Replies

[steeviebops]

Got the e-mail to my global admin account this morning. Mods, feel free to delete if this isn’t suitable.

 

 

New Feature: Office 365 ProPlus, changes to browser default search engine
Major update: Announcement started
Applied To: All

Beginning with Version 2002 of Office 365 ProPlus, Microsoft will install a browser extension that makes Bing the default search engine for Google Chrome, providing the benefits of Microsoft Search in the browser to those end users.

This browser extension is scheduled to be available in Monthly Channel (Targeted) in February 2020.
It is expected to be released to Monthly Channel in early March 2020.
It will be included in the upcoming releases for Semi-Channel (Targeted) and Semi-Annual Channel.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 59917.

Note: This change only applies to devices in certain locations, based on the IP address of the device. At this time, countries include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As we add locations, we will notify you through Message Center.

[How does this affect me?]

New installations of Office 365 ProPlus will include this extension. When you update your existing installation of Office 365 ProPlus, the extension is included unless Bing is already the default search engine in your tenant. The extension sets Bing as the default search engine by default; users may turn it off via the extension toggle.

As part of Microsoft 365, Microsoft Search is on by default for all Microsoft apps that support it. Microsoft Search provides contextual work-related information using data sources in Office 365, including SharePoint, Microsoft OneDrive for Business, and Exchange.

With Bing as the default search vehicle for Google Chrome, those users will be able to access Microsoft Search directly from their browser address bar when they are signed in with their work or school account. This browser access to work-related search is known as Microsoft Search in Bing.

The first time your users open Google Chrome after the extension for Microsoft Search in Bing is installed, they will see a Welcome screen:

Welcome screen mockup

Mockup of a Welcome screen in Chrome browsers (subject to change).

Your end users may disable the extension by

Clicking its icon to the right of the URL bar;
Then toggling off Use Bing as your default search engine; and
Restarting the browser.

Extension toggle mockup

Mockup of the search toggle in Chrome browsers (subject to change).

Once this feature has rolled out, your end users can change their search engine preferences only via the toggle in the extension; they cannot modify the default search engine in browser preferences.

Although this feature is rolling out initially for Google Chrome, support for Firefox is planned. We will advise you of updates in a future Message Center post.

Microsoft Search does not use searches in your organization to improve public web results or to improve Bing, and Microsoft Search does not let advertisers target anyone within your organization.

[What do I need to do to prepare for this change?]

If you don’t want Bing to be the default search engine for Google Chrome, there are several ways to block the installation.

You must exclude the extension before you install or update to a version of Office 365 ProPlus that installs the extension for Microsoft Search in Bing. Implementing the exclusion after the extension has been installed will not remove the extension.

For new installations of Office 365 ProPlus, the Office Deployment Tool may be the best method, as outlined in this support document
For existing installations of Office 365 ProPlus, modifying the Group Policy may be best. Enable the policy setting Don’t install extension for Microsoft Search in Bing, which makes Bing the default the search engine.
If you use Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (current branch), from the Features section, set Microsoft Search as default to the Off position.
If you use Microsoft Intune to deploy Office 365 ProPlus, clear the check box Microsoft Search as default on the Configure App Suite pane.

If you have already made Bing the default search engine for your tenant, the extension will not be installed, and your end users will not be able to change the default search engine.

Learn more

If you decide to deploy Microsoft Search in Bing in your organization, see our Microsoft Search in Bing Adoption Kit for resources to help communicate the benefits of this work-related search change to your users. Plan your content to make Microsoft Search more helpful in your organization.

Find what you need with Microsoft Search in Bing
Getting started with Microsoft Search in Bing and Office 365 ProPlus
Set Bing as the default search engine in your tenant now
What your users will see with Microsoft Search in Bing

Additional Information
Sign in to the Office 365 Admin center to use the links below:
View this message in the Office 365 message center
To customize what’s included in this email, who gets it, or to unsubscribe, set your Message center preferences.
If you are receiving this email because your Admin added you as a recipient, please contact your Admin to unsubscribe.
Edit release preferences
Choose the release track for your organization. Use these settings to join First Release if you haven’t already.

Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our Privacy Statement.
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA, USA 98052

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by steeviebops.

5 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, RamRod, OscarCP, doriel, woody

[steeviebops]

If AV vendors don’t detect this as malware or PUPS then there’s something fishy going on. Changing a search engine without a user’s consent has been malware behaviour for a long time.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by steeviebops.

14 users thanked author for this post.

Morty, wdburt1, Myst, PDX5802, GreatAndPowerfulTech, abbodi86, Cybertooth, Grond, Microfix, Seff, SueW, woody, Mark, discorallado

I’ve never seen any advertising on it myself, maybe because I’m outside the US? It does sometimes have some links related to the photo but it’s more trivia than advertising.

In most cases with Windows Spotlight, there’s a “Like what you see?” option in the top right. Hover over this to see where the photo was taken. You don’t always see it on a cold boot but you should when the session is locked or when woken from sleep.

Personally, I love it. Even on Windows 8.1 I had an app to set the lock screen background to that day’s Bing image.

You can go directly to Windows 8.1 with an 8.0 product key, but the installer won’t accept it. You can use a generic or KMS product key as a stepping stone – it won’t activate but will be enough to pass the install check. Once installed, you can then activate with you 8.0 key and it will work fine. Saves you a lot of hassle compared with getting 8.0 installed and updated, then running an 8.1 upgrade.

1 user thanked author for this post.

anita.yk

While I can’t speak for everyone, I don’t think anyone is accusing you of lying or playing a trick on you. I’m genuinely shocked that an ISP would do such a thing. I’d wonder if they’re decrypting encrypted traffic to find out this info, or is it down to user agent sniffing? It’s very odd.

I’ve never heard of an ISP blocking access to the internet for non-supported devices. It would have me asking serious questions of how they’re detecting what version you’re running as it sounds heavy-handed.

6 users thanked author for this post.

Elly, ryegrass, FakeNinja, Steve, Myst, Cybertooth

Quite the opposite actually. Apple attempted to crackdown on parental control software that “abused” MDM. Only an antitrust threat made them back off.

techweenie wrote:

Yes, the mx record is used for the smart host.

Thanks. That’s how I’ve been doing it myself.

What do you use as the smart host? Is it the MX record? e.g. example-com.mail.protection.outlook.com

I thought this was sorted but has popped up again over the last two days. I tried another SFC and this reported no problems. My next step was to boot into WinRE, mount the ESP as drive S and run:

bcdboot C:\Windows /l en-GB /s S:\ /f UEFI

I’m running UK English Windows 10 by the way, hence the language switch. I’ll see if this makes any difference.

Thanks guys. Fast startup is disabled. The SFC scan found issues and fixed them. I’ll monitor over the next few days and see if it happens again.

I’ll have to double-check when I get home tonight but I don’t think it’s enabled. It’s normally one of the first things I disable when I install.

Agree 100% Joe. I hated Windows 10 when it came out. I tried LTSB 2016 for a while but encountered a few show-stopping issues. 1607 is, in my opinion, a terrible build; its update mechanism (which still haunts Server 2016 and LTSB to this day) is excruciatingly slow. I rolled back to 8.1 and didn’t touch it again until 1809 came out. Despite the doom and gloom about 1809 at the time, I had no trouble whatsoever. 1903 was relatively painless (except for the VMware Workstation block, which was worked around) and 1909 has been harmless too.

The bad experiences always drown out the good ones.

My first was Windows 3.0, but rather late. I didn’t start until 1998! I was 14 at the time.

I wasn’t from an IT background, my parents didn’t have a PC (didn’t have the money for one). My interest was in electronics, particularly television, and my school guidance counsellor suggested IT to me. He gave me an old Amstrad 286 PC with Windows 3.0 to get me started. He also gave me a rather large manual on MS-DOS and a lot of what I learned in that book is still useful to me today. It wasn’t long before I got something with Windows 95 and then I continued on a fairly normal path from there.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth