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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

WindowsNetworking.com - Monthly Newsletter - December 2014

WindowsNetworking.com - Monthly Newsletter - December 2014

Hi Security World,

Welcome to the WindowsNetworking.com newsletter by Debra Littlejohn Shinder <http://www.windowsnetworking.com/Deb_Shinder/>, MVP. Each month we will bring you interesting and helpful information on the world of Windows Networking. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: dshinder@windowsnetworking.com


1. How will better voice recognition change the business world?
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Computers that you can talk to have been around for a long time, and voice command/recognition technology was perfected long ago â€" well, at least it was in the movies and on TV. Star Trek fans grew up watching the crew interact with the onboard computer in conversational English, but somehow when we tried it at home or at the office, it never worked out quite as well.

Not that there haven’t been software vendors trying to enable us to throw away our keyboards. I remember my first forays into voice tech back in the 1990s, with the early versions of Dragon Naturally Speaking and Microsoft’s own built-in voice features in Windows. As a 90+ wpm touch typist, I found dictation programs to be a slower form of input than just letting my fingers do the talking. Maybe it’s my Texas twang, but even with hours of “training,� the software never got it accurate enough to be worth the time it took to correct the mistakes.

Voice command always worked a bit better, which makes sense when you think about it since that only involves a set, limited list of words that the software has to recognize. It’s nifty to be able to just say “Save� or “Open� instead of using a mouse or keystrokes, but there’s a big drawback: even voice command doesn’t work so well if you work in a busy/noisy environment.

It’s slowly gotten better, though. Part of the problem in the past was the quality of the hardware, and microphone sensitivity has definitely improved over the years. I work at home and have a dedicated room for my office, one that’s somewhat separated from the rest of the house, so I can make voice work â€" most of the time. On those days when my next door neighbor’s lawn guy is mowing right outside my office window, not so much.

Many people today, however, work in offices surrounded by dozens of other workers, with the workspaces divided into cubicles instead of being separated by real walls with doors that close. That would have to make it much less convenient to control your computer with your voice, when there are people talking to their computers â€" or on the phone or to other live human beings â€" just a few feet away.

The other problem with voice is that as far as Windows is concerned, it’s been mostly relegated to the “accessibility features� dungeon, a place many computer users never visit. I’ve known computer users who consider themselves to be somewhat tech savvy, who expressed surprise that Windows includes voice-to-text and voice command capabilities without installing a third party program.

I look for that to change in the near future. As with other functionalities, such as touch, mobile devices are leading the way now in getting more people comfortable with controlling their applications and operating systems via voice. The trend began with Siri on the iPhone. Despite the ridicule that “she� got due to misunderstood commands and limitations, other vendors quickly jumped into the fray, and soon it became commonplace to see people talking to their phones rather than on them. Many of us have become accustomed to initiating a web search or starting an app by saying “Okay, Google� or asking Cortana how much wood a woodchuck can chuck.

These personal digital assistants make us feel important and they’re a lot of fun to show off to our friends who are stuck with old or dumb phones, but how useful are they, really, in a business context? The answer to that is the same as the answer to many IT-related questions: It depends. In some industries and job roles, voice recognition may not make a lot of difference or might not work well at all. In others, it can be a genuine boon to productivity.

If your business depends on being able to enter and retrieve information as quickly as possible while you’re on the move, voice rec can be a godsend. Simply speak a few words into a mobile device and it’s done. Do you need to make notes while driving? Typing or swyping text from behind the wheel can put you and everyone else on the road in danger, but a hands-free system gives you the ability to record your brilliant ideas before they slip away or even answer email messages that are read aloud to you by your device. You never have to take your eyes off the task at hand.

Slow typists, those with carpal tunnel and other physical conditions that prevent fast typing can get more work done, more quickly, using voice technologies. Voice recognition software is also very useful for those who need to multitask, as it makes it easier to switch back and forth between applications.

There are challenges that will need to be overcome before voice input can replace other methods as the workplace norm. There is an obvious security issue involved; when you speak words aloud, you can be overheard by unauthorized persons. On the other hand, there are keystroke loggers and screen capture programs and even spying software that can record keystrokes from afar, so typing your data doesn’t necessarily make it more secure.

Today, many of us are still more comfortable typing than talking to our computers, but that’s slowly changing. Just as today some schools have stopped teaching how to write in longhand (cursive script), there might come a day when keyboarding skills become obsolete and the business world operates computer systems that are primarily voice-driven, just like the Starship Enterprise.

'Til next time,

Deb
dshinder@windowsnetworking.com


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Quote of the Month - When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. â€" Malala Yousafzai
=======================


2. Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond â€" Order Today!
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Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond

By Thomas Shinder, Debra Littlejohn Shinder and Yuri Diogenes

From architecture to deployment, this book takes you through the steps for securing a Windows Server 2012-based enterprise network in today’s highly mobile, BYOD, cloud-centric computing world. Includes test lab guides for trying out solutions in a non-production environment.

