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Russell Smith

Editorial Director

Russell Smith, the Editorial Director at Petri IT Knowledgebase, has over two decades of hands-on experience in IT, in both small business settings and government IT infrastructure projects.

Russell started writing for Windows IT Pro Magazine in the early 2000s. Since then, he has contributed insights to various IT publications, including Petri and CDW. His authoritative voice has resonated across industry blogs, where he dissects complex topics into an ‘easy read’.

Russell has authored over a thousand articles, each a testament to his depth of knowledge. His expertise doesn’t stop there: he wrote a book on Privilege Management and co-authored another for Microsoft’s MOAC series. Moreover, Russell’s commitment to education shines through in the courses he crafted for Pluralsight.

He is also presenter on his own YouTube channel, This Week in IT, and the current presenter of Petri Dish.

LATEST

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Microsoft Teams Adopts Facebook-Style Storylines, Windows 11 New Features

This Week in IT, Microsoft Teams is bringing a Facebook-style storyline to users, the February CU for Windows 11 brings several new features and updates to File Explorer and the Taskbar, and government users in Australia think Microsoft Copilot isn’t quite as good as they’d hoped. Links and resources Episode overview This week’s IT news…

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Microsoft Defender for individuals

Microsoft Kills Defender VPN, It Was Just a Gimmick Anyway

This Week in IT, Microsoft shuts down its Defender VPN service, hackers are targeting ADFS, and the last Cumulative Update (CU) for Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 gets delayed for extended testing. Links and resources Episode overview This week’s IT news highlights Microsoft’s shutdown of its Defender VPN service, hacker attacks on ADFS, and delays in…

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Microsoft Introduces DeepSeek to Windows 11 and Unveils New Surface Devices

This Week in IT, Surface Copilot+ PCs go all in with Intel, Microsoft announces DeepSeek support is coming to Windows, and the WSUS driver sync service is being retired. Links and resources Episode overview This Week in IT covers various updates from Microsoft, including new AI support, device releases, and service changes.

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Tech Tsunamis: Stargate Upset, Windows Server Woes, and Azure AD APIs End

Last Update: Jan 27, 2025

This Week in IT, the US government’s Stargate project causes upset with US Tech Bros but will likely benefit Microsoft, Windows Server 2022 stops booting, and Microsoft is retiring Azure AD APIs at the end of this month. Episode overview This week’s IT news covers the US government’s Stargate project, Windows Server 2022 issues, and…

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Microsoft Copilot

Unlocking the Future: Copilot Chat Aims to Improve AI Adoption

This Week in IT, Microsoft announces Copilot Chat and pay-as-you go agents – Outlook and Teams is getting a unified contacts experience, and Patch Tuesday causes a problem for some Citrix users. Episode overview This Week in IT, we look at Microsoft’s new Copilot Chat feature, a unified contact experience for Teams and Outlook, and…

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Microsoft Hero WPC

Microsoft’s Strategic Layoffs: Innovation and Efficiency in the AI Era

This Week in IT, Microsoft is set to layoff underperforming employees, website certificates could be set to expire much faster, and Microsoft urges orgs to patch AD domain controllers as a new vulnerability is identified. Episode overview This week’s IT news highlights Microsoft’s plans for layoffs, changes to website certificate expiration, and a new Active…

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Windows 11 2022 Update

The Pros and Cons of Entra Hybrid Join (Azure AD Hybrid Join)

Last Update: Jun 26, 2025

Newly provisioned devices should use Microsoft Entra Join directly rather than starting with on-premises Active Directory (AD) and syncing to Entra ID. This way, organizations can fully benefit from modern Windows features and streamlined management. But many organizations get stuck using Entra Hybrid Join without plans to move to cloud-native setups. One major blocker is…

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This Week in IT ep140

Top 5 IT News Stories of 2024

This Week in IT, I look at the year in review with stories about new features that came to Microsoft Loop, the beginning of the end for WS Update Services, a new Microsoft app for hybrid teams, how Teams got a Slack-like makeover, and the timeline for phasing out the legacy Outlook client for the…

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Microsoft and OpenAI

US Gov Intervention in Microsoft & Google AI Cloud War

This Week in IT, Google asks US government to break apart Microsoft’s exclusive deal with Open AI, organizations are struggling to keep up with AI storage requirements, and some Windows news for enterprises and Copilot+ PC owners. Links and resources Episode overview This week’s IT news covers Google’s request to break apart Microsoft’s deal with…

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Windows 11 2022 Update

Windows 11 Slump: Will Microsoft Loosen Hardware Restrictions?

This Week in IT, Microsoft talks Windows 11 hardware requirements as Windows 10 gets closer to end of life, a new search experience is coming to Windows, plus some important security updates. Links and resources Episode overview In this week’s episode, Russell discusses various updates and news related to Microsoft, including Windows 11 hardware requirements,…

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Copilot for OneDrive

Microsoft Sets the Record Straight: AI Rumors Debunked and Ignite Copilot Updates!

This Week in IT, Microsoft isn’t collecting your data to train AI models and a rundown of the most important Copilot updates from Ignite 2024. Thanks to Semperis for sponsoring this episode of This Week in IT! Episode overview This Week in IT, there’s a rumor circulating about Microsoft using customer data to train AI…

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Windows and Firefox Zero-Day Security Flaws Being Exploited by Hackers

Security firm ESET is warning that RomCom, a Russian Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group, is actively exploiting two zero-day security flaws to plant backdoors on systems. Firefox is being exploited through a use-after-free bug (CVE-2024-9680) in the animation timeline feature, which can lead to code being run in the restricted context of the browser. The…

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