Outlook Calendars will keep you connected on every Game Day

For the past few years the NFL has partnered with Microsoft by using the Surface Pro, the official tablet of the NFL, on and off the fields. Currently players, coaches, and fans are using the new Surface Pro 4. From looking up plays to making timely choices on your fancy team Microsoft has enhanced the NFL experience across the board.

However, Surface Pro 4 isn’t the only way to stay connected with your favorite NFL team. Office 365 has made it easy to stay informed on your favorite team’s schedule. Using the Interesting Calendars that can be found in your Office 365 Calendar App (add Calendar), you can import the schedule as a calendar. The calendar can be chosen based on your favorite team. The data is pulled from Bing which keeps the calendar up-to-date.

By clicking the Add Calendar tab and selecting Interesting Calendar you will have the option of choosing which team to follow as well as many other sports. Once you have added this calendar you will then see it in you Outlook desktop program. From football to golf, these calendars will make sure you won’t miss an event.

 

View more about Outlook Calendar

SharePoint Online Storage Space Increased

Since the beginning, Microsoft SharePoint Online (more than 7 years ago) storage space for the base tenant has always been 10 GB.  This week Microsoft has announced a major change that all Office 365 tenants will now have 1 TB of space!   Most existing tenants have already received the increased space.  To find out how much space your SharePoint Online has,  check out your site collections and the space available in the SharePoint Admin Center https://<your O365 base domain>-admin.sharepoint.com.

According to an Office 365 Team blog post on February 17, 2016, “The amount of content in Office 365 is growing 300 percent year over year” which is why Microsoft increased the base SharePoint storage. This increase in space can be allocated towards SharePoint Online, Office 365 Groups, and Office 365 Video.  Plus, you still receive 0.5 GB of space for every licensed user¹.   However if 1 TB+ is still not enough, you can purchase additional space in 1 GB increments² for as much storage space as you can manage in SharePoint Online. Yes, it’s unlimited.
Remember this SharePoint Storage is in addition to the unique default per-user OneDrive for Business storage space and individual storage provided for user email inboxes.  All OneDrive for Business subscribers receive 1 TB of space and for the Enterprise OneDrive for Business subscribers they now receive an unlimited amount of space.
One other improvement that Microsoft seems to have snuck in for OneDrive and SharePoint capacities is the file size limit has been increased from 2 GB to 10 GB. Whoa! I think it’s time you called your ISP for an increase in bandwidth.

Also, remember that all Office 365 mailboxes receive 50 GB of space for email and if you have an Office 365 Enterprise E3, E5 or Exchange Online P2 plan then you also receive an unlimited archive mailbox.

Put it all together that’s a lot of secure, backed-up, encrypted, accessible storage that should accommodate most corporations in America.

And now the best part…the price is still the same! Microsoft continuously adds products, capacity, features and functions to Office 365 and the price remains the same since the inception of Office 365 in 2010.

 

 

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1. With the exception of Kiosk and External users.
2. The cost for extra storage space is 0.20/GB/month

Outlook Notification

Wondering where your Outlook notifications went after you upgraded to Windows 10?

The notifications banner for Outlook is no longer the default setting for Windows 10. To turn those back on follow these instructions:

Click the Action Center button which will open the side tab. There click All Settings. You can also access Settings by clicking on the start button. 

Next find  System and then Notifications & Action. In the Show notifications from these apps section at the bottom, click on Outlook.

• If Outlook isn’t listed, you haven’t received a new message yet so Outlook isn’t registered yet as an app that receives notifications. Simply send yourself a test message in that case and reopen the Settings app.
• Also note that you must be using Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016 as Outlook 2010 and previous have their own notifications which do not integrates with Windows 10.

Make sure that you have enabled all notification options.

Finally close Settings.

 

Find more tips and info about Outlook

 

 

 

Office 2016 part 1: Microsoft Word

Office 2016: Microsoft Word

We’ve all used the Microsoft Office suite before. We use it at work, in school, at home, to record the information we need. We write papers, create spreadsheets, and design presentations all using Office. Even though we use it frequently, do we know all it can do? What makes it stand out from all the other software?

