Welcome to TechNet Blogs Sign in | Join | Help

March 2007 - Posts

Thursday, March 29, 2007 10:27 AM

Congratulations to the Vista Squad

Last night's inaugural (don't ask me to spell that again!) Vista Squad User Group meeting was very sucessful. Around twenty technical enthusiasts gathered at the Microsoft Campus in Reading. I was particularly interested that the membership (approximately
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Thursday, March 29, 2007 10:20 AM

How to make the most of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK)

Thanks to James Senior for posting about the location of the recently released WAIK documentation . There's a wealth of free (no additional charge once you have a Windows license) tools in there including the Guided Help authoring tool ACWStudio2.exe
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Thursday, March 29, 2007 10:14 AM

How to make Vista look even cooler - here are some of the best third party add ons

Thanks to David Overton and James Senior for sharing the following... If you want to see what people are doing out there to make our OS look even better, look at these: (without modifying the OS) 3d cube based virtual desktop Rotation based Flip 3D Alternative
Posted by Steve Lamb | 6 Comments
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 9:11 PM

How many vulnerabilities are on each platform? Here's a vulnerability analysis podcast covering Microsoft, Apple and LINUX

Thanks to Rodney Buike for sharing his interview with Jeff Jones (Director of Trustworthy Computing @ MSFT) who discussed his extensive research of publically available vulnerability statistics. Here's the mp3 recording . Rodney contributes to the very
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4:52 PM

Data data everywhere - how to make sense of it?

I'm now responsible for the Data technology area of evangelism at Microsoft (in the UK) in addition to Information Security and Integration. If you'd like a local point of contact then please feel free to email me . Note: Thanks to Brent Edwards for the
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4:33 PM

Where can I find out about SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and Business Intelligence

A good place to start is by joining Peter Blackburn for his session titled Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services in the evening of 24th April in Manchester. The session is described as follows: What We Will Cover Introduction to SQL Server
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 10:19 AM

Roll up, roll up, Rafal Lukawiecki's in the house...well he will be @ Fest '07 in May

It's not long until the NxtGenUG Fest '07 event - it's taking place on 23rd May at the Microsoft Campus in Reading. Rafal is one of a number of top rated speakers including Oliver Sturm and Lorna Brown who'll be talking about Vista Security, Dynamic languages
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 4:08 PM

Why does this have to be so hard - I just want to book a flight!

Microsoft has a wonderful "self help" culture whereby employees are easily able to directly access services online. Sadly there is a brand new system that isn't any where near as easy to use as it should be. The reason for writing this post is to encourage
Posted by Steve Lamb | 3 Comments
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 2:47 PM

If you have a problem, and no one else is geeky enough, then you need...The Vista Squad! First meeting 28th March

The Vista Squad's first meeting will take place on Wednesday 28th March starting at 18:15 @ Microsoft Campus in Reading, UK. If you'd like to share thoughts about .net and Vista then The Vista Squad may be just what you're looking for. If you'd like to
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:06 PM

How to deal with risk?

Following on from my Effective Security Means Doing More with Less Risk post we need to consider how to deal with risk. The options are quite simple. Ignore it and hope the bad thing won't happen. Accept it as being manageable. Take steps to mitigate
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 11:34 AM

Effective Security means doing more with less risk

Information security is going through a major change. There are those who are ahead of the curve of mainstream adoption and of course there are those who have unique highly regulated environments who may struggle to adapt. Developers and IT Professionals
Posted by Steve Lamb | 2 Comments
Monday, March 26, 2007 11:07 AM

The World is full of spooky coincidences - here's how to ensure BitLocker protects your dozing PC

Just before going on tour for our Technical (TechNet) Roadshow I received a shiney new laptop and promptly trashed the incumbunt O/S (XP) and replaced it with 64 bit Vista. All was good. I was in a hurry and therefore simply booted from the network and
Posted by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
Monday, March 19, 2007 3:50 PM

Upcoming Security Webcasts including Vista Wireless Security, Forefront and ISA

TechNet Webcast: Information About Microsoft April Security Bulletins (Level 200) Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific Time Christopher Budd, CCE, CISA, CISM, CISSP, ISSMP Security Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation Mike Reavey,
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Friday, March 16, 2007 5:06 PM

