Archive
Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) Interview with David Cross
For a high-level overview of Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010, watch this TechNet Edge interview with TMG Program Unit Manager David Cross. David discusses the new features and functionality included in TMG and explains the differences between TMG and UAG.
Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 – RTM Now Available!
Great news! Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 RTM is now available!
Sysinternals NewSID Utility Retired
If you frequently work with virtual machines like I do, you have most likely used the Sysinternals tool NewSID to generate new machine SIDs for your cloned systems. If you’ve attempted to use NewSID on a Windows Server 2008 R2 system, you no doubt have discovered (as I did) that NewSID no longer works! As a workaround I reverted to using sysprep, anxiously awaiting an update to the utility that I have used for over ten years on an almost daily basis it seems. I was surprised when I read the news that NewSID would be retired, but this post from Mark Russinovich explains the reasoning behind retiring the tool, and also explains the myth of machine SID duplication. As it turns out, generating a new machine SID was never really necessary in the first place. Who knew!
Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR) v7 Now Available
The semi-annual Microsoft Security Intelligence Report is now available for download from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. This latest report, volume 7, focuses on the first half of 2009. Once again, the report underscores the importance of maintaining security updates and provides strong evidence that security features in the latest Microsoft operating systems significantly reduce the chance of infection from viruses and malware.
Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) v2.0 Technology Preview
The Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) tool, developed by Microsoft Premiere Field Engineer (PFE) Clint Huffman, is a very powerful free tool available on CodePlex that makes the analysis of logged performance data much simpler. The utility is used to automate the assessment of a performance monitor counter log (in any format) and compares that information to known thresholds provided with the tool. It produces reports in HTML format and will generate alerts when thresholds are exceeded.
The current release (v1.35) is written in VBScript. The v2.0 release of PAL has been completely rewritten in PowerShell, and is now available as a very early technology preview. PAL does not require installation, but it does have some dependencies; PowerShell v1.0 or higher, Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 SP1, and Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.
PAL includes threshold files for most major Microsoft products, including IIS, MOSS, SQL Server, BizTalk, Exchange, and Active Directory. ISA and Forefront Threat Management Gateway support will be added in the near future.
Download Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) v2.0 Technology Preview today!
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