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Microsoft Mechanics Podcast

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Rating
★★★★☆
4.2
from
20 reviews
This podcast has
100 episodes
Language
English
Explicit
No
Date created
2016/12/01
Latest episode
2026/10/13
Average duration
11 min.
Release period
8 days

Description

Made for tech enthusiasts and IT professionals. Expanded coverage of your favorite technologies across Microsoft; including Office, Azure, Windows and Data Platforms. We'll even bring you broader topics such as device innovation with Surface, machine learning, and predictive analytics.

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Fight AI with AI | Multi-Agent Security Defense
2026/10/13
Match AI-powered attacks at machine speed with Project Perception. Point red, blue, and green AI agent teams at a known threat actor, confirm which vulnerabilities attackers can reach, then deploy KQL detections, harden your posture, and merge a tested code fix in minutes with Microsoft Defender. Stay in control and approve key actions before agents run them. Run Microsoft's pre-built playbooks or build your own, and manage sessions from the Defender portal or from your terminal with the MCP plug-in. Keep token costs low with MAI Cyber Flash, a purpose-built security model inside MDASH. Dave Weston, CVP Microsoft Security, shares how Microsoft's threat intelligence and incident response expertise power agents you direct.  👥 Who it's for: SOC analysts, security engineers, and red and blue teamers evaluating agentic AI for defense, plus AppSec and DevSecOps teams who own vulnerability remediation.  ⏱️ Chapters: 00:00 Fight AI-powered attacks with AI agents 00:45 How AI attacks adapt mid-breach 01:39 Jailbroken and abliterated models 02:04 Inside the Project Perception security stack 03:28 Red, blue, and green agent teams 04:07 Playbooks that orchestrate agent workflows 04:43 Ask Perception if you're protected 06:06 Red team agents emulate a threat actor 06:59 Approve high-impact agent actions 07:26 MDASH findings confirm reachable vulnerabilities 08:22 Blue team agent writes KQL detections 08:54 WAF, auth check, and tested code fix 09:36 Pull request merged into production 10:14 Session reports and MCP terminal plugin 11:02 MAI Cyber Flash keeps token costs low 11:57 Join the Project Perception preview AI helps attackers find, weaponize, and exploit vulnerabilities at a speed and scale no human team can match. Jailbroken and abliterated models generate custom tooling that adapts mid-breach, leaving defenses that hunt for known techniques chasing a target that changes every time. Project Perception answers with a full agentic security stack. It starts with trillions of daily security signals, correlates them in the Microsoft security graph, and uses multiple AI models, including purpose-built ones, to reason over risk and prioritize what matters most. Specialized agents act on that reasoning: red team agents simulate attacks and prove where you're vulnerable, blue team agents investigate and build detections, and green team agents harden posture and remediate. Playbooks orchestrate them through proven SOC workflows, and codified actuators let agents perform the fix instead of only recommending it. In the demo, one prompt, "Is my organization protected against Onyx Sleet?", launches threat intelligence, reconnaissance, and pen test agents. They pull MDASH code-scanning findings and confirm an internet-exposed SQL injection. A detection authoring agent writes KQL detections to cover the gap, and the posture remediation agent shields the app with a web application firewall, adds an authorization check, and produces a tested code fix merged through a pull request. Agents stop and ask before any high-impact action, so you stay in control. Every session produces a shareable report with the attack path, remediation plan, and timeline. An MCP tool plugin runs the same work from your terminal, and MAI Cyber Flash, a dedicated cybersecurity model inside MDASH, handles most vulnerability work to keep token costs low.  🔗 Related links:  ► Get started at https://microsoft.com/perception ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? Microsoft's Official Video Series for IT — Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries — Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog — Podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ►Join us on social: — https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics —  https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ — https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ — https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Build Automated Agents, Workflows, and Apps - New in Copilot Studio
2026/10/05
