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When working with SQL Server databases, the SQL COALESCE expression is commonly used to detect null values and provide a fallback or default value when dealing with nullable columns or expressions in SQL queries. It’s like a syntactic shortcut for the CASE expression, and it’s typically used to make subsequent calculations easier. In this article,…

Microsoft has added support for new system-based alerts in public preview for Windows 365 Enterprise customers. The new feature enables IT admins to keep track of Windows 365 Cloud PCs that are in a grace period. With this release, the Windows 365 IT admin alerts feature triggers an email when a Cloud PC enters the…

Microsoft has introduced restricted management administrative units support in public preview for Microsoft Entra ID. The new role-based access control (RBAC) feature lets organizations allow only select IT admins, security teams, or devices to access specific resources. “Restricted management administrative units allow you to protect specific objects in your tenant from modification by anyone other…

Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose is a fully managed service for efficiently streaming data from virtually any data source to your AWS applications. It provides near-real-time ingestion capabilities for building real-time data applications. In this article, we’ll detail how Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose works and the best use cases for it. What is Amazon Kinesis Data…

Microsoft Edge for Business will soon become the default experience for all enterprise customers. Microsoft has announced its plans to release version 116 of its Edge browser with the new dedicated work experience next month. Microsoft Edge for Business launched in public preview back in May 2023. This release allows users to better separate their…

Microsoft has started discussing its plans regarding Windows 11 version 23H2, the next annual update for the OS to be released later this fall. On its Windows IT Pro blog yesterday, the company announced that Windows 11 version 23H2 will be released as an enablement package in the fourth quarter of 2023. “The upcoming Windows…

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint has announced that Device isolation and Antivirus scanning capabilities are now available in preview for macOS and Linux devices. The new response actions should help to protect organizations against security threats. The device isolation feature blocks the compromised device from connecting to the corporate network. Meanwhile, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint continues…

Microsoft has disclosed that Chinese hackers breached the email accounts of US government employees. The hacking group (tracked as Storm-0558) exploited a flaw in Microsoft’s cloud email service to gain unauthorized access to email systems. Microsoft found that the threat actors used forged authentication tokens to access affected user accounts through Outlook Web Access in…

GitHub announced this morning that it has added support for passkeys in public beta. The passkeys feature is a standardized new way that lets users seamlessly and securely access GitHub.com. A passkey is a sequence of characters that helps to ensure that only authorized users gain access to sensitive resources. The security feature is used…

In this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott discuss Microsoft Teams 3D avatars reaching general availability and Amazon allowing all developers to release their Android apps on its App Store on Windows 11.

Microsoft has announced that it will soon rebrand Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) as Entra ID. The name change will be a gradual process, and it’s expected to be rolled out to all Microsoft products and experiences in the second half of 2023. The Microsoft Entra product family first made its debut back in May…

Office 365 nested groups refer to the practice of creating a group within another group in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem using the dynamic functionality in Azure AD. For IT admins, this practice lets them organize groups in a hierarchical manner, enabling a more structured approach to managing access, permissions, and collaboration within an organization. Membership…