Monthly What's New
Recast’s Endpoint Management Recap – August 2021
Gary Blok
Welcome to the Recast Endpoint Management Recap, August 2021 – by Gary Blok.
In this mini-edition of the August 2021 recap, my friend and colleague, Garth Jones is chiming in. Garth will be mentioning a few community influencers you need to follow and we’ll also update you about the usual goings-on.
- Community Influencers
- Events / Conference News
- Microsoft Product Announcements
- Hardware Vendor Updates (Tools / Security / Features)
- Community Tools / News
- Recast Updates
Welcome! Gary has taken some time off this month, so I have stepped in as “Acting Gary.” This month we’re focusing a spotlight on community influencers. These are community members who we think you should follow. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me @GarthMJ.
Cathy Moya – Cathy is a long-time friend who spends her time tirelessly promoting the Intune, ConfigMgr and Women IT Pros communities. Cathy also maintains a number of Twitter lists to keep you informed. Here’s one such list: MEMUserGroups.
Jan Ketil Skanke – Jan is a Cloud blogger, presenter, and all-around funny guy. If you are looking for tech posts on Intune, with a bit of comedic relief, Jan’s the one for you.
Aaron Czechowski – if you REALLY want to know what is happening with ConfigMgr, then Aaron is the guy to follow. He can point you to the “good” stuff!
There are many more people we think you should be following, so on that note, you might want to check out my Follow Friday List blog post from last year. In it, I list EVERYONE (so far) who I think you should follow. Next month, Gary will be back. Until then, I’m Garth aka “Acting Gary” signing off.
- August 2021 – MC2MC – Aug 26
- August 2021 – MEMUG – Aug 27 – Going Passwordless!
- Workplace Ninja Virtual Edition 2021 – Aug 31 – Sept 2
- Cleveland Microsoft Endpoint Manager User Group – Sept 9
- WinAdmins – Introducing Windows 365 – The CloudPC – Oct 13
- MMS Miami – Oct 25 – 28
Microsoft has posted a page with a lot of great resources during this time, to help IT professionals, educators, families, and remote business, along with how Microsoft is helping in the battle against COVID-19 on their Responding to COVID-19 together page.
Products:
Microsoft Edge Browser (Based on Chromium Engine): [Landing Page][What’s New Page][RoadMap Portal]
Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection – [Landing Page] [Resource Hub]
Microsoft 365 [Landing Page] [Roadmap] [Tech Community] [Youtube Channel][ODT Release]
ConfigMgr [What’s New Page] [Tech Community] [Virtual Hub][MS Q\A][Reddit]
- CM 2107 – As of 21.08.23, CM 2107 is now Generally Available, so no need to do a special opt-in.
- The big thing that was noted in this release was implicit uninstall of applications. If a machine falls out of collection, the app is removed.
ConfigMgr Tech Preview [What’s New Page]
Intune [What’s New Page] [Tech Community]
Are you curious about Windows Update for Business? Then these 3 videos are for you.
Part 1: Windows Update for Business Fundamentals
Part 2: Windows Update for Business Advanced Topics
Part 3: Windows Update for Business Recommendations for devices in Education
Windows [Landing Page] [Tech Community][Release Information][PowerToys]
- Windows 11
- Windows 365 – [W365Community]
- Windows 365, your Cloud PC – What it is, how it works, and how to set it up.
- Windows 365 – First look at MimiKatz.
Security Alerts and Info [Microsoft Security Portal – Security Update Guide]
I’m only listing changes. If you want a more complete list of their tools, check out the previous month’s posts.
For a full list of tools, blog posts and information about the vendors, check out the ConfigMgr Manufacturers’ page.
** Much of this information is provided directly from the vendor, so when you see “we” think of it as, “Vendor Name,” and not Recast Software.
HP [Enterprise Tools Landing Page] [Community / Blog Site] [Outlet Site]
There is an update for the HPIARepo_Downloader script: https://developers.hp.com/hp-client-management/blog/script-hp-image-assistant-repositories
Version 1.87: added ability to create new Repositories and add models and addon Softpaqs in the GUI, for customers that need to start from scratch and don’t know how to setup the HPModelsList table in the INI file.
There is also a new User Guide for the updated version in the Github repository.
Dell [Enterprise Tools Landing Page] [Refurbished Sale Site] [Outlet Site]
Lenovo [Enterprise Tools Landing Page][Blog Site]
Microsoft [Surface]
One more note, I do my best to provide Twitter accounts with the blog posts. I do this to provide credit where credit is due, and so you can then follow them yourselves to stay in the loop as things are coming out and ideas are being discussed on Twitter.
Podcasts / Blog Series / Video Blogs
- [Documentation Series] Beyond the Microsoft docs, a ConfigMgr overview:
- [YouTube Channel] Intune Training Series [@OnPremCloudGuy & @AdamGrossTX]
- [YouTube Channel] Namaste Techies [@anoopmannur & @Hoorge]
- SSO to domain resources from Azure AD Joined Devices – The MEGA Series – Ben Whitmore – @byteben
- How to build a PowerApp Series – Temporary Access Pass Manager – Parts 1 – 6 – Jan Bakker @janbakker_
Blog Posts
Cloud Tech
- Authenticate to Graph directly from PowerBI! – Ben Reader – @powers_hell
ConfigMgr
- Enable SCCM implicit uninstall of required applications – Benoit Lecours – @benoitlecours
- Upgrading the ConfigMgr Site Database 2014 – 2019 – Paul Winstanley – @SCCMentor
Other SysAdmin Info
- RunInSandbox: Run PS1, VBS, EXE, MSI, intunewin, extract ZIP, share folder directly in Windows Sandbox from a right-click – Damien Van Robaeys – @syst_and_deploy
- Fixing DMA requirement for silent and automatic Bitlocker encryption for Dell models – Rahul Jindal – @rahulj1906
Tool Updates
- Driver Automation Tool – 21.08.20 – Lots of fixes and updates. Maurice Daly @modaly_it
- Stay tuned for more info about our Endpoint Insights webinar in September and a chance to win a free ticket to MMS Miami Beach!
- Right Click Tools version 2.5 has expired. It’s 5 years old, so it’s time to upgrade!
- We are hiring! If you or someone you know is looking to make a huge impact at a fast-growing company, take a look at our job postings and apply today.
- Enterprise customers – please make sure you’re always using the latest version of Right Click Tools.
- Follow us on Twitter @RecastSoftware to hear the latest.
Thanks for checking out this edition of Recast’s Endpoint Management Recap – August 2021, and look forward to more monthly updates of what’s going on.
