Microsoft will begin a phased rollout of an expanded data localization offering in the European Union on January 1, it said today.

The EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud, as it’s branding the provision for local storage and processing of cloud services’ customer data, is intended to respond to a regional rise in demand for digital sovereignty that’s been amplified by legal uncertainties over EU-US data flows stemming from the clash between the bloc’s data protection rights and US surveillance practices.

“Beginning on January 1, 2023, Microsoft will offer customers the ability to store and process their customer data within the EU Data Boundary for Microsoft 365, Azure, Power Platform and Dynamics 365 services,” it wrote of the forthcoming “data residency solution” for customers in the EU and EFTA (the European Free Trade Association), adding: “With this release, Microsoft expands on existing local storage and processing commitments, greatly reducing data flows out of Europe and building on our industry-leading data residency solutions.”

Earlier this week, the European Commission published a draft decision on US adequacy that’s intended to resolve differences between legal requirements with a new deal on secure data transfers. However this EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) won’t be finalized until next year — potentially not before the middle of next year — and in the meanwhile transatlantic transfers of Europeans’ personal data remain clouded in legal risk.

Microsoft’s EU Data Boundary being rolled out in phases means there is no instant fix for the EU-US data flows risk on the horizon for its customers.

Nor is it clear whether the data residency solution will be comprehensive enough to address all the data flows and data protection concerns being attached to Microsoft’s products in Europe.

A long running review of Microsoft’s 365 productivity suite by German data protection regulators made uncomfortable reading for the tech giant last month — as the working group concluded there is still no way to use its software and comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) despite months of engagement with Microsoft over their compliance concerns.

Microsoft disputes the working group’s assessment — but has also said it remains committed to addressing outstanding concerns, and it names the EU Data Boundary as part of its plan for this since the offering will also provide “additional transparency documentation” on customer data flows and the purposes of processing; and more transparency on the processing and location by subprocessors and Microsoft employees outside of the EU (since Microsoft is not proposing a total localization of European customers’ data and zero processing elsewhere; so the EU Data Boundary remains somewhat porous by design).

Its blog post today announcing the kick off of the phased rollout notes that as part of the first phase it will begin publishing “detailed documentation” on what it’s calling its “Boundary commitments” — including, transparency documentation containing descriptions of data flows.

Per Microsoft, these transparency documents will initially be published in English — with “additional languages” slated as coming later (NB: The EU has 24 official languages, per Wikipedia, only one of which is English).

“Documentation will be updated continually as Microsoft rolls out additional phases of the EU Data Boundary and will include details around services that may continue to require limited transfers of customer data outside of the EU to maintain the security and reliability of the service,” it adds, saying these “limited data transfers” are required to ensure EU customers “continue to receive the full benefits of global hyperscale cloud computing while enjoying industry-leading data management capabilities”, as its PR puts it.

The tech giant had been shooting for the EU Data Boundary to be operational by the end of 2022. But given the phased rollout, a January 1st launch date is a pretty meaningless marker. After this initial launch, Microsoft said “coming phases” of the rollout will expand the offering to include the storage and processing of “additional categories of personal data”, including data provided when customers are receiving technical support.

We’ve asked Microsoft for more details on which data will be covered by which phases and when subsequent phases will roll out and will update this report with any response.

Discussing its phased rollout approach with Reuters, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer, Julie Brill, told the news agency: “As we dived deeper into this project, we learned that we needed to be taken more phased approach. The first phase will be customer data. And then as we move into the next phases, we will be moving logging data, service data and other kind of data into the boundary.”

She also said the second phase of the rollout will be completed at the end of 2023 — and phase three will be completed in 2024. Hence the date for Microsoft’s EU Data Boundary fully operational remains years out.

“Based on customer feedback and insights, as well as learnings gained over the past year of developing the boundary, we have adjusted the timeline for the localization of additional personal data categories and data provided when receiving technical support,” it also writes in the blog post — explaining its “adjusted” timeline — and adding: “To ensure that we continue to deliver a world-class solution that meets the overall quality, stability, and security expectations of customers, Microsoft will deliver on-going enhancements to the boundary in phases. To assist customers with planning, we have published a detailed roadmap for our EU Data Boundary available on our Trust Center.”

