AppLocker in Windows 7

In today’s world one of the toughest tasks for an IT administrator is to protect his computers and network from viruses, worms, Trojans and other malicious software. Although there are ranges of antivirus solutions software, firewalls and other security software, and still the client computers get affected.

Mostly this happens due to improper management of the computers. For an example, there are millions and millions of freeware (free tiny software like toolbars, funny emoticons etc.) on the internet for so many different purposes. A normal user who does not have proper understanding about the security threats involved in IT, would easily without thinking twice will download any freeware which catches his or her attention and install it on their computers. This can cause a lot of problems to the computer as well as the administrator.

By enabling AppLocker in Windows 7, you will be able to have a peace of mind as the IT guy, because users will not be able to install or use any unauthorized software applications in your organization. This will lead you to have a standardized corporate desktop which has the same software applications in all the computers (nothing more or nothing less). With this IT pro’s like you and me will really appreciate because we understand the security issues that can be caused due to unidentified software installation.

BranchCache in Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows 7 Beta and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta comes with this amazing feature called BranchCache.

What is BranchCache?

Normally in a head office and branch office scenario the branch offices are connected to the head office using a slow WAN (Wide Area Network) connection. This connection is used for communication, file transfer, replication of servers etc. between the sites. Since these WAN links are slow (the more it is faster the more expensive it is) it takes a long time for the users to access network resources and other network related services from the head office. When the users experience the decrease in performance between the sites the pressure builds up for IT professionals like you and me. It’s always the case, when the link is slow your phone or extension doesn’t stop ringing.

So considering these issues we IT geeks in the organizations try to figure out on how to reduce the bandwidth utilization. As a solution for this issue once again Microsoft comes to the rescue this time with a new feature called BranchCache. Using a Windows 7 client when you connect to a head office server which is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and downloads some sort of a file or any content (HTTP, HTTPS or SMB protocols traffic) to the client machine for the first time and then a cache copy of the same is also stored somewhere in the branch office so the next time another client requests the same content form the head office the request will be redirected to the cached copy stored in the branch office and the content will be downloaded to the client from the branch office and not through the busy and slow wan link which connects to the head office.

 There are 2 types of BranchCache available

1)      The Distributed Cache Model

2)      The Hosted Cache Model

The distributed model is when there are no servers present in the branch office each and every individual client maintains a cache of the files and contents it has retrieved from the head office.

The hosted model is that there will be a server which will store all the cached contents from the head office. This happens as soon as the client downloads the content it will notify and send the cached copy to the server hence and subsequent client request for the same content will be directed to the server which stores the cached copy locally.

BranchCache is only supported by Windows Server 2008 R2 (server end) and Windows 7 (client end), both these operating systems are in its beta stage as of today. The steps to enable BranchCache on server and the client will follow on another post soonJ.         

Windows 7 Beta and BitLocker To Go

Windows 7 which is going to be the next Microsoft client operating system and the successor of Windows Vista is now in the Beta stage. The Beta 1 of Windows 7 was released earlier this year which is built on top of Windows Vista architecture.

When looking at Windows 7, especially on the performance and reliability aspect comparatively to Windows Vista is really high. The memory usage in Windows 7 is just marvelous.

There are lots of improvements and new features in Windows 7 and one of the features that impressed me was the BitLocker To Go feature introduced in it. BitLocker was introduced in Windows Vista, what BitLocker does is that it encrypts one whole volume so that the data stored in it will not be accessible without proper authentication and validation. When Microsoft released Windows Vista it only supported to encrypt one volume using BitLocker which was a limitation since it only gave us to encrypt the system volume (traditionally the C drive). When Microsoft released the service pack 1 for Windows Vista they enhanced BitLocker to encrypt multiple volumes and the limitation was broken. By having BitLocker enabled and configured in your computers and notebooks the users were in peace of mind even if there notebooks were stolen there were no possible way in decrypting or stealing your data which are precious and of significant value for each and every one of us. BitLocker was introduced in Windows as a component after considering the high laptop theft around the globe. With BitLocker enabled in your notebooks and even if the notebooks falls into the wrong hands what you lose is the hardware and not the data being ending up in the wrong hands which can cause a lot of trouble.

