automation

The tiny11builder project has received a significant refresh: the PowerShell-based builder now supports Windows 11 version 25H2 builds, adds explicit removal of Copilot and the new Outlook for Windows client, switches to more efficient recovery compression for smaller ISOs, and introduces...

I learned to treat the terminal as my writing room: no floating toolbars, no Ribbon, just text, and the muscle memory of a keyboard—this is the core claim a Windows Central writer makes for why they compose everything inside a terminal rather than in Microsoft Word, and it’s an argument that has...

PowerToys quietly hides a few genuinely time-saving features behind its polished dashboard — tools for backing up your entire configuration, automatic diagnostic logs you can read yourself, and an easy plugin system that turns the launcher into a Swiss Army knife. These three capabilities alone...

Microsoft has confirmed that Phase 2 of its mandatory multi‑factor authentication (MFA) enforcement for Azure will begin a tenant‑by‑tenant rollout this autumn, extending MFA requirements from portal sign‑ins down into the Azure Resource Manager (ARM) control plane and affecting command‑line...

This week’s channel headlines make one thing clear: vendors are sharpening routes to market for managed service providers, packaging flexibility and automation into partner programmes, subscription platforms and AI-first security products that are explicitly aimed at shrinking the gap between...

CSOP’s push to turn hours of manual, error-prone work into seconds-long automated workflows shows how Azure AI and GitHub Copilot can reshape asset management — but the numbers, governance demands, and hidden costs behind that transformation deserve as much scrutiny as the glossy case study...

Microsoft has confirmed a second phase of mandatory multifactor authentication (MFA) that extends enforcement from Azure’s web admin consoles into the Azure Resource Manager (ARM) control plane — covering Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, REST management APIs, mobile clients and...

Former Parallo engineers Shaun Webber, Symon Thurlow and Jay Strydom have quietly reassembled to launch Spotto.ai, an AI-native Azure cloud optimisation platform aimed squarely at MSPs and SaaS teams wrestling with runaway cloud bills and fragmented operations. (reseller.co.nz, spotto.app)...

Microsoft’s public preview of a self-service quota management experience for Azure App Service brings a long-requested level of transparency and control to scaling web apps — a dedicated App Service Quota blade in the Azure portal that shows usage per SKU, lets teams request new limits inline...

Microsoft’s internal IT organization has completed one of the most ambitious cloud migrations in corporate history — moving virtually all employee-facing systems into Azure and reshaping how the company thinks about operations, security, and engineering at scale. The transition, driven by...

WinGet has quietly become one of the most practical productivity tools in a Windows 11 power user's toolbox — not just for installing apps, but for managing whole system states, enforcing upgrade policies, and automating maintenance. A recent MakeUseOf piece showed four simple WinGet workflows —...

Microsoft appears to be quietly reworking how it charges businesses for Copilot — moving role-based Copilots for Sales, Service, and Finance into the core Microsoft 365 Copilot offering, reorganizing teams around an “agent-native” strategy, and shifting how custom agents are metered. If...

Microsoft revealed a compact but meaningful set of Cost Management updates for July and August 2025 that aim to reduce friction for partners, trim logging costs, simplify multi-cloud migrations, and strengthen the programmatic access story for Enterprise Agreement (EA) indirect partners—changes...

CSOP’s move from a 10-minute, manual ETF reporting routine to a 30-second, AI-driven workflow is not a minor productivity tweak — it’s a clear example of how cloud-scale generative AI, paired with no-code tooling and developer acceleration, can transform asset management operations overnight...

Azure Arc is becoming the practical replacement many enterprises need after Microsoft signaled the deprecation of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and for organizations that want to centralize patching across on-premises servers and Azure VMs the recommended route is to Arc‑enable servers...

CISA’s release of “A Shared Vision of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for Cybersecurity” marks a deliberate, coordinated push to normalize software composition transparency across governments, suppliers, and operators — a concrete step toward reducing systemic risk in the software supply chain...

Microsoft’s PowerToys team has quietly moved to fill a conspicuous gap in Windows’ personalization features: beginning with PowerToys v0.94 the project teased a scheduled automatic theme switching utility that will let Windows switch between light and dark modes on a timetable — a capability...

Microsoft has quietly pushed Windows 11, version 25H2, into the Release Preview Channel—but don’t expect a parade of shiny consumer features. The update is being delivered as a lightweight enablement package on top of the existing 24H2 servicing branch, which means it activates features...

At some point in the early 21st century, the public debate over artificial intelligence shifted from abstract speculation to urgent planning: could the next leap in AI turn into a civilization-scale crisis, and if so, what can people do now to reduce the odds? A high-profile scenario known as AI...

Microsoft’s offer to make Copilot available at no charge to U.S. government workers marks a significant shift in how enterprise AI is being positioned for public-sector users, promising quick adoption benefits while raising immediate questions about procurement, security, and long-term costs...