Michael Johnson

There is any number of reasons to encrypt an email in Microsoft Office Outlook, anything from details about your salary to negotiations to purchase a business. With the state of cybersecurity, you need to know that you are protected from individuals who may attempt to hijack your email as it is in transit between locations, too. Fortunately, Outlook has the functionality built in that will allow you to quickly and easily encrypt your email as well as stop people from forwarding the email message.

Why Is Email Encryption Important?

The rise of malware and ransomware has made many users wary of opening emails, and definitely can make you question opening any attachments — even those from a known user. One of the key reasons for utilizing email encryption is to prevent an attacker from intercepting emails and reading them, or even adding a questionable attachment that could be infected with malware. While there are some web-based encryption platforms, the most effective are often those that are built directly into the email platform being used by staff members on a daily basis.

Email Encryption in the Enterprise

Email encryption options have been around for years and can provide your email and attachments an added level of security that could be necessary for sensitive conversations. In the past, it’s been a bit more challenging to apply encryption and even required an add-in or separate application in order to ensure that your corporate emails are safe in transit. As far back as Office 2007, there’s been the ability to add one-click encryption that applied to a single message. You also have the option to encrypt all outgoing messages, a crucial addition for financial and legal organizations. Network eavesdroppers will be thwarted by this advanced function of Microsoft Outlook. If you are using the Office 365 suite, you can find instructions for encrypting your emails on Microsoft’s help site.

How Does Email Encryption Work?

It’s important to understand that email encryption is a two-way street. Not only is it required that you have the software options available to encrypt messages that you are sending, but your recipient must also be able to remove the encryption with a key in order to view the message or attachment. In Outlook, there is a certificate generated that allows you to store the email in your Sent items as well as provides recipients with a way to respond to the email — as you’ll have to open the encrypted file when it is returned to you. This can become problematic when you have multiple people on a distribution list for your email. When recipients are within your organization, Exchange server stores a copy of the encryption key for each individual on the server for ease of use.

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most widely-used email platforms in the country, especially for business professionals. The simple instructions for email encryption and the quick application of the rule for all emails means it is easier than ever to protect your confidential messages.

The self-proclaimed “search engine that doesn’t track you,” DuckDuckGo is likely the most successful search engine available when it comes to privacy and security.

While Google remains the most popular search engine by far, many users are concerned about its practice of collecting and using your personal data. Namely, Google tracks what you search (yes, everything), stores it, and uses it to provide you with a personalized user experience. Oh, and they also make a profit from it.

What Are the Specific Benefits of Switching to DuckDuckGo?

No Tracking

Of course, this is the biggie. DuckDuckGo doesn’t track you or what you look up online. All searches are 100% anonymous.

No Ads

Google tries to trick users by situating ads at the very top of the page — ads, by the way, that look like search result listings. The only difference is a little box that says “Ad” next to the web address. DuckDuckGo foregoes ads like these, generally starting at the very top of the page with your first search result listing.

Minimalist Interface

Speaking of no ads, DuckDuckGo provides an overall clean and minimalist appearance. Like Google’s results pages, you can toggle between “Web,” “Images,” “Video,” etc. at the top. You can also filter results by region, “Safe Search” mode (for strict or non-filtered adult content), and time period.

Non-personalized Search Results

“Why wouldn’t I want personalized search results?”

Well, you might. But the advantage of not having personalized results is that you’ll see exactly what everyone else sees. In other words, when you search “cocktail recipes” in Duluth, Minnesota, you’ll get the same results as someone searching for “cocktail recipes” in Lyon, France.

Seriously, What’s Actually So Bad About Search Tracking?

Many people’s argument against worrying about Google and other tech giants tracking them (hi, Alexa) is this: “I don’t do anything bad or shameful on the Internet, so why should I care if I’m tracked and my data’s stored?”

That may be true. Certainly, for some, the sheer fact that you’re being listened to, your movements are being tracked, and essentially everything about you (from your age and income to your shoe size and favorite local bar) is being stored … well, it’s alarming and disturbing.

