Top 10 tips for navigating Windows 8 Metro

Moving around Windows 8 Metro isn't intuitive, so here are some pointers

The classic example: How do you turn off a Windows 8 machine?

The answer: swipe out the Charm menu from the right side of the screen, choose Settings, touch the power button, and choose Shut Down. Simple, yes?

RELATED: This Windows 8 tablet might actually be a PC

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HARDWARE: 12 available devices to test drive Windows 8

Windows 8's Metro interface is anchored by the Start screen, a collection of colored rectangles called tiles that are labeled with text to explain what they are. So the mail application says Mail and has a stylized envelope displayed on it. The tile to access the Windows store says Store on it and features a stylized shopping bag.

The Start screen stretches out horizontally and may take up several screens that can be scrolled by sliding a finger on a touch screen or left-clicking the arrow buttons in the bottom corners.

Metro is distinguished by its use of the full screen to display current applications. All the chrome of the navigation bars and systems tray so familiar in earlier versions of Windows are gone. Tools that serve these functions are hidden off-screen.

Some of these comprise the charms bar, a set of buttons hidden to the right of the screen. They can be called out with the swipe of a finger on a touch screen. These charms are labeled Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings.

Swipe the left side, and you get the applications bar, which displays a thumbnail of each running application. Pressing any one of them brings it to fill the main screen.

Those are the basics, but there's still a lot to know. Here are 10 tips for performing useful tasks in Windows 8 that you might never discover on your own. Tasks can be carried out using touch or mouse and keyboard.

1. Returning to the Start screen: It's easy to lose your way in Windows 8 when you're just learning it, and finding the Start screen can help re-anchor you. To find it using a touch screen, swipe out the Charms bar on the right and press the Start charm. With a mouse, click the bottom-left corner screen. You'll know it's ready for the click when a tiny image of the Start screen pops up. On a keyboard, press the Windows key.

2. Organizing the Start screen: The Start screen is made up of a large number of tiles, so separating them into categories makes it easier to find the ones you want. Drag tiles either with a finger or using a mouse and dropping related tiles near each other.

3. Naming groups of tiles: Zoom out on the Start screen to get an overall view of the Start screen tiles. This can be done using a two-fingered pinching gesture or clicking on the minus button in the lower right. Find the group you want to name, right-click on it and choose Name Group, type the name and press Enter. Or touch the group, choose Name Group and type in the name.

4. Pinning tiles: Not all applications are displayed on the Start screen. To add one, right-click or touch a blank spot on the Start screen and click or touch All Apps when it appears on the bottom. Right-click or touch the app you want to pin, then click or touch Pin to Start.

5. Displaying administrative tools: Right-click the mouse in the lower left corner. Or press the Windows key + X and the tools menu appears in the lower left. Or, while on the Start screen, press the Windows key + I, select Tiles, press Enter, press the space bar to change Show Administrative Bar to Yes. Administrative tool tiles will be pinned to the extreme right of the Start screen. Or swipe out the Charms bar, touch Settings, touch Tiles, flip the switch to Yes.

6. Search: In Windows 8, the Search charm can be used to search the system or, if it is invoked while in an application, to search the application. To search, access the Charms bar, choose Search and type in the search term. If you want to search the Start screen, just start typing your search term on the Start Screen. After your first keystroke, a search window appears. It will be searching apps by default, so if you want to search something else, you have to press or click on it.

7. Switching from app to app: When you have more than one app open, click in the upper right to reveal thumbnails of all active apps and click on the one you want. With touch, swipe out from the left side of the screen then back to the left side again without lifting your finger. That will reveal the thumbnails (this display is called the Switcher). Press the one you want.

8. Snapping apps: Metro supports displaying two apps at once, one in a narrow strip at either the right or left and one occupying the rest of the screen. The smaller one is said to be snapped to the side. To do so, type Windows key + . and it snaps on the right; press them again and it snaps to the left; do it again and it becomes full-screen. To switch between the snapped app and the main app, drag the vertical dividing bar between the two toward the center until the main app snaps to the other side.

9. Closing a Metro app: Metro apps idle in a low-power state in the background when not in use, but to shut them down, swipe from the top of the screen and, without lifting your finger (or releasing the left key if you're using a mouse), drag to the bottom. The app will first shrink and, as it reaches the bottom, will disappear.

10. Getting out of Metro: Had enough Metro? Press Alt + Tab and release when you get to the desktop.

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The 10 most demanding jobs in IT

Emerson survey cites roles requiring 'Always-On' availability

What are the 10 most demanding jobs in IT?

Well, according to a survey by Emerson Network Power, a provider of high-availability data center infrastructure management products, they are:

1. Executive director/administrator
2. IT procurement
3. CIO
4. IT manager/director
5. IT operations
6. Data center manager
7. Engineering
8. IT security
9. Applications/software development
10. Database management

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LOOKING: Want a new IT Job? Now's your chance

Emerson surveyed 800 IT professionals from four regions -- the U.S., Asia, Europe and Latin America -- representing 17 work roles and 18 industries, at businesses ranging from 50 to more than 10,000 employees. Most questions were designed to gauge who and what role in IT was "Always-On" -- a reference to Emerson's business in power supplies -- and used an agreement scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

There we three open-ended questions:

• How many hours per week do you work at your IT job? Include paid and unpaid hours.

• What are the most demanding aspects of your IT job?

