to save money using virtual machines
on the Internet and larger firms pushing applications such as customer
relationship management to the likes of Salesforce.com. Yet companies need
to be more wary of the security pitfalls in moving their infrastructure
to the cloud, experts say.
- Cloud offers less legal protection
- You don't own the hardware
- Strong policies and user education required
- Don't trust machine instances
- Rethink your assumptions
Read the article for the details on these 5 points. They make a lot of sense:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-Dark-Side-of-the-Cloud
E-Zine: SharePoint Taxonomies That Stand The Test Of Time
Creating iron-clad taxonomies for your SharePoint site is essential to
its success. Learn ways to accommodate permanent departments and business
functions as well as ad hoc collaboration when building out your SharePoint
taxonomies. Find out how to add structure and prevent sprawl with a
governance document that fits your organization, and dive into usage
data with a quick how-to on SharePoint's analytics tool:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-SharePoint-Ezine
Nine Common Password Oversights To Avoid
Passwords are everywhere in the IT world. Whether at your desktop, on a
Web site or on the VPN, passwords are constantly getting in the way. The
good news: There are steps you can take to make your passwords more
manageable. The bad news: You're not going to be getting away from them
anytime soon. Protect your systems from weak passwords, poor password
policies and any subsequent security issues with these nine tips designed
to strengthen your password protection:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-Password-Oversights
How To Get Management On Board With Virtualization
Whether the impetus for server virtualization comes from the top down or
the bottom up, winning management buy-in for virtual server technology
is key to implementation success. In this expert tip get best practices
for getting management on board (and excited!) about virtualization:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-Server-Virtualization
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Windows Server News |
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Will Microsoft Catch Up To VMware in Server Virtualization?
Will Microsoft and VMware be in accord on cloud computing? Can Microsoft
catch up with VMware in the server virtualization market? In this interview,
Tony Iams, a senior analyst at IT research firm, Ideas International Inc.,
offers his views on IT shops' response to the release of Windows Server
2008 R2 and the vendors' competing views of how cloud computing should
evolve:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-VMware
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Third Party News |
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Customer Satisfaction with Email Archiving Systems
Email archiving is rapidly becoming a critical best practice for organizations
of all sizes and across all industries for two fundamental reasons:
- Because e-discovery and regulatory obligations require organizations
to access their business records
- Because of the significant volume of email stored on servers, coupled
with increasing use of email and growing attachment sizes, email storage
is becoming very difficult to manage.
Osterman Research conducted a primary survey asking organizations about a
variety of archiving systems. The purpose of this research was simply to
understand the level of satisfaction that customers of Sunbelt Exchange
Archiver (SEA) and other email archiving offerings report on a variety of
metrics related to product and vendor performance. Among the offerings to
which the SEA offering are compared in this white paper are Symantec
Enterprise Vault, Autonomy ZANTAZ EAS, Barracuda Message Archiver, EMC
EmailXtender and a wide variety of other leading -- and very capable --
email archiving solutions.
The goal of this white paper is to provide a point of comparison between
SEA and other offerings in order to help decision makers in their archiving
system evaluation process. You will find the white paper here - there is
no registration required:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-Email-Archiving-PDF
To get a quote and find out how much SEA would be for your organization, go
here and fill out the "Request Walkthrough" tab and a Rep will contact you:
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-SEA
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WServerNews Fave Links |
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This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
|
|
WServerNews - Product of the Week |
|
Simplify and Automate IT Security and Operations Without
Sacrificing Visibility and Control
Shavlik Technologies, LLC, is the market leader in simplifying
and automating critical IT security and operations. The latest
release of Shavlik's industry leading patch management solution
integrates antivirus + antispyware giving customers a single,
flexible agent to manage these critical tasks from a common
management console. Shavlik NetChk Protect is the industry's
top solution for lowering operational costs and increasing
visibility and control over Windows based servers and workstations.
http://www.wservernews.com/090810-NetChk-Protect
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Email me: 