MGT310: Group Policy in Vista

Today's session that was the most informative was the one on Vista Group
Policy. Below are some of the highlights:

* Group Policy will now run as a shared service host vs part of the
WinLogon process
* GPMC (Group Policy Management Console) will now be built in to the OS
vs a separate download from Microsoft Download Center
* New Multiple Local GPOs that can be applied to Admin / Non-Admin
local groups and even individual local users
* New group policy removes the dependency of the ICMP to contact a DC
* New XML based event logs vs pretty much non-existant logging today
* Changing ADM files to ADMX templates; will reduce the amount of
storage in the SYSVOL
* Integrate the ADMX files into your Windows 2000/2003 AD domain
without having a Longhorn Server in place
* Additional 600+ new policy settings in Windows Vista
* Some new/updated policies include: 1) Removable Storage Devices,
IPSec/Windows Firewall, Power Management, Printer Management, User
Account Control, Enhanced IE Configuration/Control, Windows Defender

The speaker also gave a sneak peek at some of the items in the works
for Vista SP1 / Longhorn Server:

* Enabling comments on GPOs and settings
* Creating GPO "Starting Points" aka Best Practices Templates
* GPO Filtering/Searching capabilities

As always, to request a group policy feature or suggest a new policy
setting, visit http://www.windowsserverfeedback.com