• Please describe one or two situations that best illustrate how your IT job requires you to be Always-On: always available, always working at peak capacity and always accurate.

Respondents at the executive director/administrator level -- including administrator, leader, department head and director -- have hands-on involvement in every aspect of IT: strategic, operational and tactical. All say they work on many projects at once, and that their work requires a high level of intelligence. Only 25% agree or strongly agree that success depends on things out of their control; that they are accountable for success, and that translates into high job demands, the Emerson survey found.

IT procurement officials identified themselves as analysts, buyers, representatives, supervisors, consultants, directors and other leaders. More than half of respondents say they don't have control over their schedules and don't have time to do quality work. They indicate multiple pressures: urgency, demanding clients often in different international time zones, staying up on the latest equipment and filling pressing staffing needs.

CIO scores highest on "dependencies and multi-tasking," according to the Emerson survey. Responses show particularly high requirements to work on many projects at once and make important decisions quickly, and those decisions can be required any time. Other respondents say they have to be available to take emergency calls and have been tracked down even on vacation.

Demands of the job also include motivating and orchestrating the work of others. CIOs also indicate more than did any other IT role that they are responsible for a large part of the company's budget.

IT manager/director might be called on to put out fires or do routine work at any time, including nights and weekends, the survey found. Respondents say demands include juggling several projects at once, solving problems quickly and working at peak capacity at all times.

Respondents also say they have responsibility for a large portion of the company's budget and for leading the meetings they are in.

IT operations personnel include technician, manager, analyst, operator and specialist. They report working on high-stress projects with constant time pressure and responding to after-hours incidents, the Emerson survey found.

Data center managers were in the top three for "dependencies/multi-tasking," the top four for "availability" and the top five for "quick response." They also scored more than 30% higher than average in agreeing they don't control their own schedule -- 70% for data center managers compared to 45% on average.

Job demands and responsibilities include working fast, handling confidential information, troubleshooting, managing budgets, hardware maintenance and "everything," the Emerson survey found.

Engineers scored high in "dependencies, "multi-tasking" and "quick response." More than 80% agree or strongly agree that others depend on their work a great deal, 91% say they immediately read all messages received and 86% quickly respond to all inquiries. Thirty percent of the respondents work for consulting engineering companies, and "perfection" was cited as one of the job demands.

Making emergency decisions is noted as a typical demand of the IT security group. Eighty-nine percent of the security respondents agree or strongly agree they make important decisions quickly -- the highest score of all the IT roles.

But this group also scores lowest on quick response, the Emerson survey found. Sixty-one percent agree or strongly agree they quickly respond to all inquiries, but the average across the top 10 Always-On jobs is 76%. More than half of IT security respondents say that success depends on things out of their control.

Application and software developers are apparently able to concentrate on their work more than others. One-third or less report having no time for quality work and no time to think things through.

This group scores highest in quick response, though, the Emerson survey found. Eighty-seven percent of respondents say that others depend on their work a great deal; and job demands include developing new applications for the workplace or industry, some involving highly complex issues.

Database managers have a similar profile to application/software developers: 87% say others depend on their work a great deal, but 58% say they have no time for quality work and 47% say they have no time to think things through.

Those responses are consistent with the demands of the job, the Emerson survey concludes, which include working under pressure while troubleshooting various issues on a daily basis, often under tight project deadlines.

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The two most feared attacks and how to avoid them

Large organizations with ample resources quake in their boots over two common security threats. Here's your best defense

These days when I'm consulting with big businesses, governments, and other organizations, two main topics come up over and over: pass-the-hash attacks and hacktivism. One government client put it thusly: "Our department considers pass-the-hash attacks our No. 1 threat, above all other computer threats." A lot of things are broken in the security world, so to pick out one and call it the greatest threat is saying something, especially since the customer has what most readers would consider nearly unlimited funds, a multitude of competing vendor partners, senior management support, and a horde of experts with whom to discuss the problem.

Defending against pass-the-hash atttacks
The reason pass-the-hash attacks are so feared is that once the password hashes have been obtained, the attackers can move around the compromised environment with ease. Hashes can be used to access any protected resource within the same forest. Worse, if a domain admin has logged on to a computer, a local attacker with Administrator credentials can harvest the domain admin authentication hashes right out of memory.

[ Prevent corporate data leaks with Roger Grimes' "Data Loss Prevention Deep Dive" PDF expert guide, only from InfoWorld. | Stay up to date on the latest security developments with InfoWorld's Security Central newsletter. ]

I think it is the latter attack, the ability for an attacker to elevate themselves to domain administrator -- just because a domain admin had logged on to a box -- that scares defenders the most. Essentially, the trustworthiness of your domain admin credentials are now an exponential factor of every computer they have ever been used on.

How to fix it? The best way is to not have any domain admins. Even if attackers compromise elevated accounts, their access is less than elevated domain admin. And if they add themselves to the domain admins group, an alert will be generated quickly because your monitoring software will know that should be an empty group. Here are other actions you can take:

Never log on to a normal end-user workstation as a domain administrator. Limit your domain administrator logons to domain controllers or special file servers. By never logging onto regular workstations, you significantly reduce risk.
If you have to log on using domain admin (or other elevated credentials), always do so from a trusted computer. These are known as "jump" boxes. These jump boxes can be unique per user, virtual machined, and flashed cleaned after every use. The idea is to always log on to boxes that you know are clean.
Do as many administration tasks and fixes as possible using remote console tools, which are less likely to leave password credentials in memory on the remote computers. Most pass-the-hash attacks take interactive log-ons (unfortunately Remote Desktop and Terminal Services are interactive log-ons), so the less of them you do, the better.
If you have to interactively log on to a computer, after you are through, reboot the computer (if possible). Rebooting removes the credential temporarily stored in memory.
Frequently update elevated account passwords. I have many clients who change passwords after every use, often with the help of third-party software. That way, if an attacker grabs the credentials out of memory, so what? They aren't any good anymore.

