Russell Smith

How to centralize Group Policy templates to make managing configuration settings easier in a domain environment.

The Windows Admin Center (WAC) is a web portal for managing local or remote servers via a gateway that uses PowerShell Remoting and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) over WinRM. WAC will eventually replace Server Manager, and going forwards, is where Microsoft will make future investments in Windows Server GUI management.

Most of the changes in Windows 10 version 2004, which is due to land in the first half of 2020, are under-the-hood. And the Windows 10 November 2019 Update got some of the changes that were in development as part of 20H1, like enhancements to search in File Explorer. This second article in a two-part series looks at the new Cortana experience that is coming as part of Windows 10 version 2004.

Microsoft is making available a dual-screen Hyper-V emulator that simulates Windows 10X as part of a forthcoming pre-release version of the Windows SDK.

In January we finally said goodbye to Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Microsoft made its new Edge browser generally available, fixed a search bug in File Explorer, and started rolling out Calls in Your Phone for Windows 10 19H1 and newer.

Redmond could be looking to phase out the Microsoft Store for Business and Store for Education. Not to be confused with the consumer app that is bundled with Windows 10, the Store for Business and Store for Education allows organizations to control licensing and distribution of public Store apps and to distribute line-of-business apps that are developed in-house.

Microsoft adds a subset of existing Azure server security and auditing features to Azure Arc for organizations that need to manage workloads on different platforms and locations.

Hot on the heels of this month’s Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has published a security advisory for an Internet Explorer zero-day.

Windows 7 gets its last regular Patch Tuesday security updates, Microsoft fixes a CryptoAPI vulnerability reported by the NSA, and Windows Server RDP also gets patched.

Most of the changes in Windows 10 version 2004, which is due to land in the first half of 2020, are under-the-hood. And the Windows 10 November 2019 Update got some of the changes that were in development as part of 20H1, like enhancements to search in File Explorer. This first article in a two-part series looks at the productivity improvements coming as part of Windows 10 version 2004.

Search in Windows and Microsoft 365 is changing. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the general availability of Microsoft Search, a new cloud-based service borrowing AI technology from Bing aimed at making it easier to find information in Office 365.

Windows 7 reaches end-of-life, Microsoft throws Windows a lifeline with Windows 10X, Windows 10 gets another major feature update, and Windows Server continues to support Azure.