Register for our next Live Meeting event which is on Friday 15th May at 11am.

Event Overview
Windows Server 2008 R2 delivers some highly anticipated features for Active Directory administrators. This session will provide an overview of the new features and also drill down on some of their aspects, which would enable you to better understand and evaluate their value. You will take away an understanding of AD Recycle Bin (easing recovery), Managed Service Accounts (easing Service Account lifecycle management), Authentication Assurance (enabling applications to authorize per two factor authentication), Offline Domain Join (easing large scale data center deployments), and the suite of manageability enhancing features like AD Power Shell, AD Best Practice Analyzer and AD Administrative Center.

Speaker – Philip Duff, Infrastructure Technical Specialist

Click here to register

2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2 (SP2) gives customers the latest updates for the 2007 Office suite. This service pack includes two main categories of fixes:

• Previously unreleased fixes that were made specifically for this service pack.
  • In addition to general product fixes, these fixes include improvements in stability, in performance, and in security.
• All the public updates, security updates, cumulative updates, and hotfixes that were released through February 2009.

It is available on Windows Update or you can download it through the Microsoft Download Center

Have a read through a description of the new 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 2 (SP2)

For those of you who will be deploying SP2 across your organisation please read the maintaining an Office Installation information on TechNet

If you are a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and have not attained any new credentials since July 1, 2007, you can now upgrade your Microsoft credentials with an exclusive exam voucher at US$25 only. Validate your skills on Microsoft new technologies including Microsoft Windows Server 2008, SQL 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and Vista TODAY.  Visit the website and validate your eligibility and get your exam voucher! Offer ends June 30, 2009.

Session Outline

In this session we will look at some of the powerful scripting capabilities of Windows PowerShell. First, we will introduce some of the basics of Windows PowerShell. We will examine how the help system works and review the Windows PowerShell command structure. We will also discuss how to format output and some basic Windows PowerShell commands. Next, we will explore variable declaration and scripting constructs in Windows PowerShell to perform basic programmatic functions, like loops and branching. Then we will look at advanced scripting techniques involving functions, filters, script blocks, and error handling. We will also look briefly at how to use Windows PowerShell with WMI to gain access to a wide variety of system objects and settings. Finally, we will look at how to use the .NET Framework to build a simple form using Windows PowerShell.

Session Agenda

• Scripting and advanced scripting
• Using Windows PowerShell with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
• Using Windows PowerShell with .NET Framework and COM objects
• Converting Microsoft Visual Basic to Windows PowerShell Scripts

View the Webcast

Windows 7 Release candidate will be available to MSDN and TechNet Plus Subscribers on April 30th.  Public availability will begin on May 5th.

So till then backup your data and I recommend you prepare a 4GB USB memory drive for the installation process.  Its faster than installing from DVD.