A lot of people have an opinion on the Offline Domain Join (ODJ) functionality in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 Active Directory, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Of course, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but sometimes fact checking is useful for a discussion. To this point, I have captured the top 5 myths on ODJ from discussions ...

Microsoft is getting ready to release Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Internet Explorer 10 is built into Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 by default and Microsoft vowed to bring it to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 too. The latest available version of Internet Explorer will be delivered as a Windows Update ...

Many Active Directory admins consider it unsafe to display the last users logon name on the Logon Screen, since it provides information on naming conventions, etc. to possible malicious people. Others change the default Logon Screen to accommodate for presentation PCs, flexworker desktops and other commonly shared IT equipment. Do Not Display ...

The Microsoft marketing department has decided to label a few of the incredible Windows features in Windows 7 and Windows 8 as ‘To Go’. Prime examples, of course, are ‘BitLocker-To-Go’ (encryption of removable drives) and ‘Windows-To-Go’ (running Windows from a removable drive). This week, I’m labeling the Windows Sidebar (Windows Vista) and ...

Whenever a worm utilizes the normal access and daily tools systems admins use, there is a significant problem. After all, shutting down the attack vector suddenly isn’t that easy. So, without making dramatic changes to your environment, how can you rest assured?     About Win32/Morto.A One of the latest threats to use ...

Solid State Disks (SSDs) offer great performance enhancements, especially when you follow the guidelines in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. From an information security point of view, however, these devices are nightmare in terms of data confidentiality. Recent studies from the University of California in San Diego (UCSD) show securely wiping ...

Change is upon us. Where many Active Directory administrators have stuck with Windows XP, because no valid alternatives (Windows Vista, *nix) were available, now the business wants to upgrade to Windows 7. Whatever the business reasons behind Windows 7, as an Active Directory administrator a couple of key elements should stand out. We’ve already ...

In the past three parts of this series (part 1, 2 and 3), I already gave you some tips and tricks to tackle the problems you might encounter when introducing Windows 7 in your existing environment. We’ve already covered a schema update, when we looked at storing BitLocker and TPM recovery information in Active Directory. This post features ...

Deploying Windows XP is as easy as sysprep’ing a sample installation, throw in an answer file in the mix with a Volume License Key (VLK) and rolling out the newly created image with your preferred distribution method. A volume Windows XP product key is easily attained by buying a 5 PC equivalent Volume License and using it to roll out all your ...

Windows 7 is actively being deployed by companies, big and small. Some features in Windows 7 (especially features in Windows 7 Enterprise) require changes in the back ends of these environments. While some upgrades are evident, some may not. This series of posts details the changes wise to make to your Active Directory environment to smoothen ...