Windows Server Security

The new Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) tool from Microsoft.

Tricks, scripts and free tools for updating Group Policy Settings on remote domain computers.

In previous articles we covered the SPIKE HTTP proxy, and how to use it. Well there are many different HTTP proxies out there, and the BURP HTTP proxy is one of the better ones. Choosing an HTTP proxy to use is often a matter of preference.

This article is the last in a series based on SPIKE the HTTP proxy.

In this part two of the article series we will actually use an HTTP proxy and find out more on how you can use this very useful tool.

This article series will demonstrate how to use an HTTP proxy.

In this article, I will share with you some best practices that you can use to keep your group policy objects well organized.

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.

Windows domains rely on policy-based security mechanisms, but Windows security policy deployment can be confusing to the uninitiated. What's the difference between the local security policy, domain security policy and domain controller security policies? When and how do you use each? How do you use site GPOs and OU GPOs for best security, and how do they all interact together? What security policy tools are included with the operating system and how is each used? This article will provide an overview of the roles of Server 2003 security policies and how to use them to secure your systems and network.

Microsoft’s Encrypting File System (EFS), used to encrypt data on Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003 computers, relies on a public key certificate. If you don’t have a public key infrastructure, EFS can use a self-signed certificate. This is the default for using EFS on a standalone or workgroup computer. Implementing EFS within a domain with a PKI presents more complexity. In this article, we'll look at how to manage and use EFS in a Windows 2000 or Server 2003 domain.