For the next few weeks I’m going to talk about Microsoft Office and some of the many new features that have been added with the release of the 2016 version. Additionally, I’ll also show you some features that have been there for a while that you may not know about. Obviously with so many features, I won’t be able to cover them all but tweet me any questions you want me to answer about Office and I’ll do my best to respond.

Microsoft Word

Part one will be all about Microsoft Word 2016 -the client application that is installed on your PC or MAC. You can find the Microsoft Word App on your ipad, iphone, Windows Phone, Adroid tablet, but the App version just does not have all of the features of the desktop version. Of all the Office products this this application is probably used the most but is still underutilized.

 

Navigation Bar

First let’s go over the navigation bar. This isn’t a new feature; the tabs were brought in with the release of Office 2010. Clicking the tab will open different functions for you to use when creating a Word document. To show more options of a section in the tab, click the small arrow in the bottom right.

Even though the tab feature isn’t new, sometimes remembering which tab a certain function is in can be difficult. Microsoft decided to help us with that by created the “light bulb”. This allows you to type in the feature and it will find it for you. For example, if I can’t find the tab with mail merge in it (it’s in Mailings), I can just start typing “mail merge” and it will find it for me as well as give me other options.

Another tip about the navigation bar: click the pin on the far right side when you have one of the tabs open, this will allow you to view the expanded view at all times.

  

Formatting

There are so many options for formatting your document using Microsoft Word. Most of the formatting functions are in the “Home” and “Layout” tabs. In the home tab you can change the font, text color and size, underline, and more. One of my favorite tools is “Clear all formatting”,  depicted as an eraser erasing text.This tool allows you to restore the text to the original formatting. So when you copy and paste text from another document or website that is in a different size, color, or font, just highlight the text, click this tool, and the text will be the same as your original format.

Another place to use the formatting functions is by highlighting a section and a pop-up menu will appear. This menu gives some quick tools, that are all on the “Home” tab, that are great to reformate your text.  One tool that is there is the Format Painter. This is a great tool to copy a format that you have already created. For example, there is text that is underlined, bolded, and in a different font. You want to copy this style but instead of having to apply all though changes to the new text individually all you have to do is highlight the text you want to copy, click the paint brush, and the highlight the new text you want to change. The new text will now be in the format you had previously used.

For any additional formatting go to the layout tab where you can find: margins, page orientation, page size, columns, page breaks, and more.

Citations

One function that I use all the time are the style options that are displayed in the navigation bar. It’s great to get that header looking just how I like it. In addition to the format of the text it also makes it simple to create a table of contents page. Once I’ve used the style options all I have to do is go to the “References” tab and click “Table of Contents”. One will automatically generate.

The “References” tab is great for students, researchers, lawyers…etc. This tab helps with your bibliography (or work cited) pages, your footnotes, any images you might need to label. It will also keep track of sources you’ve already used. This is a great resource when writing long documents.

Review

Once you have finished writing your document with all your citations and formatting, it is always good to have someone else review it. Word has the “Review” tab so that reviewing a document is easy. This is also helpful when you have multiple people editing the same document. It will mark any changes that were made without losing the original text. There is the option to accept or reject any changes that have been made or you can revert back to an older version without any of the changes. There is also the “Restrict Editing” option. This allows you to protect any part of your document from other’s changes.

 

Mail Merge

I love the mail Merge feature. Mail merges just make sending documents, emails, address labels that are personalized in mass quantities easy. I always think about the time that I’m saving by using this feature. Even though it is a great feature, a lot of people have never used it.

The easiest way to start a mail merge is by going through the “step-by-step mail merge wizard”. This wizard will guide you through the processes…step-by-step. The first this that you will have to choose is what you are creating; letters, emails, envelopes, labels, or a directory. The next step is asking what document you want to use for this merge. Most of the time I use the document that I have already been working.  Step 3, you choose from a list you have. You can choose from an existing list from an excel file, your outlook contacts, or you can create a new list. The next step is to insert the merge fields. You can insert the field directly from the wizard or from the navigation bar. There are different fields based on the list you are using. The final step of the merge is to print your document. When you click “print” it will run through the merge and show you what each individual letter, label, or envelope will look like. You can edit or go right to the print page.

