Windows

Add join a Computer to Domain Membership or WorkGroup Membership

There are two types of computer memberships on Windows Operating Systems. They are,

  1. Domain Membership
  2. WorkGroup Membership

Domain Membership

Domain Membership joins the computer to a Domain Controller (eg: Samba PDC, Active Directory). Using Domain controller System Administrator can centrally monitor and manage each windows clients. They can even set securities, access policies, group policies etc… from the domain controller.

Domain membership help computers to act like Server – Client model. Each operation on the client systems are controlled by the rules and regulation from the domain controller to which the computer be a member of.

After joining a computer to a domain membership, by default there would be two Administrator users. They are called Local Administrator and Domain Administrator.

WorkGroup Membership

WorkGroup enables the Windows operating systems to communicate each other on a single LAN (Local Area Network). Communication will be carried out depending on the computer workgroup names. Same workgroup allow each other access to their files, printers, Internet connection etc…

After joining a computer to Workgroup membership, by default there would be one Administrator user. He is named as Local Administrator.

How to join a computer to Domain Membership

  1. Login as Administrator.
  2. Go to My Computer – Properties
  3. Click on Computer Name tab
  4. Click on Change Icon
  5. Select Member of option
  6. Check the Radio button on Domain
  7. Enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name
  8. Prompt ask for Domain administrator user name and password .
  9. Enter the user name and password
  10. Click ok – Machine will restart automatically.
  • Dns should resolve to the full qualified domain name.

  • Network connection between domain controller and client should be proper.

Verify the Domain Membership

  1. Login into the computer
  2. Go to My Computer – Properties
  3. Click on Computer Name tab
  4. See the computer name

Computer name is now updated with the domain name. Name will display like hostname.domain format.

How to join a computer to WorkGroup Membership

  1. Login as Administrator.
  2. Go to My Computer – Properties
  3. Click on Computer Name tab
  4. Click on Change Icon
  5. Select Member of option
  6. Check the Radio button on WorkGroup
  7. Enter the workGroup Name
  8. Prompt ask for Local administrator user name and password .
  9. Enter the user name and password
  10. Click ok – Machine will restart automatically.

Verify the WorkGroup Membership

  1. Login into the computer
  2. Go to My Computer – Properties
  3. Click on Computer Name tab
  4. See the WorkGroup

Cheers!
Melbin Mathew
www.talk2melbin.com

Improvement On Internet Explorer 8 Compared To Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer 8 is more standards compliant than any earlier version of Internet Explorer. This means that pages you have written to standards will work better with Internet Explorer 8. Cross-browser compatibility is much easier because you don’t have to modify your pages as much to display on specific browsers.

Features

CSS Support

Internet Explorer 8 fully supports CSS 2.1 and more of CSS 3.

HTML and DOM Support

Internet Explorer 8 has improved support for HTML 4.01 and 5, also for DOM 2 and 3.

Compatibility

In terms of compatibility between Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8, this area will cause you the most problems. Some objects you used with Internet Explorer 7 have changed to work according the various standards specifications. In other words, some methods, properties, and so on that worked in a non-standard way in Internet Explorer 7 now comply with standards in Internet Explorer 8.

Better AJAX Support

Internet Explorer 8 more easily supports backward navigation of page fragments. It provides better communication between pages, frames, sites, and domains.

Developer Tools Built In

You may have used downloaded and used the Internet Explorer Developer Tool bar.

Accelerators

You can make your Web services available to users as Accelerators. Users can add Accelerators to Internet Explorer 8 and use them anywhere they browse.

Web Slices

Like an RSS feed, you can set up portions of your Web pages that contain frequently updated information as Web Slices for your users.

Search Suggestions

Internet Explorer 8 has improved the search experience for end users. Many search engines offer search suggestions as users type.

Internet Explorer 7

Windows Internet Explorer 7 continues the ongoing Internet Explorer commitment to provide enhanced security and privacy, increased compatibility with industry standards, additional browser features, and improved usability for platform developers.

Building on the broad success of Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7 focuses on three key areas:

RSS Feeds

Internet Explorer 7 RSS feeds help you access information quickly and directly on the Web, providing automatic discovery of new feeds on Web pages, basic Web feed reading ability, and basic support for saving Web feeds as favorites.

Microsoft Phishing Filter

Internet Explorer 7 includes functionality to protect users against phishing attacks from hostile sites.

Protected Mode

Windows Vista Protected Mode reduces the severity of threats to both Internet Explorer and extensions running in Internet Explorer by eliminating the ability to silently install malicious code through software vulnerabilities.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

Internet Explorer 7 makes it easier to see if Web transactions are secured by SSL or Transport Layer Security (TLS). A security report icon now appears to the right of the address bar when you view a page using a Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) connection.

Microsoft ActiveX Opt

In Internet Explorer 7 disables all ActiveX controls that are not used in Internet Explorer 6.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Updates

Internet Explorer 7 features improved CSS, Level 2 (CSS2) support for Selectors (first-child, adjacent, attribute, and child selectors) and Fixed Positioning.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG)

Internet Explorer 7 adds support for Alpha Channel Transparency to PNG, so that Web designers can implement advanced overlays and innovative graphical designs.

XMLHTTP Native Support

Internet Explorer 7 implements a version of XMLHTTP that is a native scriptable object instead of an object. Users can now have ActiveX controls switched off and still maintain a client-side connection with a server.

Internationalized Domain Name (IDN)

Internet Explorer 7 includes complete support for RFC-3490 on Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) World Wide Web link in all browser functions.

Tabbed Browsing

Internet Explorer 7 uses tabs to organize and manage groups of Web pages. Users can select an individual page or a group of pages (a tab group) to open as their home page.

HTML 4.01 Support

Internet Explorer 7 recognizes the ABBR tag from HTML 4.01.

Select Element

The Select control is now a windowless control. This change enables z-order and zoom to work correctly.

Cheers!

Melbin Mathew

www.talk2melbin.com

Virus Protection Tips – Prevent Virus Infections On Windows Machines

Virus Protection Tips – Prevent Virus Infections On Windows Machines

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner. The term “virus” is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, adware, and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can only spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer.

Machines which have infected with virus will shows slow repsonse to applications. It will created security issues like sending our data to another network. Sending data like credit card details to other network will help the hacker to withdraw all the balance from our accounts.

Here i like to share some tips to prevent virus infection on windows machine.

1. Install the machine with fresh Operating System. Installation should be done using the original windows cd. Copied OS cd might contain infected files. Burning cd from virus infected machines will also cause infection.

2. Once the machine is newly installed, update the OS with the latest service packs and packages. This will help us to keep the virus and security holes away from the computer.

3. Alway keep the Firewall on. This block external attacks.

4. Install the OS with a good Antivirus Software. Cracked Anti virus software will not help much, instead it will cause issue.

5. Update the Anti virus software frequently and check the status. Run full scan on the system. If the anti virus software fail to update properly it will make us a headache. Checking on the updation date will help us to make sure the updation progress.

6. Create a simple user without any Administration privilege. Using the normal user will help to prevent unwanted installations or executions on the system.

7. Login into the normal user and work. If we need any installer to run use ‘Run As’ to install the application.

8. Keep clean the recycle bin and temp folder.

9. If you are not sure do not open any email attachments, they might have virus infection.

10. Don’t run on line scan from untrusted sites.

11. Don’t let untrusted installer to run from your machine.

12. Don not give your email password to any sites. This will cause spaming to your contacts.

13. Scan properly the usb devices before using.

14. Disabling the auto run facility will help to prevent the execution of virus from usb’s cd’s ..

Care full use of your machine will prevent from virus infections.