I played with this at home several months ago after reading something Susan Bradley wrote about it. It just flat didn't work. Your post prompted me to go back and try again, and I did have some success this time. I can remotely scan and patch XP and Server 2008 (not R2) machines on my home LAN, but I cannot, under any set of circumstances that I can create, remotely scan a Windows 7 machine. Firewall off, UAC off, HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy created and set to either 0 or 1 - no combination of things I tried would allow a successful scan of a remote Win7 computer. (All of my Windows 7 machines are x64. I wasn't able to try against 32 bit Win7.) I can scan and patch locally on Windows 7 with no problem.
It's a neat idea (if you don't mind a LOT of potentially private information stored in the cloud), but I wouldn't think it's anywhere near a 1.0 product. More like early beta. As always, YMMV. RS On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 4:16 PM, Angus Scott-Fleming <angu...@geoapps.com>wrote: > Might be useful to small-LAN admins: > > ============= Included Stuff Follows ============= > Shavlik offers 'cloud patching' with free service > > Patch management company Shavlik is offering small networks of 10 or > fewer > PCs access to a new online patch management service at no cost. > > The new service, IT.Shavlik.com, is designed to scan for missing > patches > on a machine-by-machine basis, or using an IP address range or domain, > reporting the results through the web portal. Missing patches across > Windows versions are rated for severity and can be downloaded using > links > to the appropriate vendor website or using the 'FixIT' button. The > service > also supports VMWare ESX and ESXi hypervisors. > > ... > > Larger SMB networks can use the service in its 'Pro' form for a fee. The > company quotes a price of 'from $250' (approx £175) for networks of > between 10 and 1,000 PCs, which includes unlimited scan history storage. > This is the sharper edge what the company admits is now a 'freemium' > business model designed to lure users in with a free service before > charging them as they grasp the value of the service or their needs > grow. > > > ============= Included Stuff Ends ============= > More here with links: > > http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/052610-shavlik-offers-cloud-patching-with.html > > -- > Angus Scott-Fleming > GeoApps, Tucson, Arizona > 1-520-290-5038 > Security Blog: http://geoapps.com/ > > > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
