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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Microsoft has introduced Windows 365 AI-enabled Cloud PCs, a new cloud-based computing solution that delivers AI-powered Windows experiences to any device. This offering differs significantly from Copilot+ PCs, which are physical computers with specialized AI hardware. This article compares the technical specifications, requirements, and capabilities of both platforms.

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Microsoft has released native Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) support for Windows Server 2025, delivering performance improvements of up to 80 percent in IOPS and delivering a 45 percent savings in CPU cycles per I/O compared to Windows Server 2022.

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Microsoft has clarified the key differences between its one-time purchase Office 2024 and the subscription-based Microsoft 365 suite in an official support document. The comparison helps users understand the trade-offs between a single upfront payment for static software and ongoing subscription fees for continuously updated services.

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IS Decisions’ UserLock is an identity-and-access-management (IAM) tool that adds multi-factor authentication (MFA), contextual access controls, session management, and login auditing to on-premises (or hybrid) Microsoft Active Directory environments to secure and manage all user access. UserLock 13.0 introduces a redesigned interface and strengthened security features for Active Directory environments. The release focuses on simplified navigation, certificate-based authentication, and improved remote access management while maintaining the solution's core identity and access management capabilities.

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Microsoft released Visual Studio Code version 1.107 with new features focused on Agent HQ, a multi-agent orchestration interface introduced in version 1.106. In version 1.107, background agents are promoted beyond pure CLI-based sessions: they run as named background tasks with isolated worktrees and richer context attachment, and appear as manageable sessions in the Agent HQ experience (the integrated Chat + sessions UI), rather than existing only as Copilot CLI or cloud sessions.

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Some human bloggers hallucinated that the Canary build 28020.1362 was Windows 11 26H1. Although this build shows the version string, there is no guarantee that Windows 11 26H1 will include the features seen in the Canary build. This build introduces several new features, including an AI-powered Settings agent for Copilot+ PCs, a redesigned Advanced settings page that replaces the For Developers page, and enhanced Quick Machine Recovery performance. The release also expands File Explorer dark mode to more dialogs and system surfaces, and includes additional new features and refinements across device management, input, recovery, and core system experiences.

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Recent Microsoft Entra and Windows updates introduce multiple changes across authentication, identity management, and access control. The updates include an option to replace the legacy EdgeHTML WebView with the Chromium-based WebView2 for Entra ID authentication flows, improved identity constructs for AI agents, public preview support for synced passkeys, and expanded self-service account recovery. Additional changes cover jailbreak detection in Microsoft Authenticator, enforcement of a stricter Content Security Policy for browser-based sign-ins, updates to session revocation behavior, and new capabilities in Entra ID Governance, External ID, and Global Secure Access.

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Microsoft Entra External ID now supports SMS-based verification for self-service password reset (SSPR), providing external users an additional recovery method beyond email one-time passcodes. The feature entered public preview in September 2025 and includes built-in fraud protection through integration with Microsoft's Phone Reputation platform.

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Microsoft released Windows Admin Center version 2511 on December 11, 2025, restoring support for high availability deployments and delivering broad updates across deployment, virtualization, and security. The release enhances core management workflows, introduces a new VM conversion tool alongside the NetApp Shift Toolkit for cross-hypervisor migrations, and brings notable security improvements together with expanded international keyboard support for remote desktop connections.

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