Click for more details on Mail Merges

Small Jewelry Company Shines as a Social Business with Microsoft Office 365

 This article excerpt, by Office 365 Team, originally appeared here: http://bit.ly/1IWava8

Dogeared specializes in designing beautiful and meaningful jewelry. After starting a deployment of Google Apps, Dogeared switched to Microsoft Office 365 because it offered a better-integrated set of tools and was easier to use. Employees now can communicate seamlessly both internally and with customers, suppliers and distributors, and be more responsive from outside the office. Now that the company uses Office 365, it has unified capabilities that are helping it transition into a more connected, nimble business.

Here’s what Chad Berryhill, IT director for Dogeared, had to say:

“By switching to Office 365, we’ve removed the headaches related to our old point solutions. With so many ways to … work with each other from anywhere, we can be more dynamic as a company. Most of our employees use Macs, so they appreciate that having Office ProPlus for Mac makes it possible to avoid compatibility issues and also have the same tools on every device.”

Inspiration Through Jewelry

Meaningful messages can celebrate individuality, self-expression, love and friendship. That’s the idea behind Dogeared, a jewelry company that creates simple, modern and versatile jewelry paired with inspiring messages. Like its products, Dogeared lives by the philosophy that what goes around comes around; as such, the company is a certified B-Corporation dedicated to handcrafting everything locally, respecting the planet and partnering with non-profits that share their vision of a better world. The company continually meets rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. “We make products we are proud of, we work with people we admire, and everything is about team,” says Marcia Maizel-Clarke, founder and owner at Dogeared.

The California company had some adjusting to do as it began to achieve greater, more widespread success. “I learned the inevitable lesson that most artists-turned-business-owners face sooner or later: how to strike a balance between creativity and fulfilling the more practical needs of running a business,” says Maizel-Clarke.

Those practical needs included establishing an environment in which employees could work more closely with each other and with the company’s suppliers, distributors and customers to promote and keep pace with the company’s growth. To create that atmosphere, Dogeared hired an IT director with the enterprise experience to develop a technology vision for the company that would alleviate its growing pains. “Retail is a dynamic industry that moves quickly, so it’s tough to slow down enough to make long-term plans,” says Chad Berryhill, IT director at Dogeared. “But the time had come for us to become more sophisticated in communication and collaboration capabilities if we wanted to support and further our growth.”

Dogeared needed a plan that could address issues faced by multiple groups within its workforce. For example, its sales representatives needed a more reliable way to communicate with retail customers than the company’s existing email systems, which were prone to outages. Sales staff also wanted better access to Dogeared’s internal network to find answers to questions more quickly, even as they traveled to trade shows and made sales calls. Other employees sought to work together more easily.

“We had no unified calendaring capabilities, we had to wait for our service provider to create distribution lists, and we relied on a range of expensive, disparate products for document sharing and conferencing,” says Berryhill. “Our teams needed an easier way to schedule meetings and conference rooms, to collaborate on marketing materials without worrying about version issues, and to access company assets.”

Because Dogeared had built its IT environment on an as-needed basis, it was difficult to expand the business. “Until recently, the company made one-off decisions, purchasing software box by box, rather than as a business,” says Berryhill. “When I joined Dogeared in 2014, it was clear that we needed to stop and evaluate what technology tools were necessary to truly operate as a coordinated business at scale.”

 

Watch for Part 2 of Dogeared’s story next week. To download a complete case study, click here.

Three Things Nonprofits Can Do to Successfully Adopt New Technology

This article excerpt, by Neela Pal, originally appeared here: http://onforb.es/1Kqxv6N

For nonprofit leaders frustrated with inefficient, legacy processes in their organizations, introducing software systems to automate operations may seem like a cure-all.

Maybe you are changing your accounting system to provide more intelligible financial reports to managers. Or, you are debuting a program database to store information electronically and finally retire those paper files. Or, you are swapping out the human resources system that stores staff data, to make processing paperwork less painful.

Regardless of what you’re trying to fix, fancy systems are usually not the complete answer. Unless your staff is motivated to learn the new technology and evolve their work habits, your improvement plan will stall. How you introduce the new system into your organization may ultimately trump which software vendor you go with.

