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In this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott discuss the release of OpenAI’s GPT-5.3 Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6, and how Microsoft finds itself stuck in the middle.

Microsoft has started testing native System Monitor (Sysmon) integration in Windows 11, bringing advanced system activity monitoring directly into the OS. The feature is currently rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels for early evaluation. What is Sysmon? Microsoft first announced its plans to introduce native Sysmon functionality into Windows 11…

In this article, I’ll show you how to change passwords for Active Directory users. Passwords are still the primary method of authenticating users in most Active Directory (AD) environments. Although modern identity solutions increasingly rely on multifactor authentication (MFA) and even passwordless technologies, legacy usernames and passwords remain the precarious method in enterprise workflows. Changing…

Russian-hackers are exploiting a high-severity vulnerability that is affecting multiple versions of Microsoft Office. This security flaw could allow hackers to steal emails and deploy malicious payloads against organizations in Central and Eastern Europe. Specifically, CVE‑2026‑21509 is a security feature bypass vulnerability in Microsoft Office, which is triggered when victims open specially crafted RTF documents….

Microsoft has dropped support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) versions 1.0 and 1.1 for Azure Blob Storage. The company has published a guide to help organizations in migrating clients to newer, more secure encryption standards. TLS is a widely used security protocol that encrypts data in transit between clients and servers, and ensures confidentiality, integrity,…

Designing a sound Organizational Unit (OU) structure in Active Directory is crucial for an efficient and secure IT environment. A well-planned OU hierarchy makes it easier to find objects, assign administrative permissions, and apply Group Policy Objects (GPOs) consistently. But there’s no one-size-fits-all design. Following best practices from Microsoft and experienced Active Directory admins will…

Microsoft is preparing to retire its standalone SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business subscriptions (Plan 1 and Plan 2). Commercial customers using these plans will be required to migrate to alternative Microsoft offerings over the coming years as part of a phased transition. What SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business plans offer? SharePoint Online Plan…

As enterprise AI adoption accelerates, organizations are increasingly turning to platforms designed for their own regions rather than global, one-size-fits-all solutions. Gartner predicts this shift will be dramatic, with the share of businesses using region-specific AI expected to surge from a small minority today to more than a third by 2027. According to new research…

Last month, Microsoft rolled out an out-of-band update to fix a bug that prevented some Windows devices from shutting down or hibernating properly. The company has now acknowledged that this issue also affects Secure Launch-capable PCs with Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) enabled. Secure Launch and Virtual Secure Mode (VSM) are Windows security technologies designed to…

Microsoft is moving to a more secure authentication posture by disabling New Technology LAN Manager (NTLM) by default and shifting to stronger, Kerberos-based authentication. The company has published a phased roadmap to give organizations time to identify dependencies and prepare for NTLM’s disablement in future Windows client releases and the next major Windows Server version….

On this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott take a deep look at Microsoft’s latest earnings report and discuss what is growing, who is leading, and how this changes things going forward.

Microsoft has announced the general availability of centralized Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Shortpath configuration through Group Policy Objects (GPO) and Microsoft Intune. The update enables IT teams to centrally enforce and fine-tune RDP Shortpath behavior across Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) session hosts and Windows 365 Cloud PCs. RDP Shortpath is a Remote Desktop feature that…