Archives
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How to analyze a workflow when the OpsMgr Workflow Analyzer doesn’t work
~ Brian McDermott | Escalation Engineer
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Video: Designing and engineering the Surface 2
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Sign language translator uses Kinect as a bridge between the deaf and hearing
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Microsoft launches new /People profiles site
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Here’s a story for you…
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New infection rate data for unprotected computers
In the previous Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, SIRv14, we introduced a new metric to measure the infection rate for computers protected with real-time antimalware software (protected computers) in comparison to computers that were not protected with up-to-date security software (unprotected computers). Using this new data, we wrote a feature story about the risks of running unprotected. Our customers told us that providing this data really helped measure the value of running real-time antimalware software. It clearly showed that security software can provide a significant contribution to a computer’s protection level.
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Video: See how this doctor uses Surface Pro to deliver better care to his patients
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Deadmau5 got a Microsoft PPI screen
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KB: The Flush Health Service State and Cache task times out in System Center 2012 Operations Manager
When you run the Flush Health Service State and Cache task in Microsoft System Center 2012 Operations Manager, the task may not complete and time out. What happens is that after you run the task, the agent health service is restarted in a clean state in which the record of the task is removed. Therefore, the agent does not realize that a flush task is already running and flushes the health service state and cache again. This behavior can result in an infinite loop that eventually causes a time-out.
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Infection rates and end of support for Windows XP
In the newly released Volume 15 of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv15), one of the key findings to surface relates to new insight on the Windows XP operating system as it inches toward end of support on April 8, 2014.
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New Security Intelligence Report, new data, new perspectives
Today, Microsoft released volume 15 of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv15). The report analyzes malware, exploits and more based on data from more than a billion systems worldwide and some of the Internet’s busiest online services.
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Update: RAMMap v1.31
RAMMap v1.31: This update fixes a bug in v1.30 that caused RAMMap to fail on Windows 8.
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Now Available: Hotfix Package 3 for Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 Service Pack 2
This article describes Hotfix Package 3 for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.6 Service Pack 2 (SP2). This hotfix package contains the latest hotfixes for App-V 4.6 SP2.
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Video: Take a closer look at the Surface Touch Cover 2
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How to quickly repair published App-V packages
Ryan Cobb | Senior Premier Field Engineer
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New OpsMgr 2012 fixes: Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1
This article describes the issues that are fixed in Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Additionally, this article contains the installation instructions for Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 SP1.
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Our protection metrics - September results
Earlier this year, we started publishing a new set of metrics on our portal – An evaluation of our protection performance and capabilities. These metrics show month over month how we do in three areas: coverage, quality, and customer experience in protecting our customers.
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Introduction: Chris Betz, new head of MSRC
By way of introduction, I am Chris Betz, the leader of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). I’m stepping in to fill the shoes of Mike Reavey, who has moved on to become the General Manager of Secure Operations, still within Trustworthy Computing.
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Configuring Lync 2013 VDI Plug-in support for QoS
Abstract: This article leads the reader through the process of enabling DSCP marking for Windows access computers that run the Lync 2013 VDI Plug-in to deliver a great audio and video experience on networks where QoS has been deployed. Author: Lester...(read more)
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Updates: PsExec v2.0, RAMMap v1.3, Sigcheck v2.0
PsExec v2.0: PsExec, a popular utility for executing processes on remote systems, introduces a new option, -r, that specifies the name PsExec assigns to its remote service. This can improve performance when multiple users are interacting concurrently with a system, since each will have a dedicated PsExec service.
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Backup Service: General Availability Release of Windows Azure Backup
With the General Availability of Windows Azure Backup we have made several reliability improvements to ensure you are able to meet your offsite cloud backup needs. There will be no impact to your backups as Windows Azure Backup moves from preview to General Availability. You can continue managing cloud backups from familiar backup tools in Windows Server, Windows Server Essentials, or the Data Protection Manager component of Microsoft System Center. We recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of the Windows Azure Backup agent. Please follow the steps in the agent upgrade notification which would be visible in the backup console of your servers
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VMQ Deep Dive, 3 of 3
Introduction At this point I’m hoping everyone has had the opportunity to read my two previous blogs on VMQ, VMQ Deep Dive 1 and VMQ Deep Dive 2 , and are more knowledgeable about the offload and when to use it. In this last post of this series, I want...(read more)
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Update 2: Announcing the Release of the Lync Server Networking Guide v2
We've updated some of the queries to address the issues you identified and posted a new version of the files to download. Look for the 2013 KHIs to be added soon. An updated version of the Networking Guide is now available here: Lync Server Networking...(read more)
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My new favorite Microsoft advert
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Announcing the General Availability of Windows Server 2012 R2: The Heart of Cloud OS
For years now, Microsoft has been building and operating some of the largest cloud applications in the world. The expertise culled from these experiences along with our established history of delivering market-leading enterprise operating systems, platforms, and applications has led us to develop a new approach for the modern era: the Microsoft Cloud OS.
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Join the conversation about Microsoft solutions content
Microsoft is getting into the solutions content business. What does this mean? Multiple teams across Microsoft are now focusing all or part of their time on developing and publishing lab-tested, multi-product, end-to-end solution content. For example...(read more)
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HOTFIX: An update is available that improves the reliability of offsite backup operations in the Windows Azure Backup agent
We published a new KB article that describes an update that is available for Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Microsoft System Center 2012 Data Protection Manager. This update improves the reliability of offsite backup operations that you perform by using the Windows Azure Backup agent. We recommend that you install this update to upgrade to the latest version of the Windows Azure Backup agent.
