Category: 2019.01

Using Microsoft Office Document Imaging to Scan Text Into Word

Microsoft Office Document Imaging would be a feature installed by default in Windows 2003 and earlier. It converted the written text in a scanned image to a Word document. Redmond removed it in Office 2010, though, and as of Office 2016, hasn’t restore it yet.

The good thing is that you can reinstall it in your own?arather than purchase OmniPage or some other relatively expensive commercial optical character recognition (OCR) program. Reinstalling Microsoft Office Document Imaging is relatively painless.

Once you have done this, you are able to scan the text of the document into Word. Here’s how.

01
Open Microsoft Office Document Imaging

Click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office. You’ll find Document Imaging for the reason that group of applications.

02
Start the Scanner

oad the document you want to scan into your scanner and turn the machine on. Under File, choose Scan New Document.

03
Choose the Preset

Choose the correct preset for the document you’re scanning.

04
Choose Paper Source and Scan

The program’s default is to pull paper from the automated document feeder. If that’s not where you would like it to come from, click on Scanner and uncheck that box. Then, click on the Scan button to start the scan.

05
Send Text to Word

Once it finishes scanning, click on Tools and choose Send Text to Word. A window will open giving you the choice of keeping photos in the Word version.

06
Edit the Document in Word

The document will open in Word. OCR isn’t perfect, and you’ll likely have some editing to do?abut consider all the typing you’ve saved!

What’s Microsoft Outlook?

Microsoft Outlook is definitely an application that is used mainly to send and receive emails. It is also used to manage various private data including calendar appointments and similar entries, tasks, contacts, and notes. Microsoft Outlook is not free though; you have to purchase it outright or pay a subscription for it, if you wish to utilize it.

01
The Evolution of Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook was introduced to the general public in 1997 and was incorporated with Microsoft Office 97. Outlook Express was included with Windows XP (and was the only free version). Since then, Microsoft has released a good amount of updated versions, each offering more features than the one before it.

Microsoft Outlook is included in lots of of the Microsoft Office application suites, including various versions Microsoft Office 2010, Office 2013, and Office 2016, and Office 365. It’s important to note that does not all versions include Outlook though. For example, Microsoft Outlook will come in Office 365 Home but is not contained in Office Home & Student 2016 for PC.

Microsoft Outlook is definitely an application you have to pay for and install on your device. An Outlook email address is a free current email address from Microsoft, and could be accessed for free in the Outlook webmail portal: https://outlook.live.com/.

02
Do You Need Microsoft Outlook?

Should you simply want to send and receive emails, you don’t have to purchase Microsoft Outlook. You can use the Mail application included with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Both offer a desktop mail program. You may also get the email from your email provider’s site (like https://mail.google.com/mail/). If you need to do in addition to that though, you’ll need a stronger email management program.

With Microsoft Outlook you can sync your private data with your phone, tablet, along with other computers, provided you can log in to those with your Microsoft Account. You can sort your email into folders according to rules you create, send Of Office messages automatically, flag emails for follow up, and get email from Exchange servers. The second implies that you will get work email as well as personal email from the same Microsoft Outlook application, even when you are away from the office. You cannot do this using the Mail app that accompany Windows 10. You can also delay the sending of emails, ask for receipts, and much more.

It’s also possible to integrate your private data with Microsoft Outlook. It includes an address book, calendar, task list and virtual sticky notes. That which you put in the calendar could be synced for your other devices. You are able to delegate tasks to other people.

03
Have you got Microsoft Outlook?

You may already have a version of Microsoft Outlook on your pc, tablet, or even your phone. Before you make an order you need to discover.

To ascertain if you’ve Microsoft Outlook installed on your Windows device:

From looking window on the Taskbar (Windows 10), the Start screen (Windows 8.1), or from the Search window around the Start menu (Windows 7), type Outlook and press Enter.

Look to have an Outlook entry.

To determine if you’ve got a form of Outlook on your Mac, look for it within the Finder sidebar, under Applications. To determine if you have Microsoft Outlook on your phone; try a search from the search area.

04
Where you’ll get Microsoft Outlook

If you are sure you don’t already have a Microsoft Office suite which includes Outlook, you can get the latest form of Microsoft Outlook with Office 365. Office 365 is a subscription though, something you pay for monthly. If you’re uninterested in paying monthly, consider purchasing Microsoft Outlook outright.

Some employers, vocational schools, and universities offer Office 365 free to their employees and students.

