Microsoft TechNet Ireland Blog : windows client

Windows 7 Roadshow Presentations and Further Resources

endaf — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:42:00 GMT

Thanks for joining us at the Windows 7 Roadshow!

Please find the presentations used at the Roadshow here. I have also uploaded some useful papers which support much of the topics and features covered.

And here are some deployment aids and general Windows 7 resources you might be interested in:

· Microsoft Deployment Toolkit: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd407791.aspx

(there is a link to the beta on connect as well)

· Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd537566.aspx

· Windows 7 walkthrough videos: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd320282.aspx

· Windows 7 Springboard (in progress): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd361745.aspx

· USMT 4.0: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd560752(WS.10).aspx

· Windows Easy Transfer: http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2009/05/05/a-look-at-improvements-to-windows-easy-transfer-for-windows-7.aspx

System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 hits RTM

will.craddock — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:27:00 GMT

Thursday May 28th saw the RTM of Operations Manager 2007 R2 being approved, which immediately initiated the next stage of the process ... getting this latest version of Microsoft's end-to-end monitoring product for IT environments and datacenters out to YOU! Read more in our overview whitepaper, What's New datasheet, or download the trial, and see customer stories and more information on our pages on Microsoft.com and TechNet.

The trial version of Operations Manager 2007 R2 RTM (build 7221) is now available via the Microsoft Download Center. General Availability of the product will be 1st July 2009, at which point new and existing customers will be able to obtain the bits from their respective customer download centers, such as MVLS.

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 has an official release date!

will.craddock — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:54:00 GMT

As we toured around Ireland on the Windows 7 Tour, the single most asked question was around when was it coming out. Well……..

“TAIPEI, Taiwan — June 2, 2009 — Microsoft is so confident with the progress made with the development of Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 that it will deliver Release to Manufacturing (RTM) code to partners for both products in the second half of July. Both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be available to the public on Oct. 22, 2009.”

For anyone who attended the great Windows Live and Digital Photographer session put on by Aidan Finn as part of TechDays Ireland will also like the announcement at the same event. Another bid to create a useful class of consumer devices is Fugoo. The Fugoo platform uses a version of Windows in conjunction with widely available Web “widgets,” which publish everything from the time and weather to currency exchange rates and horoscopes.

Fugoo’s prototype devices integrate that software functionality into home appliances to create dynamic displays in clocks, picture frames and even coffee makers.

At Computex, Fugoo is announcing that its first commercially available product, a digital picture frame launched in partnership with Pandigital in the U.S., will be available on the market this summer.

The frame is Web-enabled and can download photos from social networks or online photo services. It also allows users to download photos directly from a PC or digital camera.

See the full details of the press release at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Jun09/06-02SteveGuggenheimer.mspx.

Share this post :

Windows 7 Security Enhancements

endaf — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:28:00 GMT

You may have heard that Windows 7 includes new features and enhancements to help improve security. But what are they specifically and how will they make your Windows clients safer? TechNet Magazine’s An Introduction to Security in Windows 7 provides a great overview of the most significant security enhancements and features, from the new Biometric Framework and AppLocker to improvements for BitLocker and UAC.

Also worth checking out in the May issue of TechNet Magazine, is an article on PKI Enhancements in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. This article looks at Server Consolidation, Improved Existing Scenarios, Software + Services and Strong Authentication.

Tech Days: Galway March10, Cork March12 (7pm-9.30pm)

endaf — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:29:00 GMT

Tech Days, a joint effort between Microsoft and the IT Pro community, is bringing exceptional up-to-date technical content to Galway and Cork. Register and learn more about these evening events @ http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/technet/techdays.aspx

Galway will cover Windows 7 and Client Deployment Tools, a session for the 'accidental' (or involuntary) DBAs and a great Integrated BI Solutions session.

Cork will look at Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (Live Migration!) as well as excellent technical demos and best practice sharing on Unified Comms and SharePoint.

There is no cost for attending the event and what's more, the TechNet team have sweeeeet prizes for give-away on the evenings: an Xbox elite and two TechNet Plus Subscriptions in each city.

