1 844.742.7448

Email Us

Remote Support

Contact

Posts tagged "Microsoft"

  1. Home
  2. Posts tagged Microsoft

Microsoft Teams emoji are about to get more annoying than ever
  • No Comments

If you've ever felt that you just can't express yourself enough on a Microsoft Teams call, then a new update coming to the platform could well be the answer.

The video conferencing service is set to introduce a new way to react to messages that will let you show exactly how you feel using emojis.

According to the official entry in the Microsoft 365 roadmap, the new “Microsoft Teams Expanded Reactions” feature will “allow users to apply any emoji as a reaction to chat messages”.

Over reaction?

Microsoft says that users will be able to pick from over 800 emojis “to react the way you want”, with reactions show in the chat window.

The feature is currently listed as “in development”, with an expected release date of March 2022. The company notes that, when released, the feature will be available to Microsoft Teams users across the world, and includes web, desktop, Android and iOS users. 

It will be the latest in a long series of additions and upgrades to Microsoft Teams as the company looks to continue helping users around the world enjoy hybrid working.

This isn't the first time that emojis within Microsoft Teams have been mentioned either, as a new selection of images were released by the company as part of the launch of Windows 11. The new 'Fluent Design' look did cause concern among some users following the release of some of the new emojis, with users mocking their unclear depictions and puzzling looks.

While Fluent design is now available for Windows 11 and Office 2022, as well as key apps such as Paint and Calendar, it is still yet to appear in Teams, with Microsoft only saying that the new designs will arrive in February 2022 alongside live transcripts of calls, better meeting options, and other features.

However there were raised eyebrows across the technology world in November 2021 when Microsoft revealed that its infamous Clippy mascot was coming to Teams as part of a Retro Sticker Pack.

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.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft is making another big change to Windows 11
  • No Comments

It appears Microsoft is making a big change to one of Windows 11’s most useful features, with a redesigned Task Manager appearing in a new preview build.

Preview builds of Windows 11 are made available to select users who have signed up to be ‘Windows Insiders’. They can check out new and upcoming features, while pointing out any issues or bugs, giving Microsoft a good idea of the kind of reception the new feature will get, while also having any problems pointed out and fixed, before it gets rolled out to all Windows 11 users.

As Windows Central reports, the latest build, 22538, comes with a tweaked Task Manager with a new design that’s more in keeping with the rest of Windows 11’s look. Not only does it now look more like it belongs in Windows 11, the tabs for switching between views are no longer at the top of the app. Instead, they run down the left-hand side as a menu, much like most modern Windows 11 apps.

Microsoft hasn’t mentioned any tweaks to the Task Manager, and it appears that the version in build 22538 is extremely early, as it’s not fully functional. If you rely on Task Manager, as many of us do (it’s a handy tool for closing unresponsive programs or checking how your system is running), then give Windows 11 build 22538 a miss for now.

Still, it gives us an idea of what Microsoft is planning for the iconic Task Manager.

Analysis: tweak carefully

We’re always pleased to hear that Microsoft is working on improving its legacy apps and bringing them in line with Windows 11. Many of the apps that come with Windows 11, such as Paint, have appearing in various versions of Windows for decades now, so many of them are well overdue a facelift, while also getting added features to make them more useful.

Task Manager is one such tool. It’s been a staple of Windows releases since Windows NT 4.0 back in 1996, and it’s one of the most useful tools included in the operating system. When you press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, Task Manager will appear and show all the apps, services and processes that are currently running on your PC.

If your PC is running slowly, checking Task Manager is a good way to see if there’s a particular app that’s causing issues. Also, if an app crashes and becomes unresponsive, opening up Task Manager allows you to close it.

It’s packed with handy features, many which haven’t changed in years, and while Microsoft’s moves to make it fit in more with Windows 11’s overall look is to be welcomed, we’d also urge caution. When tweaking such a useful legacy app, Microsoft needs to be careful not to drop handy features or simply the app too much – as it could frustrate users who have come to depend on Task Manager.