Take a business process from prompt to production by building agents, workflows, and apps in one place with Copilot Studio. Describe the agent you need and generate its instructions and reusable skills, choose the model, connect MCP tools and specialist agents, then test its quality at scale with Evaluations. Trigger workflows from incoming email, classify submissions, hand work to your agents, and pause for human review on the decisions that need it. Track timing and paths for every step in the Activity tab. Then generate a full stack app on your Dataverse data so your team can filter, review, and approve every bid from one shared view. Jack Rowbotham, Copilot Studio Senior Product Manager, shares how to automate a procurement process for bids from multiple vendors, using agents that reason, route, and recommend.  👥 Who it's for: IT admins, Power Platform makers, solution architects, and developers building agentic solutions, plus operations and procurement teams automating reviews and approvals. ⏱️ Chapters: 00:00 Build agents, workflows, and apps in one place 01:04 Automate a multi-vendor bid review end to end 02:18 Build an agent from a prompt 03:28 Add models, MCP tools, and specialist agents 04:13 Test the bid agent in Preview 05:05 Evaluations 05:59 Automated workflows 07:42 Track every run in the Activity tab 08:13 Build an app from a prompt 09:10 Approve bids from the team app 09:37 Get started with Copilot Studio  Copilot Studio brings agents, workflows, and apps together in one place, all running on the GitHub Copilot harness. In this video, a supplier email triggers a workflow, a bid evaluation agent checks the bid against tender requirements, and the procurement team makes the final call in a shared app. Describe the agent you want, including the requirements to assess, the logic to apply, and the live data source to connect to. Copilot Studio reasons over your prompt, maps out its build steps, and generates the agent's name, instructions, and skills for requirement coverage and evidence verification. Connect Work IQ for supplier emails and the Dataverse MCP server for bid data, keep Claude Sonnet as the reasoning model, ground the agent in an RFP example PDF, and add a Supplier Risk specialist agent. Test the agent in the Preview tab and watch its chain of thought as it flags gaps in certification, cold-chain handling, and insurance minimums. Then run Evaluations with your own conversations, auto-generated tests, or a CSV file. Here, 18 test cases met the evaluation criteria 89% of the time. In the Workflows tab, drag in an Outlook "When a new email arrives" trigger, a Classify step for RFP submissions, a Get Attachment connector, and an Agent step running the Bid Evaluation Agent. An if/else Human Review step brings in a person on flagged bids, and the Researcher agent and a recommendation agent finish the job before results land in Dataverse. Finish in Apps by describing a Bid Management App connected to your Dataverse table, or to sources like SharePoint through connectors. Apply company branding with a follow-up prompt, then filter bids that need human review and approve decisions from the app.  Try it for yourself at copilotstudio.microsoft.com. Subscribe to Microsoft Mechanics for more videos like this. 🔗 Related links: — Get started with Copilot Studio: https://copilotstudio.microsoft.com ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? Microsoft's Official Video Series for IT — Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries — Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog — Podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast  ► Join us on social: — https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics — https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ — https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ — https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Create agents fast with Agent Builder in Copilot
2026/09/23
Build a specialist AI agent without writing a line of code. Describe what you want in one prompt, and Copilot Agent Builder generates the name, instructions, skills, and knowledge setup for you — grounded only in the SharePoint sites, files, and Copilot Connectors you choose. Teach your agent a Skill to handle recurring work, like drafting weekly status emails from your own template, then test it in Preview before you publish. Share it with people or groups and set exact permissions, track real usage in the new Monitor tab, and push your best agents into your org's Agent Store catalog. Ned Friend, Group Product Manager for Copilot Agent Builder shares how to turn an agent into a tool your whole team can run, measure, and trust. 👥 Who it's for: Team leads and managers who want trusted, repeatable answers for their team, plus IT admins and Microsoft 365 power users building specialist Copilot agents without code. ⏱️ Chapters: 0:00 Build specialist agents inside Copilot 0:34 Ground agents in trusted org knowledge 1:31 Create a new hire onboarding agent 2:15 Natural-language agent creation 2:41 Ground answers in SharePoint knowledge 4:13 Skills for repeatable tasks 4:53 Precise knowledge grounding 6:37 Preview and test before publishing 7:03 Share your agent with set permissions 7:39 See the new hire's agent view 8:22 Usage monitoring 8:41 Publish agents to your org catalog Copilot Agent Builder lets you create a specialist agent by describing what you want it to do in plain language. Agent Builder interprets that prompt and automatically generates the agent's name, description, instructions, skills, knowledge sources, and suggested prompts, which you can review and edit directly. Ground every answer in the exact