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Multi-Tenant VPN with Windows Server 2012 R2
In the previous blogs we looked at how cloud service providers can reduce their capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operation expenditure (OPEX) by deploying multi-tenant site-to-site (S2S) VPN & multi-tenant routing using Border Gateway Protocol (BGP...(read more)
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10 years of Update Tuesdays
On October 1, 2003, Microsoft announced it would move to a monthly security bulletin cadence. Today, marks 10 years since that first monthly security update. We looked at many ways to improve our security preparedness and patch timing was the number one customer request. Your feedback was clear and we delivered a predictable schedule.
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October 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast, Q&A, and Slide Deck
Today we’re publishing the October 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast Questions & Answers page. We fielded 11 questions during the webcast, with specific bulletin questions focusing primarily on the SharePoint (MS13-084) and Kernel-Mode Drivers (MS13-081) bulletins. There was one additional question that we were unable to answer on air, and we have included a response to that question on the Q&A page.
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Redirect hides browser extension
While analyzing a malicious Chrome browser extension we recently came across a Virtool that tries to redirect the Chrome Extension page.
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Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) with Windows Server 2012 R2
This blogs describes in detail the concepts of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) introduced in What’s New in 2012 R2: Hybrid Networking blog and multi-tenant site-to-site VPN (S2S VPN) blog. In this blog, we’d try to analyze how multi-tenant Border Gateway...(read more)
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Our commitment to Microsoft antimalware
We are fully committed to protecting our consumer and business customers from malware. Our strong solutions provide the comprehensive defense needed against malicious code and attacks. Our support of antimalware partners helps in building a strong and diverse ecosystem to fight malware.
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Lync Server 2013 Certificate Authentication and Passive Authentication support for Lync 2013 Mobile applications
Abstract: Following up on our announcement today about new features available with updated Lync 2013 Mobile clients, we are excited to share more details about Lync 2013 Mobile client’s support for certificate authentication and passive authentication...(read more)
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MSRT October 2013 – Shiotob
This month the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) is giving some special attention to two malware families - Win32/Foidan and Win32/Shiotob.
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The October 2013 security updates
This month we release eight bulletins – four Critical and four Important - which address 25* unique CVEs in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, SharePoint, .NET Framework, Office, and Silverlight. For those who need to prioritize their deployment planning, we recommend focusing on MS13-080, MS13-081, and MS13-083.
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An update on the bounty programs
Back in June of this year, we announced three new bounty programs that will pay researchers for techniques that bypass built-in OS mitigations and protections, for defenses that stop those bypasses and for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 11 Preview. This past Friday, we provided some additional details about the results of the IE11 Preview bounty program, which covered the first 30 days of the preview period. Today, we are announcing James Forshaw, a security researcher with Context Information Security, has been awarded the first Mitigation Bypass Bounty, which comes with a prize of $100,000.00. As a reminder, this is an ongoing program, so if you are interested in participating, check out all the details here.
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Network Automation using IPAM 2012 R2
Introduction : Windows Server 2012 introduced IPAM to help Administrators to manage IP address space and DHCP/DNS network services. Prior to Windows Server 2012, customers had little option outside of using disjointed tools, excel spreadsheets and custom...(read more)
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DNS Zone Level Statistics
The Microsoft DNS Server provided certain server level statistics which enabled an admin to track the usage pattern or monitor DNS server performance. The statistics provided includes server wide query statistics, zone transfer statistics, packet...(read more)
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New HOTFIX: An App-V 4.5 SP2 server cannot recover when an application virtualization database fails over
When an Application Virtualization database in Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) 4.5 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is hosted on an instance of a Microsoft SQL Server failover cluster, when the database fails over the App-V server cannot recover and the App-V users receive the following error message:
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Lync 2013 Support added to System Center Advisor
Abstract: System Center Advisor is a free service that helps IT Pros avoid known issues in their Lync deployments as well as other workloads. This post is to announce the support for Lync 2013. Authors: Mohamad Saleem, Kaushal Mehta, Nick Rosenfeld...(read more)
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EMC Support for the SMB 3.0 Protocol – the Future of Storage Protocols
One of the key issues this blog has covered recently is the transformation of storage. Microsoft is focused on helping customers control the costs of storage, whether by using industry-standard hardware or simplifying existing hardware infrastructure. To that end we have made significant investments in the SMB 3.0 protocol for file-based storage. This helps customers use existing network infrastructure to achieve Fibre Channel-like performance, regardless of the underlying storage subsystem.
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Advance Notification Service for October 2013 Security Bulletin Release
Today we’re providing advance notification for the release of eight bulletins, four Critical and four Important, for October 2013. The Critical updates address vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, .NET Framework and Windows. The Critical update for Internet Explorer will be a cumulative update which will address the publicly disclosed issue described in Security Advisory 2887505.
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Automatically Triggering VPN Connections and VPN Diagnostics Enhancements in Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 allows a VPN client to automatically connect to the corporate network. From end user perspective, access to corporate resources works just like when he is inside the corporate network. Whenever you launch a corporate application or access...(read more)
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How to configure OpsMgr 2012 and SCVMM 2012 for IaaS usage and metering
Microsoft’s very own Anders Ravnholt published a great step-by-step on how to configure Operations Manager 2012 and Virtual Machine Manager 2012 for IaaS usage and reporting:
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Support Tip: Event IDs 19104 and 19105 are logged when publishing and unpublishing App-V 5.0 packages
~ John Behneman | Senior Support Escalation Engineer