WEEKLY BRIEFING · 23 FEB – 1 MAR 2026 · UTC
Full source inventory · public sources only
Week 9 sources
Microsoft published 3 Windows KB releases (3 optional previews). No new MSRC release that week. 28 roadmap changes, led by Outlook (7) and Defender (5). 15 lifecycle milestones fall in the next 30 days. 11 Azure updates, including 2 retirements. 13 Windows and security articles from Microsoft blogs.
3Windows KB releases
28Roadmap changes across 9 products
13Windows and security articles
Windows releases3
Windows and security news13
- Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 28020.1673 (Canary Channel)27 Feb
- Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26300.7939 (Dev Channel)27 Feb
- Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7934 (Beta Channel)27 Feb
- What’s New in Windows Group Policy Preferences Debug Logging27 Feb
- Announcing ReFS Boot for Windows Server Insiders27 Feb
8 more
- Windows Server 2025 Remote Desktop Session Host Capacity Planning Whitepaper26 Feb
- Edge 145.0.3800.82: Chromium security fixes26 Feb
- VMSA-2026-0002: VMware Workstation and Fusion updates address multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-22715, CVE-2026-22716, CVE-2026-22717, CVE-2026-22722)26 Feb
- Reading GPSVC Like a Crime Novel25 Feb
- GitLab Patch Release: 18.9.1, 18.8.5, 18.7.525 Feb
- When Group Policy Goes Haywire: Spotting registry.pol Corruption Fast (and other problems too)24 Feb
- Windows Server Secure Boot playbook for certificates expiring in 202623 Feb
- Security baseline for Windows Server 2025, version 260223 Feb
Lifecycle milestones in the next 30 days15
- Retirement: Speech to Text API v3.0 API Retirement 13 Mar
- Retirement · 2 products: DMS (classic) – SQL Scenarios only retirement; Feature deprecation: Trigger playbooks on alerts by analytics rule 15 Mar
- Retirement: AzureML Batch Endpoints API Preview retirement 16 Mar
- Retirement: Classic VMware protection scenario using ASR 29 Mar
- Retirement · 9 products: API Keys for querying Application Insights; Batch Region Retirement; Classic alerts for Azure Backup; Classic Compute Node Communication Model; Deprecation of flash-extract custom fields; Retire Require Approve Client App Conditional Access Grant; VHD and Managed Images; Windows Server 2019 on AKS hybrid; Windows Server 2019 on AKS Retirement 31 Mar
- End of support: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Parallel Data Warehouse (Analytics Platform System) 31 Mar
Product news94
Defender · 32
- (Preview) Customers can now use filters on very large incidents with many alerts and entities or hide specific entities to simplify complex incident graphs.1 Mar
- (Preview) The following advanced hunting schema tables are now available for preview: The CloudDnsEvents table contains information about DNS activity events from cloud…1 Mar
- Added support for contextual Teams messages in User reported Teams Messages1 Mar
29 more
- AI model security for Azure Machine Learning (Preview)1 Mar
- Automated malware remediation in Defender for Storage1 Mar
- Code to runtime enrichment for recommendations (Preview)1 Mar
- Continued rollout of new health alert: Sensor v3.x RPC audit misconfigured1 Mar
- Defender for Endpoint Linux 101.26012.00071 Mar
- Defender for Endpoint Linux 101.26021.00021 Mar
- Defender for Endpoint macOS 101.26012.00151 Mar
- Defender for Endpoint macOS 101.26012.00171 Mar
- Defender for Identity sensor updates1 Mar
- Defender for Identity sensor updates1 Mar
- Deprecation of preview of container and container images vulnerability recommendations1 Mar
- Expanded multicloud coverage for AWS and GCP (Preview)1 Mar
- Expanding User reporting in Teams to include Calls1 Mar
- File Integrity Monitoring requires MDE agent version 10.8799+ for legacy Windows machines1 Mar
- Identity security enhancements1 Mar
- Identity security enhancements1 Mar
- Kubernetes gated deployment support for AKS Automatic (GA)1 Mar
- Migrate Defender for Identity sensors from v2.x to v3.x1 Mar
- Migrate Defender for Identity sensors from v2.x to v3.x1 Mar
- New Defender for Identity security alerts1 Mar
- New individual recommendations format in Azure portal (Preview)1 Mar
- On-demand malware scanning of Azure Files in Microsoft Defender for Storage (Preview)1 Mar
- Sensor v3.x support for domain controllers with Microsoft Entra Connect identity roles1 Mar
- Severity-based risk assignment for "Not evaluated" recommendations1 Mar
- Support for additional Azure regions for Defender for APIs and API security posture management with Defender CSPM1 Mar
- Suspected pass-the-ticket attack alert is now generally available1 Mar
- The proactive user containment (contain user) action as part of the predictive shielding feature is now generally available.1 Mar
- To improve accuracy and better protect organizational identities, we've made updates to the Secure Score category calculations.1 Mar
- Updates to Secure Score category calculations for increased accuracy1 Mar
Microsoft Entra · 21
- General Availability - Enabling Email and SMS OTP MFA in Entra External ID Native Authentication1 Mar
- General Availability - Just‑in‑Time Password Migration in Microsoft Entra External ID1 Mar
- General Availability - Microsoft Entra Connect Health now enforces TLS 1.21 Mar
18 more
