Microsoft’s attempt to build a safe, centralized app ecosystem for Windows began as an inspired idea and then spent more than a decade bouncing between half-measures, bad product bets, and shifting incentives — but over the last two years Microsoft has quietly rebuilt the plumbing and the...
app marketplace
centralized updates
commerce model
configmgr
developer economics
enterprise it
intune
microsoft store
msix
open app store principles
pwa
security updates
software distribution
update orchestration
uwp
win32
windows
windows 11
winget
Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices that already have Microsoft 365 desktop client apps, rolling the background install out beginning in Fall 2025 — with a practical deployment window that industry reporting ties to early October through...
applocker
auto install
background installation
copilot app
data protection
deployment
eea exclusion
endpoint management
fall 2025 rollout
group policy
intune
microsoft 365 copilot
microsoft learn
privacy telemetry
registry policy
tenant opt-out
windows
Cerence’s new in-car agent, built with Microsoft cloud services, has just crossed the line from concept demo to a usable — and commercially tempting — feature set: your car can now read and reply to Outlook and Teams messages, summarize what you missed, pull calendar locations and route you...
Microsoft’s latest packaging of its agent-building tools — now split into Copilot Studio Lite and the Copilot Studio Full Experience — is less a rename and more a strategic reframe: the company is clarifying who these tools are for, where they run, and how enterprises should govern them. The...
Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot desktop app on Windows machines that already have Microsoft 365 desktop clients installed, a background rollout slated to start in early October and run into mid‑November 2025 — and while enterprise tenants can opt out, most...
Microsoft’s app-store experiment started with a clear promise — a single, safe place to find and automatically update Windows software — but for more than a decade the reality was a sequence of missteps, confusing platform shifts, and fragmented developer incentives that left most PC users...
app curation
app packaging
appx
desktop bridge
developer economics
electron
enterprise it
intune
microsoft store
msix
pwa
sccm
software distribution
third party stores
update orchestration
uwp
win32
windows 11
windows update
winget
Microsoft has confirmed a sweeping change to how Windows devices will receive AI integration: the Microsoft 365 Copilot app will be automatically installed on Windows systems that already have Microsoft 365 desktop apps, with the rollout beginning in early October 2025 and expected to finish...
Microsoft will begin installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot app automatically on Windows devices that already have the Microsoft 365 desktop apps, a background rollout that starts this fall and is expected to reach completion by mid‑November — but it won’t happen for devices in the European...
admin center
admin controls
ai in productivity
applocker
auto-install
autoinstall
automatic installation
automation
background install
background installation
copilot
copilot app
copilot app rollout
copilot rollout
data governance
data privacy
data residency
deployment
device configuration
device management
eea
eea carve-out
eea exclusion
end user
endpoint management
enterprise it
enterprise rollout
european economic area
fall 2025
fall 2025 rollout
gdpr
group policy
helpdesk
helpdesk planning
integrated apps
intune
it admin
it administration
it governance
licensing
licensing gating
microsoft 365
microsoft 365 apps admin center
microsoft 365 copilot
microsoft learn
modern app settings
office apps
onboarding discovery
opt out
opt-out
policy controls
powershell
powershell uninstall
privacy
privacy compliance
privacy telemetry
productivity tools
registry
regulatory compliance
remote provisioning
rollout
security
security and compliance
srp
start menu
telemetry
tenant opt-out
turnoffwindowscopilot
user adoption
user experience
user training
windows
windows 10 11
windows 10/11
windows copilot
windows deployment
windows management
windows update
Built for speed and ready to scale, the push toward Windows 11 Pro devices—especially Copilot+ systems and Intel vPro® machines powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra—is no longer marketing fluff: it’s the practical backbone of a modern, hybrid SMB strategy that combines measurable performance gains, new...
The October 14, 2025 deadline for Windows 10 support is not a vague marketing threat—it’s a hard, non‑negotiable inflection point that forces SMBs to choose between predictable, staged migration now or emergency, expensive remediation later.
