14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has wrapped up an extension designed to extend the interoperability between Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows 7. The Windows 7 Professional pack for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Add-In is not available just yet, but it will be next week, according to the software giant.
Customers will be able to download the Windows 7 Professional pack for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Add-In come Friday August 12, 2011.
The add-in will go live on the Microsoft Download Center and will be offered free of charge, the Redmond company said.
“The Pro Pack can be quickly deployed in each Windows 7 Professional computer in the domain from the “Computers and Backup” tab in the Dashboard, and it allows administrators to deploy pre-configured security settings, folder redirection and offline files. The group policies apply to all SBS domain users running Windows 7 Professional or higher,” Microsoft explained.
“With the Windows 7 Professional Pack our customers can easily deploy pre-configured security settings across several different areas like allowing Windows Update to install the latest security patches and critical updates, using Windows Defender to protect against malware attacks and preventing users from exposing the network to attack by enforcing the use of Windows Firewall.”
The promise from Microsoft is that Windows 7 Professional pack for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Add-In will be extremely simply to install and use, even for customers with limited IT skills.
In addition to control over their machines, the extension can also contribute to protect business critical and sensitive information. This is done through the folder redirection feature of the Windows 7 Professional pack for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Add-In.
“Folder redirection is designed to allow users to continue working in the same way saving their data in real time on their client computer, but reduces the risk of data loss by having the most important data on a particular computer automatically redirected, stored and protected on the server (when on the local domain),” the company said.
“This way, even if the client computer is lost or suffers critical damage, is it still possible to access the latest set of data on the server when the client has not been backed up recently. Best of all, when users edit local data when away from the network, any small business can ensure that when the PC is back on the local network, updated information is immediately replicated to the server and protected.”
UPDATE: The Windows 7 Professional Pack for Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials add-in is available for download here.