imageThis download is an Adobe® PDF of the entire contents of the Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 section of the Microsoft TechNet Library, for the convenience of Windows Server users who have limited Internet access, or require a portable version of the Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2012 documentation. The PDF is 116 MB, and 7,970 pages in length. Highlights of the PDF include the following.

DOWNLOAD: Windows Server 2012 R2 & Windows Server 2012 TechNet Library Documentation (110.9 MB, 7970 pages)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41182

imageEach December, we feature an animated, musical, customizable holiday e-card by PowerPoint MVP Sandra Johnson. To see this year’s dazzling work of art and create your own personalized greeting, click the tree image below.

To download and customize the card, go here. (See if you can find the hidden surprise in this card. For a hint, see the notes section of the slide.)

To play the card in PowerPoint after you download and customize it, go to the Slide Show tab. Then, in the Start Slide Show group, click From Beginning.

You can learn more about Sandra and her work at http://www.presentationwiz.biz.

Watch the BlueHat blog for more information about the results of this conference.  (It’s Invite-only and I have no control over the invite list.  Sorry.)

This week, starting Thursday, we’ll be hosting our 13th edition of BlueHat. I’m always so impressed with the level of knowledge we attract to each BlueHat, and while the event is invite-only, we’ll be sharing glimpses into the event via this blog and the hashtag #BlueHat.

For each of the past six years I have had the honor to work among some of the most talented engineers I have ever met, here at Microsoft. I am inspired by the mission we embrace in securing our products, devices, and services. There are few other vantage points with as broad a footprint on the internet, since one of Microsoft’s early mottos helped put “a computer in every home.” Our job in the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) is to help protect the customers who use the technology that the rest of the company works so hard to create. In everything we do in the MSRC, we strive to fulfill our mission to help insure the security and privacy of over a billion computer systems and our customers worldwide.

In 2005, we started the BlueHat conference to educate the developers and executives of Microsoft about current and emerging threats. The idea was to bring the hackers and security researchers to us, and in doing so foster an environment where the bidirectional exchange of ideas around the balance between security and functionality could meet fertile ground in the famed “hallway track.” We hand-pick just a small number of speakers and external attendees to concentrate on learning from them in most cases, and the chance to teach some of them from what we have learned, to help enhance the security and privacy of the Internet as a whole.

This year is no different in that we have invited speakers chosen to educate, amaze, and work with Microsoft to help us understand the emerging security threats to us and our customers. Together, we will rise to face the most important challenges in helping to secure the global Internet ecosystem.

Beginning on Dec 12, 2013, we’ll begin this year’s BlueHat by focusing on the threat landscape, learning about determined adversaries to help us defend our own network and assets, and tools to detect and mitigate attacks. Next we’ll welcome some of the world’s top experts to discuss devices and services, from low-level hardware to web services, to help us build products, devices, and services that are more secure from the ground up.

Finally, we’ll close out the conference with a thought-provoking track that I like to call the “Persistence of Trust,” where we will discuss the core elements that comprise the trust we rely on to support what the Internet has become – a global information sharing network that humanity uses to exchange goods, services, money, and most importantly, ideas. To support these functions, we must strengthen the technology that underlies and supports that trust, and we must design products, devices, and services that are resistant to security and privacy breaches.

Read more here…

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NORAD’s Santa tracking system has gone 3D.

Every December, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (“NORAD”) serves the important role of ensuring that Santa’s journey around the world is safe. Since 1955, children of all ages have tracked his route with the help of NORAD’s radar, satellites and jet fighters.

This year, Microsoft has lent a hand to make the experience the most magical yet, putting a fresh spin on the time-honored tradition with the launch of the new www.NORADSanta.org.

Read more here:

We are excited to announce the broad availability of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2013 R2 for download. MDOP is a suite of virtualization, management and security technologies available as a subscription for Software Assurance customers that helps maximize the benefits offered by Windows.

In addition to support for Windows 8.1 and virtualization of Office 2013, this release of MDOP 2013 R2 includes the launch of Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) 2.0, which make it easier for customers to personalize, deploy and manage virtual applications across devices. MDOP 2013 R2 also offers enhancements to the Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring tool (MBAM 2.0 SP1), including multi language support.

