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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

Sponsored: Automate Office 365 User Licensing

Last Update: Nov 19, 2024

If you need to ensure that users have the correct Office 365 licenses assigned, and that licenses are automatically revoked as users are deprovisioned, then look to a third-party solution, such as Softerra Adaxes, to automating licensing.

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Introduction to Windows Hello for Business

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Russell explains what Windows Hello for Business is and how it differs from Windows Hello for consumers.

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Microsoft Retires EMET Security Tool

Last Update: Jun 29, 2025

Find out why Microsoft has discontinued EMET and how Windows 10 mitigates many of the threats that EMET was designed to counter.

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Sponsored: Delegating Access in Active Directory

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Delegating access to Active Directory (AD) usually involves deciding which permissions to assign users so that they can perform a restricted set of tasks. However, providing access to AD also requires you to think about the appropriate management tool and user interface.

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How To Set Up Two-Factor Authentication for a Microsoft Account

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll show you how to set up two-factor authentication for Microsoft Accounts which is an excellent way to secure your account.

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Sponsored: Active Directory Cleanup – Removing Stale Objects

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Due to the nature of the tasks Active Directory (AD) performs as an identity management solution, inactive objects are not only an inconvenience, cluttering the directory with outdated and unused objects, but also pose a security risk. Third-party AD management solutions, such as Softerra Adaxes, can take much of the risk out of the process.

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Customize Office 2016 Click-to-Run Installations

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Microsoft distributes Office 2016 to consumers and Office 365 users using Click-To-Run, a streaming and virtualization technology that’s based on App-V. There are several advantages to distributing Office with Click-to-Run, as opposed to a traditional Windows Installer package.

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Merge Your Skype Name with a Microsoft Account

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Secure your Skype account by merging it with a Microsoft Account.

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Microsoft Azure: A First Look at Azure DNS

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Azure DNS does give you is the ability to use Microsoft’s infrastructure for resolving name queries for your domain’s zones. Learn more about this new feature.

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Sponsored: Automating User Provisioning in Active Directory

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Manually setting up users in Active Directory is not only tedious, but also error prone. PowerShell alone doesn’t provide an easy way to create new AD user accounts. Learn about another option that saves time and money by reducing downtime for users and the workload for HR and IT.

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Azure AD Domain Services Reaches General Availability

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Get insight into the generally available Azure Active Directory (AAD) Domain Services and the changes that have been made to the managed service since it previewed.

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First Steps: Docker and Containers in Windows Server 2016

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024

Find out how to deploy an image to a container in Windows Server 2016, create a new image, and upload it to Docker.

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