RunAs Radio

Latest Episodes:

Windows Performance Analysis with Clint Huffman Jul 30, 2014

Show notes

Richard chats with Microsoft Premier Field Engineer Clint Huffman about his book the Windows Performance Analysis Field Guide. Clint is also the genius behind the Performance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool on CodePlex. See a theme here? Clint is focused on understand why things in Windows (and elsewhere) go fast or slow. And he's willing to share his insight! The book focuses primarily on Windows challenges, and also references the Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA). Between PAL and WPA, you have all the tools you need to understand Windows performance better - and they're free! But the book isn't free, and you should buy it. It's real world advice from a guy who's been there and done that.

The Next Windows with Stephen Rose Jul 23, 2014

Show notes

Richard chats with Stephen Rose about how Windows has continued evolving with some thoughts on what future versions might look like. Windows 8 brought the tablet to the Microsoft space, and with it a chance to explore how different form factors fit into the enterprise. Stephen talks about the cool kinds of retail projects he's working with that are taking advantage of these form factors. This naturally leads to a discussion about what new features might look like, how the experience can continue to be improved, managing more devices, more portable identity and configuration, and whole new areas of work. Lots of interesting thoughts on the future of Windows!

Chef on Windows with Steven Murawski Jul 16, 2014

Show notes

Richard chats with Steven Murawski on the day he is leaving Stack Exchange to join the Chef team as a Community Manager. So naturally, the conversation turns to Chef. Chef is a configuration management system that comes from the Linux world - it's scripting language is Ruby. But in the past year, Chef has added Windows to it's repertoire with support from Microsoft and Desired State Configuration. Steven mentions a free DSC EBook you can download from Powershell.org to help get you started on DSC. There's also the Learn Chef site to get you started on Chef. It's early days for Chef and Windows, but things continue to improve - Steven also mentions John Ewart's book Managing Windows Servers with Chef as a starting point for managing Windows and Linux servers side by side.

UAC on Windows Client with Jeff Stokes Jul 09, 2014

Show notes

Richard talks to Jeff Stokes about the role of User Access Control (UAC) in making Windows client machines safer. Safer? Actually, the conversation starts out with the reality of UAC as it first arrived on the scene in the Vista days - an annoyance that was immediately turned off. But Jeff digs into how UAC is a part of the compatibility features of Windows. The discussion then turns to a broader discussion of the security features in Windows: Taking the time to understand them will save time and money in your organization. UAC is not the enemy!

User Experience Virtualization with Steve Thomas Jul 02, 2014

Show notes

Richard chats with Steve Thomas about Microsoft User Experience Virtualization (UE-V). The conversation starts out with a focus on Application and Desktop Virtualization - while server virtualization has become the norm, App-V is catching on more slowly. Steve talks about how the back end of desktop virtualization has become more like the cloud, being very elastic and flexible to better utilize resources. On the front end, things are even more interesting. UE-V provides portability to the relatively light-weight things that are important on the desktop, such as configuration settings, favorites, printers and so on. Like Active Directory Profile Roaming, but without all the baggage. You should check it out!

Reaping the Benefits of XP Migration with Chris Jackson Jun 25, 2014

Show notes

Richard chats with Chris Jackson about his experiences working with large organizations migrating off of XP. Once you've done the hard work of taking an inventory of all your organization's applications and platform requirements, how do you use that information to benefit the company? Chris talks about moving over to a more template-driven approach to software delivery using System Center Configuration Manager and the Deployment Toolkit. Then the conversation turns to web browsers - how hard is it to get the latest browser into your organization? Chris discusses the various built-in compatibility features in Internet Explorer as well as the thinking around building a continuously evolving application platform. Let the latest features being offered in the platform benefit your organization!

Multifactor Authentication with Dana Epp Jun 18, 2014

Show notes

Richard chats with Dana Epp about multi-factor authentication. The conversation starts out with some definition around multi-factor authentication - something you know and something you have. Most of the time, the thing you know is your user name and password. Dana digs into authenticating using the most common thing you have, the smartphone. Tools like Twilio can help you bring text messaging to your system. Beyond the phone, there are dedicated devices like YubiKey that provide a different thing you have. The battle of better identity has been going on for some time, Dana mentions Dick Hart's amazing identity keynote from Oscon 2005.

Security Recap with Paula Januszkiewicz Jun 11, 2014

Show notes

While at Tech Ed US in Houston, Richard chatted with Paula Januszkiewicz about the current state of system security. Paula talks about a new wave of exploits aimed at administrators, taking advantage of their elevated privileges to spread malware into systems. The conversation also digs into more subtle exploits, and the ability of black hats to cover their tracks by modifying logs to hide their actions. Listen also for a quick discussion on passwords and multi-factor authentication. Things are getting better!

ADFS and oAuth2 with John Craddock Jun 04, 2014

Show notes

While at Tech Ed 2014, Richard chat with John Craddock about the latest incarnation of Active Directory Federation Services - don't call it version three, it's the Windows Server 2012 R2 version! John discusses some of the new features of ADFS, including it's integration with oAuth2 to allow a more lightweight approach to authentication, authorization and federation. Lots of great thinking from one of the best minds in identity!

Group Policy Pak with Jeremy Moskowitz May 28, 2014

Show notes

While at Tech Ed 2014 in Houston, Richard chats with Jeremy Moskowitz about group policy in Windows 8. Jeremy talks about his session at Tech Ed called Group Policy Notes from the Field which focuses on how group policy is often unfairly blamed for performance problems. Check out the video and watch for a link at the end of it to get access to the performance tools that Jeremy uses! The conversation also digs into PolicyPak, the tools Jeremy and his team have built to allow group policy to apply to third party products like FireFox. And the latest incarnation works in the cloud against non-domain-joined machines!

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected