Microsoft TechNet Ireland Blog : tips

Ask the Unified Communications and Collaboration Expert

ieitpro — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:45:00 GMT

Q I'm developing a search strategy for my organisation we currently have SharePoint 2007 but it is not currently deployed should I build my search strategy on MOSS or Windows Search Server 2008 Express?

A SharePoint Server 2007 provides a comprehensive search solution for organisations as it supports, document shares, SharePoint libraries, inter/intra net sites, Exchange public libraries, people search and Line of Business Data via the BDC, since the release of SharePoint 2007 Server SP1 we also now support open search standards to provide federated search scenarios and connectors for vendor solutions such as EMC Documentum. More information on Microsoft search and partner solutions can be found here.

Q I am an Office 2003 user, lately my business contacts have been sending me Microsoft Office documents that are stored in a new format, what can I do apart from ask them to resend them in the Office 2003 format?

A Great Question, Microsoft released an add-in called the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats which is available here. Gartner have advised organisations to proactively deploy the Office File Compatibility Pack to aid migration and just these scenarios.

Q I'm developing a SharePoint 2007 deployment for my company. Is there a single place which shows me the best practice approach?
Q We're using instant messaging extensively in our organisation. Can we use this away from our PC's?
Q What are the bandwidth requirements of OCS? Do I need to change anything in my network to accommodate VoIP and video?
Q My company are deploying the Office Professional Plus2007 clients to our desktop estate and want to ensure existing users can find the features they traditionally accessed by menu’s what can I do?

See more helpful answers @ http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/connect/ask/

TechNet Radio

ieitpro — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:39:00 GMT

Stuck in traffic on your commute everyday? I spend a full day on the M50 every week going nowhere fast. There's only so much radio you can listen to! I've tried learning chinese - I've even listened to Wikinomics on audio book. I had a great idea then that if only we could produce technical audio casts that you could listen when you were stuck in traffic - you could keep up to date and get the most out of the commute deadtime! Great idea that unfortunately someone at MS already had before me (forget about the early retirement plans!).

TechNet Radio is a series of audio casts that you can download from the Technet Site - unlike the audio streams of webcasts, they're designed to be listened to and not viewed so there are no references to PowerPoint slides that you can't see. In fact most of them take the form of an interview with an expert on whatever the topic is: currently they're running a series on mobility. We're planning to do one or two of these locally so if anyone has any topics they'd like to hear - let me know.

You can check it out for yourself at:-

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ie/bb510143(en-us).aspx

Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility Briefing Event 2008

ieitpro — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:00:00 GMT

We are hosting a really GREAT Mobility Event on February 21st.

Business right across Ireland are demanding more manageable integrated mobility solutions. To date, mobile devices have often been rolled out in a haphazard fashion and the management of those devices has often been achieved in a non-integrated way. If you subjected the mobile phones and PDAs accessing your corporate network to the same rigours of IT risk and management policies that you do your laptops, how would they measure up?

This event will provide you with an answer to some of your key mobility questions. We will bring you through the Windows Mobile roadmap and also take a comprehensive look at Microsoft's System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. Mobile Device Manager is Microsoft’s comprehensive mobile device management solution that provides greater reliability, reduces maintenance costs, simplifies manageability, and easily scales to support thousands of Windows Mobile users. It also integrates with your Active Directory/Group Policy implementations and with security-enhanced mobile VPN, on-device encryption, remote device wipe, and more. Mobile Device Manager gives users more secure access to the corporate data they need to stay productive virtually anytime and anywhere, including line-of-business applications, SharePoint servers, document libraries, and file shares.

Prizes will be given out on the day!

Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Briefing 2008

Speaker: Jason Langridge (Mr Mobile Blog!) – Biography below.

Date: 21 February 2008

Location: Microsoft's Atrium B Building, Carmenhall Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18
Who should attend: IT professionals, IT Managers, Exchange Administrators.
Registration: Click here to register

Full Agenda

08.30 – 09:00 Light breakfast and registration

09:00 – 09:10 Welcome and Introduction

09:10 – 10:10 Windows Mobile Update and introduction System Center Mobile Device Manager.

System Center Mobile Device Manager is a comprehensive mobile device management solution that provides greater reliability, reduces maintenance costs, simplifies manageability, and easily scales to support thousands of Windows Mobile users. With security-enhanced mobile VPN, on-device encryption, remote device wipe, and more, Mobile Device Manager gives users more secure access to the corporate data they need to stay productive virtually anytime and anywhere, including line-of-business applications, SharePoint servers, document libraries, and file shares.

10:10 – 10:40 We will also be showing Case Studies highlighting Windows Mobile Deployments: showing the simplicity and benefits of Windows Mobile.

10:40 – 10:50 Coffee and break

10:50 – 11:20 Unified Communications Update.

The value of the Windows Mobile platform with other Microsoft products is clearly demonstrated in the release of Office Communicator Mobile 2007. Communicator Mobile extends Microsoft’s Live Communications Server’s capabilities to mobile devices, enabling companies to deploy IM and presence-enabled solutions that provide a consistent real-time communications experience across PCs and smart mobile devices.

11:20 – 11:50 Customer Success Story – Northern Ireland Wildlife Ambulance Board and ALK

11:50 – 12:15 How to engage and get started.

12:15 – 12:30 Summary, Q&A, close

Windows Home Server - RC1 Available Now

ieitpro — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:18:00 GMT

I know a lot of you are itching to get your Home Server up and running. Windows Home Server edition will help you connect multiple PC's in your home. Everyone in your home will have a familiar way to store, access, share, automatically protect and back-up digital images, music, video, and personal documents. You can download RC1 from the Microsoft connect website.

To keep up to date with what's going on, sign up for our local TechNet Newsletter.

VHD Test Drive Program

ieitpro — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:01:00 GMT

Dave blogged about this earlier today and I wanted to put it up on the TechNet website. You can now download pre-configured, 30 day evaluation copies of Microsoft (and Partner) software from www.microsoft.com/vhd

You can now download:
• Windows Server 2003 R2
• Windows Vista
• Exchange Server 2007
• SQL Server 2005
• ISA Server 2006
• System Center Essentials 2007
• Visual; Studio 2005 Team Suite
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (beta2)

All you need to evaluate any of these products is your free copy of Virtual PC or Virtual Server - and a PC with at least a GB of memory.

To keep up to date with what's going on, sign up for our local TechNet Newsletter.

Try SQL Server 2005 (180 days) with some powerful migration tools!

ieitpro — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:08:00 GMT

Try SQL Server 2005 Free for 180 Days

Find out why the world's largest businesses are turning to SQL Server 2005 for mission-critical tasks.

SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access

Automates database migration from Access to SQL Server 2005.

SQL Server Migration Assistant for Sybase ASE

Automates database migration from Sybase ASE to SQL Server 2005

Great Vista Tips on the Winsupersite.com

ieitpro — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:47:00 GMT

Some interesting tips on the winsupersite.com site for those still getting to grips with Vista:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_it_tips.asp

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_more_tips.asp

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_tips3.asp

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_tips4.asp

(“Find recently edited documents” is a good one)
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_tips5.asp

November issue of the TechNet Magazine available now.

ieitpro — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:51:00 GMT

This months issue focuses on Windows Vista. How's this for a list of feature articles?

10 Things You Need to Know about Deploying Windows Vista

From more flexible image handling to a new boot loader, Windows Vista introduces some important changes for desktop deployment. Here’s a look at 10 ways Windows Vista can make your next deployment faster and easier than ever.

Protect Your PC with New Security Features in Windows Vista

Developed according to the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle guidelines, Windows Vista offers a level of security not built into earlier versions of Windows. Take a look at the new and enhanced features Windows Vista offers to help you detect and prevent security threats.

Achieve the Non-Admin Dream with User Account Control

While limiting user privileges is a good way to help protect your systems, non-admin accounts can be inconvenient, introducing problems such as application compatibility issues. Windows Vista offers new features that make it easier for you to manage and support standard user accounts.

Enterprise Networking with Windows Vista

Since the release of Windows XP, networking has changed drastically—users are more mobile, wireless networking is everywhere, and security threats are more sophisticated. Take a look at the innovations in Windows Vista that make networking simpler, more secure, and easier to manage.

Getting Ready for Windows PE 2.0

Along with Windows Vista, a more powerful version of Windows PE will be released. This overview discusses the new features and capabilities found in Windows PE 2.0 and how these changes will affect you.

Inside the New Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit

Before you deploy a new OS, it's critical that you determine potential compatibility issues and solutions for the many applications your organization relies on. Here's an in-depth look at how you can access your software portfolio, determine the impact Windows Vista will have on applications, and find solutions for potential issues.

New Tools for Event Management in Windows Vista

Windows Vista presents a giant step forward in enterprise management, offering a new and improved infrastructure and tools designed for event logging and tracing. The result is easier, more powerful ways to gather information and quickly perform troubleshooting.

More Powerful Group Policy in Windows Vista

The Group Policy infrastructure has been overhauled, delivering new management features, new policy settings, support for multiple local GPOs, and much more. This article looks under the hood at the many changes Windows Vista brings to Group Policy.

Some Great New Security Resources Available

ieitpro — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 10:51:00 GMT

Just found these (they're designed for a "Midsize Business" - but that's a good description of pretty much every business in Ireland).

How to Support Smart Card Logon for Remote Access VPN Connections

Protecting a Network from Unmanaged Clients

Security Monitoring and Attack Detection

Secure Wireless Access Point Configuration

Securing Critical and Service Accounts

These really are good content, so enjoy..

Dave

Fastest, easiest way to try out Microsoft products!

ieitpro — Wed, 31 May 2006 18:35:00 GMT

(WOW) I'm impressed! I've tried these virtual labs before but often had to go through some config changes etc. to get them working properly.

Now that they launched this new version of these Virtual labs it has worked - first time, no messing about, no configuration changes. And they perform fine!

Next Generation of TechNet Virtual Labs Launches
Microsoft Virtual Lab Express provides 30-minute, high-level, hands-on overviews of Microsoft products. Benefits include simplified registration and a software evaluation roadmap.

If you've been to TechNet events this year and would now really like to get some hands on experience with products like MOM, AD and SMS you can try them out here.

Microsoft Security Assessment Tool

ieitpro — Tue, 09 May 2006 17:13:00 GMT

This is a great resource for any company with less than 1,000 PC's. Download the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool (MSAT) and install it on your computer to obtain information and recommendations about best practices to help enhance security within your information technology infrastructure.

To learn more about the MSAT visit http://www.securityguidance.com