Download my scripts here and extract to your desired location (important to include the folders), then go and download googlecl from here extract into a folder called googlecl where you extracted the first lot of scripts and folders.

Open a command line and navigate to Googlecl directory and run:

google.exe youtube list

You should be taken to a webpage in order to provide your details. After this open the youtube.ps1 file in notepad and edit the following lines to point to the correct directories:

$dir = "F:\youtube\"
$wrkdir = "F:\youtube\Processing\"
$FinDir = "F:\youtube\Finished\"
$logs = "F:\youtube\Logs\"
$gcl = "F:\youtube\googlecl\google.exe"

By default the script uploads all videos to “Games” (gaming category) have a look at the catalogue for youtube categories here and see what “term” you can use for the following line and replace Games with your desired term:

invoke-expression "$gcl youtube post --category Games $wrkdir$vid" | out-null

Finally modify the run.bat located in the scripts folder to point to your paths and give it a go, to automate simply create a scheduled task. I have this set on my server and a network drive shared out, so i simply drag a wmv file to the network drive and at 2:30am every day the server uploads to youtube.

The script isn’t perfect but it works.

Code for youtube.ps1 script:

$date = get-date -uformat "%d%m%Y-%H%M"
$file = "$date.txt"
$dir = "F:\youtube\"
$wrkdir = "F:\youtube\Processing\"
$FinDir = "F:\youtube\Finished\"
$logs = "F:\youtube\Logs\"
$gcl = "F:\youtube\googlecl\google.exe"
get-childitem $dir -name -filter "*.wmv" > $dir$file
$vid = Get-Content $dir$file -totalcount 1
$vid
move-Item $dir$vid $wrkdir
$timer = get-date
"Starting at $timer" | out-file $logs$file
invoke-expression "$gcl youtube post --category Games $wrkdir$vid" | out-null
$timer = get-date
"Finished at $timer" | out-file $logs$file -append
move-Item $wrkdir$vid $Findir
Remove-Item $dir$file

Recently Apple released iOS 4 (the new name for the operating system that runs on iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads). Since its release there have been numerous reports (link, link, link) of a number of issues with new iPhone 4s (and older iPhone models running the updated software version) when using Exchange ActiveSync (EAS). I wanted to put up a quick posting about what issues users may be seeing and what we’re doing about it.

Issues:

1. Exchange administrators are seeing heavier than normal loads on their servers from users with iOS devices: We are in contact with Apple’s engineering team and are trying to help them fix this issue. In the meantime Apple has released a support article (link) which directs administrators who are experiencing this issue to push an iOS profile (link) that changes the timeout their Exchange ActiveSync connection uses to their users to four minutes which should be long enough for the vast majority of users. Those that need longer can edit the XML file in any text editor by searching for ‘240.0’ (no quotes) and changing it to the desired number of seconds, or you can use Apple’s configuration utility editor (link) to make this change.

   Update @1:10 PM: We had suggested using Apple’s configuration utility to make this change. Apple has informed us that you should not use the configuration utility to edit or install the update. Use a text editor such as Notepad to edit the timeout value in the update, if required.

2. Email, calendar, or contacts are not syncing: We believe this is the same issue as #1. The support article and solution listed above are the current recommendation from Apple while a fix is being worked on.
3. iPhone is not working with Google Apps over Exchange ActiveSync: Google licenses the server portion of Exchange ActiveSync from Microsoft (link) but Google wrote their own software to implement the protocol. Google is responsible for making sure their implementation of Exchange ActiveSync runs correctly and in this case Google claims that they had a server issue (link).

We have been in contact with Apple about each of these issues (as well as some others that seem to not be directly related to EAS but are more email related in general). Apple has assured us that a fix is being worked on though they have not commented on a release timeline for the fix. We will be continuing to work with Apple to help resolve the current issues relating to iOS 4 using Exchange ActiveSync.

Adam Glick
Sr. Technical Product Manager

Great Tool pointed out by my colleague alex verboon.

http://gps.cloudapp.net/

The business went from 100% paper estimation / quotation to about 80% Electronic / 20% paper around 2000, at this stage it was a pc with Windows ME (yeh we unfortunately went down this route) and a copy of Office 2000 + a Canon Bubblejet printer. At that time it was really great, estimates could be typed up, printed and recalled later, there was so many new business processes that came about with the addition of the simple addition of a computer + office that it helped the business to scale somewhat. It was 2002 when we got ISDN in the business and this is when we utilised a small part of the internet, mainly email even at that the volume of email was very low because of the area of business we are involved in. Faxing was a big thing, so we utilised the software that came with the ISDN modem (RVSCOM) to fax estimates and quotes mainly to trade customers.

