Guide to inbox management
With hundreds (or thousands) of messages coming and going from your inbox each month, it can quickly get unruly. Outlook helps you take control and stay on top of what’s important. Here are six Outlook tips and tools to help you overcome business email overload. Focused Inbox Your inbox should be your command center—helping you plan your day by staying on top of what matters. That’s why our Outlook team spends so much of their time improving your email experience. One of Outlook’s newest features, Focused Inbox, helps you focus on the emails most important to you. This feature separates your email into two tabs: Focused and Other—determined by an email’s content and the contacts you communicate with most. That way, all your less important emails are saved but out of the way, enabling you to focus on what’s most important first. To fine-tune the sorting criteria, just use the “Move to Focused” or “Move to Other” options. Available on Outlook.com and Outlook for iOS and Android. This feature will soon be rolling out to Office 365 customers and Outlook on other platforms. @Mentions There’s now a better way to quickly identify action items for team members through email. Simply type the @ symbol followed by individuals’ names in the body of your emails. The @Mention changes the text color and style to call an item to the recipient’s attention. This helps you detect what emails require your response, as the @ symbol will appear in your message list when you’ve been mentioned in an email. The @Mentions feature is already available in Outlook on the web and is available for Office Insiders using Outlook 2016 for Windows and Mac. Look for @Mentions coming soon for Outlook for iOS, Android and Windows 10 Mobile. Search Outlook’s smart search has made it easier to find what you’re looking for—regardless of where the email is stored. This reduces the need to sort emails into folders, which can sometimes take more time than it saves. Outlook searches all email that is synced to your computer as well as stored on your email server, so you can find exactly what you need when you need it. Start typing a name or keyword into the search bar, and Outlook provides smart suggestions based on your previous searches and the content of your mailbox. Tagging Outlook provides many ways you can organize your inbox to match your individual work styles or preferences. Make your emails more easily discoverable by taking advantage of features like colored Categories, Flags and Quick Steps. Categories allow you to assign a color to your emails, to assign them to a project or work group. Flagging an email will remind you to revisit later, and it will appear in your To-Do bar, Daily Task List within the Calendar as well as the Tasks view. Or simply use the Read/Unread options to come back to important items at your convenience. Unsubscribe Individually removing your email from each list can be a drain on your time. Luckily, Outlook can take care of this problem for you. Easily unsubscribe with just one click, without leaving your inbox. Currently this feature is only available for Outlook on the web. Sweep If too many emails are cluttering your inbox, the Sweep tool can help you quickly get rid of unwanted mail. Delete emails in bulk with the Sweep feature or create a rule for deleting certain emails so you don’t have to do it manually. Tired of receiving a store’s promotion? Sweep and block all future emails with just a few clicks. Currently this feature is only available for Outlook on the web. On June 14, 2016 HP announced a worldwide voluntary safety recall and replacement program in cooperation with various government regulatory agencies, for certain notebook computer batteries. The affected batteries were shipped with specific HP, Compaq, HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion Notebook Computers sold worldwide from March 2013 through August 2015, and/or were sold as accessories or spares, or provided as replacements through Support. These batteries have the potential to overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to customers.
Because these batteries pose a fire and burn hazard, it is extremely important for customers to check whether their batteries are affected, and to cease use of affected batteries immediately. Customers may continue to use their notebook computer without the battery installed, by connecting the notebook to external power. HP’s primary concern is for the safety of our customers. HP is proactively notifying customers, and will provide a replacement battery for each verified, eligible battery, at no cost. For customers with 10 or more potentially affected batteries, HP has put in place a process to assist with the validation and ordering process Here is the link to validate and create the paperwork for the replacement battery: https://h30686.www3.hp.com/?lang=en-US#tab=id1 On this page you will find a utility to validate and then a form to fill out, submit and you can check your order status. Please let us know if you need us to help you with this. Here is a free utility to stop the Windows 10 upgrade. Step 1 Download the utility
Step 2 Install the utility After you downloaded the utility you need it install it. The downloaded executable will look like this image to your right. Double-click the GwxControlPanelSetup you just downloaded. You will have to click through several standard install screens. (Next, next next ...) The final screen will finish the install and open the Control Panel How to use the control panel In the bottom third of the Control Panel screen there are 2 columns of buttons. On the left column click "Click to Disable 'Get Windows 10' App" "Click to Delete Windows 10 Download folders" (this will take several minutes) "Click to Disable non-critical Windows 10 Settings" On the right column click "Click to Prevent Windows 10 Upgrades" "Click to Delete Windows 10 Programs" "Click to enable Monitor Mode" (this button may show on the left column) As you click each button, the 'Yes' will change to 'No' in the upper part of the control panel window indicating the Windows 10 process has been stopped. You are done. You may close the ControlPanel Control Panel is provided by Ultimate Outsider - If you wish to make a donation to the author CLICK HERE