In a similar move earlier this year, Google announced incoming data flows-related changes for its productivity suite, Workspace, in Europe — saying that by the end of the year it would provide regional customers with extra controls enabling them to “control, limit, and monitor transfers of data to and from the EU”.

Back in February, European data protection regulators kicked off a coordinated enforcement action focused on public sector bodies’ use of cloud services to test whether adequate data protection measures are being applied, including when data is exported out of the bloc — with a ‘state of play’ report due from the European Data Protection Board before the end of the year — a timeline that’s likely to have concentrated US cloud giants’ minds about the need to expand their compliance offerings to European customers.

Microsoft to start multi-year rollout of EU data localization offering on January 1 by Natasha Lomas originally published on TechCrunch

It seems perhaps the rules of fairness your parents taught you as children also apply to large multi-billion dollar defense contracts. This week the DoD announced that it was awarding four big tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Oracle – an equal opportunity to share in a $9 billion contract to bring the department to the cloud.

The new program, which is dubbed the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC), has a five and a half year window through 2028 with the four companies having an equal opportunity to access the $9 billion in funds, but with none being actually allocated as of yet to any of them.

“No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued,” the department said in a statement.

“The purpose of this contract is to provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-wide globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels, from the strategic level to the tactical edge.”

Whether this new contract solves the issues that arose around the original ill-fated DoD cloud procurement deal remains unclear. For those of you unfamiliar with the saga, the DoD cloud journey has been a long and twisted one.

It began in 2018 when the department announced the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure orJEDI for short. The cutesie Star Wars reference aside, the deal came under intense scrutiny because of its winner-take-all component, which immediately had companies complaining and jockeying for position for what was a $10 billion deal.

Oracle, which you’ll note has equal access in this deal, was particularly vocal, complaining that Amazon had an unfair advantage for a variety of reasons. In the end, it wasn’t Amazon that won the deal though, it was Microsoft. But that wasn’t the end of the story as Amazon challenged the result in court, claiming the previous president had a bias against former Amazon board chair (and former CEO) Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post newspaper.

After a lot of additional drama, the department finally pulled the plug on the whole thing in July 2021 and went back to square one.

And this week’s announcement is the culmination of that decision. The fact that it left the entire thing open-ended this time begs the question how this will all finally get resolved, but we have another five years to figure it out and see if the DoD can finally enter the cloud age without making the four major players (really, three and Oracle) unhappy again with who gets what.

Maybe mom really was right, and life isn’t cut up into equal pieces of pie.

This time, the DoD gives four tech titans equal shot at piece of $9B cloud contract by Ron Miller originally published on TechCrunch

If you work remotely or have given a presentation from home, you know how important it is to connect with your audience and deliver a great talk using only slides, a webcam, and a microphone. In this article, we’ll introduce you to PowerPoint Presenter Coach and show you how it can help improve your presentations.

What is PowerPoint Presenter Coach?

PowerPoint Presenter Coach is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate your presentation skills in real time. It will tell you how well you are doing with regard to pace, pronunciation, repetitive language, and eye contact with the audience.

At the end of each rehearsal, you will receive a feedback report highlighting key areas for improvement, which can help you become a better and more confident presenter. PowerPoint Presenter Coach is currently available on Windows, iOS, and Android devices.

How does PowerPoint Presenter Coach help improve presentations?

PowerPoint Presenter Coach can improve your presentation skills by providing feedback on the following:

1. Body language
Did you know that great presenters don’t just rehearse their dialogue, but also their posture, gestures, and facial expressions? For example, they might use hand gestures to accentuate a point. PowerPoint Presenter Coach provides feedback about:

• Your visibility to the audience
• Your distance from the camera
• Maintaining constant eye contact with the audience

By conveying the right body language, you will come across as more trustworthy and relatable to the audience.

2. Repeated words and phrases
Emphasizing certain words and phrases during a presentation can help you ensure that your audience recalls the points you want to make. However, if this technique is done incorrectly, it may become distracting to listeners. You may not even realize that you are repeating words and phrases yourself, but chances are your audience will catch on.

