Best Practices for Configuring Group Policy Objects
In this article, I will share with you some best practices that you can use to keep your group policy objects well organized.
New Security Features in Internet Explorer 7
In Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft seems to have addressed many of the security issues that have plagued Internet Explorer for the last decade. Of course only time will tell if Internet Explorer 7 is really secure or not, but in this article I want to introduce you to some of the new Internet Explorer security features.
Creating a Terminal Service Pilot Deployment Program
If you have spent much time on this Web site, then you probably know that if properly deployed, the Terminal Services can greatly ease a network’s administrative burden, and can be a huge cost saver for a company. In spite of its many benefits, switching all of the users in the company from a client/server deployment to a thin client deployment is a big undertaking. In this article, I will discuss how to go about performing a pilot deployment for your new thin client environment.
Introducing Vista’s Network Center
If you have ever worked as a consultant or even just helped out a friend with a computer problem, then you have probably been in a situation in which you sat down at an unfamiliar workstation and had to get an idea of how the system was configured prior to working on the problem. Although Windows XP’s network configuration options are pretty straightforward, you usually can’t get all of the particulars of a machine’s network connectivity at a glance. In Windows Vista though, Microsoft has made it a lot easier to quickly gather information about how a workstation is connected to a network through a new component called the Network Center. In this article I will show you what the Network Center is and how it may eventually make your life easier.
Establishing Redundancy through Demand Dial Routing
Branch offices provide a special challenge when it comes to connectivity. If the WAN connection between the main office and a branch office fails, then the branch office is completely cut off from the rest of the network until the connection becomes available once again. Fortunately, there are some options available to you for creating redundant connections. In this article, I will explore some of these options.
Generating Resultant Set of Policy Queries
Both the Active Directory and Windows in general offer a huge degree of flexibility. Although it’s really nice to have a security model that can be custom tailored to meet your exact security needs, there is a definite downside to the way that Windows security works; it can be really complicated. Fortunately, there is a way to tell exactly what the outcome of all of those policy elements is. You can run a Resultant Set of Policy (RSOP) query. In this article, I will show you how.
Securing the Windows Terminal Services
Security is important for just about any computer network, but it tends to be especially important in a Terminal Service environment. Think about it for a moment; users are running applications directly on your server. If a vulnerability exists in an application or in the server’s configuration exists, then the vulnerability could potentially be exploited in an effort to gain access to the underlying operating system. That being the case, it’s worth spending some extra time making sure that you have done a good job securing the Terminal Services. In this article, I will share some security techniques with you.
Protecting Your Network Against Spoofed IP Packets
These days, the vast majority of administrators go to great lengths to protect the files on their network. Typically, elaborate firewalls are used to keep outsiders away from file servers. The files residing on those servers often lie behind an intricate permissions scheme and are often encrypted. Complex auditing mechanisms might even monitor access to files. The point is that in this day and age, most administrators take security very seriously. What you might not realize though is that all of this security can be easily undone through the simple action of a user accessing a file through legitimate means. In this article, I will show you how this is possible and what you can do to fight back.
Dealing with a Device Driver Disaster
Invalid or corrupt device drivers can wreck havoc on a server, rendering the system unbootable in some cases. In this article, I will show you some techniques for recovering from even the worst device driver mishaps in a variety of Windows operating systems.
Applying Certificates to a WSUS Server
Many administrators tend to ignore the recommendation that WSUS be configured to use SSL encryption if the WSUS server is only servicing clients within the perimeter network. However, if SSL encryption is not used, a hacker could potentially steal the WSUS server’s identity and use the spoofed server to send malicious versions of patches to your clients. If you don’t like the idea of having a bunch of infected clients on your network, then check out this article on how to encrypt WSUS transactions.