You can compare and buy all the available editions and suites at the Microsoft Store. Microsoft Outlook is available now in the following Office Suites:

Office 365 Home
Office 365 Personal
Office Home and Business 2016 for Mac or pc
Office 2019 Home and Business for PC or Mac

Additionally:

You can buy Microsoft Outlook separately for PC or Mac.

When you decide to make the purchase, you’ll stick to the steps necessary to download the installation files. With this done, you’ll run cellular phone program. It’s straightforward and mostly foolproof.

05
Microsoft Outlook is loaded with lots of Identities

People reference Microsoft Outlook in lots of ways and using a lot of different terms. This creates confusion around Microsoft Outlook, quite simply, just one application for managing email along with other personal data. However, for the sake of completeness, understand you might hear Microsoft Outlook referred to during these terms as well:

Outlook
Outlook 365
Outlook email
Microsoft email
Outlook Express
Outlook Online
Outlook Hotmail
Microsoft Office emai

Windows Product Key Finder Pro v2.5

Windows Product Key Finder Pro is definitely an extraordinarily easy-to-use free key finder program. If you are ready to reinstall Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Office however, you can’t find your product key, Windows Product Key Finder Pro can extract it from the Registry instantly.

There is nothing whatsoever fancy about Windows Product Key Finder Pro that is one of the reasons I love it a lot. There aren’t any menu options or unrelated features like with some other programs that find software serial numbers and product keys.

Please read our Key Finder Programs FAQ for more information on key finder programs generallytell us if there’s a more recent version we have to review.

More About Windows Product Key Finder Pro

Here are a few more information on Windows Product Key Finder Pro, including what major operating system and software programs it finds product keys and ghd serial numbers for:

Finds Keys for Os’s: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Or windows 7, and Windows 2000. Windows 10 and Windows 8 are said to be supported too however the program (by version 2.5) didn’t display the product key in either OS.

Finds Keys for Other Software: Microsoft Office 2013, Office 2010, Office 2007, Office 2003, and Office XP

Pros:

Very small download size
Very simple interface
Instant display of your product key
Save or print product keys for backup purposes
Copy product secrets of the clipboard
Doesn’t have to be installed (portable)

Cons:

Does not find any non-Microsoft product keys or serial numbers
May be incorrectly identified as malicious by antivirus software
The download page causes it to be far too simple to click on the wrong download link
Doesn’t work for Windows 8 or Windows 10

My Thoughts on Windows Product Key Finder Pro

Windows Product Key Finder Pro is an excellent choice among the many free key finder utilities available. It’s a quick download and easy to use. The product key (a.k.a. CD key, serial number, or installation key) is immediately displayed for your Windows operating system and Microsoft Office, if installed.

Windows Product Key Finder Pro doesn’t find ghd serial numbers and product keys for any other software compared to those titles in the above list. As i have this listed as a con above, KeyFinder Pro does not claim to find other installation keys so I can’t really hold it against the program. However, compared to other items that find product keys, this really is something it lacks.

There may be no advanced features like activation backup or unrelated “cool” features just like a password generator (try RockXP) but Windows Product Key Finder Pro still does how it is supposed to do perfectly – it shows you your product key. Plain and simple.

Windows Product Key Finder Pro isn’t a big bag of tricks. It does something – free of charge – in a small, simple package. I like a program that does not attempt to stand out from everyone else by its shear quantity of crazy features that rarely get used.

I absolutely recommend Windows Product Key Finder Pro to anyone having to dig up that lost Windows or Office product key, just not if you want it for the newest Windows versions or MS Office programs.

When on the download page, after choosing Download from the bottom of the page, make sure to then pick the small link below the large “Download Now” advertisement. The one below the ad is how you really download this program; the other link will give you to a different and unrelated download page. You might have to exit the ad to determine the link.

Missed what you were looking for with Windows Product Key Finder Pro?

If Windows Product Key Finder Pro didn’t find a serial number you were after, just try another free key finder program or maybe even a premium key finder tool.

You need to especially try an alternative if you want the product key for your Windows 10 or Windows 8 computer because you probably can’t get it with Windows Product Key Finder Pro (since i have couldn’t).

Two free key finders that are recognized to work with those newer versions of Windows include Belarc Advisor and Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder.

Microsoft releases Windows Server Insider Preview build 18317

Microsoft released Windows Server Insider Preview build 18317 today, and also the build number corresponds to last week’s client build in the Fast ring. It is the first new build in over a month, as build 18298 was launched on December 18.

There are a few new features to notice in the new build. To begin with, there’s now a dark theme preview. Users can activate it by entering the experiment key msft.sme.shell.personalization in global settings under the advanced tab. Microsoft can also be requesting that users don’t report bugs on it, becasue it is a “work in progress”.

