As I mentioned last week, I’ve been invited to spend a few days visiting various teams within Microsoft . One of the first teams I had the pleasure to meet with was the SharePoint Team. Well, I didn’t get to meet the entire team (its members are no doubt quite busy), but Richard Riley, the group product manager, demonstrated various features that illustrated the business value of SharePoint... 

I’m one of the most certified people on the planet: a Triple-MCSE (NT 4.0/2000/2003) and a Microsoft Certified Trainer with more than 30 Microsoft exams under my belt. I’ve taken exams after all-night study sessions; I’ve taken exams with no preparation time; I’ve even taken exams while eating a chicken Parmigiana sandwich. More here: How to make sure IT certifications actually... 

No computer runs perfectly forever. Somewhere along the line, something will go wrong. While each successive version of Windows has been that much more reliable and self-healing, that’s never been an argument to forgo a good collection of software tools. Go here to see the original: Top free troubleshooting tools for Windows  Read More →

Chances are that your Active Directory implementation is a good decade old, done with a long-ago version of Active Directory with limitations that typically resulted in creating more domains than you would with today’s version . Back then, you had to construct a forest, while today would need only a few — or even just one — “tree.” Here is the original post: 5 tips for... 

It’s end-of-year review time again! Here, in no particular order, are my favorite story lines from 2009. Some — like Windows 7 — are obvious, others — like the emergence of business-class netbooks — not so much. Regardless, these topics gave me plenty to write about in 2009, and I suspect I’ll be penning more on them in the coming year. Original post: 2009’s... 

Microsoft ’s attempts to ensure better application compatibility for Windows 7 than its immediate predecessor Windows Vista had at launch appear to have borne fruit. Original post: No application compatibility woes for Windows 7 — yet  Read More →

Just when you thought it was safe to click the Start button and get on with your life, a new Windows Boogie Man (sorry ladies — Boogie Person) has emerged to haunt your PC dreams: “The Black Screen of Death.” Sounds very Pirates of the Caribbean, don’t it? Read the original post: What color is your death screen?  Read More →

As many product vendors can readily tell you, this reviewer is the ultimate computer security cynic and a tough writer to please. I’m unsparingly critical of overhyped products. Although I’ve evaluated a number of excellent products over the years, I’ve never given a perfect 10 in any scorecard category — until now. Bit9 Parity is one of the few computer security products that,... 

Microsoft yesterday re-patched Internet Explorer, the third time it’s been forced to repair one of the updates from its largest-ever bug fix, which was delivered on Oct. 13. See original here: IE bug fix still not right, so Microsoft tries again  Read More →

I love the latest and greatest: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 , Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, and the list goes on. My recommendation is to upgrade everything you have. See the original post: Don’t upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 until you read this  Read More →