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
by Peter Rising
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
by Brad Sams
If you are having trouble determining if your PC is compatible with Windows 11, here are all the steps you can take to make sure you device will run the new OS.
Windows Server 2019 is almost as easy to install as Windows 10. And in this article, I'm going to take you step-by-step through the process of installing Windows Server 2019. Windows Server 2019 installation media If you don't have access to the Windows Server 2019 .iso directly from Microsoft or a partner, you can download… Read More
by Jason Wynn
Microsoft Teams has grown massively in the last 12 months, growing from 44 million active users in April 2020 to over 145 Million users in April 2021. But the business world doesn’t stop; mergers, acquisitions, divestitures is part of the everyday challenge for the IT Pro. Voice and how we use voice in Microsoft Teams… Read More
Managing Windows Update with PowerShell has until recently only been possible using a third-party module. But starting in Windows Server 2019, Microsoft's WindowsUpdateProvider PowerShell module is included out-of-the-box and it allows you to perform simple Windows Update management tasks, like starting a scan and installing updates. In this article, I will look at both Microsoft's… Read More
The technology that underpins Known Issue Rollback first appeared in Windows 10 version 2004. Known Issue Rollback, or KIR for short, lets Microsoft and IT administrators quickly roll back non-security fixes that are causing functionality issues in Windows. Known Issue Rollback is designed to help Microsoft and organizations keep Windows devices secure but make sure… Read More
Continuing my mini-series on providing IT Pros valuable assistance and guides moving their workloads, roles, and Server-based applications to Windows Server 2022, here is my guide to upgrading, in-place, from Windows Server 2019 'Core' to Windows Server 2022 'Core.' Thankfully, the overall setup routine is similar to using the GUI (Desktop Experience) in Windows Server.… Read More
When was the last time you were engaged in a communication thread and made a mental note to assign yourself a task? And then...forgot? Yep, me too. I can literally say it aloud while I'm working and lose that thought a minute later. Thankfully for our sakes, Microsoft is continuing to make it easy to… Read More
with 2 Comments by Russell Smith
Before you can install Windows Server 2019 on physical hardware, you'll need boot media that contains all the files necessary to install Windows Server. Boot media generally comes in two forms: as a DVD or USB drive. As most modern server hardware comes without a DVD drive, in this article, I'll show you how to… Read More
by Peter Rising
In Getting Started with SharePoint Syntex - Problem, Solution, and Methodology, we explain that SharePoint Syntex is a service that teaches Microsoft 365 to read, understand, and extract content from files stored in SharePoint Online Document Libraries. In this article, we create one of the available models that SharePoint Syntex provides, specifically a Document Understanding… Read More
If you are aiming for a roll-your-own approach to creating a backup of your data in Microsoft 365, the options are not great for a build-your-own solution. However, when it comes to the configuration of your tenant, there are good options. Even if you’ve bought a backup product for Microsoft 365 or are relying on… Read More
Join us on Tuesday, August 24th and hear from Microsoft MVPs and industry experts about how to take advantage of Microsoft 365 at a technical level and dive deep into the features and functionality that will make your environment more secure and compliant.
