Tag Archives: Microsoft

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Microsoft Office And Google Docs Sync For Offline Use

Recently, Google announced a small but significant change to Google Docs.  Now, if you have enabled offline access for files you have stored on your Google Drive, the system will auto-sync any Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, or Word files if you have opened them with Google Slides, Sheets, or Docs.

This is a tremendously handy change.

It allows you to switch freely between Google Docs and Microsoft Word, for example, giving you the best of both worlds and a fantastic amount of added convenience.

Since the update, there are a few lingering misconceptions about the capabilities of the new feature.

Here’s the scoop:

  • It only works if you’re using Chrome or Microsoft Edge as your desktop browser
  • You can create, open, and edit Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides offline
  • You can edit Microsoft Word files (.docx), Excel files (.xlsx), and PowerPoint files (.pptx) directly within Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides respectively with no need to convert the files you’re working on

Naturally, you must be signed into your Google account to make any offline syncing possible. Note that your Google Workspace administrator may choose to implement a policy that prevents access to Workspace data offline as a security protocol.

It’s hard to understate just how handy this feature is if you’re in the habit of moving between document editing and creation ecosystems.  Once you give it a try though, you’re probably going to wonder how you ever got along without it.

Kudos to Google for working with their tech rival and going the extra mile to create an even better user experience.  Though it’s certainly true that the company has made its share of missteps, it is improvements like these that demonstrate why Google is among the best of the best.

Give the new feature a try.  We think you’ll love it.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Android And iOS Network Protection Added With Microsoft Defender

Recently, Microsoft added a new feature for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) which has fans of the product cheering.

Once the new “Mobile Network Protection” feature is enabled on the iOS and Android devices you want to monitor, the security platform will provide the same robust protections and notifications that your other network devices currently enjoy.

The company had this to say about the recent addition:

“As the world continues to make sense of the digital transformation, networks are becoming increasingly complex and provide a unique avenue for nefarious activity if left unattended.

To combat this, Microsoft offers a mobile network protection feature in Defender for Endpoint that helps organizations identify, assess, and remediate endpoint weaknesses with the help of robust threat intelligence.”

This new feature is part of a larger, ongoing effort by Microsoft to expand Defender for Endpoint’s capabilities and provide an umbrella of protection that extends across multiple platforms.

Given the complexities of today’s network security environment, we’re thrilled to see tech giants like Microsoft taking bold steps to help simplify, and a cross platform security solution is seen by many as being the Holy Grail of the industry.  While it’s certainly true that Defender for Endpoint isn’t that yet, it’s clear that Microsoft is interested in seeing it become that.

Again, from Microsoft:

“With this new cross-platform coverage, threat and vulnerability management capabilities now support all major device platforms across the organization – spanning workstations, servers, and mobile devices.”

In addition to this new capability, the Redmond giant has also added a feature to MDE that allows admins to “contain” unmanaged Windows devices on their network if they are compromised, or even if there’s a suspicion that they might be.  This is in a bid to keep hackers from abusing those devices and moving laterally through corporate networks.

All of this is great news indeed and if you’re not yet taking advantage of Defender for Endpoint, we recommend giving it serious consideration.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

The Windows 11 Apps That Use Your Microphone And Camera

Are you a member of the Windows 11 Insiders group?  If so, then you already know that you get a sneak peek at all the cool new features the engineers at Microsoft are building into the new Operating System.

If you’re not yet a member of that group, then this announcement might entice you to join.

In a June Windows 11 Preview Build, the company added a new privacy feature that keeps track of apps that have access to your microphone, camera, location, and the like.

To view your installed apps and which ones have access to what, activate your Windows 11 Settings app and look under Privacy & Security.  There, you’ll see a section labeled “App Permissions” as a “Recent Activity” dropdown menu.

You’ll see a complete listing of apps stacked against every tracked category of information, putting it all right at your fingertips.

This is the latest of the new security features that the new OS will sport.  In addition to this, the company is also planning to make improvements to Microsoft Defender that will make it better at blocking phishing and malware attacks against users.

On top of that, Microsoft is currently developing a Personal Data Encryption feature that will protect users’ files when they’re not logged in by blocking access to that data until the user authenticates via Windows Hello.

Finally, the company is flirting with the notion of enabling both Credential Guard and Local Security Authority by default. Although, they have not made a firm commitment to either of those at the time this article was written.

These feature additions stand to make Windows 11 the most secure OS that Microsoft has ever offered.  We’re looking forward to seeing how Windows 11 is accepted by the broader public.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Microsoft Believes AI Can Help Prevent Ransomware In The Future

Recently, Microsoft published a fascinating blog post. In the blog post, they said they were experimenting with “novel approaches” when it comes to harnessing the power of AI to spot threats on the threat landscape before they become a problem.

In particular, the company is focused on stopping ransomware attacks while they’re still in their earliest stages.

To get even more fine-grained than that, they are specifically targeting human-operated ransomware campaigns. They note that there are certain indicators in common where human-operated ransomware campaigns are concerned, and these commonalities can be used to stop future attacks.

The example that Microsoft gives in their blog post is that of a hacker who has stolen the network credentials of a company.  They will first log in to test those credentials, and once inside, will almost certainly move about inside the network in ways that the proper owner of those credentials would not.

This creates specific data points that the AI can be on the alert for.

Broadly speaking, these fall into three categories:  Time based, Graph based, and device-based.

An example of a time-based data point would be if the hacker logged in to test the credentials at 3:00 in the morning and the owner of those credentials historically logs in at 8am.

Graph-based patterns are the graphical representation of physical moves across a network space, plotted against expected moves.

And device-based data points are exactly what they sound like.  The AI would expect that the owner of the stolen credentials would log in from his or her workstation and not a laptop hidden behind layers of proxies, which is suspicious in and of itself.

It’s a great idea, though Microsoft is quick to point out that it is still very much in its infancy.  Even so, it’s easy to see how this could become an indispensable tool.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Some Requested Features May Be Coming To Microsoft Teams

Do you use Microsoft Teams?  If so, you’ll be thrilled to know that the Redmond Giant is continuing to pour resources into improving the software with a specific focus on audio and video quality.

Recently, the company announced a plan to add echo cancellation, which is a feature that legions of Teams users have been clamoring for.

When the company made the announcement, they also revealed that they’re using machine learning algorithms to “teach” Teams to learn the difference between the speaker’s voice and a background sound. The goal is that echo cancellation will never mute (or even partially mute) a human speaking, even in instances where several people are speaking at once.

The machine learning algorithm is being “trained” using a model that contains more than 30,000 hours of speech. To head off questions on the topic, Microsoft stressed that no customer data was collected for the data set used to train the new models under development.

Per Microsoft:

“Instead, we either used publicly available data or crowdsourcing to collect specific scenarios. We also ensured that we had a balance of female and male speech, as well as 74 different languages.”

Since the Pandemic, Teams has grown to be one of the most widely used virtual meeting platforms and we are thrilled to see Microsoft directing so many resources to making it better, both in terms of basic functionality and overall user experience.  The planned inclusion of Echo Cancellation is proof positive that the company listens and responds to customer requests.

Kudos to Microsoft for a great job in recent months, both here and on the Windows 11 development front.  While it’s true that the company has made more than its share of missteps over the years, their recent track record has been exemplary.

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