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As Azure Local and other hyper-converged solutions—such as Windows Server Hyper-Converged and Proxmox—continue to gain traction, many customers, partners, and smaller OEM resellers still struggle with sizing their clusters accurately. This challenge has persisted for years, particularly with Azure Local and Windows Server environments. During my time at Microsoft, we encountered frequent issues with both…

Microsoft is investigating a new bug in its Intune endpoint management software that causes custom security baseline settings to be lost during the update process. The Microsoft Intune support team acknowledged this issue on July 1. In Microsoft Intune, security baselines are collections of recommended security settings designed by Microsoft to help organizations quickly implement…

Microsoft has officially launched Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE) for commercial customers. This new release adopts a subscription-based model, departing from the traditional versioned approach to deliver continuous updates and long-term support. Microsoft first announced details about the Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE) back in May 2024. This new subscription-based version of Exchange Server is…

Microsoft is strengthening passkey support in Windows 11 as part of its ongoing shift away from traditional passwords toward more secure, phishing-resistant authentication. A new partnership with 1Password allows users to seamlessly sync and manage passkeys directly within Windows 11. A passkey is a modern, secure way to log into apps and websites without using…

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has introduced a new security feature designed to protect users from email-bombing attacks. This new capability started rolling out in late June, and it’s expected to hit general availability by the end of this month. An email bombing attack is a type of cyberattack where a target’s inbox is flooded…

There’s been a lot of chatter this week about Microsoft struggling to get businesses on board with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Now, it’s not that big enterprises aren’t buying it—many of them are. But here’s the twist: actual adoption inside those organizations is sluggish. Wait—Why is that? Well, here’s the kicker. Users are choosing ChatGPT instead….

Microsoft has rolled out enhanced application protection policies in Microsoft Intune. Application protection policies (APP) are designed to help protect corporate data within mobile apps, especially in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scenarios. MAM SDK adoption grows with 126 supported apps Microsoft has released the Mobile Application Management Software Development Kit (MAM SDK). This release…

Security researchers have discovered a sophisticated phishing campaign that exploits Microsoft 365’s Direct Send feature, allowing attackers to send deceptive emails without authentication to steal user credentials. Since May 2025, this technique has targeted over 70 organizations across multiple industries in the U.S., posing a significant threat to enterprise email security. In Exchange Online, the…

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered critical vulnerabilities that affected hundreds of home and enterprise printers from the hardware manufacturer Brother. Security firm Rapid7 found that eight security flaws are affecting multifunction printers. Specifically, Rapid7 researchers have found eight serious vulnerabilities that affected 689 models of Brother devices, including printers, scanners, and label makers. These flaws also…

In this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott discuss a recent report suggesting that Microsoft is struggling to sell its Copilot AI to enterprise customers due to the viral success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which recently crossed 3 million paying business users.

Microsoft announced this morning the latest advancements in its Windows Resiliency Initiative (WRI). The company has detailed new tools to support resiliency on the Windows platform, including quick machine recovery, Microsoft Connected Cache, and more. Last year, Microsoft announced the Windows Resiliency Initiative (WRI) as a strategic effort to embed resilience and security directly into…

Microsoft has announced that the hotpatching feature is now enabled by default for all new Windows quality update policies created through Microsoft Intune. This new feature should help organizations improve security compliance and reduce downtime for Windows devices. Hotpatching is a Windows update feature that allows certain updates (especially security patches) to be applied without…