Microsoft Teams will soon let you combine both your accounts so there’s no escape

Switching between personal and workplace Microsoft Teams accounts could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new update to the service.

The video conferencing platform is rolling out changes that will allow users to combine business and consumer Teams accounts, hopefully putting an end to any unfortunate confusion.

Microsoft says the change will allow for much improved communication for Teams users across the world, even opening the door for personal chats whilst on a work network.

Combined Microsoft Teams

“With this update Teams users in your organization will be able to start a 1:1 or a group chat with Teams users who are using their personal accounts and vice-versa,” Microsoft noted in an updated message center notification.

The feature was first announced by Microsoft back in February 2021, but has now entered the rolling out period, meaning users will be able to access it soon. 

“Teams users will be able to chat with team members who are outside their work network and have a Teams personal account,” the official Microsoft 365 roadmap entry for the update added. 

“This is expanding on external access capabilities, enabling Teams users to invite for a 1:1 or group chat any other federated Teams users using an email address or phone number and remain within the security and compliance policies of their organization.”

The update is coming to all Microsoft Teams desktop users around the world, so be sure to keep your program updated to the latest release.

The change is the latest in a series of Microsoft Teams updates as the firm looks to continue helping companies around the world adapt to the new age of hybrid working.

Along with video capabilities, Microsoft Teams also added chat bubbles to its online collaboration tool last year, meaning that users shouldn't miss private messages sent during a video call. Microsoft has also added this feature to group chats so that everyone can keep up with the conversations happening via text as well as those taking place in a video call at the same time, allowing everyone to view chats sent during a meeting on the front of room display in a Teams Room.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

The most popular Firefox extensions of 2021 were both adblockers

Customizing Mozilla's browser with add-ons can give you a whole new experience when browsing the web though only one-third of Firefox users have installed an extension or theme.

Among the 100m+ users that did install an extension this year, adblockers were the most popular with Adblock Plus taking the top spot followed by uBlock Origin. Across the span of 2021, Adblock Plus had an average of over 6.1m daily users while uBlock Origin averaged just over 5m+ daily users over the course of the year.

While Adblock Plus led the charge at the beginning of the year, uBlock Origin was able to close the gap and if current usage trends among Firefox users continue, it may take the top spot in early 2022 according to a new blog post from Mozilla.

One of the reasons users choose Firefox as their preferred browser is to further protect their privacy online. While adblockers can stop ads from following you around the web, other popular extensions this year that protect against invasive tracking include Mozilla's own Facebook Container with 1.7m daily active users and Ghostery with 1.1m daily active users.

In addition to putting out a list of the most popular extensions each year, the Firefox Recommended Extensions program is a curated list of third party extensions that meet Mozilla's highest standards of security, utility and user experience.

For those who often find themselves drowning in a sea of open browser tabs, Tab Stash may be the perfect extension as it adds a toolbar button that when clicked, saves all of your open tabs as temporary bookmarks. If you're using Firefox Sync, the service will automatically show your Tab Stash bookmarks synced to other devices.

Another interesting extension highlighted by Mozilla is Stylebot. This extension gives you the power to dramatically alter the way any website looks from font sizes to color schemes to content layout. Perhaps you're intrigued by vertical tabs in Microsoft Edge? Then the Sideberry extension can be used to organize your open tabs in a cascading “tree” tucked away to the side of your browser.

While web browsers have certainly come a long way, extensions allow you to further customize their look and fell as well as their functionality which can help you be more productive or just have a better browsing experience overall.

We've also rounded up the best browser, best VPN and best proxy services

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More