Posey's Tips & Tricks


Configuring a Shared Virtual Hard Disk in Hyper-V

Creating a shared virtual hard disk is a relatively easy process. Brien walks you through it.

How To Perform Conditional Logic in PowerShell

While you wait for PowerShell to add support for ternary operators, here's a method you can use now to evaluate Boolean conditions without the need to write If – Then – Else statements.

How To Use PowerShell Like a Spreadsheet

Instead of viewing data in a static list, use PowerShell's grid view capability to manipulate how your data is displayed.

How To Ransomware-Proof Your Backups: 4 Key Best Practices

Backups are the only guaranteed way to save your data after a ransomware attack. Here's how to make sure your backup strategy has ransomware mitigation built right in.

Microsoft Helps Office Users Cope with Unfamiliar Acronyms

A new AI-powered feature in Office scans your e-mails and documents to help you tell one "SaaS" apart from another.

Better E-Mail Management with Outlook's Insights Feature

How a new capability is succeeding where Cortana failed at taming the Outlook beast.

Exploring OCR, a New Way To Get Data into Excel

Microsoft recently added a new optical character recognition feature to Excel that lets users import data from a photograph taken from a smartphone. Here's how to use it.

A Quicker Way To Create Hyper-V Inventory Reports

If you need to generate Hyper-V inventory reports but don't want the hassle of writing your own custom PowerShell script, here is a shortcut.

Is a Cloud Backlash Coming?

The cloud has long been touted as the future of computing. But for some organizations, cloud computing has only added more complexity and not enough cost-savings.

Automating Virtual Machine Activation in Hyper-V

Microsoft's "automatic virtual machine activation" feature lets you spin up a short-lived VM without wasting a license key. Here's how to use it.

How To Make Office 365 Planner Acknowledge Recurring Tasks

While useful in plenty of ways, Microsoft's task-management service doesn't have a feature to manage repeating tasks. The solution? Create a "template plan."

Is There a Good Alternative to Microsoft's Surface Studio?

Microsoft is expected to unveil new Surface hardware next week, but unless a standalone Surface Studio monitor is one of them, it might be time to consider some of the other (cheaper) options from its OEM partners.

Patch Management for Hyper-V Replica Hosts

Here's how you can use Hyper-V's replica infrastructure to minimize disruptions caused by the patch management process.

What Happens If You Can't Get a Perpetual Microsoft Office License?

It's getting harder to buy standalone Office licenses from Microsoft. Will a purely subscription-based Office model be worth it for users, or are there better alternatives in the market?

How Console Gaming Paved the Way for Desktop-as-a-Service

The earliest gaming consoles provided a tidy solution to the problem of PC hardware compatibility. Now, Brien argues, DaaS is doing the same thing.

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