Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1

Microsoft has been adding features like crazy to the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool, which is designed to help you transition your orginization to Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System. It was just over a month ago that we reviewed 2.0 and today they are making available version 2.1. In this release they are adding localization support for 6 new languages, IP Range Scanning, and SNMP Discovery.

• Localization to 6 New Languages: With Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office going to all corners of the world, we've decided to globalize the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool. Now, you can not only operate this tool with your OS but you can also generate readiness report in Microsoft Word and Excel in your local languages including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. This makes this tool and the reports more impactful when presented to the technical and business decision makers.
• IP Range Scanning: This feature is one of the most frequently requested features from our customers (you!) and this IP range scanning capability allows you to select a set of computers for the readiness assessment independent of whether you are using Active Directory or not - especially useful in many branch office assessment scenarios! This nicely complements other ways to target machines for assessment including the Active Directory Organizational-Unit targeting and flat-file import method.
• SNMP Discovery: While many of your computers are Windows-based, we do know that our customers and partners would like to assess the ENTIRE network environment. So with this new SNMP discovery feature, you will now have the ability to discover and assess machines running non-Windows OS that are SNMP-enabled. It also paves a way for you to understand the network devices as well. Very cool feature in my opinion!

You can lean more about the tool here and grab the download here.

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