Enda

Microsoft Community Tech Days

ieitpro — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:47:00 GMT

The countdown is on for MS Community Tech Days!...only two weeks until Galway and Cork at the time of posting this (Galway 10th and Cork 12th March). Blindingly good technical content to be caught! Learn more and register @ http://www.microsoft.com/ireland/technet/techdays.aspx.

Tech Days are a collaborative effort between Microsoft and the IT Pro community to re-deliver the highlights of Tech Ed Conference to IT Pros across Ireland. Register now to avoid disappointment! The core content will focus on Infrastructure, BI and Unified Comms & Collaboration. Most of the sessions will be delivered by a combination of Microsoft and Community technical presenters and we promise they will involve as much time spent demoing the technology, as possible.

March will see the four-city tour stop for evening events in Galway and Cork, with full day events in Dublin and Belfast. Our special guest speaker in Galway, Dublin and Belfast is Rhonda Layfield, who was voted one of the best technical presenters @ Tech Ed Europe and North America. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to get up-to speed on the latest Microsoft technology (technical level 300) at no cost! We hope to see you there. Learn more and register here.

We are also running ‘Microsoft @ Home’ sessions in Dublin and Belfast in March, the timing of which line up nicely with the Tech Days. These sessions will look at Home Networking, Windows 7, Securing your Home and Digital Photography. So if you’re someone who has even thought about, using your Xbox 360 as a media extender for example, then you’ll certainly like this session. Learn more and register here.

Enda

Mark Russinovich Chat on Windows 7

ieitpro — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:38:00 GMT

With every new OS release comes some new features, changes to old features, fixes, kernel updates and more. While you might have read about some of these new features you probably have questions and now is your chance to find out more about Windows 7.

On Thursday, February 12th, Mark Russinovich will host a virtual roundtable for IT pros worldwide to discuss Windows 7 Beta. This is your chance to learn all about the new Windows 7 Beta and get answers to any deployment and management questions that you might have. As part of the “virtual” experience,you will be able to submit your questions about Windows 7 Beta to the panel live during the event—or submit questions in advance to vrtable@microsoft.com.

So save the date and join Mark on Thursday, February 12 at: https://ms.istreamplanet.com/springboard.

Internet Explorer 8 RC1 Released!

ieitpro — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:36:00 GMT

Today, January 26 at 12pm PT, Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) was released to tech and consumer enthusiasts in a total of 25 languages. The goals of this announcement are to drive global excitement, strengthen long-term confidence in Internet Explorer and help drive demand for Internet Explorer 8. RC1 will include a number of bug fixes, user experience improvement and enhanced security, performance and compatibility.

Windows Vista Performance - check out this video!

ieitpro — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:29:00 GMT

Nigel Mulholland, MD of Microsoft partner Nitec, discusses Vista performance - 'warts and all' - with TechNet's Dave Northey.

After an initial bumpy ride with Vista, Nitec are now happily running the operating system in-house and strongly recommending it to their customers.

View the video interview here.

Come and get the Windows 7 Beta!

ieitpro — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:20:00 GMT

Finally, the Windows 7 Beta is available for public download! I am about to download it myself and I have heard lots of positive reports from my colleagues, so I’m very encouraged!

Windows 7 Beta Has Officially Launched! After much anticipation, Microsoft has now made Windows 7 Beta available for evaluation and testing to IT professionals! For TechNet subscribers, you can download Windows 7 Beta today here. Since January 9th, the beta is open to all IT professionals on the Springboard Series for Windows 7.

In fact the Springboard Series website is a real gem and you can find loads more IT Pro resources on Windows 7 like Windows 7: A First Look for IT Pros, Windows 7 Feature Walkthroughs, Mark Russinovich Goes Inside Windows 7 as well as great resources and information on Windows Vista.

Good video to watch: Mark Russinovich on virtualization, Sysinternals and the cloud

ieitpro — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:48:00 GMT

Here's some more interesting footage from TechEd that I missed before...

Mark Russinovich, technical follow, about Windows 7, WS08 R2, virtualization and Vista. It's about 8 minutes long. You can watch Mark's interview here.

In this interview from Microsoft Tech-Ed EMEA 2008 in Barcelona, author and Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich sits down with SearchWinIT.com senior news director Margie Semilof to discuss several topics that are on the horizon for Windows administrators, such as cloud computing, client virtualization, and the release of Windows 7 Server. He also provides insight on the fate of WinFS, what's new with Sysinternals and the controversy surrounding Windows Vista.

