The final version of Windows 11 26H1 will be a platform release tailored for next-generation ARM silicon, including Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 and, probably, NVIDIA N1X processors. Windows 11 26H1 is expected to launch around April 2026 with new ARM64 devices. Windows 11 26H1 is expected to launch around April 2026 with new ARM64 devices. This is not a feature update but rather a silicon support release focused on under-the-hood platform improvements while maintaining complete feature parity with version 25H2.

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Microsoft has indefinitely canceled the planned limit on bulk email sending in Exchange Online following significant customer feedback about operational challenges. However, Microsoft advises using Azure Communication Services for Email for organizations that require sending large volumes of email to external recipients. 

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Microsoft 365 users face a critical bug in Classic Outlook that prevents recipients from opening encrypted emails. In Classic Outlook, trying to open an encrypted email shows a specific error message in the Reading Pane: "This message with restricted permission cannot be viewed in the reading pane until you verify your credentials. Open the item to read its contents and verify your credentials." This issue stems from a client-side regression in how Classic Outlook handles encryption settings, and Microsoft is currently investigating the problem.

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Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Defender Experts Suite as an integrated security offering that combines managed extended detection and response (MXDR), incident response services, and direct access to Microsoft security advisors. Unlike purchasing these services separately, the suite provides a single unified SKU with per-user-per-month licensing and a designated security advisor who coordinates all three service components. The suite became generally available on January 1, 2026, with a promotional offer available through December 31, 2026.

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Microsoft will discontinue support for numerous products throughout 2026, spanning operating systems, productivity software, database platforms, and server technologies. Organizations must plan migrations and upgrades to maintain security compliance and access to critical updates.

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Microsoft will transition Microsoft Entra identity services from DigiCert Global Root G1 to G2 certificates on January 7, 2026. Organizations that do not prepare for this change risk authentication failures across their Microsoft 365 and Azure environments.

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Microsoft Entra ID introduces synced passkeys to simplify multi-factor authentication and reduce the security risks associated with traditional methods such as passwords and SMS codes. This feature, announced at Microsoft Ignite 2025, enables users to authenticate with biometrics or device PINs without entering passwords when syncing credentials across devices via cloud-based passkey providers. The implementation also includes high-assurance account recovery using government-issued ID verification to restore access when users lose all authentication methods.

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ManageEngine DEX Manager Plus is a cloud-based digital employee experience management platform designed to continuously understand, measure, and improve how employees interact with their digital workplace. By combining endpoint telemetry, experience analytics, proactive issue identification, and guided remediation, it enables IT teams to ensure reliable performance, minimize disruptions, and deliver a consistently productive and frustration-free employee experience.

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Organizations running modern data centers increasingly need flexible storage architectures that balance performance, resiliency, and investment protection. With Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2025, Microsoft now enables true S2D and SAN coexistence—allowing Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) to operate alongside traditional SAN storage within the same failover clustering environment. This mixed-storage approach lets IT teams optimize workloads such as Hyper-V, SQL Server, and file services by combining high-performance local storage with existing enterprise SAN infrastructure, all while maintaining full cluster support and operational consistency.

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The Azure Developer CLI (azd) December 2025 release delivers substantial improvements centered on extension capabilities and developer workflow enhancements. The update introduces a powerful extension framework with custom configuration properties, support for interactive mode via Text User Interfaces, and distributed tracing for improved observability. User experience improvements include an interactive environment selector, faster provisioning progress updates with polling reduced from 10 seconds to 3 seconds, and clearer error messages for configuration issues. The release also adds flexible configuration options, such as support for azure.yml as an alternative filename and integrated access to the template gallery within initialization commands. Additionally, the update includes comprehensive bug fixes for Container Apps, Azure Pipelines, and deployment workflows, along with Microsoft Foundry rebranding throughout the platform.

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Microsoft offers organizations two on-premises options for email and collaboration: Microsoft 365 Local and Exchange Server Subscription Edition (Exchange SE). While both solutions deliver on-premises productivity capabilities, they differ fundamentally in architecture, scope, and target use cases.

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The Microsoft Security Copilot Dynamic Threat Detection Agent is an AI-powered backend service that automatically detects hidden threats in Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel environments. Announced at Microsoft Ignite 2025 and now available in public preview, this always-on agent uses artificial intelligence to identify security gaps that traditional rule-based detection systems miss.

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Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7523 (KB5072043) to the Dev and Beta Channels on December 19, 2025. This update for version 25H2 introduces Ask Copilot as an opt-in feature that complements traditional Windows Search on the taskbar, introduces system-wide AI agent infrastructure, and delivers improvements to accessibility, File Explorer, and core system components.

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Windows 11 includes a command-line tool, Store CLI, that lets you search for, install, list, and update Microsoft Store applications directly from Command Prompt or PowerShell. The Store CLI provides an alternative to the graphical Microsoft Store interface and offers distinct capabilities compared to the Windows Package Manager (winget).

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Microsoft introduced hardware-accelerated BitLocker to address the performance overhead of disk encryption on modern high-speed NVMe drives. This feature offloads cryptographic operations from the main CPU to dedicated crypto engines in the system-on-chip (SoC), improving performance and enhancing security.

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Softinventive Lab Total Network Inventory (TNI) is a network auditing and inventory management solution designed for managing IT assets across organizations. The software enables administrators to scan Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, and ESXi-based systems, including computers, servers, and network devices.

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Message Queuing (MSMQ) is a Microsoft technology that lets applications communicate asynchronously by sending messages to queues, enabling them to run at different times and even when systems or networks are temporarily offline. Microsoft's December 2025 security update disrupted Message Queuing functionality on Windows 10 and Windows Server systems, causing enterprise applications and IIS sites to fail. Users may receive the error message: Insufficient resources to perform operation (0x80004005).

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Microsoft announced that Exchange Online will block devices using Exchange ActiveSync protocol versions earlier than 16.1 from connecting to its services starting March 1, 2026. This change affects organizations using mobile devices with native email applications to access Exchange Online mailboxes and aims to strengthen security and reliability across the platform. Clients using basic authentication for an affected protocol will be unable to connect to Exchange Online and will receive an HTTP 401 error stating "bad username or password."

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Microsoft is enforcing stricter Content Security Policy (CSP) for Entra ID authentication, blocking unauthorized scripts from executing during sign-in. Organizations using browser extensions or third-party tools that inject scripts into login.microsoftonline.com must identify and replace these tools before enforcement, as they will stop functioning while users can still sign in successfully.

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