Microsoft Edge continues to redefine user experiences. This is due to Microsoft’s commitment to innovation. The latest updates bring a host of features. These are designed to enhance productivity, security, and browsing satisfaction.
Chrome may have been number one for years. But Edge has been steadily gaining popularity. It is now the third most popular browser worldwide. Overtaking Firefox a while back, it’s now just behind Chrome (1) and Safari (2).
From personalized workspaces to a built-in VPN, Microsoft Edge is not just a browser. It’s a comprehensive toolkit for users navigating the digital landscape. Let’s delve into the newest Microsoft Edge features. They promise to elevate your online journey.
A New Era of Productivity: Microsoft Edge Workspaces
Introduction to Workspaces
Workspaces in Microsoft Edge represent a paradigm shift. A shift in how users organize and manage their online tasks. Imagine having a dedicated space for each project. One that seamlessly integrates relevant tabs, documents, and websites.
Microsoft Edge Workspaces makes this a reality. It allows users to create custom workspaces. Each workspace represents different aspects of their digital lives. Whether you’re working on a project, planning a trip, or pursuing a hobby. Workspaces offer a tailored and organized browsing environment.
Personalization: Users can customize Workspaces with a unique name and color. This makes it easier to distinguish between different projects or activities.
Easy Access: With a single click, users can switch between Workspaces. This instantly transitions them between different sets of tabs and online resources. Users associate each Workspace with specific projects or interests.
Persistence: Workspaces keep their configurations. This is the case even when users close and reopen the browser. This ensures that users can seamlessly resume their work. There is no need to reconstruct their customized environments each time.
Efficient Task Management: Workspaces make task-focused browsing easier, minimizing distractions. This helps users maintain focus on the specific project or activity at hand.
Enhanced Security with Edge Secure Network VPN
Built-in VPN
Microsoft Edge takes a giant leap in prioritizing user privacy and security. The Edge Secure Network uses a new built-in VPN. VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, encrypt internet connections. This helps ensure a secure and private browsing experience. Microsoft Edge now provides users with 5GB of free VPN data per month. This further protects their online presence.
Key Benefits of the VPN in Microsoft Edge
Enhanced Privacy: VPNs mask users’ IP addresses. This makes it challenging for malicious actors to track their online activities. This is particularly crucial when accessing public Wi-Fi networks. As well as sensitive information.
Secure Browsing: The VPN has an encrypted connection. This ensures that data transmitted between the user’s device and internet is secure. It reduces the risk of interception by hackers.
Geographic Consistency: Edge’s VPN will mask your specific location. Websites will see a location similar to yours. So, when you look up movie times or nearby services, you see what you expect. You cannot choose a specific region to route traffic from.
Complimentary 5GB Data: Microsoft Edge users receive 5GB of free VPN data each month. To conserve the data limit, content streaming sites aren’t routed through the VPN. These are sites like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, etc.
Other New Features Added to Microsoft Edge Browser
Microsoft is continuously updating Edge. Here are a few more new features you can enjoy.
Autofill for Forms: Edge makes filling out forms online easier. It will suggest completions when you start typing into fields. This includes name, email, address, etc.
Web Capture: Using Web Capture in Edge makes it easy to take a screenshot. You can select an area or a full page. Then paste it into any of your files.
Copilot: Use the Copilot icon at the top of Edge to access AI features. This includes creating AI-generated images as well as creating quick email drafts and more.
Read Aloud: Need to step away from the screen for a moment? Let Edge read content for you out loud. Enabling you to multi-task like there’s no tomorrow!
Get Help Exploring Your Microsoft Services
Microsoft Edge establishes itself as a comprehensive solution. It’s great for those seeking a more productivity-focused browser. As well as a secure and private online environment. Microsoft Edge’s latest features enhance the way we work, explore, and connect.
Is your company in need of help exploring what Microsoft has to offer? From Edge enhancements to Microsoft 365 tools, we have experts to guide you.
Don’t miss out on all that these solutions have to offer. Our Microsoft experts can help set up, manage, and secure your digital workflows.
Microsoft 365 has a powerful suite of cloud-based productivity tools. They can help you work smarter and faster. Microsoft has consistently been at the forefront of innovation. M365 was one of the very first all-in-one cloud tools, introduced as Office 365 in 2013. Now, Microsoft and its business tools are at the leading edge of generative AI.
The Microsoft 365 platform has been adding some amazing AI innovations. They sit inside tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and more. If you know how to use them, these smart features can enhance your experience. As well as significantly boosting your productivity.
Next, we will explore some of the ways you can leverage Microsoft 365’s new AI innovations. So that you can get more out of your work.