Background
Windows 10 will stop receiving free...
ai governance
autopilot
copilot+
deployment planning
device lifecycle
enterprise it trends
extended security update
intel vpro
intune
on-device ai
patch management
security posture
smb migration planning
smb roi
tpm 2.0
windows 10 end of support
windows 11 migration
windows 11 productivity
zero-touch provisioning
September 9, 2025 — KB5065474: Hotpatch for Windows 11 Enterprise (24H2) — Full summary, impact, and deployment guidance
TL;DR — What you need to know right now
Microsoft released hotpatch KB5065474 on September 9, 2025 for Windows 11 Enterprise (24H2 / LTSC 2024). After installation eligible...
BlinkOps’ announced integration with Microsoft Sentinel brings a new class of agentic security automation into the Azure ecosystem — available today through the Azure Marketplace and supported by prebuilt content in the Sentinel Content Hub — and that combination has immediate operational...
Microsoft is retiring the built-in Mobile Plans app and moving eSIM purchase and provisioning to a web-first model where carrier websites handle checkout while Windows Settings manages secure device provisioning and identifier consent.
Background / Overview
The Mobile Plans app — a small...
activation
carrier checkout
device identifiers
digital commerce
eid
enterprise it
esim
esim provisioning
imei
intune
mdm
microsoft
mobile plans
oems
privacy
qr codes
security
web checkout
windows
windows settings
Microsoft Copilot is built into Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, but it’s straightforward to hide, disable, or block the feature when you want a distraction‑free workspace or need to enforce an enterprise policy.
Background
Microsoft introduced Copilot as a system‑level assistant that blends local...
app locker
auto install
copilot settings
deep links
enterprise it
group policy
intune
microsoft 365 admin
office copilot
per app control
policy csp
privacy
registry
security
smart screen
taskbar
tenant control
uninstall copilot
windows 11
windows copilot
Microsoft’s enterprise backup story just took a meaningful step: Windows Backup for Organizations — the tenant-scoped backup and restore experience Microsoft built to ease device refreshes and large-scale Windows migrations — is being exposed to Intune administrators and moving into wider...
azure active directory
azure ad
backup and restore
conditional access
device enrollment
enterprise backup
entra
intune
mdm
microsoft activity feed service
microsoft entra
oobe
settings catalog
tenant-scoped backup
windows 10 22h2
windows 11 22h2
windows backup for organizations
Mozilla has added a way to turn off its new AI features — but only for IT administrators, not ordinary users, leaving privacy‑minded consumers stuck with an awkward manual workaround or buried about:config toggles to fully opt out.
Background
Firefox has been steadily adding on‑device and...
Windows 11’s ongoing preview updates are delivering modest but meaningful changes this month: Microsoft has quietly applied reliability fixes to the taskbar’s auto‑hide behavior and is experimenting with surfacing Copilot suggestions inside the Start menu’s Recommended area. These two items —...
ai in os
auto-hide
copilot
enterprise it
group policy
insider preview
intune
launch rollout
microsoft 365 copilot
monetization
preview builds
recommended
start menu
taskbar
telemetry
ui polish
user experience
windows 11
Renaming a Windows 11 PC is one of those tiny housekeeping tasks that pays outsized dividends: it makes devices easier to find on a network, helps you avoid confusion when syncing across accounts, and can even improve basic security by hiding OEM‑style default names. The process is intentionally...
active directory
cloud pc
command prompt
computer name
dns
enterprise it
fqdn
hostname
intune
mdm
naming conventions
netbios
pc rename
powershell
rename this pc
sysdm.cpl
system properties
windows 11
windows 365
wmic
Microsoft’s latest push makes the long-promised “passwordless” future real for Windows 11 users by turning passkeys and Windows Hello into the default, secure way to sign into apps, websites, and corporate devices — removing passwords from the sign-in flow while preserving recoverability and...
Microsoft's public posture toward Windows Mobile has quietly shifted from product-led ambition to maintenance-mode realism: the company will keep the platform alive for security patches, enterprise deployments and compatibility with Windows 10's broader ecosystem, but it will no longer...
android
app development
azure ad
cross-platform
enterprise
intune
ios
lumia
maintenance mode
microsoft
mobile strategy
oem
office
office on ipad
satya nadella
security patches
uwp
windows 10 mobile
windows ecosystem
windows mobile