Job Well Done
I just want to say, "Great job" on the December 2003 issue. I read the issue cover to cover and never regretted reading a single article. You successfully covered what I see as the most important and pressing concerns today: failover, patch management, scripting, and security, and you offered excellent migration information and product evaluations. I started to chastise you for allowing the lengthy reply in Ask Dr. Bob: "Configuring Array-Management Software" (http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 40606) regarding configuring Promise Technology's Promise Array Management (WebPAM) software but quickly realized that Bob Chronister's answer covers many important basic strategies for resolving RAID problems: update the BIOS, update the firmware, and perform the proverbial uninstall-reinstall. This kind of issue really shows Return on Investment (ROI) in subscription costs and offers excellent reading and resources. Again, great job!
—John Collins
jdcollins@amherst.k12.va.us
Securing the Administrator Account
I liked Kathy Ivens's column Getting Started with Windows Administration: "Securing the Administrator Account" (December 2003, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 40721). Information such as what she's conveyed in this column needs to be re-presented regularly. However, Kathy neglected to mention one of the best tools for securing the Administrator account: Passprop, which dates back to one of the Windows NT 4.0 resource kits.
If you type the command
passprop/AdminLockout
on the command line, you can lock the Administrator account from network access after too many invalid attempts to access the account have been made (assuming you've set a lockout policy) yet still allow local access to the account through the console. Because many attempts to crack Administrator accounts are made through the network and use password-guessing tools, Passprop is a great resource to add to your security toolkit.
—Robert Ingenthron
ringenthron@carrferrell.com
Thanks, Robert. I should have remembered Passprop. You're right—it's a great tool and leaves the console user alone.
—Kathy Ivens
OOPS
In Mark Smith's Fast Forward: "(Almost) Perfect Devices" (May 2003, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 38481), the speed of Sprint's 3G Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network was listed incorrectly. The download speed is 40 to 70 kilobits per second, not kilobytes per second.
In the Fall 2003 Readers' Choice issue of Windows & .NET Magazine, a winning software product was incorrectly attributed to the wrong developer. Remote Administrator (Radmin), winner of Best Remote Management Tool, was developed and is produced by Famatech. Sunbelt Software is the US distributor of Radmin.
In Brett Hill and Thomas Deml's "Scripting IIS Administration" (December 2003, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 40713), a figure was identified incorrectly. In the print article, Figure 4 should be listed as Figure 3. We apologize for any inconvenience these errors might have caused.
Peer-to-Peer Problem Solving
Reader contributions from the trenches—you tell us you value it, and we want more! According to our most recent reader survey, our interactive columns such as Letters to the Editor, Reader to Reader, What's Hot, Tricks & Traps, and Ctrl+Alt+Del continue to resonate with readers. And in the survey's comments section, you told us,
"I'd like to see more real-life case studies about how IT groups are using the latest technologies day to day."
"I want to hear first-hand experiences of those who have problems or unresolved issues, particularly with Windows 2000."
"The magazine would be better if you invited readers to be guest writers on subjects."
So, I'd like to do just that—invite you to become an active participant in providing content for the magazine. Do you have an interesting story to share with other readers about how you or your IT group solved a problem, implemented a specific technology, or envision the future of IT? Do you have ideas or opinions to add to articles in the magazine? Have you encountered funny screen shots, discovered hot products that make life easier, or run up against a problem you can't solve? If so, email your contribution to letters@winnetmag.com, and we'll make sure it finds its way to the most appropriate venue.
For those of you who already participate regularly, thanks for your continued support in building and maintaining our thriving reader community. Let's make 2004 the year for peer-to-peer problem solving.
—Janet Robbins
Editor in Chief
End of Article
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