Microsoft 365 and Teams for Hybrid Workplaces

by

The “Hybrid office” — the new buzzword in business since COVID-19 — combines working at the office and from home and has become the reality for many companies.

A survey released by Zippia in February 2022 revealed that transformation has accelerated at break-neck speed, with 74 percent of U.S. companies already using a hybrid model or planning to soon.

Employers and employees both experienced the benefits of remote work during the pandemic, including cost savings, more flexibility and improved employee morale while actually increasing productivity.

Playing a large role in that transformation has been Microsoft’s Office 365 suite of productivity and collaboration applications, now known simply as Microsoft 365, which helps companies pursue a “Productivity Anywhere” hybrid approach to work. In fact, 63 percent of high-growth companies follow that approach now, according to the Zippia study.

Below we list how Microsoft 365 can optimize a productive hybrid office. Note that some features are already out, while others will release later this year.

1. Microsoft Teams & Expanded Features

Microsoft Teams might only seem like a messaging app or that annoying thing that starts up automatically when your computer starts and slows down your ability to get to work, but it combines the best features of virtual video meetings and messaging channels. It brings them together in a platform designed to be a secure online work hub.

MS Teams has come a long way in the last five years and the company continues to add more features to enable hybrid offices, including:

  • The ability to do webinar registration
  • Presenter modes that provide a more professional virtual presence
  • Increased security through features like smart links and smart attachments
  • A full business VoIP phone system add-on
  • The addition of a “metaverse” component called Mesh for Teams

2. New Meeting Options for RSVP in Outlook

The challenges of employees working in different locations include knowing when and how to “clock in” and “clock out” and determining if colleagues are available or working at home next week or the office.

To help hybrid teams better coordinate, Outlook will soon allow users to RSVP to meetings. This lets team members know if they will be attending virtually or in person.

3. Better Framing for More Engaging Meetings

We’ve all been horrified to turn on our cameras for an online meeting and find something embarrassing in the background. Camera positioning can also be problematic. One person’s face might take up 80% of the screen.

A new Surface Hub 2S Smart Camera will allow for better face framing in Microsoft Teams meetings. Features include adjusting the room view so people’s faces will be clearer and providing consistent sizing.

The video display will also automatically adjust as people join or leave a physical room.

4. Get Better Control of Your Video Using PowerPoint to Present

People often share a screen in a video call and present a PowerPoint presentation. It can be difficult to keep everyone as engaged as in-person meetings.

For example, in person, you can maintain eye contact. People can clearly see your facial expressions as you emphasize various things. That’s not always the case when presenting virtually. The app may push your video feed into a tiny box.

An upcoming feature for Teams called Cameo will allow you to seamlessly integrate PowerPoint with MS teams. You can decide exactly how you want your video feed to appear in relation to your presentation.

Another addition, Recording Studio, allows you to record professional-looking on-demand videos in PowerPoint. You can do it right inside the app.

5. Get Help With Your Presentation Skills

Microsoft has poured a lot of AI capabilities into Microsoft 365. One that will soon help deliver better virtual presentations is Speaker Coach.

This private and personalized coach can help hone your presentation skills. This improves your transition between online versus in-person presentations.

Some of the feedback it provides includes:

  • Use of repetitive language
  • Use of filler words
  • Speaking pace
  • Pausing for input
  • Intonation
  • Speaker overlaps
  • And more

Ask Us About Improving Your Hybrid Office Capabilities with Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 has a ton of helpful features but it does help to have an expert to navigate these capabilities. Contact FlexITechs today at 302-537-4198 or ericm@flexitechs.com to learn how Microsoft 365 can help your business grow.

For more information on Microsoft 365 products and capabilities, follow these links:

Article used with permission from The Technology Press.

Two Monitors More Productive Than One?

by

Sometimes as my brain switches back and forth repeatedly between my two monitors and focus becomes more difficult, I wonder if I’m really more productive with the second monitor.

Common sense says we would be with a second screen to avoid time lost to switching back and forth between applications using the Task Bar or minimizing and maximizing screens.

But with so many windows open in so many applications, does a second screen actually improve productivity or does it just provide a second place for open files and windows to hide from us?

This Issue Has Been Studied …

As you might expect, someone has studied this phenomenon to determine if and how much a second monitor improves the typical employee’s productivity.

Jon Peddie Research looked at using two screens on a desktop computer or laptop for several years. It found that overall, employees in all types of jobs improved  productivity by an average of 42%.

Perhaps intuitively understanding that, companies increased their use of second monitors by an annual compound growth rate of 10 percent from 2002-2017, the study found.

