Author: Russell Smith

At Microsoft's Ignite conference this week, there was a series of announcements for new Azure Active Directory features either entering general availability or released in public preview. AWS Single Sign-On (SSO) The Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) app gallery now includes AWS Single Sign-On (SSO). AWS SSO is a cloud service that is designed to… Read More

In February, Microsoft announced its plans to release Windows 10 version 21H1 and that Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC support will be cut from 10 years to 5. And Windows 10 'in cloud configuration' is a new recommended device configuration that can be applied to remote devices for frontline workers and others. Plus, much more. So,… Read More

Flash Player is a plug-in for browsers that is installed and maintained separately. Although it came bundled with some browsers. Not only that, but it was responsible for some scary security vulnerabilities over the years. So, developers and IT admins alike were glad to see the back of it.

There haven't been any significant changes to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) for years. But recently, Microsoft released two updates that aim to make it easier to secure WSUS. In this article, I'll look at how the two changes, introduced in September 2020 and January 2021, can help improve WSUS security. By default, Windows clients… Read More

Azure Automanage helps you to make sure your virtual machines (VM) are consistently configured with Microsoft's best practice recommendations. And that's a valuable service because Azure is constantly growing and changing, making it hard for IT professionals to keep up with best practice recommendations. Automanage is currently in preview. It is designed to configure and… Read More

The latest versions of PowerShell are not included out-of-the-box with Windows 10. So, you might not know that PowerShell is already on version 7.1

Unlike Windows Server, PowerShell Remoting isn't enabled by default in Windows 10. PowerShell Remoting is a secure management protocol (WSMan) for connecting to and managing remote devices. In its default configuration, PowerShell Remoting secures traffic over HTTP. It's primarily designed to be used in an Active Directory (AD) environment, which protects the authentication phase using… Read More

Microsoft has released a relatively small number of fixes this month, in total just 56. But they include patches for a zero-day flaw in the Win32k component and some serious TCP/IP networking stack vulnerabilities. Windows and Windows Server February's cumulative update (CU) for Windows 10 comes with a patch for a zero-day Elevation of Privilege… Read More

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an open standard that facilitates user logon to on-premises and cloud services.

2020 saw more people work from home than ever due to the worldwide health pandemic. But organizations were caught off guard and needed to quickly find ways to let employees work remotely and securely. Even organizations that had virtual private network (VPN) solutions already in place scrambled to scale them to handle a significantly higher… Read More

Change graphics performance preferences to solve problems with display issues on devices with dual GPUs.

February 2nd, 2021, Microsoft announced 'Windows 10 in cloud configuration'. 'Cloud configuration' is a new recommended device configuration that can be applied to Windows 10 computers using Intune, Microsoft's Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, which is part of Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM). Organizations can use MEM to apply a standard configuration to devices running Windows… Read More

New queries in Update Compliance provide greater insight for IT when safeguard holds are placed on Windows endpoints.

A near-final build of Windows 10X leaks to the Internet, Microsoft released Edge version 88, and Microsoft is hoping to make Win32 APIs available to more languages. So, let's get started. Windows 10X leaked build Early in the month, a leaked build of Windows 10X surfaced that allowed us to get hands on with Microsoft's… Read More

Microsoft introduced Secure Shell (SSH) as a transport for PowerShell Remoting in PowerShell 6. Older versions of PowerShell (Windows PowerShell) are restricted to HTTP/HTTPS and Windows Remote Management (WinRM). WinRM/HTTP is fine for Active Directory (AD) environments. Authentication and communications are secured. WinRM/HTTPS is for accessing workgroup computers, i.e. computers not joined to an AD… Read More