The information below was extracted for a security bulletin dated 7 December 2006

There will be a 5 patches effecting the Windows Operating Systems, 1 effecting Microsoft Visual Studio and an update to Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (this one will not be deployed through SUS).

Microsoft will release 10 NON-SECURITY High-Priority Updates on Microsoft Update (MU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

Microsoft will host a webcast next week to address customer questions on these bulletins. For more information on this webcast please see below:

•	TechNet Webcast: Information about Microsoft's Security Bulletins
•	Wednesday, December 13, 2006 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)
•	http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032317233&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US As always --- Ride Safe.

Shortly before 11:00 a.m. this morning take a few moments to remember the men and women who lost their lives on this day in history.

Japanese aircrews achieved complete surprise when they hit American ships and military installations on Oahu shortly before 8:00 a.m. HST.

At about 8:10 a.m., the USS Arizona (BB-39) was mortally wounded by an armor piercing bomb which ignited the ship's forward ammunition magazine. The resulting explosion and fire killed 1,177 crewmen, the greatest loss of life on any ship that day and about half the total number of Americans killed.

If would like to read more about the attack on Pearl Harbor here is a great web site from the Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-1.htm

As always....  Ride Safe..

 http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/vistaupgrade/default.mspx 

Until next time .....  Ride Safe

This new comprehensive lab intensive course provides students with advanced knowledge and skills to manage Server 2003 and administer Active Directory. Students will implement a multi-routed network and mange security, object creation, printers, group policies, disk performance, server performance, and TCP/IP implementation.

The Hard Hat Lab environment is equipped with live Server hardware, multi-layer switches, routers with WAN connectivity, and a complete cable plant which includes a variety of networking technologies. Each student will build their environment from the ground-up, using proper design and planning techniques and practical implementation strategies. The lab is built-out as a multi-geographical enterprise, including Frame Relay WAN and Internet connectivity, Email, Web and Database servers.  For the upcoming class schedule check out the following link.  http://www.interfacett.com/HH9100 

As always....  Ride Safe

CompTIA has recently update their A+ competencies for the exam.  The current 220-301 and 302 exams are being retired on 31 December and candidates will only be able to take the new exams.  According to the CompTIA's A+ certification website there still be 2 exams required.  With the following major difference:  There is no longer an Operating Systems Exam and a Core Hardware Exam.  Each exam you take will require competencies in each area.  Here are your options for getting the A+ Certification.

The core exam is being called A+ Essentials. The following is an excerpt from CompTIA's A+ certification website:

"CompTIA A+ Essentials validates knowledge of basic computer hardware and operating systems, covering skills such as installation, building, upgrading, repairing, configuring, troubleshooting, optimizing, diagnosing and preventive maintenance, with additional elements of security and soft skills. The Essentials Exam validates the basic skills needed by any entry-level service technician regardless of job environment."

You then have to take one of 3 elective exams that best fits your employment goals, or employee needs to be certified. Each of the CompTIA A+ exams will focus on how to apply technology skills in specific job environments.  The following is an excerpt from CompTIA's A+ certification website:

"The CompTIA A+ 220-602 exam is targeted for individuals who work or intend to work in a mobile or corporate technical environment with a high level of face-to-face client interaction. Examples job roles include: Enterprise Technician, IT Administrator, Field Service Technician, PC Technician. Ideally, the CompTIA A+ 220-602 candidate has already passed the CompTIA A+ Essentials examination. Candidates who pass both CompTIA A+ Essentials and exam 220-602 will be CompTIA A+ certified with the IT Technician designation. "

"Individuals in careers that require IT knowledge outside of the formal IT job role, such as SMB office manager, technical sales roles or other non-technical roles that require understanding of computer repair issues may also find the validation of skills associated with the CompTIA A+ credential to be valuable."

"The CompTIA A+ 220-603 examination is targeted for individuals who work or intend to work in a remote-based work environment where client interaction, client training, operating system and connectivity issues are emphasized. Example job roles include: Remote Support Technician, Help Desk Technician, Call Center Technician. Ideally, the CompTIA A+ 220-603 candidate has already passed the CompTIA A+ Essentials examination. Candidates who pass both CompTIA A+ Essentials and exam 220-603 exams will be CompTIA A+ certified with the Remote Support Technician designation."

WHAT IS A VETERAN??
 
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet? He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the bar room loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks,whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of  exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two
solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs. He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medal with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravating slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come. He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nations ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served your country,just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded. Two little words  that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".  Remember November 11th is Veterans Day "It  is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.  It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag,And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag." Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC

After taking our Hard Hat Level 1 and Level 2 classes students we have been overwhelmed with student comments to release a Hard Hat version of 2273.  I am happy to say it has finally been released as the HH9100 class.  Stay tuned to future Blogs reviewing the new class.

Also in the upcomming weeks I will be reviewing the the new CompTIA A+ 2006 objectives.  The current exams expire on the the 31st of December and the Certification process begins.  I will be reviewing the A+ Essentials Objectives and exam next week. 

Those of you that know me and have been in my class know I am a die hard biker.... So until next week...... Ride Safe