But if that still doesn’t make you ponder the importance of personal data tracking and storing, consider this: Google is using your data to get rich, like, really rich. They’re monetizing everything you do through their platform and making billions in annual profits as a result. The stuff their using? Your shopping habits (Google Express), your online searches (Google Search), your personal conversations (Google Assistant and Google Hangouts), where you go (Google Maps), the news you read and your political leanings (Google News), and much more.

To make matters worse, in many ways, they’re being less than honest about their tactics. For example, their so-called “incognito” mode is far from fully private. Your employer and ISP can still track your searches when you’re in incognito. Furthermore, Google documents you’ve “deleted” and searches you’ve “cleared” aren’t really gone. Google stores them … indefinitely.

Consider a Switch to DuckDuckGo

There’s no doubt that companies like Google provide useful services to individuals and businesses of all kinds. Their search engine is definitely useful as well. Extensive, highly complex algorithms can help you find exactly what you’re looking for, often faster than other search engines.

But if you’re at all concerned with privacy and security for your business and/or at home, consider a search engine switch to the up-and-coming DuckDuckGo. Set it as your homepage, try it out, and see what you think.

It’s already obvious to most businesses that search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to business success. That’s because, being listed high in search engine results means a higher likelihood that consumers will go to your website and choose your company to do business with.

But what about voice search optimization? Is your business ready?

If you’re not familiar with the term, let’s start there before exploring how your business can prepare for this new wave of online searching.

What is a voice search?

Voice search simply refers to online searches (via sites like Google or Bing) that are carried out with a user’s voice. Think of someone driving in their car, looking for a place to have dinner. They may ask Siri, “What’s the closest Chinese food restaurant to where I am?” This is a voice search.

Why is voice search optimization important?

Alas, if you feel like you’ve only just begun to grasp the importance of SEO for text searches, strap in. The next new frontier is voice search optimization. It’s important because more and more people are doing it.

According to Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera, half of all online searches will be voice searches by 2020. While this has yet to be confirmed, there are certainly signs that the prediction is accurate.

For one thing, an increasing number of people are investing in smart speakers like Google Home, Apple HomePod, and Amazon Echo. Additionally, use of virtual assistants like Google Assistant, Alexa (Amazon), Siri (Apple), and Cortana (Microsoft) are being utilized more.

While voice search use rates aren’t sky-high quite yet (a recent study found that 21% of respondents used voice search on a weekly basis), experts estimate that they soon will be.

What does this mean for your business?

At this time, it’s not necessary to put all of your efforts and marketing funds into voice search optimization. Furthermore, many of the things you’ve ideally already done to optimize your business for text searches will also help when it comes to voice searches.

Still, there are several key things that are unique to voice searches and voice search optimization:

• Only “position zero” gets the spotlight. With a regular Google text search, search result position 1 (“position zero”) is best, but positions 2, 3, and 4 are still pretty good. When it comes to voice searches, however, Sir or Alexa will only read the first search result, which means you won’t even be seen if you’re in position 2 or beyond.
• People use longer key phrases and questions with voice search. While a user might type “best dentist Denver” into Google Search, they might vocally ask Google Assistant: “Who is the best dentist in Denver?” This means you must optimize your content for both text and voice search key phrases.
• There are several core inquiries that voice searchers will continually ask. Think about who usually voice searches and when. Often, it’s in situations where typing isn’t possible (e.g., while driving) or when the user wants one simple answer (e.g., “What time does the post office open?”) In these cases, businesses must first ensure the accuracy of their location information (address, phone number, hours, etc.). Second, they must optimize their content for quick and succinct answers to their most commonly asked questions.

As you can see, it’s wise to at least take some preliminary steps right now in order to ensure a seamless transition into the soon-to-be world of prevalent voice searching. This starts with assessing your company’s current voice search status and speaking with SEO professionals who can help optimize your content for voice search.

 

Microsoft Teams is an amazingly powerful collaboration tool that’s available as a part of the Microsoft Office suite.
At its core, it’s kind of like Slack on steroids, but that core functionality is just the tip of the iceberg. Because it’s integrated with the rest of Microsoft Office, it has so many powerful features.

