Bowes IT Solutions

This didn’t come as a shock to me, but OpenAI has confirmed that cyber criminals are now using ChatGPT to help create malware and carry out cyber attacks. Malware is a type of software designed to harm your devices and steal data, track your activity, or disrupt operations. And with AI tools, it could be possible to create sneakier malware that could easily slip past security systems. Scary stuff, for sure. But the good news is you can protect your business if you know what steps to take. Investing in strong cyber security tools (such as firewalls and the latest security software) can help. It’s also a good idea to train your employees regularly on how to spot suspicious emails and links. Keep a close eye on your systems and look out for any unusual activity. And work together with cyber security experts (like me and my team) to keep your business safe. Need help making sure your business is protected from malware attacks? Get in touch. #CyberSecurity #OpenAI #Malware

Do you and your team love Microsoft’s Snipping Tool? Well, it just got even better, with its new “Copy as Table” feature. The Snipping Tool has been able to recognize and extract text from screenshots (using its “Text Actions” feature) for about a year now. But the upcoming version will let you capture data tables from images and paste them straight into Excel. If you’ve ever tried copying table data from images, you know how frustrating it can be. And most third-party tools don’t do a great job of it. But the latest version of Snipping Tool handles this task easily. All you have to do is take a screenshot of the table, click the Copy as Table option under Text Actions, and paste it into Excel. Simple! Here’s my pro tip for when the feature rolls out: Make sure you only screenshot the table and not the whole screen. Otherwise, the tool will pick up extra text from the menu bars. This feature is still in testing but should roll out soon. Will this make your work a little easier? #Windows11 #SnippingTool #NewFeature

Have you already installed the latest Windows 11 update (24H2)? If you’ve been having internet issues ever since, you're not the only one. Although the update brings great new features, it’s been causing a bit of a headache for some people. Some have found that they haven’t been able to connect to the internet since installing the update, or that their connection keeps dropping. Sometimes this will be shown by a “169” appearing at the start of your IP address. Your business depends on you being able to stay online. But if this has been happening to you, don’t worry – there’s a fix you can try right now. You can roll back the update to the previous version of Windows 11. This has worked for many people and allowed them to get back online. While Microsoft works on a permanent fix, this temporary solution can keep your business running smoothly. It’s a simple process - but if you’re unsure, we’d be happy to help. Have you experienced any issues connecting to the internet since the update? #Windows11 #Update #InternetIssues

Microsoft has patented a new co-browsing technology that could make working together online even easier. The idea is simple: It’s like a virtual meeting room for collaborative browsing, where everyone can interact with the same web pages at the same time. So how does it work? When you start a co-browsing session and invite your team to join, everyone’s tabs get synced with each other. This means if one person closes or opens a tab, or they visit a new website, the same thing will happen for everyone else. What’s great about this is that it’s designed to work in secure environments where sensitive information might be shared. This makes it ideal for things like customer support, team projects, and remote meetings. Although it’s still early days, co-browsing could be a great new tool for businesses. Is this something you’d use in your business? #Microsoft #CoBrowsing #BetterCollaboration

You’re using Windows 11 in your business and loving it, right? But if you're anything like me, there’s one thing from Windows 10 you might be missing – those nice tidy little taskbar icons. Well, an update rolling out later this year is going to grant that wish for you. Now you’ll be able to choose a smaller icon size on the taskbar. Hoorah! If you and your team like a clean and organized desktop (especially on smaller screens, like your laptops), I think you’ll love this update as much as I do. You can already shrink your taskbar icons in Windows but, at the moment, the taskbar itself stays the same size. Microsoft will be fixing this in a future update. Just one more thing to make your Windows 11 experience even better. What else would you like to see in Windows 11? #Windows11 #TaskBar #Windows10

On this day in 2001, Microsoft launched Windows XP – and it’s fair to say it changed the way we used computers forever. XP was all about bringing the power of Windows 2000 together with the user-friendliness of Windows 95. With Windows XP, Microsoft wanted to make it easier for everyone to work (and play) on their PCs. It stuck around for a long time too: XP wasn’t officially replaced until 2007. Many teams and businesses kept using it for years afterwards, because it was so reliable and easy to use. A lot of the features we now take for granted in modern systems like Windows 11 (like cloud integration, touch and voice support, and improved security) are the result of Windows XP. As we celebrate the anniversary of Windows XP, it’s a great reminder of how technology keeps evolving - and how far we've come from those early days of computing. Do you hold a soft spot for Windows XP? Or are you all about Windows 11? #WindowsXP #TechHistory #TechEvolution

Ever find yourself hunting around for ages, looking for a file in OneDrive? If so, you’ll love the new features Microsoft is bringing in. First, you’ll be able to filter search results by file type (like document, spreadsheet, or presentation), helping you find what you need faster. Also, you’ll now be able to set a date range when you search. So, for instance, if you want to find something you worked on last week, you can set the date in the search bar and quickly find what you’re looking for. Great, right? Another useful feature is that search results will now show extra details, like where the file is saved (such as in your own folder or a shared one) and who last edited it. This is great if you often work on files together with your team. These improvements make OneDrive an even more powerful tool for managing files. Do you use OneDrive in your business? Do you like the sound of these updates? #OneDrive #Microsoft #NewTools

Do you and your team find Edge’s browser settings tricky to navigate? Good news: Microsoft is cleaning things up, making it easier to find your way around…    #Microsoft #Edge #BrowserSettings #BowesIT #BowesITSolutions

Good news! Microsoft has promised that the Edge browser is about to get a lot faster, thanks to an update coming this December. The update will improve Edge’s performance, especially on lower-end machines. The boost in speed comes from Microsoft’s new WebUI 2.0 toolkit, which makes more use of simpler technologies like HTML and CSS, reducing the need for JavaScript. This means that Edge’s interface (things like buttons, menus, and settings) will load much faster, improving your experience. Microsoft has been improving Edge for a while now, upgrading features like Favorites and Browser Essentials, making pages load up to 42% faster overall and even up to 76% faster on lower-end devices. A faster browser means less time waiting for pages to load and more time getting work done. And with improved security features and lower memory usage, Edge could be a great choice for boosting productivity in your business. If your team isn’t already using Edge, does this update make you want to try it out? #Microsoft #Edge #BrowserSpeed

The upcoming 24H2 update for Windows 11 is bringing some cool new features (and I for one can’t wait). But it’s also saying goodbye to an old favorite: WordPad. If you’re not familiar, WordPad is a simple text editing tool that’s been around for nearly 30 years. It’s not as fancy as Microsoft Word, but some might say that’s part of its charm. It gives you a quick and easy way to handle .doc and .rtf files, and it’s always been there when you need it. Microsoft has decided to get rid of it with the new update, suggesting that people switch to Word for more complex documents or Notepad for plain text files. Notepad has even been updated with new features, such as tabs, to make it more powerful than it was before. Good news, though: If you love WordPad and don’t want to see it go, there is a way around it. Before you install the 24H2 update, you can back up the WordPad files from the Accessories folder on your computer. Hoorah! Don’t worry if you forget. You can get WordPad up and running again through the backup archive. Just keep in mind it won’t show up in the Start menu or search, but you can pin it to your taskbar for easy access. Do you and your team use WordPad? Will you keep it after the update? #WordPad #Windows11 #Microsoft