

The latest release from the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) team provides organizations with tools to assess readiness for Windows and Windows Server 2012 Beta.
Accelerate your move to the Private Cloud with MAP 7.0 Beta
Thanks for your ongoing interest and participation in the MAP beta review program. We hope you’ll take the time to preview and provide feedback on MAP 7.0.
The MAP Toolkit’s new capabilities help you to assess the readiness of your environment for deploying Windows as well as Windows Server 2012 Beta. This update adds new scenarios specifically, the ability to plan for virtualization assessment of Linux servers and readiness assessment for desktop virtualization. Along with the Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter and MAP 7.0, now you can easily migrate VMware VMs to Hyper-V for the best roadmap to the cloud. In addition to the above features, MAP 7.0 strengthens the SQL Server migration scenario with support for SQL Server 2012 discovery, and migration planning.
Key features and benefits of MAP 7.0 Beta help you:
| · Understand your readiness to deploy Windows in your environment with hardware and device readiness assessments · Determine Windows Server 2012 Beta readiness · Investigate how Windows Server and System Center can manage your heterogeneous environment through VMware migration and Linux server virtualization assessments · Size your desktop virtualization needs for both Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and session-based virtualization using Remote Desktop Services · Ready your information platform for the cloud with the SQL Server 2012 discovery and migration assessment · Evaluate your licensing needs with usage tracking for Lync 2010, active users and devices, SQL Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 Beta Tell us what you think! We value your input. Download the beta on Connect and tell us what you think! Send your comments to the MAP team:MAPfdbk@microsoft.com Availability This program is now open. The beta review period will run through July 5th, 2012. Tell your friends To join the beta review program for Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 7.0, visit Microsoft Connect:http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=171065 Learn more Visit the MAP home page:www.microsoft.com/map Get the latest news straight from the MAP team:http://blogs.technet.com/mapblog MAP works with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Security Compliance Manager to help you plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies—easier, faster, and at less cost. Learn more atwww.microsoft.com/solutionaccelerators. Follow Solution Accelerators on Twitter to get the latest tips and updates:@MSSolutionAccel |
Download the beta materials on Connect:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=219165



The enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) is designed to help prevent hackers from gaining access to your system.
Software vulnerabilities and exploits have become an everyday part of life. Virtually every product has to deal with them and consequently, users are faced with a stream of security updates. For users who get attacked before the latest updates have been applied or who get attacked before an update is even available, the results can be devastating: malware, loss of PII, etc.
Security mitigation technologies are designed to make it more difficult for an attacker to exploit vulnerabilities in a given piece of software. EMET allows users to manage these technologies on their system and provides several unique benefits:
1. No source code needed: Until now, several of the available mitigations (such as Data Execution Prevention) have required for an application to be manually opted in and recompiled. EMET changes this by allowing a user to opt in applications without recompilation. This is especially handy for deploying mitigations on software that was written before the mitigations were available and when source code is not available.
2. Highly configurable: EMET provides a higher degree of granularity by allowing mitigations to be individually applied on a per process basis. There is no need to enable an entire product or suite of applications. This is helpful in situations where a process is not compatible with a particular mitigation technology. When that happens, a user can simply turn that mitigation off for that process.
3. Helps harden legacy applications: It’s not uncommon to have a hard dependency on old legacy software that cannot easily be rewritten and needs to be phased out slowly. Unfortunately, this can easily pose a security risk as legacy software is notorious for having security vulnerabilities. While the real solution to this is migrating away from the legacy software, EMET can help manage the risk while this is occurring by making it harder to hackers to exploit vulnerabilities in the legacy software.
4. Ease of use: The policy for system wide mitigations can be seen and configured with EMET's graphical user interface. There is no need to locate up and decipher registry keys or run platform dependent utilities. With EMET you can adjust setting with a single consistent interface regardless of the underlying platform.
5. Ease of deploy: EMET comes with built-in support for enterprise deployment and configuration technologies. This enables administrators to use Group Policy or System Center Configuration Manager to deploy, configure and monitor EMET installations across the enterprise environment.
6. Ongoing improvement: EMET is a living tool designed to be updated as new mitigation technologies become available. This provides a chance for users to try out and benefit from cutting edge mitigations. The release cycle for EMET is also not tied to any product. EMET updates can be made dynamically as soon as new mitigations are ready
The toolkit includes several pseudo mitigation technologies aimed at disrupting current exploit techniques. These pseudo mitigations are not robust enough to stop future exploit techniques, but can help prevent users from being compromised by many of the exploits currently in use. The mitigations are also designed so that they can be easily updated as attackers start using new exploit techniques.
Download EMET - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details