We got more computers to do even more things, the business expanded as expected and the old paper way of doing lookups and referencing for our business went and in came Specialised software for mixing paints etc… We didn’t have to ring up the paint supplier anymore to get mixtures that were too new to be on the outdated Micro Fiche system we had.

I soon realised around 2004/2005 that we had such a wealth of data that we had to be able to back it up and recover it in the event of failure, at the time we purchased a Dell PowerEdge SC420 it came with SBS2003 we also got a DDS tape drive which was big money back then. By then we had Broadband, email was in greater use (although we still didnt use exchange that came with SBS) and we now had Sage involved in the mix. There was greater and greater amounts of data being created and filed.

In 2008 we started using exchange (as we got our own domain) and in the same year we started using sharepoint. File shares etc had been migrated into sharepoint, the reason was simple; At this time we had moved premises and there wasn’t the facility to host any IT equipment at the time, so VPN had to be setup so we could get email to the business in our new premises.

Late 2009 i implemented a new system based on Infopath + sharepoint to create a job card system, this was great and worked really well for us, this more or less finalised / completed our move to 100% electronic processes. Email and sharepoint are a core part of the business and allows us to work in multiple locations and use the same data.

Recently here in 2010 ive had to look at replacing the server (which was showing its age), the cost of replacing was in and about €2500 after hardware and SBS 2008 was purchased; Its a single cost that i wasnt really going to get into, because i knew that i would need a new backup device and software.

I was stuck, i had learned recently about Microsoft Online Services, a great set of tools and services from Microsoft that included Sharepoint and Exchange for a really low cost (€42 per month for Exchange + Sharepoint with 5 users), the thing i was always afraid of when looking at this was the migration… Because i know its always a pain to migrate from one system to another.

It was easier than i thought, i downloaded the Exchange Migration app, pointed it at the mailboxes and migrated… simple, even put forwarders on the accounts in active directory. The client pc’s got loaded with a Application that does a sort of single signon to the MSO services:

It configures outlook or whatever service you have with MSO painlessly. I think its a great service and i would highly recommend it to anyone who is feeling the pinch of running servers etc..

Sharepoint was the only pain to migrate, but using Sharepoint Designer 2007 i was able to copy all the documents etc from one server to another.

For more info checkout:

http://www.microsoft.com/online

1. Open up AD Users & Computers
2. Find your computer account
3. Right click an hit “Reset”
4. Join the computer to the domain with the old account.

Bam, computers back on the domain with the same name and groups! Simple

While Altiris may not be as capable in other areas as SCCM or Radia CAE, there is one thing it does get right: Migration & Deployment. There is some things to think about however, its ok saying “Well that Desktop running Windows XP/2000 there, we want it upgraded to Windows Vista / 7 while retaining user data”. There is a set of logical steps have to be thought of here, during my Windows Migrations i plan migrations as follows:

1. Perform automated backup of Desktop / Laptop using ImageX, Ghost or RapiDeploy
2. Run and Store USMT in a Shared Location using a logical naming convention that uses tokens
3. Image the Machine
4. Restore USMT Data from Shared Location
5. Get user to Test
   a.) Failure – Restore Image taken in Step 1. b.) Success continue onto next desktops.

Symantec Employee Jason Short shows this as a self initiated process using Symantec Workflow Manager which interacts with Altiris DS (6.9):
http://www.screencast.com/users/skturnbow/folders/Camtasia/media/843d11ef-1c1a-4cfa-85bd-33ed41bae585

Remember, Imaging machines is easy but migrating data takes time and careful planning. Migration plans should have an acceptable number of machines imaged per day! Migrations can take anywhere between 45 Minutes to 3 Hours, do allow for this disparity.

Symantec Resources:

Deploying Windows 7 – http://www.symantec.com/business/theme.jsp?themeid=windows7
Getting Started  – https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/migrating-windows-7-get-started-here

Windows 7 Migration Commercial

See here: Click Here

The guys in Redmond have a lot in store for us Enterprise Consultants and for us who like our Gaming! Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 closed up a year for Microsoft that will now set a high precedent for the product’s it releases in 2010! Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 were hailed as the Client and Server OS that we had been waiting for since the Gold editions of Vista and 2008 were first released; Both products where technologically advanced and far ahead of their predecessors (Windows XP and Windows Server 2003); But they had one major problem, they were slow and their ability to run on hardware their predecessors ran on was at times very limited; These are some of the main reasons large business’s really didn’t go down the 2008 route. Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 have now set a standard that Customers and consumers now know that Microsoft can achieve if it puts its great minds to work.

So what else is coming out of the doors of MS in 2010 ?

For Businesses:

Exchange Server 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/default.aspx
Released End November, but available now to Customers for 2010

Sharepoint Server 2010
http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/Pages/default.aspx
Releasing this year.

