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Posts tagged "Microsoft"

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Microsoft Edge is getting a major security boost straight out of Minority Report
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Microsoft is looking to give its web browser a significant security upgrade with the release of a new build featuring some useful protection updates.

The company has revealed that Microsoft Edge v.98 will offer a boosted browsing experience that puts safety and security at the forefront, as well as “giving you an extra layer of protection when browsing the web.”

This will allow users to “enhance your security on the web”, the official entry in the Microsoft 365 roadmap says.

Step forward

There's not a lot of detail about what the “new browsing experience” in Microsoft Edge v.98 will entail just yet, but the company says it will be “a step forward”.

It will allow administrators to apply group policies to end-user desktops across not just Windows devices, but also those running macOS and Linux. 

These should help protect against so-called zero-day threats, which are brand-new malware threats that typically look to take advantage of recently-discovered security flaws, and are often extremely dangerous due to a lack of reference points.

Microsoft Edge v.98 will allow users to “mitigate unforeseen active zero days”, the company says, offering an extra layer of protection to keep them safe online.

Read more

> Browser wars: Microsoft Edge is steaming away from an established rival

> Microsoft Edge is about to give you an excellent new way to procrastinate

> Microsoft Edge is bringing back a classic feature – and you should absolutely use it

It's not clear if the new security protections form part of the long-awaited “super duper secure mode” for Microsoft Edge, which launched back in November 2021 as the company looked to boost security for the browser.

Available for Edge v.96 and upwards, the new platform offers two separate configurations – Balanced and Strict – which determine the level of additional protection the user receives. 

Balanced mode learns which sites the user frequents and loosens restrictions on these domains, whereas Strict mode applies restrictions across all websites, which may mean some elements no longer work as intended. Users can also create exceptions manually for websites they would like to be exempt from the extra security measures.

  • Also check out our list of the best VPN services around

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Sony needs to catch up on nostalgia, while Microsoft buys it up for billions
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The announcement of Microsoft agreeing to buy Activision-Blizzard in a $ 68 billion dollar deal shook the gaming industry, with many wondering what’s going to happen once the deal closes.

This means that brands such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and True Crime: Streets of LA are about to be the property of Microsoft, alongside other brands such as DOOM, Elder Scrolls, Halo, and more.

But this brings up the aspect of where Sony stands in this. With a rumored service called Project Spartacus offering titles from its back catalog of almost 30 years, there’s going to be franchises, such as Crash Bandicoot, which will need more discussion for them to be allowed on the service.

However, this is also representative of how far behind Sony looks compared to Microsoft’s big news, and what it could mean for future generations of consoles and gaming as a whole.

A Sony and Microsoft agreement?

When the Nintendo Online Expansion Pack service was announced in October, Nintendo surprised many by confirming that Microsoft-owned Banjo Kazooie was about to arrive on the service, now available to play on the Switch.

In retrospect, it wasn’t a surprise, mainly due to the starring titular characters Banjo and Kazooie appearing in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as paid DLC, back in 2019.

Also, to see the first game in the series, on the Nintendo Online Service with a ‘by Xbox Game Studios’, will cause anyone older than 20 years old to do a double-take. Especially with the Rare logo appearing once you start up the game. But it shows how far some brands have come since their first outing on other systems.

Banjo-Kazooie

(Image credit: Rare)

Yet Sony is already on the backfoot. It didn’t help matters when the CEO, Jim Ryan, publicly called out its older catalog as ‘dated’ and questioned why anyone would play them, a comment Ryan has seemingly backed away from since.

To dismiss over 25 years of gaming wouldn’t put anyone in a good light, especially the CEO of Sony. But Project Spartacus looks to reverse some of that ill-will, rumored to include games from the PS1 and PS2 era.

While I’m not expecting Onimusha 2 or Rosco McQueen to appear on the service, at least to start with, seeing games such as Ridge Racer and Tomb Raider 2, ready to play on a PlayStation 5 is immensely appealing.

But we’ve been here before already. Back in 2015, Sony enabled PS2 Classics to run on the PlayStation 4, where you could play Ape Escape 2, Resident Evil 4, and almost the entire library of Rockstar Games’ PS2 releases.

Users were hopeful that this would mean the games that you could play on PS3, PSP and PS Vita would eventually work on PlayStation 4, but this wasn’t to be. The program fizzled out after 18 months, and while you can play these on your PlayStation 5, it nowhere near scratches the demand that’s out there.

But it also goes back to who holds the rights. Sony may have another battle soon, to offer the original Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon games, now that they’re about to be the property of Microsoft. These were once tentpole Sony exclusives, at least in the heyday of their original releases. We may see something similar to the agreement that Microsoft and Nintendo had for Banjo to appear on the Switch Online service.

