Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Microsoft’s consumer-level AntiMalware product, “Microsoft Security Essentials” v1.0.1611.0 released to the web today as the final 1.0 release of the product.

MSE is the no-charge antimalware product that works in tandem with Windows Defender to protect consumers from virulent software and threats.  Driven by the “Microsoft AV Engine”, consumers now have the same quality of malware filtering protection as Microsoft enterprise customers using Forefront Endpoint Protection.

Rated by independent testing organizations AV-Comparatives & VB100 as being within the highest tier of quality in protecting users from threats, particularly against threats that are ‘unknown’/undocumented’ and don’t have pre-created signatures for.

• VB100 ranks Microsoft in the top 3 AntiMalware products, beating Symantec, McAfee, & Kaspersky
  http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!5567.entry
• AV-Comparatives ranks Microsoft in the top 3 AntiMalware products, beating Symantec, McAfee & Avira
  http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!5423.entry 

For a more thorough review of the functional differences between MSE & Microsoft’s Forefront Endpoint Protection: (formerly Forefront Client Security)

• BETA: Microsoft Security Essentials (a.k.a. “Morro”) now available in Beta

PRODUCT DOWNLOAD:

• DOWNLOAD: Windows XP (32 bit)
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/3/8/A38FFBF2-1122-48B4-AF60-E44F6DC28BD8/mssefullinstall-x86fre-en-us-xp.exe
• DOWNLOAD: Windows Vista & Windows 7 (32 bit)
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/3/8/A38FFBF2-1122-48B4-AF60-E44F6DC28BD8/mssefullinstall-amd64fre-en-us-vista-win7.exe
• DOWNLOAD: Windows Vista & Windows 7 (64 bit)
  http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/3/8/A38FFBF2-1122-48B4-AF60-E44F6DC28BD8/mssefullinstall-amd64fre-en-us-vista-win7.exe

Whaddya know.  This is actually pretty cool.

Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that, when pressed, can be used to perform a task that would typically require a mouse or other pointing device. Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to interact with your computer, saving you time and effort as you work with Windows and other programs.

Most programs also provide accelerator keys that can make it easier to work with menus and other commands. Check the menus of programs for accelerator keys. If a letter is underlined in a menu, that usually means that pressing the Alt key in combination with the underlined key will have the same effect as clicking that menu item.

Pressing the Alt key in some programs, such as Paint and WordPad, shows commands that are labeled with additional keys that you can press to use them.

You can also create new keyboard shortcuts to open programs. For more information, see Create keyboard shortcuts to open programs.

• Ease of Access keyboard shortcuts
• General keyboard shortcuts
• Dialog box keyboard shortcuts
• Windows logo key keyboard shortcuts
• Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts
• Taskbar keyboard shortcuts
• Magnifier keyboard shortcuts
• Remote Desktop Connection keyboard shortcuts
• Paint keyboard shortcuts
• WordPad keyboard shortcuts
• Calculator keyboard shortcuts
• Windows Journal keyboard shortcuts
• Windows Help viewer keyboard shortcuts

• LINK:  Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts
  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Keyboard-shortcuts

Forgot to post this:  “The Making of the Moment”

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6441200&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Making The Moment (Commercial) from Loyale Music on Vimeo.

Brace yourselves.  Windows 7 launches in 3… 2… 1…

[taken from the description]

“With Windows 7, your PC becomes your entertainment hub. And when its time to get some work done, new features help you cruise through your PC like a pro.”

College students, check out the sweetest deal on Windows 7 and download the full song from this video at: http://www.win741.com

Director: Marty Martin

Producer: Keith Rivers

Support is now available for running Operations Manager 2007 SP1 and Operations Manager 2007 R2 on the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows 7

The official support statement is posted under Knowledge Base article 974722.  The supported configuration guides for R2 and SP1 will be updated shortly as well.  The following table lists the Operations Manager roles and components that are supported on these operating systems.

The updated Windows Server Operating System Management Pack (version 6.0.6667.0), which includes support for Windows Server 2008 R2, is available on the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Catalog web site at this time as well!  There are currently over 20 MP updates or new releases that are in the pipeline for months ahead to support this OS and when those management packs become available you can get them on the System Center Operations Manager 2007 Catalog web site and from the Operations Manager 2007 R2 Operations console.

Note: No support for Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 will be provided with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005

(Taken from the SCOM Team BLOG Site)

Announcing Microsoft Asset Inventory Service 2.0. This is a new release of Microsoft Asset Inventory Service Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS). AIS is a hosted service that provides customers a comprehensive view of their enterprise’s desktop software environment. It helps reduce TCO and improve license compliance through advanced software inventory scanning and by translating inventory data into actionable intelligence.

