Windows Server Hacks

Chapter 8. Security

Hacks #69-78

Probably no aspect of the system administrator’s job is more important these days than security, and this is especially so with systems running Windows. The ever-increasing threats of viruses, worms, Trojans, and other exploits means administrators have to spend time and energy learning how to protect their company’s networks against the wiles of malicious hackers on the Internet.

This chapter looks at some of the ways you can protect your network from these threats, and includes topics like best practices in virus protection, protecting Administrator accounts, securing backups, protecting domain controllers, and finding machines with automatic logon enabled. A security FAQ and a review of security tools you can download from Microsoft’s web site round of this chapter and help you build an arsenal of best practices and tools that can help keep your network secure. For additional security hacks on the topic of deploying and managing security fixes on your network, see Chapter 9.

Fundamentals of a Virus-Free Network

Here are some fundamentals you need to pay attention to if you want to keep your network free of viruses.

This hack details some of the fundamentals of having a virus-free network, which I have identified through trial, error, and observation in the almost three years of working in the dual role of SMS/Virus Protection Administrator for my employer. As a result, we’ve had zero network downtime due to virus infection since January of 2000 ...