Blog Box

Paolo Alexis Falcone posted this update on the PLUG Technical Mailing List with regards to the registration for PLUG’s 2nd Quarter Free Seminars

1) There’s NO online registration for this technical seminar. So feel free to tag along people who’d be interested.

2) We’d be doing a manual registration at the site itself… which we pass around the audience btw.

If you wish for your PGP/GPG keys to be signed, please bring along two (2) ID’s so those who would be involved could ascertain that you are indeed who you claim you are

For more info, check out my earlier post on PLUG’s 2nd Quarter Free Technical Seminar 2006.

Bitstop Network Services offers free web based desktop technical support for everyone while their Desktop Support System is still in beta.

They have support staff that are trained to support Windows OS, Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, MS Office and other internet access related issues.

Interested? Try them out @ Bitstop Support Center and file a ticket under “Internet-Desktop Support”.

Microsoft Philippines offers another MSDN Connection member only event for you. This Thursday, they will be discussing the Visual Studio Team System. Here you’ll learn how take advantage of this system in making collaboration in a team project as headache free as possible.

As a bonus, they will also have a security session, as part of their campaign to make developers put priority into security.

Slots are limited so please register as soon as you are sure you will be able to go. 

About Visual Studio Team System and Agile Development

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I was driving along Ayala Ave one Friday afternoon when I got a call from a friend whom I haven’t been in touch with for quite some time. He was asked if it would be possible to disable file sharing via GPO (Group Policy Objects). FYI, there is no specific option in group policy related to removing file sharing. But still,  I answered yes right of the bat since I asked myself that same question a few years back when I had a project that needed to disable the file sharing feature on some users only.

I remembered that the solution had to mess with some registry entries so I wasn’t able to immediately give him a quick how-to guide on how to go about it. I asked him to send me an email so that I’ll be reminded about it. Well you know weekends… you tend to do some other non-work related stuff so I totally forgot about his request.

Then came Monday when I checked my mail. Saw his email so I dug up my notes from previous projects on how I implemented the workaround.

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Yes you’ve got that right! You can be a Microsoft Certified Professional for free!

The guys over at Microsoft Philippines have launched yet another great certification promo for all the techies out there but this time they focused more on the developers.

Microsoft Philippines through their MSDN Connection program will be raffling off a total of 56 Microsoft exam vouchers this March. 14 Vouchers will be raffled off every draw date for four draw dates.

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Image Resizer Powertoy 

Do you want to easily resize those images you download from your digital camera without any costly 3rd party software and you’re running Windows XP?

Fret no more! There is a simple way to resize those images. Just download and install the Image Resizer Powertoy from Microsoft.

The Image Resizer Powertoy gives you a right-click option to resize images to more user-friendly dimensions.

Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP

How many of you have a Digital SLR camera and shoot using the RAW format? So how do you preview your shots on your windows desktop? A majority would probably answer that they are using some 3rd party software that either came with their camera or they bought somewhere else online. That is just fine, but what if you just want to quickly preview those photos you have in RAW format. Firing up a 3rd party app would probably take long so why not preview it within windows explorer instead?

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Following Microsoft’s recent initiative in releasing SQL Server 2005 Express, a free version of their SQL Server 2005 Server Family, Oracle also releases their first free version which they call Oracle 10g XE short for Express Edition. Just like Micorosoft SQL Server Express, Oracle’s 10g XE is free to develop, free to deploy and free to distribute.

Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) is an entry-level, small-footprint database based on the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 code base. It is a great fit for developers working on PHP, Java, .NET, database, html, and open-source applications.

With Oracle Database XE, you can:

• Gain practical, resume-building experience working with the world’s number one database
• Get easy access to the Oracle Database on your machine for course work
• Share your work with your colleagues, instructors, and classmates

Once you have installed Oracle Database XE, learn the latest tips, tricks, and techniques by registering for the free Oracle Database XE Discussion Forum, hosted by Oracle Database master Tom Kyte.

Grab a copy of Oracle 10g XE

Gutom ka na ba? Along Ayala Ave. Makati ka ba? Order na sa HCC Delivers!

HCC offers you two choices of menu at the same cost - KAHIT ANO, 45 Pesos lang!!! HCC offers a wide array of lunchbox meals and tapsi meals to choose from. On a daily basis, our lunchbox meals changes so you better watch out for regular updates on HCC Delivers! For the tapsi meals, they are available all day, everyday… again, KAHIT ANO, 45 Pesos lang!

In order to maintain the quality of freshness of the food they deliver to your offices, they currently have a cut off for placing your orders. For lunch orders to be delivered between 11AM to 1PM, they will accept orders only up to 8PM on the previous day. For dinner and midnight meals, they will only accept orders up to 12NN on the same day.

Call HCC Delivers! at 8243649 or email them at .

The new BSI security standard, numbered BS7799-3, has been released.

Or as part of a special edition of the ISO17799 Toolkit:

http://www.27005.net

This just came in from the PLUG Mailing List.