Order your copy of Windows Server 2012 Security from End to Edge and Beyond. You'll be glad you did.
<http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-2012-Security-Beyond-ebook/dp/B00CMQK0OG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387293428&sr=8-1&keywords=windows+server+2012+end+to+edge+and+beyond>


3. WindowsNetworking.com Articles of Interest
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How to Successfully Create a Hyper-V Cluster Using Virtual Machine Manager (Part 2)
System Center Virtual Manager is a complex datacenter management product. SCVMM has been designed to handle almost all aspects of an IT datacenter. The first part of this article series by Nirmal Sharma explained the requirements for VMM Host group and Hyper-V hosts before you can build a Hyper-V cluster via VMM. This second part will explain the requirements for shared storage and networking.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/netgeneral/how-successfully-create-hyper-v-cluster-using-virtual-machine-manager-part2.html

Working with the Desired State Configuration Feature (Part 4)
If you’ve been following Brien Posey’s series on how to use the Desired State Configuration feature in Windows Server to manage virtual machines, you’ll want to be sure and catch this latest installment, which goes into how to create and use a .MOF file.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/windows-server-2012/working-desired-state-configuration-feature-part4.html

Active Directory Migration Considerations (Part 5)
Another very comprehensive multi-part article, this series from Mitch Tulloch takes you deeply into the issues that you need to be aware of before you begin a big AD restructuring project. This time, he warns of some of the hidden “gotchas� that lurk in the shadows when you use ADMT to migrate/consolidate Active Directory.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/windows-server-2012/active-directory-migration-considerations-part5.html

Advanced Wireless Adapter Driver Settings
Getting your wi-fi NIC to work on modern Windows operating systems can be an easy, “plug and playâ€� operation â€" but there are a number of advanced settings that you can configure to fine-tune how the wireless adapter works. Many IT pros never even glance at this tab and have no idea what these settings do, but if you’re curious, be sure to check out Eric Geier’s article.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/wireless-networking/advanced-wireless-adapter-driver-settings.html

Product Review: AdRem Software NetCrunch 8
From time to time, we bring you reviews of networking solutions that can make your life as an IT professional easier. This time, Nirmal Sharma delves into NetCrunch v8, a network monitoring solution that impressed him enough to earn four stars and WindowsNetworking.com’s Gold Award. Read more about it:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/product-reviews/product-review-adrem-software-netcrunch-8.html


4. Administrator KB Tip of the Month
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Using PowerShell to Remotely Refresh Group Policy

You can use the Invoke-GPUpdate cmdlet to refresh Group Policy settings on remote computers. This cmdlet works by scheduling the running of the Gpupdate.exe command on the remote computers. Before you can do this, however, you need to open the necessary firewall ports on the computers you will be targeting, as was explained in the previous lesson in this chapter. You can perform this preliminary step by using Windows PowerShell. For example, the following command creates and links a GPO that will open the necessary firewall ports for all computers in the corp.fabrikam.com domain:

New-GPO -Name "EnableRemoteRefresh" `
-StarterGPOName "Group Policy Remote Update Firewall Ports" | `
New-GPLink -Target "dc=corp,dc=fabrikam,dc=com"

Once this GPO has been processed, you can then perform a remote refresh of Group Policy for computers in a specific OU. For example, the following command refreshes Group Policy remotely for computers in the Desktops OU described earlier in Lesson 1 of this chapter:

Get-ADComputer -Filter * `
-SearchBase "ou=Desktops,ou=Computers,ou=HQ-NYC,dc=corp,dc=fabrikam,dc=com" | `
foreach{Invoke-GPUpdate -Computer $_.Name -force -RandomDelayInMinutes 0}

The preceding command uses the Get-ADComputer cmdlet to obtain a list of names of computers in the targeted OU. The output from this command is then piped into a foreach statement that initiates an immediate refresh of Group Policy on each computer.

The above tip was excerpted from Mitch Tulloch's book Training Guide: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 from Microsoft Press <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735673101/mtitenterprises>.


For more great admin tips, check out http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/


5. Windows Networking Links of the Month
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Networking 2014: Industry Highlights and Lowlights
http://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/networking-2014-industry-highlights-and-lowlights/d/d-id/1317972

Six IT workforce predictions for 2015
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2859495/careers/6-it-workforce-predictions-for-2015.html

Gigabit speeds over telephone wires: new G.fast standard
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2856270/gigabit-speeds-over-telephone-wires-yes-thanks-to-new-gfast-standard.html

Networking and Storage: Nine most interesting products of 2014
http://www.cnet.com/news/networking-and-storage-8-most-interesting-products-of-2014/

A Better Ethernet for a More Modern Data Center
http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/datacenter/datacenter-blog/a-better-ethernet-for-a-more-modern-data-center.html

Network Switches: Popular Models Compared
http://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/network-switches-the-most-popular-models-compared/d/d-id/1318136?


6. Ask Sgt. Deb
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QUESTION:

Hi, Deb. We’re looking at cloud computing, I guess like everybody else now days. We don’t want to go “whole hog� at first, but we’re thinking about cloud storage for back ups and to make our user’s data more accessible to them from everywhere. But we really don’t know where to start. We know we’re more comfortable with one of the “big guys� like Microsoft or Google or Amazon but how do we figure out which is better? Even figuring out the pricing structures seems like rocket science. Ha ha. Any opinions or guidance? - Jorge

ANSWER:

Hi, Jorge. The good news is that you aren’t alone in this dilemma. With so many major players offering cloud services, choosing the best for your org can be a challenge and navigating those price lists isn’t nearly as straight-forward as it should be. The bad news is that there isn’t a “one size fits all� answer to your question. You’re going to need to do some homework and comparisons, starting with a list of your basic needs. How much and what kind of data do you need to store? How quickly will users need access? What level of security is needed?

I can recommend the resources at some of our sister web sites such as CloudComputingAdmin.com for some basic info. If you’re leaning in the direction of Amazon’s web services, we’ve also quietly launched a brand new site <http://www.insideAWS.com> this month which is dedicated to AWS. Microsoft has a wealth of info in their TechNet library about Azure and all of their cloud services. Here is an article that can get you started with some of the differences between the three cloud storage vendors:
<http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/news/2240235969/Choosing-between-AWS-vs-Google-vs-Azure-cloud-storage?utm_medium=EM&asrc=EM_NLN_37339359&utm_campaign=20141209_IT%20broker%20skills%20critical%20to%20hybrid%20cloud%20success_nrando&utm_source=NLN&track=NL-1814&ad=897556>



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