IT

4sysops

1. Check the Windows Server version to determine if an in-place upgrade to Server 2025 is supported
   Before upgrading to Windows Server 2025, check your existing Windows Server version to determine if an in-place upgrade is feasible. You can check the Windows version via the graphical user interface, Windows PowerShell, or the command prompt.

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2. What does Supports Images, Computer Use, and Prompt Caching mean in the VS code extensions Roo Code and Cline?
   Roo Code and Cline are popular AI-driven coding extensions for VS Code. Both assistants indicate whether they support Images, Computer Use, and Prompt Caching when selecting a model. In this post, I explain these model features and whether you need them when coding with AI assistance.

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3. Restrict and report logon hours for Active Directory accounts
   For security purposes, it may be beneficial to restrict Active Directory account logins to regular working hours. These logon times can be configured using the calendar widget in Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC). However, PowerShell provides a more efficient and flexible alternative, particularly because it offers reporting capabilities that the graphical interface does not.

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4. Quick Machine Recovery in Windows 11
   Quick Machine Recovery is a new Windows 11 2H24 feature that can restore Windows 11 devices that fail to boot. The new feature detects boot errors and automatically searches Microsoft’s continuously updated online database of known issues for solutions. IT admins can use Quick Machine Recovery to fix boot issues without requiring direct physical access to the machine.

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5. Docker Model Runner: Run AI models locally with Docker Desktop
   The Docker Model Runner is a beta feature available in Docker Desktop 4.40 for macOS that enables you to run open-source AI models, including DeepSeek, Llama, Mistral, and Gemma, locally on Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 to M4). Support for Windows with NVIDIA GPU acceleration is expected to be released by the end of April 2025.

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6. Add web search to any GitHub Copilot model – Install Tavily MCP server in VS Code on Windows
   LLMs' knowledge cutoff date is a significant issue, often resulting in outdated responses. Some frontier models can browse the web, but they frequently skip this ability because they think they can handle things on their own. Bringing in an MCP server that can search the web helps the AI stay updated and assist it when struggling with a problem. Tavily is a research search engine designed to summarize online content for AI models. In this post, I will guide you through installing the Tavily MCP server on Windows. Installing on a Mac follows a similar process.

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7. Install Microsoft Playwright MCP server in VS Code for AI-powered-browser automation in GitHub Copilot Agent Mode
   Playwright is an open-source framework by Microsoft for automating web browsers to perform end-to-end testing, scraping, and UI interactions across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. The Playwright MCP server lets AI agents like GitHub Copilot control a web browser using Playwright’s automation capabilities. Microsoft introduced support for MCP in Visual Studio Code 1.99 (March 2025), enabling tools like the Copilot Agent to connect with external services. In this post, I explain how to install the Microsoft Playwright MCP server in VS Code for the GitHub Copilot Agent.

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8. Group Policy changes: Windows 11 compared to Windows 10
   Since Group Policy changes remain a cornerstone of centralized Windows system management, admins should know which settings have been introduced or changed before an OS upgrade. Windows 11 adds not only policies for its latest features but also extends configuration options for many existing components.

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9. Install an MCP server for GitHub Copilot in VS Code
   In March 2025, the release of VS Code version 1.99 introduced support for Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) in GitHub Copilot's Agent Mode. This open standard is now backed by leading AI companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and OpenAI. MCP provides a standardized framework that allows AI models to interact with external tools and data sources. In this post, I will guide you on how to install, start, stop, activate, and deactivate MCP servers. You will also learn to configure settings in mcp.json and settings.json, as well as import MCP servers from Claude Desktop, Cline, and Roo Code.

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10. Configure DNSSEC on Windows Server
    DNSSEC is a security standard that protects the Domain Name System by ensuring only authorized servers can respond to DNS queries. Microsoft's DNS server has supported DNSSEC zone signing for some time. However, to take full advantage of DNSSEC, client systems must also be configured, typically via Group Policy, to request authentic responses.

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