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Michael Murgolo is back with an update to his Elevation PowerToys. You'll find enhanced Run as Administrator functionality that works with third-party scripting tools, a way to replace a handy Windows XP feature removed from Windows Vista, and many more useful tools.

Michael Murgolo

TechNet Magazine June 2008

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This month we continue our in-depth discussion about what’s new in the Windows Vista kernel. In this issue, we review some advancements in how Windows Vista manages memory and explore the areas of system startup, shutdown, and power management.

Mark Russinovich

TechNet Magazine March 2007

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Windows Server 2008 and the new Windows Server Backup utility bring many changes and welcome enhancements to backing up. Here is an in-depth guide to backing up and restoring Active Directory in the new server OS.

Gil Kirkpatrick

TechNet Magazine May 2008

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User Account Control, or UAC, is one of the most misunderstood new features in Windows Vista. But its goal—to enable users to run with standard user rights—can solve many security issues. Get an inside look at the problems UAC is designed to address and see exactly how this new feature works.

Mark Russinovich

TechNet Magazine June 2007

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Shared and privileged account passwords are commonplace, but far too many organizations fail to adequately manage these shared passwords. This creates a serious security issue. Explore the risks involved with shared and privileged accounts, and discover better approaches to managing more secure passwords.

Chris Stoneff

TechNet Magazine September 2008

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Our Blog

SQL Server 2008: Track Changes in Your Database

"For developers, one difficult problem in SQL Server is tracking what data has changed in a database. An even greater challenge is architecting a simple solution that doesn’t heavily impact workload performance and isn't difficult to create, implement, and manage. So why go to all the trouble to track changes? Is tracking changes really worth all this effort? Two commonly cited examples are to support updates to a data warehouse and to support the synchronization of heterogeneous, occasionally connected systems." ...

Did you just go “whoa!” when you saw that title? Bet you never thought you’d see that here! But the times, as they say, are a-changing and we have too. Many organizations today use multiple operating systems. We all have the same goal of providing high-quality, cost-effective IT services to the organization, and one way we can do that is by sharing core software infrastructure like Active Directory. ...

Have various workers in your company been showing up with questions about Macs? The odds of having a homogeneous network today are very unlikely. Macs are becoming increasingly popular and chances are if you don't already have some on your network, soon you will.

Don't consider this a burden. This actually creates a fantastic opportunity for you as an IT professional. Instead of being an administrator who says "I don't ...

The latest installment of our online-only Sustainable Computing column is now available.

Find out how you can:

Bring Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Power Management Settings into Compliance Bring Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Power Management Settings into Compliance Enforce Energy-Efficient Architectures ...

The complexity of systems today makes troubleshooting more difficult than ever. It’s harder to keep track of what has changed, when, and how that relates to everything else. If something goes wrong, chances are good that users will have a hard time figuring out what has changed on their computers, whether due to updates, new software, ...

Read more!

December 2008

Interop: Authenticate Linux Clients with Active Directory

Many IT shops are divided into two camps—the Windows team and the Linux team—but we all have the same ultimate goal of providing high-quality and cost-effective IT services. One way you can do this is by sharing core software infrastructure. Think Windows and Linux don’t mix? See how you can configure Linux machines to use Active Directory for authentication. Gil Kirkpatrick

Interop: Managing Macs in Your Windows Environment

Today, the likelihood of a homogeneous network has become increasingly remote. It’s in your interest not to limit yourself to a single platform. Instead, you can be known as the IT guy who can do whatever needs to be done—whether it be supporting Mac or Windows. Don Jones teaches what you need to know to set up a Mac on your Windows network, troubleshoot network problems, share files and folders among Macs and Windows-based systems, and configure Macs to use your network printers. Don Jones

Interop: Interacting with Windows from a Mac Environment

How times have changed! These days it is fairly easy to bring Macs into your Windows network infrastructure. And with a little work you can even integrate some of the operating system services. Learn how to connect Macs to Active Directory, see how you can use Entourage with Exchange, integrate the Messenger for Mac 7 application with your Windows-based communications, and explore how you can bridge the platforms with virtualization. Wes Miller

Interop: Managing the Root Password on Your Mac

How do you give your Mac users the rights they need on an as-needed basis and improve security at the same time? Surprisingly, by enabling the root account. Find out how. Chris Stoneff

Active Directory: Understanding Proxy Authentication in AD LDS

Proxy authentication lets users perform a simple bind to an Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services instance but still have an association to an Active Directory account. This can be very useful: it gives developers full access to a user object without giving them access to the Active Directory account, and it allows products that require the X.500 format to be used with Active Directory. Here’s what you need to know about proxy authentication. Ken St. Cyr

Columns

From the Editor: Can’t We All Just Get Along? Joshua Hoffman	Letters: Readers Speak Out	Toolbox: New Products for IT Pros Greg Steen looks at managing your environment with Desktop Authority, checking site links with Xenu Link Sleuth, and managing partitions with GParted Live. Greg also discusses the book “How to Cheat at Administering Office Communications Server 2007”. Greg Steen
SQL Q&A: Row-Overflow, Differential Backups, and More Paul Randal answers your questions about SQL Server. In this installment, Paul discusses the row-overflow feature, database mirroring and automatic failovers, backup strategies, and managing workloads and memory for failover scenarios. Paul S. Randal	Utility Spotlight: Change Analysis Diagnostic See how the Change Analysis Diagnostic tool can help users discover system changes on their computers (from updates, new software, and changed hardware) and resolve problems they may encounter due to these changes. Lance Whitney	Inside SharePoint: Enterprise Project Management with SharePoint Microsoft Office Project Server (MOPS) 2007 is extremely complex and difficult to deploy. Yet the effort is worthwhile—MOPS inherits the strengths of SharePoint as an enterprise platform, allowing you to increase the efficiency of team collaboration within and across departments. This article discusses some of the challenges you’ll face when deploying MOPS. Pav Cherny
Windows PowerShell: Building a Better Inventory Tool Following up on the November installment of his Windows PowerShell column, Don Jones demonstrates an even better inventorying tool and demonstrates a sound process for building your own custom Windows PowerShell functions. Don Jones	Hey, Scripting Guy!: Calculating Server Uptime You need to calculate server downtime in order to report on server uptime. The Scripting Guys have a Windows PowerShell script that can do this for you. The Microsoft Scripting Guys	Security Watch: Revisiting the 10 Immutable Laws of Security, Part 3 It's been about 8 years since "The 10 Immutable Laws of Security" were first published, and a lot has changed since then. In part three of this series, Jesper Johansson wraps up his analysis of the immutable laws to see if they still hold true after all this time. Jesper M. Johansson
Sustainable Computing: Power Management Settings for Compliance and a Reduced Footprint In this month’s installment of the Sustainable Computing column we’ll discuss how features in Microsoft operating systems, various IT tools, and system management solutions (such as Microsoft System Center) can help you save money and minimize carbon emissions. Frank Koch, Mike Stephens, and Michael Walsh	Field Notes: Prep Your Patch Policy Without a thorough and consistent service pack policy, an organization runs the risk of disruptions and downtime. This is because systems throughout the organization may have different patches installed. The key is to think outside your domain. Mark D. Scott	Windows Confidential: Keep Your Caches Close Raymond Chen looks at how a poorly implemented proxy server can completely nullify the benefits of a proxy server. Raymond Chen

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