How Microsoft makes security problems worse for you
Microsoft puts corporate pride and weasel words ahead of their customers safety and security. Hackers take advantage of Microsoft’s patch release scheduled to release a virus as widely as they can in the days before fix was available. The Dridex security bug was known to Microsoft but they stubbornly stuck to their ‘Patch Tuesday’ schedule […]
To-Do from Microsoft – try their latest app
Microsoft has quietly released a new service To-Do with apps for Apple, Android and Windows devices plus a web interface. It’s in preview or beta. To-Do lets you make simple lists of ‘action items’. According to Microsoft what makes the service special is “With its intelligent Suggestions, To-Do removes all the clutter and empowers you to […]
The hidden traps in Outlook.com Premium
The cheap, introductory pricing for Outlook.com Premium is now available until 30 June at us$19.99 instead of $49.99 but there’s some hidden ‘gotchas’ in Microsoft’s offer. The discount offer was to expire at the end of March but has been extended. Officially it’s because Outlook.com has been ‘so popular’ but it’s more likely that Microsoft […]
Proton Mail – a good secure email option?
Proton Mail is a secure email service run from Switzerland. How does it compare with standard email using Microsoft Outlook for Windows? Proton Mail is an option to consider if you’re looking for secure email messaging but it’s not as easy to use as some instant messaging services available. Proton Mail is OK but nothing […]
Reducing email overload – more suggestions
It seems that every day there are more suggestions on how to reduce ’email overload’, here’s some that caught our eye. Bain & Company analyzed their staffs use of Microsoft Outlook and similar applications: Senior executives receive more than 200 emails each day A typical frontline supervisor spends about eight hours a week managing emails Of those […]
Keep the deleted Crayola color in your Office documents
One of the colors in the Crayola box is being dropped. Never fear, the color Dandelion can be part of your Office documents as can any other Crayola color. It’s not the same as the smell and feel of a Crayola crayon but it’s better than losing the color entirely. Dandelion is being removed from […]
How to set reminders for Outlook emails – in and out
Outlook for Windows can set reminders to follow up on incoming emails but what’s less well known are the two options for follow up on emails you send out. Attaching a flag to an email you sent means Outlook will pop-up to remind you. For outgoing emails it’s a great way to remind yourself if […]
‘Flags to Me’ – reminders with your Outlook emails
When you send an email, Outlook can add a ‘Follow up’ reminder to appear later. This is a reminder for you, the sender. There’s a separate option to send a reminder to the email recipients. From an open email message go to Home | Tags | Follow Up For a quick flag with just a […]
Make outgoing email reminders in Outlook aka ‘Flag for Recipients’
Outlook for Windows (not Mac) can send an automatic reminder with an email. Ideally, this means the recipient will get a ‘pop-up’ reminder to do whatever you’re talking about in the email itself. In this article, we’ll show how to send a reminder with your email. We’ll look at how that reminder will appear to […]
Outlook apps have Shared Calendars
Shared Calendars is now available for the Outlook apps for Android and Apple devices. The Outlook app for iOS was recently updated to include shared calendars. This brings the Outlook apps into line with this important Outlook for Windows/Mac feature. Shared Calendars let one person make their appointments visible or even editable by someone else. […]
Outlook 2016 – there’s (at least) three!
Amazingly, Microsoft has at least three programs that are called ‘Outlook 2016’. It’s not a trivial point, knowing which ‘Outlook 2016’ you have is important if you ask for help or tech support. Confused? Join the club. When Microsoft talks about ‘Outlook’ they probably mean ‘Outlook for Windows’. ‘Outlook 2016’ probably means ‘Outlook 2016 for […]
Entourage 2008 to Outlook 2016/Mac migration
Microsoft makes it hard for people to move from their Entourage program data to modern Outlook for Mac. Entourage was the email/calendar/contacts part of Office for Mac. Office 2011 replaced it with Outlook 2011 for Mac. Outlook 2011 had a conversion option that let former Entourage users move to the new software. That was dropped […]
IBM’s daft patent for ‘out of office’ emails
From the crazy bureaucracy department is the news that IBM has been granted a patent for Out of Office emails! That’s right, those automatic emails that go out when you’re poolside are now the property of IBM. From the patent application: “When the out of office agent is enabled, it automatically responds to e-mail that […]
Translator for Outlook but not for everyone
Last year we renewed one of our ongoing gripes with Outlook, the lack of an incoming email translation feature. See a ‘side-by-side’ translation of an email you’ve received. After many years, Microsoft has finally done something to fix this obvious gap, but they’ve done it in a typically self-serving way. Before you get too excited […]
AOL mail users – secure your email!
It’s not just politicians who get into trouble using public email services. They are just the headline-worthy tip of a much larger email problem. AOL has a way to secure a AOL mail account but too few people (and politicians <g>) use it. We’ve talked before about Two Factor Authentication as the essential to securing […]
Operation BugDrop hackers use Word documents
CyberX Labs has identified Operation BugDrop, which uses Word document to attack targeted businesses and steal corporate information. They send emails to the business they want to raid that trick people into enabling macros. Opening the hacked document displays the Security Warning and ‘Enable Content’ button are real; created by Word. But the sincere looking […]