Here are three management practices to help bridge the inevitable gap between the promise of new technology and the reality at your organization:

1. Form a team

For any large-scale technology change, leaders have an important decision to make: How do you want to engage staff who will ultimately be impacted by the system you choose?

Not everyone needs to (or should) be a decision-maker. Value people’s time by being strategic about whom you invite to participate. If, for example, you are switching from paper timesheets to electronic timekeeping, some cross-section of program managers and human resources, accounting, and IT staff could be at the table. Use focus groups, software demos, and other interactive venues to draw people selectively into the mix.

2. Learn first

A lot can be learned by soliciting input beyond your organization’s walls. Before committing to a new system, take some time to understand how others have tackled operational growing pains similar to the ones you are facing.

For example, are you dealing with an influx of government funding, requiring more rigorous reporting and cash management on your part? Maybe you’re facing tighter restrictions from private funders, forcing you to monitor your spending more closely. Or, perhaps a growing number of your employees are based across multiple sites and geographies, which demands more standardized practices and protocols.

Try to zero in on the challenge you are trying to address through the new technology. Then, track down an expert on organizations comparable to your own.

3. Customize less, not more

Once you have chosen your new system, it is tempting to adapt it to exactly match how your organization currently operates. Rethink this impulse. The more hyper-customized a software platform, the more challenging it is to maintain as the technology evolves.

Plus, the technical support available at the vendor may not meet your continuing needs. In the long run, it is probably in your best interest to favor the original system configuration and only do minimal customization.

This can get tricky. Nonprofit organizations tend to choose their software first and then figure out what it will mean for their business operations. This often leads to extremely specialized practices that are difficult to scale as the organization grows.

Take the time to step back and break down your program delivery approach when choosing a new technology: What is essential to meet the needs of your constituents? What can be simplified or made more predictable and consistent?

By introducing new software systems, you can achieve tremendous gains in operational excellence, including greater efficiency and consistency. But the system itself is not an automatic fix.

Take the time to develop a team, learn what has worked for others, question your processes, and listen to your people. This will help ensure that the technology you choose best serves its purpose.

New features from Office 2016

On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Microsoft released Office 2016. The big changes for Office 2016 are focused around Windows 10, collaboration, and Cloud storage. I have been using Office 2016 on my work computer with the preview for a few months now. I didn’t realize how much I have been using the new features until I would go home and try to use them to find that I couldn’t. Office 2016 has the same look & feel as Office 2013. The layout is the same but there are now features that make sharing, storing, and collaborating easier.

Skype for Business
To start off, Lync is now Skype for Business. Many who have already been using Microsoft Lync with Office 365 are already aware of this change. Skype for business enables you to connect with your coworkers easily and quickly from anywhere. You also don’t have to have Skype for Business to connect with others; Skype for Business will also connect with Skype (personal) accounts. With different options like Present Desktop, Present PowerPoint, Video, and more Skype for Business makes it easy to have a meeting or work together on a project.

Co-Authoring with Word and Excel
In addition to Skype for Business, you can also use Word or Excel to collaborate on a document with your coworkers in real time. The co-authoring feature is not new to Office 365 users. This feature has been available in Work and Excel Online. Now it is available in the full Office suite on your desktop.

Once you are done editing your document, it is even easier to save it to OneDrive for Business or SharePoint with Office 2016. The Cloud storage option is the first shown and when you want to save your document. Office 2016 also makes it
easy to share you document right from the program with a Share button just above the Ribbon Bar.

Excel has had some major updates with Office 2016. For example, Microsoft Power Query for Excel was an additional add-in that you could download, now it is part of Excel. Excel also has increased its functionality with BI (Business Intelligence).

Outlook Updates
Not only can you share documents right from Word, you can also share from Outlook. One of the new features in Outlook that I use a lot is the new attachment feature. In Office 2013 attachments were easy to send in an email, however, if you sent the email to multiple people you could have multiple versions with different corrections from each person. In Office 2016 you can send the Cloud version of your document which means you are just sending a link to the document.  Now when you send a document to several people from Outlook they are all editing the same document. This cuts down the multiple versions and all the confusion that goes with it.

