SP2 Security Center

Schooltech wrote:

 > If your PC is not connected to a domain, you see in the SP2 Security Center:
 > * A list of alert settings for the popup warnings
 > * Pop up warnings appear in the taskbar system notification area such as
 > "Your antivirus may be out of date."
 >
 > As soon as you connect your PC to a domain, all these warnings disappear.
 >
 > Microsoft in its infinite wisdom has not heard of domain users who aren't
 > plugged into the domain all the time, such as laptop users, or network
 > outages, or any other circumstance in which users of machines which are
 > plugged into the network might have their machines fail to continue to be
 > updated with automatic updates, or fail to receive antivirus updates.
 > (snip)

You can turn it on again with a Group Policy setting.

From a previous post by me:

If the computer is member of a domain, the Security Center is
default disabled, and you will see this entry in the Application
event log (Source: SecurityCenter, Event ID: 1807):

"The Security Center service has been stopped. It was prevented
from running by a software group policy."

For a domain computer, this is normal and by design, the Security
Center is default turned off (and you will get the message mentioned
above in the event log). There is a Group Policy setting available
if you want to turn it on (domain wide or just for your computer
using Start/Run--> gpedit.msc).

Take a look at the chapter for the Security Center in
06_CIF_Maintenance.DOC

Security Center
What settings are added or changed in Windows XP Service Pack 2?
Group Policy settings (page 26 for me)


06_CIF_Maintenance.DOC ("Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP
Service Pack 2, Part 6: Computer Maintenance") can be downloaded from here:

<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7bd948d7-b791-40b6-8364-685b84158c78&DisplayLang=en" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7bd948d7-b791...b6-8364</a>

Note: WinXPSP2_Documentation.zip contains all the .doc downloads...


 > It's a little much to expect any support from MS either for what is a new
 > product. There appears not to be one single security document or any useful
 > information on the Security Center.

In addition to the "Security Center" chapter in 06_CIF_Maintenance.DOC:

Frequently asked questions about Windows Security Center
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=883792" target="_blank">http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=883792</a>



--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx</a>
 >> Stay informed about: SP2 Security Center 

"Schooltech" wrote in message

 > If your PC is not connected to a domain, you see in the SP2 Security
 > Center:
 > * A list of alert settings for the popup warnings
 > * Pop up warnings appear in the taskbar system notification area such as
 > "Your antivirus may be out of date."
 >
 > As soon as you connect your PC to a domain, all these warnings disappear.
 >
 > Microsoft in its infinite wisdom has not heard of domain users who aren't
 > plugged into the domain all the time, such as laptop users, or network
 > outages, or any other circumstance in which users of machines which are
 > plugged into the network might have their machines fail to continue to be
 > updated with automatic updates, or fail to receive antivirus updates.
 >
 > It has apparently not occurred to Microsoft that
 > * since users can disconnect their machines from the network and still log
 > in, if the machine is not connected to the domain for an extended period
 > it
 > might not receive automatic updates and thus be vulnerable
 > * if the antivirus updating is not working for some reason, the machine's
 > antivirus product could still become out of date with no warning to the
 > user.
 >
 > It's a little much to expect any support from MS either for what is a new
 > product. There appears not to be one single security document or any
 > useful
 > information on the Security Center.
 >
 >

That's because they assume that most domains are run by professionals who
will take their own precautions to ensure that the systems are up-to-date
(and possibly, these professionals will want to do their own testing before
deploying patches through something like SUS or SMS.) The automatic updates
+ security center features in SP2 is really geared toward pure home users,
but as others have mentioned, system admins can turn its components on or
off on domains.


--
Colin Nash
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User
 >> Stay informed about: SP2 Security Center 

"Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" wrote in message

 > Schooltech wrote:
 >
  > > If your PC is not connected to a domain, you see in the SP2 Security
Center:
  > > * A list of alert settings for the popup warnings
  > > * Pop up warnings appear in the taskbar system notification area such as
  > > "Your antivirus may be out of date."
  > >
  > > As soon as you connect your PC to a domain, all these warnings
disappear.
  > >
  > > Microsoft in its infinite wisdom has not heard of domain users who
aren't
  > > plugged into the domain all the time, such as laptop users, or network
  > > outages, or any other circumstance in which users of machines which are
  > > plugged into the network might have their machines fail to continue to
be
  > > updated with automatic updates, or fail to receive antivirus updates.
  > > (snip)
 >
 > You can turn it on again with a Group Policy setting.
 >
 > From a previous post by me:
 >
 > If the computer is member of a domain, the Security Center is
 > default disabled, and you will see this entry in the Application
 > event log (Source: SecurityCenter, Event ID: 1807):
 >
 > "The Security Center service has been stopped. It was prevented
 > from running by a software group policy."
 >
 > For a domain computer, this is normal and by design, the Security
 > Center is default turned off (and you will get the message mentioned
 > above in the event log). There is a Group Policy setting available
 > if you want to turn it on (domain wide or just for your computer
 > using Start/Run--> gpedit.msc).

OK I looked in gpedit.msc as this is per computer - only for a few computers
not all

Turn on Security Center (computers in Windows domain only)
Administrative Templates \System\ Security Center
N/A Not configured
On, Off

The problem is that there is not a Security Center under System

Are there new admin templates I need to install on SP2 computers to access
these settings?
 >> Stay informed about: SP2 Security Center 

Schooltech wrote:

 > OK I looked in gpedit.msc as this is per computer - only for a few computers
 > not all
 >
 > Turn on Security Center (computers in Windows domain only)
 > Administrative Templates \System\ Security Center
 > N/A Not configured
 > On, Off
 >
 > The problem is that there is not a Security Center under System
 >
 > Are there new admin templates I need to install on SP2 computers to access
 > these settings?
Hi

I see that the documentation is in error, you should find it here:

Administrative Templates\WINDOWS COMPONENTS\Security Center



--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/default.mspx</a>
 >> Stay informed about: SP2 Security Center 

"Torgeir Bakken (MVP)" wrote in message

 > Schooltech wrote:
 >
  > > OK I looked in gpedit.msc as this is per computer - only for a few
computers
  > > not all
  > >
  > > Turn on Security Center (computers in Windows domain only)
  > > Administrative Templates \System\ Security Center
  > > N/A Not configured
  > > On, Off
  > >
  > > The problem is that there is not a Security Center under System
  > >
  > > Are there new admin templates I need to install on SP2 computers to
access
  > > these settings?
 > Hi
 >
 > I see that the documentation is in error, you should find it here:
 >
 > Administrative Templates\WINDOWS COMPONENTS\Security Center
 >

Thanks that works perfectly

My comments about support of Security Center relates to the fact that I
searched the Windows XP Knowledge Base, but was not able to find a single
article relating to the Security Center.
 >> Stay informed about: SP2 Security Center