- General Availability - Microsoft Single Sign-On for Linux support for authenticating with Phish-Resistant MFA credentials1 Mar
- General Availability - New M365 group creation experience in My Groups1 Mar
- General Availability - Passkey profiles in Microsoft Entra ID1 Mar
- General Availability - SCIM 2.0 APIs for Microsoft Entra ID1 Mar
- General Availability - Synced passkeys in Microsoft Entra ID1 Mar
- General Availability - Tenant configuration management APIs1 Mar
- General Availability – Improved readability for Authentication Methods Policy Update audit logs1 Mar
- Plan for change – Agent Registry consolidation into Microsoft Agent 3651 Mar
- Public Preview - Cross-tenant security group synchronization1 Mar
- Public Preview - Entra Hybrid Join using Entra Kerberos1 Mar
- Public Preview - Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery is now available1 Mar
- Public Preview - Microsoft Entra passkeys on Windows1 Mar
- Public Preview - Passkey Adoption Campaigns with the Conditional Access Optimization Agent1 Mar
- Public Preview - Phased Rollout with the Conditional Access Agent1 Mar
- Public Preview - Related Tenants1 Mar
- Public preview - Secure add-on tenant creation1 Mar
- Public preview - Tenant configuration management administration portal experience1 Mar
- Public preview - Tenant governance relationships1 Mar
Copilot Studio · 14
- (Preview) Use Work IQ tools to connect Microsoft 365 Copilot and your agents to the Work IQ service.1 Mar
- Add Bing Custom Search as a knowledge source to ground your agent's responses in a curated, scoped web index by using a Custom Configuration ID.1 Mar
- Agent evaluations are now generally available (GA).1 Mar
11 more
- Apply accessibility best practices for Adaptive Cards to support screen readers, keyboard navigation, and Teams-specific scenarios.1 Mar
- ChatGPT‑5 is now generally available globally (excluding GCC environments) for use in production agents.1 Mar
- Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Claude Opus are now generally available globally (excluding GCC environments).1 Mar
- Configure post-call action topics for voice-enabled agents to trigger backend actions automatically after a call ends, based on how the conversation concluded.1 Mar
- Configure reprompt messages in Question nodes with randomization support to improve conversation recovery for retry prompts, entity recognition failures, and voice scena…1 Mar
- Create multi‑turn conversation tests in Copilot Studio to evaluate how agents perform across realistic dialog flows instead of single‑turn interactions.1 Mar
- For users with Bot transcript viewer privileges, after you filter your list of questions or reactions, you can download the filtered questions or reactions to a .csv fil…1 Mar
- For users with Bot transcript viewer privileges, downloaded session transcripts from Copilot Studio now include session-level customer satisfaction (CSAT) values.1 Mar
- Use an agent node to call a Copilot Studio agent from an agent flow.1 Mar
- Use the Prompt assistant in Prompt builder to draft prompts faster with GPT model–powered suggestions.1 Mar
- View and filter detailed lists of user questions and reactions from your agent's conversations.1 Mar
Microsoft Graph · 7
- Teamwork and communications (v1.0): 1 API change passage26 Feb
- Teamwork and communications (v1.0): 20 API change passages26 Feb
- Identity and access (v1.0): 1 API change passage26 Feb
4 more
OpenAI · 5
- Expanded input_file support in the Responses API to accept more document, presentation, spreadsheet, code, and text file types.24 Feb
- Released gpt-5.3-codex to the Responses API.24 Feb
- Released phase to the Responses API.24 Feb
2 more
Outlook · 5
- [FIXED] Classic Outlook crashes and opens in Safe Mode starting March 12 20261 Mar
- [FIXED] Classic Outlook replaces accented and extended characters with question marks1 Mar
- [FIXED] Users get errors 0x800CCC0E & 0x800CCC0F synchronizing Gmail and Yahoo accounts in classic Outlook1 Mar
2 more
Google Gemini · 2
- Deprecation announcement: Gemini 3 Pro Preview (gemini-3-pro-preview) will be shut down March 9, 2026.26 Feb
- Launched Nano Banana 2, Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview, a high-efficiency model optimized for speed and high-volume use cases.26 Feb
Azure · 1
Azure Arc · 1
Azure PowerShell · 1
Azure Virtual Desktop · 1
OneDrive · 1
Sentinel · 1
Windows · 1
Windows 365 · 1
Azure updates11
- Generally Available: Azure Premium SSD v2 Disk Storage is now available in a third Availability Zone in New Zealand North27 Feb
- Generally Available: DCesv6, DCedsv6, ECesv6, and ECedsv6 confidential VMs27 Feb
- Retirement: Managed NGINX Ingress with Application Routing Add-on Retiring November 202627 Feb
- Generally Available: Azure Red Hat OpenShift is now available in Malaysia West, New Zealand North, and Mexico Central27 Feb
- Public Preview: Restrict usage of user delegation SAS to an Entra ID identity26 Feb
6 more
- Public Preview: Secure ingestion and pod placement for Azure Monitor pipeline26 Feb
- Generally Available: Azure SQL updates for late-February 202625 Feb
- Public Preview: Azure SQL updates for late-February 202625 Feb
- Public Preview: Geo‑redundant backups for Premium SSD v2 in Azure Database for PostgreSQL25 Feb
- Retirement: Windows Server Annual Channel (preview)23 Feb
- Public Preview: WAF Insights for Application Gateway23 Feb
