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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: Jun 26, 2025
In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll compare Azure Operational Insights (OpInsights) with System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), and discover whether OpInsights replaces SCOM.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
Russell walks through the steps to add a language pack to a Windows 10 machine. As part of the process, a user should temporarily become a member of the local Administrators group.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
Always Encrypted is a feature of SQL Server 2016 that Microsoft released in Azure SQL Database in June 2016. Russell describes what Always Encrypted technology is and how it works with Azure SQL Database.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
Russell demonstrates how to use PowerShell to quickly create a self-signed certificate, which are handy to use in test scenarios where a certificate is a requirement.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll look at why you might need to back up data stored in the cloud and two options for backing up Office 365.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
Learn how to change which users can have their account credentials cached on read-only domain controllers (RODC).

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
This handy Office tip demonstrates two techniques to export images from a Word document.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
Russell shows how to create your first Azure SQL Database, configure a firewall and connect to the database using Visual Studio.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In today’s Ask the Admin, I’ll look at a new feature, coming in next week’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update (AU), that allows Mobile Continuum to connect to the display of any device running Windows 10, without Microsoft’s Display Dock or additional peripherals. In the time since I wrote Windows 10 Continuum: Could Your Next Phone…

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
In this article about GitHub for Windows, learn how to add branches to GitHub repos, create pull requests and deal with merge conflicts.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
This article is an overview of Windows Store for Business, which businesses can use to create their own private portals for distributing purchased apps or apps developed in-house.

Last Update: Sep 04, 2024
Russell shows how to create an Azure Automation account, upload and compile a DSC configuration, and on board an Azure VM.