Microsoft Network Access Protection

Network Access Protection (NAP) is a policy enforcement platform built into the Microsoft Windows operating system that allows IT professionals to set policy (for example, operating system and antivirus update policy), which restricts clients from accessing a network until the clients can prove policy compliance. The initial release of NAP will be delivered in Windows Server 2003 Release 2 (R2). For more information about Windows Server 2003 R2, see the Windows Server Product Roadmap

Top Vulnerabilities to Windows Systems

The vast majority of worms and other successful cyber attacks are made possible by vulnerabilities in a small number of common operating system services. Attackers are opportunistic. They take the easiest and most convenient route and exploit the best-known flaws with the most effective and widely available attack tools. They count on organizations not fixing the problems, and they often attack indiscriminately, scanning the Internet for any vulnerable systems. The easy and destructive spread of worms, such as Blaster, Slammer, and Code Red, can be traced directly to exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities.

Three years ago, the SANS Institute and the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) at the FBI released a document summarizing the Ten Most Critical Internet Security Vulnerabilities. Thousands of organizations used that list, and the expanded Top Twenty lists that followed one and two years later, to prioritize their efforts so they could close the most dangerous holes first. The vulnerable services that led to the examples above Blaster, Slammer, and Code Red, as well as NIMDA worms - are on that list.


The SANS Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities
· W1 Internet Information Services (IIS)
· W2 Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL)
· W3 Windows Authentication
· W4 Internet Explorer (IE)
· W5 Windows Remote Access Services
· W6 Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)
· W7 Windows Scripting Host (WSH)
· W8 Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express
· W9 Windows Peer to Peer File Sharing (P2P)
· W10 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

Carbot - The Ultimate Car Toy

CarBot is a car-based computer system designed and built to enhance your driving experience. You can play MP3 files, legal ones of course, check your e-mail and even discover new hot spots around town. Best part is, you can do it all with your eyes on the road with the Carbot audio user-interface.

Now this is something that I would definitely be looking into if I had the scrilla. WiFi remote, 60 gig hard drive, and get this, it even has GPS! For those of you that know a "gadget guy" (and I know we all do) make sure to pass this along.

Windows XP Remote Assistance

Sometimes the best way to fix a problem is to have someone show you how. Remote Assistance is a convenient way for a distant friend to connect to your computer from another computer running a compatible operating system, such as Microsoft Windows XP, and walk you through your solution.

Remote Assistance allows the appropriate person to log into your system to view what you see on your computer screen and chat online with you in real time through the use of Windows Messenger about what you both see on the local system.

By following the easy steps in Remote Assistance, you can use Windows Messenger Service or an e-mail message to invite a friend, coworker, or support professional to connect to your computer. After he or she is connected, your friend will be able to view your computer screen and chat with you in real time about what you both see. With your permission, your assistant can take control of the mouse and keyboard to work with you on your computer.

Both you and your helper must be using either Windows Messenger Service or a MAPI-compliant e-mail account such as Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. You and your helper need to be connected to the Internet while using Remote Assistance. If you are working on a local area network, firewalls might stop you from using Remote Assistance. If for some reason you are unable to send an invitation by using e-mail or Windows Messenger Service, you can create and save an invitation. On the first page of Remote Assistance, click Invite someone to help you, and then click the save option at the bottom of the next page. You can then send the saved invitation file to your helper in the manner you choose, such as copying it onto a floppy disk or a shared network location, sending it over another e-mail service or an FTP connection, and so on.

Microsoft TechNet Virtual Lab

Ever wanted to test Microsoft's newest software in a sandbox environment? Wouldn't it be great to be able to test new servers immediately, without formatting hard drives or dedicating one or more computers to the project? Now you can, with the TechNet Virtual Lab.

Who are you ?

As a parent of two, I often find myself asking "Who are you?" Could you possibly be my offspring? Did I really create this creature? Most of the time I am not asking this out of the best of situations but from the "challenging times" as a parent. And most of the time the conclusion is, "nope, they are my wife Julie's kids, not mine!"

But, one of the joys as a parent are the times that our children do or say something that makes us stop in our tracks, and think "Wow!". I recently had one of those with my twelve year old son Tyler. Tyler was recently given a writing assignment at school, and was asked to answer the following question, in paragraph form of course.

Question: Where is a place that I am perfectly happy?

Here was his answer...

"Church is not exactly an exciting or interesting place to a lot of people, and most choose to avoid it. There are even laws in schools encouraging us to avoid church and religion. But here from the very table where I am writing this, is a place that I never have fear, never saddened, never angered, never forgotten, and for sure never bored. The holy place of which I speak is Fellowship Church of Grapevine Texas. In this place of which numbers are now over 18,000 a weekend, there is fun and excitement in song, games, message, faith, and love that no one could even imagine without seeing and experiencing..."

I picked this up and read it, and then I had to sit down and read it again. Could this possibly be the same child that I have to remind daily to stop making vulgur noises and that the couch is not the launching pad for his next destination? At twelve I was appreciating the many wonderful flavors of Hubba Bubba bubble gum and consumed with the planning of how to obtain the next game for my Atari game system. Never with such deep thought and with any appreciation of my surroundings or what I had been given.

Often times I think we look down at children and have the mentality of they could never understand the big picture or they are just to young to understand so many things. This is a huge reminder to me of how Christ viewed and spoke of children in scripture and that we should never underestimate their thought, understanding, or spiritual maturity.

MOM 2005

Microsoft on Wednesday announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition, a new version that the company previously called MOM 2005 Express.

Microsoft executives say the product will be generally available in about six weeks. MOM is designed to improve IT efficiency by providing operations management of Microsoft infrastructure products. MOM 2005 is the second Microsoft version of a technology the company bought from NetIQ. Extended Management Packs (XMPs) from NetIQ are available to extend the MOM infrastructure to allow management of non-Microsoft infrastructure.

Service Pack 2 Woes

Windows XP Service Pack 2 is now available through Windows Update. However, some problems have been reported. Might be worth waiting a bit before upgrading. We have deployed it to a handful of systems and have only had a couple of issues. However, from some of the things I have been reading about others misfortunes, I would suggest that you take the time to test it out in the lab with every corporate application you use before delployement.