Microsoft Copilot: A Game-Changer in Collaboration
Microsoft Copilot is the crown jewel of Microsoft’s AI innovations. It’s designed to be your virtual collaborator. It can help you generate code, write documents, and even craft emails more efficiently. This AI-powered tool is built on the foundations of OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology. This enables it to understand context and anticipate your needs. As well as generate content in a remarkably human-like manner.
Here are some of the tools in the Microsoft universe that incorporate Copilot:
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Outlook
Teams
Edge
Windows
Bing
Dynamics 365 Sales
How can you take advantage of the benefits offered by Microsoft Copilot? Here are a few ways to jump on the added efficiency and time-savings they bring.
1. Speed Up Document Creation
In the realm of document creation, Copilot shines as a versatile writing companion. It helps when drafting a report, crafting a presentation, or composing an email. Copilot provides intelligent suggestions, helping you articulate your thoughts more effectively. It speeds up the writing process. It also ensures that your content is clear, concise, and tailored to your audience.
2. Enhance Your Teams Meeting Experience
One of the key strengths of Copilot is its ability to enhance collaboration across teams. It can create coherent and context-aware responses. Such as a summary of meeting notes and an action item list.
Another helpful feature is the ability to catch up on what you’ve missed. Have you arrived late to a Teams meeting? You can just ask it to summarize the important points of the conversation so far.
3. Create PowerPoints with Ease
More people can become “PowerPoint Masters” with Copilot. The AI-infused features in PPT can create a slide deck for you based on text prompts.
It can tap into Microsoft’s stock images to fill your slides. Copilot will also suggest text to use based on your presentation topic. Do you have a PowerPoint that you need help with? The tool can reorganize your slides for a better presentation flow.
4. Enjoy Smart Business Insights in Excel
Another new AI innovation in Microsoft 365 is Excel Ideas. This feature can help you analyze and visualize your data with ease. Excel Ideas can automatically detect patterns and trends in your data. It will suggest charts, tables, and summaries that best suit your needs.
You can also use Excel Ideas to ask natural language questions about your data. Such as, “What is the average sales by region?” or “Which product has the highest profit margin?” You’ll get instant answers in the form of charts or formulas.
5. Save Time in Outlook with AI Help
We all get those long emails from time to time. The ones that you push to the bottom of your inbox for when you have more time. Well, the new Copilot feature in Outlook can help. Just ask it to summarize the key points of an email for you to save yourself reading time.
You can also use Copilot in Outlook to help write emails. It will save help by providing a first draft. As well as suggesting responses to emails in your inbox.
A Future of Intelligent Productivity
As we embrace the era of intelligent productivity, Microsoft 365 becomes more powerful. Its new AI innovations pave the way for a more efficient work environment.
By incorporating these capabilities into your daily workflow, you’re staying competitive. As well as setting the pace for the future of work.
Tap into the Future with Our M365 Services
Microsoft 365’s commitment to continuous improvement ensures that you have cutting-edge tools. The ones needed to stay ahead, innovate, and thrive. Especially in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Embrace the power of AI. Unlock a new dimension of productivity with Microsoft 365.
Our team of M365 experts can help you ensure you’re getting the full benefit of these features. As well as new ones Microsoft is developing and rolling out in the coming months. We’ll help your team save time and improve your bottom line.
This very simple Powershell script is aimed at MSPs and Microsoft Partners that manage their clients Office365 environments. It will disable the ‘UsersPermissionToUserConsentToAppEnabled’ option within the clients Tenancy so that they are unable to give permission for third party Apps to access their Office365 Accounts.
Why would you want to do this?
It has been suggested that the next large ransomware attack may target cloud environments like Microsoft Office365. One of the ways that this could be accomplished is by end users granting permission for third party apps to access their Office365 accounts. For more information, see the link below.
One of the ways of protecting against this is to disable the end users ability to grant permission to the third party apps in the first place. This is what the script does within Office365.
Things to consider:
– The Script is designed for Office365 Admins who manage a reasonable number of Office365 Tenancies. Using the script will mean that the setting doesn’t need to be applied manually per tenant.
– The Script requires you to be an Office365 Administrator with Delegation permissions over your clients environments
– You may want to check with your clients to make sure that they don’t need this feature.
– The script will presume that you have the correct execution policy configured.
– For those of you with fewer clients you can set this via the Office 365 Admin Center > Settings > Services & Add-ins > Integrated Apps (Refer to picture at the top of the page)
– I take no responsibility or liability for any unforeseen effects of the script. It is suggested that you read through any Powershell script before executing it.
The Script:
#Show Prompt to user
[System.Windows.MessageBox]::Show('This Script will Disable the "UsersPermissionToUserConsentToAppEnabled" option for each Tenant linked to your Partner Account. Click OK to continue')
#Connect to Office365 Partner Tenancy
$Cred = Get-Credential
Connect-MsolService -Credential $Cred
#Get list of Tennant ID's
$Tenant = Get-MsolPartnerContract
foreach ($ID in $Tenant) {Set-MsolCompanySettings -TenantId $ID.TenantID -UsersPermissionToUserConsentToAppEnabled $False
Get-MsolCompanyInformation -TenantId $ID.TenantId | Select DisplayName, UsersPermissionToUserConsentToAppEnabled}
Powershell Cmdlets to remember for the Microsoft 70-346: Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements Exam
I have recently completed the Microsoft 70-346 ‘Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements’ Exam. The Exam focuses quite a bit around PowerShell. Below is a list of PowerShell cmdlets which may appear in the exam.
Connecting to Office 365 via PowerShell: Import-Module MSOnline $UserCredential = Get-CredentialConnect-MsolService -Credential $UserCredential
Return all the subscriptions that are in the Office 365 Tennant (Licence Type): Get-MsolSubscription
Returns a list of SKU’s that the company has in their Office 365 Tenant (Licence Count): Get-MsolAccountSku
Create a New Office 365 User and Assign a license: New-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName -DisplayName -FirstName -LastName -LicenseAssignment -UsageLocation
Note – The UsageLocation is required for assigning a license. A user can be created without a license and without the need for defining the UsageLocation
Disable undesirable services of a Licence Subscription for a new user (e.g. Sharepoint): $LicenceOptions = New-MsolLicenseOptions -AccountSkuId -DisabledPlans "SHAREPOINTENTERPRISE" New-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName -DisplayName -FirstName -LastName -LicenseAssignment -LicenseOptions $LO -UsageLocation
Set a license for a specific user: Set-MsolUserLicense -UserPrincipalName "[email protected]" -AddLicenses
(UsageLocation must be set)
Set the Usage Location for a specific Office 365 User:
Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName -UsageLocation
Get a list of Domain Names assigned to your Office 365 Tennant: Get-MsolDomain
Set a default Office 365 Domain Name: Set-MsolDomain -Name o365.davidatkin.com -IsDefault
Remove a Domain Name from your Office 365 Tennant: Remove-MsolDomain -DomainName o365.davidatkin.com -Force
Get the records required for Verifying a domain name in your Office 365 Tennant: Get-MsolDomainVerificationDNS -DomainName o365.davidatkin.com Get-MsolDomainVerificationDNS -DomainName o365.davidatkin.com -Mode DnstxtRecord Get-MsolDomainVerificationDNS -DomainName o365.davidatkin.com -Mode Dnsmxrecord)
Get Office 365 to check that the Verification DNS Records against a domain are correct: Confirm-MsolDomain -DomainName o365.davidatkin.com
Set the Office 365 Password Policy: Set-MsolPasswordPolicy -DomainName -NotificationDays <30> -ValidityPeriod <90>
Set a single users Office 365 account to Password Never Expires: Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipalName -PasswordNeverExpires $true
Disable the requirement for Strong Passwords for a single Office 365 User: Set-MsolUser -UserPrincipleName -StrongPasswordRequired $false
Get a list of all Office 365 Users without a license assigned to their account: Get-MsolUser -UnlicensedUsersOnly
Change an Office 365 Users User Principal Name (logon username): Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -ObjectID
Get all members of a specific Office 365 Role: $role = Get-MsolRole -RoleName "name" Get-MsolRoleMember -RoleObjectId $role.ObjectId
Get a list of Soft Deleted Users in the Office 365 Tenancy: Get-MsolUser -UserPrincipleName -ReturnDeletedUsers
Permanently delete a Soft Deleted User in the Office 365 Tenancy: Remove-MsolUser -UserPrincipleName -RemoveFromRecycleBin
Change a Domain authentication type to Single Sign On (SSO): Set-MsolDomainAuthentication
Azure Active Directory Rights Management (AADRM):
Connect to Azure Active Directory Rights Management (AADRM): Import-Module aadrm $UserCredential = Get-Credential Connect-AadrmService -Credential $UserCredential
Control User Onboarding for Azure Active Directory Rights Management: Set-AadrmOnboardingControlPolicy -SecurityGroupObjectID "ID"