There is also a new folder that will appear in your Outlook, the Clutter folder. This folder is great! There are always those emails that you want to read but they aren’t the most important one to read. The Clutter folder allows your inbox to stay clear of these low priority emails. For me, I have a lot of emails that come in from Linkedin. While I do want to read those emails, I don’t want them to fill up my inbox. Instead I have them go to my Clutter folder automatically so I can go and read them when I can. The Clutter folder is fast learning; if you want an email to go into your Clutter just drag it into your folder and from that point on all those emails will go into the Clutter folder.

One of the biggest changes that I’ve notice in Outlook is the search function. With a now even better search tool, it is so easy to find an email. Especially if you are like me and have a lot of folders and can’t remember exactly which folder you put that email in. This is one feature that I love and have grown so accustomed to it.

 
Security and Intelligence
Office 2016 is the most secure Office Suite that Microsoft has made yet. It has Significantly reduced the risk of leaking sensitive data with built-in Data Loss Prevention across Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook. There is also the option to encrypt you work both online and offline.

There is also more intelligence built in to Excel for graphically analyzing data.   New chart formats include:

• Financial: Waterfall
• Statistical: Histogram, Pareto, Box and Whisker
• Hierarchical: Treemap and Sunburst

 
Additional features Office 2016 offers:

• Data Loss Prevention helps significantly reduce the risk of leaking sensitive data, by giving IT admins tools to centrally create, manage and enforce policies for content authoring and document sharing.
  (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Multi-factor Authentication allows you to securely access content anywhere – even when away from the corporate network.
  (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Information Rights Management helps you encrypt your data online and off.
  (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, New in Visio)
• With deferred updates, you choose when you update—once a month or every three months and validate up to four months prior to deployment.
• Improved integration with System Center Configuration Manager for efficient distribution of updates.
• New Background Intelligence Transfer Service (BITS) provides better network traffic management.
• Simplified activation management, with new controls in Office 365 Admin Portal that allow admins to manage device activations across users.
• New Internet-friendly MAPI-HTTP protocol enhances Exchange/Outlook connectivity.
• Outlook is more responsive on unreliable networks with the elimination of foreground network calls.
• Reduced time to download messages, display the message list, and show new email after hibernation.
• New settings let users better manage storage by only retaining 1, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days of mail on a device.

 

Office 2016 also available for Mac! Click here for more information. 

Click for more on Office 2016

 

4 Ways Microsoft Cloud Solutions can help your Practice

1. Security

Help keep your patient data safe and secure. One major concern when switching over to a new system is always security. That is also one of Microsoft major concerns. All programs and features of Microsoft Office 365 are HIPAA, ISO 27001 and EU Model Clause compliant, along with other governmental regulations. You can enable Rights Management Services and create access policies for your clinicians, physicians, home care nurses, and specialists, allowing admins and users make policies to restrict access to documents and email so that your patient’s data and documents are only available to those who need them. You can also, help safeguard sensitive data through deep content analysis and provide built-in and extensible Data Loss Prevention (DLP).

 Get automatic protection against spam and email threats. Help keep your communications safe from spam and viruses with built-in email security capabilities in Microsoft Office 365. You can easily encrypt email messages to enhance the privacy and security of sensitive information. Encryption is available with any of the Office 365 enterprise plans. Encryption is made easy for you using Outlook and Outlook online. As a feature of Office 365 you can activate an encryption feature that allows you to just type “encrypt” or “confidential” before the subject of your email and encrypt it for you.

Make device login easier without sacrificing security. We all know that sometimes it is hard to have both security and ease of access. With the new authentication features of Windows 10 that will no longer be an issue. Windows 10 offers two-factor verification that is compliant with privacy protection rules: Windows Hello and Facial Recognition allow you to log into your device easier than ever before. You can be confident that your data is protected because Enterprise Data Protection provides persistent file-level encryption and basic rights management to clinical files. To utilize Windows Hello, you must have a fingerprint reader or an Intel RealSense camera that supports the program.

Check out how Advocate Healthcare is using Office 365.

