Browse All Posts (174)

Microsoft Security Research, Sagar Patil and Jeremiah Jasmin examine how SCKit abuses ScreenConnect to establish unauthorized remote access and target technician sessions. Their analysis separates server-side extension abuse from client-side propagation and provides remediation guidance, indicators of compromise, and Microsoft Defender XDR hunting queries for investigating affected endpoints.

Mihir22_Patel examines performance benchmarks for AMD-powered Azure confidential VMs, separating generational improvements from the overhead of data-in-use protection. Independent DCas_v6 results and internal DCas_v7 preview tests show gains across workloads, while matched comparisons explain why confidentiality overhead should be assessed against a same-generation baseline.

Mihir22_Patel examines Intel benchmarks and Azure engineering measurements to explain performance trade-offs for confidential VMs with Intel TDX. The analysis separates compute overhead from storage and networking improvements, showing where local NVMe and MANA approach general-purpose VM performance and why workload-specific testing remains necessary.

Allison outlines six GitHub Copilot model deprecations scheduled for December 14, 2026, with suggested replacements and guidance for administrators. The changes affect all Copilot experiences, although Claude Haiku 4.5 remains available to individual annual-plan subscribers. Users should update workflows and integrations before the deadline.

WSilveira walks through migrating NuGet-based Azure Logic Apps Standard applications and custom built-in connectors to .NET 10 without rewriting connector code or workflows. The guide explains project retargeting, dependency fixes, different local and Azure host settings, deployment verification, rollback steps, and a GitHub Copilot skill that assists the migration.

fiveisprime introduces Azure Container Apps sandbox support in the Visual Studio Code extension. Developers can create sandbox groups and sandboxes, execute commands, take named snapshots, and stop or resume resources from the Azure Resources view, with status labels and operation results available inside the editor.

Connor Al-Joundi outlines the transition from Phi Silica to Microsoft Aion Instruct for local AI on Windows, including planned Insider and retail rollouts and expanded GPU support. Developers should test custom prompts, LoRAs, and output parsing against the new model, which introduces a 32K-token context limit and invisible watermarking.

Steven Bucher outlines the Azure Resource Manager MCP server’s expansion into resource creation, action execution, deployment verification, and cost analysis. He also explains how to combine it with Bicep MCP for infrastructure workflows and opt into experimental skills that provide structured workflows to AI clients.

Allison announces generally available GitHub Enterprise Server support in the GitHub Copilot app, letting users work with remote repositories, issues, and pull requests. Support requires app version 1.2.0 or later and an initial GitHub.com or GHE.com sign-in. Cloud sessions remain unavailable for GitHub Enterprise Server.

Frances Coronel demonstrates how Slack turned a personal AI setup into an internal tool catalog built on GitHub Projects and Issues. The session covers organizing MCP servers, skills, and GitHub Copilot agents, tracking adoption through usage telemetry, and helping engineering teams discover and share AI tooling.

Allison announces general availability of Gemini 4 Hydrogen in GitHub Copilot for paid plans. The model supports agentic coding, tool use, and multistep workflows, with gradual rollout across supported interfaces. The announcement explains usage-based billing at provider list pricing and how Business and Enterprise administrators can control access.

Yash Bhamare and Anna Daly explain how Microsoft turns AMD Helios hardware into reliable Azure AI clusters. They cover rack-scale architecture, validated firmware and driver baselines, distributed workload testing, datacenter burn-in, and the repair and recovery processes used to maintain GPU capacity throughout the hardware lifecycle.

Harald Binkle describes how he uses GitHub Copilot to maintain two connected 3D printing repositories. The workflow combines Python generators, Blender modeling, reusable skills, mesh validation, and Git history, while keeping human measurements, review, and physical print evidence central to deciding whether a model is ready.

Dilip Patlolla and coauthors compare Azure ND GB200 v6 and ND GB300 v6 virtual machines with bare-metal systems and InferenceX benchmarks. Their results show closely matched inference throughput and latency across tested models and serving stacks, while highlighting workload-dependent gains, low-concurrency variation and limits on attributing differences to virtualization.

Fokko at Work demonstrates selected GitHub Copilot features in Visual Studio Code 1.146, including Inbox mode, session list actions, chat windows, model comparison improvements, and continuing CLI sessions in the editor. The video also covers the Local harness deprecation and notes that feature availability can depend on enterprise policies or pricing plans.

Allison explains how to enable or disable GitHub AI Scan for repositories through the REST API. The public preview supports organization-wide rollout and repository opt-outs, with policy enforcement and atomic setting updates. Enabling the setting does not run scans automatically; scans remain on demand and consume AI credits.

John Savill reviews this week's Azure updates, including Azure Static Web Apps runtime support changes, .NET 11 support in Azure Functions, and networking updates. Topics also include Azure File Sync onboarding, Azure Front Door edge actions and gRPC, plus WAF rate-limit grouping.

Erika Patrikainen and Heidi Hämäläinen examine what to preserve as Purview Data Governance retires. They recommend inventorying definitions, ownership, lineage and business relationships before choosing replacement technology, then connecting that context to Microsoft Fabric catalogs and ontologies so analytics teams and AI systems can interpret data consistently.

shilmenon explains how Azure Databricks can store supported Unity Catalog-managed data directly in OneLake, with Fabric-side support now generally available. The article covers storage provisioning, identity configuration, access restrictions, and querying shared data in Fabric through mirrored catalogs without copying the underlying data.

dotnet demonstrates Azure tools for .NET developers, including a Container Apps sandbox for isolated execution, AI Gateway for tracking model and tool calls, and SRE Agent for operational assistance. Live demonstrations also explore Copilot canvases that bring Azure into the developer workflow.

dotnet tours EF Core 11 improvements across queries, data modeling, and command-line tooling. The session covers SQL Server vector and full-text search, new LINQ operators, leaner generated SQL, complex types and JSON, simplified migration workflows, Cosmos DB bulk and batch support, and considerations for upgrading.

