Thursday, December 03, 2009
Black Screen of Death on Windows 7 official statement
“The reports on the so called “Black Screens” was investigated by Microsoft and found to be inaccurate. The company which issued the report has apologized and made a full retraction. Windows 7 security updates was not the cause of the black screens. There is no fix or update necessary for this, but customers should keep their anti-virus software up-to-date as a preventative measure. So far, Microsoft is not seeing an occurrence of this particular issue in our support channels locally.
Misleading report on Black Screen of Death on Windows 7
I would like to bring your attention to inaccurate stories following a report by a British company claiming that customers who deployed the Windows 7 November Security updates have experienced the so-called “Black Screens” that would render the system unbootable and unusable due to changes in the registry.
Here’s the background for your reference:
Microsoft has found these reports to be inaccurate. Comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports. Microsoft’s support organization is also not seeing this as an issue. The claims also do not match any known issues that have been documented in our security bulletins.
On December 1, Prevx, the company which issued the report, posted an apology to Microsoft which stated the following: “Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor.”
According to Microsoft’s blog post, the real culprit is a piece of malware that clears desktops and produces a black screen on infected PCs; various security vendors have tools for removing this malware. There is no fix or update necessary for this, but customers should keep their anti-virus software up-to-date as a preventative measure.
So far, Microsoft is not seeing a massive occurrence of this particular issue in our support channels. If customers do encounter an issue with a security update, contact our Customer Service and Support group for no-charge assistance at http://support.microsoft.com/security.
The protection and well-being of Microsoft's customers’ PCs through the deployment of Security Updates is the ultimate goal of the Microsoft Security Response Center.
Because of this, Microsoft continually work with their Customer Service and Support teams to keep a close eye for issues that may impact customers’ deployment of security updates.
Consumers can also download Microsoft Security Essentials provided free.
Here’s the background for your reference:
Microsoft has found these reports to be inaccurate. Comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behavior described in the reports. Microsoft’s support organization is also not seeing this as an issue. The claims also do not match any known issues that have been documented in our security bulletins.
On December 1, Prevx, the company which issued the report, posted an apology to Microsoft which stated the following: “Since more specifically narrowing down the cause we have been able to exonerate these patches from being a contributory factor.”
According to Microsoft’s blog post, the real culprit is a piece of malware that clears desktops and produces a black screen on infected PCs; various security vendors have tools for removing this malware. There is no fix or update necessary for this, but customers should keep their anti-virus software up-to-date as a preventative measure.
So far, Microsoft is not seeing a massive occurrence of this particular issue in our support channels. If customers do encounter an issue with a security update, contact our Customer Service and Support group for no-charge assistance at http://support.microsoft.com/security.
The protection and well-being of Microsoft's customers’ PCs through the deployment of Security Updates is the ultimate goal of the Microsoft Security Response Center.
Because of this, Microsoft continually work with their Customer Service and Support teams to keep a close eye for issues that may impact customers’ deployment of security updates.
Consumers can also download Microsoft Security Essentials provided free.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Solved: Eseutil on running on DPM 2010
As i was protecting an Exchange 2003 (on Windows 2003 R2) from DPM 2010 (on Windows 2008 R2), i needed Exchange 2007 32-bit version of eseutil to be installed on DPM 2010 server.
i had naturally copied the eseutil from Exchange 2003, which did not work so.
So i downloded the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools (32-Bit), installed on a test Windows 2008 Std, 32bit (it had AD installed). i then extracted the eseutil dll and exe and copied to the DPM 2010 server.
This is where i pretty much got the idea that i needed the Exchange 2007 tools.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb808827.aspx#ExchangeServerDatabaseUtilities
Note
If you installed DPM 2007 on a Windows Server 2008 operating system, and you are protecting Exchange Server 2003 on a Windows Server 2003 computer, you must install the Exchange Server 2007 version of the eseutil.exe and ese.dll files. You can download this version from the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=112325).
i had naturally copied the eseutil from Exchange 2003, which did not work so.
So i downloded the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools (32-Bit), installed on a test Windows 2008 Std, 32bit (it had AD installed). i then extracted the eseutil dll and exe and copied to the DPM 2010 server.
This is where i pretty much got the idea that i needed the Exchange 2007 tools.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb808827.aspx#ExchangeServerDatabaseUtilities
Note
If you installed DPM 2007 on a Windows Server 2008 operating system, and you are protecting Exchange Server 2003 on a Windows Server 2003 computer, you must install the Exchange Server 2007 version of the eseutil.exe and ese.dll files. You can download this version from the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Management Tools (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=112325).
