We have all muttered the words "Where is <fill in the blank> when you need it?"  A lot of times that blank is filled with the name of a SysInternals utility like Process Explorer or TCPView.  Well never utter those words again thanks to http://live.sysinternals.com :)  Here you will find a list of all the SysInternals tools ready to download.  Or if you don't want to download it to all your PCs just run the command from a command line to the remote server and run the tools that way :)

It takes about a minute for the app to load and when you close it, the app is gone.  This is definitely one to remember :)

I posted a few weeks ago about some Vista Springboard. Continuing that series of posts, I wanted to talk about the first part of Springboard program which is: Discover. Now I'm sure many of you have already "Discovered" Vista, I thought I had too, but the great thing about the springboard site is it concentrates a great deal of information into nice digestible categories.

So as most readers have probably already discovered the technical aspects of Vista, I wanted to highlight some of the great tools that are provided. If you have ever been asked to deliver a report on how much is something is going to cost, and to figure out its ROI, and TCO, and all those non technical acronyms that our favourite accountant is concerned with, If your like me your eyes gloss over, and your brain starts hurting.

Fortunately Microsoft know's that we're all lazy admins, so they made us a great tool: Microsoft Windows Vista Cost and Benefit Estimator.

First the calculator starts out by asking some simple questions. For instance how many computers do you have in environment. Then what the current OS distributions are.

Once you have entered in your

Windows Vista Springboard is a micro site on the Microsoft Web site dedicated to helping IT Pros get Vista deployed into their environments.

Now before going any further with regards to Vista Springboard, I want to say that I am a strong supporter of Windows Vista. Their are some big benefits, and some big steps forward with Vista. The most important aspect of Vista is that it helps me be a lazy admin.

Now I'll also be honest and realistic, there are a lot of people that don't like Vista. There are many reasons why people won't like Vista, some of the reasons are legitimate, however most reasons tend to be rooted in a haze of bad perception. What I mean by that is Vista has a perception of lacking value, or in other words people will ask "What is my compelling reason for upgrading to Vista?" This goes for Home users, Office users,  IT pros, and especially IT managers and decision makers.

This is where the Vista Springboard program comes into play. IT people are busy people, and even though we would all like to be Lazy Admins, in reality my guess is that

The other day I posted a tip on how to enable the Network Access Protection client on XP SP3.  The client is also built into Vista (RTM and SP1) and is a little easier to configure.  Although the same command line from the XP SP3 config can be used, there is a MMC console as well.

Again before we configure the client we must set the Network Access Protection Agent service to start automatically, then start it.

Then we can launch the MMC console with the following command

napclcfg.msc

Once this opens up click on Enforcement Clients and then simply right-click the agent you wish to use and choose enable!

If you are a command line junkie or wish to script this you can also run the following command:

netsh nap client set enforcement ID = "#####" Admin = "ENABLE"

Just replace the ###### with the enforcement ID.  One last hint, you can see the enforcement ID circled as well if you forget and need to enable the client using Netsh.

With the recent launch of Windows Server 2008 you are no doubt spending all your free time playing around with everything new.  One thing you might be playing around with is Network Access Protection.  There is a great document on getting a DHCP based NAP lab set up but one thing the document is missing is how to configure the NAP client in XP SP3.  In Windows Vista you simply start the service then enable the client through the NAP Client Configuration MMC (napclcfg.msc) but XP SP3 does not include the MMC.  So how does one configure the NAP Client without a Nap Client configuration tool?  Netsh, that is how!

To enable the NAP Client on XP SP3 you need to do the following:

1. Start –> Run –> Services.msc
2. Change the Network Access Protection Agent service to start automatically
3. Start the Network Access Protection Agent service
4. Start –> Run –> CMD.exe
5. Type netsh nap client set enforcement ID = ##### Admin = “Enable”

You will need to replace the ##### with the ID based on whichever enforcement method you are using.  You can use the following IDs for the various enforcement methods:

• DHCP = 79617
• RAS = 79618
• IPSec = 79619
• TS Gateway = 79621
• EAP = 79623

For more labs

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You have probably heard this bit of news already but in case you haven’t we thought we’d share it with you.  Vista SP1 and Server 2008 were both released to manufacturing today and will become available in the near future.  That is unless you have a TechNet or MSDN subscription in which case you can start downloading now :)  Below is the official press release with links for more information.   

What: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released to manufacturing today and will start being available to customers in March, starting with Microsoft Volume Licensing customers. Windows Server 2008 was also released to manufacturing today and will be available for purchase to new customers on March 1. Microsoft Volume Licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance coverage or an Enterprise Agreement will be able to download the server software toward the end of February as part of the joint Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 “Heroes Happen Here” launch event.

Where: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/default.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/feb08/02-04WS2008.mspx

How: Windows Vista SP1 includes quality improvements that help enhance reliability, security and performance. Windows Server 2008 builds on the success and strengths of past server solutions and helps

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