The No. 1 way to prevent pass-the-hash attacks is to keep the bad guy from getting domain admin or local admin in the first place. After doing your best to achieve that, see how far you can get using the other recommendations above.

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The looming hacktivist threat
Another growing fear involves hacktivism-style attacks. Most companies point to the malicious success of the Anonymous group. Each CIO I've spoken with is increasingly worried that determined adversaries will get access to data if they want it.

You might ask why they don't fear APT (advanced persistent threats) as much. They do, but most have already been through that pain and are living with the outcome and response. And unlike APT, which usually steals data silently, hackivists steal data or cause DoS attacks, and they publicize the fact to embarrass the entity and cause it to lose customers, trust, and money. In many circles, the publicity factor is worse than some city-state threat looking to steal intellectual property.

How do you defend against hackivist threats? Most attacks of this ilk begin with a compromised Internet-facing host or social engineering of credentials from a trusted employee. If you're worried about hackivists, start here.

First, conduct a penetration test on your outward-facing assets. Why let random attackers be the first to test your new Internet-facing application, server, database, or defense? Use your own testers and/or hire "red teams" to fill the role of the rogue hackivist.

Make sure all custom application code has undergone security development lifecycle creation and review. Make sure all your software is created from the ground up with security built in from the start and not as an afterthought.

Engage in strong antisocial engineering education for all end-users who are in a position to release credentials or protected information. Recently, I was asked to assess how well a large company's antisocial engineering education and policies were working to prevent hackers, calling in over the phone, from obtaining credential information or other employee-related data from administrative assistants.

At this company, the assistants are part of the first-tier support for such information, and they're all trained to ask for specific information and/or to check for confirmation with superiors before releasing such data. I was amazed with the results. Although the company has thousands of administrative assistants, often changing, each with varying levels of computer skills and malware awareness, the education program has been highly successful.

After hundreds of over-the-phone hacking attempts each year, as far as I know, only one hacker was successful in the course of the last decade in obtaining a password reset and none were in obtaining personally identifiable information. No one knows if every attempt (successful or not) was noted, but when going back and auditing accesses and password resets, we were able to verify that nearly 100 percent of them were legitimate and valid requests when reported as such, and vice versa.

I got to listen (or read transcripts) to many of the recorded phone calls of hackers trying to obtain protected information from administrative assistants. The calls went something like this: The hacker would always start by being as friendly as possible, while asking for access to confidential information or a password reset. When challenged to produce the verifying information, the hackers always became more hostile. The more the assistants resisted, the more the hackers challenged. Many times, by the end of the call, the hacker would explode in anger and threaten the assistant's job security. I wondered how well I would have handled such a call early in my career. It showed me that a well-run education program could work.

Of course, you can't rely on end-user education alone. I prefer systematic DLP (data loss prevention) solutions. DLP software monitors your content and traffic flows to prevent unauthorized access. False positives are still a problem, but recent improvements have helped.

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Reports: Windows Phone 8 will switch to desktop kernel

Windows Phone 8 will move from its current Windows CE kernel to the same Windows NT core that Microsoft employs on the desktop, according to two separate reports. The revamped smartphone operating system will reportedly gain four screen resolutions, microSD support, NFC (near field communication), and more -- but will apparently still run apps written for Windows Phone 7.
Windows Phone 8 will support multicore processors and native BitLocker encryption, and integrate in many ways with the upcoming Windows 8.

Those are just a few of the features mentioned in a Pocketnow.com report Feb. 2, many of which were subsequently confirmed by Paul Thurrott in a same-day posting on his Supersite for Windows. Pocketnow claimed its information came from a Microsoft-produced video meant for Nokia executives and hosted by Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore.

Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, said to have provided Windows Phone 8 details
Source: Pocketnow.com

Pocketnow didn't post the video, though it did offer the still image reproduced above to bolster its story. Author Evan Blass paraphrases Belfiore as saying that Windows Phone 8 will "use many of the same components of Windows 8" and that areas of heavy overlap include "kernel, networking stacks, security and multimedia support." Developers will apparently have the ability to reuse massive chunks of code when "porting an app from desktop to phone."

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In his own posting, Thurrott suggested that Windows Phone 8 "will be based on the Windows 8 kernel and not on Windows CE as are current versions." Nonetheless, applications developed for Windows Phone Mango (the current version) will apparently continue to play well on the upgraded platform.

According to both sources, Windows Phone 8 will include the same 128-bit, full-disk BitLocker encryption that currently runs on Windows -- the better to appeal to businesses possibly looking for an alternative platform to Research In Motion's BlackBerry, Apple's iOS or Google Android. A "Data Smart" feature will give WiFi hotspots priority over using the smartphone's cellular connection, in turn reducing data usage.

Thurott noted a Skype application, SkyDrive integration, secure payments via near-field communication (NFC), camera improvements and Internet Explorer 10 Mobile as other additions.