There’s two new PowerShell modules for automating Windows Admin Center, not to mention, there are new Windows Admin Center features. The preview released today is version 1812, and it offers the following features:

Power configuration tab around the server settings page, where you can change the configured power profile.

If the server has an IPMI-compatible BMC, you’ll find the BMC serial number along with a hyperlink to the IP address around the Server Overview page.

If Windows Admin Center is installed in service mode, you can now use PowerShell to automate the next (examples included below):

Import/export of connections (with tags)

Extension management

Finally, Windows Server includes a new feature called WDAC, “composable (stacked) code integrity policies for supporting multiple code integrity policies”. Here’s the changelog:

WDAC brings the capability to support multiple CI policies. Three scenarios are actually supported:

Scenario 1 – Deploy a “base” policy in enforcement mode and deploy another “audit” policy side-by-side to aid validation of changes to our policy before deploying in enforcement mode. (Intersection)
Scenario 2 – Enforce 2 or more “base” policies simultaneously to allow simpler policy targeting for policies with different scope/intent, e.g., Base1 corporate standard policy that is relatively loose to accommodate all organizations while forcing minimum corp standards (e.g. Windows works + Managed Installer + path rules). Base2 team specific policy that further restricts what’s permitted to run (e.g. Windows works + Managed Installer + corporate signed apps only) (Intersection)
Scenario 3 – Supplemental policies deployed to grow Base policy, e.g., Azure host baseline policy restricts tightly to just allow Windows and hardware drivers allows supplemental policies. Exchange Azure team supplemental policy adds only the additional signer rules required to support Exchange team signed code. (Union)

You are able to download Windows Server Insider Preview build 18317 and Windows Admin Center version 1812 here. Also available are downloads for Server Core App Compatibility FoD Preview Build 18317 and Server Language Packs Build 18317.

Manage Azure Virtual Machines Using Windows Admin Center

Since Windows Server 2019 is usually available, it seems like a good time to begin using Windows Admin Center (WAC) because the default management tool. WAC is really a web-based tool for managing local or remote servers using a gateway that utilizes PowerShell Remoting and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) over WinRM. And while Windows Server 2019 still includes Server Manager, Windows Admin Center is where Microsoft is now investing its efforts.

In this article, I’m going to demonstrate how to manage Windows Server 2019 running in an Azure VM. I’ll make use of a WAC gateway installed on my Windows 10 PC. This requires the VM you want to have the ability to possess a public Ip and you need to make the necessary management ports available over the Internet. Naturally, this isn’t the most secure option, but it is a quick way to start managing Windows Server. In case your VM doesn’t have a public Ip or you desire a safer method to manage your cloud servers, you’ll have to install a WAC gateway on an Azure VM and/or connect the local network towards the Azure VNet using ExpressRoute, Site-to-Site VPN, or Point-to-Site. But that’s past the scope of this article.

Configure Windows Firewall for Inbound WinRM

Let’s begin by configuring Windows Firewall to permit an inbound connection for WinRM.

Start the Windows Server 2019 Azure VM that you would like to handle while using Azure management portal.
Log in to the Windows Server 2019 virtual machine that you want to manage using Remote Desktop by clicking Connect on the Overview screen for the VM in the management portal.
In Windows Server, open a Windows PowerShell window with admin privileges.

Note that the Windows Server 2019 Azure marketplace image has WinRM enabled automatically. If you wish to manage another supported version of Windows Server, you may want to manually run winrm quickconfig within an elevated command prompt to allow WinRM.

Run the Set-NetFirewallRule cmdlet as shown below to allow inbound WinRM access with the Windows Firewall.

PowerShell
1 Set-NetFirewallRule -Name WINRM-HTTP-In-TCP-PUBLIC -RemoteAddress Any

Configure Azure Networking to Allow Inbound WinRM

Before we are able to connect WAC to Windows Server, we also have to configure Azure networking to permit inbound WinRM connections.

Select your VM in the Virtual Machines portion of the Azure management portal.
On the VM’s page within the portal, click Networking under Settings.
Make sure that Inbound port rules is chosen and then click Add inbound port rule.
On the Add inbound security rule pane, type 5985 in the Destination port ranges
In the Name field, type Port_5985.
Click Add.

The brand new rule will now come in their email list of inbound rules.
Connect to Windows Server using WAC

Now all that’s left to complete is test whether I can connect to the server using WAC. I’ve already installed a WAC gateway on my Windows 10 PC. For additional info on installing a WAC gateway, check out Getting Started with the Windows Admin Center on Petri.