PowerPoint Presenter Coach will help you avoid repeating the same words and phrases by identifying them after listening to your rehearsal. It will then provide you with a list of synonyms so you can mix up your choice of words and keep your audience more engaged during your presentation.

3. Pitch
When you speak with little enthusiasm, chances are your audience won’t be eager to listen to you. Presenter Coach will help liven up your pitch and ensure you’re emphasizing the important points and keywords to make your presentation more engaging and meaningful.

4. Pronunciation
Differentiating the pronunciation of words that sound alike but have different meanings can be challenging. Presenter Coach provides guidance on how to correctly say these words during rehearsal.

It will identify and display a potentially mispronounced word and give you an opportunity to practice pronouncing the word correctly. You can listen to a recording of the word’s pronunciation as many times as you want. Note that Microsoft designed this feature for “General American English.” If you don’t need this type of feedback, there’s an option to disable it.

5. Pace
PowerPoint Presenter Coach not only allows the presenter to see if they are going too fast or too slow but also gives an estimate of the speed at with the presenter should speak (in words per minute) to maintain optimal audience engagement. Too few or too many words spoken per minute have been proven to reduce recall rates and compromise clarity.

If you want to learn more about other Microsoft 365 features, call our specialists today.

If you want to improve your online presentation skills, such as body language and speaking, PowerPoint Presenter Coach can give you instant feedback to help you gain the confidence you need.

What is PowerPoint Presenter Coach?

PowerPoint Presenter Coach is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate your presentation skills in real time. It will tell you how well you are doing with regard to pace, pronunciation, repetitive language, and eye contact with the audience.

At the end of each rehearsal, you will receive a feedback report highlighting key areas for improvement, which can help you become a better and more confident presenter. PowerPoint Presenter Coach is currently available on Windows, iOS, and Android devices.

How does PowerPoint Presenter Coach help improve presentations?

PowerPoint Presenter Coach can improve your presentation skills by providing feedback on the following:

1. Body language
Did you know that great presenters don’t just rehearse their dialogue, but also their posture, gestures, and facial expressions? For example, they might use hand gestures to accentuate a point. PowerPoint Presenter Coach provides feedback about:

• Your visibility to the audience
• Your distance from the camera
• Maintaining constant eye contact with the audience

By conveying the right body language, you will come across as more trustworthy and relatable to the audience.

2. Repeated words and phrases
Emphasizing certain words and phrases during a presentation can help you ensure that your audience recalls the points you want to make. However, if this technique is done incorrectly, it may become distracting to listeners. You may not even realize that you are repeating words and phrases yourself, but chances are your audience will catch on.

PowerPoint Presenter Coach will help you avoid repeating the same words and phrases by identifying them after listening to your rehearsal. It will then provide you with a list of synonyms so you can mix up your choice of words and keep your audience more engaged during your presentation.

3. Pitch
When you speak with little enthusiasm, chances are your audience won’t be eager to listen to you. Presenter Coach will help liven up your pitch and ensure you’re emphasizing the important points and keywords to make your presentation more engaging and meaningful.

4. Pronunciation
Differentiating the pronunciation of words that sound alike but have different meanings can be challenging. Presenter Coach provides guidance on how to correctly say these words during rehearsal.

It will identify and display a potentially mispronounced word and give you an opportunity to practice pronouncing the word correctly. You can listen to a recording of the word’s pronunciation as many times as you want. Note that Microsoft designed this feature for “General American English.” If you don’t need this type of feedback, there’s an option to disable it.

5. Pace
PowerPoint Presenter Coach not only allows the presenter to see if they are going too fast or too slow but also gives an estimate of the speed at with the presenter should speak (in words per minute) to maintain optimal audience engagement. Too few or too many words spoken per minute have been proven to reduce recall rates and compromise clarity.

If you want to learn more about other Microsoft 365 features, call our specialists today.

If you have a presentation coming up, it’s a good idea to practice ahead of time. Microsoft PowerPoint Presenter Coach can help you get ready.

What is PowerPoint Presenter Coach?

PowerPoint Presenter Coach is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate your presentation skills in real time. It will tell you how well you are doing with regard to pace, pronunciation, repetitive language, and eye contact with the audience.