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Installing DPM 2010 Beta in my production.
Installed DPM 2010 beta in a live production environment.
There was very little data on migrating from DPM 2007 SP1 to DPM 2010.
Procedures (#HINT: Read the beta documentation for the basics on the setup. There are also documents on recovery, client protection, SharePoint item level restore etc.).
1. Stopped protection group and retained the protected data.
2. removed the agents (DPM 2007 Sp1) from protection machines.
3. DPm 2010 was installed on a new hardware. Windows 2008 r2 base OS and DPM 2010 Beta. Installation went on without a problem .
4. Installed agents DPM 2010 beta to the servers. They were automatically installed from DPM 2010 Management Console.
Protections Group
Servers i wa protecting in DPM 2007 SP1 were:
Windows 2003 R2 / Windows 2003
SQL Server 2005
SharePoint 2007 SP2
Exchange 2003 Sp2 (Front end and mailbox)
Windows XP SP3 clients.
Moving these servers to protection with DPM 2010 beta, i had this issues.
For a Windows 2008 R2 protected machine i had to install a Windows Server backup before i could successfull add server to a protection group. This was my domain controlller running Windows 2008 R2 which was trying to get the System State back-ed up.
On my exchange 2003 SP2 servers on a Windows 2003 Sp2, i needed a Windows 2003 patch. KB940349 to allow me to backup the exchange storage groups.
Now i am getting issues with Exchange files eseutil not executing. The DPM 2010 is x64 and my exchange 2003 is 32 bit (of course). i loaded the eseutil files to the DPM as requested but seems like it is not working.
The SharePoint 2007 SP2 protection worked like a charm once i had solved the WSS Writer Failures issues with ConfigureSharePoint.exe.
Will write about eseutil once i get it solved.
There was very little data on migrating from DPM 2007 SP1 to DPM 2010.
Procedures (#HINT: Read the beta documentation for the basics on the setup. There are also documents on recovery, client protection, SharePoint item level restore etc.).
1. Stopped protection group and retained the protected data.
2. removed the agents (DPM 2007 Sp1) from protection machines.
3. DPm 2010 was installed on a new hardware. Windows 2008 r2 base OS and DPM 2010 Beta. Installation went on without a problem .
4. Installed agents DPM 2010 beta to the servers. They were automatically installed from DPM 2010 Management Console.
Protections Group
Servers i wa protecting in DPM 2007 SP1 were:
Windows 2003 R2 / Windows 2003
SQL Server 2005
SharePoint 2007 SP2
Exchange 2003 Sp2 (Front end and mailbox)
Windows XP SP3 clients.
Moving these servers to protection with DPM 2010 beta, i had this issues.
For a Windows 2008 R2 protected machine i had to install a Windows Server backup before i could successfull add server to a protection group. This was my domain controlller running Windows 2008 R2 which was trying to get the System State back-ed up.
On my exchange 2003 SP2 servers on a Windows 2003 Sp2, i needed a Windows 2003 patch. KB940349 to allow me to backup the exchange storage groups.
Now i am getting issues with Exchange files eseutil not executing. The DPM 2010 is x64 and my exchange 2003 is 32 bit (of course). i loaded the eseutil files to the DPM as requested but seems like it is not working.
The SharePoint 2007 SP2 protection worked like a charm once i had solved the WSS Writer Failures issues with ConfigureSharePoint.exe.
Will write about eseutil once i get it solved.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Microsoft Business Intelligence Project Booster Kit - SQLServerCentral
Microsoft Business Intelligence Project Booster Kit - SQLServerCentral: "Microsoft Business Intelligence Project Booster Kit: Tools and Utilities"
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
New RCs For Asterisk 1.4.27, 1.6.0.18, 1.6.1.10, and 1.6.2.0, Ready For Download. | VOIP IP Telephony
New RCs For Asterisk 1.4.27, 1.6.0.18, 1.6.1.10, and 1.6.2.0, Ready For Download. VOIP IP Telephony: "New RCs For Asterisk 1.4.27, 1.6.0.18, 1.6.1.10, and 1.6.2.0, Ready For Download."
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Saturday, November 07, 2009
HTTPS, SSL attack vector discovered; fix is on the way
A serious security flaw in the TLS protocol could make HTTP communication vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack. Security researchers are working to address the issue.
Read more ... http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/11/https-ssl-attack-vector-discovered-fix-is-on-the-way.ars
Read more ... http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/11/https-ssl-attack-vector-discovered-fix-is-on-the-way.ars
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