The Antivirus Defense-in-Depth Guide (May 22)
Microsoft Solutions for Security: The Antivirus Defense-in-Depth Guide provides an easy to understand overview of the assorted types of malware, their risks, characteristics, means of replication and payloads. The solution also details the considerations for implementing a comprehensive antivirus defense for your network, servers and clients which goes beyond simply installing antivirus software into the related tools which will help reduce your risk of infection. Lastly, the solution provides a comprehensive methodology for quickly and effectively responding to outbreaks or incidents when they occur.
Download: The Antivirus Defense-in-Depth Guide
Information Bridge Framework Documents (May 22)
The Information Bridge Framework is a set of tools, technologies, and prescriptive guidance used to build solutions that facilitate easy, efficient connections between the Microsoft Office applications and enterprise line-of-business information. This presentation provides a technical overview of the Information Bridge Framework including solutions, the Information Bridge Framework components, and the typical scenarios for solutions in the enterprise. Subsequent sections present technical detail on the Information Bridge Framework and describe the development process.
Download: Information Bridge Framework Document: Technical Overview (RTF document)
Download: Information Bridge Framework Document- Introducing the Microsoft Office Information Bridge Framework (RTF Document)
Download: Information Bridge Framework Presentation- Technical Overview (PowerPoint document)
Download: Information Bridge Framework Presentation- Business Overview (PowerPoint document)
Download: Information Bridge Framework Document- Data Sheet
Download: Microsoft Office Information Bridge Framework 1.0 Resource Kit
Download: Microsoft Office Information Bridge Framework 1.0
Added Section: Add-Ins (May 20)
The title says it all; I added a section to my website! This section is all about add-ins; third party applications that increase the functionality of Outlook.
With this new section I would also like to welcome MAPILab as my new sponsor. As is the case with my current sponsor –Sperry Software– the same is true for MAPILab; visitors of https://www.howto-outlook.com/can get their add-ins with a discount! To get the discount simply place your order and use the following code;
Sperry Software (discount code “BH93RF24”)
MAPILab (coupon code “4PM76A8”)
Just a couple of examples of the add-ins provided;
Sperry Software
MAPILab
For the complete list of available add-ins go to https://www.howto-outlook.com/addins
I hope you’ll enjoy the new section and the addins provided there! If you provide Outlook addins yourself and want to be listed in the add-in section as well send an e-mail to me.
Gates thinks big, gives big (May 19)
Forbes magazine puts a dollar figure on the Seattle, Washington-area native’s net worth — $46.6 billion in 2003 — and crowned him the world’s richest person for the seventh year in a row.
His company, Microsoft, reports that it raked in $32.19 billion in revenues for the fiscal year ending in June 2003, ranking it among Fortune’s top 50 largest U.S.-based corporations.
And by donating $600 million a year and creating a charitable foundation with a $26 billion endowment, Gates is the world’s largest private giver, according to The Washington Post.
His trademark glasses and restrained speech notwithstanding, most everything about Gates is big — his business, wealth and philanthropy. He’s a hero to some; a reviled monopolist to others.
“I think we are a little bit like the Yankees in that we’ve got a good track record, and sometimes people get a kick out of saying if we don’t win, ‘Hey, that’s fascinating, why didn’t they win?'” Gates said in late March 2004 of Microsoft, according to the high-tech publication eWeek.
The son of an attorney and a schoolteacher, Gates began computer programming in 1968, when he was 13. He entered Harvard in 1973, where he befriended future Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Gates developed a version of the BASIC computer language for the first microcomputer, the MITS Altair, during his stint at Harvard.
Gates left college in his junior year and launched Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. As the personal computer market exploded, so did Microsoft, growing into the industry leader in computer software.
Read full article: Gates thinks big, gives big
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Spotted Helping Customers Work Smarter to Play Harder (May 19)
Disc jockey discovered creating fiscal budgets in Excel. Graphic designer found using PowerPoint® for new-business pitches. Available today, Microsoft® Office 2004 for Mac helps Mac customers get in touch with their inner business suit to take care of business more efficiently, leaving more time for the pursuit of passions. In addition, Microsoft Corp. today announced that the popular Office 2004 Test Drive offers Mac users the opportunity to take this latest version for a free spin for 30 days.
“Office 2004 offers a new level of productivity never seen before on the Mac platform, and now users can try it free for 30 days before they buy it,” said Tim McDonough, director of marketing and business development for the Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) at Microsoft. “Office 2004 is packed with the tools to help Mac users work more efficiently. We all want to get our work done and move on to the fun things in life.”
Office 2004 for Mac Standard and Student and Teacher editions are now available at major resellers nationwide, including The Apple store (http://www.apple.com/) and Apple’s retail stores CompUSA, MacConnection, MacMall and Mac Zone. Consumers can check http://www.microsoft.com/mac/ for more information and links to resellers.
