Advanced Group Policy Management 4.0

Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) is coming out next month and it is time to take a first look at this new exciting tool.
It will be released as part of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2.
The new release include 3 main features you should know about:
Multi Forest/Multi Domain Support
AGPM 3.0 does not support multi-forest/multi-domain environments and requires to use import/export which essentially breaks the change management workflow. AGPM 4.0 allow moving GPOs from one environment to another. Even in my shop I have 2 forests and few domains.
Check mark for the SMB environment usability!

Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 Support
The new version will add support for Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 settings reporting and editing.
Microsoft recommend that if you edit policy with Windows 7, make sure you run Windows Server 2008 R2 on the back end.
Another check mark for the SMB environment usability!

Search and Filtering
Well, don't get too excited. You still can't search for settings.
The search feature allow you to locate a policy by it's name or partial name.
While it is a nice improvement it is not really useful for the average SMB.

You can download the Microsoft guide for AGPM 4.0 here.

Ftype

I found this command useful and think it deserve some PR.
I know, you can have a full rich IT life without using it or even knowing about it BUT when the day come it can save you hours of work.
Ftype is a command line that displays or modifies file types used in file name extension associations.
The basic command displays the file types that have open command strings defined.

c:\ftype

The output is long and descriptive.
Ftype is very useful in scripts, installations that involve unique file extensions but also when you work on a PC and have problems. When you start going out of the mainstream Microsoft based applications many programs use different file types that are different from the default MS installations. Locating the missing file extensions is much easier using this command hence it is good to be familiar with it.

Here you can find a greate example for a good use of this command