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This Week in IT

Russell Smith - Editorial Director @ Petri.com

Petri's Editorial Director, Russell Smith, brings you the most important Microsoft 365 and Windows news updates every week. This Week in IT is brought to you by Petri.com

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  • 35 episodes
  • Updated July 17

Episodes35

Newest first
  • July 17 · 48 min

    Copilot Cowork Is Here — But Can You Control the Costs?

    Copilot Cowork is here but so are Copilot Credits, cost controls and awkward ROI questions.This month, Russell Smith and Craig Birch also dig into Windows Ready Print, NTLM’s future, and Microsoft’s passkey push.🔗 Episode resources: https://petri.com/podcast/copilot-cowork-is-here-but-can-you-control-the-costs/#microsoft365 #windows11 #microsoftcopilot #artificialintelligence Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!

  • May 21 · 20 min

    Mac Mini Is Now Shadow IT Infrastructure — And IT Isn't Ready

    This week, the Mac Mini quietly became the default home for always-on AI agents — and your users are probably already running them outside your security boundary. Meanwhile, VMware just dropped an ARM hypervisor. And if you needed a reason to treat AI agents like real identities, a coding agent just wiped an entire production database and every backup in nine seconds flat.👏 Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!

  • May 15 · 15 min

    Browsers Are Downloading AI Without Permission — Here's What IT Admins Need to Do

    This Week in IT, Google Chrome is silently downloading a 4 gigabyte AI model onto devices right now and unless you've deployed one specific policy, there's nothing stopping it. Meanwhile, Microsoft's fix for a sluggish Windows 11 is to spike your CPU to the max when clicking, and they just started the deprecation clock on Entra Connect Sync whether Entra Cloud Sync is ready or not. 👏 Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!

  • April 30 · 14 min

    Windows 11 Can Now Undo Everything — Including Your Security Patches

    Microsoft is previewing a full system rollback for Windows 11 — OS, apps, files, everything — snapped back to where it was 72 hours ago. It's basically a time machine for your PC. But here's the thing: it can also roll back your security patches. Meanwhile, a single configuration change knocked Outlook off every iPhone for over 24 hours. And Microsoft flipped the switch: Copilot is now doing its thing by default, whether your governance is ready or not. Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode.

  • April 24 · 16 min

    Windows 11 Is Getting AI Agents on the Taskbar

    Microsoft just confirmed that AI agents — including third-party ones — are coming to the Windows 11 taskbar. The controls to manage them exist the default hands control to the user. Plus, there's a new way to do a Hybrid Entra Join without waiting for Entra Connect to sync, but it needs Windows Server 2025 domain controllers in every domain. And Windows Recall is back in the security headlines — a researcher has proven he can silently drain your entire Recall history after a single Windows Hello tap. Microsoft says that's fine. Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!

  • April 11 · 18 min

    Hackers Bypass MFA with Microsoft’s Own Login – EvilTokens Exploit Revealed

    This Week in IT, hackers have a new trick that uses an Oauth 2.0 login process to slip into accounts, no password needed. Meanwhile, Microsoft is locking down its Copilot AI with fresh controls to keep your company’s data under wraps. And just when you’re getting comfortable with Copilot, Microsoft’s already onto the next frontier: autonomous AI agents that won’t wait for your commands but handle your tasks for you, from start to finish.👏 Thanks to Cayosoft sponsoring this episode!🔗 Links and resources: https://petri.com/podcast/eviltokens-...

  • March 27 · 12 min

    Unreliable & Unpatched: Enterprise PCs Are Losing Trust

    This Week in IT, Omnissa says enterprise PCs are “unreliable, unpatched, and unloved” with Windows machines crashing 3-times more and updating far slower than Macs. At the same time, Washington is ripping foreign-made routers off the market over spying fears, effectively banning new Wi-Fi equipment from abroad to safeguard networks. And just as hackers weaponize AI to hijack logins, Microsoft is releasing AI agents in Defender to hunt down identity thieves inside your organization. Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!

  • March 20 · 15 min

    Microsoft’s Windows 11 Quality Pledge—What’s Changing?

    Microsoft just officially announced a significant Windows 11 quality manifesto, including taskbar upgrades, smarter Copilot integration, and a promise to fix the update chaos. At the same time, a hacking group hijacked Microsoft Intune and wiped tens of thousands of a company’s devices overnight. Craig Birch, Principal Technologist at Cayosoft joins me to discuss the incident. And just when migrating servers to Azure seemed like months of work, Microsoft’s new AI Copilot agent promises to plan it in minutes. Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!🔗 Links and resources

  • February 27 · 12 min

    No Internet, No Problem: Microsoft’s New Offline Cloud and Excel Agent Mode

    Imagine running Microsoft’s cloud entirely on your own terms. This week, Microsoft’s Azure Local and Microsoft 365 Local go live, letting governments and regulated industries run mission-critical workloads and AI models completely offline. Meanwhile, Excel’s Agent Mode expands to Europe and even works with files stored on your own PC, and Windows 11’s latest preview update pumps up system reliability with a built-in network speed test, Sysmon integration and more. Sponsored by: Cayosoft

