Microsoft Security Essentials (FREE)

A little off topic perhaps, but great news for many so I just had to share, let me keep this short. Great news for small businesses today, who similar to home users can soon get  Microsoft Security Essentials> on up to 10 PCs for free, beginning in early October. Have a look at this blog post for details.

Source: Born to Learn

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Microsoft ebook giveaways

Microsoft have come up trumps with the following free ebooks.  A quick summary of recent giveaways includes,

Free ebook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (DRAFT Preview)

Free ebook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (DRAFT Preview II)

Code for “Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010” DRAFT ebooks

Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Free ebook: Programming Windows Phone 7 Series (DRAFT Preview) (by Charles Petzold)

Free ebook: Own Your Future: Update Your Skills with Resources and Career Ideas from Microsoft

Free ebook: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (Second Edition)

Free ebook: First Look Microsoft Office 2010

Free ebook: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips

Free ebook: Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

Free ebook: Deploying Windows 7, Essential Guidance

There’s gotta be something in that list for you to enjoy…..

Source: Andy Ord’s Blog

Free e-book offer from Microsoft Press – First Look: Microsoft Office 2010

For a limited time, you can download this free e-book. First Look: Microsoft Office 2010, by Katherine Murray, offers 14 chapters of early content.

• Sign up to download this free e-book offer

The e-book offer includes the following content.

Part I, “Envision the Possibilities,” describes the changes in the Microsoft Office suite and shows how to use the features so they fit the way you work. Chapter 1, “Welcome to Office 2010,” introduces features. Chapter 2, “Express Yourself Effectively and Efficiently,” details the great enhancements and visual effects. Chapter 3, “Work Anywhere with Office 2010,” shows the flexibility of Microsoft Office 2010 and explains how you can do your work no matter where your path takes you.

Part II, “Hit the Ground Running,” spotlights the features of each program and shows how they relate to the whole. These chapters provide a how-to guide for features that you are most likely to use, and they offer inspiring ideas on how to get the most from your favorite programs.

Part III, “Next Steps with Office 2010,” helps you think through interoperability and provides ways to integrate programs. How often do you use Office programs together? Research shows that people often do not realize how well the programs work together as a complete system. This section also explores Microsoft Office security and training opportunities.

Gerry O’Brien on free certification exams

“Want to see if you’re ready to develop for the Azure platform?  Do you have what it takes to create Web apps using ASP.NET, JavaScript, AJAX and Silverlight?  What about desktop apps using WPF?  Perhaps you’re the service developer using WCF or maybe you’re good at data access with ADO.NET.

Ever tested your knowledge on these topics?  Want to?

I have just the opportunity for you……..” 

Read the full article here: http://blogs.msdn.com/gerryo/archive/2010/02/10/free-certification-exams.aspx

Free e-book: Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

Greetings! Microsoft is happy to say that another free e-book is now available. 

Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, by Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker with the Windows Server Team at Microsoft, can be downloaded here (XPS file, 28 MB) and here (PDF file, 11 MB).

Here is the book’s Content at a Glance:

Introduction    xvii
Chapter 1    What’s New in Windows Server R2    1
Chapter 2    Installation and Configuration: Adding R2 to Your World    9
Chapter 3    Hyper-V: Scaling and Migrating Virtual Machines    25
Chapter 4    Remote Desktop Services and VDI: Centralizing Desktop and Application Management    47
Chapter 5    Active Directory: Improving and Automating Identity and Access    65
Chapter 6    The File Services Role    91
Chapter 7    IIS 7.5: Improving the Web Application Platform    109
Chapter 8    DirectAccess and Network Policy Server    129
Chapter 9    Other Features and Enhancements    147
Index    163

And here’s part of the Introduction:

Introduction

Windows Server 2008 R2, or simply R2 for short, is the second release of
Windows Server 2008. It isn’t a completely new release, but rather adds
additional features and refinements to the existing release. In this book, we focus
on the new features and refinements in R2. We assume you have at least a general
knowledge of Windows Server, and that you have some familiarity with Windows
Server 2008, although we don’t assume you’re actively running Windows Server
2008. Where an R2 feature is a refinement of a feature that was new in Windows
Server 2008, we provide background on the Windows Server 2008 feature to
provide context.

Who This Book Is For

This book is targeted primarily at Windows server administrators who are responsible
for hands-on deployment and day-to-day management of Windows-based
servers for large organizations. Windows server administrators manage file and
print servers, network infrastructure servers, Web servers, and IT application
servers.

They use graphical administration tools as their primary interface but
also use Windows PowerShell commandlets and occasionally write Windows
PowerShell scripts for routine tasks and bulk operations. They conduct most
server management tasks remotely by using Terminal Server or administration
tools installed on their local workstation.

What This Book Is About

Covering every aspect of Windows Server 2008 R2 in nine chapters and approximately
200 pages is clearly an impossible task. Rather than try to cover everything,
we’ve focused on what is new and important, while giving you the context
from Windows Server 2008.

Chapter 1, “What’s New in Windows Server R2” Provides a brief overview of
all the new features and capabilities of Windows Server 2008 R2.

Chapter 2, “Installation and Configuration: Adding R2 to Your World” Covers
minimum system requirements, basic installation and configuration of R2, and
what is involved in adding an R2 server to an existing Windows Server network.
Configuration of the Windows Server Core installation option, added in Windows
Server 2008, is covered, along with the steps required to add a Windows Server
2008 R2 domain controller to an existing Windows Server network.

Chapter 3, “Hyper-V: Scaling and Migrating Virtual Machines” Covers the
new Hyper-V features of Windows Server 2008 R2, including dynamic storage
management and Quick Migration of clustered virtual machines (VMs). Covers
creation and management of virtual machines using the Hyper-V Manager
console, Windows PowerShell, and the Failover Cluster Manager console and
discusses the features of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2.

Chapter 4, “Remote Desktop Services and VDI: Centralizing Desktop and
Application Management” Covers Remote Desktop Services (the new name
for Terminal Services) and the enhancements of Windows Server 2008 R2, including
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), which uses the new RD Virtualization
Host capability of R2 to provide desktop virtualization. R2 also includes an all-new
Remote Desktop Services provider for Windows PowerShell.

Chapter 5, “Active Directory: Improving and Automating Identity and
Access” Covers the new features of Active Directory (AD), including an AD
Recycle Bin, a new set of Active Directory Windows PowerShell cmdlets, and
improvements in daily AD administration.

Chapter 6, “The File Services Role” Covers the new File Services features,
including BranchCache, Distributed File System–ReadOnly (DFS-R), and the File
Classification Infrastructure (FCI).

Chapter 7, “IIS 7.5: Improving the Web Application Platform” Covers the
features of the new version of Internet Information Services (IIS), including the
new Windows PowerShell management features.

Chapter 8, “DirectAccess and Network Policy Server” Covers the Network
Policy Server (NPS) and the new DirectAccess feature that allows Windows 7
computers to be transparently connected to internal network resources from anywhere
without requiring a virtual private network (VPN) connection.

Chapter 9, “Other Features and Enhancements” Covers the enhanced version
of Windows Server Backup included in R2, including the Windows PowerShell
commands for backing up. Also covered is the new BitLocker To Go capability,
which provides an important new protection for removable volumes such as
backup disks.