How To

In the early days of the Internet, there was just one 'hosts' file that was used to match computer names to IP addresses. All devices connected to the Internet are represented by an IP address. An IP address might look something like this: 172.217.23.238. As you can see, it would be difficult to remember the… Read More

In the world of Microsoft operating systems, there are several choices such as Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows 365. When it comes to choosing which version of the desktop software to use, the choices are not always easily differentiated but here is a breakdown of your options. Introduction Choosing which version of Windows to… Read More

Introduction One of the most important workflows in a business is the approval process. This can range from administration-like approvals like vacation requests, expense reports, and document signoffs. However, there is almost an innumerable amount of approval categories in the business world besides these. Think Finance, Manufacturing, HR, heck, even IT. (Imagine having to get… Read More

If you are using PowerShell scripts to automate tasks in your environment, sooner or later, there's a good chance that you will need to deal with elevating privileges to access resources that require a different set of credentials than those being used to run the script. For example, you might need to access a file… Read More

Image Credit: Microsoft If you are an admin and have been scrambling the past week to patch the PrintNightmare vulnerability, you are not alone. The messaging around this zero-day has been confusing with Microsoft saying they have a solution, industry experts saying it’s not effective, and now Microsoft saying “you’re patching it wrong”. Microsoft isn't… Read More

I'm sure many of you are excited that Microsoft's Windows Insider Program team recently launched the testing phase of Windows 11. What better way to get your feet wet than to test it in a brand-new virtual Hyper-V machine! Some of your users will probably be clamoring to upgrade when it's official and recommended, so,… Read More

Zero Trust is a security model that can be applied to Microsoft 365. It focuses on improving security by verifying and testing both the identity and device before granting access to resources. You can think of Zero Trust as a way of working, wherein you take it for granted that every user and device accessing… Read More

I work with many legal and regulatory organizations that require no retention period for Microsoft Teams channels and their users’ chats. Other industries dictate that the information must be retained for 7 years while other customers don’t want to let go of any information and retain their chats indefinitely. This blog post will assist you… Read More

When approaching a rollout of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) for your organization, it can be difficult to know where to start.  In my last article, MDE was explained at a high level: what it is and why you should care.  This time, we will get into the weeds of how to actually plan for… Read More

If you prefer the 'classic' Windows 10 Start menu, or if you want Live Tiles back, then Windows 11 gives you the option to revert to the Windows 10 Start menu. Microsoft could remove the ability to switch back to the Windows 10 Start menu in Windows 11. But I expect to appease enterprise users,… Read More

News and Interests on the Windows 10 taskbar is a new feature that is turned on automatically for all users of Windows 10, version 1909 and later. News and Interests is a little controversial because some people see it as more of a distraction than a useful tool. It shows the current weather next to… Read More

It doesn't happen that often but sometimes Hyper-V virtual machines (VM) hang when you are trying to shut them down. And you end up with a VM in Hyper-V Manager with a status of 'Shutting down' that no longer responds, and it can't be forced to shut down using the normal controls. Even the PowerShell… Read More

Back on September 14, 2017, at Microsoft's 'Ignite' tech conference in Orlando, FL, I was fortunate to witness history, in-person. I was in the session where Microsoft's Server team announced 'Project Honolulu', a brand new, written from-the-ground-up management tool for Windows Servers, Windows 10, and Azure resources. When the product officially went live on April… Read More

A long-requested feature in SharePoint Online is the ability to change the URL of the top-level SharePoint site.  This setting is determined by the tenant name you choose when your tenant was first created, meaning the URL will always be https://<tenantname>.sharepoint.com.  Poorly considered tenant name choices, along with company rebranding or renaming, are just a… Read More

Hyper-V is the built-in hypervisor that comes free in Windows and Windows Server. It is used to run virtual machines (VM) on Windows. Virtualization is also used for other features, like Virtualization-Based Security (VBS), Windows Sandbox, and Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG). Developers sometimes use virtualization with Visual Studio to run device emulators. Microsoft introduced… Read More