But time will tell. Nostalgia is a powerful asset in gaming, now more than ever. It brings back memories and good feelings of a time when you enjoyed a game for what it was when it was released, not what it could be, either through DLC content or multiplayer season packs.

After so many years of Sony flat-out refusing to honor the past that so many still hold in a great light, Project Spartacus needs to impress on day one, and not repeat the same tropes that its PS2 Classics series on PS4 brought.

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The Microsoft Teams empire is about to expand even further
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Microsoft has launched a new initiative designed to attract even more customers to its collaboration platform, Teams.

As described in a Microsoft blog post, the company is kickstarting a device trade-in scheme, whereby businesses can claim cash back on old video conferencing hardware and desk phones when they make the switch to Microsoft Teams.

The scheme will be facilitated by a partnership with Network-Value, a company that specializes in global device trade-in and responsible equipment disposal.

Microsoft Teams expansion

Earlier this week, it was announced that Microsoft Teams has breached yet another major milestone, racking up more than 270 million monthly active users (MAUs). For context, the service is said to have attracted fewer than 50 million daily users before the pandemic began.

However, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has warned that he does not expect Teams to sustain the current rate of growth. Indeed, with many businesses having now settled with a software partner, bagging new customers will surely be more difficult for Microsoft this year.

That said, the company will continue to do everything in its power to expand the Microsoft Teams empire, with the support of new initiatives like the trade-in scheme.

“IT and facilities directors are facing many tough decisions as businesses evolve to support a hybrid workplace. Considerations include the transformation of existing office space, standardizing the meeting experience globally for all employees, recouping residual value out of existing hardware and disposing of end-of-life devices,” wrote Microsoft

“When it’s time to upgrade your desktop phone or video conferencing systems, we’ve made it easier by leveraging the value of your existing hardware. Instead of spending valuable time trying to sell or recycle your hardware, simply contact Network-Value to receive a fast, competitive quote on your device inventory.”

Read more

> Why Slack isn't afraid of Microsoft Teams or any other rival

> We're all much more dependent on Teams than we want to believe

> Meet the CEO beating Teams and Zoom at their own game

Another way in which Microsoft will attempt to capture an even greater slice of the pie is through a continued focus on feature rollouts.

In recent weeks, for example, we’ve reported that Microsoft Teams is set to receive new features that let users hide their own face during a video call, use their smartphone as a walkie-talkie and run the software in a virtual machine.

Microsoft will hope that a combination of continual upgrades and out-of-the box thinking (as demonstrated by the trade-in program) will help make 2022 as successful as previous years where Teams is concerned.

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This Microsoft Edge update is a dream for all you clumsy typists
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Spelling errors may soon be a thing of the past for Microsoft Edge users thanks to a new update coming to the software.

The company has revealed it is working on bringing a new “text predictions” feature to its browser that uses Microsoft's own in-house AI and ML technology to offer word suggestions to users.

This feature will initially be available to Windows 10 and Windows 11 users in the Edge Canary Channel, but should be coming to a wider audience soon.

Microsoft Edge text predictions

The change will see Microsoft Edge utilizing a similar process seen in the company's Outlook platform and Microsoft Editor service.

Predictions or suggestions will be displayed in a greyed-out suggestion box shown when the user is typing in Microsoft Edge. Users can accept a text prediction suggestion by clicking Tab or pressing the right arrow key – and to ignore a suggestion, just continue typing and the preview will disappear.

Users can try out the new addition now, but will need to be members of the Edge Canary Channel to do so. There's no news on a wider release date just yet, but given Microsoft's past track record, the tool should come to the market soon.

Read more

> Microsoft Edge’s half-baked password manager might now be worth a look

> Watch out, that Microsoft Edge update is actually ransomware

> Google Chrome browser could be getting nifty Windows 11-style scrollbars

It's the latest in a series of recent upgrades for Microsoft Edge as the company looks to keep users engaged and away from competitors such as Google Chrome.

This includes the launch of a new “Games” panel in the browser, along with a new twist on the RSS-style Followable Web feature that lets users follow their favorite YouTube creators with the press of a button.

Although Chrome only offers text suggestions in the URL search bar, several other Google tools provide predictive text tools for users.

Autocorrect came to Google Docs back in February 2020, with the company's Smart Compose tool looking to help users stamp out spelling or grammar mistakes following its launch on Gmail all the way back in 2018.

Smart Compose automatically suggests the next few words of a sentence based on what you've already typed, learning from your writing habits to become more accurate over time.