knowledge you choose: SharePoint and OneDrive files, Outlook email and calendar, Microsoft Teams chats and meetings, or external business systems connected through Copilot Connectors. Turn on web search only when you want the agent to research beyond your organization, like competitor or customer research. Add Skills to teach the agent repeatable, multi-step work — in this video, a weekly status update email built from a real template, matching its tone, sections, and formatting automatically. Preview and test the agent before publishing, then share it with people or groups and set whether they can use it or edit it. Once your agent is live, the Monitor tab tracks total sessions, daily active users, average messages per session, average duration, and which knowledge sources get used most. For agents with strong adoption, publish them to the Built by your org section of the Agent Store for wider use across your organization. Try Copilot Agent Builder for yourself — it's included with Copilot. Subscribe to Microsoft Mechanics for more videos like this.  ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? Microsoft's Official Video Series for IT — Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries — Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog — Podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ►Join us on social: — https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics — https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ — https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ — https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
New Agent 365 controls for Microsoft admins
2026/09/01
Govern every AI agent running across your organization with Agent 365. Track agents from Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Salesforce in one registry, sync in agents you're already running on AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud, Databricks Genie, and Anthropic Claude, and lock down shadow AI with default blocks and Execution Container isolation. Agent 365 inspects your environment for every agent Microsoft and partners have registered, then layers control on top. Reusable security policy templates apply Conditional Access, Access Packages, and Custom Security Attributes the moment you approve an agent, Tools governance blocks risky MCP servers and connectors org wide, and the Adoption Dashboard breaks down usage by group, job function, and license type for every manager in your org.  Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, shares how to bring every agent in your organization under one governed registry, and how to shut down shadow AI before it ever compromises your environment.  👥 Who it's for: IT admins, security engineers, and identity teams governing AI agents across Microsoft 365, Entra, Purview, Defender, and Intune; solution architects designing agent access, tools, and security policy at scale; developers and DevOps teams building and registering agents and custom MCP servers in Copilot Studio, Agent Builder, and Foundry; and team leads, finance, and IT leaders tracking agent adoption, usage, and spend across the organization. ⏱️ Chapters:  00:00 Why you need an AI agent control plane 02:00 See every AI agent across your environment with the unified agent registry 02:50 Track local AI activity with OpenTelemetry and the Agent Map 03:16 Sync AI agents from AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud, Databricks and Claude with Registry Sync 03:55 Approve, publish and block AI agents across your organization 04:42 Manage MCP servers, plugins and connectors with Tools governance 05:18 Apply reusable security policy templates across Entra, Purview, Defender and Intune 06:06 Block shadow AI and isolate local agents with Microsoft Execution Containers 06:23 Track agent adoption and usage with the Agent 365 dashboard 07:06 Set spending limits and cost alerts for AI agents 08:02 Monitor AI agent costs and buy prepaid credits 09:07 Get started with Agent 365 today  Agent 365 gives you one place to govern every AI agent running across your organization, no matter where it was built or who owns it. In this demo, the unified agent registry surfaces agents from Microsoft Foundry, Copilot Studio, Agent Builder, and SharePoint, alongside agents from Amazon, Google, and Salesforce, each with its identity, owner, permissions, and usage history attached. Local AI running on managed devices shows up too, logged through standardized OpenTelemetry and mapped visually in the Agent Map so you can trace connections between agents, people, data, and tools. Registry Sync pulls in agents you're already running on AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud, Databricks Genie, and Anthropic Claude with nothing more than a connection string, and from the same registry you approve agents for broader use, publish or pin them to specific groups, automate ownership handoffs when an employee leaves, and block any agent you don't want in production.  