Connect for your WAC gateway from the supported browser.
On the All Connections screen, click + Add. Should you don’t see the All Connections screen, click Windows Admin Center within the top left corner.
In the Add Connections pane, click Add Server Connection.
In the Server name box, type the public Ip or DNS name of the server you want to manage.
If you use an IP address, select Don’t attempt to resolve the server name. You will get the Ip or DNS name from the VM around the Overview pane in the Azure management portal. If you haven’t assigned the VM a static Ip, don’t forget that the Ip will probably change every time the VM begins.

You may get an error message stating that the bond cannot be verified. This really is normal if you’re connecting to the VM the very first time and you can safely neglected.

Click Submit.
The server will now come in their email list of connections. Click the box to the left of the listing to pick it after which click Manage As.
On the Specify your credentials pane, click Use another account for this connection, enter webmaster user name and password for the Windows Server VM, and click Continue.
Select the server again within the list of connections after which click Connect.
You’ll be taken to the Server Manager screen for the remote server.

Microsoft is updating WAC on a regular basis, so it’s worth coming back to it often to check out what is new.

Microsoft Resumes Rerelease of Windows 10 Version 1809

Microsoft on Wednesday once more resumed its general rollout of the Windows 10 version 1809 upgrade, also referred to as the “October 2018 Update.”

In addition to this Windows 10 rerelease, upgrades to Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server version 1809 (the “semiannual channel” form of the merchandise) were resumed on Wednesday, too, based on information added to the “Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019 Update History” page. This history page now includes more descriptive details about Microsoft’s OS releases, including when Microsoft may be blocking a release due to software flaws, bad drivers or application incompatibility issues.

Wednesday’s rollout constitutes the 2nd rerelease of Windows 10 version 1809. Microsoft first released it on Oct. 2. Later, Microsoft pulled that release due to loss of data issues, after which rereleased it on Nov. 13.

Microsoft is now resuming Windows 10 version 1809 releases in “phased rollouts,” and the new OS also will arrive to “seekers.” A so-called seeker is somebody that simply uses the “Check for Updates” capability that’s included in Windows interface, that will trigger a computerized download of the new OS, even if it’s unwanted.

Even though Jan. 16 is easily the most current release date of Windows 10 version 1809, organizations utilizing it will still have their update cycle clocks tuned by Microsoft towards the previous Nov. 13 release date, Microsoft previously explained. It’s an important planning detail for organizations, since Windows 10 must be upgraded after either 18 months or 30 months, with respect to the Windows edition used and if the release was a fall channel release or otherwise.

Based on the history page, there are still blocks in place for Windows 10 version 1809 for some systems, namely systems that have the next dependencies:

Intel display drivers versions 24.20.100.6344 and 24.20.100.6345.
F5 VPN clients which use a split-tunnel configuration.
Trend Micro’s OfficeScan and Worry-Free Business Security software.
AMD Radeon HD2000 and HD4000 series graphics processing units.

Those blocks remained as in effect from in December. Microsoft uses its “telemetry” data gathered from systems to evaluate whether or not they will be ready to get a new Windows OS upgrade or otherwise. Blocks get set when potential upgrade troubles are detected.

Woody Leonhard, a longtime Windows patch observer and Computerworld writer, advised caution in a article about permitting Windows 10 version 1809 upgrades to happen, even though Microsoft has spent about three months addressing its problems. Consumer users of the Home edition, though, do not possess easy options to block its arrival.

After problems with the discharge of Windows 10 version 1809 became apparent in November, Microsoft had announced intends to be more transparent about Windows 10 servicing and quality issues. A brief history page now seems to serve that function.

Microsoft has added a hyperlink within the history page to obtain feeds, which may be utilized in RSS readers to determine when this page gets updated. Clicking that link leads to this page, which provides the user an option to obtain the feed in either Atom or RSS formats. At press time, though, the Feed option for Windows 10 didn’t have any effect, so it’s apparently a piece happening.

Microsoft Ups Its Windows 10 App Compatibility Assurances

Microsoft gave assurances now that organizations adopting Windows 10 likely won’t face application compatibility issues.

Application compatibility continues to be “one of the most basic considerations” of Microsoft’s customers in shifting towards the “modern desktop” and Windows 10, based on Brad Anderson, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, within an announcement this week. Microsoft depends upon its machine learning models to detect the effects of Windows code changes on applications before the OS gets released also it conducts various testing programs too, based on a comment this week by Mete Goktepe of Microsoft’s Windows application compatibility team.