One feature area in Microsoft Teams is the ability to host and join virtual meetings. Users can join or host meetings from desktop or mobile. Mobile users can share files with the group, and we covered that in a previous post. Desktop users can share screens with other users, and with a surprising degree of control. Here’s how to take advantage of this feature.

Step 1: Create a Meeting

The Share Screens feature works from within the Meetings function, so the first step is to create or join a meeting. Locate the tabs bar (usually on the left side), where you’ll see icons like Activity, Chat, Teams, Meetings, and Files. Select Meetings, and then create a meeting (or join a meeting that someone else is hosting). The Meetings tab is tied into your Outlook calendar, allowing you to see potential conflicts.

Quick note: Teams features can be enabled or disabled at the enterprise level. If you don’t see a Meetings tab at all, your IT department hasn’t enabled it yet. Contact IT and plead your case for enabling this awesome feature.

Step 2: Click the Share Button

Once the meeting is in progress, you’ll see a series of buttons in the bottom middle of your screen. If you don’t see them, move your mouse to that location to make them show up. You’ll see buttons for video (if enabled), microphone (for muting yourself), ending the call, and more. The one you want looks like a rectangle with an upward arrow. This button, aptly named the Share button, represents screen sharing. Click it to continue.

Step 3: Choose What to Share

Screen sharing isn’t exactly new technology, but the implementation here is particularly well done. When you click the Share button, Teams doesn’t immediately share your entire screen. Instead, you have options. “Desktop” allows you to share one of your desktops. “Window” lets you choose a single window or app to share. “PowerPoint” shares the presentation you choose. There are even more options available under “Browse”.

Conclusion

This level of granular control makes screen sharing in Teams a killer feature, and there’s so much more that Teams can do for you. Team-based chat, productivity tools, and real-time collaboration on nearly any Office file are a few more ways it can help. If you’re ready to keep exploring, contact us to keep learning.

Microsoft PowerPoint is the industry leader in presentation software, a venerable application that’s over 30 years old. Awesome PowerPoint slides can greatly enhance the visual impact of a meeting presentation. The inverse is also true: terribly designed PowerPoint slides can create serious distraction and disinterest. Many a speaker has been undermined by his or her slides.

Today’s tech tip will teach you how to make your Microsoft PowerPoint slides awesome. View online here or watch the video below.

 

Step 1: Choose a Theme

PowerPoint offers a variety of prebuilt themes. Choose one that fits the tone of your presentation and your company. To do so, open PowerPoint and click the Design tab in the menu ribbon. One of the sections is named Themes. Click on a theme to apply it to the default slide. Don’t like it? Try another.

PowerPoint also allows you to find additional themes online. Click the drop-down arrow in the Themes pane and select “Browse for Themes…” to start that process.

Bonus tip: If you have a presentation that’s already filled with content, you can still experiment with changing the look by changing themes. Changing themes never removes or erases existing content, though it will change fonts and sometimes reposition text.

Step 2: Insert Your Raw Data

Whether you’re typing all your content in manually or pasting it in from another document, now’s the time to get the raw data into your file. Don’t worry very much about looks at this point. Just get the information in there.

If you’re working in a theme, remember to right-click on each new slide and select the appropriate layout. Placing content into slides with the proper layout now will save you headaches later.

Bonus tip: Not all themes have the same set of slide layouts available. Make sure the theme you choose has all the ones you need.

Step 3: Check Out Design Ideas

A new feature in Office 365, Design Ideas is a powerful, AI-assisted tool. It will dynamically analyze the contents of a slide and suggest a handful of alternative ways of displaying the information. It’s truly marvelous when it works just right (for example, turning a bulleted list into a sleek timeline), and you have to see it in action to fully appreciate it.

To access Design Ideas, click on the Design tab in the menu ribbon. At the far right, you’ll see a Design Ideas button in the Designer section of the ribbon. Click this button to open a sidebar. You may see “Generating design ideas…” for a few seconds. Next, a handful of design ideas will appear. Click through them and select the one that works best for you.

Using Design Ideas is the easiest way to create awesome, powerful PowerPoint presentations. Check it out today!