“We are excited about the availability of Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, the most innovative version of Office yet,” said Ron Okamoto, vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple Computer Inc. “Office 2004 offers many Mac-only and Mac-first features, making it a great productivity suite for consumers, professionals, educators and students.”
Office 2004 was built to help Mac users work smarter by offering better ways to manage information, share ideas and create documents. The following Office 2004 features, announced today, are designed to help Office users seamlessly share their ideas, whether collaborating with other Mac users or across platforms.
View full Press Release: Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Spotted Helping Customers Work Smarter to Play Harder
View: online Flash demo of the tools and other Office 2004 features
Porn Spam Gets Canned (May 19)
New FTC rule requiring pornographic e-mail to be labelled takes effect.
U.S. e-mail users who have resigned themselves to being shocked by eye-popping pornographic messages in their inboxes can expect some relief, as federal legislation governing sexually explicit unsolicited commercial e-mail takes effect.
New Rules
In April, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission adopted the rule, part of the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act, which requires spam containing sexually oriented material to contain the label “SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT” in the subject line. The FTC likened the requirement to putting an electronic “brown paper wrapper” around raunchy spam. Spammers who ignore the law risk fines, the FTC said.
The rule is designed to protect e-mail recipients from graphic and unsolicited sexual images. The labels make it easier to spot and filter out such messages before they land in a recipient’s inbox. In addition to the label, explicit spam must include a valid postal address for the sender, the FTC said.
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act was signed into law by President Bush on December 16, 2003 and required the FTC to adopt a mark or notice identifying sexually explicit spam within 120 days after passage.
The final rule, which goes into effect Wednesday, reflects feedback from the public on the label, which was originally supposed to read “SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT-CONTENT,” but later shortened to allow more of the e-mail subject line to be readable, the FTC said.
Spammers Snagged
In April, the FTC announced the first criminal cases stemming from violations of CAN-SPAM. Two alleged spammers, Phoenix Avatar of Detroit and Global Web Promotions of Australia and New Zealand, were charged with violating CAN-SPAM and other federal laws governing false advertising when they used e-mail messages to market bogus human growth hormone and diet patch products.
Spam allegedly sent by the two companies was responsible for more than 889,000 consumer complaints to the FTC between January 1 and April 24, the largest numbers of complaints about any alleged spammers, the FTC said.
View: Porn Spam Gets Canned
Outlook 2003 Sample: Custom Calendar Providers for Outlook 2003 (May 19)
This download provides sample files for use with the MSDN Article “Custom Calendar Providers for Outlook 2003.” To view the article, click the link available from the Related Resources box.
Stephen Toub walks you through customizing native Outlook integration with the Lists Web service from Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to build a custom Web application that actually serves up custom data instead of that from an events list.
Download: Outlook 2003 Sample: Custom Calendar Providers for Outlook 2003
PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Template Creation Wizard (May 19)
This download gives you the ability to create your own PowerPoint 2003 design templates incorporating custom backgrounds. The Template Creation Wizard allows you to create new design templates using custom images as title master and slide master backgrounds.
Download: PowerPoint 2003 Add-in: Template Creation Wizard
Microsoft Confident Reward System Will Lead To Arrest of Blaster, MyDoom Writers (May 19)
Bulked up by a recent arrest in the Sasser worm case, Microsoft is confident that the creators of the infamous MyDoom and Blaster worms will be brought to justice.
On Tuesday, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Nancy Anderson said the software giant’s $5 million reward program is beginning to pay off–and future arrests are likely.
Anderson said Microsoft provided technical assistance to the FBI, Secret Service and German authorities that led to the arrest on Saturday of the teenager believed to be responsible for creating both the Sasser and Netsky worms that infected millions of PCs. Information leading to the arrest resulted in part from Microsoft’s antivirus reward program.
“Since November, a number of individuals have come forward providing information about worms and malicious code being distributed,” Anderson said, adding that the FBI is pleased with the quality of information received after the program was launched last fall. “They have ongoing investigations, and we do expect [more arrests]. These are truly criminal activities,” she said.
On Saturday, May 7, German authorities arrested 18-year old Sven Jaschan for allegedly creating five variants of the Sasser worm that crippled millions of systems in early May and 28 variants of the Netsky worm. The teen’s mother owns a computer store, PC-Help, in the small town of Waffensen, AP reported.
View full article: Microsoft Confident Reward System Will Lead To Arrest of Blaster, MyDoom Writers
Added to Site: Creating Signatures (May 17)
Creating and selecting a signature is not that difficult in Outlook. However creating the signature you want with for example a company logo in it can be quite of a hassle. Lately quite a number of posts in the newsgroups were regarding signatures. Therefore I thought it would be nice to create a guide that will cover both the basics and advanced examples on creating a signature in Outlook. The guide covers the following;
Signature basics
Creating separate signatures for Plain Text, HTML and Rich Text formatted mail
Creating an HTML signature with a picture/company logo
Creating a company wide signature/disclaimer with Exchange
Random Quote Insert
With that comes a FAQ article which explains why sometimes your signature ends up double spaced.