At the end of each rehearsal, you will receive a feedback report highlighting key areas for improvement, which can help you become a better and more confident presenter. PowerPoint Presenter Coach is currently available on Windows, iOS, and Android devices.

How does PowerPoint Presenter Coach help improve presentations?

PowerPoint Presenter Coach can improve your presentation skills by providing feedback on the following:

1. Body language
Did you know that great presenters don’t just rehearse their dialogue, but also their posture, gestures, and facial expressions? For example, they might use hand gestures to accentuate a point. PowerPoint Presenter Coach provides feedback about:

• Your visibility to the audience
• Your distance from the camera
• Maintaining constant eye contact with the audience

By conveying the right body language, you will come across as more trustworthy and relatable to the audience.

2. Repeated words and phrases
Emphasizing certain words and phrases during a presentation can help you ensure that your audience recalls the points you want to make. However, if this technique is done incorrectly, it may become distracting to listeners. You may not even realize that you are repeating words and phrases yourself, but chances are your audience will catch on.

PowerPoint Presenter Coach will help you avoid repeating the same words and phrases by identifying them after listening to your rehearsal. It will then provide you with a list of synonyms so you can mix up your choice of words and keep your audience more engaged during your presentation.

3. Pitch
When you speak with little enthusiasm, chances are your audience won’t be eager to listen to you. Presenter Coach will help liven up your pitch and ensure you’re emphasizing the important points and keywords to make your presentation more engaging and meaningful.

4. Pronunciation
Differentiating the pronunciation of words that sound alike but have different meanings can be challenging. Presenter Coach provides guidance on how to correctly say these words during rehearsal.

It will identify and display a potentially mispronounced word and give you an opportunity to practice pronouncing the word correctly. You can listen to a recording of the word’s pronunciation as many times as you want. Note that Microsoft designed this feature for “General American English.” If you don’t need this type of feedback, there’s an option to disable it.

5. Pace
PowerPoint Presenter Coach not only allows the presenter to see if they are going too fast or too slow but also gives an estimate of the speed at with the presenter should speak (in words per minute) to maintain optimal audience engagement. Too few or too many words spoken per minute have been proven to reduce recall rates and compromise clarity.

If you want to learn more about other Microsoft 365 features, call our specialists today.

Microsoft today released SQL Server 2022, the latest version of its database software, which originally launched more than 33 years ago. Microsoft describes this release as the “most Azure-enabled release of SQL Server yet” and with connections to Azure Synapse Link for enabling real-time analytics over the database, Azure Purview for data governance and disaster recovery with the help of Azure SQL Managed Instance, this release is, in many ways, the culmination of the cloud-connection groundwork the team started quite a few years ago.

“From the very beginning, the vision [for SQL Server] really was about — databases were very complex — how do you make that extremely simple? And in many ways, I think that has been a key reason why it lasted for so long and how we’ve evolved it as well,” Rohan Kumar, Microsoft’s corporate VP for Azure Data, told me. “One of the big things that I think about with SQL Server 2022 is that we’ve made it completely cloud-connected to Azure.”

He noted that while the migration of on-prem workloads is happening, Microsoft’s customers are all moving at very different speeds and some, for a multitude of reasons, may never move to the cloud at all. That, he argues, is why the company always bet on a hybrid approach, but it is also why a lot of customers started asking about how they could get the value of being in the cloud without actually having to move all of their data to it. “That was really the key thesis of why we invested in making this into a cloud release,” Kumar said.

Image Credits: Microsoft

A good example here is the new disaster recovery function that allows users to replicate their data in SQL Managed Instance on Azure and use that as a backup for their main on-premises SQL Server, which should make it easy to fail over to that when the main server goes down.

Kumar also noted that with Synapse Link, SQL Server users can now run real-time analytics over their database without having to set up a complex infrastructure. “All you need to do is check a box and say: ‘replicate this data in near real time.’ It lands it into Synapse and you can have your Power BI report that’s reading that data and that whole pipeline is just built for you,” he said.

And for companies that do indeed have a hybrid setup, support for the Purview data governance service now enables them to set their policies, no matter whether the data resides in SQL Server in the cloud or on premises.