Will it help?

Microsoft has launched a renewed push for Windows Phone, centered on the Mango software update and new devices from Nokia and other manufacturers. As a platform, it has so far struggled for adoption in the broader smartphone marketplace, trailing Google, Apple and RIM.

Data from research firm Nielsen suggests that Microsoft owned 7.3 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter of 2011, down from nine percent earlier in the year; much of that decline was due to users abandoning the antiquated Windows Mobile platform, something that Microsoft executives say they anticipated.

While Microsoft regularly declines to provide Windows Phone sales figures, CEO Steve Ballmer described the platform's market share as "very small" during a July 11 keynote speech at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference. Could Windows Phone 8's features help change that?

70-640 Training Videos

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QUESTION 1
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a domain named
Certkingdom.com. All servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2008.
Only one Active-Directory integrated zone has been configured in the Certkingdom.com domain. Certkingdom.com
has requested that you configure DNS zone to automatically remove DNS records that are
outdated.
What action should you consider?

A. You should consider running the netsh /Reset DNS command from the Command prompt.
B. You should consider enabling Scavenging in the DNS zone properties page.
C. You should consider reducing the TTL of the SOA record in the DNS zone properties page.
D. You should consider disabling updates in the DNS zone properties page.

Answer: B

Explanation: In the scenario you should enable scavenging through the zone properties because
scavenging removes the outdated DNS records from the DNS zone automatically. You should
additionally note that patience would be required when enabling scavenging as there are some
safety valves built into scavenging which takes long to pop.
Reference: http://www.gilham.org/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=aab85845-88d2-4091-8088-
a6bbce0a4304&ID=211

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QUESTION 2
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a domain named
Certkingdom.com. All servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2008.
The Certkingdom.com network has a server named Certkingdom-SR15. You install the Active Directory
Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) on Certkingdom-SR15.
Which of the following options can be used for the creation of new Organizational Units (OU’s) in
the application directory partition of the AD LDS?

A. You should run the net start command on Certkingdom-SR15.
B. You should open the ADSI Edit Microsoft Management Console on Certkingdom-SR15.
C. You should run the repadmin /dsaguid command on Certkingdom-SR15.
D. You should open the Active Directory Users and Computers Console on Certkingdom-SR15.

Answer: B

Explanation: You need to use the ADSI Edit snap-in to create new OUs in the AD LDS
application directory partition. You also need to add the snap-in in the Microsoft Management
Console (MMC).

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QUESTION 3
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a domain named
Certkingdom.com. All servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2008.
The Certkingdom.com network has two domain controllers Certkingdom-DC01 and Certkingdom-DC02. Certkingdom-DC01 suffers
a catastrophic failure but it is causing problems because it was configured to have Schema Master
Operations role. You log on to the Certkingdom.com domain as a domain administrator but your attempts
to transfer the Schema Master Operations role to Certkingdom-DC02 are unsuccessful.
What action should you take to transfer the Schema Master Operations role to Certkingdom-DC02?

A. Your best option would be to have the dcpromo /adv command executed on Certkingdom-DC02.
B. Your best option would be to have the Schema Master role seized to Certkingdom-DC02.
C. Your best option would be to have Schmmgmt.dll registered on Certkingdom-DC02.
D. Your best option would be to add your user account to the Schema Administrators group.

Answer: B

Explanation: To ensure that Certkingdom-DC02 holds the Schema Master role you need to seize the
Schema Master role on Certkingdom-DC02. Seizing the schema master role is a drastic step that should
be considered only if the current operations master will never be available again. So to transfer the
schema master operations role, you have to seize it on Certkingdom-DC02.
Reference: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/d4301a14-dd18-4b3c-a3ccec9a773f7ffb1033.
mspx?mfr=true

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QUESTION 4
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a single forest.
The forest functional level is set at Windows Server 2008.
The Certkingdom.com network has a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database server named Certkingdom-DB04 that
hosts the Active Directory Rights Management Service (AD RMS).
You try to access the Active Directory Rights Management Services administration website but
received an error message stating:
"SQL Server does not exist or access is denied."
How can you access the AD RMS administration website?

A. You need to restart the Internet Information Server (IIS) service and the MSSQLSVC service on
Certkingdom-DB04.
B. You need to install the Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) on Certkingdom-DB04.
C. You need to reinstall the AD RMS instance on Certkingdom-DB04.
D. You need to reinstall the SQL Server 2005 instance on Certkingdom-DB04.
E. You need to run the DCPRO command on Certkingdom-SR04

Answer: A

Explanation: You need to restart the internet information server (IIS) to correct the problem. The
starting of the MSSQULSVC service will allow you to access the database from AD RMS
administration website.

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QUESTION 5
You work as an enterprise administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a domain named
Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a Windows Server 2008 computer named Certkingdom-SR03 that
functions as an Enterprise Root certificate authority (CA).
A new Certkingdom.com security policy requires that revoked certificate information should be available for
examination at all times.
What action should you take adhere to the new policy?

A. This can be accomplished by having a list of trusted certificate authorities published to the
Certkingdom.com domain.
B. This can be accomplished by having the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder
implemented.
C. This can be accomplished by having the OCSP Response Signing certificate imported.
D. This can be accomplished by having the Startup Type of the Certificate Propagation service set
to Automatic.
E. This can be accomplished by having the computer account of Certkingdom-SR03 added to the
CkDCertificates group.