In the last four to five years the usage of USB data storage devices has rose significantly. You can find a USB storage device with anyone who is working on a computer. Let it be an IT pro like you and me or an ordinary office clerk who performs his or her routine day to day task on a computerized environment. All these storage devices have a massive storage space starting from 1GB to 32GB etc. (earlier it was like 32MB to 512MB), due to this most of us have our personal, official and confidential data stored in it as backup or sometimes only in it. These devices have become smaller and becoming smaller every day hence these devices are more towards vulnerability. A smaller storage device can be stolen and misplaced easily. Because of this Microsoft has enhanced the BitLocker feature which they introduced in Windows Vista with the capability in encrypting USB storage devices in Windows 7 (Microsoft rescues again). This particular feature is called BitLocker To Go!!

It’s an easy task to accomplish and even a non IT person can encrypt his or her USB storage devices in a jiffy by performing a couple of clicks. Once you encrypt your storage device using BitLocker To Go, to decrypt it you will need a computer running Windows XP, Windows Vista or a Windows 7 computer. With having BitLocker To Go even though you misplace your storage device, don’t worry about it!!!

The Story behind the Fish on Windows 7 Beta

When I first installed Windows 7 beta, I was surprised to see the default wallpaper which was a FISH, which of course I myself or most of us didn’t expect. It turns out to be that there is a valid reason why Microsoft had this picture of a fish as the default wallpaper. In Windows Vista Microsoft used photographs which were taken by their employees and added as wallpapers.

Coming back to Windows 7, this particular fish which is called Siamese fighting fish is one of the most popular fresh water fish. The fish is also known as BETTA FISH  After reading the following article about Siamese fighting fish, I realized why Microsoft came up with the picture of this fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_fighting_fish

According to Microsoft this wallpaper will be the default wallpaper only on the beta and will be changed in the future builds and releasesof Windows 7.

Wireless Network Adapter issue on Windows 7 Beta

I have been using Windows 7 for almost a month now and I am really impressed on the performance and reliability. For a beta product this is really awesome. The best part is that NO BLUE SCREENS from day oneJ.

Anyway the issue I was facing with Windows 7 from day one was that, whenever I hibernated or send my computer to sleep or standby mode the wireless adapter gets disabled and after resuming Windows it can’t be enabled. Initially as a solution for this what I had to do was restart my computer or without hibernating, sleep or using the standby mode on my computer I had to shut it down which again was a pain and problem.

I was doing some configurations here and there to solve this and BINGO!!!! Found the solution on how to overcome this J

By default Windows 7 enables “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” power management option under the Wireless adapter. All you have to do is remove the check and disable this optionJ.

The following are the steps on how to do this

In the Network and Sharing Center click on Change Adapter Settings link. Right click on the Wireless Adapter and select Properties, click on the Configure button which you will find just under your wireless device name. This will open up a new Window which will have five tabs of which the last one will be Power Management. Uncheck the option “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” and click Ok. Now you’re good to go!! Now you can hibernate, use the sleep mode or standby mode and your Wireless Network Card will work just fine upon resuming Windows.   

 

Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 1

Microsoft’s new and upcoming desktop operating system Windows 7 beta 1 was released last week.

Now usually when there is a beta product been released and installed on a system you will come across a lot of issues, but its the other way around with this beautiful masterpiece by Microsoft. The looks of Windows 7 just took my breath away.

As soon as i installed the product i noticed that its speeder than Windows Vista and the CPU usage and memory management is completely mind-blowing comparatively to Vista. The beta 1 installation went smoothly and ended successfully, i even tried an upgrade from Windows Vista ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate and it went fine.

One of the main highlight of Windows 7 is the new and improved taskbar where you can move your cursor on top of the program which are opened and minimized and have a live preview. The side bar in Windows vista is not there in Windows 7 but the gadgets are available for you to have anywhere on your desktop

To experience Windows 7 fully you will need a Tablet PC or an interactive touch screen, this is to experience the new Windows Touch feature which is introduced in Windows 7. As for system requirements a computer which can run Windows Vista can run Windows 7 more efficiently.