From there, Agent 365 puts you in control of what agents can touch and how they're secured. The Tools view gives you one place to see every MCP server, plugin, and connector your agents rely on, block the risky ones, and approve or reject new tool requests as they come in. Reusable security policy templates apply Conditional Access, Access Packages, and Custom Security Attributes the moment you approve an agent, drawing on native signals from Microsoft Entra, Purview, Defender, and Intune so your identity, data security, SecOps, and device teams enforce the same controls. Shadow AI running as unsanctioned local agents gets blocked by default through Intune policy and isolated from user sessions with Microsoft Execution Containers. Team leads and managers track adoption and usage in the Agent 365 Dashboard, filtered by group, organization, job function, or license type. IT and finance teams set monthly spending limits, per user budget caps, and weekly usage alerts for Copilot Cowork and the Work IQ API, and can pre purchase discounted credits to keep spend predictable.  🔗 Related links: ► Get started at https://aka.ms/agent365 ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? Microsoft's Official Video Series for IT — Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries — Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog — Podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ►Join us on social: — https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics   — https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ — https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ — https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Windows 365: Five Years In, See What's New
2026/08/21
An AI agent works inside your Windows 365 Cloud PC from a Teams chat on your phone — finding downloaded files, editing documents, and drafting emails with your laptop lid closed. Microsoft Scout, a new Autopilot agent powered by the open source OpenClaw project, runs on your own Cloud PC using your identity, your files, and your apps. Developers get a Developer Optimized Cloud PC preloaded with GitHub, VS Code, and Node.js that runs Foundry Local for token-free AI coding, and input and output protection capabilities black out the screen when anyone tries to capture a sensitive file. Bhavya Chopra, Windows 365 Partner Director, joins Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, to show how Windows 365 now covers every seat — end users, developers, admins, and the AI agents working alongside them.  👥 Who it's for: architects and IT teams deploying AI agents like Scout and Windows 365 for Agents, developers who want a pre-configured cloud coding environment with local AI, security and compliance teams enforcing data loss prevention on remote desktops, and admins managing Cloud PC connection health. ⏱️ Chapters: 0:00 What's new across Windows 365 Cloud PCs 0:59 Why Cloud PC adoption keeps accelerating 2:04 Healthcare and telecom Windows 365 case studies 3:14 Sign in to a full Windows desktop anywhere 4:10 Block screenshots with input and output protection capabilities 4:35 Pull table data from images with Click to Do 5:19 Resume your Cloud PC session on an iPad 5:52 Publish Cloud Apps with Windows 365 Flex 7:01 Give AI agents a dedicated Cloud PC 7:27 Run Microsoft Scout from a Teams chat 9:43 Code on a Developer Optimized Cloud PC 10:11 Run local AI with Foundry Local and Phi-4 11:57 Track Cloud PC connection health in Intune 13:03 Troubleshoot connection issues with an AI agent 14:03 What's next for Windows 365 Microsoft Scout takes instructions from a Teams chat and carries them out inside your Cloud PC — locating a report in the Downloads folder that never synced to OneDrive, summarizing it, appending the summary to the file, saving it, then drafting an email with the document attached and holding it for review. It reports progress back in Teams the whole time, so nothing requires touching the physical device. For agent workloads that need isolation instead, Windows 365 for Agents provisions a dedicated Cloud PC with its own unique identity and scoped access, and the same agentic infrastructure powers Computer Use in Researcher. Developer Optimized Cloud PCs skip the environment build entirely: sign in to a machine already loaded with GitHub, VS Code, and Node.js, then run Foundry Local against the Phi-4-mini small language model to generate an app and run it — CPU spikes visible in Task Manager and Windows Machine Learning profiling in VS Code confirm inference is local, with no cloud tokens spent to code or to run the finished app. Input and output protection capabilities black out the Cloud PC screen the instant someone attempts a screenshot from the accessing device, and extends the same block to third-party screen recorders and key loggers. Alongside it, AI-enabled Cloud PCs running at least 8 vCPUs add Click to Do, which lifts text out of non-selectable images and graphical tables straight into Excel, plus Semantic Search across the desktop. Sessions roam: disconnect on a laptop, reconnect on an iPad, and apps and display settings come back as you left them. Windows 365 Cloud Apps with Windows 365 Flex publishes individual apps from a shared Cloud PC pool with user experience sync across Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and the browser. And in the Intune admin center, new monitoring dashboards track connection health, failures, round trip times, and license utilization in near real time, while an admin agent in preview triages issues to a root cause — like a regional cohort set to TCP-only transport instead of UDP with RDP Shortpath.  