The app compatibility stakes are ratcheted up for organizations this time around because the Windows 10 operating system gets new “feature updates” twice each year, in the spring and fall. New feature updates essentially are new OS releases that replace the underlying OS, typically via “in-place upgrades.” The increased frequency of OS upgrades potentially should entail greater application compatibility testing work by organizations, you would have it.

Organizations also face “Windows like a service” update deliveries with Windows 10. Windows as a service implies that organizations will have to replace the underlying OS every 18 months in some instances, following Microsoft’s schedule. In comparison, older Windows clients, such as the rapidly expiring Windows 7 OS, typically got substituted with service packs after about two or three years, and those replacements happened more in accordance with IT department timelines.

The service pack world is gone with Windows 10, though. While Windows 10 should require more frequent testing by organizations, Microsoft has argued that organizations running Windows 10 should instead be using their end users, and also the Windows Insider Program, to check its new OS releases. Microsoft also argues that its application compatibility record with Windows 10 is at the high mark.

Microsoft’s App Compatibility Testing
Goktepe outlined the stages involved in Microsoft’s application compatibility testing. Microsoft works together with independent software vendors on any needed changes. The applications Microsoft tests are based on a “risk-based recommendation model,” he noted.

Microsoft “validates a large number of apps internally every week.” These apps are chosen according to popularity, risk level and partner feedback. Automated tests are conducted in early stages of the testing, with Microsoft running “more than 280,000 individual app compatibility tests each day.” Later, Microsoft will run tests on “around 2,500 apps” to detect compatibility issues. A manual testing phase occurs later to trap stuff that may be visually spotted by customers.

Microsoft gets “telemetry” data from Windows 10 machines “to detect and predict potential regressions impacting the app ecosystem.” These details gets collected from Windows Insider Program test releases, in addition to new Windows 10 releases.

When Microsoft must issue a Windows 10 fix, it’s done via shims towards the OS in addition to by setting blocks on upgrades. Microsoft is now beginning to publicly disclose when it’s deploying a block via its Windows 10 Update history page, Goktepe noted.

Microsoft has described its application compatibility testing process before with Windows 10. Last year, Microsoft outlined efforts that tested 1,650 “applications in business unit portfolios.” This number got further winnowed right down to just 250 “business critical applications,” per the earlier description.

Desktop App Assure Program
To help organizations with application compatibility issues on Windows 10, Microsoft has its Desktop App Assure partner effort, that is now a globally available assistance program, according to Anderson’s announcement. Its availability comes one month sooner than originally estimated once the program was initially announced back in September.

Anderson claimed that the Desktop App Assure Program is actually there as an assurance to customers, instead of being a preventative measure. Based on the program’s test results, “only 0.1 percent of all of the apps that customers who’ve caused the Desktop App Assure team to evaluate have experienced a compatibility issue,” he said.

Microsoft argues that organizations are in fact “overtesting apps” with Windows 10 because of its small app compatibility failure rate, based on an account of the Desktop App Assure program by Chris Jackson, a principal program manager at Microsoft’s Experiences and Devices Group. He admitted the overtesting has some justification because small failures can inflate and be hard to fix later for organizations.

Jackson said that the Desktop App Assure Program might help organizations when they have issues with home-grown line-of-business applications, commercial apps, Web apps and even Office plug-in applications.

However, the Desktop App Assure Program isn’t for every organization. It’s a FastTrack partner program. As such, the only organizations that can use the Desktop App Assure Program are those that have bought “at least 150 licenses from the listed eligible [Microsoft 365] plans.” That particular detail is explained in this Microsoft document.

Key Microsoft Products, Including Windows 7, Losing Support Next Year

Windows 7 entered its final year of support on Jan. 14, as did Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. The 2 products are because of fall out of “extended support” on Jan. 14, 2020.

In addition, Office 2010 will forfeit support on Oct. 13, 2020. No more support for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 4 is placed for July 9, 2019.

A summary of Microsoft products losing support in 2020 are available at this lifecycle support page. Another helpful compilation for this pros can be found in this Twitter series by Jeff Woolsey, a principal program manager for Windows Server at Microsoft.

Windows 7 Options
Microsoft won’t issue security updates for Windows 7 SP1 after Jan. 14, 2020. Continuing to operate the OS after that date represents a potential risk for organizations and individuals since unpatched flaws could get exploited by attackers. Microsoft stopped Windows 7 sales not too long ago.

Windows 10, Microsoft’s “forever OS,” would be the next jump for many. Windows 10 has already taken the marketplace lead from Windows 7 in some Internet polling.