Answer: B

Explanation: You should use the network load balancing and publish an OCSP responder. This
will ensure that the revoked certificate information will be available at all times. You do not need to
download the entire CRL to check for revocation of a certificate; the OCSP is an online responder
that can receive a request to check for revocation of a certificate. This will also speed up certificate
revocation checking as well as reducing network bandwidth tremendously.

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Why Microsoft should make its own tablets (and phones and PCs)

It looks like Microsoft plans to build and sell its own tablets, competing with its own partners. Great idea!

Computerworld - The All Things D site reported this week that Microsoft on Monday intends to announce its entry into the tablet hardware business.

While Microsoft does make hardware -- mice, keyboards, Xbox, Kinect, Zune, Surface and other products -- it has not yet made desktop PCs, laptops or tablets, opting instead to embrace a partner strategy of third-party OEM manufacturing.

Pundits will no doubt say that Microsoft has a case of Apple envy and suggest that the company is finally embracing the highly successful "Apple model," in which the operating system maker also makes its own hardware.

In fact, Microsoft's announcement will be more in line with the "Google model."

The Google model is to have it both ways -- making hardware, but also licensing your OS to hardware partners who make products of their own. Google partners with OEMs for smartphone handset and tablet hardware. But it also acquired Motorola, which makes Android hardware.

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The Motorola acquisition isn't Google's first foray into hardware sales and direct competition with hardware vendors. Google launched its Nexus One smartphone handset in early 2010. Although that phone was technically manufactured by one of Google's partners, HTC, it was sold by Google and branded as a Google phone. As it turned out, Google didn't like the support part of the hardware business and decided to exit that line of work for a while, but it had let its partners know that it was willing to compete with them.

Traditionally, the assumption has been that you must either partner with hardware companies to manufacture systems for your operating system (the Microsoft model) or not allow other companies to make hardware for your platform (the Apple model).

A hybrid approach has been considered suicidal because competing with your partners puts you in a gray area where you have hardware competition and fragmentation, but you also have a smaller number of partners who are also less committed and more distrusting.

But times are changing.

Microsoft's application of the Microsoft model to mobile hasn't worked out. A big partnership with Nokia has been a flop. The software vendor has fared badly in the mobile market, far outpaced by Apple, which uses the Apple model, and Google, which uses the Google model.

When Google announced its bid to acquire Motorola -- effectively declaring its intention to compete with its hardware partners -- many pundits predicted disaster for the company. But the disaster never happened. Google is getting away with it. Android OEMs are continuing to churn out more innovative and exciting hardware, and they don't seem vexed by the prospect of competing with the company that makes the operating system they use.

Instead of the worst of both worlds, Google appears to be enjoying the best of both worlds, gaining the benefits of a hardware company (control and patents), while also gaining the benefits of an operating system company that partners with hardware OEMs (a thriving ecosystem, broad innovation and market choice).

Apparently, Microsoft wants the same thing. And why not? Microsoft has succeeded with a variation of the Google model in some areas. The company's mice and keyboards, for example, have sold well, even though third-party hardware makers have offered similar products for the larger Windows PC marketplace. Admittedly, it's a little different because we're talking about peripheral devices that don't run Microsoft operating systems directly. But still.

Microsoft has also succeeded with the Apple model. For example, one of Microsoft's most successful products is the Xbox gaming console. In that case, Microsoft sells the operating system and the hardware, and it even created and runs the associated Xbox Live online service. Like Apple, Microsoft goes it alone, not seeking partnerships with third-party manufacturers to make competing Xbox hardware systems.

And, of course, Microsoft succeeds with the Microsoft model. Microsoft Windows can't be described as anything but a major business success story. The model is to make the operating system software and rely entirely on partners for PC hardware.

But that's the past. The future looks less rosy for Microsoft Windows and the Microsoft model.
Why the Microsoft model won't work in the future

There are two reasons why Microsoft needs to move to the Google model for all of its product lines.

First, the world is becoming increasingly mobile. The so-called PC market is simultaneously becoming more mobile (more laptops, fewer desktops) and increasingly obsolete. Apple's post-PC world is clearly the future of all computing. That's why Windows 8 is so heavily optimized for tablets and touch.

The Microsoft model worked great for the old-and-busted desktop PC world, but it doesn't work so well for the new-hotness mobile and touch-tablet world. With computing "appliances," seamless integration is the highest virtue.

The world has changed, and the model that works is also changing.

Second, Microsoft can't rely on its OEM partners anymore. If you go to, say, BestBuy, to shop for a low-cost laptop, as I did recently, it's clear that Microsoft Windows systems on the low end (sub $1,000) are garbage.

These devices are bloated with crapware (cheap software loaded on the systems by OEMs as part of negotiated deals that offset price discounts), covered with ugly, sloppily applied stickers, and made from flimsy, cheap-feeling materials like plastic or wobbly metal. They look like junk.

The Apple table at BestBuy is 10 feet away, and for $1,000 you can buy a MacBook Air with zero crapware, no stickers and the highest quality materials (unibody aluminum). Their screens look far better, and their performance is shockingly superior. They're displayed in an appealing and uniform way, with Internet running and everything ready to go and available to try (I spent 20 minutes trying to escape from a Dell system's "demo mode" so I could try the machine out myself. I eventually gave up.)