The company’s namesake put it simply, saying “The more you can see, the more you can do.”

What Can Using 2 Screens Do For You?

  • A second monitor allows you to do more in less time because you can keep programs that need to be open all of the time, like email, always open on one screen while you work in other programs on the second screen.
  • Side by Side comparisons of data or files or images is also easier. Trying to get two windows up on a single screen side-by-side can be frustrating with time spent resizing the windows to get them to fit side-by-side on a single screen. With two monitors, you can fully open both windows in plain view
  • During online meetings or video calls, a second screen allows you to continue the meeting as you check email or review notes without minimizing the meeting window. With dual screens, you can choose which screen you want to share during meetings and still have apps open on the other screen that no one can see.
  • Laptops are great for portability but not so much for screen space. Connecting your laptop to a monitor can make it like working on a normal desktop PC. You can mirror your screen or make use of the laptop screen for some activities while using the larger screen for others.
  • A second monitor is a relatively low-cost productivity booster with a sweet ROI. A monitor can typically be purchased from $125 to $250 and for that your employees get a 42% average productivity increase with no significant learning curve.

For assistance in picking out and setting up second monitors for your employees, contact us at 302-537-4198, ericm@flexitechs.com, or our Contact page at https://flexitechs.com/contact.

Combatting Social Media Phishing Attacks

by

Of all of the attack methods hackers and cyber criminals have deployed, phishing remains their favorite. Not only that, they’ve re-purposed Phishing from emails to phone calls for Social Media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and Instagram.

In the past year, phishing over social media skyrocketed by 103% according to a report by PhishLabs by HelpSystems. There has also been a 100% increase in sign-ups of fraudulent social media accounts.

Phishing on Social Media uses Social Engineering to take advantage of victims’ lowered diligence on social media. We’re socializing and not as aware of phishing scams as we are in our  email. Consequently, we are more susceptible to Ransomware and Credential Theft via friend requests, direct messages, memes and other Social Media communications methods.

Following are some things you can do to decrease the risk you will become a victim to a Social Media Phishing Attack:

Make Your Profile Private

To mitigate the risk that a cyber criminal can clone your profile to phish your connections, make your Social Media Profiles private to your connections only. This might not be advantageous for a business network like LinkedIn where you want prospects to be able to find you but it will help with your personal Social Media accounts.

Hide Your Contact and Friend Lists

You can hide your friends list or contact list on your social media profile by hiding them from the public. This does not prevent hackers from seeing you as a friend or contact on someone else’s profile but it’s another obstacle that the criminals have to navigate to get to you.

Check Links in Posts and DMs Before Clicking!

Always check links in any unsolicited email, social media post … anywhere … by hovering over the link (not clicking) and viewing the resulting popup of the link to see if it is going where you expect it to. If it is not, be very wary. A link from a company, for instance, should include that company’s name in the domain name (the part that ends with .biz, .com, etc., as in flexitechs.com). If it looks like it’s going somewhere else, either don’t click or perform further diligence if  you are truly intrigued.

Don’t Answer Surveys or Quizzes

You know, the Social Media world doesn’t need to know what car you drive or what your favorite song is or what your dog’s name is. But cyber criminals and unscrupulous marketing companies sure would like to know and profit from that type of in-depth knowledge b y using it to guess passwords to your financial, health care or shopping accounts. Avoid answering these types of questions online.

Don’t Click on Social Media Ads

While many legitimate companies advertise on social media, scammers use the same type of advertising for credit and identity theft. Rather than clicking ads, even if they look legitimate, go to the advertiser’s web site to check the product or service out or make your purchase there.

Perform Due Diligence on Friend Requests

It can be tempting to accept friend requests or connection requests on social media but always be wary of such requests as cyber criminals use that tactic to get into your good graces on the way to scamming you. Before accepting, view the person’s profile and check them out on a search engine. If their social media timeline is sparse, that can be a sign of a scam in progress.

The Internet can be a great driver of business and a fun way to catch up or keep up with friends, but like the offline world, you need to be wary. Follow these tips to give yourself a better chance of avoiding becoming the next victim of a cyber criminal.

Financial Advantages of Managed Services for Small Businesses

by

Financial Advantages of Managed IT Services for Small BusinessesWe’ve released our latest Report, “The Financial Advantages of Managed IT Services for Small Businesses”, detailing how Managed IT Services from a locally owned and operated Managed IT Service like FlexITechs can save your small business money and increase uptime, productivity and security at the same time.