In September, Microsoft introduced a brand new Windows 7 “Extended Security Updates” program for Windows 7 holdouts that can’t make the immediate shift to Windows 10. The program pushes out support for security updates by three years past the 2020 deadline. Costs for the Windows 7 Extended Security Updates program haven’t been publicized by Microsoft, but the price is believed to increase each year for the participants.

Microsoft includes a similar Extended Security Updates program established for SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008. This program also lets organizations get Extended Security Updates for 3 years beyond the product’s end of extended support date. It is possible by moving workloads onto Azure virtual machines at no extra charge or it can be done for on-premises workloads when the servers have Software Assurance coverage for 75 percent of the licensing cost annually. Such details are described in Microsoft’s FAQ document on Extended Security Updates, or this blog post by Dave Bermingham, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional. When moving workloads to Azure virtual machines, you can use the Azure Hybrid Benefit program to obtain a discount according to existing licensing.

It’s also feasible for large organizations to get “custom support” agreements from Microsoft that extend the period in which Microsoft provides hotfixes for Windows 7 for a year. However, these agreements aren’t cheap. Custom support was considered to cost about $200 per device for at least 750 devices each year when Window XP had fallen out of support. The costs aren’t clear because Microsoft doesn’t publish its custom support pricing.

Windows 10 and Hardware
The jump to Windows 10 for organizations and people likely will require hardware upgrades, too. You can perform an “in-place upgrade” from Windows 7 to Windows 10, where the underlying OS of the machine gets replaced by Windows 10 bits. However, it might best to check with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) first to ascertain if it might work prior to trying that approach.

Microsoft lists the hardware requirements for Windows 10 here, but it is deceptive to base upgrades from Windows 7 with that list. PCs can have hardware that fits Microsoft’s upgrade requirements for Windows 10 but additionally are not compatible somehow.

Another problem with upgrading existing hardware running Windows 7 is that Windows 10’s lifecycle support relies, in part, on how long the hardware components, for example processors, are based on OEM vendors like AMD, ARM and Intel. This somewhat obscure requirement is tersely described underneath the “Windows Silicon Policy” subhead in this Windows lifecycle FAQ article. The necessity likely means that if your processor is Five years old or so, there is no guarantee that Windows 10 works by using it.

So most individuals will face buying new hardware with Windows 10 through the looming Jan. 14, 2020 date. Most organizations, however, face building images for brand new machines, unless they’ve mentally gotten up to date with Windows Autopilot, Microsoft’s relatively new scheme where images and drivers are locked in the cloud. Windows Autopilot permits new Windows 10 PCs to be shipped directly to customers, who carry out the provisioning themselves. OEMs that support Microsoft’s Windows Autopilot program include Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft (using its Surface PCs) and Toshiba. Acer and Panasonic are expected to sign up, as well, based on Microsoft.

‘Windows like a Service’
IT pros also likely will face more use Windows 10 than with preceding Windows OSes as they’ll certainly be on Microsoft’s “Windows like a service” upgrade treadmill. With Windows as a service, new OS upgrades (known as “channel” releases) arrive more often, twice yearly in the spring and fall.

IT pros running the Windows 10 Pro edition may have 1 . 5 years of support before having to upgrade the OS, which can be done with an in-place upgrade. People that use the Enterprise or Education editions of Windows 10 have as much as 30 months before needing to result in the upgrade jump, however they are required to follow the September-targeted release cycle to obtain that amount of time, based on a new policy change that Microsoft announced last year.

Organizations are advised by Microsoft to deal with Windows 10’s more frequent upgrades by establishing “testing rings” for customers by taking part in the Windows Insider Program to check new OS features beforehand. It’s a potentially disruptive and time-consuming change for short-handed IT departments.

As a result of Windows-as-a-service demands, many IT shops may be considering following a “long-term servicing channel” of Windows 10. The long-term serving channel is similar to that old service-pack type of Windows 7, where an OS release gets supported for approximately 10 years. Microsoft, though, doesn’t recommend the long-term servicing channel for businesses. It’s deemed for use with medical devices or devices that can’t tolerate frequent updates.

These sorts of issues for IT pros, and the temptations to veer toward the long-term servicing channel of Windows 10, were recently discussed in this talk by Bruno Nowak, an item marketing director for Windows Commercial.

IT pros also face handling larger file sizes with Windows 10 updates, in terms of the monthly updates (2G to 3GB) and also the semiannual updates (6GB to 11GB) that arrive, a prospect discussed by Microsoft officials in this article.