  • February 20 · 10 min

    Copilot Confidential: When AI Reads Your Sensitive Emails

    Microsoft 365 Copilot has been caught reading confidential emails it was supposed to ignore, an alarming privacy blunder. Meanwhile, Chinese hackers exploited a backdoor in Dell’s backup software for 18 months without anyone noticing. And as Broadcom hikes VMware prices, IT leaders are looking to reduce reliance on it. Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode!🔗 Links and resources: https://petri.com/podcast/copilot-confidential-when-ai-reads-your-sensitive-emails/

  • February 13 · 12 min

    Microsoft Email Meltdown: 4,000 Accounts Hacked via Outlook Add‑In

    What if Microsoft’s email system suddenly categorized genuine emails as phishing attempts? It happened this week, disrupting businesses. Plus, 4,000 Microsoft accounts got hacked through a genuine Outlook add-in from the official Store, and we’ll reveal how attackers pulled that off. And Microsoft’s building a brand-new mini-OS in Rust to keep bad code in a cage.

  • February 6 · 10 min

    Windows 11 Takes Off, Copilot Stalls, and Microsoft Refocuses on Security

    This week in IT, Windows 11 adoption just jumped past 62 percent — after months of going nowhere. At the same time, Microsoft admits that barely 3 percent of Microsoft 365 users are paying for Copilot. And Redmond has reassigned senior leadership to focus on quality and security.

  • January 30 · 12 min

    Windows 11 Security Shake‑Up: Admin Protection Flaws + Kerberos RC4 Endgame

    Administrator Protection—meant to lock down Windows 11 —was hacked in testing and forced Microsoft to rethink the design before it even ships. At the same time, Kerberos is finally saying goodbye to RC4, with enforcement deadlines that could break legacy auth if you don’t prepare. And Microsoft just gave admins a first‑party way to manage configuration drift across Microsoft 365 with new Graph UTCM APIs.

  • January 23 · 11 min

    Windows 11 26H1: Built for New Silicon. Nvidia PC Chips Are Next

    Nvidia is about to crash the Windows‑on‑Arm party. Its first PC chips could arrive with a special Windows 11 build just for new silicon. At the same time, Mandiant just made it trivial to crack a decades‑old protocol that some companies still run in production. And a new class of AI bugs shows how MCP servers can be turned into cloud‑credential vending machines.

  • January 16 · 10 min

    Windows 11 Update Causes OS to ‘Gain Weight’

    Windows 11 just got heavier — literally. A new security update is doubling the size of critical OS files and Microsoft says it’s absolutely necessary. At the same time, the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is quietly being killed off, pushing IT departments toward modern deployment, and this month’s Patch Tuesday unleashes 113 fixes, including a fresh zero-day already under attack.

  • January 9 · 13 min

    Windows 11’s Exclusive Update for AI PCs (and This Week’s Top IT News)

    Microsoft is bending its own rules with a special Windows update only for new AI-powered. Plus, Teams is about to start auto-blocking malware and phish by default for everyone, and if you’re migrating from Slack to Teams, Microsoft’s rolling out a new tool to make it seamless. Thanks to Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode! 🔗 Links and resources: https://petri.com/podcast/windows-11s-exclusive-update-for-ai-pcs-and-this-weeks-top-it-news/

  • Dec 19, 2025 · 13 min

    GPT‑5 Arrives in Copilot Studio - Plus Clipboard & Login Upgrades!

    This week in IT, Microsoft quietly turns Copilot Studio into a fully‑fledged AI platform—bringing GPT‑5, human‑in‑the‑loop controls, and curated action groups. Meanwhile, the Windows Clipboard may soon convert anything you copy into the format you need, and Windows 11 authentication is getting a WebView2 makeover.

  • Dec 12, 2025 · 8 min

    Microsoft Teams Adds Office‑Location Tracking: Surveillance or Safety?

    Could your boss soon track your every move? Microsoft is quietly rolling out a location‑tracking feature in Teams that uses Wi‑Fi and peripherals to map your office whereabouts. Microsoft is also turning up the security dial across Microsoft 365 with a new baseline that blocks legacy protocols and restricts risky file types. And if patch management keeps you awake at night, Windows Autopatch just added a CVE dashboard that shows every vulnerability and which devices remain at risk.

  • Dec 9, 2025 · 10 min

    Windows Shortcut Exploit Finally Patched – Here’s What IT Pros Need to Know

    This Week in IT, a hidden Windows shortcut flaw exploited for years finally gets patched, but how did attackers sneak their malware past security teams? Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 customers are about to get powerful Intune tools like Remote Help and just‑in‑time admin rights—but there's a price hike on the way. And by March 2026, frontline workers will lose access to Exchange Web Services.👏 Thanks to @Cayosoft for sponsoring this episode of This Week in IT!#windows11 #microsoft365 #intune 🔗 Links and resources: https://petri.com/podcast/windows-shortcut-exploit-finally-patched-heres-what-it-pros-need-to-know/⌚ Time stamps00:00 - Start00:46 - Windows shortcut flaw05:09 - Intune upgrade for M365 E3 and E5 customers07:40 - EWS retirement for frontline workers