Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) allows the remote management of the roles and features of a Windows 2008 Server (full servers and server core) from a Windows Vista computer with SP1 and is a replacement for the Windows Server 2003 “Admin Pack”.

Microsoft are now offering RSAT in beta format to gauge customer feedback as part of their Windows Beta program, for further information visit the Microsoft Connect site.

.

Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) affects users of both Vista and XP and helps determine whether or not your copy of Windows is genuine.

WGA is unavoidable in Vista, since the technology is built into Windows itself. In Windows XP, failure to be validated by WGA means users cannot download some content (such as optional updates) from Microsoft. In addition, XP users may be treated to alerts complaining that their version of Windows is not genuine, and advising them how to correct the situation. However, unlike Vista users, XP customers may be able to avoid WGA by watching what they install on their systems and not visiting the Windows Update site.

WGA sends Microsoft information about your computer hardware every time it does a validation check (for example, when you attempt to download certain updates

Windows Genuine Advantage has two components, validation (which checks for an authentic licensed version) and notifications (the software that alerts you if you fail validation). In XP, the two are separate downloads.

To learn if your XP system has either of these components, open Windows Explorer and select Tools > Folder Options

In the folder options window open the View tab and select “Show hidden files and folders”. Then uncheck “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)” as shown in the screen shot below. Save changes

To learn if your system has the WGA Validation Tool, open the search facility and search for the file LegitCheckControl.dll in Windows’ System32 folder. If you find it, the Validation Tool is already on your system.

To learn if your system has the WGA Notifications software, search for WGATray.exe or WgaLogon.dll. These files indicate the presence of the Notifications utility.

.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) and Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) are both scheduled for release early next year and are currently undergoing in-depth beta testing

Recent reports suggest that Vista SP1 does not do much to increase performance - but that XP SP3 does increase performance by about 10%.

Craig Barth, chief technology officer of Devil Mountain Software Inc is reported as stating on their company blog - “We were pleasantly surprised to discover that Windows XP SP3 delivers a measurable performance boost to this aging desktop OS,”

Tests were run using Devil Mountain’s OfficeBench suite of performance benchmarks on a laptop with a 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 1GB of memory, this laptop was also running Microsoft Office 2007. The results reported that XP SP3 delivered a 10% speed increase over SP2, the previous service pack released back in 2004.

Craig Barth said “Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release, the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus” … “In fact, XP SP3 is shaping up to be a ‘must-have’ update for the majority of users who are still running Redmond’s not-so-latest and greatest desktop OS.” … According to the Office performance benchmarks, Windows XP SP3 is also considerably faster than Vista SP1. “None of this bodes well for Vista, which is now more than two times slower than the most current builds of its older sibling.”

Some testers are calling Windows XP SP3 a “must have” upgrade that will add new features and functionality to IE, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Media Player and fix some bugs. The final version when its released will include three years’ worth of individual updates and hot fixes. For business users, a significant benefit will be the addition of Network Access Protection (NAP) support. NAP is a technology that works in conjunction with Windows Server 2008 to prevent computers that do not meet certain criteria (such as anti-virus protection, correct firewall configuration, etc.) from connecting to a company network

I await the final release with eager anticipation

.

I have been in the computer industry for over 10 years and I am used to technology changes and the release of new operating systems and applications, many with new features and interfaces, however, I will be the first to admit that given the choice I prefer Windows XP over Windows Vista which I have been using for about a year, although the visual appearance of Vista is great and on one of my computers which has a very high spec it works very well, my view is as a result of continued problems with compatibility and poor performance with mine and others Vista computers.

My readers and some of my business colleagues continually complain about certain inbuilt security features, which have been included to provide increased protection, but can be annoying, an example of this is the User Account Control (UAC) feature which prompts every time an administrative task is performed, this feature is therefore often disabled leaving the computer vulnerable to risk as with XP

As well as slow performance many Vista users have complained that it takes forever to boot, once running the operating system, which is not as responsive as XP. Programs take longer to open with lock-ups when they try to run several applications at once, surprisingly this has been happening on both upgraded and brand new machines that came preloaded with Vista, particularly with Laptops.

In fact several readers have removed Vista from their computers altogether, fed up with the continued slow performance and continued “glitches” and returned to XP, or ordered a new computer with XP instead of Vista

Performance issues aside, many people just like XP, even though its been around some time it has a stable platform and works well, like me some cannot wait for the final release of XP SP3. I am often reminded “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”!.

That’s enough of my ranting, I must get back to my courseware development – guess what - I am currently working on Windows Vista!!

.

Microsoft recently announced the new name for the virtualization feature in Windows Server 2008, previously known as Windows Server virtualization, it will now be called Hyper-V.

Microsoft have also confirmed their Windows Server 2008 product line-up which will include different editions which will support or not support the new Hyper-V feature, the following list shows the proposed editions

• Windows Server 2008 Standard
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
• Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems – This release does not include the Hyper-V feature
• Windows Web Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper
• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V
• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V

Once the final version of the Hyper-V feature is released the following edition will also be available

• Microsoft Hyper-V Server

For further information on the different editions Click Here

.

This article has been written to introduce the 18 Windows Server 2008 roles and show the command line tool which can be used to view, add or remove these roles

The Windows Server 2008 roles include:

• Active Directory Certificate Services: (AD CS) provides a customizable service for issuing and managing public key certificates.

• Active Directory Domain Services: (AD DS) stores directory data and manages communication between users and domains, including user logon processes, authentication, and directory searches. An example of a server running AD DS is an Active Directory domain controller.

• Active Directory Federation Services: (AD FS) provides Web single-sign-on (SSO) technologies to authenticate a user to multiple Web applications over the life of a single online session.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of my readers - Anne Frank - has asked me a question which I am regularly asked, so I have posted it and my reply in this post.

---

“I am confused as to which Microsoft certification to study for - My company is running Windows Server 2000 and 2003. Should I continue to look at obtaining the MCSE or restart my studies on Windows Server 2008? If I study for Windows Server 2008 what exams must I study for?”

---

Firstly there will be no MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) or MCSE Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) on Windows Server 2008, these qualifications are currently only available with Windows Server 2003 and will be replaced by the new qualifications – MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist) and MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional).

Read the rest of this entry »

Following the recent reports and concerns about Windows Live OneCare changing automatic update settings and rebooting some computers as a result the Microsoft OneCare team have posted a statement on the Microsoft Live.com Web Site - “ we have gone to great lengths to disclose that OneCare may automatically effect changes to user settings in order to help best protect the user. When you first install Windows Live OneCare, setup informs you that if you choose to proceed your computer settings will be changed to automatically.”

The statement continued - “We are evaluating user feedback and will be revisiting how we communicate the installation details of Windows Live OneCare as we are continually working to improve that experience…. OneCare was built with privacy in mind, and Microsoft takes that very seriously – every new feature or setting change is reviewed and approved by Microsoft’s privacy experts.“

Brian Livingston of Windows Secrets commented “Many businesses and individuals have good reasons for wanting to investigate all patches and be present when any installed patches are rebooting PCs. In my opinion, the wording mentioned by the OneCare team is a long way from advising people that the Automatic Updates settings they carefully configured were going to be wiped out and reset to fully automatic.”

.