stuart test blog

As far as I’m aware, Microsoft have been keeping very quiet about Service Pack 3 for Windows XP. Paul Thurrott even theorised that Microsoft may never release a SP3 for XP. So it was interesting to read two posts on the TechNet Blogs site, mentioning the “forthcoming XP Service Pack 3.” This is the first […]

Microsoft’s new integrated infrastructure management product, System Center Essentials 2007, has recently been released in NZ. It’s a management solution for small and medium sized businesses that provides similar functionality to Microsoft’s enterprise products like SMS and MOM, with additional features relevant to the smaller businesses. This should turn out to be popular in NZ […]

On the topic of books… The Windows Server Division Weblog has details on the newly released about to be released book called Introducing Windows Server 2008 Here’s the list of chapters: Introduction Usage Scenarios Windows Server Virtualization Managing Windows Server 2008 Managing Server Roles Windows Server Core Active Directory Enhancements Terminal Services Enhancements Clustering Enhancements […]

Jeff Jones (Strategy Director in the Microsoft Security Technology Unit) has written a post about Server Core and how its reduced footprint increases security dramatically. The key here is “reduced attack surface area” as all of the most insecure areas of a server have been removed, such as IIS, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, etc… […]

Well this is interesting – my first, first-hand experience with Server Core. There’s only one command prompt window rather than the two that was present in previous betas. There is still a GUI, and you can run several apps such as Notepad, Task Manager, Regedit, which are probably the three most useful GUI apps I […]

Big news this week was that Microsoft have had to drop postpone some key features from their new virtualisation software currently in development. Mike Neill, GM of virtualisation strategy went on the defensive with a lengthy blog post detailing all of the cool things about Microsoft’s new virtualisation platform, codenamed Viridian. But if you kept […]

For the Exchange 2007 architects out there, Microsoft have released a comprehensive (over 500 pages) document detailing the architectural changes from previous versions of Exchange. I’m looking forward to reading through this in a comfy chair, in front of the fireplace… Download link: Technical Architecture of Exchange 2007 Abstract Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 introduces several […]

I’ve mentioned before how I recommend that all infrastructure consultants subscribe the TechNet Blogs feed, and once again I’ve picked up on a gem. This one is courtesy of the “Schweiser” blog in Switzerland and they have provided PowerShell courseware and demos for download. The courseware is an introduction to PowerShell and is in pdf […]

Last week Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for ISA Server 2004 which includes a couple of interesting new features such as a new troubleshooting node, and the ability to publish Exchange 2007 OWA. This is the list of new features and functionality: Service Pack 3 features Improvements to the ISA Server Management console with the […]

A lot of people have been complaining about Windows Vista’s poor battery life and now the bigger news outlets are picking up on it too. CNet reported that OEMs are resorting to their own power management tools to try to squeeze out as much battery life as possible while running Vista. The finger is being […]