Brien Posey

Microsoft’s desktop virtualization ecosystem is a cornerstone of modern IT infrastructure, allowing organizations to deliver secure and scalable access to applications and desktops. However, the terminology surrounding this ecosystem – Remote Desktop, Remote Desktop Services (RDS), Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) – can sometimes be confusing, even for seasoned IT professionals….

If your Windows PCs or servers are running low on storage and you cannot tell what is actually consuming the space, WinDirStat is one of the easiest tools to use. It scans a drive or folder and shows the results as a directory list, file type breakdown, and visual treemap, making it easier to spot…

DFS migration involves moving data from one or more existing file servers to the DFS servers. This process preserves existing UNC file shares and access permissions, meaning that users can continue to access their data in the usual way. Better still, data remains available during the migration process. DFS file server migration goals Before committing…

Active Directory (AD) sits at the center of most on-premises Windows environments, powering identity, authentication, authorization, and access control. Because AD effectively governs who can do what across the estate, it’s also one of the first places attackers try to gain a foothold. Active Directory auditing won’t replace good security hygiene, but it can give…

As organizations move from on-premises Active Directory to cloud management, many admins need to Import Group Policy Objects to Microsoft Intune, and GPOs often become the last big roadblock. Traditional Group Policy only applies to domain-joined Windows devices, while Microsoft Intune can manage Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, and Android, making it the natural destination for modern…

Windows file sharing allows any Windows PC to host a file share, making files available to other computers on the same network. Better still, files located within the shared folder are not solely accessible to Windows devices. Apple devices running MacOS can also access the shared folder, as can Linux devices, so long as those…

The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is an essential administrative tool that Windows admins can use to centrally configure and manage Group Policy Objects (GPOs). GPMC is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in used by administrators to centrally create, manage, and deploy GPOs in Active Directory. Accessing the Group Policy Management Console There are several…

In this article, I explain the principles, challenges, and consequences of Data Loss Prevention (DLP). What is Data Loss Prevention? Data Loss Prevention, or DLP as it is often referred to, is a set of policies and technologies that are collectively designed to prevent an organization’s sensitive data from being leaked. How does data leakage…

In this article, I look at Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and why it’s important to identity and protect it in your organization. What is PII data? Personally Identifiable Information (PII) refers to any information that can be used to identify a specific individual. Types of PII Although all personally identifiable information is linked to a…

One of the problems that is commonly associated with AI models, such as those used by Microsoft Copilot, is that they are often limited by their training data. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is designed to help Copilot to go beyond this limit by acting as a connector to content that is not found within…

As organizations rush to adopt various generative AI tools, Microsoft Copilot Enterprise Data Protection helps organizations maintain security and compliance. If a user were to upload a file to a random generative AI tool for example, the file’s contents could potentially be used to further train the underlying model. This could cause an organization’s sensitive…

Copilot Chat is a feature of Microsoft 365 Copilot that allows users to interact with Microsoft Copilot using a conversational style interface. In doing so, users type (or speak) their queries into a chat box. Copilot then uses an underlying Large Language Model based on GPT-5 to parse and then respond to the user’s input….