2. Efficiency

Microsoft cloud solutions can help you improve communication within and beyond your organization, extend information to patients and their families in useful ways, and reduce costs.

Enable flexibility across work styles. Provide your health professionals with the tools they need to do their best work. Updating technology can make your practice run more efficiently and with tighter security. However, upgrading takes time and energy that you would rather be spending time with your patients. With Microsoft Office 365, programs that you already use and know like Word, Excel, and Outlook are already incorporated. The navigation is the same throughout Microsoft products which makes it easier to utilize new products to make your practice more efficient. Office 365 is accessible across multiple devices (mobile, tablet, PCs-as well as Apple products). Use the device you know instead of learning a whole new one.

Streamline operations to improve service efficiency. Cut down IT costs by eliminating your on-premise server by moving over to Microsoft Azure. Azure provides you with a state-of the-art server with world class security and constant updates with little effort on you end. The complexity of patient care is growing, with more data being generated every step of the way in electronic medical records, communications, and clinical images. With the rapid growth of healthcare data, there is greater pressure than ever on health organizations’ budgets. Azure can help reduce concerns.

Add people and apps as you go. Population health trends can change in a moment’s notice. As service requirements change, use the flexibility of the cloud to ensure your new workers are ready with the latest software and tools they need to do their jobs.

3. Treat your patients-anytime, anywhere

Access and edit medical records wherever you go. No matter where you are, get what you need to get your work done. Seamlessly access and work with up-to-date patient records and applications across your devices, including iOS and Android—without high IT management costs. Plus, with the ability to run legacy desktop programs natively on Windows 10 devices, you can support your mobile workforce without abandoning your existing programs.

Get a consistent experience across devices. You get a consistent experience whether you are using a tablet during rounds, a desktop at the office, or a laptop at home. Using Office 365 you get the same user experience throughout multiple form factors (including non- Microsoft devices) so you can get the same look and feel on mobile devices, as well as touchscreen desktops.

Access the latest versions of documents. With OneDrive for Business, your documents go with you—whether they’re using a Windows-based tablet or PC, Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, or Android device. OneDrive for Business allows you to easily sync designated files automatically to the cloud, meaning that you will never be without their shared documents, patient records, care plans, and more—whether you’re at the hospital, at home, or on the go.

Work together on important documents. Help care team members can share information and collaborate on documents by syncing SharePoint team sites or portals. With built-in security and access rights, only the intended recipients can view and edit documents stored online.

4. Connect with your community

Quickly identify and act on population trends. Quickly and easily visualize data with Excel and PowerBI to uncover emerging trends affecting your citizens—from environmental pollutants to flu outbreaks—and target services to patient populations when and where they need them.

Extend health data access without sacrificing control. Empower all your health professionals to freely model and explore health data. With managed, self-service business intelligence (BI), your IT team can monitor and manage content created by users, with proper security and compliance controls. Add more about BI

Share insights organization-wide. Through one integrated experience in SharePoint Server and Office 365, clinicians can find information, share insights, and collaborate with peers for increased productivity and decision making. Care teams or service line clinicians (e.g., oncology) can store reports and data insights, collaborate, and communicate to improve the quality and outcomes of the services they deliver.  

Can you be Swayed?

Can you be Swayed?

Microsoft is constantly adding more features and programs to Office 365 like Delve, Video, Projects, and more. Sway is one of the newest program to join the Office 365 family. Microsoft has officially released Sway to all Office 365 users professional and home additions.
Great! But what is Sway? In October 2014, Microsoft introduced Sway into the Office Suite as an alternative for PowerPoint. Sway is a new way to do presentations which allows you to combine text, pictures, and videos to make a presentation that excites your audience. Whether your presentation is for an important board meeting or a school report, Sway is an easy tool to use.

Since Sway is an online program you can access your sway from any computer at any time. You can also share the sway for others to view or to collaborate on your presentation. Sway connects directly to websites so you can import images, videos and text into your Sway by just dragging it into the presentation. You can also import a Word document, PowerPoint, or PDF and sway will automatically create a presentation using that file. Once uploaded you can edit by adding pictures, text or by changing the theme. I took one of our old blog posts to test this feature (our drafts are word documents). Sway automatically organized into a great presentation. All I did was change the theme and add a few pictures that I found on Bing. Click to see our Sway. 