🔗 Related links:  ► Check out https://aka.ms/windows365 ► See the latest Windows 365 updates at https://aka.ms/Windows365Turns5 ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? Microsoft's Official Video Series for IT - Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries - Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog - Podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Join us on social: - https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics - https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ - https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ - https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Build your first Power App from data in seconds
2026/07/16
Build a fully working model-driven app from your existing Dataverse, SharePoint, or SQL data in under a minute — screens, navigation, and forms included. Generate new pages from a natural language prompt with Generative Pages, auto-populate records from any document in seconds with Automatic Form Fill, and embed Copilot to query your app data directly. Layer in an Agent Feed to proactively surface decisions, missing data, and action items, then connect to Outlook and Microsoft 365 through Work IQ to act on your app data without leaving your inbox. Jed Brown, Power Platform Group Product Manager, shares how to turn existing business data into a modern, AI-powered app.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - Create apps using Power Apps 01:07 - Create an app from existing data 02:26 - Copilot + Form Fill Assist 03:46 - AI-generated pages from a prompt 04:53 - Agent feed for proactive intelligence 06:16 - M365 integration via Work IQ 06:46 - Wrap up ► Link References Build your first Power App today at https://make.powerapps.com ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? Microsoft's Official Video Series for IT - Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries - Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog - Podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Join us on social: - https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics - https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ - https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ - https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Microsoft Entra Suite hands-on tour of identity and network access protections
2026/07/15
Unify identity and network access controls. Enforce least privilege access across every app and resource. Wire lifecycle workflows directly to your HR system to strip stale permissions on role changes, gate sensitive data behind biometric step-up verification, and replace your VPN with per-app, identity-scoped access that revokes tokens the moment risk spikes. Secure AI usage at every layer. Block confidential data from reaching public AI tools and stop adversarial prompt injections before your agents process them. John Damon, Microsoft Entra Suite Senior Product Manager, shares how to lock down identity, network access, and AI usage from a single control plane.  ► QUICK LINKS: 00:00 - Identity and network controls 00:45 - Lifecycle Workflows 01:28 - Verified ID with Face Check 02:15 - Request access for direct reports 03:17 - Global Secure Access + Token Revocation 04:32 - Secure AI usage 06:20 - Network DLP / ChatGPT Block 07:12 - Prompt Injection Protection 08:31 - Wrap up  ► Link References Check out our related deep dives at https://aka.ms/EntraSuitePlaylist For more information, go to https://aka.ms/EntraSuite ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
New agentic platform in Dynamics 365 for Sales and Service
2026/07/14
Qualify a lead, close a case, or walk into a renewal meeting fully briefed, all from the sales and service agents built into Dynamics 365. Ask a question and pull a grounded answer straight from your CRM and your calendar. Hand a prompt to Copilot Cowork and walk away with updated records, a finished presentation, and a drafted email, ready before your next meeting. Auto-fill a case description as you work, and walk into every quality review already scored against your team's framework. Eric Boocock, Dynamics 365 Principal Program Manager, shares how these agents move with you from first prospect touch to case resolution, right inside the apps you work in every day. Along the way, he explains the mechanics of how everything works and your options to customize the experience with your own skills and instructions.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - Agentic platform in Dynamics 365 01:03 - Sales Qualification & Opportunity Agents 01:44 - Case Management & Quality Evaluation Agents 02:25 - Sales Agent in action 04:30 - Copilot Cowork 05:44 - Automate repeated tasks 07:33 - Power behind agentic platform 08:50 - Custom skills via Power Apps + Dataverse 09:57 - Wrap up  ► Link References Get started at https://aka.ms/AgenticCXPlatform ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Tokenomics | The new AI currency & your options explained
2026/07/09
