Activity description: 44CO135 – Updating Your Technology Knowledge of Microsoft Windows XP to Windows 7 (M6291)

Summary:

This two-day instructor-led course provides students with the knowledge and skills to work with the new technologies in Windows Vista and Windows 7. This course is intended for individuals who already have experience with Windows XP to upgrade their skills to Windows 7.

Objectives:

After completing this course, students will be able to:

•Manage the desktop settings that personalize the computing experience.
•Describe how Windows 7 Beta Search enhancements improve productivity.
•Implement Search Federation to search remote data sources within the enterprise infrastructure.
•Describe the new Group Policy Preferences and Administrative Templates that are available to IT professionals who manage Group Policy Objects.
•Describe how IT professionals use the Group Policy Management Console to create scripts that manage Group Policy Objects.
•Identify and use the improvements made to the latest version of PowerShell.
•Describe how DirectAccess enables IT professionals to remotely manage and update user PCs.
•Describe the platform and network requirements necessary to implement DirectAccess.
•Describe the VPN reconnection features and the platform and network requirements.
•Illustrate how to use Group Policy to prevent specific types of files from being synchronized to the server.
•Describe how BranchCache improves user productivity in branch offices by caching content from remote file and Web servers in branch locations.
•Administer new User Account Control security settings to improve the end-user computing experience.
•Describe how AppLocker enables IT Professionals to specify the programs that are allowed to run on user desktops.
•Describe how Windows 7 Beta improves upon the firewall policy by allowing IT professionals to identify multiple active firewall profiles.
•Describe new Windows 7 Beta features as they relate to Windows Deployment Services and virtualization.
•Explain how the Problem Steps Recorder can be used to reproduce and record experiences with an application failure.
•Summarize key components of the Windows Troubleshooting Platform and run the troubleshooting wizard from the Start menu for a specific problem.
•Identify how unified tracing provides IT professionals with a single tool for troubleshooting issues in the Windows 7 Beta networking stack.
•Describe how Windows Management Instrumentation provides IT professionals with programmatic access to reliability data, enabling them to check stability status and review recent events remotely.
•Describe how to use the Device Manager and Devices and Printers to manage devices

Top tips & resources picked up during the course…

- Windows 7 is the last O/S from Microsoft available in a 32-bit sku, the reason still available on x86/32-bit is due to global economic conditions, to extend the life of older hardware (and not limiting the deployment of 7).

- Group Policy Preferences brought in with Server 2008 and allows user changes after the policy has been deployed.
Group Policy Audit Tool – auditpol.exe
AD DS Auditing Step-by-Step Guide – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731607(WS.10).aspx

- Deployment accelerators at www.microsoft.com/springboard (‘Quickly access resources designed to ease the deployment and management of your Windows client infrastructure’), also check Stephen Rose at http://blogs.technet.com/stephenrose/

- DirectAccess & SBS… wait for SBS 2008 R2

- Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 is DoD Suite B compliant
Use BitLocker and BitLocker to go on all your mobile devices

- Google hacking… Andy showed us the interesting stuff that can be done with Google Hacking e.g. goto www.google.com and type in the search bar site:mil filetype:pdf “top secret”
also the use of the ‘similar’ button to get around site logon

IAMCP U.K Chapter Meeting Agenda

Date:            Thursday, 10^th September, 2009.
Location:       Microsoft, 100 Victoria St, London, SW1E 5JL.
Timings:        09:30 to 14:00 

 Aileen Hannah – Launch Lead for Windows Client
  Windows 7E (EU version) – dropped, Win7 in EU will be full product
  “Microsoft are 100% confident that 98% of Vista apps will work on Win7” (not inc. Security s/w!
  Win7 DirectAccess – needs Windows Server 2008 R2 on back-end
  Win7 BranchCache – works with R2, but also will do P2P without R2
  Windows 7 Manageability
   Problem Recorder – automate screen grabs and email to support! J
   Troubleshooting Assistant
   MDOP costs $6 /seat /annum

brains and beauty... 2008 R2 & Windows 7 works better together

Gareth Hall – Windows Server Product Manager, UK
  “$3B of investment covered in 3 minutes!”
  Windows 7 & R2 is a combined sell – massive interest in both, ‘work better together’
  R2 upgrades do not require new CAL licensing, full version do
  Value of Windows Server practise – costs more, takes longer to implement… customer benefit?
  R2 Active Directory Recycle Bin – ever spent 3 weeks trying to recover a bad AD object delete?
  DirectAccess – takes  a lot of setting up, but is very compelling.  Already IPv6 then easy, who is!?
  (services opportunity)
 