We’ve examined the wages and benefits for different levels of IT employees on Delmarva and Benefits nationally and compared the cost of internal IT staff or having employees do their own troubleshooting with assistance from external computer repair companies to the cost of having a Managed IT Service handle the typical Delmarva small business’s IT support.

You can obtain your copy of the report here.

As always, you can contact me personally at ericm@flexitechs.com or the company by phone at 302-537-4198 or by filling out our Contact form.

 

Do I Really Need to Switch to Windows 11?

by

Windows 11

The Top 5 Questions about Windows 11

Do I really need to switch to Windows 11?

That question will likely be asked millions of times in the next few months.

The Answer? No.

If your computer is not compatible or can’t run Windows 11, you don’t have to upgrade.

On the other hand, if your PC is compatible with Windows 11 but you find the upgrades unnecessary for your current workflow, there’s nothing wrong with staying with Windows 10.

Even Microsoft said that Windows 10 is still the right choice for those who aren’t ready to transition to a new operating system.

In fact, they made sure of this by scheduling an update for Windows 10 later this year.

At the same time, the company will continue supporting Windows 10 until October 14, 2025.

This gives you about four years to think about upgrading to Windows 11 or switching operating systems altogether.

How do I Switch from Windows 10 to 11?

by

If you’re ready to upgrade from Windows 10 to 11, consider the first three questions in this series first and your computer’s compatibility with Windows 11.

Windows 11

The Top 5 Questions about Windows 11

After doing so, you need to go to the Windows Update section of your Settings. There, you may see a link to download and install Windows 11 if Microsoft has determined your computer meets the hardware requirements to do so.

If you see it, click the Download and Install button or link and follow the prompts to perform the upgrade to Windows 11.

If you don’t see that, click “Check for Updates” and see if it gives you the link to download and install Windows 11.

If not, download and run the PC Health Check utility from Microsoft.

If the utility deems your computer suitable for the upgrade, see if you get the “Download and Install” button and if so, follow the prompts to upgrade to Windows 11.

Of course, this is Microsoft and at times the procedure won’t be as simple as advertised. Case in point — I have already seen that my 2-year-old Lenovo Desktop with 3.6 ghz processor and 8GB of Ram and 256GB SSD hard drive does not qualify for the upgrade because the processor does not match an obscure setting that Microsoft has decided not to support.

If you don’t see the Download and Install button or link or Windows Update or the PC Health Check utility tell you you can’t upgrade your PC to Windows 11, contact us at FlexITechs to take a look for you.

As always, these upgrades will create conflicts with existing applications and hardware. So, if you need to buy a new computer make sure your existing applications and peripherals will work with Windows 11. For an existing computer, we recommend waiting a couple of months for the bugs to reveal themselves before upgrading.

Tomorrow’s Question — Do I Really Need to Upgrade to Windows 11?

Does Windows 11 Come with Office?

by

Microsoft Office 365The succinct answer is No.

The longer answer is Office hasn’t been included with Windows for ages but has always been available by purchasing it.

The same is true of Windows 11. You have to pay for a Microsoft Office subscription to use it with your Windows 11 computer.

But if you have an existing subscription to Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), then you’re all set. You just need to install the Office suite after upgrading to Windows 11.

Note that support for older versions of Office (2010 and below) has been discontinued since last year. So if you’re still using that, you should upgrade your Office as well to avoid unnecessary risks and compatibility issues.

As always, these upgrades will create conflicts with existing applications and hardware. So, if you need to buy a new computer make sure your existing applications and peripherals will work with Windows 11. For an existing computer, we recommend waiting a couple of months for the bugs to reveal themselves before upgrading.

Tomorrow’s Question — How Do I Switch from Windows 10 to 11?

Can My Computer Handle Windows 11?

by

If you’re buying a new computer that has Windows 11 on it already, you can rest assured that the computer can handle the new operating system as long as it’s not a cheap come-on spit out by a manufacturer to lure you into buying it.

Windows 11

The Top 5 Questions about Windows 11

However, if you have  an existing computer and wonder if you can upgrade it to Windows 11, it might not be that straight-forward.

In many cases you can open Windows Update and it will tell you if your computer is ready for Windows 11 or not.

Microsoft has also provided the PC Health Check utility that you can download and run to determine if your computer can run Windows 11. You can download it here.

