InformIT’s new Windows Server Reference Guide debuts this week, and to lead you through the mysteries is Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. This week he talks about a little concept called presence. This sample chapter touches on some of the new interface changes and features in Windows Server 2003. It isn’t a backup program. It isn’t an OS re-install. But the System Restore built into Windows XP can save you from a world of hurt.
Windows Server Reference Guide & UI Changes; XP’s System Restore
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Sorry to write this here, but I don’t know where I should write it otherwise.
Starting about 2 days ago, I can’t use the “osnews.com/home.php?archives=week” anymore, since it starts listing postings which are 3 days old.
It does this in “konqueror” AND “lynx”, so it shouldn’t be a caching problem.
Anyone else experiencing similar problems?
Me too (Mozilla Firebird). I suppose it displays only a fixed number of headlines now?
Man, those are about the ugliest long URLs I’ve ever seen.
I come across so many owned/infected boxen, I’d think
system restore can actually be a bad thing. If you go
thru and clean a box, and later down the road the user
restores (with archived infected binaries), it becomes
a vicious circle. I will admit I am not an expert on
Windows System Restore, so maybe someone can enlighten
us. I always see people talking about backing up app
installs, and Windows system stuff, why? I guess I come
from an environment where /home and /etc are the only
needed archive points (of course there are other things
too if it’s a server, but since we are talking about
desktops, I’m keeping it to /home & /etc).
-iGZo
I always enjoy Mister Vaughan-Nichols articles in Linux-Magazine and therefore found it strange he
writes an article about Windows Server 2003, after reading the whole article i was satified. Its not you avarage MS brainwash bullshit but a good article about strenghts and weaknesses about MS new server product. I loved the fraises:
[ the bottom line for network administrators is that Server 2003 clearly is not much more secure than its NT and W2K ancestors. ]
and
[ If you’ve already developed a paranoid attitude about Windows security at this point, good. Keep it. If you haven’t, develop one. ]
Hit the nail right on the head!
I will never switch to a Microsoft Server product but for the average joe MS server administrator it is a good
article to read after being brainwashed by the MS PR machine..
>Limited atricles displayed
You can use a URL such as;
http://www.osnews.com/article.php?kind=News&offset=0&rows=250
where the last number is the number of articles you want to see the headlines of.
System Restore is an incomplete and poorly implemented imitation of Roxio GoBack and yet another example of Microsoft ripping off another conpanys’ idea, doing a poor job of copying it, bundling it, then killing competition in that software sector, thus harming the consumer.
Can’t say I’ve ever used it, or needed to. Actually I disable it to save disc space 😉
Poor deal for Roxio though. Will it reach a point where Windows has every conceivable feature leaving no room for third party applications? Internet, media, office productivity, admin tools are already covered by MS (although Office isn’t part of Windows (yet), it might as well be). Most people don’t use any more than this, so…
The archives are working as intended. You first read the front page (stories 1 to 15), and THEN you go and read the archives, which they now start from the story No16 and later.
Yeah i use OSX thanks for asking.
Thanks eugenia for clearing this up…
I was used to have this “archives=week” url as my bookmark since it always worked as intended (for me).
But you’re right, it’s more usefull to only show the first 15 news items and not the whole week, since you will only need the full week once in a while but it definetly saves bandwidth for you.
Thanks again for the info, however.
>>
I come across so many owned/infected boxen, I’d think
system restore can actually be a bad thing. If you go
thru and clean a box, and later down the road the user
restores (with archived infected binaries), it becomes
a vicious circle.
>>
I only started using System Restore recently, but I’ll tell you of a much simpler task that, surprisingly to me, may be even more dangerous for off guard users: System Repair.
When you choose to repair a WindowsXP installation by way of the Installing CD-ROM (not reinstalling but repairing), guess what, all the security updates get wiped off. System files are reinstalled, registry rebuilt, and security patches deleted. I only found this simple thing accidentally, being blasted by the MS-Blast worm on a repaired system that had installed 27 security updates. After repair, all 27 were gone!
In a way, System Restore is indeed a Virus/Trojan archive if you do not delete restore points containing viruses. No need to keep ’em all.