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Included in MDOP 2013 R2 are:

  • Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 SP2
  • User Experience Virtualization (UE-V) 2.0
  • Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) 4.0 SP2 w/ Windows 8.1 compatibility
  • Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) 8.1
  • Microsoft BitLocker Administration and Monitoring (MBAM) 2.0 SP1 with multi-language support.

And there is a new IDC Study out documenting the TCO of MDOP for customers deploying desktops in the Enterprise:

IDC recently estimated that when MDOP solutions are fully utilized, the increased productivity and automation of systems can save an average company nearly $200 per PC per year. That’s a 36% reduction in annual cost. Coupled with productivity gains and elimination of third-party software, hardware and additional software licensing costs, operational savings can top $500 per year per PC.

(Report available here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/9/F/E9FA92F9-C3D2-45B3-8408-F3C850345370/MDOP_TCO_0513.pdf)

For more, read here:

UPDATE 12/12/13:
A post highlighting deep dive content on using App-V with Office 2013 was released.  Here’s the content:

Following our recent launch of MDOP 2013 R2, Microsoft has now published some deep dive content on virtualization of Office with App-V 5.0 which I would like to share with you.

Firstly for detailed guidance on virtualizing Office I suggest you review Virtualizing Microsoft Office for Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 solution. This article is intended for IT Professionals interested in using App-V 5.0 to deliver Microsoft Office as a virtualized application to computers in their organization. It provides an overview of benefits of using Office 2013 Volume Licensing Edition with App-V 5.0 SP2, the specific features that comes with the release, and a detailed walk through of important scenarios such as creating, deploying, and customizing supported versions of Office with App-V 5.0 SP2.

Secondly for a practical guide on implementation I would suggest you review the App-V 5.0 SP2 Support for Office 2013 Volume Licensing Editions blog post from the Office team which gives a step by step guide on how to use the Office Deployment Tool for click to run to create App-V 5.0 SP2 packages for volume license versions of Office 2013.

Finally, Microsoft has also published a knowledge base update Supported Scenarios for Deploying Microsoft Office as an App-V Package. This Knowledge Base article describes the supported scenarios for deploying Office App-V Packages.

If you already own MDOP, then you can download MDOP 2013 R2 with App-V 5.0 SP2 from the Volume Licensing Service Center.  MSDN and TechNet paid subscribers can also download it from MSDN or TechNet. For guidance on how to plan for and deploy App-V, visit the App-V zone on TechNet.

ORIGINAL POST:
Taken from the Garage Series post on the Office Resource Kit blog:

Announcing App-V 5.0 SP2 Support for Office 2013 Volume Licensing Editions
Corresponding with the release of App-V 5.0 SP2, we have updated the
Office Deployment Tool for Click-to-Run to enable creation of Office Professional Plus 2013 and Office Standard 2013 App-V packages. Until now, App-V could only be used with Office 365 ProPlus or previous Office releases.

These updates allow administrators to use Office 2013 Volume Licensing (VL) editions in order to activate Office with Key Management Services (KMS), Active Directory-based activation, or Multiple Activation Key (MAK) activation types. App-V provides a highly-manageable experience for delivering Office VL editions and Office 365 ProPlus, including support for installation in Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments and the ability to de-select components from the Office suite at install time.

Detailed guidance can be found in the Virtualizing Microsoft Office for Application Virtualization (App-V) 5.0 solution, but in this blog I’ll explain the high level steps with screenshots along the way.

Included in the post is a important chart to know & understand if using App-V to package & deliver the new Office:

By using the Click-to-Run media to convert to an App-V package for Office deployment, do you get the same benefits as Office 365 ProPlus? What are some of the differences?
Office 365 ProPlus is designed to give users optimized Office experiences on all of their devices of choice and connect users to their content and personalized settings wherever they sign in – across PCs, phones and browsers. Office 365 ProPlus is the premier version of Office and will also entitle users to exclusive capabilities and technologies not included in Office Professional Plus 2013. The gap between features available to Office 365 ProPlus users and the lower Office Professional Plus 2013 edition will also continue to widen in the future. The following table represents a short list of benefits for Office 2013 VL delivery using App-V compared Office 365 ProPlus benefits.