In this .NET Conf 2026 keynote, dotnet presents a tour of Visual Studio's current capabilities and improvements, alongside a look at what's coming next. The session focuses on how the IDE is evolving and what those changes mean for developers' day-to-day work.

dotnet demonstrates native Windows apps written entirely in C# with the experimental Microsoft.UI.Reactor framework. The session covers running a single-file app, managing state with hooks, reconciling lists, and catching UI bugs with Roslyn analyzers, while discussing limitations and how the approach fits alongside XAML and MVVM.

dotnet introduces what is coming in CsWinRT 3.0, a major redesign of Windows Runtime projection support for .NET. The video focuses on changes shaped by developer feedback and the direction of the upcoming release.

dotnet presents a demo-focused tour of Visual Studio improvements for .NET developers, covering smarter code navigation, editor customization, build and testing experiences, and support for Markdown and web files. The session also highlights tips and smaller changes driven by developer feedback for reading, reviewing, and writing code.

dotnet explores AI-assisted development in Visual Studio, including a new agent harness powered by the Copilot SDK, expanded model and provider options, and configuration controls. The video covers how GitHub Copilot and other AI options fit into different stages of a .NET development workflow.

dotnet presents practical demos of Visual Studio debugging and profiling experiences, including hands-free, AI-assisted debugging and continuing investigations in the IDE. The session explores how these tools help identify issues, understand application performance, and validate fixes.

dotnet explores updates to the MCP C# SDK and the latest Model Context Protocol revision through a practical C# server. The session covers scalable servers using stateless requests, collecting user input across multiple interactions, and maintaining compatibility with existing MCP clients as the protocol evolves.

dotnet explores building Windows apps with WinUI and modern .NET tooling, covering project templates, package identity, Native AOT, and development workflows in Visual Studio and VS Code. The video also shows how WinAppCLI and AI coding agents can help with repetitive tasks and application development.

dotnet explores how Blazor in .NET 11 combines static server-side rendering with server interactivity. The video covers validation, session state, and caching without interactive circuits, alongside persistent component state and circuit pause and resume to preserve user sessions, reduce duplicate work, and release resources for inactive users.

dotnet explores how Blazor can support interfaces for AI agents beyond free-form conversations. Demonstrations connect experimental Blazor AI components, AG-UI, Microsoft Agent Framework, Microsoft Foundry, and Aspire to show streaming interactions, tool activity, shared application state, and human decisions that keep users in control.

dotnet walks through a real .NET migration using GitHub Copilot agentic modernization, from assessing potential breaking changes to producing a change the team can merge. The session explains where the agent handles work, where developers take over, and how custom skills support codebases outside the default upgrade path.

Thomas Maurer shares the main architectural lessons from his NVIDIA GTC Berlin session on sovereign AI. He explains how Azure and Foundry Local on Azure Local support cloud, datacenter, and disconnected edge workloads, with controls for data residency, confidentiality, model choice, and resilience.

Jakub Oleksy reviews GitHub’s October service disruptions, their causes, and the changes intended to prevent recurrence. The report covers Azure capacity growth, database routing failures, overloaded connections, delayed Actions jobs, and Copilot authentication errors, showing why additional capacity must be paired with stronger isolation and safer recovery procedures.

Khalid Abuhakmeh demonstrates how to read Excel files in C# without installing Office or using COM Interop. The guide compares streaming readers, object mapping, cell-level APIs, and direct OpenXML parsing, with .NET 10 examples and practical caveats around legacy formats, shared strings, empty cells, and memory usage.

andrewblack outlines Azure’s AMD-based infrastructure options for AI data preparation, managed inference, and custom training workloads. The overview covers HDv2 VM specifications and projected benchmarks, MI300X deployment options in Microsoft Foundry and Azure VMs, and planned MI455X infrastructure, alongside related Microsoft Ignite and SC26 sessions.

Andrea Griffiths explains how to package repeatable tasks as agent skills that work across GitHub Copilot and other clients. Using independent verification and analytics pipeline examples, she shows how to separate project context from instructions, share execution paths, and enforce human approvals and CI checks without confusing instructions with permissions.

GitHub explains October updates to GitHub Copilot, covering self-learning automations for issue triage, Projects for coordinating work across repositories without local cloning, and Fusion for routing tasks across frontier models. The episode connects these capabilities to routine pipeline work and discusses what software factories mean in practical development workflows.

davidwright and Arnaud Lheureux explain how Git-Ape community skills package specialist procedures for AI-assisted platform work. The walkthrough covers discovery, workspace-scoped installation, contribution requirements, and proposed skill packs, emphasizing pinned source revisions, explicit approval, and the distinction between installing procedures and validating or executing their output.

Allison announces that GitHub Actions hosted runners will end support for ARM32 job execution on Windows and Linux by December 8, 2026. The change also removes native AArch32 user-space execution support and follows the end of Node.js 20 support, as Node.js 24 does not support ARM32.