Jason Powell - Church IT and Other Musings

Vista's New Security Features

InfoWorld has a well written article covering a bunch of the new security features coming in Windows Vista.  I thought I was keeping up with all the new features, but this article talked about quite a few I had not heard about yet.

While it will mean a lot of new stuff to learn, these new security features so far sound like just what the doctor ordered.

I just got an email from TechNet indicating I'll soon be getting the December CTP build (5270) of Vista.  I'm planning to reformat my Dell D610 and slap Vista on it full time.  Robert Scoble has been running Vista and Office12 on his tablet PC for several months with very few issues.  In fact he blogged about why he "needs" Vista recently.

If your doing IT and don't have a TechNet subscription I would strongly recommend it.  Each month you get a slew of resources...including non-expiring eval copies of new Microsoft releases as well as beta/preview software.  Here's what's on it's way for Feb..

New This Month:

Library Content

*         Building and Deploying an Enterprise-Quality Management Solution for Web Services

*         Certificate Migration from Key Management Service and Key Recovery at Microsoft

*         Delivering a Business Process Documentation Solution at Microsoft

*         Doctor Scripto's Script Shop

*         Getting Started with User Account Protection on Windows Vista Beta

*         Hey, Scripting Guy

*         IIS Insider - December 2005

*         Improving Data Security by Using SQL Server 2005

*         Improving the Wireless Network Infrastructure at Microsoft

*         IT Change and Configuration Management

*         Microsoft Java Virtual Machine Transition Guide for IT Professionals, v2.2

*         MSN Search Toolbar Administration Guide

*         Security Management - December 2005

*         Using SQL Server 2005 Integration Services in a Scalable Business Intelligence

*         Windows Desktop Search Administration Guide

*         Windows Vista Hardware

New Tools and Utilities

• Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) Service Pack 1
• AVIcode .NET Management Pack (Operations Edition) for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
• Cumulative Hotfix for SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 - Build 2162 (x86, x64, ia64)
• DirectX End-User Runtimes (December 2005) Full Download
• Enterprise Update Scan Tool v2 (standalone version) - October 11, 2005
• Excel 2002/2003 Add-in for SQL Server Analysis Services
• Extended Security Update Inventory Tool
• Live Communications Server 2005 with Service Pack 1 Resource Kit
• Live Meeting 2003 Windows-based Meeting Console Standalone Installer
• Live Meeting 2005 Windows-based Meeting Console Standalone Installer
• Live Meeting 2005 Windows-based Meeting Console Standalone Installer - All languages
• Microsoft Base Smart Card Cryptographic Service Provider Package (KB909520)
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Calendar Connector for Lotus Notes
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Connector for Lotus Notes
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Migration Wizard for Lotus Notes
• Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Web Update Pack
• Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 Best Practices Analyzer Tool
• Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access
• Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 with Service Pack 1 Capacity Planning Toolkit
• Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Updated Additions
• Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool 1.11 (KB890830)
• Office 2003 Add-in : Office Web Components
• Office 2003 Add-in: Project Report Presentation
• Office 2003 Add-in: Word Redaction
• Office XP Tool : Web Components
• POS Connector for Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 and Microsoft Retail Management System
• POS Connector for Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 and Microsoft Point of Sale
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Documentation and Samples (December 2005)
• SQL Server 2005 Samples and Sample Databases (December 2005)
• SQL Server Management Pack for MOM 2005
• Update for Outlook 2003 Junk E-mail Filter (KB905648)+ Windows Server 2003 R2 Administration Tools Pack (x86, x64)

New Service Packs

• Project Server 2003 Service Pack 2a

New Security Bulletins

• MS05-050: Vulnerability in DirectShow Could Allow Remote Code Execution (904706)
• MS05-054: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (905915)
• MS05-055: Vulnerability in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (908523)

New TechNet Plus Evaluation Software (no time limits)

• Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise Edition Beta 2    
• Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2 Management Pack      
• Microsoft BizTalk Adapters for Enterprise Applications Beta 2        
• Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for HIPAA 3.3 Enterprise Edition Beta 2       
• Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for HL7 1.3 Enterprise Edition Beta 2        
• Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT 2.3 Enterprise Edition Beta 2         
• Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for RosettaNet 3.3 Enterprise Edition Beta 2      
• Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express CTP - November 2005 (x86)       
• Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express CTP - November 2005 (X64)       
• Microsoft Windows Vista CTP - December 2005 - Build 5270 (32-bit)   
• Microsoft Windows Vista CTP - December 2005 - Build 5270 (64-bit)    
• Microsoft WinFS Beta 1 Refresh
• Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005      
• Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition 
• Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition (x64)      
• Virtual Server 2005 R2 Standard Edition 
• Virtual Server 2005 R2 Standard Edition (x64)      
• Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise Edition
• Windows Server 2003 R2, Enterprise x64 Edition

update: Church IT Roundtable - Sept 20, 2006

After much thinking/praying, I've decided to not schedule a roundtable this spring and instead just focus on the September date already in place.

So bust out your calendar, grab a dope writing utensil, and scribe Sept 20, 2006 as the first Church IT Roundtable at GCC.  What's an IT Roundtable you ask?  Readeth here my friend.

Once open, registration will be limited to 20 participants.  Over 20 and it's very difficult to operate as a roundtable.  As of now, the only publicity for this event is what you see here.  Later down the road there may be information posted on our WiredChurches site.  I say that in order to give those of you reading this "first dibs" on registration.  If you want to be on the short list send me an email and you'll be notified as to when and how to register as it becomes available.  Already 10 people have expressed some interest back when I first started kicking around this idea...so I'm assuming this will fill up quickly.  We'll keep roundtable registration costs very low ... as close to free as possible this time 'round.  There are 5 other workshops happening that same day, so tell your co-workers and make it a road trip!

Question for those of you that are interested in attending - should vendors be allowed to attend?  I've already gotten an inquiry for one vendor.  My initial thought is that this should only be open to church IT staff/volunteers.  Your thoughts??

Now, here are a few things to consider when pondering if you should attend the roundtable...

• This will be geared towards pretty straight IT stuff ... so don't expect discussion about Audio/Video stuff.  We have other workshops geared for Tech Arts.
• We're very much a Microsoft shop.  We currently have 5 Macs on site and neither Ed nor I know much about them.  Although OS platform bashing will not be allowed during the roundtable as it's pointless, I'm just not sure if you're a Mac shop how beneficial most of the discussion will be. 
• I do not oversee our church's web strategy/web presence.  I can certainly talk about some of the tools and guidelines they use, but I can't get much past surface level info.  However, Andy deals with our web stuff a bit and he'll be present.  To best learn about our Communications/Web strategies you should check out Kem's workshop.

Hopefully that's helpful.  We certainly don't want to exclude anyone, but I also don't want anyone to leave having expected something else.  Obviously, if you still have questions please email me.

If demand is there, I'd love to see this become a twice a year event...with an early spring meeting that is hosted elsewhere (preferably somewhere warm!) so we all get to check out each others churches that we might not get to visit otherwise.

More info in the coming months.  Geeks for Jesus!!!

(please post any comments here)

DameWare v5 released

DameWare Mini Remote Control (DMRC) v5 was released Friday.  It has quite a few updates and now includes multiple monitor support which is THE feature our AV guys were wanting...

• Changed Protocol Version.  This will require a Client Agent update when connecting machines running prior versions of the Client Agent Service.
• Extensive GUI enhancements, including brand new graphics & themes
• New DameWare Display Mirror Driver for enhanced video performance (see DWMDReadMe)
• Multiple Monitor support for both the local and remote machines. Multi monitor toolbar will automatically display when remote machine has multiple monitors (appended to full-screen toolbar when in full-screen mode)
• Greatly improved Smart Sizing functionality
• New Remote Connect dialog which utilizes Graphical Icons & menus, vs old style buttons (can be turned off to revert to legacy)
• New Reconnect option added MRC main toolbar, which allows you to quickly reconnect to one of recently connected machines
• New "Connect on Reply" from MRC Agent Ping (non-ICMP) functionality added to Ping dialog. (Useful when rebooting remote machines)
• New TaskBar & Title Bar icons & text for each MRC session state, "connected" vs. "disconnected", to easily identify connected vs disconnected sessions. This also affects icons in ALT+TAB O/S window, as well as Taskbar Groupings in WinXP
• New improved Service Install & Remove options from within Remote Connect dialog
• New Program Options dialog for settings that are not host specific
• Support for Nested Global Groups within the MRC Client Agent’s "Must be a member of this Global Group" feature
• Enhancement for Slow Speed links
• Ability to display connection properties from the View / View Connection Information menu
• MRC is now "Instance aware" ( [1], [2], [3],.....), so each instance of the software running will now remember the last machine connected to for that instance
• Enhanced connection information included in email notifications
• Added Rename Folder option to right-click context menu in MRC Tree View
• New functionality to allow for customization of the Toolbar Icons
• Added three new command line options for MRC application (-v: View Only, -md: Use MRC Mirror driver if available, & -i: Instance Override)
• Added new Simple File Transfer status notification when in Full-Screen mode
• Improved SysTray icon notification functionality
• Numerous internal performance improvements
• Added option within MRC Client Agent Service to set default focus on Decline when Permission Required dialog is displayed
• Added drop down list to "Connect to Client" (Reverse Connection) functionality in Client Agent Service, to keep track of recent connections
• New style Notification dialogs in MRC Client Agent

