September 2017
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Office 365 email users may be forced to update their Outlook version. Starting October 31st, 2017, only Outlook 2010 and later with up to date patches will work with Exchange Online (Office 365 Email server).
Microsoft is aggressively pushing users toward a MS Office subscription:
Effective October 13th, 2020, Office 365 will only allow Office client connectivity from subscription clients (Office 365 ProPlus) or Office perpetual clients within mainstream support to connect to Office 365 services.
Windows 10 can now be purchased as a subscription as part of Office 365
Windows 10 Fall Creator’s Update (Ver 1709 2nd update this year) will be released October 17th. It will be gradually pushed out over the next few months.
Windows 10 Creator’s Update (Version 1703, released March 2017) has been installing automatically on non-networked computers. Computers on a domain will eventually be forced to upgrade if they have not.
These updates are a complete reinstall of Windows. It resets many settings which could cause problems – it can enable the firewall, cause program defaults to change, and change desktop settings. In rare cases it can get stuck during the upgrade. It takes several hours, which can disrupt planned work. We suggest scheduling it with our help during a time it won’t cause problems, with proper preparation and planning.
Windows 10 version 1511, called the November 2016 Update, will be unsupported after October 10th, 2017. Microsoft will issue no further updates to Windows 10 version. 1511.
More on Windows versions. More on Windows 10 releases.
If you use OneDrive or SharePoint online, be sure you install the latest OneDrive client, which has some significant improvements. It allows OneDrive files to show as another Drive letter.
Adobe Flash, once popular on web pages, is being phased out and will be completely unsupported by 2020.
Equifax was hacked, exposing ID and Credit card data of 143 million people. Check to see if your identity is at risk: https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/potential-impact/.
There is an arbitration clause in the free identity protection offer from Equifax – don’t sign up yet if you think you may want to join the class action lawsuit. Instead view FAQ to see if your data is at risk. There are 2 pending class action lawsuits so far.
Equifax executives sold stock before revealing the breach, which they knew about by July 29th, well before publicizing it. More details.
We recommend that you freeze your credit status with the credit reporting agencies and enable 2 factor authentication on financial data. Credit monitoring will alert you of identity theft, but not prevent it. The FTC has good advice on how to do this.
More than one-quarter of a panel tasked with advising the Homeland Security Department on cybersecurity and infrastructure protection resigned, citing President Donald Trump’s “insufficient attention” to the nation’s cyber vulnerabilities, among other complaints.
Details related to more than 4 million Time Warner Cable customers were exposed online in a major data breach, caused by human error at BroadSoft.
A request from the DOJ demands that DreamHost hand over 1.3 million visitor IP addresses – in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of thousands of people – in an effort to determine who simply visited a website for organizing protests against government policies.
Microsoft cloud user accounts saw a 300% increase in cyberattacks over the past year, according to the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report. The most common cause is weak passwords.
Updated advice on passswords – Don’t make people change their password, don’t require special characters, it’s ok to copy and paste, use a password manager. Above all, use 2 factor authentication where possible.
How to Pick the Right Books to Read
In addition to www.amazon.com and www.goodreads.com these sites are designed to help you find books you may like, and good deals:
http://www.yournextread.com/us/
tidal.com provides streaming high-fidelity music – sound as good as the original recording. Similar to Spotify and Pandora, but higher quality sound– if you have the equipment to hear it. The service can work as an app, or integrate with high end audio equipment such as Macintosh, Linn, Sonos and others.
CrashPlan for Home, the consumer version of Code42’s backup service, is being discontinued.
Verizon is trying to get you to voluntarily give them data on your browsing habits so they can target ads better, generating more revenue.
Widespread Comcast/Xfinity outage in Fresno area was caused by electrical fire. Some of our Visalia clients were down over Labor Day weekend. The only sure way to not go down is to have a second internet provider as a backup.
Tara is no longer working with us. While we search for the right person, calls will be routed to Eric when you pick support from the voice menu. We have switched our phone system to Skype for Business. Please let us know what you think of using a menu versus having a receptionist forward your call.
Tim Torian
Torian, Group, Inc.