Here is how to revert your computer to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 If it’s been less than a month since you upgraded to Windows 10, you can go back to your previous version of Windows by going to: Settings > Update & security > Recovery and selecting either Go back to Windows 7 or Go back to Windows 8.1. Hint - to find Settings, click the start button (lower left corner of your desktop) and you will see the word 'Settings' This won't affect your personal files, but it will remove any apps you installed after the upgrade to Windows 10 Can I stop this from happening again? Click here for our Blog Post on Installing the GWX Utility
Senders Email bounces because the gmail SMTP server address is blacklisted A gmail account sender receives a notice that their mail has bounced because their IP address has been blacklisted by the recipient. How can I fix this problem? This is likely a temporary problem that happens only with some senders, so one option is to simply wait until the problem goes away. Why is this happening? Some domains might use a Realtime Blacklist service (RBL) to identify and block mail from suspected spammers. If enough of those domains' users mark mail received from a particular IP address as spam, the RBL can blacklist that address, blocking all mail from it. If your sender's mail is being bounced, it's possible that an RBL service has blacklisted their domain's IP address. But my domain doesn't send spam. How did we get blacklisted? Gmail sends mail from a number of different IP addresses that shift regularly. If one of your messages goes out from an IP address that was blacklisted after someone else used it to send spam, the sender's mail can start getting bounced. Mail bounces only from recipients who use the RBL that blacklisted that address, and only while the address remains blacklisted. Eventually, the RBL will delist the IP address, or Gmail will assign you another sending address, and your mail will no longer bounce. What does Google do about this? Google can't prevent RBL services from blacklisting any of their IP addresses if a domain is indeed using it to send spam. However, Google is regularly in touch with such services to ask that they delist the addresses when they do get blacklisted. Introducing Windows 10 Windows 10 is full of new features and improvements. Take a look at the highlights by clicking this link
Microsoft's Official Windows 10 website CLICK HEREWindows 10 Features
Windows 10 is officially released. But what if you’re still using Windows 7 or 8? Should you upgrade (it's free) or should you stick with your current Windows? I will focus on the major differences and features - this is not an exhaustive comparison. Windows 10 vs Windows 7 and 8 – Performance Windows 10 brings us several performance upgrades. The most noticeable is boot-up time, which is noticeably faster and general navigation feels nippier. With improvement in power management, mobile device battery life tends to be a little longer. Windows 10 vs Windows 7/8– Design Windows 10 uses the flat and bold styling. 'Flat' is the design theme of choice– you will see it on many websites. W10 relies on dark grey, semitransparent menus that look cleaner and more professional.There are some practical benefits to the new design direction such as smaller windows due to the lack of borders. Windows 10 vs Windows 7/8 – Search and Start Menu What does W10 bring to the table? Click on separate search box (on the taskbar) and it will include Windows Store apps and web search. Just clicking on the search box will show preview information such as the latest headlines, updates from your favorite sports teams and the weather, if you choose to turn these features on. Introducing Cortana, your personal digital assistant. Cortana adds two key features. First - it monitors your email, calendar and search to provide useful information like when you need to leave for your next appointment (requires an app). You can use Cortana to add appointments or make notes. If you have a microphone, you can speak your commands to Cortana. It does a decent job of interpreting natural language. Cortana doesn’t return the answer to you in the search bar, but rather opens the web browser. All this is combined with a Start Menu that now includes the Live Tiles from the Start Screen of Windows 8. Certain key features such as File Explorer and Settings are more clearly visible. Windows 10 vs Windows 7/8 – File Management With Windows 10 there are improvements to File Explorer. The top menu is now arranged in a ribbon, the common tools are easy to click and easy for novices to find. There is also a new Share ribbon which makes it much easier to move files between different apps such as Outlook, Dropbox or Skype. There is an improved file copying interface. Transfer speed is also shown in real time and operations can be paused. Previously they could only be cancelled. Windows 10 vs Windows 7/8 – Notifications Windows 10 has a single place for all notifications. This simple addition brings together system messages and app notifications into one place, with alerts ordered chronologically. Windows 10 vs Windows 7/8 – Workspace Management Windows 10 adds virtual desktops and better multi-monitor support. With Windows 10 both these features have been enhanced. Different monitors can now have different backgrounds. The taskbar can now appear on multiple monitors or both your primary monitor and whichever monitor you’re currently active in. Snap has also been improved to support snapping to four corners, not just side to side. Perhaps the biggest addition, though, is virtual desktop support. Although Windows 7 has had support for virtual desktops via third-party software, now it's built right in. Windows 10 vs Windows 7/8 – The Verdict There's nothing wrong with sticking with Windows 7, however note that Microsoft will only support W7 until 2020. Windows 10 has a lot of genuinely useful new features, as well as key improvements to old features, compared to Windows 7 and 8. None is enough on its own to make an upgrade necessary, but when combined they do make a compelling case. Better search, window management, dual monitor features, virtual desktops and file management plus Windows 10 is faster in general use and the new Start Menu is better than Windows 8. Network Security begins with a set of policies that will define and shape your network security landscape. Once the policies are in place, Silloway Networks can tune your existing hardware and software to enforce your policies. Here is a list of the recommended Security Policies for a small business. General Policy Templates
