What’s New (May 16, 2013)

• ProcDump v6.0 Procdump is an advanced utility for capturing process memory dumps based on a variety of triggers including CPU usage, memory usage, performance counter values, and exceptions. Version 6.0 is a major upgrade that adds the ability to specify multiple filters, attach to a process by service name, and display/filter-on the message text of a CLR or JScript exception.

What’s New (March 21, 2013)

• Autoruns v11.5 This update to Autoruns, a utility for managing autostarting applications and components, now reports the image timestamp of executables and the last-modified timestamp of other file types and autostart locations to help with forensic analysis. The jump-to-entry feature is also improved to navigate directly to files rather than their parent directory.
• Registry Usage (RU) v1.0 Ru (Registry Usage) is a new command-line utility that reports the size, value and subkey counts of registry keys. Like its Sysinternals Du (Disk Usage) counterpart, Ru can help you find the keys that contribute to registry bloat.

The Sysinternals web site was created in 1996 by  Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to host their advanced system utilities and technical information. Whether you’re an IT Pro or a developer, you’ll find Sysinternals utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications.

Get up to speed fast!

• Read the official guide to the Sysinternals tools,  The Windows Sysinternals Administrator’s Reference
• Watch Mark’s top-rated  Case-of-the-Unexplained troubleshooting presentations
• Read  Mark’s Blog which highlight use of the tools to solve real problems
• Check out the Sysinternals  Learning Resources page
• Post your questions in the  Sysinternals Forum

Sysinternals Live is a service that enables you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the Web without hunting for and manually downloading them. Simply enter a tool’s Sysinternals Live path into Windows Explorer or a command prompt as http://live.sysinternals.com/<toolname> or  \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\<toolname>.

You can view the entire Sysinternals Live tools directory in a browser at  http://live.sysinternals.com.

The first major update to make its way to Windows 8 is supposed bring along new software. The start button will make its come back, although not really a start button, it will take you to the tiles screen, how will that affect Start8 and Classic Shell? I am sure they will just overlay it.

We know Windows 8.1 will utilize smaller tiles, and also allow a more optimized way to multitask, along with Internet Explorer 11. Skydrive will be updated, allowing for more backup options, tablet syncing (so you can see all your tabs mirrored across devices), I wouldn’t doubt they will start some kind of profile save feature at some point, and an easier way for us fans of customization to do so.

Windows Blue is a minor update, yet will yield a lot of neat new features, and is maybe one of the fastest released updates to date.

As long as I have my start button I am happy, if you guys out there do not know of Start8, you should get your hands on it, well worth the 4.99. Microsoft doesn’t want to bring the start button back anytime soon. I am really not sure why…

If you do not have a Microsoft Technet Pro Subscription, and you consider  yourself an expert in IT, then I would suggest you get your hands on one. It only costs you 349 for the first year and 249 every year after that… What software do you get? Well pretty much everything, take a look below. You can also click here to download an excel spreadsheet that lists all the software.

Also note that you will get office 365 for a full year, I think they should just include it in the package, and who knows, maybe by next year they will…

According to a Microsoft statement, the company is “committed to providing IT professionals with access to Microsoft software & services for evaluation purposes, and we are actively working to provide our subscribers with a full year subscription of Office 365.” source : WinBeta.org

So what are you waiting for, click here and get yourself subscribed!

Certifications are very important to IT people, if you want to be at the top of your game, you have to train. Microsoft Certified Career day can provide you with the tools you need to be successful!

March 12, 2013 – One day in the cloud that could change the trajectory of your career

An IT Pro who is out of the loop for that long has a steep learning curve to step to… just to get back to where he was.  Automation with PowerShell and System Center Orchestrator is increasing the ratio of servers to administrators, and that means that people who once thought they had a secure position may be fighting for their jobs, or even find themselves looking for a new one in a market where there are hundreds of others in the same boat, fighting for the same jobs.

Microsoft Learning is hosting an on-line certified career day on March 12, 2013.  The day will begin with a live, interactive panel discussion with IT managers and industry experts who will discuss how the cloud is redefining IT recruitment and the growing need for up-to-date certifications.

What are you waiting for? Don’t be left behind, get back on track! Go here for more information or see below.

