What to do before your phone is stolen

SECURITY

By Peter Deegan

Having your smartphone or tablet stolen is a traumatic event, but there are things you can do beforehand to make loss and replacement much less stressful, risky, and expensive.

I speak from experience. My iPhone was stolen last month, which was very annoying. But — because I’m a careful nerd — no files or data were lost. The thief was locked out of the smartphone in minutes.

There are things you should do to make loss of a device less traumatic and easier to recover from.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.10.0, 2023-03-06).

Changes to Outlook and OneDrive have fallout

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Last week there were two big — and related — changes to Outlook.com and OneDrive.

One is a way for Microsoft to gobble up more of your OneDrive quota. The other is a new Microsoft 365 plan, which might interest people with a perpetual license to Office 2021, 2019, and earlier.

I’ll explain these changes in detail; in particular, I’ll explain why these two changes are related and how to deal with the fallout.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.06.0, 2023-02-06).

Get started, but stay original, with Microsoft Designer

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

There is and will continue to be a lot of hype about Microsoft Designer.

As usual, the reality of a Microsoft product is somewhat different. Microsoft’s focus is making everything quick and easy, which sounds great. But any moderately experienced Office user knows the trap. Too many docs, sheets, and slides have a tedious sameness to them because they rely on the same templates and design helpers.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.04.0, 2023-01-23).

Microsoft 365: Year in review

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Let’s take a minute to check the rearview mirror and review what’s happened this year with Microsoft Office. We’ll also peer over the horizon to speculate about 2023.

There were obvious (and not-so-obvious) changes to Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365. I’ll look at just some of the changes. They might not be the most hyped changes coming from the never-ending road that is Microsoft marketing, and some of them might be overlooked but yet interesting.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.52.0, 2022-12-26).

Microsoft Insider: Pros, and the many cons

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Microsoft pushes its Insider versions of Office software very hard, promising the latest features faster than the public at large receives them.

But it doesn’t mention the downsides of using beta software, the confusing and ever-changing labels, and the real reason why the company promotes the Insider editions of Office and Windows so strongly.

Anyone can become an Office or Windows Insider. Microsoft pushes the various levels of test software for Office and Windows with phrases such as “Get the scoop on our newest builds and features” and “Help shape the future of Office.” As usual, that’s stretching the truth, hiding the real purposes of Microsoft’s Insider program.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.49.0, 2022-12-05).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

How to safely migrate to a Microsoft 365 mailbox

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

There’s an official way to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft 365 mailboxes (including Outlook.com) — but there’s a better, more prudent method I’ll explain in this article.

Most of Microsoft’s advice is for medium and large organizations, but there’s a more direct option for smaller orgs, families, or individuals — and it also leaves you with an offline backup.

I’ll focus on moving a free Gmail account to Outlook.com. You can use a very similar process to move small numbers of paid Google Workspace accounts to Microsoft 365 Business, or to migrate any mailbox, such as ISP-based email.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.45.0, 2022-11-07).

Use free Teams to make calls like Zoom

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Anyone can use Teams Free to set up a group call with video, screen sharing, and other goodies — bypassing all the other Teams stuff about channels, posts, and mentions — which can confuse less-confident computer users.

Microsoft Teams has a lot going for it, perhaps too much at times. In this article, I’ll explain how to use it for one-to-one and small-group calls. I’ll also review which features are available and what’s not possible with Teams Free.

Microsoft loves to confuse Teams customers by mixing up the free and paid options. Many of the promoted “Teams features” are really for paid plans only — but you’d know that only by looking in the very fine print.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.41.0, 2022-10-10).

The surprising truth about ultra-cheap Microsoft Office

MICROSOFT 365

By Peter Deegan

Ever wondered about those ultra-cheap deals for Microsoft Office? Are they safe to buy, or a scam? Is the license legal and recognized by Microsoft?

The answers might surprise you as much as they surprised me.

It’s part of the modern world that’s widely advertised but not much talked about. My research includes feedback (generally positive) from many readers, plus my own purchases from a well-known site. I’ll focus on Office 2021, but the same info and warnings apply to cheap offers for Windows or other software.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.37.0, 2022-09-12).