Note: This must be a security group – Not a User
Enable only users with an Azure Active Directory Rights Management licence to protect documents: Set-aadrmOnboardingControlPolicy -UserRmsUserLicence $true -Scope All
Get a list of all AADRM Administrators: Get-AadrmRoleBasedAdministrator
Remove administrative rights to the Azure Rights Management service for the user via their email address: Remove-AadrmRoleBasedAdministrator -EmailAddress "[email protected]"
Enable the AADRM Super User Feature to allow users to encrypt and decrypt documents: Enable-AadrmSuperUserFeature
Disable the AADRM Super User Feature to allow users to encrypt and decrypt documents: Disable-AadrmSuperUserFeature
Grant an Office 365 User AADRM Super User rights by Email Address: Add-AadrmSuperUser -EmailAddress "[email protected]"
Grant an Office 365 Group AADRM Super User rights by Email Address: Add-AadrmSuperUserGroup -GroupEmailAddress [email protected]
Get a list of current AADRM Super User Users: Get-AadrmSuperUser
Show the current AADRM Super User Group: Get-AadrmSuperUserGroup
Remove the AADRM Super User Group: Clear-AadrmSuperUserGroup
As an Azure Active Directory Rights Management SuperUser, get the status of a file to see if it is protected by RMS: Get-RMSFileStatus -File ""
Import the RMS Protection Module into PowerShell (For AADRM Super Users): Import-Module RMSProtection
Protect/UnProtect a file as an AADRM Super User: Protect-RMSFile -File "" UnProtect-RMSFile -File ""
Get a list of current RMS Templates:
Get-RMSTemplate
Get a list of Office 365 Global Admins: $role = Get-MsolRole -RoleName "Company Administrator" Get-MsolRoleMember -RoleObjectID $role.ObjectId
Add/Remove an Office 365 User from a Role: Add-MsolRoleMember -RoleName Remove-MsolRoleMember -RoleName
Azure Active Directory Connect:
Get Configuration Settings about the Azure AD Scheduler: Get-ADSyncScheduler
Force an Immediate AD Sync Cycle: Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -Policy Full
Stop a current AD Sync Cycle Stop-ADSyncSyncCycle
Change the Azure AD Connect Sync Cycle interval: Set-ADSyncScheduler -CustomizedSyncCycleInterval
Check the status of an ongoing AD Connector Sync: Get-ADSyncConnectorRunStatus
ADFS:
Install ADFS On Windows Server 2012: Install-WindowsFeature -Name ADFS-Federation -IncludeManagementTools
Install an Additional Server into an existing ADFS Farm: Add-AdfsFarmNode -PrimaryComputerName -CertificateThumbprint -GroupServiceAccountIdentifier
Convert an existing Office 365 Managed Domain into a Federated Domain Name: Convert-MsolDomainToFederated -DomainName o365.davidatkin.com
Convert a Federated Domain back to a ‘Standard’ Office 365 Managed Domain: Convert-MsolDomainToStandard
Convert a Federated User back to an Office 365 Managed User Account: Convert-MsolFederatedUser
Specify the Primary Federation Server when installing an additional Server into an Existing Farm (Command to be run if not on the Primary Server): Set-MsolADFSContect -Computer
Set the ADFS Organization Information Properties by piping infromation from the New-AdfsOrganization command: $MyOrg = New-AdfsOrganization -DisplayName "Org Name" -OrganizationUrl "http://" Set-AdfsProperties -OrganizationInfo $MyOrg
Get existing ADFS Settings: Get-MsolDomainFederationSettings
Set a new SSL Certificate on Federation Servers: Set-AdfsCertificate -Thumbprint
Set a new SSL Certificate onto ADFS WAP Servers: Set-WebApplicationProxySslCertificate -Thumbprint
Set a new ADFS Communications Certificate: Set-AdfsCertificate -CertificateType Service-Communications -Thumbprint
Customise Web Links and wording on the ADFS Logon Web Page: Set-AdfsGlobalWebContent
Customise the Logo and Illustration on the ADFS Logon Web Page: Set-AdfsWebTheme
Create a new Theme for the ADFS Logon Web Page: New-AdfsWebTheme -TargetName "Name"
Set the Active Theme for the ADFS Logon Web Page: Set-AdfsWebConfig -ActiveThemeName
Enable Modern Authentication in Exchange Online: Set-OrganizationConfig -OAuth2ClientProfileEnabled $true
Verify the status of Modern Authentication in Exchange Online: Get-Organizationconfig | FT Name,*Oauth*
Enable Modern Authentication in Skype for Business Online: Set-CdOAuthConfiguration -ClientAdalAuthOveride Allowed
Verify the status of Modern Authentication in Skype for Business Online: Get-CdOAuthConfiguration | select *adal*