From: The SANS Institute
Date: Mar 9, 2006 4:48 AM
Subject: SANS OnDemand Offer for the Philippines

Dear SANS friends in the Philippines,

As a result of our previous note, we did not find anyone GIAC Certified in the Philippines. So, SANS would like to extend an opportunity to the Philippines to receive training and become GSEC (GIAC Security Essentials Certification) Certified via our SANS OnDemand - Online Training & Assessment Program. We are offering our most popular training course, Security 401: SANS Security Essentials and GIAC certification at a substantial discount of $300 U.S. dollars (original cost of Security Essentials is $2995 USD and the cost of a GSEC Challenge exam is $800 USD). If you live in the Philippines and would like to register for Security 401 and a GSEC Certification attempt, you may register at www.sans.org/ondemand. You must enter the registration discount code PI401_300 to receive the discounted price. This offer expires on March 20, 2006.

If you know anyone in the Philippines that may be interested in this offer, please forward this note to them. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at kimie[at]sans.org.

Kimie Reuarin-Cabreira, Director
SANS OnDemand
www.sans.org

Thanks to th3g33k from the PLUG Mailing List for sharing this info.

Visit the new and bigger Powerbooks Warehouse and enjoy big discounts on their wide range of new and best selling titles! (20% off on regular items and up to 90% off on bargain items).

PowerBooks’ sale this summer will be on March 16 up to March 31, 2006 from 10AM-7PM (including Saturday and Sunday) at # 25 Brixton St. Capitol Subdivision, Pasig City.

If you are coming from Shaw blvd., take a left turn to Reliance st. then turn right to Brixton st. (it’s the street parallel left to Pioneer st.). there is a BIG Powerbooks signage at the gate.

Microsoft delivered the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2005, including the data mirroring technologies that missed last fall’s release of the big update to Microsoft’s flagship database product.

The CTP process is one that has been spreading like a virus across Microsoft in the past two years or so. The team that developed Visual Studio 2005 started the ball rolling, and the SQL Server group picked it up during the development of SQL Server 2005, which was released with much fanfare last November.

“The SQL Server team is introducing a new transparent customer collaboration model, which will extend the CTP process to service packs, re-engineer the development process for more predictability, and release isolated security updates,” a Microsoft spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

Meanwhile, Wednesday’s SP1 CTP includes data mirroring capabilities that weren’t ready in time for last fall’s delivery of SQL Server.

SP1 will also include SQL Server Management Studio Express, a scaled-down version of SQL Server’s Management Studio tool, as well as other feature fixes and adjustments, according Microsoft. Final release of SP1 is currently on track for April, the Microsoft spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

“The new CTP model is the first step SQL Server has taken to re-engineer its product release and service pack schedule and provide greater predictability and functionality to its customers” the Microsoft spokeswoman continued. In addition to extending CTPs to service packs, the new customer collaboration model will enable a separate release mechanism for security fixes.

The CTP will be available for download here: www.microsoft.com/sql/ctp_sp1.mspx.

Source: ENT News

The Logic 7 roadshow is coming to Manila.

Register today and hear the difference.

Come to the Logic 7 Tour and find out how easy it can be to accomplish amazing feats with sound.

See it. Hear it. Feel it.

This is a great chance to learn how the unprecedented capabilities of Logic Pro 7 make it the complete professional solution for music creation and audio production. Live demos and workshops will teach you about:

• Distributed audio processing. Learn how you can tap networked computers for additional processing power.
• Apple Loops support. Get hands-on with state-of-the-art loop composition tools.
• New instruments and effects. Learn how to utilize tools like Sculpture, a leading-edge component modeling synthesizer; Ultrabeat, an innovative drum machine; and Guitar Amp Pro, an advanced amp simulator.

See the entire Apple audio line.

Come meet the whole Apple audio family, from Logic Pro 7 to Logic Express 7 to GarageBand. Whether you’re a hobbyist or a pro, you don’t want to miss the Logic 7 Tour in Manila.

Date & Venue
27 March 2006
Manila Peninsula Hotel
1 PM to 6 PM

Space is limited. Register Today!

Title: Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March 2006
Issued: March 14, 2006
Version Number: 1.0
Bulletin: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=63209
Summary:
========
This advisory contains information about all security updates
released this month. It is broken down by security bulletin severity.

Critical Security Bulletins
===========================

MS06-012 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (905413)

  - Affected Software:

    - Microsoft Word 2000
    - Microsoft Excel 2000
      Microsoft Outlook 2000
    - Microsoft PowerPoint 2000
    - Microsoft Office 2000 MultiLanguage Packs
    - Microsoft Word 2002
    - Microsoft Excel 2002
    - Microsoft Outlook 2002
    - Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
    - Microsoft Office XP Multilingual User Interface Packs
    - Microsoft Excel 2003
    - Microsoft Excel 2003 Viewer
    - Microsoft Works Suite 2000
    - Microsoft Works Suite 2001
    - Microsoft Works Suite 2002
    - Microsoft Works Suite 2003
    - Microsoft Works Suite 2004
    - Microsoft Works Suite 2005
    - Microsoft Works Suite 2006
    - Microsoft Excel X for Mac
    - Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac

    - Impact: Remote Code Execution
    - Version Number: 1.0 

Important Security Bulletins
============================

MS06-011 - Permissive Windows Services DACLs Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (914798)

  - Affected Software:
    - Windows XP Service Pack 1
    - Windows Server 2003
    - Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based Systems

    - Impact: Remote Elevation of Privilege
    - Version Number: 1.0 

Update Availability:
===================
Updates are available to address these issues. For additional information, including Technical Details, Workarounds, answers to Frequently Asked Questions, and Update Deployment Information please read the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for this month at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=63209