Toward the end of last year, Citrix acquired ShareFile to offer a cloud-based option to securely store, sync, and share files. I was really excited about the opportunities that this acquisition provided for Citrix and joined the ShareFile team in February. I was at Citrix Synergy this week to speak about ShareFile Enterprise and our great new StorageZones feature that allows administrators to configure ShareFile…
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Update Rollup 1 contains a number of fixes for System Center 2012 Operations Manager and adds support for Oracle Solaris 11.
A number of fixes may require manual steps to install.
A detailed list of fixes can be found on Knowledge Base Article KB2686249.
Download Update Rollup 1 for System Center 2012 - Operations Manager - Microsoft Download Ce



Given the changing landscape, the cost of decoder licensing, and the importance of a straight forward edition plan, we’ve decided to make Windows Media Center available to Windows 8 customers via the Add Features to Windows 8 control panel (formerly known as Windows Anytime Upgrade). This ensures that customers who are interested in Media Center have a convenient way to get it. Windows Media Player will continue to be available in all editions, but without DVD playback support. For optical discs playback on new Windows 8 devices, we are going to rely on the many quality solutions on the market, which provide great experiences for both DVD and Blu-ray.
We will offer two ways to acquire Windows Media Center:

Windows 8 Pro is designed to help tech enthusiasts obtain a broader set of Windows 8 technologies. Acquiring either the Windows 8 Media Center Pack or the Windows 8 Pro Pack gives you Media Center, including DVD playback (in Media Center, not in Media Player), broadcast TV recording and playback (DBV-T/S, ISDB-S/T, DMBH, and ATSC), and VOB file playback. Pricing for these Packs, as well as retail versions of Windows 8, will be announced closer to the release date. To give you some indication of Media Center Pack pricing, it will be in line with marginal costs.
Full story at source
Making Windows Media Center available in Windows 8



All supported Windows versions and Office versions (including Mac) are affected
| Bulletin ID | Maximum Severity Rating and Vulnerability Impact | Restart Requirement | Affected Software |
| Bulletin 1 | Critical Remote Code Execution | May require restart | Microsoft Office |
| Bulletin 2 | Critical Remote Code Execution | May require restart | Microsoft Windows, Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft Office |
| Bulletin 3 | Critical Remote Code Execution | May require restart | Microsoft Windows, Microsoft .NET Framework |
| Bulletin 4 | Important Remote Code Execution | May require restart | Microsoft Office |
| Bulletin 5 | Important Remote Code Execution | May require restart | Microsoft Office |
| Bulletin 6 | Important Elevation of Privilege | Requires restart | Microsoft Windows |
| Bulletin 7 | Important Elevation of Privilege | Requires restart | Microsoft Windows |
Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for May 2012

If you attended the Matrix42 webinar, you learned how Matrix42 and Citrix can ensure both flexibility and mobility for end users, while at the same time providing IT with complete control and management oversight for all user endpoints – virtual, physical and mobile. Matrix42 was established in 1992, has 350 employees and has been a Citrix partner since 2010. Where they fit Matrix42 fits into the…
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If you attended the Lakeside webinar, you learned about the new FastTrack tool, developed in collaboration with Citrix utilizing SysTrack technology, that enables Citrix users to generate the deep visibility into their environment needed for a successful desktop transformation. Lakeside Software was established in 1997, has 200 employees and has been a Citrix partner since 1997. Lakeside is the creator of the thin-client management software OEM’d…
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If you attended the RES Software webinar, you learned how RES Dynamic Desktop Studio can enhance the user’s experience while maintaining the right access, to the right applications, devices and data at the right times. RES Software was established in 1999, has 180 employees and has been a Citrix partner since 2001. Where they fit RES Software complements the XenDesktop architecture by enhancing IT’s ability to…
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