Nobody washes a rented car. Likewise, discount PC OEMs don't treat Windows machines with love and respect, as Apple does with Apple machines.

Higher-end Windows PCs offer a better experience than the low end models, but the cheap systems are destroying the Microsoft brand in the minds of consumers.

That's why Microsoft has launched its own retail stores. Microsoft is willing to invest in retail stores as a way to gain some control over its brand image. But that's not enough.

Microsoft needs to create its own premium, high-quality desktops, laptops, tablets and phones for the same reason that automakers like to have high-end car models in their lineups. The upscale models create a "halo effect" for the brand -- an aura that extends to even the cheapest vehicles.

It's a new world. Rather than viewing Microsoft as a competitor, Microsoft's OEM partners should and, I believe, will welcome Microsoft's participation in the hardware end of the business, because the company can create a halo effect that extends to the entire platform and benefits everyone. Nobody in the Windows world would benefit from an Apple takeover of the market.

There is absolutely no way Windows can compete as a tablet operating system against Apple's iOS -- unless Microsoft takes direct control by making its own integrated tablets, as Apple does with the iPad. And even then, it's a long shot.

In general, though, Microsoft appears to be waking up to the new reality. That reality is that nobody except Apple can succeed with the Apple model. And the Microsoft model is yesterday's news.

That leaves the Google model as Microsoft's one hope for success in the post-PC world.

Microsoft customers see benefits of cloud OS; Windows 8, not so much

TechEd conference finds Microsoft pitching hard on Windows 8, cloud OS

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Microsoft wants its customers to know two things: that Windows 8 is ready for the enterprise and that it has products and services for creating flexible hybrid cloud environments -- a cloud OS.

Those are the two big messages the company pushed at its TechEd North America 2012 conference here, where some parts of those ideas resonated with customers, but others were met with skepticism.

"Move development to the cloud? That's a pretty good idea," said Andre Beaupre, president of Groupe ABI, a data center consultancy in Montreal. He was embracing Microsoft's spin that Windows Server 2012 plus its upgraded cloud offering, Azure, equals a cloud operating system that can boost capacity on the fly as needed for developers.

Microsoft also says its cloud OS can front-end applications while keeping data those apps use safe at corporate sites, and that it supports moving entire virtual servers -- including Linux servers -- in and out of Azure.

MORE FROM TECHED: Windows Server 2012 isn't available yet, but it's powering Bing

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TEST YOURSELF: The Windows 8 Quiz

As for Windows 8 being ready, its radical shift toward touch and Metro-style, graphics-heavy apps had customers at the conference wondering whether the end users they serve will see enough value to climb the learning curve for the new OS. "I don't know how it's going to be accepted," said Steve Williamson, a sys/ops manager at Santa Fe College in Gainsville, Fla., with about 22,500 students, faculty and staff. "I'll probably wait in it until I get some internal push for it."

Microsoft trumpeted its two big pushes at 90-minute keynotes attended by most of the 8,600 customers the company says attended its annual conference, which was celebrating its 20th year.

The cloud OS framework is built around Windows Server 2012 and Azure, both of which have significant new features.

The OS analogy goes like this: Operating systems manage hardware and are the platform on which applications run. A cloud OS, then, manages the hardware at the scale of a data center and provides the varying platforms on which applications run.

Microsoft is saying Windows Server can manage the physical resources, including pulling them together from a pool of whatever resources are available - in traditional data centers, private clouds and public clouds.

Server 2012 is much more powerful, said Microsoft's Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft's server and tools business. The server, due out later this year, sports up to 320 logical processors per server and 4TB of memory, and up to 64 virtual processors and 1TB of memory per virtual machine. These big numbers, plus the fact that the final preliminary version of Server 2012 is powering the production network for the Bing search engine, indicate a significant upgrade to and stability of the platform, he said.

As for Azure, it recently added support for virtual machines -- including some flavors of Linux -- making Azure an infrastructure-as-a-service provider, not just a platform-as-a-service provider. This ability to shift entire virtual machines in and out of the cloud under the control of Windows Server 2012 is one upside of cloud OS, Nadella said.

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QUESTION 1
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. You have been asked to deploy Lync Server
2010 as a VOIP telephony and video conferencing solution for the company.
Company management is concerned about the possible network load imposed by the VoIP and
video conferencing features of Lync Server 2010.
To manage the network bandwidth used by the system, you configure Call Admission Control.
How can you enable the Call Admission Control feature?

A. By running the Set-CsNetworkInterSitePolicy cmdlet.
B. By running the Set-CsNetworkConfiguration cmdlet.
C. By running the Set-CsCpsConfiguration cmdlet.
D. By running the Set-CsVoiceConfiguration cmdlet.

Answer: B

Explanation:

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QUESTION 2
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. The company’s communication system is
provided by a Lync Server 2010 infrastructure.
You have configured a bandwidth policy to limit the network bandwidth used by real-time audio
and video sessions.
You want to override the policy for the Managing Director of the company.
What type of policy should you create first to enable you to override the bandwidth policy for the
Managing Director?

A. You should first create a Conferencing Policy.
B. You should first create a Client Version Policy.
C. You should first create a Voice Policy.
D. You should first create an External Access Policy.

Answer: C

Explanation:

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QUESTION 3
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. You are configuring a new Lync Server 2010 infrastructure.
You want the company phone number to be displayed in the format +11112222333 when users on
the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) receive calls from users using the Lync Server
system.
Which cmdlet should you run?

