Over at the Deployment Guys blog, Michael Murgolo gives us an update on how his Elevation PowerToys work with the current beta of Windows 7 . You may remember this very popular set of utilities that Michael created and discussed back in our June 2008 issue . Of course, there are some changes to User...

The Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack made life easier for lots of IT administrators—or at least it did until Windows Vista was released. Many of the tools just didn’t work with Windows Vista. Now, as Edward Dake describes , the Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) enable administrators...

With Windows Vista, t he UserAccounts.CommonDialog ActiveX control for opening a file open dialog box no longer exists. Here's a look at how you can solve   that problem using Visual Basic. No, wait. Don't run off saying "I don't have that!" or "I can't afford that!" Microsoft...

Just in case you didn’t know, TechNet Magazine has won a number of awards in its relatively short lifetime. Last year, we won the Society for Technical Communication’s Excellence Award for our October, November, and December 2006 issues. How cool is that! We thought you might enjoy taking a look back...

It's not often you see the terms pure adrenaline rush and system administration scripting in the same sentence, but here’s your chance . The Scripting Guys discuss the rush of scripting and show you how the new boot configuration data store in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 can be accessed using...

As an editor at TechNet Magazine , I don’t know if I’m supposed to have favorites, but I do. Some of the articles are just more interesting to me, either because they’re better written, or they explain something I don’t know, or they somehow tell a compelling story about how or why some product or technology...

The July 2008 issue of TechNet Magazine is now available online. FEATURE ARTICLES In the July issue, we provide guidance on Going Live with IIS 7.0 , giving advice on how you can test, stage, and migrate your Web apps. We also have an article that shows you how to plan and migrate your legacy voicemail...

The firewall in the original release of Windows XP was adequate, but really left a lot to be desired. But over the years, the Windows Firewall has received a number of makeovers and continual refinements. By the time Windows Vista was released, the firewall had beenredesigned and was quite impressive...

One of the most common questions customers ask is, "Why should we upgrade to Windows Vista?" There are a lot of reasons to upgrade, but the new security features are among the most compelling. Security was a top priority during Windows Vista development, and Microsoft believes the new operating...

Are you finally ready to start planning your organization's upgrade to Windows Vista—but filled with questions about whether your clients meet the hardware and software requirements, what compatibility issues you might face, and even which edition of Windows Vista to choose? Luckily there’s help. This...

You may be familiar with the Elevation PowerToys created by Michael Murgolo, which he discussed in the June 2007 issue of TechNet Magazine.  In the June 2008 issue, he's back with an update to his Elevation PowerToys for Windows Vista. You'll find enhanced Run as Administrator functionality that...

Software asset management has become essential for every business—not only to manage a significant financial investment, but also because growing legal, security, and policy issues demand increasing attention. But the amount of software that businesses now purchase and deploy can make getting a handle...

What’s the biggest chore when migrating your users from their old Windows XP computers to ne w Windows Vista machines? Reinstalling your users' applications on their new PCs—and making sure those apps work! Now, a free tool from Microsoft can spare you those countless reinstalls. In the January...

When you disconnect your laptop from the office network and go on the road or connect over a slow or intermittent link, how do you maintain a copy of a file on the offline computer while the original is on the main server? More importantly, how do you handle a conflict if someone in the home office changes...

Many people don't think about backing up their data until it's too late and the data has already been lost. Even the staff at TechNet Magazine has experienced that hassle; we meant to back up our home machine, but something came up and... well, cleaning up the mess was not fun. Windows Vista aims to...

UAC. Does anyone really have mild feelings about this much-discussed feature of Windows Vista? I didn't think so. And proving my point, in the September 2007 installment of our Security Watch column, Jesper Johansson explains what UAC is... and what it isn't . He also shows how using UAC correctly represents...

You've got hundreds, maybe thousands, of machines that need to be migrated from Windows 2000 or Windows XP to Windows Vista. So where do you start? With the release of Windows Vista, the whole process has been redesigned and there are many new and improved tools to help you plan and execute your Windows...

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a new suite of Internet protocols designed to improve on (and fix some problems with) the current version of IP, otherwise known as IPv4. You've probably heard of IPv6, but perhaps wondered when these slick new features would be available for you to use. Turns out...

Public key infrastructure (PKI) represents one of the foundation elements of security in Windows. With Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows Server 2008, the Windows PKI platform gains support for advanced algorithms, real-time validity checking, and better manageability. In the August installment of...

I'm sure by now, most all of you are familiar with Mark Russinovich, a technical fellow in the platforms division at Microsoft. Whether you know Mark from his innovative work at Sysinternals and Winternals, his defining book Windows Internals (co-authored with David Solomon), or his many articles as...

We're very proud of the fact that this week at TechEd, many authors from TechNet Magazine were featured speakers. Among our favorites is Byron Hynes, whom you may remember from his great article in our June 2007 issue entitled Keys to Protecting Data with BitLocker Drive Encryption . Well, now - thanks...

We have a very exciting Utility Spotlight this month! One of our very talented contributing editors, Michael Murgolo, has created a powerful (and free!) set of Script Elevation PowerToys for Windows Vista. These tools allow for command line and UI-based UAC elevation of VBScript and Windows PowerShell...

You may recall that the final part of Mark Russinovich's three-part series, Inside the Windows Vista Kernel , Mark discussed kernel changes in Windows Vista related to reliability, recovery, and security. However, one notable security feature - User Account Control - was tabled for future discussion...

In the final part of his three part series, Mark Russinovich wraps up his look at changes made in the Windows Vista Kernel by exploring advancements in reliability, recovery, and security. The latest installment can be found on our Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/04...

In his continuing series exploring changes made in the Windows Vista Kernel, this month Mark Russinovich takes a look at advancements in the way Windows Vista manages memory, as well as major improvements to system startup, shutdown, and power management. This latest installment can be found on our Web...