Learning Snacks are full of goodness! (and easy to digest)

ieitpro — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:25:00 GMT

You may remember I posted Vista 'learning snacks' last month - well now they're available for Windows Server 2008 and Virtualisation too! They're actually really good! See here.

Learning Snacks are short, interactive presentations about popular topics created by Microsoft Learning experts. Each Snack is delivered by using innovative Microsoft Silverlight technology and includes various media, such as animations and recorded demos. At the end of each free presentation, you can view more Snacks, learn more about the topic, or visit a related Web site.

Internet Explorer Security Update

ieitpro — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:05:00 GMT

Microsoft released a security bulletin (out-of-band) to address a vulnerability in Internet Explorer on all currently supported versions of Windows. The bulletin was released at approximately 10 A.M. Pacific Time (6pm GMT) on Wednesday, December 17, 2008.

This security update was released outside of the usual monthly security bulletin release cycle in an effort to protect customers. Microsoft recommends customers prepare their systems and networks to apply this security bulletin immediately to help ensure that their computers are protected from attempted criminal attacks. For more information about security updates, visit http://www.microsoft.ie/protect.

The purpose of this notification is to assist customers with resource planning for this security bulletin release. The information offered in this notification is purposely general in nature to provide enough information for customers to plan for deployment without disclosing vulnerability details or other information that could put them at risk.

Anyone believed to have been affected can visit: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/support/default.mspx and should contact the Gardaí.

Microsoft continues to encourage customers to follow the “Protect Your Computer” guidance of enabling a firewall, applying all software updates, and installing anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Additional information can be found at: http://ww.microsoft.ie/protect.

=================================

NEW BULLETIN SUMMARY

=================================

Bulletin Identifier: Windows Bulletin, Internet Explorer

Maximum Severity Rating: Critical

Impact of Vulnerability: Remote Code Execution

Detection: Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer can detect whether your computer system requires this update.

Restart Requirement: May require restart.

Affected Software: Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer

The full version of the Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for this month can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-dec.mspx.

Although we do not anticipate any changes, the information provided in this summary is subject to change until the release. At this time, no additional information on this bulletin such as details regarding severity or details regarding the vulnerability will be made available until the bulletin is published.

==================================

REGARDING INFORMATION CONSISTENCY

==================================

We strive to provide you with accurate information in Web-based content. Microsoft’s security content posted to the Web is occasionally updated to reflect late-breaking information. If this results in an inconsistency between the information here and the information in Microsoft’s Web-based security content, the information in Microsoft’s Web-based security content is authoritative.

If you have any questions regarding this alert, please contact your local (Technical) Account Manager, or Ciara Murphy from the local Response Management Team – contactable via rmtirl@microsoft.com and +353 1 7064014.

Interactive Vista deployment training

ieitpro — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:28:00 GMT

Check this out!!...really good training called Deployment Learning Snacks....its at least level 300 technically and gives demos of how to deploy Windows Vista using the deployment tools.

In this interactive session you will learn how you can quickly and easily deploy Windows Vista across a network by using the various deployment tools provided by Microsoft.

Topics covered include

Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK)
User State Migration Tool (USMT) and guidelines
and practical examples of how to create an installation image and answer file.

Click here

IMPORTANT: Deploy October Critical Microsoft Security Update Immediately!

ieitpro — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:50:00 GMT

You will recall that on the 23rd October we released the out-of-band update MS08-067. Deployment of this update has been high, but a worm, Worm:Win32/Conficker, has been detected across the world with increasing frequency. If you have not done so already, please protect yourself by installing the update MS08-067 as soon as possible - both on home machines and in the office.

Please do not hold off on installing the update for fear of issues with it – the Microsoft Security Teams are unaware of a single case, which when investigated, was a regression issue with MS08-067.

Please see more information on Microsoft Security Response Center blog, the Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog, or via our encyclopaedia write up. Microsoft continues to encourage customers to install MS08-067 immediately to protect their systems from possible exploitation. For customers who believe they have been affected and want to scan their computers, Microsoft recommends using its free full scanning service. Microsoft will continue to monitor the situation and will post updates when necessary.