Note from the Editor

Two things became obvious last week as I was putting together the newsletter: First, the demand for information about Windows 7 is downright voracious, and second, I needed a way to get important news out more frequently. I scored on both counts.

On the frequency front, I’m happy to announce the TechNet Flash Feed blog, my new blog which is updated as often as important news for IT pros happens. And, as it turns out, it happens often. Whew! Give it a look, subscribe to the feed or bookmark the site and leave a comment. You no longer have to wait to get the big headlines.

Driving a lot of that activity last week were new announcements and resources around Windows 7. Even before last week’s announcement of the Windows 7 lineup, I know that a lot of you were already testing the new OS. As you delve deeper into this process, check out the Ten Things IT Professionals Should Know About Windows 7, a quick guide to what is in store if you’re responsible for desktop administration. If you haven’t started the evaluation yet, or even if you have, the new Windows 7 Walkthroughs explore the new and updated features in Windows 7, from AppLocker to the Problem Steps Recorder, with short video screencasts.

A Month of Windows 7 Beta Tips in TechNet Magazine
Here’s a great opportunity to explore some of the new features and enhancements in Windows 7 and learn some tricks and shortcuts along the way. A new tip is posted every business day through February. Here are a few of the tips you’ll find on the TechNet Magazine site:

And if you want to hear from the experts what’s in store for IT pros with Windows 7, tune in tomorrow, February 12, at 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time for the virtual roundtable discussion Windows 7: To the Beta and Beyond, moderated by none other than Mark Russinovich. Bring your questions. Mark and the panel will answer as many as they can during the hour-long event, then publish the rest in a Q&A after the event. Then check out Mark’s most recent blog entry, The Case of the Phantom Desktop Files, recollecting an issue on his wife’s PC where there were files in her desktop folder that didn’t appear on the actual desktop.

New Section
See below New Videos for IT Pros, featuring short, easily digestible videos on a range of topics.

Mitch Irsfeld
Editor, TechNet Flash

Update Your Selected Topics

Ensure that the content most relevant to you is presented in this section.

Reduce Costs with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

You’re leaving money on the table and we’d like to help. The newly-released Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit helps you quickly quantify the power and cooling costs savings your IT environment will realize with migration to Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.

Windows Service Pack Blocker Toolkit Set to Expire

If you previously installed the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows XP or Windows Vista, the code that temporarily prevents the installation of a service pack through Windows Update, the expiration date for the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows Vista SP1 is April 28, 2009. For Windows XP SP3 the tool expires May 19, 2009.

For more information on the Service Pack Blocker Tool, please see the FAQ available through the Springboard Series on TechNet.

Reduce IT Costs with the Microsoft Office System

Check out all the options for reducing phone and travel costs by enabling PC-based communications and online meetings and enabling better enterprise collaboration processes with the Microsoft SharePoint and Office system.

Evaluate Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Get enhanced on-device security and over-the-air policy enforcement. Mobile Device Manager allows IT professionals to centrally manage Windows Mobile 6.1 devices like they do other managed computers, and it gives mobile employees security-enhanced, behind-the-firewall access to confidential information and applications.

Take Advantage of the Super PROmotion

For a limited time, receive partner subsidy funds good for up to 15% back on ERP when you purchase at least 10 Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007 or Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 licenses through a new or true-up Enterprise Agreement or Select License Agreement with Software Assurance.

Download the ASP.NET MVC 1.0 Release Candidate

The ASP.NET MVC 1.0 RC works with both Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Web Developer 2008 (which is free). The RC is the last public release of ASP.NET MVC prior to the final “1.0” release. In addition to bug fixes, today’s build includes several new features and refinements to existing features based on customer feedback.

Quick Tour of the Application Compatibility Cookbook

(11 Minutes 39 seconds)
Kyle Rosenthal takes you on a tour of the Application Compatibility Cookbook, which provides an in-depth look at the common compatibility issues applications might face when running on Windows Vista. He also discusses the 30-minute compatibility test that helps identify which issues you can mitigate or fix.

An Introduction to Hyper-V

(13 minutes, 2 seconds)
In this video, Mark Wilson looks at installing the Hyper-V role, Microsoft’s virtualization platform, on Windows Server 2008, and takes viewers through the key points to get virtual machines up and running.

Drive Business Performance without Cost

Microsoft researched 162 IT organizations to boil down 31 best practices to drive operational cost out of the datacenter at little or no new cost. Register to download the comprehensive white paper.