System Centre Configuration Manager R3 http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/archive/2009/09/08/announcing-system-center-configuration-manager-2007-r3.aspx
Releasing Q2 2010

Office 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx
TBA Speculation is March

Forefront Identity Manager 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/identitymanager/en/us/default.aspx
TBA Speculation is March

Forefront Endpoint Protection (Previously Codename Sterling)
http://blogs.technet.com/forefront/archive/2009/10/08/schedule-and-strategy-update-for-forefront-endpoint-protection.aspx
Releasing Q3/4 2010

Visual Studio 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010/default.mspx
TBA

Windows Mobile 7
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/windows-mobile-7-delayed-until-late-2010/
Releasing Q4 2010

For Gamers!

XBOX 360 Project Natal
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/
Releasing Q4 2010

A few years back Google changed the way we find information on the internet, it made searching for what you were looking for Simpler and gave you many sources for what you were looking for. It was simple, you entered your search term and what you were looking for was right there, you didn’t have to go through pages of possible results to try find what you were looking for.

As we now know google now does much more than search, it’s now made branches to RSS aggregator (Google Reader), Email (Google Mail ‘gmail’), Document repository (Google Docs) and Cloud solutions for business (Google Apps). Everything that google does enhances and simplifies how we do everyday tasks and is not dependant on your Client Platform.

Platforms however are where google is going, the last areas to “improve” are a Client Operating System (Chrome OS) and Mobile Device OS (Android).

How is google going to challenge what we do in 2010 ?

Chrome OS
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
Release TBA

Its not long ago that google officially announced that it had been working on its own OS, the guesses and speculation from top tech website had been stating so since probably the end of 2008. Recently gtgt.com got their hands on a VmWare image of an early build of Chrome OS so naturally i tried it out over here (to save you a trip i didn’t like it).

It will be one to watch for the user who uses their PC for Email, some social media, RSS, Web and youtube (basically most of the users today). The footprint on the PC is only the Core OS which is basically a HAL + Browser interface (as opposed to a full blown OS Gui). The beauty of Chrome OS is that documents, photos etc are all stored in your Google Doc’s/Picasa etc… so they don’t physically exist on the PC itself, so if the PC dies you can simply log into someone else or rebuild yours (Dumb terminals from Mainframe days anyone?).

There has been many Tweets and articles around the place to suggest that this will rival Microsoft’s Offering of Windows + Exchange + Other server Product in the Enterprise, i don’t see this happening for a number of reasons.

If you think about it for a second, with all these documents being stored somewhere centrally this then puts a reliance on Computing time etc to be based in a central datacenter that all clients connect in to, this means in addition to all your current email, file or sharepoint infrastructure you need a Client serving infrastructure to support some form of Portal and SSO mechanisms.

Having personally designed many types of Enterprise Desktop policies so that no data is stored locally it is difficult at times to manage centrally without a specialised management platform and one stop IT solution portal which is required, remember there is no Office, Open Office etc productivity suites locally.

So in a nutshell this is probably going to get a sizeable portion of the home light users, no word at the moment on what OEM’s are going to have Chrome Loaded as a factory OS as of yet!

Android
http://www.android.com/
Released, Large Penetration of Consumer Devices 2010!

Android has been quietly making some new friends with the likes of Motorola and HTC towards the end of 2009, Android is Google’s Mobile Device OS

Nexus One
http://www.google.com/phone/?locale=en_US&s7e=
Released Jan 2010

Hydraq is a targeted attack that installs itself on a user’s computer or an organization’s server. It then can be used to search an organization for private information. Hydra can capture and forward all information from an infected computer, including a live feed of windows on a screen and all information typed on the keyboard. Hydra can also be remotely updated to perform additional tasks, including attempting to compromise other machines.

How does Hydraq infect a computer?

• Through a vulnerability in the Internet Explorer web browser HTTP MSIE Memory Corruption Code Exec (BID 37815)
• As an attachment to an email using a pdf file read by Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, and Adobe Flash Player Adobe APSB09-10

Typically an email is sent to an individual or small group of individuals, within an organization. All efforts are made to make the email look legitimate, that is, it will appear as though it was sent by somebody the recipient trusts . The subject matter will often be related to the recipient’s area of business. In order to install the malware, the user must be tricked into either clicking a malicious link or opening an attachment. Both methods then exploit a vulnerability to install the Trojan onto the machine.

What is the current state of Hydraq?

At this time, the command and control servers are no longer active so any of the Hydraq trojans still remaining in the field are effectively non-functional. Symantec has released definitions to detect and remove infections of the Hydraq trojan.