In addition to the work on the new cloud-connected capabilities, the team also, of course, worked on improving the database’s overall performance, stability and security posture. At the core of that work, at least for this release, was the database’s intelligent query processing engine, which can now optimize queries in a number of more complex scenarios, for example.

Also interesting is a new pay-as-you-go billing model for SQL server through Azure Arc, Microsoft’s platform for managing cloud and on-premises resources. Using a connection to Azure Arc, which is part of the SQL Server 2022 setup process, on-premises users can now also opt for cloud-enabled billing to manage consumption spikes or for ad hoc use cases.

As Kumar noted, SQL Server usage, despite all of the competition available today, continues to grow (though in part, that’s driven by existing customers expanding their usage).

The new edition of SQL Server is now generally available, including the free Developer and Express editions.

Microsoft’s SQL Server 2022 is all about Azure by Frederic Lardinois originally published on TechCrunch

Phishing is an online scam in which hackers attempt to steal people’s personal information by sending them fraudulent emails or messages. These emails often appear to be from legitimate companies, such as banks or credit card companies. Microsoft 365 Defender can help protect users from phishing scams, and here’s how.

Phishing is one of the most common methods used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information such as login credentials and credit card numbers. Phishers typically send out emails purportedly from a legitimate source such as a bank or government agency. To gain their victims’ trust, they may use underhanded tactics, such as referring to the victims by their nicknames. These scammers may even take control of email accounts to further deceive their targets.

Microsoft 365 Defender has a variety of tools and features to help businesses defend against phishing attacks, including standard anti-malware solutions, to distinguish between acceptable and suspicious behaviors. Defender uses machine learning to create a list of contacts that users communicate with most frequently.

Anti-malware

Emails containing malware, such as ransomware and spyware, can infect your computer when opened. Ransomware locks users out of their systems and files until a ransom is paid. Spyware, on the other hand, steals data by recording keystrokes, copying clipboards, taking screenshots, and more.

Unlike other security programs that only use one line of defense, Defender utilizes multiple layers to protect against known and unknown malware. This not only filters harmful attachments but also aids in real-time threat response. Microsoft regularly releases updates to keep its defenses effective against the most current threats.

Anti-spam

As mentioned, phishing attacks typically use spam emails to dupe victims. By blocking spam emails, you can greatly reduce your chances of falling prey to such an attack.

Defender’s advanced anti-spam technology works by analyzing both an email’s source and contents. Emails from untrustworthy or suspected sources are automatically moved to the Spam folder. In addition, this feature monitors company activity regularly to prevent anyone from sending spam emails.

Sandbox

Unfortunately, people sometimes open email attachments without thinking, which can cause harmful software to enter their computers. Defender protects you from this threat by sandboxing all email attachments. Microsoft will send you a warning message if the file appears to be unsafe so you don’t click on or download it. However, if it’s safe, you’ll be able to open it without any issues.

Safe Links

Some phishing emails contain URLs that lead to fraudulent websites that are made to steal your personal information. Other times, these URLs will lead you to a page laden with malware.

But with Microsoft 365 Defender’s Safe Links feature, you can avoid being compromised by files linked to malicious URLs. Safe Links scans email links for known malicious hyperlinks to protect users. If the link takes users to a malicious website, Defender will issue a warning to not proceed. If the destination URL is safe, users can open it normally. And even if users don’t report any changes, Defender will rescan links and report anything that looks suspicious.

If you’re not sure how to get started with Microsoft 365 Defender, our team of experts can help. Contact us today and we’ll be happy to guide you through the process of setting up Defender and protecting your data.

If you’re looking for comprehensive protection against phishing and other online threats, you can’t go wrong with Microsoft 365 Defender. Read on to learn about Microsoft 365 Defender’s powerful cybersecurity features and its myriad benefits to businesses like yours.

Phishing is one of the most common methods used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information such as login credentials and credit card numbers. Phishers typically send out emails purportedly from a legitimate source such as a bank or government agency. To gain their victims’ trust, they may use underhanded tactics, such as referring to the victims by their nicknames. These scammers may even take control of email accounts to further deceive their targets.