View How To article: Creating Signatures
View FAQ Article: Signatures Appear Double Spaced
German police release Agobot Trojan author (May 17)
A 21-year-old man who was arrested in Germany last Friday and charged with creating a malicious computer program called Agobot was released from police custody.
The man, who has not been named, was being held following his arrest because of fears he might flee the country. He was required to surrender identity papers and report regularly to police as a condition of his release, said police spokesman Ullrich Heffner.
German police arrested the man in the southern town of Waldshut and charged him under the country’s computer sabotage law for attacks on computers in Germany, the UK and the US linked to Agobot and Phatbot.
Five other men were also charged in connection to the so-called Trojan programs, but were not taken into custody, according to Horst Haug, a spokesman for the State Bureau of Investigation in Baden-Württemberg.
View full article: German police release Agobot Trojan author
What’s New in Exchange Server 2003 (May 17)
This online book provides important information about using Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003. The purpose of this book is to outline the new features in Exchange Server 2003 and provide the basic information necessary to begin using these new features. This is not a comprehensive document about Exchange, but a guide for getting started with testing and running Exchange 2003.
This book supplements the release notes (releasenotes.htm), and should be read only after reviewing the release notes. The release notes contain critical information about known issues with Exchange 2003.
This book is designed to benefit Exchange administrators who will be testing and deploying Exchange 2003. Furthermore, this book assumes that you have an excellent working knowledge of Exchange 2000. Its structure is based on Exchange components; specifically, each chapter itemizes the new component features and discusses how to begin using them.
Download: What’s New in Exchange Server 2003
Transmeta Efficeon Defends Against Virus and Worm Attacks on Microsoft Windows XP (May 17)
Transmeta Corporation (Nasdaq:TMTA), the leader in efficient computing, today announced that its Efficeon microprocessor family will offer increased protection against many of the most common types of virus and worm attacks. This capability will be provided in conjunction with the Execution Protection feature shipping from Microsoft in the forthcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). New Efficeon processors scheduled to ship in mid-year 2004 and beyond will include “No Execute” (commonly known as “NX”) support as a standard feature.
In response to the growing threat of malicious virus and worm attacks on the Internet, Microsoft has announced plans for an upcoming release of Windows XP SP2, which will feature an integral virus protection feature known as Execution Protection, enabled only on systems with specific processor support. The Efficeon processor will provide this capability to protect against the execution of code from memory regions intended for data.
“Transmeta’s support for ‘No Execute,’ working in conjunction with the safety features of Microsoft’s Windows XP SP2, will significantly reduce computer vulnerability to some of the most prevalent malicious code attacks,” said Matthew R. Perry, President and CEO of Transmeta Corporation. “Our release of cutting edge features aligned with Microsoft’s release of Windows XP SP2 yields a crucial solution for the future of computer security.”
Transmeta is providing advance versions of Efficeon-based systems with “No Execute” support to Microsoft this month for internal evaluation and use.
View full article: Transmeta Efficeon Defends Against Virus and Worm Attacks on Microsoft Windows XP
Court Reverses Pro-Spam Rule (May 14)
A California federal court has dissolved a restraining order against SpamCop.net, just a day after ordering the antispam service to stop warning warn ISPs about complaints of spam coming from their networks.
Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California dissolved a temporary restraining order against IronPort Systems, which owns SpamCop, according to a statement Wednesday from IronPort.
The judge granted the order Monday in a case pitting IronPort against online marketing company OptInRealBig.com. Attorneys for OptInRealBig asked for an immediate injunction against SpamCop, saying SpamCop’s reports have caused OptInRealBig to lose contracts with ISPs and customers.
After analyzing opposition papers filed by IronPort after the injunction, the judge decided that “the interests of justice favor dissolution” of the order, the company says.
View full article: Court Reverses Pro-Spam Rule
MapPoint and Location Services discussion with Alex Nanos of Microsoft Canada (May 14)
Sean : Alex, thanks for giving us a few minutes. Tell us what this stuff is all about.
Alex : About a year ago we took MapPoint, our mapping technology product and converted it to a web service so that application developers can drag and drop a literal XML web service into their applications. You send the address information and we’ll send you back a map, you send a latitude – longitude, we’ll send you back a map. So it’s an over the network service that is being leveraged by Dollar Rent-A-Car and MSN Autos and others that want driving directions on a web site and instead of having localized information, they can pull it over the network as a service.
So what we did at that point was about two months ago we announces a product called MapPoint Location Server. The MapPoint Location Server again is what will take this to the next level. Typically we would have installed MapPoint on multiple desktops to make an application but now you can draw from a web service.
Read the full interview: MapPoint and Location Services discussion with Alex Nanos of Microsoft Canada
