Signal ‘gets’ Office documents and PDF – at last!
At last the cries of eager Signal supporters have been heard – the latest releases allow secure transfer of Office documents, PDF and more. Signal is a well-respected, very secure and private messaging system. The makers of Signal licence their open-source encryption to other messengers like Google, Facebook and WhatsApp. Even better, Signal deliberately retains […]
A new Outlook attack method – Microsoft in denial
Sensepost has revealed an interesting way to hack your computer via Outlook. Microsoft’s public response has been to deny there’s a problem and put the responsibility on customers. The method hasn’t been used ‘in the wild’ and it’s not easy to infect Outlook. But we’ve heard that before (especially from Microsoft) and history tells us […]
Fix AutoComplete in Outlook to delete bounced emails
If you send an email to an invalid email address, that address will ‘stick’ in Outlook via the AutoComplete list. Here’s how to fix that. Let’s say you send an email to fence@fred.daggcom (misplaced period/fullstop). The email will ‘bounce’ with an error message. Despite that, the wrong email address still appears in the AutoComplete list. […]
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 […]
