How do you learn PowerShell effectively? Richard chats with Jeff Hicks about his experiences teaching PowerShell from the beginning. Jeff talks about strategies to learn more about PowerShell as you code, not just searching for cut-and-paste examples. The danger of cut-and-paste is that you don't get a chance to understand what you're working on - you need to write some code to get better. This line of reasoning turns the conversation to routine learning, ensuring you're writing a little PowerShell daily to grow your skills - whether that's code you need in your work or more practice-related code. PowerShell is a superpower. You just need to learn it!Links:PowerShellVMware PowerCLIPowerShell.orgPowerShell on DiscordPowerShell Practice PrimerBehind the PowerShell PipelineJeff's BlogRecorded July 26, 2022

PowerApps are proliferating - how do you keep them under control? Richard talks to April Dunnam about managed environments for PowerApps, providing oversight and governance. April talks about the Microsoft Power Platform Center of Excellence Starter Kit as a way to get started in the governance model with tooling for insights, auditing, compliance, and even helping connect the folks building PowerApps in your organization. It's early days for the tooling, but worth the effort to help get PowerApps to be part of the same application lifecycle management processes that already exist in your organization!Links:Managed EnvironmentsMicrosoft Power Platform Center of Excellence Starter KitExpress DesignPower Platform Extension for VS CodeRecorded July 15, 2022

On July 8, the Rogers company in Canada had a total network outage for 15 hours - what happened? Richard talks to Dana Epp about what we can learn from an outage like this. Dana talks about having an open root cause analysis to provide detailed discussion without accusation or blame. You understand the potential when you look at how the airline industry has become incredibly safe through open root cause analysis. Outages are bad - but learning from them is what makes up better!Links:Microsoft Defender for EndpointRogers Outage Press ReleaseCloudflare View of Rogers OutageCSE Russia cyber threatRecorded July 15, 2022

Viva continues to evolve - what's the latest? Richard talks to Sandy Ussia about her work with the various Viva modules and approaches to customizing Teams. Sandy talks about how it's possible to shape a Teams experience to fit your organization, including using third-party components - there are many choices! When your Teams is in good shape, there are plenty of new Viva modules to explore, including Topics, a knowledge management system using machine learning to extract critical aspects of your organization. And related to that machine learning module are upcoming Sales and Goals! The Viva family keeps growing!Links:Accessible PowerAppsLightning ToolsMicrosoft VivaViva ConnectionsSharePoint NewsAdaptive CardsMicrosoft Viva TopicsOffice DelveMicrosoft Viva SalesMicrosoft Viva GoalsRecorded July 15, 2022

What's the best Windows Server and Azure hybrid configuration? Richard talks to Orin Thomas about the new Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification. Orin digs into how the hybrid certifications pick up where regular Windows Server certifications leave off, adding Azure's role as backup, extended storage, telemetry, and security solutions. The conversation explores how different organizations implement services like file storage and how Azure can add to those solutions without needing significant user retraining but still add essential capabilities. Hybrid is a logical destination for some organization workloads, and certification can get you up to speed on all the options!Links:Windows Server Hybrid Administrator AssociateAzure File SyncAzure SentinelMigrating Hyper-V VMs to AzureRecorded July 5, 2022

Can you migrate group policy objects to Intune? Richard chats with Katy Nicholson about her work modernizing Windows client machines through Microsoft Endpoint Manager, making on-premises Active Directory optional. Katy discusses using the Group Policy Analyzer to understand what policies will work through Endpoint Manager and Configuration Service Providers. The next question is, what policies are irrelevant or obsolete? This leads to a conversation around refreshing security for an organization - why does this policy exist. How is it applied to non-Windows devices? Does it still make sense? Ultimately, all policies are about security, which means getting to zero trust. How does policy work in a zero trust environment, and where do you have to make exceptions?Links:Katy's BlogMicrosoft Endpoint ManagerConfiguration Service ProviderGroup Policy AnalyzerImporting Group Policy Objects into IntuneAzure AD and Windows HelloRecorded July 5, 2022

How does Microsoft Loop help you collaborate? Richard talks to Stephen Rose about the recent addition of Loop to Teams. Loop uses the Fluid Framework to provide collaborative spaces to create to-dos and other lists with multiple people working simultaneously, marking up and responding to information. Documents and other assets brought into a workspace can be added to emails and other documents while remaining live. Every time you open them, they grab the latest info from the documents in the Loop workspace. Appropriate security privileges still apply, but Loop makes it easier for folks to work the way they want to and take advantage of up-to-date info from the M365 accounts in your organization!Links:Inside Microsoft TeamsMicrosoft LoopFluid FrameworkData Loss PreventionFormsOneDrive for BusinessRecorded June 3, 2022

Your Intranet needs news, and SharePoint can help! Richard chats with Emily Mancini about the power of the News part in SharePoint to keep your Intranet more dynamic with a steady stream of new content. Emily talks about creating an ecosystem of evolving content on your Intranet so that it is more than just a set of links to HR information. The conversation dives into targeting news effectively within your organization to keep it relevant and how a good Intranet is ultimately a reflection of its culture - so take it seriously!Links:SharePoint News PartAudience Targeting in SharePointPeople Web PartMicrosoft 365 Community ContentSharing Is CaringHow to Share Org-Wide Communication in Microsoft 365Emily's BlogRecorded Monday, June 6, 2022

Windows Admin Center in Azure? Richard talks to Prasidh Arora about the preview of WAC in Azure - giving admins that familiar Windows Admin Center view of Azure Virtual Machines running Windows Server 2016 or later. Prasidh talks about creating a unified view and admin access to your servers, whether they are running on-premises, in Azure, or even on other cloud infrastructures. Installing Azure Arc on a server makes it available from WAC in Azure. The conversation also digs into the privileges challenges - making sure you have rights on the server for WAC's different capabilities. But with WAC for Azure, we're one step closer to a unified view and control of infrastructure. Links:Windows Admin CenterAzure ArcManage Azure Arc-enabled Servers with WACAzure Stack HCIAzure RBACRecorded June 3, 2022

How do you keep Windows devices updated? Richard talks to Aria Carley about Microsoft's array of update services, including Windows Update for Business, Windows Server Update Services, Intune, Configuration Manager, and more! The host of products can be intimidating, but Aria lays out their role in your organization in a triangle of cost, time, and risk. The options range from allowing consumer-style automatic updates to controlling every install and the order they take place. Where is your comfort level on the triangle?Links:Windows Update for BusinessWindows Server Update ServicesMicrosoft IntuneConfiguration ManagerUpdate Management in AzureWindows Update for Business Deployment ServiceRecorded Wednesday, June 8, 2022