Life is all about learning. This is especially true if you’re in the IT field.

As I was reading through the essays that so many of you submitted for our contest I realized that there was a unanimous agreement between most of the writers — learning is the most important part of being in the IT field.

Many of you chose learning as the most important goal you have set for yourself. Others talked about how important learning is in the process of breaking into the IT field. While still, some of you mentioned that staying abreast of changes in this field is the most challenging and most difficult part of being an IT professional.

Reading all of this motivated me to start researching blogs, websites and other useful learning resources. In the upcoming weeks I’ll be listing more of them, but for now here are 3 great learning resources for seasoned as well as aspiring IT Professionals.

Microsoft TechNet Plus

Microsoft TechNet Plus is not free, but it’s great value for your money.

Among many things, TechNet Plus offers you full-version software licensed for evaluation that you can use without any time limits or feature limits.

There’s no better way to master a new Microsoft OS, a server, or an office system than to have an opportunity to use it yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, books and training videos are great but to really know how to do something you have to get your hands dirty, you have to try it out yourself. And TechNet Plus gives you this opportunity.

The downloadable full-version software is meant to help you make informed decisions about new technologies but it is also a great way to learn everything you need to know about them.

The only limitation is that you cannot use the software in production environments. So if your work doesn’t provide you with the Microsoft software that you want to master, TechNet Plus is the next best thing.

TechNet Plus has a lot to offer including technical resources, e-learning courses, professional support and much more.

Here are a few main things that TechNet Plus has to offer:

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Hardware and software manufacturers have to be on the cutting edge of product innovation.

It seems there is always someone out there trying to outdo what someone else has done, but, that’s how capitalism works.

The end result is that the consumer reaps the technology benefits, the companies reap the financial benefits, and the capitalistic merry-go-round spins on.

One interesting trend I and others have noticed is that hardware and software companies are focusing less on the personal computing experience and more on personal computer technology as a jumping off point for everyday, life changing technologies.

I’m talking about HP’s TouchSmart PC, Microsoft’s Home of the Future, Organic Light-emitting Diodes (OLEDs), and software such as Windows Home Server.

How will these technologies work together and what does it mean for the future of personal computing? I’m going to discuss these topics and what I like and dislike about these technologies in a series of articles entitled "The Future of Computing".

I definitely want to hear what you think so read on about OLEDS, post a comment and stay tuned for more related articles that build on each other and will tie everything together.

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Editor’s Note: Here is the Grand Prize winning essay of our Words for Training Contest written by R. Louis Costley III.

Why I Do What I Do

Closing my eyes, my chin fell to my chest. The world was closing in all around me, and the sound of the ceiling fan spinning above my head seemed to grow louder with each heartbeat that pounded within. Slowly, I took a deep breath. I knew it would be like this, but, still … you’re never really prepared. Even slower, I exhaled, opened my eyes, and tried one more time.

"Dad, please don’t panic."

Choosing my words carefully, I spoke deliberately.

"The mouse is the oval shaped component that is on your desk, next to the keyboard. It has a wire coming out of the top, and if you look at the shape, and the wire, it sort of looks like a mouse with a tail. Do you see it?"

"This thing my hand is resting on?"

"Yes, pops … that’s it." For the third time, I attempted to get him to turn off his computer. "Now, please roll the mouse down to the start button in the lower left corner, and then left click on the start button."

"You want me to roll this hand-held thingy over the left corner. But I’m right handed, and it’s on the right side of my typewriter. I’ll have to cross my arms …"

"The typewriter," I asked in confusion, "do you mean the keyboard?"

"Whatever! The thing I type on."

He was frustrated. My nearly-75-year-old father was regretting making his first foray into the world of computer technology.

"I said I was ready for a computer, son, but I didn’t want to have to type anything," he told me. "Remember? And this talking software that came with it, it never gets my words right. And what happened to the picture on my screen? It’s gone!"

I was wishing I had chosen to become a baker, about this time. After 40 minutes of trying to explain to my ole’ man what a mouse was, and how to use it, I had come to the same conclusion that he was muttering every five minutes.

I hate computers!

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If you have been supporting servers for any amount of time, you have no doubt come across requests from manager for security audits, if you don’t already have them in place yourself to keep an eye on things.

Auditing is exactly what it sounds like — it keeps a record of things that have been modified in Active Directory.

In previous versions of Windows Server there was not a lot of granular control in what you were auditing. Let’s explore some of the new auditing features in Server 2008.

Auditing Changes in Windows Server 2008

One of the most significant changes over the Server 2000 and Server 2003 versions of auditing is that now you can not only audit who and what attribute was changed but also what the new and old value was.

This is significant because you can now tell why it was changed and if something doesn’t look right you’re able to easily find what it should be restored to.

Another significant change is that in the past you were only able to turn auditing policy on or off for the entire Active Directory structure. In Windows Server 2008 the auditing policy is configurable for four subcategories:

• Directory Service Access
• Directory Service Changes
• Directory Service Replication
• Detailed Directory Service Replication

This article will focus on enabling auditing on Directory Service Changes which will show us the ability to audit changes to Active Directory Domain Services.

Implementing Auditing on Windows Server 2008

In Server 2008 when setting up auditing there are three places you can modify to implement controls:

• Global Audit Policy – In Server 2008 the Global Audit Policy is not on by default and must be enabled.
• System Access Control List (SACL) – Is the ultimate authority if an access check gets audited or not.
  
  The SACL is part of the security descriptor for an active directory object and specifies which operations should be audited. These are set by the security administrators who have been assigned Manage Auditing and Security Log privileges. It is assigned automatically to the Administrators Group.
• Schema – To protect administrators from generating too many auditing events there is an override that can be set in the schema to exclude any events that have an attribute set.
  
  We will not be covering the Schema modification in this article, but this is important for you to know.

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Our first Words for Training Contest is officially over.

I would like to send a big thank you to everyone who participated!

You will all be rewarded with a free copy of our introductory course to Windows Server 2008, which I hope you’ll enjoy.

We received an overwhelming response to this contest — which meant a lot of reading for us — but it was a great way to get to know so many of our readers. So thank you all for taking the time tell us about yourselves.

Meet the Words for Training Contest Judges

This was our first contest in a long while, so naturally, everyone wanted to get in on the action. In the end we all agreed this was not an easy task — there were just so many great essays, it was really, really hard to pick the best ones.

Here’s everyone who helped with the reading and the judging:

• Heather Ackmann — Train Signal Instructor
• Kelly Atkinson — Customer Service Specialist
• Ben “Coach” Culbertson — Train Signal Instructor
• Tonia Douglas — Marketing Product Manager
• Bill Kulterman — Train Signal Instructor
• Zach Monroe — Technical Support and Sales Specialist
• Mark Mulvihill — Webmaster and Email Manager
• Lisa Szpunar — Jr. Product Manager
• And Me — Editor in Chief of Train Signal Training

Now to the good stuff … here are the Words for Training Contest Winners:

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