Microsoft does need to ensure that the look and feel of Windows 11 remains consistent over both new apps and older ones as well, but it also needs to make sure that doesn’t come at the cost of usability.

Hopefully, we’ll get a clearer idea of what Microsoft is planning to do with Task manager in Windows 11 in upcoming Insider builds.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft is fixing this unloved Windows 11 feature
  • No Comments

If you’re using Windows 11, you may have briefly checked out the Widgets panel – before promptly forgetting all about it – but it looks like Microsoft is finally going to make it more useful.

The Widgets panel is a new feature introduced in Windows 11 that can give you details about the weather, news, traffic and more via ‘widgets’ – essentially small apps that give you at-a-glance information. You can bring up the Widgets panel by either swiping from the left-hand side of the screen, or pressing Windows + W on your keyboard.

While this might sound useful, the problem is that there aren’t many widgets available, and most of them are tied to Microsoft services (such as Outlook or OneDrive), making them pretty much useless if you don’t use those services. The fact that the Widgets panel is hidden away doesn’t help either, and it’s led to the feature being all to easy to ignore and forget about.

Microsoft needs to act to make sure the Widgets panel doesn’t go the way of other unloved Windows features, such as the notorious ‘Metro’ Start screen of Windows 8. The good news is that Microsoft appears to be looking at ways to improve Widgets.

Third party support

As Windows Central reports, a developer has posted on Twitter claiming that Microsoft will soon announce that it will allow third party Widgets in Windows 11. This should allow for a much more diverse, and potentially useful, selection of Widgets.

According to the developer, FireCube, Microsoft is talking to third parties, explaining that they will soon be able to submit widgets through the Microsoft Store – in the same way Windows apps are submitted.

See more

Hopefully this means we should see an influx of new, more useful Widgets coming to Windows 11. With the documentation apparently being shared with developers, it looks like Microsoft could be getting ready to officially announce third party widgets soon.

Will it be too late for Windows 11 widgets? Perhaps – some people will have already made their minds up about the feature. However, if Microsoft can convince some big names to make widgets for Windows 11, then perhaps users can be convinced to give them another chance.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft pushes out emergency fix for Windows Server mess
  • No Comments

Microsoft is addressing the problems caused by the January 2021 Patch Tuesday updates – with more updates. 

The company has issued an emergency out-of-band (OOB) update to address bugs that forced domain controllers to reboot endlessly, broke Hyper-V, and rendered ReFS volumes inaccessible while showing them as RAW file systems.

“This update addresses issues related to VPN connectivity, Windows Server Domain Controllers restarting, Virtual Machines start failures, and ReFS-formatted removable media failing to mount,” Microsoft explained in the update catalog. 

Patches breaking things

All of the patches, issued for different versions of the Windows OS, can be found in the Microsoft Update Catalog. Some can also be obtained through Windows Update, but being labeled as optional, Windows admins need to manually check for updates if they want to take this route.

The updates listed below, however, can only be obtained through the Update Catalog: 

Issuing patches for Windows has been nothing short of a roller coaster recently. Earlier in January 201, a patch issued for Windows 10 and Windows 11 broke the software’s built-in VPN tool, preventing it from establishing a connection. 

The only way to rid the system of the bug is to uninstall the patch altogether, which also meant exposing the systems to known vulnerability issues. One such issue was recently found (and fixed in that same patch) in the HTTP Protocol Stack. The flaw allows a malicious actor to execute arbitrary code, remotely, without much user interaction. 

There’s yet no malware abusing this flaw out there, but being extremely dangerous, it’s only a matter of time before one is discovered. To protect vulnerable devices, disabling the HTTP Trailer Support feature will suffice. 

Windows admins will need to carefully weigh the benefits and the downsides of installing, as well as uninstalling, these patches, until Microsoft sorts all of the problems that have piled up in recent times. 