These are Microsoft’s minimum requirements for running Windows 11 but you will likely need to double or triple the processor speed, RAM and hard drive storage:

  • At least a 1GHZ dual-core processor
  • 4 GB of RAM
  • At least 64 GB of storage
  • A graphics card compatible with DirectX 12 or later, with a WDDM 2.0 driver
  • 720p display, at least 9” diagonal size, with 8 bits per colour channel
  • TPM version 2.0
  • UEFI, Secure Boot capable firmware

As always, these upgrades can create conflicts with existing applications and hardware. So, if you need to buy a new computer, make sure your existing applications and peripherals will work with Windows 11. For an existing computer, we also recommend waiting a couple of months for the bugs to reveal themselves before upgrading.

Tomorrow’s Question — Is Office Available in Windows 11?

 

Top 5 Questions About Windows 11 – Comparison to Windows 10?

by

Microsoft has a habit of backtracking on proclamations about its software, such as … “Windows 10 will be our last Windows operating system”.

Famous last words …

As you may or may not know, given that Microsoft has hyped its newest operating system far less than its predecessors, the company has made Windows 11 available to manufacturers and consumers.

Manufacturers have begun shipping new computers with Windows 11 while availability for upgrades to existing computers depends on where you fall in the phased-in upgrade rollout.

Microsoft calls its latest operating system the “Windows that brings you closer to what you love.”

I won’t pretend to know what such marketing drivel means, so over the next five days we will just answer “The Top 5 Questions You Might Have about Windows 11”, starting with Question 1:

What’s the Difference Between Windows 10 and 11?

Microsoft claims it significantly boosted performance, functionality, and style in Windows 11. Here’s a rundown of the new OS’s major upgrades:

  • Windows gets a makeover —  If you’ve used Apple or Chrome, you might see similarities between them and Windows 11. Microsoft’s attempts to copy its competitors always seem to be clumsy (i.e., Edge). If I want Apple or Chrome, I’ll just use those. Anyway, Windows 11 also has tightly rounded corners and taskbar icons are permanently centered. But at least the handy Start button lives on.
  • Streamlined Productivity Functions — Microsoft made many small upgrades for Windows 11. For one, your PC will now remember the last layout of your choice when docking. Each of your virtual desktops can also have a different background. Also, widgets are back like never before. And Windows 11 features a Snap Layout function that lets users choose from a variety of layout options with a single click.
  • Teams Ingtegrated into OS — With hybrid work becoming normal globe-wide, Microsoft upgraded its Teams application. For example, Teams now integrates into the operating system, which allegedly makes it easier to communicate with family, friends, and colleagues.
  • Improved Gaming Support — The Xbox app in Windows 11 supports Xbox Game pass and Cloud gaming.
  • Android Apps on Your PC — Microsoft has integrated Android apps on Windows 11 computers with a catch … we’re not yet sure if these Android apps will work optimally on a PC.

As always, these upgrades will create conflicts with existing applications and hardware. So, if you need to buy a new computer make sure your existing applications and peripherals will work with Windows 11. For an existing computer, we recommend waiting a couple of months for the bugs to reveal themselves before upgrading.

Tomorrow’s Question — Can My Computer Handle Windows 11?

Beat Password Fatigue With a Password Manager

by

By now, in 2021, you’ve most likely experienced at least one breach of an account password whether you know it or not.

Perhaps the fallout didn’t prove devastating, but could there be a time bomb lurking in that stolen password that could cause significant harm?

The answer lies in our use of a small number of passwords for a large number of login credentials. From online shopping and banking to social media to personal accounts like the local library, we use the same passwords over and over and over again.

Thus, while we often think to change the password on the breached account, we don’t often think about changing it on every single account that uses that password as well, and we certainly don’t think to change all of our passwords on a regular basis.

To do so would require spending hours to determine which other user accounts we use that password on and hours more to change them all on a regular basis.

Cyber criminals knows this and take full advantage of our password fatigue to try to break into more sensitive accounts once they steal a password themselves or purchase a breached password.

To corral the password monster, you should use a password manager. A password manager at a minimum should encrypt your passwords, generate complex passwords, warn you if a password isn’t complex enough, and be set to require passwords to change regularly.

Other Password Manager Considerations:

  • Automatic Logins
  • Web Browser Extension to manage web site credentials
  • Security Audit that scores your overall password strength
  • Alerts for weak and re-used passwords
  • A Dark Web data breach monitor to alert you when credentials have been caught up in a data breach
  • Secure storage of identity and payment information for online forms
  • Temporary Clipboard storage of copied passwords

If you suffer from password fatigue, contact us at FlexITechs to learn more about our password manager, which meets all of the above features.

Call us at 302-537-4198, email me personally at ericm@flexitechs.com, or submit our Contact form.