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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.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
This month I look at Windows 10 April 2018 Update woes, Progressive Web Apps in the Microsoft Store, new productivity features, and new security features in the next version of Windows.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
There’s been a lot of talk again this year at Build about Azure, IoT, and cloud computing in general but one term that keeps cropping up is the ‘Intelligent Edge’. In this Ask the Admin, I’ll explain Microsoft’s cloud vision in more detail.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In this second part, I’ll look at how to manage Linux and Windows systems remotely using PowerShell Core.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In the first part of this two-part series, I’ll show you how to get started with PowerShell Core for managing heterogenous cloud environments.

Last Update: Jun 30, 2025
This month the Windows 10 April 2018 Update finally drops, although some Intel SSDs don’t seem to be happy about it, and a zero-day vulnerability is being exploited in the wild.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll look at how you can use the Reliability Monitor in Windows 10 to solve problems.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
After the release of a patch for Windows Server 2016 on April 16th, it’s now possible to manage hyper-converged infrastructure using the Windows Admin Center.

Last Update: Dec 03, 2024
Microsoft releases a preview of Storage Migration Service in the latest Insider version of Windows Server 2019. In this Ask the Admin, I’ll provide an overview of what it is and how it works.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
This month, Windows 10 goes on a diet, the April Update is delayed, and Project Honolulu reaches general availability as the Windows Admin Center.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In this Ask the Admin, I’ll show you how to access an Azure Windows Server virtual machine using the serial console independently of the OS and network.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In this post, I’ll look at why Windows Admin Center is the new GUI management tool of choice for Windows Server.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
This month’s Patch Tuesday fixes 63 CVE vulnerabilities, 17 of which are critical for Windows 10.