Microsoft continues to be making plans to lessen its Windows 10 update sizes. Next year, Microsoft will carve out a Reserved Space for storage for brand new Windows 10 PCs to avoid potential space problems from updates on machines with small hard drives or small solid-state drives. Windows 10 update sizes are getting halved for x64 systems managed by Windows Server Update Services. Microsoft is also working to lessen the size of its monthly “quality” updates.

Ready for Windows 10?
A business survey sponsored by cloud peering company Kollective discovered that about 43 percent of enterprises continue to be running Windows 7 on some machines. In terms of migration progress to Windows 10, laptop computer found that 29 percent are “barely another of the way” complete.

Laptop computer polled 260 “IT decision makers” in the United States and the United Kingdom. Almost half (46 percent) from the respondents did not have a plan to manage the Windows-as-a-service updates coming with Windows 10. Moreover, another of the survey respondents hadn’t prepared their infrastructures for that “rise in updates” associated with Windows 10.

The second topic is of note for Kollective as it provides a software-defined enterprise content delivery network service, which aims to alleviate software delivery woes.

Unsurprisingly, the survey discovered that most organizations (79 percent) don’t install operating-system updates when they first arrive. About 53 percent of respondents said they waited a minimum of a month before you apply them.

Windows 7 To Drop out of Support in One Year

January 14 marks a one-year period prior to the end of support for Windows 7.

It’ll also mark no more support for Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1, too. In addition, Office 2010 will forfeit support on Oct. 13, 2020. The end of support for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 4 already happened on July 9, 2019.

An entire listing of Microsoft products losing support in 2020 can be found only at that lifecycle support page. Another helpful compilation for this pros are available in this Twitter post series by Jeff Woolsey, a principal program manager for Windows Server at Microsoft.

Windows 7 Options
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 will drop out of “extended support” on Jan. 14, 2020, which means that Microsoft won’t issue security updates for that operating-system. Continuing to run the OS after that date represents a possible risk for organizations and individuals since unpatched flaws could get exploited by attackers. Microsoft stopped Windows 7 sales not too long ago.

Windows 10, Microsoft’s “forever OS,” will be the next jump for many. Windows 10 has already taken the marketplace lead away from Windows 7 in certain Internet polling.

In September, Microsoft introduced a brand new Windows 7 “Extended Security Updates” program for Windows 7 holdouts that can’t result in the immediate shift to Windows 10. The program pushes out support for security updates by three years beyond the 2020 deadline. Costs for the Windows 7 Extended Security Updates program weren’t publicized by Microsoft, but the price is believed to increase every year for the participants.

Microsoft has a similar Extended Security Updates program established for SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008. This program also lets organizations get Extended Security Updates for three years past the product’s end date. It can be done by moving workloads onto Azure virtual machines at no extra charge or it can be done for on-premises workloads when the servers have Software Assurance coverage for 75 % from the licensing cost annually. Such facts are described in Microsoft’s FAQ document on Extended Security Updates (PDF download), or check out this blog post by Dave Bermingham, a Microsoft Best Professional. When moving workloads to Azure virtual machines, you can use the Azure Hybrid Benefit program to obtain a discount based on existing licensing.

It’s also feasible for large organizations to get “custom support” agreements from Microsoft that extend the time in which Microsoft provides hotfixes for Windows 7 for any year. However, these agreements aren’t cheap. Custom support was thought to cost about $200 per device for at least 750 devices each year back when Window XP had fallen out of support. The expense aren’t clear because Microsoft doesn’t publish its custom support pricing.

Windows 10 and Hardware
The jump to Windows 10 for organizations and individuals likely will need hardware upgrades, too. You can perform an “in-place upgrade” from Windows 7 to Windows 10, in which the underlying OS of a machine gets substituted with Windows 10 bits. However, it might better to check with an authentic equipment manufacturer (OEM) first to see if it might work prior to trying that approach.

Microsoft lists the hardware requirements for Windows 10 here, but it is deceptive to base upgrades from Windows 7 with that list, when i found out myself. PCs can have hardware that meets Microsoft’s upgrade requirements for Windows 10 but also aren’t compatible somehow.

The other trouble with upgrading existing hardware running Windows 7 is that Windows 10’s lifecycle support relies, partly, on how long the hardware components, for example processors, are supported by OEM vendors like AMD, ARM and Intel. This somewhat obscure requirement is tersely described underneath the “Windows Silicon Policy” subhead within this Windows lifecycle FAQ article. The requirement likely implies that in case your processor is five years old approximately, there is no be certain that Windows 10 will work by using it.