Via: BleepingComputer

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft Teams update finally lets you hide from your own face
  • No Comments

One of the worst part of video calls could soon be eliminated for Microsoft Teams users thanks to a new update coming to the service.

The video conferencing platform has revealed it is working on a new feature that will let users hide their own video feed whilst on a call.

This means that Microsoft Teams users will no longer be confronted with the sight of their own face pretending to pay attention (or losing focus), instead just letting them view other co-workers.

Microsoft Teams video

“Currently, the user's video is displayed at the bottom right corner of the meeting screen,” the official entry on the Microsoft 365 roadmap reads. “This feature allows users to hide their own video during a meeting. This will help reduce distractions during the call while still having your video available for other participants.”

The feature is currently shown as “in development” in Microsoft's roadmap, but the entry does claim a projected release date of January 2022. When it does arrive, the feature is set to be available to all Microsoft Teams users worldwide across web and desktop versions.

The update is one of the latest in a series of features announced by Microsoft as it looks to help Teams users increase productivity and efficiency as the era of hybrid working shows no sign of abating.

This includes the recent announcement that Microsoft Teams will soon allow users to mute notifications whilst they are in a video conferencing meeting or don't want to be disturbed.

This should mean an end to distracting notifications or alerts when you’re in the middle of an important meeting.

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.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft Edge is bringing back a classic feature, but with a modern twist
  • No Comments

Microsoft is trialling new functionality for web browser Edge that expands upon the RSS-style Followable Web feature, which landed recently in early-access.

As part of an A/B testing process, the company is rolling out a new YouTube integration to a small pool of Microsoft Edge users, who will be able to follow their favorite creators with the press of a button.

The YouTube follow button will appear on the right side of the URL bar for trial participants. Clicking the button will provide information about the channel (e.g. subscriber numbers, total videos), a feed of the most recent videos and the opportunity to become a follower.

The feature appears to differ from the native YouTube subscription functionality, instead serving up content to Edge users via the Collections pane, as part of Microsoft’s recent RSS push.

RSS comeback

Developed in 1999, RSS (an acronym for Really Simple Syndication) was once one of the most popular ways of keeping track of news and other content published to the web. But its reign was relatively short-lived.

By creating a new avenue for sharing and discovering web content, the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter effectively put an end to the heyday of RSS. Other algorithm-based services like Google News also provided an alternative model for serving up content to web users.

However, as the problems with the algorithm-based approach to content discovery come to light (misinformation, echo chambers etc.), there are plenty of people looking for a way to exercise greater control over the information they are presented with.

Currently, many of these people make do with free RSS readers, a large proportion of which are developed on a shoe-string budget. But now, major web browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are beginning to offer RSS functionality built-in.

Although RSS services have allowed users to follow YouTube creators for a while, Microsoft appears to be aiming at an altogether richer experience, whereby people are provided with contextual information about a channel as well as being notified when a new video lands.

The feature remains in early access for now, but depending on the outcome of testing may be rolled out as part of a full public build later in the year.

Via Windows Latest

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft has uncovered loads of Windows 11 security threats – here’s what you need to do
  • No Comments

Microsoft has revealed that it has discovered several serious security vulnerabilities in Windows 11, as well as other versions including Windows 10.

The revelations came as part of January 2022’s ‘Patch Tuesday’ – the day of the month that Microsoft releases a swathe of patches to fix issues in its software.

While many of the vulnerabilities, which don’t just affect new versions of Windows, but also older versions such as Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2019, were fixed with patches, six of the threats were highlighted as zero day threats.

While many security vulnerabilities are thankfully found and fixed before malicious users find and exploit them, zero day threats are vulnerabilities that are already out in the wild, which means they are particularly worrying.

In total, Microsoft announced the existence of 97 new exploits – which is certainly a troubling number. As a report in Forbes explains, Microsoft has limited the information about the zero day exploits to ensure it has time to address them before they are exploited. Microsoft believes that so far, there have not been any attacks using the vulnerabilities. Obviously, though, time is of the essence.

