Daily Archives: December 16, 2024

• Stopping the migration to Outlook (new)

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.51 • 2024-12-16

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  And other annoyances.

  Microsoft is trying to get people to switch over to Outlook (new) sooner, but there’s no need to do as Redmond wants. Here’s how the move from Outlook (classic) really works, how to stop a forced migration to the new Outlook until you’re ready, and why the switchover isn’t the end of the older Outlook.

  The immediate issue is that the Windows Mail and Calendar apps are being discontinued on December 31. That should not affect many Microsoft 365 or Office users, who are presumably using Outlook (classic) or some other email software.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Microsoft Office, Newsletters, Outlook, Outlook (classic), Outlook (new)

• Do you need Microsoft’s ‘Windows 365 Link’ cloud-only PC?

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Information-technology pros are agog about the latest entry into the field of highly secure devices: Microsoft’s Windows 365 Link, a paperback-sized device that works as a PC only when connected via the Internet to Redmond’s cloud-computing service.

  The Link has been called a mini-PC. But it’s more accurate to describe it as a thin client. This is the industry term for a small device that has no real computing power of its own. Instead, it displays applications and graphics that are sent to it from a cloud server.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).

  Public Defender Dell Latitude 5450, Google Chromebox, HP Elite t755, Newsletters, Thin Clients, Windows 365, Windows 365 Link

• SpinRite 6.1 offers us help for solid-state drives

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:43 CST by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  BEN’S WORKSHOP

  

  By Ben Myers

  The latest version of SpinRite, long regarded as the go-to software to recover data from corrupted hard drives, adds testing and tuning of solid-state drives to hard drive rescue.

  Gibson Research’s famous SpinRite 6.0, circa 2004, recovers data from defective hard drives, repeatedly reading sectors to determine the original uncorrupted data with good statistical odds of success. SpinRite cannot possibly work on drives with failed circuit boards or drives that do not spin up.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).

  Ben's Workshop ClearDiskInfo, Newsletters, Performance, performance tuning, SMART, SpinRite, SpinRite 6.1, SSDs

• The state of OneNote in 2024

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:42 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Next year the OneNote for Windows 10 app reaches end of life. It’s time to check in on how much progress the desktop OneNote version has made in the last 12 months.

  My oldest notes in OneNote are just over 21 years old, starting from a meeting with Microsoft in July 2003 about the shared source initiative that let OEMs look at the Windows codebase. I still use the software in very much the same way today. I take notes in meetings and interviews, I clip in interesting and useful information, and I search for something I remember saving.

  I have OneNote open all the time on my laptop. (It’s also installed on both my phones, one Android and one iPhone.) Although the interface has changed, the core features are much the same as they were five years ago. Like a swan, that slow glide disguises an enormous amount of effort under the surface. But apart from keeping up with Office and Windows 11, how did Microsoft do on delivering the new features it said OneNote was going to get this year?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).

  OneNote Microsoft Office, Newsletters, OneNote, OneNote for Windows 10, Teams

• Closing the books on a buggy year

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:41 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  We’re closing the patching year with an AI-related bug that — fortunately — is not related to Copilot, Recall, or any other AI-related product released by Microsoft in the last few months.

  In fact, you may not have heard of it at all. Called Microsoft Muzic, it’s a research project in understanding music via deep learning and artificial intelligence. It also introduced a vulnerability into your computer if you installed it.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).

  Patch Watch CVE-2024-49063, CVE-2024-49112, CVE-2024-49117, CVE-2024-49138, Exchange, Google Workspace, Hyper-V, KB5002652, Newsletters, Outlook, Patch Lady Posts, TPM, Windows 11 24H2