Archive for the 'Administration' Category
HOW TO: deploy Windows Vista out to desktops from a central server using WDS
Saturday, December 23rd, 2006With Vista Business and Enterprise editions out and about, tools and infrastructure utilities which support Windows are getting an overhaul. One extremely useful tool for desktop admins wanting to centrally deploy Windows is Microsoft’s Remote Installation Services (RIS). It ties in to Active Directory and NTFS security, and lets individual workstations connect to a central [...]
Managing Windows Vista Group Policy (Part 2)
Friday, December 1st, 2006If you ever tried administering locked down ‘kiosk’ computers in public places like libraries or any other place where you have Windows 2000/XP/2003 computers set up for public use, you probably fought a great deal with local policies yourself, even when logged on as an administrator. The thing is that, before Windows Vista, we had [...]
Managing Windows Vista Group Policy (Part 1)
Sunday, November 12th, 2006Windows Vista includes some important changes from earlier Windows operating systems in regards to Group Policy (GP). This article introduces you to how ADM files evolved into multi-lingual files by the use of XML (ADMX/ADML files) and the Central Store with all its glory.
Welcome to the constantly expanding Microsoft Group Policy universe.
ADM files were first [...]
Windows Vista Security Guide Now Available
Friday, November 10th, 2006Microsoft’s Solution Accelerator – Security and Compliance team is pleased to announce the release of the Windows Vista Security Guide, which is now available for downloading.
The Windows Vista Security Guide provides IT Professionals like you with specific recommendations and automated tools to further harden Windows Vista against real-world security threats.
Based on your feedback and extensive [...]
Creating a core Longhorn server
Thursday, September 21st, 2006There is a law of computing that states that the larger the footprint of code that’s running on a server, the better the chance that the code will contain an exploitable security hole. In spite of this law, both operating systems and applications tend to become more bloated with every new release. Longhorn Server puts [...]
Four improvements to Windows Vista deployment
Thursday, September 14th, 2006There are three things that are certain in the life of a network administrator: death, taxes and deployment. Particularly with Windows Vista just around the corner now, you’re probably beginning to think about how you will roll out the operating system to all of the desktops in your organization.
Fortunately, the tools and services behind Windows [...]
Windows Vista: Sync Center, a preview
Thursday, August 24th, 2006As a freelance technical writer, I find myself traveling a lot to various training classes, trade shows, etc. Although I can honestly say that I enjoy life on the road, there is one particular aspect of traveling that has always frustrated me. Because of various editorial deadlines, I usually end up taking my laptop with [...]
Vista for Network Admins: What is In It for You?
Thursday, August 17th, 2006Like it or not, Microsoft Vista is coming. Eventually. As a network administrator there’s certainly no compelling reason to rush to implement it in your organization until the early adopters and that generally means home users – have had a chance to discover the hard way the most obvious security flaws that the new [...]
Migrating to Vista using User State Migration Tool 3.0
Wednesday, August 16th, 2006This article walks you through how to use User State Migration Tool 3.0 (USMT 3.0) to migrate Windows XP desktop computers to Windows Vista in an enterprise environment. In a previous article here on WindowsNetworking.com titled Migrating to Vista Using Windows Easy Transfer we looked at how you can migrate user accounts, files and program [...]
Windows Vista deployment issues
Thursday, August 10th, 2006Given that security is one of the main selling points of Windows Vista and many readers will consider early adoption for this reason, we figured a look at the challenges awaiting those who make the jump to Vista was in order. Microsoft MVP Brien Posey has had extensive exposure to Vista and he details some [...]
