The lecture below is a little over seven minutes and is about Microsoft’s document reading tool Read Aloud, which is available in both Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Word, and as a standalone program available from the Microsoft store. The lecture also refers to an article that I wrote some time ago Read Aloud: The Proofreading Tool.
Tag: Microsoft
Microsoft Does not Have a Refund Department
I have been getting a lot of calls from a group that claims to be the Microsoft refund department. The thing is Microsoft doesn’t have a refund department. I do a lot of business with Microsoft I have a professional Office365 account. If Microsoft was going to refund me any money they would simply put it on my credit card. No one from Microsoft would call me. Nevertheless, I have been getting calls from people Who call themselves Microsoft refund department it is a scam. The reason I know this is because the following phone Number is fake +1 (805) 246-7994. If you receive a call from the Microsoft refund department hang up immediately. It is a scam. Under no circumstances give them any information.
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Microsoft PDF Reader?
Recently, I purchased a new laptop. I haven’t had a chance to install Acrobat reader. However, Windows 8.1 has Microsoft PDF reader. This morning I came across a PDF that I wanted to add to one of my notebooks, so I attempted to insert it as a print out. OneNote 2013 could not recognize it. I downloaded and installed Adobe acrobat reader, and tried again. It worked. Microsoft PDF reader does not work with OneNote 2013. I don’t understand.
Office 365 public website feature being discontinued…
I learned last week that the Office365 public website feature is being discontinued. Microsoft is no longer offering the feature to new Office365 customers, and existing customers have two years that is until March 2017 to find a new hosting platform and move their data. The loss of the public website did not concern me as much as the loss of the ability of users of my website to view Word documents and PowerPoint presentations in Office Online (Office Web Apps). As I explained to the Sharepoint Online support team at Office365:
One of the key features of the public facing website is the ability for my users to view documents in office Web apps. Microsoft lists a number of third-party solutions none of them have the ability to view documents in the office Web apps (See jgkeegan.com/plans/home.htm). One of the reasons I activated the public facing website feature is the fact Office Web Apps provide somewhat more security from copyright infringement than does the standard PDF file. I have tried to share with (everyone) documents with my one drive for business and my team site, but that has never worked. I require a solution that allows users to be able to view documents in Office Web Apps. None of the third-party solutions listed in the knowledgebase article provide that functionality.
It took two service requests, but they were able to show me a solution. One that, apparently, has been available all along. One drive for business has the capability to share documents and presentations publicly. And one of the members of the support team was kind enough to walk me through the process.
The following video demonstrates how to share an Excel document stored on OneDrive for Business from within the client. The process is the same with Word documents and PowerPoint presentations.
The process is similar when OneDrive is accessed from the web. The first step is selecting a file.
Next click the three dots.Then, click share.
Then, Click Get a link.
After that choose between allowing the public to only view the document or give everyone in the world the ability to edit it. Most, if not all, of the time choose view only.
After clicking create link A public link is generated that can be placed on any webpage or emailed to anyone. Note also the ability to stop sharing any document by clicking disable.
The only drawback, and this is true of the public website if it does not have a vanity domain, is that anyone can print or embed my content on their website without asking permission. I am not happy about that. So, over the next two years I will be moving all my content from the public facing website to OneDrive for business.
Tweeting the installation of Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9926
I spent Tuesday, January 27, 2015 live tweeting the installation of Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9926 on my 2012 Acer Netbook. The tweets are below. In order to get the latest build of Windows 10 I needed to become a Windows Insider. I went to the site and signed up with one of my Microsoft accounts. That is, either an Outlook or a Live account for some reason my Office365 login information would not work. Once an insider I was given the choice of downloading the technical preview via Windows Update or as an ISO image. I did both. My netbook does not have a DVD drive. So, I download and installed the technical preview through Windows Update. I also wanted a copy to store, so I burned the ISO image to DVD. The update and the ISO image are proximately 3 GB in size; and take approximately two hours just to download.
After the update completed downloading, I took a minute to reconsider my decision to install build 9926. There were some important things to consider. First, this version of Windows 10 is not necessarily ready for prime time. That is, it is not a complete version of the operating system. Microsoft engineers are still making changes to it. There could be unanticipated, catastrophic problems, which could turn my netbook into a doorstop. While my Acer is not my production machine, it does have its uses. The second consideration is file loss there are a small number of important files that are stored on the machine, which I forgot to backup before I finalized my decision and started the update process. All my other important files are stored either on my 1 TB removable hard drive or in my Office365 account so they are available to all my devices iPad, iPhone, and Windows machines. Considering the risks acceptable, I started the hours long update process.
A clean install from an ISO image is faster. I did one Thursday, January 29, 2015. I followed the instructions in this article: “How to install Windows 10 Technical Preview from a flash drive.” However, installing Windows 10 on top or long side of Windows 7 Starter makes it easier to restore the old operating system if needed. Simply, use the Windows rollback feature to restore it. Nevertheless, the update method has one major drawback. Every time one logs-in one has to choose to roll back the machine or use Windows 10. In comparison, a clean install of the technical preview has its own issues. One problem that presents itself right away is Avast the free antivirus software is not compatible with Windows 10 at this time, but Avast did work with the upgrade installation. Another free antivirus program 360 Total Security has a version specifically for Windows 10. What interesting problems and discoveries are in the weeks ahead?
The Keegan Blog 