I upgraded and used v5 a couple times this weekend to remote from home to work ... it updates the remote client to the new version without a hitch on all 3 workstations I tried it on.  I'm running 3 monitors on my work PC and before when I'd remote it I'd only see the first screen.  With v5 I can see all the 3 screen images (see below and click to enlarge) ... waahoo!

(for reference: IE7b2 is running in monitor 1 not quite maximized, Outlook is running maximized in monitor 2, and the widgets and trillian are hangin' out in monitor 3)

v5 also has a new optional "mirror" driver that I'm finding makes a big improvement in video performance...especially over VPN.

So if you want a very powerful remote control app ... go give the 30 day trial of DMRC a spin.

What Web Content Filter for home?

So my 7 year old is starting to take an interest in the internet...unfortunately the internet is a BAD place for kids.

This weekend he decided to Google "toys" with Mom's supervision.  No surprise that the 3rd highest ranked hit was for sex toys from babeland.com :-(

Jacob knows not to go on the Internet without a parent as they've really drilled that into his head at school, but kids will be kids.

I knew this day would come eventually ... it's time for a content filter at the Powell house.  In my prior school IT Director role I hand the "privilege" of managing the districts content filter.  So I'm very familiar with said technology...but on a large scale.  We had N2H2's Bess filter appliance when I took over, then I switched us to SurfControl running on BorderManager when we switched from NT to Netware.  Then when SurfControl almost tripled their subscription price I dumped them and we built a SquidGuard box on Redhat.

So before I start doing research, what are you guys using at home to try and content filter to some degree?  Obviously we'll continue to monitor his surfing, but it would sure be nice to have some filtering on hand just in case an innocent looking link goes elsewhere.

Find your Microsoft Product Keys

Want a very simple and FREE way to look up all the Microsoft product keys on your PC ... or how about your entire network?  ProduKey is a single .exe file that when run finds all your MS products and presents them in a simple window with several export options (html, xml, etc).  I fired it up on my laptop and it quickly showed all the MS stuff I'm running.  Simple and free...gotta love it.  Not that you should really need this tool unless you're dealing with off hours clients.  Hey, beats digging through the registry to find this stuff :-)

How to clean a clogged drain

Once again my lovely wife has clogged our kitchen sink.  She did this a few months ago which lead me to finding a new-to-me solution for fixing clogged drains.

Last time the sink was clogged I tried the standard Draino stuff and after 24 hours...no change.  So then I tried beating on the pipes, coat hangers, etc.  I finally admitted defeat and decided it was time to create a huge mess by taking the pipes apart.  Of course there's a nasty soup of food crud, water, and Draino in the sink..yuk!  I don't want that crap raining down on me when I start taking the pipes apart, so I grab the shop vac to eliminate as much of it as possible.

As I'm slurping up this foul soup I start to think ... hmm, if I can get a tight enough seal on the drain I bet the vac will at least loosen the clog.  To my surprise and delight it completely removed the clog ... I could feel hunks of food crud making their way through the hose.  I was so happy to not have to crawl under the sink.

So this weekend I skipped any other method of clog removal and went straight to the shop vac.  Yup, within seconds the drain was flowin' free baby!

