Fyodor, the author of Nmap, has released the results of his 2006 network security tool survey.
Source : SecTools.org
Bobbie Harder (MSFT) has posted a list of Top known issues whilst upgrading WSUS to WSUS SP1 on microsoft.public.windows.server.update_services. These issues will be updated in a KB and in the online WSUS SP1 readme.
Source : PatchAholic...The WSUS Blog
This step-by-step article describes how to determine whether a security update supports HotPatching, how to set up an environment to test HotPatching, and how to install security updates that use HotPatching.
If you use HotPatching, you can install General Distribution Release (GDR) security updates on servers that run 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1), without restarting the servers.
Source : Microsoft Technet KB
Check out the amazing PowerShellIDE at http://PowerShell.com. PowerShellIDE is the World's first PowerShell Editor and IDE.
Currently, PowerShellIDE is absolutely free.
This 350-page document contains guidance for SQL Server administrators, developers, and IT decision makers who would like to move their SQL Server 2000 or 7.0 databases to SQL Server 2005.
Source : Microsoft.com
This Microsoft KB helps avoiding common mistakes while upgrading their system.
Source : Microsoft.com
Yes it is possible. Just install the IE Tab extension for Firefox.
Souce : ietab.mozdev.orgMicrosoft has released a service pack for Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
WSUS SP1 includes the following improvements:
- Support for Windows Vista: WSUS SP1 lets you update computers that are running Windows Vista.
- Full client language support: WSUS SP1 supports all Microsoft Office and Windows Vista languages.
- New version of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows): WSUS SP1 upgrades SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows) Service Pack 3 (SP3) to SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows) Service Pack 4 (SP4).
- Faster performance: WSUS SP1 improves performance. This includes accelerated user interface response times.
- All hotfixes: WSUS SP1 includes all the changes and hotfixes that have been issued since the release of WSUS.
- Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005: WSUS SP1 lets you use SQL Server 2005.
Get all the détails and download at Microsoft.com
The Standard User Analyzer helps developers and IT professionals diagnose issues that would prevent a program from running properly without administrator privileges. On Windows Vista, even administrators run most programs with standard user privileges by default, so it is important to ensure that your application does not have administrator access as a dependency.
Source : Microsoft
I you are a WSUS administrator here's what I think is the absolute must read blog about WSUS. There is a lot of info and tools there.
PatchAholic...The WSUS Blog
The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a small beta application that you can run on your current Windows XP-based computer to find out if it's ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista. When you run the Upgrade Advisor, it will scan your computer and generate an easy-to-understand report of any known system and device compatibility issues, along with recommendations on how you can get your PC ready for Windows Vista. Microsoft plans to add functionality to Upgrade Advisor, such as checking how your software applications will run with Windows Vista. Download the beta version today and check this site in a few months for a new version.
Source : Microsoft.Com
Looking for Internet explorer Add-ons ? look at this new site from microsoft : www.ieaddons.com
McAfee SiteAdvisor is a security add-on for your Internet Explorer browser that helps you identify sites that are linked to spyware, adware, spam, viruses, browser-based attacks, phishing, or online fraud. And it is FREE !
Microsoft has introduced a one-shop-stop for searching RSS feeds from the company, including feeds from MSDN Blogs, TechNet Blogs, Microsoft Dynamics and others.
Yesteday Microsoft finaly announced the system requirements and recommandations for Windows Vista.
A Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least:
- A modern processor (at least 800MHz1).
- 512 MB of system memory.
- A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.
A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:
- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
- 1 GB of system memory.
- A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero2.
- 128 MB of graphics memory.
- 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
- DVD-ROM Drive3.
- Audio output capability.
- Internet access capability.
Source : Microsoft.com
Microsoft just release a great font for programming : Consolas. It's a monospaced font optimize for ClearType. It just look great on my ThinkPad.
The only catch is « This package is only intended for licensed users of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 ». Why are they doing this, isn't Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Express supposed to be free ?
I'm not suggesting in anyway thay you should try to hack the installer. But If you would like to try this font before you buy a full Visual Studio Package you may want to try to create this key in the registry : [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0] and see what happen :-).
You can download the font package at www.Microsoft.com/downloads.
WinMerge is an Open Source visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32 platforms. It is highly useful for determing what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions.
Looks a lot better than Microsoft WinDiff
Get it at winmerge.sourceforge.net
The Regex Coach is avery handy tool for anyone that needs to work with regular expressions. It can often be very time consuming to figure out why a certain expression is not working the way you think it should. This little program allows you to interactively create your expression and preview the effects instantly under different conditions. It tries to describe the regular expression in plain English and provides a graphical representation of the parse tree of the regular expression.
Get it at www.weitz.de/regex-coach/
Here's what looks like a great tool for all SQL Managers/Develppers and it is FREE.
Get it at sqlmanager.net
Today at the Microsoft Management Summit, Bob Muglia announced the new name for our new task-based command line shell and scripting language: Windows PowerShell (What do you think - like it?) Formerly known under the code-name "Monad", Windows PowerShell is now at the Release Candidate (RC1) milestone and will be fully baked in Q4 of 2006. However, you can download and evaluate the RC now.[Source Windows Server Division WebLog]
