Articles, Deployment & Migration

When an administrator user logs on to a Windows Vista computer, two access tokens are created: a filtered standard user access token, and a full administrator access token. Instead of launching the desktop (Explorer.exe) with the administrator's access token, the standard user access token is used. All child processes inherit from this initial launch of the desktop (the explorer.exe process), which helps limit Windows Vista's attack surface. By default, all users, including administrators, log on to a Windows Vista computer as standard users.

What it is a file extension?

A file extension tells the computer and user what kind of information is stored within a file.

IT managers who leverage Deployment Solution's PXE capabilities recognize that it saves time and money allowing technicians to deploy, update and diagnose problems on hardware without having to leave their management console. There are some concerns IT managers have in using PXE however, and this article will help address some of those concerns by listing steps that can be taken to help drastically reduce the likelihood of a malicious user successfully conducting an attack by PXE.

Let's take a step back and look at what we have accomplished so far. We have figured out how to silently install and configure Firefox. Using scripts, and without lifting a finger) we can install a pre-configured version of Firefox with all of our favorite Add-ons.

When you create an image file, you can save it as either a regular image file or a self-extracting executable file.

The internet and access to the internet is the life-blood of business today. Without access to the world wide web we would be unable to get work done. Firefox has been gaining market share and is gaining more legitimacy in the market over the past few years. Its speed, ease of use, and small thumbprint has been a hit in the IT world. So far in this series we have discovered how to use a script to install Firefox with custom settings. We have also learned how to install Add-ons using a script. Finally, we have learned how to configure and secure Firefox in multiple environments. Using the steps that I have already discussed will make deploying a fresh copy Firefox a breeze.

Part of the system admin gig is protecting the end users information. We have to make sure that they can safely do their work without worrying about their identity being stolen. We also have to take certain measures to make sure that the less savvy users are protected as well. In the previous articles I have talked about how to setup and configure Firefox on a computer that your average employee would use. In this article I would like to discuss how to configure a computer for a public setting. On a public computer the security needs to be a little tighter, things need to be more locked down. We have to make sure that the novice user and the expert are protected from others (and from themselves).

In the last article we started with the Firefox setup basics. We downloaded the Firefox setup file and extracted its contents. We also found all of the Add-ons that we need to have as part of our basic Firefox install. We also started to customize Firefox. Finally, we found the files that we need to include in our Firefox setup to make sure that those customizations get installed as part of our custom install.

In this article we will continue finding the files that we need to include in our custom Firefox install. We will also talk about how to sliently install Firefox and our favorite Add-ons.

Recently I became very excited about creating layers. I decided to start on something easy and work my way into hard apps. I thought that Firefox would be a great place to start. I was able to very quickly create the layer. I was pretty excited, so I decided to try something more challenging. I thought that it would be nice to include some Add-ons as part of my newly created layer...

Today I was updating our Windows XP scripted install. I was making sure that the updates that came out from Microsoft were integrated in. I also had to make a few updates to make sure that my programs installed correctly after Windows was done installing. Everything went according to plan. I was able to update our scripted install in no time.