Dispelling some myths about BitLocker - you can encrypt multiple partitions and don't have to have a TPM

If you're new to Windows Vista's BitLocker featureset then I recommend reading " all you ever wanted to know about windows Vista's Bitlocker drive encryption and secure start up technologies " & " why won't bitlocker read my usb token on boot how
Posted by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
Friday, March 16, 2007 4:53 PM

Why won't Bitlocker read my USB token on boot? How to use Bitlocker without a Trusted Platform Module(TPM)

During the Technical (TechNet) Roadshow and whilst meeting IT Professionals both online and offline many people have asked questions about Windows Vista's Bitlocker featureset. My earlier post titled all you ever wanted to know about Windows Vista's BitLocker
Posted by Steve Lamb | 3 Comments
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 5:10 PM

Thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday in Yorkshire for the TechNet edition of the Technical Roadshow

I spent the weekend in the Yorkshire Dales just twenty miles from the venue and came across the following sign - it's for real: Grassington is a wonderful (very) small market town right in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales - great food, beer, views and
Posted by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
Filed under: ,
Monday, March 12, 2007 12:58 PM

Here's a great video on User Account Control as mentioned during the TechNet Roadshow in Glasgow

I loved the wonderful shape of Glasgow's IMAX theatre as you can see below - almost an organic shape formed of steel. It was a great venue. During the session I referred to a very informative Channel9 video covering the details of Windows Vista's User
Posted by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
Filed under: ,
Monday, March 12, 2007 12:14 PM

Tech-Ed: Developers 2007 will run from 5th to 9th November in Barcelona

Following my post about Tech-Ed: IT Forum 2007 it's only appropriate for me to share the dates of Tech-Ed: Developers 2007 too. There will be more information available between now and the event. Rest assured that we'll have the same high standard of
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,
Monday, March 12, 2007 11:37 AM

Heads up - Tech-Ed:IT Forum 2007 will run from 12th November to 16th November in Barcelona

I know it seems a long way away but I'm aware that many of you have to start justifying budgets very soon for activities later in the year. We're back in Barcelona for Tech-Ed:IT Forum - as before we'll have leading technical experts from around the World
Posted by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
Filed under: ,
Thursday, March 08, 2007 8:55 PM

Would you like to be on TV to share your experience of the challenges of being Safe on the Internet?

If you live in the UK and would like to be interviewed by the BBC as part of an "Online Safety Panel" then browse here , complete the web form, sit back and wait to see if you're selected as one of the ten people to be filmed on 20th March.
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Thursday, March 08, 2007 4:41 PM

All change - time to make my blog easier to read on a Smartphone

I've changed the colour scheme and formatting of this blog to make it easier to read on devices with small screens. Any suggestions to improve it further are greatly appreciated. Thanks Steve
Posted by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
Thursday, March 08, 2007 4:18 PM

There's Live Writer Gadget on the way - it includes a nice descriptive error message!

Thanks to James for writing about the upcoming Live Writer Gadget - I can't wait until it's finished. I like Live Writer as it's really useful for writing blog posts both offline and online
Posted by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
Filed under:
Thursday, March 08, 2007 3:52 PM

Which version of Windows Vista do I need? Here's a feature list

Thanks to David Weeks for sharing the following extensive list of Windows Vista product features corresponding to each edition running from Home Basic to Ultimate. Windows Vista Editions Feature Table Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate
Posted by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
Monday, March 05, 2007 11:25 AM

**Edited to correct broken link** Microsoft are writing Firefox plug ins!

The Port25 blog is the outlet of Microsoft's Open Source Software lab. It often includes interesting articles on topics I'd never expect to read about. Their remit is simple. Make it as easy as possible for other operating systems to integrate with Microsoft
Posted by Steve Lamb | 3 Comments
Thursday, March 01, 2007 4:27 PM

Make the most of Windows Vista's Guided Help Feature as discussed at the Roadshow

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the recent TechNet Roadshow venues of Nottingham and Bristol. A popular topic of discussion was Windows Vista's Guided Help feature. It's a great way of helping your users to learn how to make the most of the available
Posted by Steve Lamb | 3 Comments
 
Page view tracker