Change the Authentication of a Domain Name from Federated to Standard temporarily until ADFS can be repaired: Set-MsolDomainAuthentication -DomainName -Authentication
Add Owners Actions to the Exchange Online Mailbox Auditing: Set-Mailbox -AuditOwner
Disable / Enable the Office 365 Admin Audit log: Set-AdminAuditLogConfig
Get Exchange Online Stale Mailbox Reports (Mailboxes not being used): Get-StaleMailboxReport Get-StaleMailboxDetailReport
Get Exchange Online Usage Reports: Get-MailboxUsageReport Get-MailboxUsageDetailedReport
Carry out an Exchange Online Message Trace for the past 7-Days: Get-MessageTrace Get-MessageTraceDetail
Carry out a Message Trace for Items upto 90 Days Old: Start-HistoricalSearch Stop-HistoricalSearch
Show Historical Message Trace history for the past 10 Days: Get-HistoricalSearch
Thank you for reading. If there are any errors or you feel there should be some addition’s, please comment and I will look at them. You may also be interested in the ‘Powershell Commands to remember for the Microsoft 70-347 Exam’ Article here: http://davidatkin.com/powershell-commands-remember-microsoft-70-347-exam/
Powershell Cmdlets to remember for the Microsoft 70-347: Enabling Office 365 Services Exam
I am currently studying for the Microsoft 70-347: Enabling Office 365 Services exam. Below is a list of PowerShell commands and their purpose for reference. More commands will be added to the below as I learn them.
Also, some useful flashcards for the 70-347 exam can be found here: Flashcards – Cram.com
Exchange Online PowerShell Cmdlets:
How to check and enable OAuth2 in Exchange Online: Get-OrganizationConfig | Select *OAuth* Set-OrganizationConfig -OAuth2ClientProfileEnable $true
How to check and enable OAuth2 in Skype for Business Online: Get-CsOAuthConfiguration | select *adal* Set-CsOAuthConfiguration -ClientAdalAuthOverride Allowed
OAuth Notes:
– Because Skype for Business Online and Exchange Online are linked, its best to have the same OAuth configuration on both services
– The OAuth configuration for Sharepoint Online is enabled by default
Skype for Business Online PowerShell Cmdlets:
The Skype for Business Online PowerShell cmdlet for displaying all policies applied to a particular user: Get-CsOnlineUser sip@address | select *policy*
SharePoint Online PowerShell Cmdlets:
How to disable Sharepoint Online External user Sharing Globally: Set-SPOTenant -SharingCapability Disabled
How to disable Sharepoint Online External user Sharing per Site Collection: Set-SPOSite -identity 'https://sitecollectionurl' -SharingCapability Disabled
How do you remove an External Users access to SharePoint Online via PowerShell? Get-SPOExternalUser
$RemoveUser = Get-SPOExternalUser -Filter testuser
Remove-SPOExternalUser -UniqueIds @($RemoveUser.UniqueId)
Grant the Site Collection Administrator Role to a user: Set-SPOUser -Site -Login -IsSiteCollectionAdmin $true
Change the Primary Site Collection Administrator of a site: Set-SPOSite -Identity -Owner
Set the Server Resource Quota for a specific site collection: Set-SPOSite -Identity -ResourceQuota -ResourceQuotaWanrningLevel
set the Storage Quota limits on a Sharepoint Site Collection: Set-SPOSite -Identity -StorageQuota -StorageQuotaWarningLimit
Create a new Sharepoint Site Collection: New-SPOSite -Title Test1 -url https://testing.sharepoint.com/sites/Test1 -LocalID 2057 -Template "STS#0" -Owner [email protected] -StorageQuota 1024
*Note(s) on creating a new Site Collection ID*:
– LocalID is the Language ID – See here for a List> Microsoft Local ID Library
– StorageQuota is in MB
– Here is a Link to the different Sharepoint Online Template IDs> Sharepoint Template IDs
Get a list of Sharepoint Online Local ID’s and Templates: Get-SPOWebTemplate
Remove a Sharepoint online Site: Remove-SPOSite -Identity
Restore a delete Sharepoint Online Site: Restore-SPOSite -Identity
Security and Compliance:
Connect to the Office365 Security and Compliance Centre: $Cred = Get-Credential
$Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.compliance.protection.outlook.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $Cred =Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection
Import-PSSession $Session
Create a new eDiscovery Compliance Case: New-ComplianceCase
Get information on a current eDiscovery Compliance Case: Get-ComplianceCase
Remove a current eDiscovery Compliance Case: Remove-ComplianceCase
Make changes to a current eDiscovery Compliance Case: Set-ComplianceCase