The zero day vulnerabilities are:

  • Critical – CVE-2021-22947 – Open Source Curl Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • Important – CVE-2021-36976 – Libarchive Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • Important – CVE-2022-21919 – Windows User Profile Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
  • Important – CVE-2022-21836 – Windows Certificate Spoofing Vulnerability
  • Important – CVE-2022-21874 – Windows Security Center API Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • Important – CVE-2022-21839 – Windows Event Tracing Discretionary Access Control List Denial of Service Vulnerability (limited to Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019)

Of the 97 vulnerabilities, eight are labeled as ‘critical’, with 88 labeled as ‘important’. This means they are particularly dangerous, so users should make sure they are protected against them as soon as possible.

What should you do?

Microsoft’s warning is certainly troubling, but there’s no need to panic, as long as you take some precautionary steps. While the zero day threats are in the wild, they’ve not been used and Microsoft is actively working on fixes.

Meanwhile, it has also created patches for many of the other vulnerabilities. So, the best thing you can do right now is ensure that Windows 11 (or whichever version you have installed) is updated with the latest security patches.

They should download automatically, and If that’s the case you may see a prompt in the taskbar to restart your PC. You may also notice when you go to turn off your PC that there are options to ‘Update and restart’ and ‘Update and shut down’ – make sure you pick one of those.

You should also check to make sure there are no updates waiting for you. To do this, open up Settings and go to Windows Update > Check for Updates. If any are found, download and install them.

If you have any anti-virus or anti-malware software installed, make sure they are updated as well.

Hopefully Microsoft will continue to investigate and fix these vulnerabilities ASAP.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft 365 updates tackle a major elephant in the room
  • No Comments

Microsoft has announced a range of updates for its productivity and collaboration software designed to address common challenges faced by workers in customer-facing roles.

The updates were informed by new research conducted by the firm, which suggests that frontline workers (who make up 80% of the global workforce) are too often overlooked when it comes to software deployment.

The survey found that the majority (63%) of frontline workers are excited about the opportunities technology creates, but many (55%) have had little support from their organization when it comes to adopting new tools. Meanwhile, 60% of those surveyed said their company could better prioritize culture and communication, and more than half said they did not feel valued as employees. 

Microsoft believes technology will be crucial in establishing a line of communication between upper management and staff on the ground.

New Microsoft 365 features

Since the start of the pandemic, Microsoft has worked to deliver new functionality for its various software and services in an increasingly competitive market. However, the majority of these improvements have been geared towards so-called knowledge workers, rather than employees out in the field.

In the face of this new data, the company has developed a number of updates for its Microsoft 365 suite that it hopes will go some way to addressing the imbalance.

For example, Microsoft has announced the general availability of a new feature for Microsoft Teams that allows frontline workers (and anyone else) to use their smartphone or tablet as a walkie talkie, provided they have access to Wi-Fi or mobile data.

The firm has also partnered with rugged smartphone manufacturer Zebra Technologies, which has integrated a dedicated Microsoft Teams push-to-talk button into some of its handsets.

Zebra Technologies

(Image credit: Zebra Technologies)

Separately, Microsoft Teams can now be used by frontline workers to manage scheduled appointments, providing customers with real-time updates on wait times, missed appointments and staffing delays to create a more transparent experience.

Finally, Microsoft has rolled out a number of improvements for Viva, its employee experience platform. The updates will give non-office-based workers easy access to payroll, HR and training resources, which should help businesses establish a more consistent culture.

“It’s no secret that the pandemic is reshaping work for all workers, and at a faster pace than we have ever seen,” said Emma Williams, Corporate VP at Microsoft.

“Empowering frontline workers remains essential for digital transformation. If done well, we believe technology can modernize workflows and enhance job performance while also improving workplace culture and communication.”

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

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

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