As the name suggests, HomeGroup is aimed at home users and networks. This feature allows for easy sharing of files and printers in a home network. HomeGroup uses a password to secure the home network. A user can share pictures, documents, music, printers, and/or videos. Creating a HomeGroup is only possible on Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions while any edition can join a current HomeGroup. When connecting to a home network for the first time, the network configuration wizard will pop up and ask the user what type of network the system is connected to.
It is important that users be trained to select the correct network because the Windows Firewall settings depend on the network that is selected. When Home network is selected, the system will scan the network for a Home- Group. It will then prompt the user to select what items should be shared in the HomeGroup. If there is already a HomeGroup created in the home network, then a password will be requested.
Once the user inputs that password once, Windows 7 will detect and connect to that HomeGroup every time the system is on the network. If a HomeGroup is not detected, the step after selecting what to share will create one and create a password. This password should be stored safely and only given to trusted users on the network that wish to connect to the HomeGroup.
IE 8 was released on March 19, 2009 for Windows XP operating systems and above as an optional update. On Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 systems, it is the default browser. For security reasons alone, it is highly recommended to upgrade to IE 8 on all Windows systems. This should serve as a brief introduction to the new features of IE 8. It is noteworthy to point out that most of these features can be enabled and disabled from IE options by clicking Tools on the top-right corner of the IE 8 window. Following are the few new features that should be understood by administrators and end users for using and configuring IE 8:
Accelerators – plug-ins or add-ons much like third-party browsers allow users to perform common tasks, such as blogging, e-mail, searching, translating, etc., quicker from within IE.
Compatibility View – toolbar to display Web sites with IE 7 rendering, necessary due to Microsoft not following any standards when it comes to Web browsing.
Security Features – the most important reason to move to IE 8. End user training is critical for these features to be effective.
Cross Site Scripting (XSS) Filter – XSS is one of the most used attacks against Web browsing users. IE 8 provides a filter for these types of end user attacks by alerting the user and disabling the harmful scripts.
DEP – prevents code from being written to executable memory. A feature available for the entire operating system now protects Web users.
Domain Highlighting – a basic feature that highlights the domain name of the site the user is browsing to in the address bar. This assists trained Web users to visually identify the integrity of the site to avoid phishing and malware sites.
InPrivate – IE 8 mode that does not leave traces of browsing history, Internet files, form data, cookies, usernames and passwords, and other private data on the computer.
SmartScreen – set of technologies to detect and block possible malicious Web sites and downloads. IE 8 detects such malicious intent and notifies the user and/or blocks the attempt.
Web Slices – allows for subscribing to compatible Web sites from within IE 8 to later view the site's content without actually visiting the Web site. The Web sites must be compatible by following a standardized HTML markup format. Compatible sites will show a green slice on the top right of the IE 8 window next to the home button.
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