Microsoft 365 Defender has a variety of tools and features to help businesses defend against phishing attacks, including standard anti-malware solutions, to distinguish between acceptable and suspicious behaviors. Defender uses machine learning to create a list of contacts that users communicate with most frequently.

Anti-malware

Emails containing malware, such as ransomware and spyware, can infect your computer when opened. Ransomware locks users out of their systems and files until a ransom is paid. Spyware, on the other hand, steals data by recording keystrokes, copying clipboards, taking screenshots, and more.

Unlike other security programs that only use one line of defense, Defender utilizes multiple layers to protect against known and unknown malware. This not only filters harmful attachments but also aids in real-time threat response. Microsoft regularly releases updates to keep its defenses effective against the most current threats.

Anti-spam

As mentioned, phishing attacks typically use spam emails to dupe victims. By blocking spam emails, you can greatly reduce your chances of falling prey to such an attack.

Defender’s advanced anti-spam technology works by analyzing both an email’s source and contents. Emails from untrustworthy or suspected sources are automatically moved to the Spam folder. In addition, this feature monitors company activity regularly to prevent anyone from sending spam emails.

Sandbox

Unfortunately, people sometimes open email attachments without thinking, which can cause harmful software to enter their computers. Defender protects you from this threat by sandboxing all email attachments. Microsoft will send you a warning message if the file appears to be unsafe so you don’t click on or download it. However, if it’s safe, you’ll be able to open it without any issues.

Safe Links

Some phishing emails contain URLs that lead to fraudulent websites that are made to steal your personal information. Other times, these URLs will lead you to a page laden with malware.

But with Microsoft 365 Defender’s Safe Links feature, you can avoid being compromised by files linked to malicious URLs. Safe Links scans email links for known malicious hyperlinks to protect users. If the link takes users to a malicious website, Defender will issue a warning to not proceed. If the destination URL is safe, users can open it normally. And even if users don’t report any changes, Defender will rescan links and report anything that looks suspicious.

If you’re not sure how to get started with Microsoft 365 Defender, our team of experts can help. Contact us today and we’ll be happy to guide you through the process of setting up Defender and protecting your data.

Microsoft 365 Defender is a powerful cybersecurity tool that helps protect users from phishing attacks. In this blog post, we will discuss how Microsoft 365 Defender works and why you should consider implementing it in your business.

Phishing is one of the most common methods used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information such as login credentials and credit card numbers. Phishers typically send out emails purportedly from a legitimate source such as a bank or government agency. To gain their victims’ trust, they may use underhanded tactics, such as referring to the victims by their nicknames. These scammers may even take control of email accounts to further deceive their targets.

Microsoft 365 Defender has a variety of tools and features to help businesses defend against phishing attacks, including standard anti-malware solutions, to distinguish between acceptable and suspicious behaviors. Defender uses machine learning to create a list of contacts that users communicate with most frequently.

Anti-malware

Emails containing malware, such as ransomware and spyware, can infect your computer when opened. Ransomware locks users out of their systems and files until a ransom is paid. Spyware, on the other hand, steals data by recording keystrokes, copying clipboards, taking screenshots, and more.

Unlike other security programs that only use one line of defense, Defender utilizes multiple layers to protect against known and unknown malware. This not only filters harmful attachments but also aids in real-time threat response. Microsoft regularly releases updates to keep its defenses effective against the most current threats.

Anti-spam

As mentioned, phishing attacks typically use spam emails to dupe victims. By blocking spam emails, you can greatly reduce your chances of falling prey to such an attack.

Defender’s advanced anti-spam technology works by analyzing both an email’s source and contents. Emails from untrustworthy or suspected sources are automatically moved to the Spam folder. In addition, this feature monitors company activity regularly to prevent anyone from sending spam emails.

Sandbox

Unfortunately, people sometimes open email attachments without thinking, which can cause harmful software to enter their computers. Defender protects you from this threat by sandboxing all email attachments. Microsoft will send you a warning message if the file appears to be unsafe so you don’t click on or download it. However, if it’s safe, you’ll be able to open it without any issues.

Safe Links

Some phishing emails contain URLs that lead to fraudulent websites that are made to steal your personal information. Other times, these URLs will lead you to a page laden with malware.

