Stories by J. Peter Bruzzese

Running Windows desktops from the cloud instead of your data center opens more possibilities for managing distributed users

We mined Microsoft's CodePlex repository to unearth 15 invaluable Windows admin tools -- and they're all free

Targeted email attacks (called <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/2608694/phishing/state-of-the-art-spear-phishing-and-defenses.html">spear phishing</a>) with harmful links or attachments containing malware are an ever-increasing threat. These attacks are part social networking and part sophisticated technical effort to penetrate companies' defense systems. Traditional security deployments, in many cases, aren't prepared for these kinds of attacks.

Migrating to Office 365 is becoming increasingly popular among businesses both large and small. The upside of moving from an on-premises environment to one hosted online by Microsoft offers compelling benefits. But switcher beware: Early Office 365 adopters have come back from their migration path battle-worn by a slew of unexpected perils they encountered along the way.

We mined Microsoft’s open source hosting repository to unearth 12 invaluable Windows admin tools -- and they're all free

From Metro Start to reduced hardware requirements, here is a look at the best new features Windows 8 users will love

From Windows Server 8 to Office 15, Microsoft is overhauling its IT portfolio. Here's what to expect

You might imagine that the best place to go for improving your Microsoft server-side experience is to the mothership itself. In many cases, you would be right. But the truth is there are a meaningful number of open source tools that go above and beyond what Microsoft has to offer in support of Windows Server, Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint. Many of these alternatives provide -- for free -- more powerful capabilities than what you'd get with third-party retail products.

"Free" is a term rarely associated with Microsoft offerings, especially at the server end of the spectrum. Exchange Server, SQL Server, SharePoint, Hyper-V -- IT admins know functionality comes at a price. More surprising, however, is the wealth of server tools Microsoft offers for free, some of which can, in the right contexts, provide an adequate substitute for the paid versions of Microsoft's more intriguing server products.

Microsoft offers support for its products for five years and extended support for another five years. That time will soon be up for Windows 2000 (desktop and server) and Windows XP SP2: July 13 is the last day that extended support will be available.

Windows 7 is right around the corner. The official release date is Oct. 22, but some PC makers will ship it before then.