As you might be aware, every Microsoft server product has the requirement to be manageable through PowerShell and System Center. The PowerShell requirement is formulated as part of the Common Engineering Criteria (CEC). With PowerShell available as a version 3 product (and part of Windows Server 2012) it’s time to see how the teams, responsible ...

Today, Microsoft has released a document, detailing the Best Practices for Securing Active Directory Domain Services. The document contains 22 best practice recommendations to assist organizations in enhancing the security of their Active Directory installations. By implementing these recommendations, organizations will be able to identify and ...

In the past years, I’ve found many systems and many errors. Today, I’m sharing behavior in Microsoft Windows Server that had me frown and chuckle. A bug in Active Directory code I’ve been grateful for, since it illustrates the nature of software. Note: This behavior has not been publicized in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase (yet). In the ...

One year of Windows XP support remains. After twelve years, now is the time to migrate off this 2001 Operating System or to take your security measures to assure your colleagues experience the least impact of the End of Support (EoS) situation. Of course, migrating to a later version of Windows or to another (supported) Operating System is the ...

As an IT Professional, dedicated to help people out by sharing the information I research and uncover, I have donated much of my time to help the Dutch Networking User Group (NGN). Now, it’s my great pleasure to announce that on Wednesday April 17, 2013, Dave Stork and I will be presenting a 45-minute session on Managing devices through ...

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 ...

On October 6, 2011 I wrote about the updated Active Directory Domain Services Management Pack for System Center. Then, it was updated to version 6.0.7670.0. Today, I want to point you to another big update for the Active Directory Domain Services Management Pack for System Center: the 6.0.8070.0 update About System Center Operations Manager With ...

Windows Server 2012 introduces a new Group Policy feature: ‘Infrastructure Status’. This feature is present in the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) on Windows Server 2012 and in the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) package for Windows 8, and introduces a Status tab for the domain level. This tab is shown in the screenshot below: ...

I’ve been a production Windows 8 user since the Windows 8 Developer Preview. Like you, I’ve been through the stages of Kübler-Ross with the new Windows 8 Interface (formerly known as ‘Metro’). At first I started cluttering my Start Screen with the built-in applications and tended to focus on the ones that featured a Live Tile to show me ...

System Center 2012 was released in April 2012, well before Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 were released. As a consequence, these Operating Systems weren't supported. This functionality was slated for System Center 2012 with ServicePack 1, among other new exciting new functionality. This makes ServicePack 1 for System Center 2012 not just an ...