Control what you're billed on. Tokens are the currency of AI, and how you design your app determines how many you spend. Compress conversation history instead of resending it raw, cap output tokens with matching prompt instructions, and cache static context so each reuse costs a fraction of the first request. Route each prompt to the right model by complexity, or set Model Router in Microsoft Foundry to handle that automatically — balanced, quality, or cost mode. Then optimize the whole stack. Run Agent Optimizer to test your prompt, model, and tool configurations together and surface better setups. Use Toolbox to dynamically select only the tools each request needs and cut input token overhead by 90%.  April Gittens, Microsoft Principal Cloud Advocate, joins Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, to share how to seize control of AI token spend through smarter app design.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - Tokenomics foundation 01:06 - Token cost basics 02:11 - Context Window creep 03:46 - Reduce unnecessary tokens 04:29 - Trim context costs 05:21 - Cap output tokens 06:27 - Cache for savings 07:54 - Model cost tradeoffs 09:15 - Model Router 09:42 - Toolbox in Microsoft Foundry Toolbox 11:18 - Agent Optimizer 12:44 - Other cost drivers 13:57 - Wrap up ► Link References Check out the tools in Microsoft Foundry at https://ai.azure.com For more about managing AI costs go to https://aka.ms/FoundryTokenomics ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Deploy Windows updates to counter AI-discovered threats
2026/07/07
The speed that AI can now discover and exploit vulnerabilities means that our defenses also need to adjust. For the devices that you manage where you can afford to tighten deployment timelines, we'll explain updated recommendations and show you how to speed up patching. It starts with assessing your risk exposure for unpatched devices using the new Autopatch report in Microsoft Intune, then tightening deferral policies on the devices where it makes sense, using Hotpatch to activate protection on install — without requiring reboots. Windows Autopatch automates your update deployments using rings to progressively apply updates to the device groups that you help define, including updates for Windows, Microsoft 365 Apps and the Edge browser. And to keep internal resources protected, you can enforce access controls using Conditional Access to block non-compliant devices.  Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, shares what's changed along with the approaches you can take to help counter the growing number of AI-discovered vulnerabilities and stay protected.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - AI and Windows patch management 01:13 - Updated patching deferral thresholds 01:46 - Hotpatch on by default 02:05 - Windows Autopatch report 02:30 - Ring-based deployment + M365 Apps servicing profile 02:50 - Conditional Access for non-compliant devices 03:16 - Wrap up ► Link References For what you can do beyond patching, go to https://aka.ms/securenow ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Zero Trust security for AI agents
2026/07/02
Apply Zero Trust controls to every AI agent in your environment across identity, tool usage, and data access. Extend Conditional Access in Microsoft Entra to evaluate every agent authorization request in real time against the same risk signals as human users. Assign each agent its own managed identity with Entra Agent ID and scope permissions with Access Packages. Govern your MCP catalog as a software supply chain — unapproved tools don't run, and approved servers lock behind Azure API Management. Log every agent tool call, API access, and data lookup into Microsoft Sentinel for continuous anomaly detection. Purview Insider Risk Management auto-assigns risk levels so you can investigate fast or revoke access entirely. DLP and sensitivity labels in Microsoft Purview restrict what agents can reach and auto-inherit to everything they generate, and Data Access Governance maps exactly what each agent can access before a prompt fires.  Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, shares how to put these controls into practice across every managed, self-hosted, and shadow agent in your estate. ► QUICK LINKS: 00:00 - How AI changes Zero Trust 01:20 - Zero Trust principles 02:27 - How to apply Zero Trust principles 03:40 - Conditional Access for Agent Identities 04:59 - Entra Agent ID + Access Packages 06:07 - Runtime Observability 06:58 - DLP, Sensitivity Labels + Data Access Governance 07:47 - MCP catalog 08:36 - AI apps & experiences 09:24 - Wrap up ► Link References  Watch the rest of this series at https://aka.ms/ZTMechanics For additional resources, check out https://aka.ms/GoZeroTrust ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Secure containers from code to runtime | Microsoft Defender
2026/06/29
