Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft 365 vs. Office 2024 — which to buy?

  Posted on November 4, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.45 • 2024-11-04

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Comparing Microsoft 365’s subscription/rental to the single-purchase, perpetual-license Office 2024 “boxed” product is not quite the same as comparing apples to oranges, but it’s certainly not easy.

  I’ll try to present the facts and burst some myths so you can make your own decision based on your situation. I’ll also give my recommendation with reasons and concerns. See Is Office 2024 worth getting excited about? (AskWoody, October 14, 2024) for my overview of the latest perpetual-license Office.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.45.0, 2024-11-04).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Excel, Newsletters, Office, Office 2024, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

• Is Office 2024 worth getting excited about?

  Posted on October 14, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  The new single-purchase, non-subscription version of Microsoft Office, released just a few weeks ago, is a replacement for Office 2021 and Office 2019.

  Those with a Microsoft 365 plan need not think about Office 2024, because the latter has a smaller set of features than the subscription version of Office.

  In this column, I’ll discuss what’s in Office 2024 and what it doesn’t include — and some features that Microsoft is uncharacteristically quiet about. I’ll also mention where to buy it for less.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.42.0, 2024-10-14).

  Microsoft 365 Access, Excel, Newsletters, Office, Office 2019, Office 2021, Office 2024, PowerPoint, Word

• Why Proton means privacy

  Posted on October 7, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  If you want privacy in your email, cloud storage, and other parts of your digital life, then go to Proton’s suite of very secure but easy-to-use services.

  Proton is a Swiss company with a suite of familiar services – email, cloud storage, VPN – but with an important difference: Proton is serious about privacy. Others, such as OneDrive and Dropbox, talk about privacy but aren’t so great in delivering it.

  In this article, I’ll focus on the three important offerings of Proton and its free plans for private encrypted email, secure cloud storage, and properly private VPN.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.41.0, 2024-10-07).

  Microsoft 365 Cloud storage, Email, Email security, Newsletters, Outlook, Outlook (new), Privacy, Proton, Secure Email, Security, VPN

• A cheaper Microsoft Office

  Posted on September 9, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.37 • 2024-09-09

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Are you missing out on a less expensive edition of Microsoft 365?

  There are three Microsoft programs offering up to 30% off Microsoft 365 plans. They are available to a surprisingly large number of people, including many employees, students, teachers, and anyone with a current or past connection with the US military.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.37.0, 2024-09-09).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Discounts, Education, Microsoft 365, Military Appreciation Edition, Newsletters, Project 365, Students, Visio 365, Workplace Discount Program

• Get Office Copilot now — without paying

  Posted on September 2, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  It’s possible to get many of the AI features promoted for Copilot without paying Microsoft $30 per month.

  What you’ll get is less streamlined than in the paid product, but it’s still approachable. Besides, the paid version isn’t yet anywhere nearly as good as the hype.

  In this article, I’ll explain some of the ways you can use free Copilot with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. You’ll be able to experiment and thus gain an appreciation for whether paid Copilot Pro or Copilot for Microsoft 365 are worth the cost.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.36.0, 2024-09-02).

  Microsoft 365 ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Copilot Pro, DALL-E, Generative AI, Google Gemini, Meta AI, Newsletters, Office

• Can Office and Windows play nice on ARM computers?

  Posted on August 19, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  ARM-based computers are about to move from a nerd niche to a mainstream product with the arrival of Copilot+ PCs and the increasing popularity of Mac computers.

  What are the compatibility issues for running Windows apps, especially Microsoft Office, on this very different hardware?

  Though Windows and Office look the same on both ARM and Intel computers, their CPUs are fundamentally different. Under the hood, there are big differences in the software layers between the hardware and what you see on the screen. It’s a bit like the difference between a petrol and an electric car — both look and are driven the same, but they have hugely different engines and mechanics.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.34.0, 2024-08-19).

  Microsoft 365 Apple Silicon, ARM, Newsletters, Office, Office on Mac, Windows on ARM

• What cheeses me off: Microsoft Office edition

  Posted on July 29, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Having endured and written about Microsoft Office for more than two decades, I offer my list of annoyances and timewasters in Microsoft Office, especially Word.

  I came up with my top ten annoyances without breaking a sweat. Some are deliberate choices made by Microsoft to advance its own agenda or save money. Others have appeared over time as Microsoft has ignored the changing reality for its customers.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.31.0, 2024-07-29).

  Microsoft 365 Excel, Microsoft 365, Newsletters, Office, Outlook, Word

• Mastering the art of screenshots

  Posted on July 22, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.30 • 2024-07-22

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  We should all know how to capture screen images from our devices.

  The ability to capture such images — screenshots — is built into nearly every computer, regardless of brand, size, or type. Screenshots are especially useful in support situations, in which one image of a problem or of a system’s error message is more helpful than a verbal description or a written explanation.

  A picture is, quite literally, worth a thousand words.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.30.0, 2024-07-22).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Android, Apple, Newsletters, Screen capture, Screenshots, Windows

• Escape from the clutches of OneDrive

  Posted on July 8, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Saying that Microsoft pushes OneDrive on customers is putting it mildly.

  It’s more like ramming OneDrive down the throats of customers by means of all those many direct and passive-aggressive tricks.

  I’ll explain how OneDrive, as well as other cloud and email stores, is reorienting how we think about computer storage. I’ll discuss how Windows changes when OneDrive is enabled, and how to undo it. Finally, I’ll show how to get the best of both worlds by making a mixed — cloud and local — file-storage system.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.28.0, 2024-07-08).

  Microsoft 365 Autosave, Local Storage, Newsletters, OneDrive, OneDrive Settings, Sync and Backup, Windows Libraries

• Excel Power Query

  Posted on July 1, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Peter Deegan

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Power Query is the clever multifunction tool in Excel I could not do without. It not only adds essential features to Excel but also makes other tasks a lot easier.

  A part of Microsoft Office, its developers have done a great job. The dev team truly listens to customers and adds features that they need, not just the latest Redmond fad (cloud, AI, accessibility, and so on).

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.27.0, 2024-07-01).

  Microsoft 365 Excel, Excel Power Query, Newsletters, Office

• Outlook signatures

  Posted on June 17, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  The Signature feature in Outlook is nice, but it has lots of gotchas at the moment.

  It’s a mess. A lot depends on which Outlook software you’re using and what type of mailbox you have (i.e., Microsoft-hosted or not). This is hopefully a transitional situation, but it means that much of the online advice about Outlook signatures is either out of date, incomplete, or just plain wrong.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.25.0, 2024-06-17).

  Microsoft 365 Newsletters, Office, Outlook, Signatures

• Setting up MFA properly

  Posted on May 20, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.21 • 2024-05-20

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Is that multifactor authentication setup complete and truly ready to handle any situation?

  Two-factor (2FA) or multifactor (MFA) authentication is just the start of securing your important accounts.

  All too often, I hear from people who’ve set up extra login verification and can’t get it working. It might have been configured in such a way that access is allowed when your phone is lost or stolen, SMS (text messaging) isn’t working correctly, or the authentication app is broken.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.21.0, 2024-05-20).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Authentication Apps, Authy, Legacy Contact, Multifactor Authentication, Newsletters, Recovery Codes, Recovery Passwords, Two-factor authentication
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