		Windows Server 2012 Certification Interactive Visual Guide
		SQL Server 2012 Certification Interactive Visual Guide
		Microsoft Certification Roadmap DATABASE
		Microsoft Certification Roadmap SERVER

I haven’t posted any updates on Sysinternals in quite some time, so here are the latest updates from Sysinternals. It’s nice to see that my favorite applications are being regularly updated ie. Process Explorer and Autoruns.

What’s New (February 5, 2013)

• Process Explorer v15.3
  This major Process Explorer release includes heat-map display for process CPU, private bytes, working set and GPU columns, sortable security groups in the process properties security page, and tooltip reporting of tasks executing in Windows 8 Taskhostex processes. It also creates dump files that match the bitness of the target process and works around a bug introduced in Windows 8 disk counter reporting.

What’s New (January 24, 2013)

• Procdump v5.13
  This update to Procdump, a command-line utility that generates on-demand and trigger-based process crash dump files, now supports triggers for when process CPU usage, memory consumption or arbitrary performance counters fall below a specified value.
• Sigcheck v1.9
  Sigcheck, a command-line file-version and signature verification tool, now reports certificate publisher names, capitalizes hash values, and fixes a certificate chain validation bug.

What’s New (January 11, 2013)

• Mark’s Blog: Hunting Down and Killing Ransomware
  In Mark’s latest post he takes you behind the scenes of the current ransomware scourge, showing examples of how they try and coerce users to paying, explaining how they work and detailing how you can use Sysinternals tools to clean them from an infected system.
• Autoruns v11.4
  Autoruns v11.4 adds additional startup locations, fixes several bugs related to image path parsing, adds better support for browsing folders on WinPE, and fixes a Wow64 redirection bug.

Remember that these guys didn’t always work for Microsoft, they had process explorer and other applications way back in the day, and since then it had matured to the point where the authors were hired by Microsoft. If you have used task manager in Windows 8, it looks quite similar to Process Explorer.

In this post I am highlighting Microsoft’s Second Shot for Prometric Exams. Here is a quick insert.

Buy a Certification Set of Exams and save up to 15% plus get free second shot

Laid out below are the sets of exams for MCSA: Windows Server 2012, MCSA: Windows Server 2008, and MCSA SQL Server 2012 certifications. These exams are prerequisites for achieving an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert) certification. These sets of exams save you up to 15% off regular exam prices, and for a limited time comes with a 2nd shot attached to each exam.

So basically this is kind of like an insurance policy, if you happen to fail the initial exam, I myself haven’t had to use one of these vouchers, but since it is free, why wouldn’t you? It can definitely take some of the financial burden off of you knowing that if you do fail the exam, you do not have to pay for a second time.

So head on over here, register for the exam and your second shot and you will be on your way to Microsoft Certification!

“Microsoft is making this change in response to the increasing value of user based licensing over the single device licensing model,” said Softcat.

Some hard-bitten Microsoft channel partners pointed out that with more people using multiple devices, the vendor has simply identified a way to “make more money”.

Fourteen products will be impacted by this rise including Core and Enterprise CAL Suite, Project Server CAL, and Windows Multipoint Server CAL.

In a statement, Microsoft said it notified partners of the changes to allow them to give customers prior warning of their “options” before the 1 December D-day.

“These CAL changes include a user-based option that offers more value in support across unlimited devices and simplifies licensing management and compliance as devices in the workplace proliferate,” stated Microsoft. ®

“Pricing for user CALs will change to reflect the increased value. Customers should work with their Microsoft partner or account team to assess their options,” the vendor added. source channelregister.co.uk

So should you renew early, or will you try to apply different licensing to get the best value? Best speak with your IT Company as soon as possible to go over your options and how this new licensing will impact you. Eventhough this is only to affect the UK, it may very well find its way to the US and Canada, so keep an ear to the ground.

Retake an Exam for Free

According to ZDNet, the reason for Microsoft’s sudden departure from the Metro name is a pending copyright dispute with an unnamed company, while The Verge is more specific with its claims of a leaked internal memo which blames the sudden shift in branding on ‘discussions with an important European partner.’ That partner, The Verge claims, is German company Metro AG. source bit-tech.net

So what will they call it now? I have read that they are calling it, “Windows 8-style UI” and “New User Interface”. How blandly original… I am sure they will come up with something different, at least we should hope so.

 Thanks to Mr Proactive of TechNet Blogs for the great list!