Russell Smith

Microsoft has announced that it will be bringing back its Ignite conference this November, again in virtual form. Running from November 2nd – 4th, Microsoft says that its ‘digital experience’ will include the latest product demos, Q&A with Microsoft experts, technical deep-dives, and more. Last year’s Ignite was the first to be held virtually due…

Back in June this year, Microsoft sent the final Windows Server 2022 bits to OEMs for testing. And without so much as an official announcement, Microsoft has made the next version of its server product available to mainstream users. Windows Server 2022 will only be available on the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC); unlike recent versions…

The LockFile ransomware group has been actively launching attacks against Microsoft Exchange Servers, exploiting three vulnerabilities that were patched by Microsoft in April and May this year. Known as the Exchange Server ProxyShell vulnerabilities, the LockFile group uses them, in conjunction with the Windows PetitPotam vulnerabilities that were partially patched in the round of updates…

Earlier this month, the Azure Sentinel and Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) teams announced the public availability of ‘Fusion detection for ransomware’. Fusion is designed to automatically correlate security alerts that could be related to ransomware. More precisely, Microsoft said the Fusion machine learning model collates alerts detected in a specific timeframe during defense evasion…

Microsoft recently announced that it acquired CloudKnox Security, a security management solution for businesses that use more than one cloud service provider. CloudKnox says that its solutions help IT departments “granular visibility, actionable insights, and control of machine and human identities with excessive high-risk privileges.” Joy Chik, who is corporate vice president for Microsoft Identity,…

August sees Microsoft release the smallest number of security fixes for its products so far this year. In fact, it’s the smallest batch since December 2019. In addition to new bug fixes for the Windows Print Spooler service and NTLM, there are also changes in the default Point and Print driver installation behavior. Recurring PrintNightmare?…

In Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and later versions of Windows, you can perform a full installation of the operating system without needing to manually enter a product key as was the case in versions of Windows before Vista and Windows Server 2008. This makes it much easier to install Windows if you don’t have…

Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is a feature in Windows Server 2022 that lets multiple users connect simultaneously and access applications and a desktop remotely. Windows Server 2022 Remote Desktop Services can also be used by IT for remote administration. It’s important to understand that if you want to connect to Windows Server 2022 to remotely…

Microsoft has announced that it is dropping Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) releases for Windows Server. Starting with Windows Server 2022 there will be only one release on the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC). It will get 10 years’ support (five years mainstream, and five years extended). Microsoft says that SAC releases in previous versions of Windows Server…

July and August are usually a quiet time at Microsoft. But this year, there’s a little more buzz than usual as Microsoft continues to prepare Windows 11 for a fall release. Microsoft Store in Windows 11 will not automatically update all Win32 apps In a support document for developers, Microsoft revealed that Win32 apps using…

Telnet is a client/server protocol used for accessing remote servers. As the name might suggest, Telnet was originally used on terminals that only required a keyboard because everything on the screen was displayed in text, usually from a mainframe computer. The terminal used Telnet to remotely log in to a mainframe server or other computer….

There is an updated version of this article here: How to Add a Domain Controller to an Existing Domain Windows Server 2022 doesn’t include any significant changes to Active Directory (AD). But you will want to use it going forwards for your new domain controllers because of the improved security it provides over earlier versions…