• Trojan.Hydraq
• Trojan.Hydraq!gen1

Customers are encouraged to follow best practices in general and specifically to update to the latest patches available for Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, and Adobe Flash Player. See: Adobe APSB09-10. At this time a patch is not available for the Internet Explorer, but IPS signatures have been released by Symantec which block exploitation of both vulnerabilities.

• HTTP MSIE Memory Corruption Code Exec (BID 37815)
• HTTP Acrobat PDF Suspicious File Download 4

Information on Hydraq

• Security Blog: The Trojan.Hydraq Incident
• Security Blog: Protect Yourself Against Exploit Targeting New IE Zero-Day Vulnerability
• Security Response Report: Trojan.Hydraq

Symantec customers are protected

Our product and services teams discuss how Symantec customers are effectively protected from this threat.

Symantec Protection Suite

The Hydraq attacks were targeted at the core security infrastructure of organizations. Multiple layers of defense bolster an organization’s ability to defend against such attacks. Symantec Protection Suite users have a robust defense at the gateway with Brightmail Gateway for SMTP email security, along with Web Gateway for Web traffic and usage, ensuring that an organization is able to monitor all incoming and outgoing mail and Web traffic – constantly monitoring for and stopping threats. The Protection Suite ensures endpoints are clean with its market-leading Endpoint Security product. Finally, by having access to Symantec’s Backup Exec for desktops and laptops, in the event an endpoint is infected, doing a complete re-image is quick and easy, ensuring up-time and employee productivity. Symantec’s security products are backed by our Global Intelligence Network, ensuring customers are protected and up-to-date on rules and signatures.

• Protection Suite Enterprise Edition

Symantec Security Information Manager

A number of these attacks were achieved using a combination of attack vectors, resulting in back door Trojans being installed. Security Information Manager can effectively collect and prioritize these events as they occur across the layered security solutions that need to be deployed to protect against a broad variety of these attack vectors. Security Information Manager can further contribute global intelligence to the correlation process to include malicious IP, Worm IP and Botnet IP lists that can be manually updated to automatically conclude incidents around this particular attack. Early detection of single exploited attack vectors may provide preemptive visibility to attacks before they can fully execute.

• Security Information Manager

DeepSight Early Warning Services

Symantec DeepSight Early Warning Services provides actionable intelligence covering the complete threat lifecycle, from initial vulnerability to active attack. On January 15 we published a journal about a new unpatched Microsoft Internet Explorer vulnerability, which is leveraged by malware identified by Symantec as Trojan.Hydraq. DeepSight Analysts continue to provide updates to this evolving threat as new information becomes available. DeepSight subscribers benefit from personalized notifications and expert analysis (including patches, countermeasures and workarounds) to better protect critical information assets against a potential attack.

• DeepSight Early Warning Services

Symantec Managed Security Services

Symantec Managed Security Services monitors over 800 customers (including 92 of the Fortune 500). In response to this threat, Symantec MSS updated our detection capabilities for both the targeted Trojan.Hydraq as well as exploits against the recent IE vulnerability. This monitoring includes customers’ firewalls, intrusion detection sensors (IDS), web proxies and system logs. As this threat is primarily client side, any clients with our Managed Endpoint Security service also received updates to protect their endpoints from this attack. Our SOC Analysts are available to work with customers to take proactive steps to mitigate the IE vulnerability within their enterprise as needed.

• Managed Security Services

Symantec Critical Systems Protection

The focus of these attacks was to steal intellectual property. Symantec Critical Systems Protection plays a significant role in defending this data by placing constraints around which users and applications have access to sensitive data. Any unauthorized users or applications would have been denied access to the data and an alert would have been generated by making the attempt. Additionally, Symantec Critical Systems Protection provides out-of-the-box protection against both known and unknown remote code execution attempts.

• Critical Systems Protection

Altiris Total Management Suite

With this attack, Total Management Suite customers benefit from the ability to gain complete visibility into their IT environment. Users run accurate asset inventory reports to react quickly to threats and vulnerabilities and take the necessary steps to remediate. Total Management Suite will have quickly found the necessary software updates and/or patches then run automatic processes for all assets – like upgrading to IE 8 in this case. Total Management Suite also generates reports to ensure successful updates or migrations, and update asset inventory reports to prepare for ongoing management.

• Total Management Suite

Symantec Hosted Services

Trojan.Hydraq spans multiple communication protocols and can evade signature-based detection. Symantec Hosted Services help protect against converged threats that span email, Web, and instant messaging. Our proprietary heuristic technology for malware and spam filtering, captures and shares threat intelligence across these protocols and provides identification of previously unseen threats. All managed via a single, integrated security management console that simplifies administration while increasing visibility and control.

• Symantec Hosted Services