Tag: #microsoft

How to not make things worse

Dear Microsoft. Here is a list of things I want the Start Menu to do:

* Show my installed programs
* Search my local files
* Provide access to system settings

Here is a list of things I do *not* want the Start Menu to do:

* Show the weather for a randomly-selected town near my network’s public IP infrastructure
* Show tabloid headlines
* Show programs I *don’t* have installed
* Search the web via Bing
* Show adverts(!)
* Attempt to engage me in conversation with a hallucinating LLM

Thanks.

Garath Halfacree on Mastodon

Windows 11 maintains itself well. If you just put the machine to sleep it takes care of everything.

The only work I have to do now is to roll back all the junk that Microsoft adds to Windows. Bing was the first victim, then Edge, now Windows itself.

Was ist Outlook?

Dreimal Outlook. Which is which? Outlook (PWA) ist eine Browser-App, hier von Brave Browser. Outlook ist ein Windows Binary aus Microsoft 365. Outlook (new) ist die Ablösung von Mail & Calendar aus Windows 11. Diese App ist der designierte Nachfolger für das alte Windows Binary (und das für Mac).

Outlook (neu) ist eine PWA. Die braucht eine Server-Komponente und sei es nur als Cache. Wenn du einen fremden Account, der nicht bei Microsoft gehostet ist, darin anzeigen willst, muss Microsoft erst mal die Mail aus deinem Postfach abrufen.

Bei mir liegt das Postfach auf outlook.com und ist für Outlook (neu) sofort verarbeitbar. Das gilt genauso für alle Postfächer in Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online).

Wenn man ein GMail-Postfach hinzufügen will, dann sagt Microsoft deutlich an, dass sie dort die Mail holen werden. Wer das nicht will, sollte Outlook (neu) nicht einsetzen. Dann wird es einfacher sein, das GMail-Interface als PWA zu speichern.

Das mache ich bei Outlook.com auch, bis Microsoft die Anmeldung gebacken bekommt.

Showstopper bug in New Outlook with Outlook.com

Microsoft is pushing the New Outlook app to Windows 11. It is replacing the old Mail & Calendar apps. However, I am unable to use this app with my Outlook.com account. And so do many others.

I have narrowed down the problem to a simple root cause: if you have set your personal mail address as your primary alias, you cannot add your Outlook.com account to New Outlook. If fails with both your personal email address and your Outlook.com address.

Only if you set your Outlook.com address as your primary alias, you will be able to add the account, but after that you cannot send mail from your personal email alias. Catch 22. Be extra careful when you do change your primany alias. You can only do that twice a week.

This bug is only in New Outlook and it only affects Outlook.com accounts. You can use Gmail accounts just fine. And you can use your personal email as primary alias in all other Microsoft apps, including Outlook on iOS and Outlook on Android, and the Outlook.com PWA.

I think it is quite hilarious that Microsoft only fails with the combination Windows + Outlook + Outlook.com. Let’s have a good laugh and then fix it.

Microsoft, ich habe den Kaffee auf

Edge war mal der schnellste und beste Browser auf Windows. Schon lange nicht mehr. Ich kann nicht mal auf Windows Professional festlegen, dass ich eine Blank Page statt einer Bing-Werbung bekomme. Nicht mit Settings-Dialog, nicht mit Registry Settings, nicht mal mehr mit Mandatory Policies. “Status Ignored”.

FU.

Edge ist nicht mehr Default Browser.

Microsoft, solange es diese MSN-Truppe geht, werdet ihr weiter allen Goodwill zerstören, der an anderer Stelle erfolgreich aufgebaut wird. Bing, Edge, Windows Widgets. Alles wird mit Müll abgefüllt.

MSN feed to be gone

Microsoft has announced that an update later this year will enable the ability to disable the MSN feed in the widgets board on Windows 11, offering different layouts including one that’s “widgets only”.

Ever since Microsoft introduced the widgets in Windows 11, they have shot themselves in the foot with their horrible, curated newsfeed from MSN. The only way to get rid of it is to disable widgets completely.

My feeling is that Microsoft should axe MSN completely and forever. Just shut the whole thing down. It’s not only polluting Windows but Edge as well.

New Teams app for Windows hits preview; GA slated for June

I suggest you read Mary Jo Foley’s analysis. She is always on top of things. My own findings:

  • The Windows client is a complete rewrite. Users will be able to switch back and forth, for a while.
  • The new Teams up looks akin to the consumer version of Teams, that already has been made available in GA.
  • Microsoft claims twice the speed and half the memory requirements. Here is your incentive to move soon.
  • The rewrite moves the architecture from Custom HTML/JS on top of Angular on top of Electron to a new stack based on Microsoft WebView2. It contains three layers: Fluent, React, and a client data layer.
  • There is now a multitude of for-pay options like Teams Premium, or a Teams Copilot. You can make it as expensive as Microsoft desires. I see some contract work coming up.
  • Not important for most users, but a must-have for almost all IT guys: multi-tenant login with notifications from all tenants. Hooray.

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Ctrl-Shift-V in Microsoft Word

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just copy and paste text from a website into your document and have it look good? Imagine not having to manually remove the source formatting like font size, type, or background color.

You might be familiar with this shortcut Ctrl + Shift + V (Cmd + Shift + V on Mac) — it’s also called “keep text only” or “paste plain text”—because of its popularity in other applications like Microsoft Teams, Word for the web, Google, and Gmail. No matter what you call it, the Paste Text Only shortcut is now available in Word for Windows and Word Mac.

What took you so long, Microsoft?

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