But with Microsoft 365 Defender’s Safe Links feature, you can avoid being compromised by files linked to malicious URLs. Safe Links scans email links for known malicious hyperlinks to protect users. If the link takes users to a malicious website, Defender will issue a warning to not proceed. If the destination URL is safe, users can open it normally. And even if users don’t report any changes, Defender will rescan links and report anything that looks suspicious.

If you’re not sure how to get started with Microsoft 365 Defender, our team of experts can help. Contact us today and we’ll be happy to guide you through the process of setting up Defender and protecting your data.

New Windows 11 laptops and desktops may sometimes come with bloatware. While you can uninstall some of them, others require more effort to get rid of. In this article, we’ll show you several ways you can remove bloatware to optimize your computer’s performance.

What is bloatware?

Bloatware is a term used for unwanted software that comes pre-installed on your Windows 11 computer. Bloatware apps take up hard drive space and consume system resources that slow down your PC.

Some of the software that comes pre-installed on a new computer can be useful, like Calculator, Calendar, and Paint. But often, users find they don’t need or want the other extra programs. Fortunately, there are ways to easily remove bloatware from your Windows 11 computer to make it perform better.

From the Control Panel
If you want to get rid of bloatware on your Windows 11 PC, one way to do it is through the Programs and Features option in Control Panel. It works just like uninstalling any other type of application. Here are the steps:

1. Open the Control Panel app.
2. Choose the app you want to remove from a list of installed programs.
3. Double click on the application you want to remove. You can also right click on the app and choose the uninstall option.
4. Click Yes on the confirmation box to proceed with the uninstallation.

From the Settings app
Removing bloatware from the Settings app is the method preferred by most users because it displays all the pre-installed software that can be removed. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app then go to Apps > Apps & features.
2. On the App list, click on the three dots next to the bloatware you want to remove and click on Uninstall.
3. If a confirmation message appears, just click on Uninstall again.

Using PowerShell
Some bloatware cannot be removed using the methods mentioned above. The best way to uninstall these types of applications is through Windows PowerShell. Note that PowerShell is extremely complex and should only be used by people with advanced technical skills and knowledge of PowerShell functions. Here are instructions for using PowerShell to remove bloatware.

1. Run PowerShell with administrative rights.
2. After Windows PowerShell opens, type get-appxpackage and press Enter.
3. Scroll through the list of bloatware you want to remove.
4. Once you find the bloatware you want to uninstall, type get-appxpackage ** | remove-appxpackage. is the name of the app you want to remove. For example, if you want to remove Skype, simply type get-appxpackage *skypeapp* | remove-appxpackage and hit Enter.
5. To remove all bloatware at once, type get-appxpackage | remove-appxpackage and press Enter.

Using a bloatware removal tool
If manually removing bloatware takes too much time and effort, you can use bloatware removal tools. These programs are a quick and convenient way to automatically remove bloatware with a click of a button. Some bloatware removal tools can even detect malware hiding in pre-installed apps.

Remember to restart your computer after removing bloatware to ensure the changes have taken effect. To learn more about optimizing Windows 11, give our specialists a call today.

Windows 11 is a great operating system, but it’s not perfect. One of the biggest complaints about Windows 11 is the number of bloatware it comes with. This can slow your computer down and take up valuable disk space. In this article, we will show you how to remove Windows 11 bloatware for good.

What is bloatware?

Bloatware is a term used for unwanted software that comes pre-installed on your Windows 11 computer. Bloatware apps take up hard drive space and consume system resources that slow down your PC.

Some of the software that comes pre-installed on a new computer can be useful, like Calculator, Calendar, and Paint. But often, users find they don’t need or want the other extra programs. Fortunately, there are ways to easily remove bloatware from your Windows 11 computer to make it perform better.

From the Control Panel
If you want to get rid of bloatware on your Windows 11 PC, one way to do it is through the Programs and Features option in Control Panel. It works just like uninstalling any other type of application. Here are the steps:

1. Open the Control Panel app.
2. Choose the app you want to remove from a list of installed programs.
3. Double click on the application you want to remove. You can also right click on the app and choose the uninstall option.
4. Click Yes on the confirmation box to proceed with the uninstallation.

