The new Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) tool from Microsoft... Read More
Tricks, scripts and free tools for updating Group Policy Settings on remote domain computers... Read More
In this article, I will share with you some best practices that you can use to keep your group policy objects well organized... Read More
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... Read More
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?... Read More
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... Read More
This article reviews the recommendations of several recently released security planning guides from Microsoft that deal with securing administrator accounts and implementing smart card authentication in enterprise environments... Read More
In this two part article, we show you how to install and configure DPM and evaluate how this can be integrated into your overall security strategy. In Part 1, we covered the process of installing the DPM prerequisite software, DPM itself, the file agent software and the end-user recovery client software. In Part 2, we’ll show you how to configure... Read More
Every company has member servers at some capacity or another. Some companies have just a few, where others might have thousands. These member servers are the work horses of your network, providing the core production services for the company. From running the intranet, providing print services, SQL databases, e-mail services, file storage, and application support. With member servers providing all... Read More
The beta of Microsoft's new Data Protection Manager (formerly called Data Protection Server) is now available to the public. DPM brings disk-based backup and recovery to enterprise networks as part of Microsoft’s new System Center product umbrella that also includes Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) and Systems Management Server (SMS). In this two part article, we show you how to install... Read More