Feature

Office 2013 VL with App-V

Office 365 ProPlus with App-V

Office 365 ProPlus Click-to-Run

5 installs per user on PCs or Macs

No

Yes

Yes

Roaming Settings and links to recent files when moving between devices

No

Yes

Yes

Rights to activate Office Mobile for iPhone and Office Mobile for Android Phones

No

 

Yes

Yes

Side-by-side installation with previous versions of Office

Yes

Yes

Yes

Includes rights to upgrades to future Office versions

No (requires Software Assurance)

Yes

Yes

Ability to de-select components from the Office suite, such as Access or InfoPath

Yes

Yes

No

May be used with or without persistent connection to the Internet

Yes

Yes

Yes

Full-featured Office with integration with other applications, add-ins, and Windows

Yes

Yes

Yes

Ability to extend Office with locally-installed add-ins and dependent apps

Yes

Yes

Yes

Ability to deploy add-ins and other dependent components using App-V with Connection Groups

Yes

Yes

No

Exclusive Office 365 ProPlus features, such as Office Mobile and Power Map for Excel

No

Yes

Yes

Requires App-V or System Center Config Mgr infrastructure

Yes

Yes

No

May be used with enterprise software distribution to perform push deployment

Yes

Yes

Yes

User-based activation tied to Office 365 – requires once per month connection to the Internet

No

Yes

Yes

Volume Licensing support and ability to perform offline activation with KMS and AD-based activation or online using Multiple Activation Keys (MAK)

Yes

No

No

 

For more, read the following post:

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We finally posted the “release”/non-preview version of our free eBook, “Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2”.

This book is intended to provide you with an overview of the new features and enhancements introduced in Windows Server 2012 R2. The intended audience for this book is IT pros who deploy, manage, and maintain Windows Server workloads in data center, private cloud, and hosting provider environments.

We assume that you are at least somewhat familiar with the features and capabilities of the previous platform Windows Server 2012. If you are not familiar with all the new features and enhancements Microsoft introduced previously in Windows Server 2012, we recommend that you first read Introducing Windows Server 2012 RTM Edition (Microsoft Press, 2012).

A key feature of this book is the technical sidebars that have been contributed by Microsoft insiders. These sidebars were written by experts who have been closely involved in the Windows Server 2012 R2 development process and include Program Managers, Support Escalation Engineers, Technical Consultants, Data Center Specialists, and others who work at Microsoft in various capacities.

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This month, Yung Chou, Mitch Tulloch and Keith Mayer have published a new book on Hybrid Cloud Management with System Center 2012 R2 App Controller, titled Microsoft System Center: Cloud Management with App Controller. As part of a series of specialized guides on System Center, this book focuses on using App Controller to manage virtual machines and services across private and public clouds.

  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: App Controller Essentials
  • Chapter 2: Managing Private Clouds
  • Chapter 3: Managing Public Clouds
  • Chapter 4: Managing Hybrid Clouds
  • Chapter 5: Automating App Controller
  • Additional Resources

Download the book here:

  • RELEASE: Free MS Press eBook, “System Center Cloud Management with  App Controller” (118 pgs)
Posted by: kurtsh | December 5, 2013

RELEASE: Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 4.1

imageThe Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) is a utility designed to help IT Professionals and users block attackers from gaining access to their systems through common attacks. EMET enables users to manage security mitigation technologies that help make it more difficult for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities in a given piece of software.

Current Version
The latest release, EMET 4.1, is available for download. The toolkit includes several mitigation technologies aimed at disrupting many of the current exploit techniques. The mitigations are also designed so that they can be easily updated as attackers start using new exploit techniques. The toolkit also provides a configurable SSL/TLS certificate pinning feature, called Certificate Trust, aimed at detecting Man in the Middle attacks leveraging the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

The previous release, EMET 3.0, will be available and supported until June 2014.

Posted by: kurtsh | November 24, 2013

DOWNLOAD: Kinect Voice Commands. A Printable Guide.

Master Kinect’s new voice commands with this Xbox One cheat sheet.

With Kinect voice recognition, you can control and interact with your Xbox One console by using voice commands. To engage your Xbox console, just say “Xbox.” A list of available commands appears on the screen. Then, say any of the commands that appear in the list. For example, say “Bing” to search using Bing.

You can also interact with your Xbox One console by saying “Xbox, Select.” When you say “Xbox, Select,” some features appear in green text. This lets you say just that word. For example, if you say “Xbox, Select” while you’re in Xbox Video, you can just say “Movies Stores.”

For more, visit http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/kinect/voice-commands.

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