Insights

Practical guides on Cyber Essentials Plus, application control, network visibility, application packaging, endpoint management and Microsoft 365 licensing, written for the people who actually have to do the work. Every claim is sourced and dated.

Security

Blocking unapproved applications without breaking Windows

Why kernel-level blocking beats a list of banned software, why every rule should spend time in audit first, and how AppBlocker makes it a safe routine rather than a risky project.

Guide · 7 min read · Published 6 October 2026
Security

What leaves your network? Seven Network Egress reports explained

Outbound traffic is where data loss, unapproved software and compromised devices show themselves. Seven standard reports turn per-device flow data into answers you can act on.

Guide · 8 min read · Published 6 October 2026
Cyber Essentials

What changed, and when? Daily snapshots for devices and servers

A device that passed its assessment in spring can quietly fail it by summer. Daily snapshots turn that drift into a finding the next morning, and give every Windows Server a history you can read.

Guide · 7 min read · Published 6 October 2026
Cyber Essentials

Cyber Essentials v3.3 (Danzell): what changed in April 2026

Mandatory MFA as an auto-fail, two new auto-fail patching questions, cloud services always in scope, and CE Plus retesting that now covers every in-scope device rather than the sample. Already in force - and most organisations have not re-certified against it yet.

Guide · 7 min read · Updated 24 July 2026
Cyber Essentials

The Cyber Essentials 14-day patching rule, explained

What counts as high-risk or critical, when the 14-day clock actually starts, what falls inside the assessment boundary, and why "we patch on the second Tuesday" is no longer a defensible policy on its own.

Guide · 8 min read · Updated 24 July 2026
Endpoint management

Why your Intune and Configuration Manager compliance numbers lie

Intune reports devices with no policy assigned as compliant by default and keeps a dark device compliant for 30 days. Configuration Manager calls a device Active on one signal a week. What the defaults mean, what CcmEval never checks, and the four deadlines that land in October 2026.

Guide · 16 min read · Updated 24 July 2026
Packaging

MSI vs MSIX: a 2026 reality check for enterprise packaging

MSIX won on virtual desktops and lost ground on physical endpoints. What it still cannot package, why its tooling has not shipped since May 2024, the signing rules that catch enterprises out, and a triage rule you can apply at intake.

Guide · 14 min read · Updated 24 July 2026
Microsoft 365

How to reclaim unused Microsoft 365 licences

The tenant setting that hashes every username in every report, which Graph endpoints to use, why usage data produces false negatives, the seven-day seat reduction window, and what actually happens to mailbox and OneDrive data. With July 2026 UK pricing.

Guide · 18 min read · Updated 24 July 2026

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