AvePoint have published a recent blog entry discussing the differences between Microsoft Teams and Zoom to help you determine the best Collaboration Tool for your business requirements. Read their assessment here.
A free tool to check your Windows HDD & SSD’s health
PCWorld have just reviewed CrystalDiskInfo, a free tool that enables Windows 10 (or later) users to discover more about the health of their computer’s Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and Solid State Drives (SSDs). Read about it and get the software here.
Find out what your house looks like when impacted by climate change
CTVNewsMontreal highlights an Artificial Intellegence (AI) project where visitors can input their address into a website and see what their house would look like when transformed by flood, wildfire or smog using a simulator. Check it out here.
Must have travel & mapping apps: what3words & Emergency+
When calling emergency services or wanting to tell somebody exactly where you are anywhere in the world, you can use a what3words address to share your three metre square location. For example, you can use a what3words address to pass on the exact picnic location in a large park that doesn’t have any street name or numbering.
Emergency Plus is an app that simplifies contacting emergency services in Australia and will automatically generate & display your what3words location; which is great for identifying exactly where you are on a highway in an unfamiliar area. Both these apps are essential for people who travel outside of the main population areas.
Virtualization software that can run different operating systems on your computer
TechRadar have published a list here of the best virtualisation software that makes it easy to run multiple operating systems on the same computer.
Skype has undergone a big overhaul
Microsoft have released an all-new redesign of Skype in its latest update. Read about the visual redesign, performance boosts, and some interesting new enhancements in the AndroidPolice.com article here.
How to read Paywall articles for free
LifeHacker.com have just published an article explaining how you can occassionally read articles for free from websites that have added paywalls where you usualy need to pay a monthly fee. Find out how here.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are down
Facebook (and associated apps) are currently experiencing a gloabal outage. Find out more in The Verge’s article here. Personally I think this is not a bad thing. People will now need to find something else to do with their time instead of having their noses locked into their mobile devices.
When I first started in the IT industry over 40 years ago I had high expectations that technology would in time make all of our lives so much better. However with the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook, we have begun to see the results of the darker side of what technology can unleash on society. CNN Business have recently published an article here discussing the kind of things I have major concerns about.
Microsoft to launch Office 2021 alongside Windows 11 tomorrow
CNN’s News18 article announces Microsoft will release their updated Office 2021 suites tomorrow on the same day as Windows 11 is released. Discover more here.
Discover what Windows apps are gobbling up your Internet allowance
TechRadar have just published a great article explaining how you can discover what apps are consuming your monthly Internet data allowance. Checking your data usage is really useful as you can discover things such as a piece of malware software may have spent days uploading all your most confidential files to a dodgy server run by a bad actor. Discover more here.
Fix your Apple OS, Chrome, and Microsoft Vulnerabilities – UPDATE TODAY!!
If you saw the interview with the Australian Cyber Security Centre on the ABC’s Morning Show today, and as previously highlighted in blogs here over the last week; you will now be aware both Apple and Microsoft have had some serious zero-day vulnerabilities discovered in their software that hackers are now going after in coordinated attacks. As discussed in Wired’s article here, today is a good day to ensure that all your devices’ software has been updated to the latest versions to protect them from nefarious actors. Don’t delay updating – DO IT NOW!!
Windows 10 for Dummies: free for a limited time
You can become more a productive and informed Windows user by downloading a free version of Windows 10 for Dummies from TradePub.com. I’ve downloaded many useful free resources from these guys, such as eBooks and Reference Cards relating to security topics, Microsoft 365, Office & Teams, etc. You can obtain a free copy of this ebook until 22nd September by first going here and typing “Windows 10” into the search field. When you see an image of the book cover, simply hover your mouse over the image, click on DOWNLOAD NOW, and then you will need to be a little creative with some of the answers to a subsequent questionnaire; ensuring you get your email address correct so that you get sent an email with a download link to the book.
Automatically curate your own news feed
Microsoft Corp on Tuesday rolled out a personalized news feed called Microsoft Start. Read about the solution which will be available both as a website and a mobile app, on Microsoft’s blog here.
Looking for a Note Taking app for your mobile device?
Tom’s Guide has just published a review of the best of the current crop of Note Taking apps for mobile devices – read it here.
Microsoft Office documents vulnerable to a new cyber attack
The Australian Cyber Security Centre have just alerted businesses to the potential of a cyber actor using a malicious ActiveX control in a Microsoft Office document to exploit a new vulnerability in a component of Microsoft Windows – read the alert on their website here or read PC Mags more user-friendly explaination here.