So most individuals will face buying new hardware with Windows 10 by the looming Jan. 14, 2020 date. Most organizations, on the other hand, face building images for new machines, unless they’ve mentally gotten up to date with Windows Autopilot, Microsoft’s relatively new scheme where images and drivers are locked in the cloud. Windows Autopilot permits new Windows 10 PCs to be shipped straight to customers, who perform provisioning themselves. OEMs that support Microsoft’s Windows Autopilot program include Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft (with its Surface PCs) and Toshiba. Acer and Panasonic are required to participate too, according to Microsoft.

“Windows as a Service”
IT pros also likely will face more use Windows 10 compared to preceding Windows OSes as they’ll certainly be on Microsoft’s “Windows like a service” upgrade treadmill. With Windows as a service, new OS upgrades (referred to as “channel” releases) arrive more frequently, twice a year early in the year and fall.

IT pros running the Windows 10 Pro edition will have 1 . 5 years of support before having to upgrade the OS, which can be done via an in-place upgrade. Users of the Enterprise or Education editions of Windows 10 have as much as 30 months before having to result in the upgrade jump, however they are required to follow the September-targeted release cycle to get that amount of time, according to a new policy change that Microsoft announced last year.

Organizations are advised by Microsoft to deal with Windows 10’s more frequent upgrades by setting up “testing rings” for customers and by participating in the Windows Insider Program to check new OS features beforehand. It’s a potentially disruptive and time-consuming change for short-handed IT departments.

As a result of Windows-as-a-service demands, many IT shops may be considering adopting the “long-term servicing channel” of Windows 10. The long-term serving channel is similar to the old service-pack model of Windows 7, where an OS release gets supported for approximately 10 years. Microsoft, though, doesn’t recommend the long-term servicing channel for businesses. It’s deemed for use with medical devices or devices that can’t tolerate frequent updates.

These kinds of issues for IT pros, and also the temptations to veer toward the long-term servicing channel of Windows 10, were recently discussed within this talk by Bruno Nowak, a product marketing director for Windows Commercial.

IT pros also face handling larger file sizes with Windows 10 updates, both in terms of the monthly updates (2G to 3GB) and the semiannual updates (6GB to 11GB) that arrive, a prospect discussed by Microsoft officials in the following paragraphs.

Microsoft continues to be taking steps to reduce its Windows 10 update sizes. Next year, Microsoft will carve out a Reserved Storage space for brand new Windows 10 PCs to avoid potential space problems from updates on machines with small hard drives or small solid-state drives. Windows 10 update sizes are becoming halved for x64 systems managed by Windows Server Update Services. Microsoft can also be trying to reduce the size its monthly “quality” updates.

Ready for Windows 10?
An industry survey sponsored by cloud peering service provider Kollective discovered that about 43 percent of enterprises are still running Windows 7 on some machines. When it comes to migration progress to Windows 10, the survey discovered that 29 percent are “barely a third of the way” complete.

Laptop computer polled 260 “IT decision makers” in the United States and also the Uk. Almost half (46 percent) from the respondents did not have a plan to handle the Windows-as-a-service updates coming with Windows 10. Moreover, another from the survey respondents hadn’t prepared their infrastructures for that “rise in updates” associated with Windows 10.

The latter topic is of note for Kollective as it provides a software-defined enterprise content delivery network service, which aims to ease software delivery woes.

Unsurprisingly, the survey discovered that most organizations (79 percent) don’t install operating-system updates once they first arrive. About 53 percent of respondents said they waited at least a month before applying them.

Users complain about network issues after employing this month’s Windows 7 patches

Two updates, which were a part of January’s Patch Tuesday for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, make that users are unable to access shares from Windows 7 clients. Also remote connections over RDP, and access to SQL Server 2016, failed for that affected users.

The problems have the symptoms of started after update KB4480970 and KB4480960 were installed. Uninstalling both updates also fixes the issues.

Microsoft did mention within the release notes of KB4480970 the network interface controller may stop working on some client software configurations. According to the software giant this occurs due to a problem related to military services weapons file which contains OEM information. Unfortunately Microsoft doesn’t know the exact problematic configurations at this moment.

The issue is also not new, Microsoft has listed the issue with certain OEM network drivers in Windows 7 roll-up updates since April 2018.

German Günter Born reports the issue appears to be related to a faulty SMBv2 connection which appears to happen if an administrator user has a network share. When a regular user is the owner of the share and a user having a regular account tries to access the proportion, the problem doesn’t seem to happen.

Born also provides a workaround, this involves changing a registry key through the command line by typing; reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system /v LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f.

Following a reboot, the network shares should act as intended again.