IT consultant. Views are solely my own.

Toledo, OH
Joined February 2011
Phil Schwan retweeted
Windows 365 local admin settings: Cloud PC configurations or user settings? Aresh Sarkari explains the differences and demonstrates automation with PowerShell and Microsoft Graph. askaresh.com/2026/10/08/wind… #MSIntune #Windows365 #PowerShell @askaresh
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Phil Schwan retweeted
I recently wrote about why we need to treat models as insider risks, with security controls sitting outside the model itself. Today, we're putting that principle into practice by expanding Project Perception with new capabilities to help continuously assess agent risk, adapt permissions, and contain threats. blogs.microsoft.com/blog/202…
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Phil Schwan retweeted
You should be able to Duplicate any Win32 App in #MSIntune
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Phil Schwan retweeted
Introducing Microsoft-Decision-1, our new model for fast decision-making. It delivers top performance on structured decision tasks, outperforming both LLMs and other decision models in latency and quality. We’re already testing it across Microsoft for everything from incident response and quality control to scientific discovery.
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Phil Schwan retweeted
To the person asking earlier today how to have Windows update CSPs/Cloud policies win over Group Policy - check out the new policy we added to do just that: learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi…
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Phil Schwan retweeted
That 60-minute wait for new Required Win32 apps is gone!! In my previous blog, I explained how Microsoft already fixed it for Windows Autopilot. Now Microsoft is taking the next step. New Win32 app changes can also wake the IME sooner instead of waiting for the normal polling interval (60 minutes). So, of course, I tested it. I assigned a new Required app and watched the device. A couple of minutes later, the IME kicked off the Win32App Workload, and this is where it gets interesting. So what actually changed, how does the push reach the IME, and what happens after intent 2 arrives? Read the full blog:patchmypc.com/blog/faster-wi… #Intune #MSIntune #Windows11 @IntuneSuppTeam .... the Intune Eng team is on a rolll :)
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Phil Schwan retweeted
Required Apps No Longer Need to Wait 60 Minutes after Autopilot Microsoft has announced faster Win32 app delivery in What’s new in Intune. The other required Win32 apps no longer have to wait for the next hourly check after Autopilot ESP completes. Learn how the IME detects the transition and starts app processing sooner. patchmypc.com/blog/autopilot… #Intune #MSIntune #WindowsAutopilot
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Working with Microsoft EPM? I created a tool that will allow you to much easier build cool rules with certificates+internal name and have a better overview of ruleset and much more. github.com/mmelkersen/Tools/… #MSIntune #MicrosoftEPM #MSEndpointMgr
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Phil Schwan retweeted
Every GPO-to-Intune migration starts the same way: export the GPOs, recreate them one-for-one in Intune. That's not a migration. That's giving your technical debt a cloud subscription. Microsoft built a tool for exactly this problem 🧵 #Intune #GroupPolicy
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I blocked user installations with WDAC. An hour later, a user installed a Store app anyway. The policy was not wrong. My assumption was. Store installers are signed by a Microsoft cert… Fix: deny ProductName “Store Installer” in your policy. #MSIntune
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Microsoft is making moves again. A quiet little Python tool just shot to the top of GitHub’s trending charts. 100,000+ stars. It’s called MarkItDown. And it does something deceptively simple: It turns almost any file into clean Markdown. PDFs. Word docs. PowerPoints. Excel files. Images. Drop a file in. Get structured Markdown out. Sounds small. It’s not. Because one of the biggest bottlenecks in AI workflows — especially RAG systems — is getting messy, real-world documents into a format models can actually use. And real-world documents are brutal. PDFs are chaotic. Word docs are full of hidden formatting junk. PowerPoints are messy and often image-heavy. Spreadsheets can be a nightmare to parse cleanly. That’s where this gets interesting. MarkItDown strips away the friction and gives you something LLM pipelines can actually work with. In other words: less preprocessing, less pain, faster AI implementation. Even better, this isn’t some random side project. It’s an official Microsoft open-source tool. Free. Commercially usable. Practical. I tested it on a 200-page PDF. A few seconds later, I had Markdown that was shockingly clean. And that’s what big tech does at its best: They take an annoying, universal problem that everyone has been duct-taping together… and turn it into a simple standard. That’s why this matters. It’s not just a file conversion tool. It’s infrastructure for the next wave of AI applications. Get it here: github.com/microsoft/markitd… === 🚨 Want to learn how to build + ship AI and Data Science projects (that businesses actually want in 2026)? I am hosting a free workshop to help you get started with AI + DS projects in Python. Register here (500 seats): learn.business-science.io/ai…