Microsoft 365 roadmap28
Outlook · 7
- Outlook: New search folder types27 Feb
- Outlook: New search folder types27 Feb
- Outlook: Online archive for shared mailboxes in the new Outlook for Windows27 Feb
4 more
Defender · 5
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Admins can hunt on calls in Microsoft Teams27 Feb
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Agentic AI Phish Submission Analysis & Response24 Feb
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Auto-Remediation of Malicious Similarity Clusters in AIR24 Feb
2 more
Purview · 4
- Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Insider Risk Management - Administrative units support27 Feb
- Microsoft Purview compliance portal: Insider Risk Management- Adaptive scopes27 Feb
- Microsoft Purview: Information Protection-Email attachment Preview in Activity Explorer26 Feb
Teams · 4
- Microsoft Teams: Chat Notes27 Feb
- Microsoft Teams: New SlimCore-based optimization for Microsoft Teams in VDI - support for Windows endpoints on Omnissa environments27 Feb
- Microsoft Teams: Apps in Shared Channels for Microsoft Teams24 Feb
5 more products · 8 changes
Microsoft 365 Copilot · 3
- Microsoft 365 (Microsoft Copilot): Copilot Chat - Loop Notebooks in ContextIQ27 Feb
- Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Voice chats can reference Memory26 Feb
- Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365): Copilot can edit your document by default in Word25 Feb
Viva · 2
- Microsoft Viva: Viva Pulse - Capture targeted Copilot sentiment from power and novice users26 Feb
- Microsoft Viva: Viva Pulse - Measure Copilot sentiment to change manage and scale Copilot adoption26 Feb
Minecraft Education · 1
OneDrive · 1
SharePoint · 1
Other public updates38
- Retiring the Impala connector28 Feb
- SharePoint page template gallery improvements and new templates27 Feb
- Copilot entry point changes in Word and handoff to Agent in chat27 Feb
- Microsoft Teams: Code block line numbers and improved keyboard accessibility27 Feb
- Introducing the new SharePoint experience27 Feb
33 more
- Microsoft Teams: Flexible layout for meetings with resizable divider27 Feb
- Collaborate with Copilot in Outlook while drafting email27 Feb
- Microsoft 365 Copilot for Teams: Bilingual consecutive interpretation mode with Interpreter agent26 Feb
- New Secure Boot update resources for Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, and Microsoft Intune26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys – Automatic activation of bot protection26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Contact Center - Run voice outbound campaigns with proactive engagement26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Project Operations - Enable outline level to the tasks in resource assignment view26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Contact Center - Use preview dial for high-value proactive engagements26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Project Operations - Use the simplified Approvals page26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys – Create static segments with up to 200,000 members26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Contact Center – Leverage rich media messaging across channels26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Project Operations - View approvals of different types more clearly by using the enhanced UI26 Feb
- Defender for Office 365 URL click alerts now include Microsoft Teams26 Feb
- Microsoft 365 Copilot: Turn Copilot Pages into SharePoint News posts26 Feb
- SharePoint: Backend migration for Weather, World Clock, and Events web parts26 Feb
- Resuming rollout of Exchange Online tenant outbound email limits for tenants with more than 500 email licenses26 Feb
- Outlook: Delimiter setting admin policy26 Feb
- Microsoft Purview: Data Security Investigations – AI analysis enhancements26 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Customer Service - Record and review full‑screen representative activity25 Feb
- Updates available for Microsoft 365 Apps for Current Channel25 Feb
- Microsoft Purview | Data Lifecycle Management - Separate Retention policies for Copilots and AI Apps25 Feb
- Updates to filtered message viewing in Outlook for iOS and Android25 Feb
- Microsoft 365 Copilot app: Branded footer customization25 Feb
- Workspace IP Firewall rules (Public Preview)25 Feb
- Microsoft Purview eDiscovery Configuration change for PowerShell cmdlet case25 Feb
- Windows first sign-in restore experience now available25 Feb
- The February 2026 Windows non-security preview update is now available24 Feb
- Windows Server Secure Boot playbook for certificates expiring in 2026 24 Feb
- Advanced Hunting: new actions to block attachments and top-level URL domains23 Feb
- Microsoft Entra: Retiring Microsoft Entra Connect Sync versions earlier than 2.5.79.0 on September 30, 202623 Feb
- Microsoft 365 Copilot: Introducing infinite scroll for chat history23 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Project Operations - Experience phase 4 enhancements for Expense mobile app23 Feb
- Dynamics 365 Customer Service - Support multilingual evaluation criteria23 Feb
Every line opens its detail page or the original Microsoft source. This briefing uses public sources only and says nothing about your tenant or devices.