Most importantly the Windows Easy Transfer (WET) can be done from Windows Vista to Windows 7 so no need to worry on manual backups before you upgrade or migrate.

Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 1 can be downloaded as an ISO file from the following link

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx

I know what you are thinking Download, Install and Experience the world with a whole new WINDOW!!!

Worm:Win32/Conficker.B

Win32/Conficker.B is a modified or another version of the Win32/Conficker worm which was released some time ago.

But the newly released Win32/Conficker.B is been targeted towards Microsoft Windows Server, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. The worm affects the vulnerable SVCHOST.EXE service on the Windows Server and spreads across to other computers over the network and allow remote code execution..

One of the symptoms is that users will not be able to open websites which has the following strings: microsoft, defender, virus, spyware, symantec, etc.

The following link gives more information regarding the malicious worm and the steps to prevent from it.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Entry.aspx?Name=Worm%3aWin32%2fConficker.B

Microsoft Office Word 2007 Page Numbering with Arabic Numbers and Roman Numbers

For people who create documents using Microsoft Office Word 2007 and want to know on how to enter Roman numerals (i,ii,iii,..) as well as Arabic numerals (1,2,3,..) in the same document follow these steps.

1. At the top of the first page you want Arabic-numbers, click the Page Layout Ribbon è Breaks è Next Page menu item.
2. It will insert a new page in the middle.
3. Click the Page Numbers drop down menu on the Insert Ribbon.
4. In the Page Numbers drop down, click the Format Page Numbers button.
5. If you don’t want the page numbers to be continuous between the two sections, set Page Numbering to start at number one. The radio button should switch to Start At.
6. Click OK.

7. Go back to the first page of the document (now in the first section).
8. In the Page Numbers drop down, click the Format Page Numbers button. But this time set the Number format to Roman Numerals.
9. In the Page Numbers drop down, click the Format Page Numbers button.
10. If you don’t want the page numbers to be continuous between the two sections, set Page Numbering to start at number one. The radio button should switch to Start At.
11. Click OK.

The “Mojave” Experiment

Microsoft Windows Vista which doesn’t need any introduction to anyone who is a computer user was released last year. From the day it was released until to date it has gone through a lot of criticism (most of these critics were non Microsoft users & i wonder how they criticize without even using the product) mainly on the performance as Windows Vista needs more RAM than Windows XP (of course it needs more memory for the mind blowing new features it has).

The Mojave Experiment asked “What do people think of Windows Vista when they don’t know it’s Windows Vista?”, this is the only way we get an honest opinion from people. There were around 140 participants who had never used Windows Vista before and they were shown certain demo features from the next Microsoft OS. What these participants didn’t know was that Mojave was actually Windows Vista :).

The results were great almost everyone was really really happy about Windows Vista.

The results stats can be found from the following link,

http://www.microsoft.com/nz/digitallife/software/mojave_experiment_windows_vista.mspx

Microsoft Windows Sysinternals – BGINFO

In the midst of my hectic schedule (this is the reason why i couldn’t write for he past 4-6 weeks) I thought of writing about the Background Info (BgInfo.exe) tool (thanks to a close friend of mine who really gave me the idea to write about this tool).

If you are to look at Sysinternals, Sysinternals started in 1996 and was acquired by Microsoft n the same year. Sysinternal is a set of tools for Microsoft Windows which is freely available for download at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

Ok! Let me come to Background Info (BgInfo) is a tool which displays all of the system information to the logged in user details on your computers wallpaper. By installing this you don’t really have to perform alo’t of clicks and type certain commands here and there to get information such as the computer name, IP address, logged in username, domain name, OS version, boot time, CPU, RAM, disk space and so on.

I was wondering on how the virtual pc’s that comes with the Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) has the username, computer name, domain name, and the IP address in the default background and how it changes every time you log in with different user accounts, This was done using this particular tool (Bginfo) which is a 360KB download.

Try it out!! You will be impressed!!

Until Next time! Good Day, Good Night and Adios