Sway makes it easy to add affects to your presentation. You can group pictures together, resize them, and create a focus point.
Sway is easy to learn and fun to explore. If you have Office 365 try out Sway, create a presentation about anything and see how long it takes you. When I first wanted to try Sway I created one about Moose which took me 10 minutes start to finish. It obviously wasn’t perfect considering I took everything from sites I found online, but it was a great rough draft.

Sway is a great way to create interactive presentations easily. Several companies have indicated that they were going to be using Sway for their corporate newsletter. Sway can be embedded into your blog and website and is compatible across all your devices.

For some tips to create a Sway check out these videos, blogs, and more

Windows 10

Windows 10

As many of you know the long awaited Windows 10 was officially released July 29, 2015. Anyone with a valid license of Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 can upgrade for free to Windows 10 during the first year of its release. The small Windows icon in the bottom right corner of your screen will let you reserve your free install. Since many people are wanting to be upgraded, it might take a few days before you have your update don’t worry you will be soon! Make sure before you update that you don’t need your computer as the update could take a while. I would suggest to run the update right before you leave the office that way it can run overnight.

Features:

The start button is back!

Many reasons why people did not like Windows 8 and 8.1 was because the start button wasn’t there. They had trouble navigating between the start screen and their desktop. Microsoft listened, and now with Windows 10 the start button has returned. Now when you click your start button you have access to all your programs, apps, documents, settings, and more. But don’t worry 8.1 lovers, the tiles have not disappeared. The live tiles also appear when you click the start button. Your most recent programs and apps are displayed for easy access.

Cortana

Cortana is another feature that is displayed when you click the start button. You can also access Cortana in you task bar whenever you need her. Cortana will open your mail, schedule appointments, search the web, and more. You can type in what you need or you can just say “Hey Cortana” to activate. Cortana is constantly working to know you better; learn your voice, where your office is, your favorite website. She is learning to make your experience easier. This is a great feature of Windows 10. She is also available on your Xbox, laptop, mobile device, and PC.

Windows Edge

Windows Edge, I think, is a feature that is not talked about as much as some of the others. Windows Edge has replaced Internet Explorer as the new Microsoft browser. Windows Edge is like a normal browser except that you can draw right on the webpage. You can circle, mark up, and share the page with other people. It’s fast and more secure than Internet Explorer with new capabilities. Read more

Our Review:

As part of the Windows 10 Insider program for many months I saw how Windows 10 evolved. Microsoft was listening to the over 5 million Insiders to continually improve the product to what was released for the final product on July 29. There are many new features which people will love. For me I personally like the blending of Windows 7 & 8.1 which provides the familiar navigation plus advanced apps with Live Tiles. The new Windows Edge browser is lean and fast, and provides the ability to draw or highlight items on web sites and then share them with friends and colleagues. However, the best new feature is Cortana. During the months of the Insider testing she was able to learn more about me, my voice and what my interests are. For example, daily news that interests me is succinctly presented in the Cortana search window. Plus, she is always waiting for my requests just by stating “Hey Cortana” my new personal assistant will answer questions, create reminders or schedule an appointment on my calendar. For me Microsoft has scored a 10 with Windows 10!” –Kevin Miller BlueEdge Consulting, President

The one downfall that I’ve noticed is with my current laptop. I purchased my laptop 3 years ago and some of the technology does not sync seamlessly with Windows 10. The microphone in my laptop apparently does sync with Cortana as well as other microphones. The good thing however, is that Cortana is working on recognizing my voice even though it is more difficult with my microphone. At this point the “Hey Cortana” feature does not work but hopefully with more use and tuning of my microphone, the “hands-free” feature of Cortana will eventually work. I like the new start button that allows me to see my most used apps and most recent documents. I’m still getting used to it but it is definitely an easier and more convenient operating system.

There are many more features in Windows 10 like Windows Hello, increased security with an updated version of Windows defender, Multi-tasking with the use of multiple desktops, and so much more. Over the next few months we will be reviewing different features of Windows 10 more closely. Don’t miss a thing, follow us on Twitter for alerts.