Network Security
Server Security
Web Application
Developing policies is a fairly daunting task. Silloway Networks can provide 'templates' you can use to develop customized security for your office. Let us know how we can assist you. Silloway Network's Sever, Desktop Monitoring and Security Package The companies, law offices, and organizations we support are faced with the challenge of complying with increasingly demanding government regulations; Sarbanes-Oxley PCI/DSS Compliance Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) COBIT NIST 800-53 ISO 27001 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act CJIS Security Policy and more. Many of our clients are already using Silloway Server Monitoring to assist them in fulfilling regulatory compliance. Introducing Silloscope our Sever, Desktop Monitoring and Endpoint Security Package Silloscope helps you meet many government regulations in 4 ways: 1. Compliance Tracking Compliance tracking intercepts security-related events from the Windows event log. 2. Real-Time Event Log Monitoring The core of our Server and Desktop Package is to monitor the security event log of Windows-based computers, we perform a variety of tasks including:
3. System Health and Performance Monitoring Depending on your specific compliance needs, many of the system health monitoring features supplement the compliance tracking and event log monitoring features. Server and Desktop Monitoring provides the following additional functionality to help you achieve compliance:
4. Security - Endpoint Protection Layered protection to keep endpoints safe from mass malware, targeted attacks, intrusion detection, and advanced persistent threats. Silloscope is not a guarantee that you will comply, but our powerful , real-time monitoring tools and reports will take some of the pain and complexity out of compliance. CONTACT US to learn more about Monitoring and Compliance! How to Protect your Office, Company or Organization In recent months several of our clients have received email requests to wire transfer funds. This confidence scheme is highly targeted sending the fake wire transfer emails to employees working in the finance department of a company. How it works This con uses sophisticated social engineering to convince specific executives and other individuals with access to their company's accounts to initiate a wire transfer of large sums of money. The Deception In this attack, the scammer not only knows the target's name and email address, but also the name and email address of someone else in the company whom the target might trust. The scammers have registered email domains that are very similar to the recipients' (for example: xyzwigdets.com instead of xyzwidgets.com) and send the email from the fake domain. So, instead of coming from joe.smith@xyzwidgets.com, the email comes from joe.smith@xyzwigdets.com. The scammers are betting that some people won't notice the slight difference in spelling and thus won't suspect anything. A Slow Con - No Dollar Amount at First This is an old-school trick we don't often see in email scams. The scammer cons the victim slowly, first gaining their trust and then moving in for the kill. In some of the emails, the first message is not only ordinary, it doesn't even request a specific amount of money. It merely asks to initiate a wire transfer today. The recipient, thinking it's coming from a co-worker who might ask for a wire transfer, replies to the scammer, who then engages in a brief email exchange, eventually asking for a specific amount. The scammer even confirms the money went through, probably to prevent the victim from becoming suspicious and reversing the transfer. Why doesn't our Spam filter catch these? This is a different type of threat. With its low-volume (only a handful of emails out of millions) and targeting of specific people, this dangerous campaign has few of the typical markers of spam. Why is this scam so successful? The people perpetrating these frauds frequently research employees’ responsibilities so they know who to target, and often gather information to try to make the wire transfer request as believable as possible. For example, they may research the executive’s schedule using public information or by making inquiries of the executive’s assistant with the goal of sending the fraudulent emails when the executive is out of town and cannot be easily reached for verification. Although some of the fraudulent requests are for millions of dollars, they can just as often be for smaller amounts. Since many companies have stricter controls (like dual approvals) for amounts over a certain dollar threshold, the scammers often submit requests for lower amounts hoping the looser controls will raise the success rate of their scam. If the scammer is successful in a preliminary request, they may continue to submit additional requests until the scam is detected. How to Protect Yourself and Your Company Implement a Strong Policy: Security and Fraud Prevention begins with a solid set of policies and procedures. A company policy should include confirmation on any wire transfers. Train everyone at your company based on your policy. Keep your staff up to date on the latest threats. Contact Us for more information. |
AuthorSilloway Support Team Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|
Call today - 802 282-4255Silloway Networks offers Enterprise level support to Small and Medium Businesses in Rutland, Addison, Windsor and Bennington Counties. Employing highly-skilled technicians and developing partnerships with best-of-breed technology providers allows Silloway Networks to provide personalized technology solutions to enhance the operation of your business.
|
|
Website by Silloway Networks