Asset Inventory Service (AIS) allows customers to rapidly collect software and hardware inventory information, and reconcile Microsoft volume license agreements against installed software applications. It is one of the six technologies in The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP). MDOP is an essential part of the Windows 7 Optimized Desktop solution, with technologies that help reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a Windows 7 desktop

This AIS 2.0 beta release introduces several new enhancements to the existing service:

• Enhanced hardware inventory capabilities
• New Silverlight-based user interface
• Redesigned client technology
• Scaled up to support organizations up to 100,000 PCs
• Improved volume license reconciliation capabilities

What you need to do to participate:

If you are interested in applying for this opportunity and reside in the United States, please complete the following survey by COB on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

• https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=3615&InvitationID=AIS2-FTVM-82QY&SiteID=310

This beta program is available to MDOP and non-MDOP customers. More information about the currently released service, AIS 1.5, can be found here:

• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/mdop/ais.aspx

If you are selected to participate you will be notified via email no later than November 1, 2009. Selected participants should be prepared to deploy the AIS client to a number of test machines, participate in newsgroup discussions, and provide feedback.

Take the survey now for your chance to participate in this non-public beta program. Thanks and we look forward to your participation!

Regards,

The AIS Beta Team
scobeta@microsoft.com

First of all, yes, this is compatible with both Internet Explorer 7.0 & 8.0 contrary to the product’s name.  (Not very good foresight on the part of the developers however an excellent product nonetheless!)

Seriously.  This is a must-have 3rd party tool for the ad blocking capability alone although the scripting functionality makes for some awesome automated fun on the world’s most popular & widely distributed browser. 

Yep.  Popup ads & noisy hover over Flash ads can take a flying leap.

IE7Pro includes:

• Tabbed Browsing Management
• Ad Blocker
• Flash Blocker
• Super Drag Drop
• Crash Recovery
• Proxy Switcher
• Mouse Gesture
• Tab History Browser
• Inline Search
• User Agent Switcher
• Webpage Capturer
• “Greasemonkey”-like User Scripts platform
• User Plug-ins

…and many more power packed features.

You can customize not just internet Explorer, but even your favorite web site according to your need and taste using IE7Pro.

• DOWNLOAD:  IE7Pro 2.4.7
  http://www.ie7pro.com/

Customers that are tired of running on the IT treadmill of waiting for the next “desktop hardware refresh” to enable operating system upgrades should take a good close look at Windows 7.   Windows 7 does not have higher hardware requirements than its predecessor, Windows Vista.

In fact, they’re lower.

————–

Windows 7 Will Change Everything, Analysts Say

Ross O. Storey, MIS Asia

The new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system due for launch in October, will likely change the personal computer industry forever, according to research house Frost & Sullivan.

Frost & Sullivan APAC VP IT Practice, Martin Gilliland, said that Windows 7 represents a "user-driven upgrade that breaks the link between PC OS and PC Hardware upgrade cycles for the first time in the history of the PC."

"This departure from tradition may force PC vendors and components suppliers, like Intel, to think of new ways to encourage PC buyers to upgrade their hardware," he said.

In a newly-released Asia Pacific Market Insights report, Gilliland said that Windows 7 represented the first update to the PC OS that does not require more hardware resources than the version before. Windows 7 was the first PC OS to come out of Microsoft that does not require more advanced machines to run than prior versions.

"In fact, the official system requirements to run Windows 7 are slightly lower than those required to run Vista," he said. "The CPU and RAM requirements are the same but the hard disk requirements are smaller for Windows 7.

"Windows 7 will drive significant upgrade revenue for Microsoft without any hardware upgrade thus separating Microsoft from the PC vendors in the next PC Upgrade Cycle."

…

Read the rest of the article at:

• PC WORLD:  “Windows 7 Will Change Everything, Analysts Say”
  http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172281/windows_7_will_change_everything_analysts_say.html

Today I am excited to announce that Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2 will be released in late October 2009 and will add Windows 7 support for all components, except for MED-V. Server and management components will support Windows 2008 R2.

Additionally, we are working to ensure that MED-V will support Windows 7, in the first quarter of calendar year 2010 via MED-V 1.0 SP1.

With its virtualization technologies and manageability components, MDOP 2009 R2 is an essential part of your Windows 7 planning and deployment strategy.
This is a great opportunity to highlight the key innovations of MDOP 2009 R2 and talk about how MDOP can help you rapidly migrate to Windows 7, deploy applications with greater ease, resolve application incompatibility, and reduce desktop management costs.

• Optimize Windows 7 Application Deployment Using App-V
• Enhance Windows 7 Manageability with AGPM, DaRT, and DEM
• Facilitate your OS Upgrade Process with AIS and MED-V
• How Do I License MDOP 2009 R2 and Where Do I Get the Software?

Taken from:

• BLOG:  What’s New in MDOP for Windows 7
  http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/archive/2009/09/14/mdop-2009-r2-what-s-new-in-mdop-for-windows-7.aspx

Viewing your business data in an efficient, intuitive way is key to your organization’s success. When you use Bing Maps with SharePoint, the mapping platform can be a powerful tool for visualizing content. Bing Maps incorporates rich imagery and cutting-edge technology to provide unique views of data – for use all across the enterprise.

Visualize SharePoint Content Using Bing Maps
Join Microsoft partners IDV Solutions, SpeakTech, and Habanero Consulting, as they demonstrate how they have integrated SharePoint and Bing Maps to deliver compelling solutions for their customers. Learn how you can improve your business by using Bing Maps with SharePoint.

• Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
• Time: 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time
  Register today to attend this webcast.
• Learn more:
  http://www.microsoft.com/maps