From the Settings app
Removing bloatware from the Settings app is the method preferred by most users because it displays all the pre-installed software that can be removed. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app then go to Apps > Apps & features.
2. On the App list, click on the three dots next to the bloatware you want to remove and click on Uninstall.
3. If a confirmation message appears, just click on Uninstall again.

Using PowerShell
Some bloatware cannot be removed using the methods mentioned above. The best way to uninstall these types of applications is through Windows PowerShell. Note that PowerShell is extremely complex and should only be used by people with advanced technical skills and knowledge of PowerShell functions. Here are instructions for using PowerShell to remove bloatware.

1. Run PowerShell with administrative rights.
2. After Windows PowerShell opens, type get-appxpackage and press Enter.
3. Scroll through the list of bloatware you want to remove.
4. Once you find the bloatware you want to uninstall, type get-appxpackage ** | remove-appxpackage. is the name of the app you want to remove. For example, if you want to remove Skype, simply type get-appxpackage *skypeapp* | remove-appxpackage and hit Enter.
5. To remove all bloatware at once, type get-appxpackage | remove-appxpackage and press Enter.

Using a bloatware removal tool
If manually removing bloatware takes too much time and effort, you can use bloatware removal tools. These programs are a quick and convenient way to automatically remove bloatware with a click of a button. Some bloatware removal tools can even detect malware hiding in pre-installed apps.

Remember to restart your computer after removing bloatware to ensure the changes have taken effect. To learn more about optimizing Windows 11, give our specialists a call today.

If you buy a new Windows 11 laptop or desktop, chances are it will come with pre-installed apps called bloatware. Bloatware can have a negative impact on your computer’s performance and overall user experience. Here are tips on how to remove bloatware.

What is bloatware?

Bloatware is a term used for unwanted software that comes pre-installed on your Windows 11 computer. Bloatware apps take up hard drive space and consume system resources that slow down your PC.

Some of the software that comes pre-installed on a new computer can be useful, like Calculator, Calendar, and Paint. But often, users find they don’t need or want the other extra programs. Fortunately, there are ways to easily remove bloatware from your Windows 11 computer to make it perform better.

From the Control Panel
If you want to get rid of bloatware on your Windows 11 PC, one way to do it is through the Programs and Features option in Control Panel. It works just like uninstalling any other type of application. Here are the steps:

1. Open the Control Panel app.
2. Choose the app you want to remove from a list of installed programs.
3. Double click on the application you want to remove. You can also right click on the app and choose the uninstall option.
4. Click Yes on the confirmation box to proceed with the uninstallation.

From the Settings app
Removing bloatware from the Settings app is the method preferred by most users because it displays all the pre-installed software that can be removed. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app then go to Apps > Apps & features.
2. On the App list, click on the three dots next to the bloatware you want to remove and click on Uninstall.
3. If a confirmation message appears, just click on Uninstall again.

Using PowerShell
Some bloatware cannot be removed using the methods mentioned above. The best way to uninstall these types of applications is through Windows PowerShell. Note that PowerShell is extremely complex and should only be used by people with advanced technical skills and knowledge of PowerShell functions. Here are instructions for using PowerShell to remove bloatware.

1. Run PowerShell with administrative rights.
2. After Windows PowerShell opens, type get-appxpackage and press Enter.
3. Scroll through the list of bloatware you want to remove.
4. Once you find the bloatware you want to uninstall, type get-appxpackage ** | remove-appxpackage. is the name of the app you want to remove. For example, if you want to remove Skype, simply type get-appxpackage *skypeapp* | remove-appxpackage and hit Enter.
5. To remove all bloatware at once, type get-appxpackage | remove-appxpackage and press Enter.

Using a bloatware removal tool
If manually removing bloatware takes too much time and effort, you can use bloatware removal tools. These programs are a quick and convenient way to automatically remove bloatware with a click of a button. Some bloatware removal tools can even detect malware hiding in pre-installed apps.

Remember to restart your computer after removing bloatware to ensure the changes have taken effect. To learn more about optimizing Windows 11, give our specialists a call today.