A. You should run the Set-CsVoiceConfiguration cmdlet.
B. You should run the Set-CsNetworkInterSitePolicy cmdlet.
C. You should run the Set-CsVoicePolicy cmdlet.
D. You should run the Set-CsLocationPolicy cmdlet.

Answer: C

Explanation:

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QUESTION 4
Your work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com includes the management of the Lync Server
2010 infrastructure.
The Lync Server 2010 infrastructure includes a Mediation Server pool that includes three servers
named Certkingdom-Med1, Certkingdom-Med2 and Certkingdom-Med3.
You need to take Certkingdom-Med3 offline for maintenance.
Which two of the following steps should you perform to allow you to take Certkingdom-Med3 offline without
disconnecting any current calls in progress?

A. Navigate to the Lync Server 2010 Topology Builder.
B. Navigate to the Lync Server 2010 Control Panel.
C. Modify the properties of the Mediation Pool.
D. Modify the properties of Certkingdom-Med3.
E. Create a new Mediation Pool.

Answer: B,D

Explanation:

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QUESTION 5
You work as a Network Administrator at Certkingdom.com. You are in the process of deploying a Lync
Server 2010 infrastructure for the company.
You have configured dial-in conferencing and verified that it is functioning properly.
You now want to notify users about the availability of the feature. The notification should include
introductory instructions such as the initial PIN and the link to the Dial-in Conferencing Settings
webpage.
What is the easiest way to send the notification with the required information to the users?

A. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the New-CsAnnouncement cmdlet.
B. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the Set-CsPinSendCAWelcomeMail cmdlet.
C. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the New-CsConferenceDirectory cmdlet.
D. Open the Lync Management Shell and run the New-CsConferencingConfiguration cmdlet.

Answer: B

Explanation:

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What is the recertification policy for the MCITP certification?

What is the recertification policy for the MCITP certification?

Where as the old Microsoft exams would expire if you did not sit a “refresh” exam within three years, the MCITP does not expire on the same policy. The new MCITP credential only expires when Microsoft ends their mainstream support of that particular technology. For instance, if you get certified as a MCITP:Server Administrator in Windows Server 2008, your certification will remain valid until Microsoft stops mainstream support for Server 2008, which is planned for 2013. In saying that, just because the MCITP credential expires, it does not mean it is worthless, it still reflects your level of knowledge with that technology, which most likely has a large over-lap with the new technology.

MCITP Certification
The MCITP Certification is Microsoft’s new industry standard of IT qualification. This new IT certification makes it easier for IT professionals to gain internationally recognised certifications that display their technical knowledge and skills. The MCITP Certification has a more targeted syllabus framework which makes getting certified a much simpler process versus the old MCP system.

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Each MCITP Certification specialization is made up of a number of targeted MCTS exams and a final MCITP exam which brings all your knowledge and skills together resulting in a professional level certification. For instance, to get certified as a MCITP Server Administrator, you must pass two MCTS Exams – 70-640 and 70-642 and also pass one MCITP Exam – 70-646.

How to gain a MCITP Certification
Candidates after a MCITP Certification will generally already have a few years experience with Microsoft Server operating systems. They will then build on their knowledge and skills by enrolling in a training course or if going down the self-study route, buy a few study guides and books. Time to study for a MCITP Certification will vary in length depending on which specialization you are aiming for and how much time you have on your hands.

When the candidate feels adequately ready, they will sit each exam at a MCITP Testing Centre. Exams can be taken in any order, but generally you attain passes in all MCTS Exams then sit the final MCITP Exam. You will receive a MCITP Certificate in the mail after each certification you gain.

MCITP Certification Lifecycle Policy
The new generation of MCITP certifications have a new lifecycle compared to the old certifications.

MCTS Certifications will stay valid until Microsoft discontinues mainstream support for the related technology
MCITP Certification will require renewing every three years or the certification will lapse.

If you are eager to get certified, first look at purchasing some MCITP books or enrolling in one of many MCITP Training courses. To find out more about each specialization follow the links below.

Windows Client
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician on Windows 7
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7
MCITP: Consumer Support Technician on Windows Vista
MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician on Windows Vista

Windows Server
MCITP: Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008
MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008
MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft SQL Server
MCITP: Database Administrator 2008
MCITP: Database Developer 2008
MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer 2008

Microsoft Office Project Server
MCITP: Enterprise Project Management with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007

Microsoft Exchange Server
MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator on Exchange 2010
MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator on Exchange 2007

Microsoft SharePoint Server

MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010

Microsoft Lync Server

MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010

70-620 Q&A - 70-620 Study Guide - 70-620 Testing Engine - 70-620 Videos

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QUESTION 1
You are employed as a Desktop Technician at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a
single Active Directory domain named Certkingdom.com.
Certkingdom.com has acquired a computer named Certkingdom-WS624. The operating system on the computer is
Microsoft Windows XP Professional and its specifications are:
• 1 GB of RAM
• 2GHz processor
• 64-MB video adapter
• 60-GB hard disk with 15 GB of free space
You received instructions for installation of Microsoft Windows Vista on Certkingdom-WS624.
After performing fresh installation you need to identify the which of uCertkingdomrade is needed for
supporting Microsoft Windows Aero Experience?

