M365 Weekly Newsletter
Issue #102
☁️What’s on my mind
Microsoft has invested $1 billion in OpenAI in the past. I guess we can also thank Microsoft that ChatGPT has exploded in popularity in the last two weeks.
I have been playing around with it myself and I have to say that I am extremely impressed.
If you look at the joke at the end of this newsletter, you can also see what a sense of humor it has (or doesn’t have).
I cannot wait for GPT-4 to see the light of day next year, hopefully.
Have a really great day.
Matic Z.
☁️Productivity & Modern Workplace
Top 9 new features in Microsoft Word for Winter 2022. Among other new features: 25 new languages for dictation are now available in the preview. Great video with all the necessary info about what is in preview and what is already available to everyone.
Lists vs. Libraries in SharePoint Online. In Microsoft SharePoint Online, lists and libraries are both used to store and organize data. However, there are some key differences between the two. Gregory explains the differences in a way that everyone can understand.
How to Find your Bitlocker Recovery Key. Bitlocker is a tool that encrypts the data on a hard drive to protect it from being accessed by unauthorized users. The key is stored on a TPM chip. If there are hardware changes or other changes to the computer that triggers the TPM chip to ask for the Bitlocker Recovery Key, the data on the hard drive will be inaccessible until the key is entered so it is important to keep track of the recovery key in case it is needed to access the data on the hard drive.
Excel What-If Analysis Data Table | Easy to Use Once you Learn This. Excel’s Data Table feature allows users to quickly create multiple results based on a formula by changing values in some cells. This feature is useful for experimenting with different input variables and seeing how they impact the result at a glance.
☁️Sysadmin Stuff
Setting up your own Microsoft 365 sandbox. A Microsoft 365 sandbox domain is a space for development and testing purposes only and can be useful for recording screencasts, practicing admin skills, experimenting with identity ownership, and developing M365 apps.
Simplify deployment of Microsoft 365 with new and updated guides. Microsoft has released updates to its deployment guides for Microsoft 365 to help admins deploy services more efficiently and securely. The updates include improved search tools and recommendations on the Advanced Deployment Guides & Assistance page in the Microsoft 365 admin center, as well as the ability to track key metrics like Secure Score over time.
Microsoft Bookings now supports custom domains. Two controls for domain use have been added to the Microsoft Bookings service. Admins can specify which domain will be used from the domain list for Bookings using the Outlook Web App (OWA) mailbox policy.
Microsoft Teams Premium Experiences and How to Set It Up. Microsoft Teams Premium offers advanced features for personalization, AI integration, and meeting protection to enhance the experience of both organizers and participants. As a Teams admin, you can easily enable Teams Premium and choose from a range of configuration options. You can get your trial licenses here: Teams Premium 30-day Trial Licenses Available for Testing.
☁️Security & Data Governance
Boost up Your Security Posture with Microsoft Secure Score. Microsoft Secure Score is a tool that helps organizations assess and improve their security posture by providing a score based on their current security configuration and recommendations for improvement. The tool covers a range of areas including user authentication, data protection, and device security. Security score also adds some gamification moment to the security of the organization.
Guide to Setup Office 365 Password Policy in Azure AD Password Protection. Azure AD Password Protection is a tool that helps organizations improve their security by enforcing strong password policies and blocking the use of commonly used or weak passwords. Users are not the least bit creative when it comes to passwords. It is therefore wise for sysadmins to use security policies to force them to be more creative.
The Importance of Cyber Security Awareness. Human error is a major contributor to successful ransomware attacks, with over 80% of such attacks being the result of mistakes made by people. To reduce the risk of human error, organizations can, among other things provide cybersecurity awareness training to educate users about the risks and how to handle different situations,
New on Microsoft Learn: Advance your security posture from chip to cloud. A new learning module provides guidance on how to improve an organization’s security posture from chip to cloud. The module covers the basics of Zero Trust, which involves continuously improving security across all parts of an organization’s estate, including hardware, operating systems, applications, identity and privacy, and the cloud.
☁️Noteworthy (long)reads
Why would anyone use a Mesh avatar? Is Microsoft venturing into Second Life and what’s the point of Avatars? A very sparkling debate on what the point of these avatars is in the first place. I still think that it is a sideway step for humanity and does not contribute to progress. And then there’s another thing that makes this madness even more ridiculous: Why Avatars don’t have legs?
Guide: Build Your Azure Disaster Recovery Plan in 6 Steps. Learn six important Azure Disaster Recovery plan steps to take for Microsoft 365 business continuity.
☁️Classifieds
The Sample. A whole new way of discovering exciting email newsletters. Sign up and you will get sample newsletters based on the interests that you’ve tagged.
☁️On a Less Serious Note
I asked ChatGPT to give me a cloud-computing joke. That was the result.
☁️ Last but not least …
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