Via WindowsLatest

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Microsoft Teams is more popular than ever, so you’d better get used to it
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The success of Microsoft Teams just keeps on growing as more and more users around the world sign up to the platform.

The video conferencing service now boasts over 270 million monthly active users (MAUs) according to the latest figures released by Microsoft.

This is up from the 250 million Microsoft Teams MAUs that the company reported just six months ago, as the hybrid working age continues to drive the platform from strength to strength.

Record Microsoft Teams numbers

In its latest quarterly financial report, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted that although the growth of Teams has been encouraging, it does expect this to slow somewhat as usage begins to plateau.

Microsoft changed how it measures Teams usage last year, switching from daily active users to monthly active users, which again possibly suggested numbers may be slowing somewhat.

The company is still busy working on updates and upgrades for Teams, however, with recent releases including a way for users to hide their own video feed whilst on a call, apply an emoji as a reaction to chat messages, and even add its Cortana voice-recognition software to the platform.

Read more

> There will soon be no escape from Microsoft Teams, even in the office

> Why Slack isn't afraid of Teams or any other competitor

> Microsoft Teams update lets you hide from your own face

Overall, Q2 2022 was an incredibly successful one for Microsoft, with the company beating analyst predictions to record another major quarter.

The company reported a 20% increase in revenues, which hit $ 51.7 billion, with net income up 21% to hit $ 18.8 billion. Windows OEM revenue increased 25% compared to the previous year, with Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increasing 13%.

“Digital technology is the most malleable resource at the world’s disposal to overcome constraints and reimagine everyday work and life,” said Nadella.

“As tech as a percentage of global GDP continues to increase, we are innovating and investing across diverse and growing markets, with a common underlying technology stack and an operating model that reinforces a common strategy, culture, and sense of purpose.”

Recent data collected by software firm StarLeaf found almost all (97%) businesses say that tools such as Zoom, Webex and Teams are now essential to their operations.

More than half (57%) of the 2,000 UK-based respondents claim their company would not be able to operate for more than an hour without access to their communications tools, while 27% admitted they would struggle to function for even 30 minutes.

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Dropbox and Microsoft warn macOS users of issues for future versions of cloud apps
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While Dropbox is finishing up an update to its cloud service app for macOS that brings native Apple Silicon support, it's sent an email to users, warning them about potential issues if they don't update once a future version of macOS Monterey arrives.

But it turns out that it's not an isolated issue, with Microsoft also stating on a support page that not updating OneDrive on the Mac may bring problems in future macOS Monterey versions. As long as users download the rewritten Files-On-Demand app, there'll be no issue.

You've most likely used both apps before, whether that's at College or as a way to quickly download files from someone in a hurry. But this looks as though there's been a background change to macOS by Apple that both cloud apps use.

We've reached out to Apple to confirm what this change is, and why both Dropbox and Microsoft are recommending you about potential issues for future macOS versions.

Analysis: What's changed so drastically?

It's telling that another potential issue from Apple involves the cloud, after developers' ongoing frustrations with the 503 iCloud errors, that's causing failures in syncing content across devices.

In an email to users, Dropbox explained, “Some applications on your Mac may have problems opening Dropbox files while they are online only. You will still be able to open Dropbox files by double-clicking them in Finder”.

While you can download the beta version of Dropbox for Apple Silicon, this still means that you may encounter issues when macOS 12.3 arrives.

macOS 12.2 is currently available for developers and users who are signed up to the beta program, so there may be a forthcoming change in 12.3 that Apple has told both Microsoft and Dropbox, so that the cloud apps can work on another update to make sure that there are no further issues.

For now, we recommend backing up your files if you use one or both of these apps, and to make sure that you have the latest updates to both for when macOS 12.3 does arrive to your Mac.

Via 9To5Mac

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Microsoft Excel is making a big change to protect against malware
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Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros are now disabled by default, Microsoft has confirmed. In a Tech Community blog post, the company revealed that the change has been made to better protect users against “related security threats” coming through spreadsheets.

Back in July 2021, the company released a new Excel Trust Center setting option, allowing administrators to restrict the usage of Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros. It has now made this option default for everyone.

Administrators can use existing Microsoft 365 applications policy control to configure this setting, the announcement reads. The Group Policy setting “Macro Notification Settings” for Excel can be found in the following path and registry key:

Group Policy Path: User configuration > Administrative templates > Microsoft Excel 2016 > Excel Options > Security > Trust Center.

Registry Key Path: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office.0\excel\security

Malicious actors often abuse macros

Furthermore, administrators can manage this policy setting with both cloud policies, and ADMX policies. They can also completely block all XLM macro usage, including in new user-created files, by enabling the Group Policy, “Prevent Excel from running XLM macros”, Microsoft added. 

Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros were the default format until 1993, and even though they’ve since been discontinued, they can still be run by the latest versions of the Office program. That makes them ideal for threat actors, who’ve been abusing them to push malware such as TrickBot, Zloader, Qbot, Dridex, ransomware, and many other malicious programs, BleepingComputer reminds. 

The publication also reminds that in October 2019, Microsoft added a new Group Policy, allowing administrators to block Excel users from opening untrusted Microsoft query files with IQY, OQY, DQY and RQY extensions. It claims that these files have been weaponized in “numerous malicious attacks”, to deliver remote access Trojans and malware, for years. 

XLM is disabled by default in version 16.0.14527.20000+, current Channel builds 2110 or greater, monthly Enterprise Channel builds 2110 or greater, semi-annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) builds 2201 or greater, and semi-annual Enterprise Channel builds 2201 or greater (coming this July).

Via: BleepingComputer

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Microsoft Teams will soon push one of the worst Windows 11 features down your throat
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Although Cortana may be dead on mobile, Microsoft's digital assistant is alive and well on Windows 11 and will soon be making an appearance in Microsoft Teams.

While Cortana was first introduced in 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox, the smart artificial intelligence construct eventually came to Windows Phone and Windows 10 PCs in 2014 as a digital assistant. 

Just like with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple's Siri, Microsoft created Cortana to help Windows users set reminders, search the web and more.

Now though, according to a series of new posts on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the software giant is bringing Cortana to Microsoft Teams Rooms. With Microsoft Teams Rooms, businesses can configure a meeting room with a number of devices including displays, webcams and microphones so that an organization can use video conferencing software together as a group as opposed to having to use their own laptops.

Cortana is coming to Microsoft Teams Rooms

In the first update to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Microsoft explained that “Cortana voice activation will be enabled by default on newly imaged Microsoft Teams Rooms solutions” beginning this month.

This means that Teams users will be able to shout out voice commands to their Teams Rooms devices to start a video call, change settings and more. Fortunately though, IT admins will be able to adjust this setting to disable voice activation. At the same time, Microsoft has updated the Cortana iconography that appears on the front of a room display and in the console UI in a Microsoft Teams Room according to the second update.

Finally in the third update, the company explained that Cortana will support additional languages on Teams devices that are set to different locale languages. Currently American English, Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English and British English are supported.

While voice activation can certainly be useful in shared meeting rooms designed for video conferencing, business users may not be too keen on having a character from a video game speaking up during their all-hands meetings.

Also check out our roundups of the best business webcams, best headsets for conference calls and best video conferencing software

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This new Microsoft Excel feature is so obvious we can’t believe it didn’t already exist
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Microsoft is preparing an update for spreadsheet software Excel that rectifies an obvious shortcoming dating back a number of years.

According to a new entry in the company’s product roadmap, Excel will soon allow users to drop hyperlinks into comments added to spreadsheets. Currently, links can only be added to comments in plaintext, so must be pasted manually into a web browser.

The feature is currently under development, but should roll out to all Microsoft 365 users by the end of next month.

Given the simplicity and obvious utility of the new Excel feature, we found it difficult to believe it didn’t already exist. But lo and behold, a brief investigation revealed the current version will not allow the user to click through a link embedded in a comment thread, which adds unnecessary friction to the experience.

A quick search online reveals this is a problem Excel users have faced for years. Until now, people have had to rely on a rough-and-ready workaround to sidestep the issue.

Excel

(Image credit: Future)

As various online tutorials demonstrate, it is possible to add a hyperlink to a note (which is distinct from a comment) and pin that note to the sheet so it doesn’t disappear when the user mouses away from the associated cell. Microsoft Excel will then launch that URL in the default browser when someone clicks through via the note.

However, this method is neither particularly straightforward (it demands all existing formatting and any additional characters are removed from the note) nor particularly pretty, so the ability to simply drop a hyperlink into a comment thread will be welcome.

The update can be considered part of the wider campaign to optimize Microsoft 365 apps for live collaboration, in a world in which many people expect to either remain remote or adopt a hybrid working model.

In December, for example, Microsoft rolled out a series of improvements for the Excel web client, which can now support a wider range of files. Microsoft Outlook, meanwhile, received a feature that lets users specify whether they will attend a meeting in-person or through video conferencing software.

The company has even launched an entirely new collaboration app, called Loop, which allows users to create portable components that move freely and stay in-sync across all Microsoft apps.

The new hyperlink facility for Excel is yet another piece of this same puzzle.

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