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Phil Schwan retweeted
Device Association vs Autopilot v1: What Really Changed? I kept hearing the same questions: “Isn’t Device Association basically Autopilot V1 again?” "What is the difference between Autopilot Device Preparation and Device Association" "What is the difference between APv1 CSV and the AP-DP CSV" Hopefully this blog explains all of these questions! patchmypc.com/blog/autopilot… #Intune #MSIntune #WindowsAutopilot
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Phil Schwan retweeted
Warning for anyone considering using the "Remove Microsoft Store apps with dynamic list" policy in #MSIntue if you select Microsoft Teams (Device) = True this does not just install the consumer version of Teams. It removes Teams that installs as part of Office! And, contrary to the docs, it does it immediately rather than at the next reboot. Don't make the same mistake as I!
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Phil Schwan retweeted
🔥 𝗠𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄 🧙‍♂️ Connecting Copilot to 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 as source and configuring a 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁 that scans the last 24 hours of Microsoft Security updates. Every day, I get a concise briefing covering: • New KQL capabilities • Defender XDR & Sentinel updates • Entra, Purview & Intune enhancements • Production-relevant changes for SOC teams • Recommended actions for defenders Think of it as having your own Microsoft Security research assistant working 24/7.💪 #MicrosoftSecurity #KQLWizard
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Phil Schwan retweeted
If your theological convictions are not actively making you more gracious, humble, and repentant than your beliefs are not being shaped by Jesus they’re motivated by a desire to be argumentatively “right.”
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Phil Schwan retweeted
If you are a Christian your confidence today rests on foundations that cannot be shaken. If God is for you, and He has not spared His own Son but delivered Him up for all of you, then He will graciously give you all things with Him. (Rom 8:28–39) And please don’t hear this as a platitudinal X post: it flows from the reality of your election. God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless, predestining you for adoption as His children according to His pleasure and will. The Puritan theologians are helpful here, and understood something vital about this assurance: election and covenant work together, offering troubled believers a double source of assurance; you can plead the covenant with God, asking Him to fulfill His promises, while simultaneously finding comfort in the sufficiency of His prevenient grace and the immutability of His will in election. Your election is not fragile or conditional on your performance, as I’ve said before, your salvation is received not achieved. God’s immutable decree of election proceeds from His perfect counsel, the basis for maintaining His people in sanctification and imparting to them an inward principle of holiness. Yet this absolute promise does not leave you passive. God’s love, made known to you, draws you out of yourself toward Him in orderly, faithful obedience. The conditional promises of the covenant are inseparable from your daily renewal of it through prayer, meditation, and worship. Your obedience becomes the very means by which you experience and confirm what God has already secured. Anchor yourself in the permanence of God’s word. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will not pass away. (Matt 24:35) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. (2 Tim 3:16–17) In this word, your election is declared, your redemption is promised, and your perseverance is guaranteed — not by your strength, but by His.
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Phil Schwan retweeted
I've collated 2400+ Microsoft architecture icons and published them for easy access at msicons.com 💙 For every icon, you can: • Download the scalable SVG file • Download the PNG of your desired size • Embed the icon directly into your website or markdown • Choose a light, dark or transparent background You can can even compare different icons together and favourite multiple icons for bulk download! #Microsoft
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Windows Update: "Great news! The latest security update was installed without a restart." .NET Update: "Hold my beer!" 😂
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