So never underestimate the power of the shop vac ... <teachermode> and don't forget that suction is NOT a pulling force, but rather a pushing force.  A shop vac merely creates low pressure inside the hose, hence the higher outside pressure moves in (taking stuff in the way with it) to equalize the pressure.  </teachermode>

Microsoft looking to take on the iPod?

Several news sites claim to have confirmation from Microsoft that Bill and Co. are looking at what it would take to build an iPod killer.

Bill has publicly stated in the past that consumers would rather have choices than be stuck with the all the propriatary iPod/iTunes stuff.  So MS developed the software but left the hardware up to everyone else...similar to what they did with the Pocket PC software...and within a short time period they took the market PDA market away from Palm.  No such similar results with the portable player market...the iPod owns it.

I'm guessing MS has finally thrown up it's arms and decided to take matters into their own hands.  Could they dethrown the iPod?  Let's see...the XBOX took a huge chunk (not sure how much) of the market from Sony in the console gaming arena.  If anyone could take on the iPod, it would be MS.

Of course it's pretty late to get into the game.  MS would have to pull off something really sweet for a low price point to sway iPod folks.  I'm sure we'll hear more about this in the near future.

And since I get razed a lot because of my frequent posts about how the Yahoo Music Engine is better than iTunes, I will not plug the Yahoo Music Engine in this particular post ;-)

Is it too late for MS to get in the game?  What would it take for you to give up your iPod?

Jon returns to bloggin

Jon Edmiston has returned to blogging after a 7 month hiatus.  Welcome back bro!  Jon's the IT honcho over at Christ's Church of the Valley in AZ and it sounds like his been quite busy.

He's got a new URL too ... so edit your RSS reader to point to http://jonedmiston.blogspot.com/

Friday Funnies: Rule Your Office Space

Check out this 144 shot rubber band gatling gun.  Lay waste to your fellow office workers the next time they forward some stupid email hoax/chain letter!  :-)

More Presentation Gear

The Tech Arts guys have some more stuff arriving soon to continue ramping up our presentation systems.  This next item I've actually seen in use in person ... and if you read this blog you've seen pictures of it in use too.  here and here

Our current method of displaying song lyrics for worship songs is using a very high power and sophistacated software called ... Powerpoint2003.  Yep, that's right...good old basic Powerpoint :-)

So arriving soon will be ProPresenter presentation system.  This is the same stuff they used at Catalyst to display all the on screen lyrics/text and whatnot.  It's also in use for the Chris Tomlin tour.

Some of the features of ProPresenter...

Change slides in the middle of a presentation without effecting the slide the audience sees.

Change backgrounds on the fly...even in the middle of a presentation.

Change colors, fonts, and position of text blocks on the screen in real time

Display quick cues in the middle of a presentation.

Play QuickTime movies with complete control.

Keep track of the order of presentation segments in separate files from the slides themselves.

Play sound tracks with pre-sequenced automatic playback of the slides for that song.

Type out words as a transition.

Offer the ease of use such that a volunteer to run worship after only 3 minutes of training?

The catch ... it's Mac only ... so yet another Mac will find it's way to GCC.  Typically I strongly discourage adding Macs to our network, but since I know this software is really THAT good I'm able to bite my tongue for the most part.  Of course I still gave them my familiar discourse that goes something like, "and who's going to support that?  What are you doing about data backups?  What happens when a piece of hardware fails...like say the hard drive?  What's your backup plan? etc, etc :-)

The other feather in the hat is that Anthony Coppedge gives this system thumbs up ... Hey, If Anthony says it's good you better pay attention.

All this A/V stuff is really sweet ... I wish I had the time to volunteer in the Tech Arts as I really dig this technology.  I can't wait to see this tool and the Spyder working together.  I'm also thinking once this stuff is all setup, my XBOX may end up at GCC some night for some 50' screen frag action :-)

I should also note, since I get asked this from time to time, that the Tech Arts and Technology (me)departments report to separate supervisors and thus separate budgets.  So I have really nothing to do with what gear they purchase although they do run anything computer/network related past us first.  Now that we're all in the same office area we spend a lot more time together which has been very beneficial as more and more AND MORE of their gear ends up on the network.  So I would encourage other churches to put your IT and Tech Arts guys in the same work area ... there's a lot of great info sharing and idea generation to be had.  I'm trying to get our Tech Arts Director to do a couple of guest posts here so he can give us all the juicy details to feed our inner geek.