Vectra helps enterprises protect against Office 365 breaches
As more services move to the cloud, enterprises are exposed to increased risks from data breaches, and around 40 percent of organizations have suffered from Office 365 account takeovers.
According to Microsoft's Q3 2019 earnings call, there are more than 180 million monthly users on Office 365, which means there's a big attack surface out there for cybercriminals. That's why threat detection and response specialist Vectra AI has announced a new tool to help businesses protect themselves.
Best Windows 10 apps this week
Three-hundred-and-seventy-four in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Microsoft Store in the past seven days.
Microsoft started to roll out important changes to Windows Update recently that improve the installation of optional updates and third-party drivers.
Microsoft is making it harder and harder to use a local account in Windows 10
Microsoft has always encouraged Windows 10 users to make use of a Microsoft account rather than a local one -- and it has been piling on the pressure.
In the US, Microsoft had already taken the step of hiding the option to create a local account during the installation of Windows 10, and now this seems to be spreading to other parts of the world. While there are undeniable benefits to working with a Microsoft account, the company appears to be reducing users' choices.
Microsoft Defender ATP preview arrives for Linux distros -- iOS and Android versions to follow
Microsoft has released a public preview of its Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for various Linux distributions.
The company says that the tool will also be coming to iOS and Android later this year, and more details of these mobile editions are due to be revealed at next week's RSA Conference. The spread to additional platform comes after Microsoft rebranded Windows Defender as Microsoft Defender last year.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 Insider Build 19569, plus new colorful icons
Today, Microsoft rolls out the latest Windows 10 Preview build to Insiders on the Fast ring.
Build 19569 delivers the usual round of improvements and fixes, but Windows Insiders will from today also begin to start seeing new icons for built-in Windows 10 apps like Mail and Calendar.
Microsoft rolls out important changes to Windows Update for Windows 10
Microsoft has started the roll out of changes to Windows Update that give Windows 10 users more control over the process of updating. There has been a spate of problematic updates from Microsoft recently, and the change that is rolling out now introduces a new "Optional updates" section to Windows Update.
An important aspect of the new Windows Update user experience is that driver updating has been dramatically improved. Microsoft says that the changes will help users to get hold of the "highest quality, and most reliable drivers faster and with less friction".
Enable lazy loading in the new Edge to speed up your browsing
The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge web browser shares many features with other Chromium-based browsers such as Google Chrome, Vivaldi and Opera.
Google started to integrate native lazy loading support in Google Chrome recently (in Chrome 76 to be precise), and it appears that Microsoft added these capabilities to Microsoft Edge as well.
Windows as a Service: A method of life cycle management
A moment five years in the making is here. Support for Windows 7 officially ended on January 14. While not every enterprise has completed the migration to Windows 10, it is the operating system IT teams must focus on moving forward -- and it means big changes in how they operate. "Set it and forget it" is done. At the same time, the pain of migrating thousands of endpoints over to an entirely different OS is too, replaced instead by a new method of ongoing life cycle management.
We’ve entered the era of Windows as a Service. This is not just clever marketing but rather a genuine shift in how new Windows features are introduced and updates are conducted. Essentially, this model requires delivery of new features twice a year and security updates every month. Feature updates also receive ongoing quality updates over the course of either 18 or 30 months, replacing what previously occurred over the course of several years. The new model translates to a continuous rollout of Windows through internal testing. As with any major change, Windows as a Service has its pros and cons. Let’s dive in.
RCS messaging lands in Your Phone app for Windows 10
Microsoft has been making great progress with its Your Phone app recently. The app -- which makes it possible to use an Android smartphone in conjunction with Windows 10 -- has now gained support for RCS messaging.
It has been possible to send regular text messages via Your Phone for some time but now, thanks to a new partnership with Samsung, next-generation RCS messaging is available to some users too.
Microsoft is dropping support for Windows 10 version 1809
It is a little over a month since Windows 7 reached end of life, and in the coming months Microsoft will stop supporting the Windows 10 October 2018 Update.
Also known as Windows 10 version 1809, this edition of the operating system was released in November 2018. When May 12 2020 rolls around, Microsoft will no longer release security updates for it -- something the company refers to as the "end of servicing".
Edge users will soon be able to sync their extensions and collections
Users of the new Microsoft Edge web browser may soon be able to synchronize extensions and collections using the web browser's built-in sync functionality.
Microsoft started the rollout of the feature in the latest Microsoft Edge Canary version, currently at version 82.0.425.0. While it is not available for all Canary users yet, it is expected that the number will increase in the coming weeks and that the options will be pushed to the Beta and Stable channels of Microsoft Edge eventually.
Microsoft claims massive speed boost in preview builds of Edge
Anyone using the Dev or Canary builds of Microsoft Edge gets to try out all of the latest features and improvements early, and Microsoft says that the latest builds boast huge speed improvements.
The enhanced performance is significant. Microsoft claims improvements of up to 13 percent -- meaning that this is the sort of speed boost that should be noticeable in use, not just measurable in tests.
Microsoft releases Windows Terminal Preview v0.9 and it's feature-complete
Microsoft has released Windows Terminal Preview v0.9 with a glut of new features and options. The company says that this update is the last release that will include new features before v1 launches.
In terms of what's new, there's a lot to explore. The latest version of Windows Terminal will now detect any version of PowerShell and automatically create a profile for you, and the wt execution alias now supports command line arguments.
Microsoft pulls Windows 10 KB4524244 update after acknowledging numerous problems
Microsoft has removed standalone security update KB4524244 after it was found to be causing problems with various systems. KB4524244 was supposed to fix issues with the UEFI boot manager, but for many people the patch had problems during installation, and for others it led to system freezes.
Acknowledging the latest problematic update for Windows 10, Microsoft has taken the decision to pull KB4524244 and says that it will not be re-offered from Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services or Microsoft Update Catalog.
Best Windows 10 apps this week
Three-hundred-and-seventy-three in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Microsoft Store in the past seven days.
Microsoft released a new build of the upcoming version of Windows 10. It features a heavily updated Calendar application and improved graphics settings to make it easier to control which GPU apps run on.