Are You Thriving During these Tough Times?

How are you positioning yourself, your team, and your organization to succeed during this economic downturn? Visit the Thrive site and learn how to enhance your skills, advance your career and elevate IT as the business leader. Don’t just survive, thrive.

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How Do I Rename All Files in a Folder?

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How Can I Tell How Much Free Disk Space a User Has?

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How Can I List All Group Policy Objects in a Domain?

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How to enable LDAP signing in Windows Server 2008

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How to disable heuristic detections for the (Authentium) Command engine in Antigen 9 or Forefront Server Security products

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How to recover a Project Server 2007 project workspace when problems occur after you move a Project Web Access site or you try to recover a server that is hosting a Project Web Access site

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FIX: Error message when you try to display a report in SQL Server 2008 Management Studio: “System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array”

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Hotfix Package 2 for Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5: December 2008

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FIX: You do not see any messages that pass through the ordered send port when you run some message queries in Health and Activity Tracking in BizTalk Server 2006 or in BizTalk Server 2006 R2

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An update is available that integrates Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 into Server Manager in Windows Server 2008

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Adding Server Features or Roles in Server 2008 may take a very long time

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You receive an “Event ID 4999″ and an “Event ID 5000″ error message when you try to mount a database on a server that is running the cluster continuous replication feature in Exchange 2007

New System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 Virtual Machine Eval Edition

This new virtual machine evaluation edition allows you to quickly try out the latest version of System Center Configuration Manager on a pre-configured virtual hard disk (VHD). You can download the VHD and evaluate for free in your own environment without the need for dedicated servers or complex installations.

Hyper-V Security Guide Beta Release Now Available

This security guide provides guidance, instructions, and recommendations to address your key security concerns around server virtualization. The beta release is available through March 4, 2009. After joining the beta review program, bookmark this link to the program site to get the latest information about upcoming events.

Using Presentation Virtualization (Level 300)

February 13, 2009, 8:00 A.M. Pacific Time
We explore presentation virtualization solutions for running applications centrally. We look at how Fabrikam implemented a Terminal Services solution to reduce the number of desktops it purchases as it aims to reduce hardware costs, energy consumption, and administration costs.

How Microsoft Designs the Virtualization Host and Network Infrastructure (Level 300)

February 17, 2009, 9:30 A.M. Pacific Time
This webcast describes the best practices that Microsoft IT developed to configure host computers, storage, and network infrastructure in order to optimize virtual machine deployments.

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Win for Each New Forefront Product Trial You Download

From now until June 30, 2009, every time you download a different Microsoft Forefront product trial, you’ll increase your chances of winning great prizes, including one of three US$10,000 Grand Prize server systems for your home, a D-Link DNS-232 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure, or a US$50 Best Buy gift card.

Try Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) SP2

IAG SP2 improves overall IAG scalability, interoperability, and functionality. It also has the ability to run as a virtual machine on Hyper-V for lower TCO, deployment flexibility, and simplified disaster recovery. Download the fully functional trial version which can be used in the production environment without an evaluation appliance.

Windows Server 2008 File and Storage Solutions (Level 300)

In this webcast, we cover some of the main file and storage features in Windows Server 2008, including Server Message Block 2 (SMB2), Distributed File System (DFS), Network File System (NFS), Offline Files, Storage Explorer, Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), Virtual Disk Service (VDS), Share and Storage Management, and File Server Resource Manager (FSRM).

Best Practices for Sizing Server Workloads with Microsoft Hyper-V and Intel Xeon Processor Families (Level 300)

Learn best practices for identifying server workload characteristics and mapping virtualized server workloads to the appropriate Intel processor families. Topics include Hyper-V server virtualization architecture, definition of common server workloads, Intel Xeon processor families, evaluating server workloads, sizing recommendations, and security and network considerations.

Installing Service Pack 1 and Transitioning from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007

After completing this lab, you will learn how to pre-configure Windows Server 2008 for installing Exchange Server 2007 SP1, install Exchange Server 2007 SP1, verify installation, explore new enhancements in Outlook Web Access, and install Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in an existing Exchange Server 2003 single-forest environment.

Using System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Features

After completing this lab you will understand how to deploy policies and software using System Center Mobile Device Manager, use multiple methods of creating device enrollment using either self-service or pre-enrollment, and understand how mobile devices can be managed in a secure manner.