Secure containerized apps end-to-end using Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Correlate cross-cloud attacks into a single incident, catch runtime threats that image scanning misses, and block vulnerable images before they reach production. Investigate container hijacking, isolate compromised pods with Security Copilot-guided remediation, and close the loop from SOC to dev by pushing CVE fixes to GitHub and syncing resolution back to Defender. Matt McSpirit, Microsoft Azure expert, shares how to detect, investigate, and remediate container threats in one connected workflow. ► QUICK LINKS: 00:00 - Secure containers in Microsoft Defender 01:02 - Cross-cloud incident 03:07- Runtime detection 04:10 - Investigate and build context 04:49 - Security Copilot incident report & containment 06:03 - Prevention 07:34 - Recommendations and take action 09:04 - Wrap up ► Link References Get started at https://aka.ms/DefenderCloudSecurity ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Find and fix app issues - Azure Copilot Observability Agent
2026/06/25
Cut through alert noise and move from detection to root cause using the Azure Copilot Observability Agent. It autonomously investigates incidents, correlates signals across logs, metrics, alerts, application health, and ML anomalies, then surfaces root cause with charts and recommended next steps. Extend coverage to your AI agents in Microsoft Foundry, track Gen AI errors and token consumption with trace-level detail, and write plain-language instructions to tune autonomous behavior to match your team's workflow. Matt McSpirit, Microsoft Azure expert, shares how to take full control of incident response at scale.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - Azure Copilot Observability Agent 00:43 - How to use it as you work 01:33 - Unified Full-Stack Telemetry 02:39 - Root Cause Investigation 04:12 - Investigate further 04:55 - Re-run the investigation 05:36 - Autonomous Alert Correlation & Triage 07:13 - Natural Language Agent Customization 07:34 - Wrap up ► Link References Get started at https://aka.ms/ObservabilityAgent ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
Build Agent Architecture using AI Landing Zones
2026/06/25
Build enterprise-ready AI agents that scale without sacrificing security or control using Microsoft Azure. Establish a shared Governance Hub to centralize model access, MCP catalogs, and policy enforcement, then give every agent a traceable identity, runtime protection, and data governance through Agent 365. Layer in Microsoft Fabric's Ontologies so your agents reason over real business context, not just raw data. Choose your runtime — no-code, hosted container, or custom — and deploy a production-grade environment in minutes using the AI Landing Zone accelerator. Matt McSpirit, Microsoft Azure Expert, joins Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, to share how to architect, govern, and scale a full agent mesh across the Microsoft stack.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - Build secure AI agents 01:07 - Accelerate development, reduce risks 02:51 - Model Gateway + MCP Gateway 03:24 - Agent 365 Unified Control Plane 03:56 - Azure Policy + Azure Monitor 04:27 - Intelligent data platform 05:37 - OneLake in Microsoft Fabric 06:39 - Microsoft Purview data governance 07:13 - Fabric IQ with Ontologies 07:51 - Landing Zones 09:23 - Three Hosting Runtimes 11:06 - AI Landing Zone Accelerator 13:16 - Scalability 14:16 - Wrap up ► Link References Check out https://aka.ms/AIArchitecture ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics
New Security Controls in Edge for Business
2026/06/25
Enforce your existing Microsoft security policies directly in the browser, where your users actually work, using Microsoft Edge for Business. Extend Conditional Access, Purview DLP, and Defender controls into every session, across managed and unmanaged devices. Block sensitive data from reaching unsanctioned AI services, lock contractors into your data boundary on devices you don't manage, and control clipboard and screenshot actions by location. Manage extensions by permission type from the Microsoft 365 admin center and shut down scareware before users respond. Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, shares how to deploy these controls using the security stack you already have.  ► QUICK LINKS:  00:00 - Security built into the browser 01:30 - Shadow AI Data Blocking 03:03 - Contractor Work Profiles 04:22 - Configuration 05:16 - Advanced DLP & Clipboard Controls 06:29 - How to set it up 07:07 - Extension Management 09:20 - Protect from threats 10:13 - Wrap up ► Link References To get started, check out https://aka.ms/EdgeforBusiness ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft's official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. • Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries • Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog • Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: • Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics • Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ • Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ • Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics

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4.2 out of 5
20 reviews
★★★☆☆
Yobyot 2019/11/03
Yet another “channel” from MSFT
I get it: Microsoft is a big company, a universe in fact. As a result, technical info from the company is cacophonous with varying quality and levels ...
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