@War - The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex by Shane Harris is a non-fiction book about cyber-security, cyber-warfare, and surveillance. I finished reading the book coincidentally at the same time some surveillance powers of the Patriot Act expired. From history classes, I was always interested in the military-industrial complex - the combined efforts of corporate America … [Read more...]

After reading (and reviewing) Exam Ref 70-687 Configuring Windows 8.1 (MCSA), I passed the first Microsoft certification exam required to earn the Windows 8.1 MCSA certification. Despite the problems I had with the book, the next in the series was one of the few resources available to self-prep for the 70-688 Supporting Windows 8.1 exam. After reading the book and from my own … [Read more...]

Certifications and education can be divisive topics among IT professionals. I hold the A+, Network+, and Security+ CompTIA certifications and completed a Masters degree for Management Information Systems, so I think it shows which side of the fence I fall on. I am proud of my accomplishments and use them to reflect the knowledge and experience I hold. Others might see them as a … [Read more...]

In my high school computer classes, the teacher would have research and write a paper on the history of the Internet for the first day of classes. I took enough computer classes, that I have the highlights of that story well memorized. Reading Where Wizards Stay Up Late - The Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon took me back to writing those 2 page … [Read more...]

Group Policy - Fundamentals, Security, and the Managed Desktop by Jeremy Moskowitz is a deep-dive book specifically on the topic of Windows Group Policy. The second edition of this book covers from Windows XP to Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2012. This expands from the first edition which stopped at Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2. While reading the book was … [Read more...]