A. You need to uCertkingdomrade the hard disk to 100 GB.
B. You need to clear 40 GB of free space on the hard disk.
C. You need to uCertkingdomrade the memory to 2 GB of RAM.
D. You need to install a 128 MB of RAM video adapter supporting Microsoft DirectX 9, and
Microsoft Pixel Shader 2.0.
E. You need to uCertkingdomrade the processor to a dual-core processor.

Answer: D

Explanation: To support the Microsoft Windows Aero Experience, you need a video adapter that
has at least 128 MB of RAM, support for Microsoft DirectX 9, and Microsoft Pixel Shader 2.0.

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QUESTION 2
You are employed as a network administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a
single Active Directory domain named Certkingdom.com.
A client computer named Certkingdom-WS620 is running Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3.
Certkingdom-WS620 also runs some legacy applications. The Certkingdom.com management wants all computers
to be running Microsoft Windows Vista. To this end you have received instructions from the CIO to
uCertkingdomrade Certkingdom-WS620 to Microsoft Windows Vista.
Which two steps should you take to uCertkingdomrade Certkingdom-WS620 and keeping the current applications
intact and not requiring reinstallation?

A. By Installing Windows Vista into a separate partition.
B. By using the Windows Easy Transfer wizard.
C. By uCertkingdomrading to Microsoft Windows XP Professional.
D. By uCertkingdomrading to Windows Vista.
E. By installing the latest version of the Service Pack.
F. By copying your user profile to a removable media.
G. By Performing a clean installation of Windows Vista.
H. By Copying the user profile to the C:\Windows\Users directory.

Answer: C,D

Explanation: To move to Windows Vista without having to reinstall your applications, you need to
do an ‘in-place’ uCertkingdomrade. However, you cannot uCertkingdomrade directly to Windows Vista from
Windows 2000 Professional (you would need a clean install which would delete your applications).
Therefore, you need to uCertkingdomrade to Windows XP Professional first. Then you can uCertkingdomrade to
Windows Vista and keep the applications.

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QUESTION 3
You are employed as a network administrator at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a
single Active Directory domain named Certkingdom.com. All client computers on the Certkingdom.com network run
Microsoft Windows Vista.
Certkingdom.com contains a client computer named Certkingdom-WS621. Certkingdom-WS621 has been assigned to a
Certkingdom.com user named Andy Booth. You received a report from Andy Booth complaining that CertkingdomWS621
is performing slower than it should. You have a suspicion that it could be malware that is
causing the problem.
How can you find out what is causing the problems?

A. You need to run a Windows Defender scan.
B. You need to view the processes list in Task manager.
C. You need to view the startup items in the System Configuration utility.
D. You need to run Disk Defragmenter.

Answer: A

Explanation: Windows Defender is an application that can scan for malware or other potentially
harmful files. You can initiate a Windows Defender scan to scan all the files on your system for
malware or other potentially harmful files.

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QUESTION 4
You are employed as a network technician at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network consists of a
single Active Directory domain named Certkingdom.com. All client computers on the Certkingdom.com network run
Microsoft Windows Vista.
A Certkingdom.com user named Andy Booth has been assigned a client computer named Certkingdom-WS629.
One morning Andy Booth complains that Certkingdom-WS629 does not produce any sound when he
views a video file clip. You open the Device Manager as shown below.



What configuration change should you make to Certkingdom-WS629?

A. You need to update the driver for the audio device.
B. You need to uninstall the device then run a hardware scan.
C. You need to enable the audio device in Device Manager.
D. You need to change the IRQ for the device.
E. You need to run Microsoft Windows Update and install the latest updates for Certkingdom-WS629.
F. You need to replace the audio device with one that is compatible with Windows Vista.

Answer: C

Explanation: The icon by the sound device (the Creative SB Live! Series device) shows that the
device is disabled. Therefore, to receive audio output from Certkingdom-WS629, you simply need to
enable the device. You can do this by right-clicking on the device and selecting Enable.

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Most OpenOffice users run Windows

However, Apache's download stats might not tell the whole story

Nearly 9 out of 10 downloads of the new version of OpenOffice have been for Windows machines, rather than Linux, according to recently released statistics from Apache.

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MORE LINUX: Linux Mint 13 rallies behind Gnome

Of the first 1,000,663 Sourceforge downloads of OpenOffice 3.4, 87% were Windows users, 11% were running Mac OS, and just 2% were on Linux, the team said.

A Reddit discussion, however, highlighted that these statistics could be misleading, due mostly to the fact that Linux users tend not to simply download programs from the Internet.

"Even before it was forked, how many Linux users were going to download it direct from openoffice.org instead of getting it direct from the software repository for their distribution of choice?" asked user houseofzeus.

That said, many others argued that the success of LibreOffice -- a relatively recent fork of OpenOffice -- has undercut the older product's market share across operating systems.

"The LibreOffice fork is MUCH more popular in the Linux community. I prefer it to OpenOffice.org anyways due to various improvements," wrote aliendude5300. LibreOffice's shorter load times were widely cited as the central advantage.

OpenOffice's lack of recent success, argues a recent Unixmen article, is partially due to the folding of the Oracle team that largely fueled the development of the office suite. Since OpenOffice was handed over to Apache, that organization has attempted to compete directly with the successful fork -- and, according to most, has made little headway.

For its part, Apache stated in March that it has had to spend a great deal of time migrating infrastructure over from Oracle and rework "copylefted" components to ensure that they comply with Apache's licensing policy.

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