Dan Scarfe – CEO, Dot Net Solutions: Windows Azure Platform – What does it mean to me?
   “.NET for the Data Center”
  Azure (www.azure.com/PartnerQuickstart) is made up of:
    Windows Azure (Compute, Storage, Management)
    SQL Azure (Relational data, Management)
    .NET Services (Connectivity, Access Control) EasyJet are trialling connectivity from mobile devices to check-in systems so your mobile device will register you for check-in whilst you are in the queue.
  Generation 4 data centers – Chicago, IL 700,000 sq.ft (16 football fields), 60 megawatts, Dublin, 303,000 sq.ft (8 football fields), 22.2 megawatts – more DC’s planned
   Containers full of servers, whole container is connected, cannot walk inside, if a server goes down it is marked as bad like a sector on a disk, eventually the whole container is swapped out best energy efficiency for data center technology in the world
  Same platform as MS Online offerings (Exchange, SharePoint, Dynamics)
  Azure app development is very easy for .NET developers
  Pricing – pay as you go, charges based on metering
  If going for a cloud based solutions you really are getting into bed with the vendor, it had better be the right one as bed hopping has serious ramifications!

The new Windows 7 media center UI is great!, although in the guide the dynamic column for the channels can mean that you end up with less guide content on right hand pane than in the previous VMC…. it is very early days though, and looking great thus far!

The dual-tuner issue currently doing the rounds on TGB (see http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/326470.aspx) is a real pain, and will prevent me from testing this build on my primary media center which is a shame for us all – me to wow guests, wife, etc. with what’s new coming down the line, and Microsoft for the feedback. I’m a diligent tester and on the WHS PP2 connect beta (as in feedback), was on the EBS TAP last year (inc. Redmond airlift), and have a good media center environment for testing (WHS plus XBox360 & Linksys extenders used as primary devices, both wired & wireless).
I also evangelize media center and have built several systems for friends & family using VMC, but built like a good custom installer/OEM with years of experience in corporate deployment (not just thrown on like your average Dell build! )

Good job I took a WIM (imagex) image of the VMC build before deploying Windows 7 and copied it to an archive just in case the USB drive fails… might need it before the weekend is out!

Interestingly the cleaned images before and after upgrade are very similar in size...

As I was updating this post my wife came down from out bedroom (Linksys DMA2100 extender) cursing as the bloody TV isn’t working again (again..?!?! come on that isn’t fair!), we eventually ascertain it is defiantly not as stable as before… looks aren’t everything I tell myself hmmm…. a hasty retreat me thinks! (maybe a clean build, rather than upgrade is needed..? I’d better get my coat!).

This is a double shame, and an embarrassing one at that! Only earlier I’d rather prematurely and enthusiastically Emailed a couple of friends who I foolishly thought would benefit from Win7MC… I can’t think of the beating they would give me for blaming me as their wives & children left them for turning their perfectly working VMC digital home into a digital junk yard! okay okay! I know it’s Beta software! (I should know better!).

Subject: Upgrade to your Media Center… Windows 7 Media Center beta… Windows 7 Media Center Revealed | We Got Served

http://www.wegotserved.co.uk/2008/10/28/windows-7-media-center-revealed/

When we spoke today and I mentioned distractions… rather than doing much needed accounts & finance stuff I was about to take an image of our media center pre install of the first public beta of Windows 7. Windows 7 is the next big thing to be released from Microsoft in time for next Christmas, or maybe earlier…

I upgraded our Vista Media Center (very similar build to yours) this afternoon so all programs, settings, content, etc. remained intact and it works a dream thus far (only been running about 3hrs…

Lots of nice new, cool features, including one you may be interested in… native support for H.264 / HiDef TV broadcast (no cards yet mind), and Blu-Ray! Oh and it’s noticeably faster than Vista as it has less demands on the system – does more on less hardware, maybe even as quick as XP

Btw, this beta lasts until end of August 2009, and in the coming months there will be more which will last beyond this (unless of course they release the final code).

So if either of you are interested (suggest an image 1st) let me know and we can sort it.

If you are brave, you can download from here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx and do it yourself, if not so brave just watch the videos… http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-videos.aspx

NightNight!