Microsoft made available for download a new release of its free anti-virus/anti-malware program for Windows PCs, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), on April 24. The MSE 4.0 release is available via the Microsoft Download Center and the MSE Web site. (I learned of its availability from a post on Neowin today.) The latest version runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Source : www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft
This morning, even a bit earlier than we expected, Omar Shahine and Mike Torres posted on the Building Windows 8 blog on the new updates to SkyDrive that “make personal cloud storage for Windows available anywhere” Immediately upon opening SkyDrive in the browser (once you are signed in), you’ll see a notice about something we hinted at the other day: future users are only going to be allowed 7 gb of free storage, instead of the 25 gb offered now. This is still bigger than Dropbox’s 2gb, or even the long rumored Google G Drive, which is said to be offering 5 gb However, as early adopters, we’re getting a sweet deal: just click on the link in
New features include: Support for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Integration with Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 7 (DaRT) and Security Compliance Manager (SCM) Support for Windows 8 Consumer Preview for deployments in a lab environment Support for Windows Server “8” Beta Source : Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Team Blog
In terms of desktop management, Group Policy is the cornerstone of a Windows administrator’s arsenal. With Group Policy, you can deploy software, printers and drive mappings. You can configure default settings and manage client behavior. But how do you manage Group Policy? The built-in mechanics for managing Group Policy are simply inadequate for most organizations. Windows administrators either have complete access or no access by their addition and removal from the Group Policy Creator Owners Security Group. Further, Group Policy Object (GPO) management lacks in terms of change control, automated backups, and role based delegation. Microsoft’s Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) addresses all of these issues. Source : 4sysops.com
Apple today has made good on its promise to release its own tool that detects and removes any instances of the Flashback malware onMac systems running Java. The tool is only available for systems running OS X 10.6 or later, and is bundled with a slightly updated version of the most recent Java runtime, but is a separate component that is installed and runs on its own. Source : reviews.cnet.com
Today we're announcing Groups for Schools, which allow people with an active school email address to join groups at their college or university. Source : newsroom.fb.com
Facebook is restricted to users under age 13, but according to a new survey, that hasn’t kept young children away. MinorMonitor, a tool for parents to watch their children’s Facebook activities, surveyed 1,000 parents about how their children use Facebook, finding that 38% of children on Facebook are 12 and under. Of the 1,000 children represented by their parents, 40 were under age six. Source : mashable.com
A common question that I come across when I talk about IIS is, How do I keep track of my application pools? I want to know every time my app pool stops etc etc.
There are several ways we can do this. Simplest of all would be to write a script (AppCmd or IIS powershell snap-in) and run it to check status. However, what I wanted was to keep a side-by-side web front end using which I could track the app pool status through the web. This means I would need to have a web server running beside IIS to relay me the data.
Enter IIS Hostable Web Core (HWC). Source : www.iisworkstation.com
The nightmare scenario for Mac owners is here. At least 600,000 Macs worldwide have been infected, silently, by the Flashback Trojan, with no user interaction required. Here’s why this is just the beginning of a long-term problem. Source : The Ed Boot Report
IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) is a specification defined by Intel and adopted by a number of companies for standardizing hardware management, particularly in server systems. IPMI supports both in-band (from the operating system) and out-of-band (from the network direct to hardware) management. The protocol IPMI uses for out-of-band management is not based on WS-Management and not the focus of this blog post. Available since Windows 2003 R2, Microsoft has developed a generic IPMI Driver and IPMI Provider in Windows to enable management of BMCs (Base board Management Controller) that implement IPMI. The IPMI Driver (IPMIdrv.sys) is essentially a light-weight “pass-through” driver which takes IPMI requests and returns IPMI responses. The IPMI Provider (IPMIprv.dll) takes the heavy load
