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Microsoft today announced Surface 3, a cost-reduced version of Surface Pro 3 that eschews the compatibility and performance issues of previous Windows RT-based Surface tablets. Based on the brand-spanking-new Intel “Cherry Trail” platform, Surface 3 is, in Microsoft’s words, “a full Windows and Office machine” that can fulfill the needs of individuals and businesses alike….

Jeff Hicks shows us how to easily query Excel workbooks as a database with some help from PowerShell.

The powerful Chef automation tool is becoming one of the more popular IT automation and management offerings. Michael Simmons takes a look and explains what all the fuss is about.

Microsoft has pinned its hopes for the future on cross-platform office productivity solutions. And while the software giant has made tremendous progress getting new and existing productivity apps on popular mobile platforms, it’s not stopping there. Over the past several months, Microsoft has been busy gobbling up related businesses that make productivity apps and services….

In this Lansweeper 5.2 review, Jeff Hicks shows us the benefits of using the asset management and network inventory tool for your SQL Server, VMware, and Active Directory environments.

Petri Contributing Editor Aidan Finn walks us through how to use Azure Backup to protect Microsoft Azure IaaS virtual machines.

Because the wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round, this week’s other news includes a new Microsoft paid leave program for contract employees, Microsoft is still looking at running Android apps on Windows Phone, fake Apple Store employees, overpaid tech industry leaders, more Secure Boot non-concerns for Linux users, and the return of Blackberry…

Daniel Petri shows us how to manage local Active Directory groups with Group Policy Preferences, which lets us create, delete, update, and rename local groups.

European lawmakers who previous scuttled an EU settlement with Google are now taking an even more hardline stance against the search giant in the wake of leaked documents showing that the company should have faced antitrust charges in the United States. Meanwhile, the FTC and Google are both scrambling to undo the damage caused by…

Russell Smith shares simple steps for configuring event log forwarding in Windows Server 2012 R2.

PowerShell MVP Jeff Hicks shows us how to achieve PowerShell string parsing with named captures and REGEX.

PowerShell MVP Jeff Hicks walks us through the process of creating a function to test and compare PowerShell commands and their efficiency.