IT Trenches » podcast

Microsoft Security Bulletins for the Regular IT Guy

Troy Tate — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:04:21 +0000

If your eyes glazed over during the February monthly Microsoft security bulletin webcast, consider checking out this Technet Edge podcast website.The presenters attempt to describe the updates in non-technical language, what they resolve, and why you should care. In this February edition, the guys are sitting in a Starbucks talking Microsoft monthly updates.

You can also listen to podcasts about previous month’s bulletins. This is another good resource to add to your library for managing the risks of Microsoft systems.

Enjoy and raise a caramel mocha latte for me!

Thanks for reading & let’s continue to be good network citizens.

Microsoft IT professional resource – RunAs Radio

Troy Tate — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:20:21 +0000

I just came across an excellent resource for IT professionals working with Microsoft products. It is called RunAs Radio. There are weekly podcasts about topics of interest to those of us who support Microsoft products. The podcasts are in multiple formats such as mp3, wma & AAC (iPod). I was particularly interested in the presentations on performance management. There are several presentations on this one topic. Some sample topics include:

Clint Huffman Analyzes PerfMon Logs! Mr. Huffman is the creator of the Performance Analysis of Logs tool found at Codeplex. I have found this tool very useful in tracking down server issues to show folks “it’s not the network!”

Shane Creamer Goes Deep on Performance Monitor! This is a very interesting presentation. There is a link to the video presentation portion and another link to the various audio formats. The video presentation has a very long gap in audio at the beginning (almost 12 minutes). This is because the video portion is only capturing the presenter’s audio portion and not the commentators’. You really should download both audio and video to get the full impact of the presentation.

Steven Choy Measures Server Performance!

Other topics that might be of interest includes SQL, Active Directory, IIS, cloud (Azure), Powershell, virtualization, SharePoint, information security, and many other Microsoft-centric technologies. I have subscribed to the RSS feed so I can keep up with new presentations as they are released. If you run any Microsoft technologies, or you just want to learn about some recommended best practices, then check out this resource. There might be something here that will help you “save the day”.

Thanks for reading and let’s continue to be good network citizens!

Do You Manage Sharepoint and want training? – Free Microsoft How-to Videos

Troy Tate — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:38:22 +0000

It’s always nice to come across free training, especially in the economic times most companies are experiencing today. It is also good to be able to do some self-education to better prepare yourself for whatever may lie ahead in your career.

Microsoft offers lots of training materials. I previously wrote about a couple of them

Did you see this? – FREE TRAINING: Technet Virtual Lab: Managing Bandwidth Using Windows QOS

Did you see this? – 10 Cool Powershell scripts virtual lab

I just came across another Microsoft training resource that covers Microsoft SharePoint. Take a look at the SharePoint Products and Technologies “How Do I?” Videos. Maybe you can find the solution to that problem that has been nagging you or your users or do something nifty and cool and impress the users! You can download the videos in lots of different formats including WMV, iPod, and MP4.

Thanks for reading & let’s continue to be good network citizens.

Did you see this? – Open Source Tools University

Troy Tate — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:59:03 +0000

If you are like me, you like those little goodie tools like nmap and wireshark that do something that is actually pretty complex but do it well and have a great following. I just came across this website that I am going to have to take some time to go through and find all of the nuggets it offers. Hope you get some use out of it too and let us know what you discover and how it made your job easier.

LoveMyTool

There are presentations on this site like the Wireshark IO Graph for Response Time Analysis (by Ray Tompkins).This should be a great online learning experience. You will find contributors like Sake Blok, a Wireshark Core Developer and Denny K Miu of StartupforLess.org – A Survival Guide for Bootstrapping Entrepreneurs

Did you see (listen to) this? – Podcast on preventing spam

Troy Tate — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:28:55 +0000

An audio podcast on how SPAM is generated along with an examination on the frameworks and technologies that help manage and reduce SPAM.

This may be a great tutorial for you and/or your users.

CERTStation Media – Spam-Prevent.mp3

I just ran my monthly e-mail statistics and these are the results:

97,000 msgs/day inbound

8,800 msgs/day delivered to end users – 9%

22,200 msgs/day quarantined as spam – 23%

66,000 msgs/day blocked as spam – 67%

This month had higher than normal quarantine activity. Quarantine has been running about 15% and blocking around 75%. How does your mail stack up?

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!