Tag: Microsoft

I’m annoyed with Windows Phone Link

Carl Setzer
Microsoft vs Google

Ok, on the whole, I like Phone Link. Being able to send texts from my computer, with my keyboard, is something I deeply appreciate. I used to use a tool called MightyText, but then Microsoft launched Phone Link, and it’s hard to beat free. But Phone Link has a glaring weakness, one that’s been getting on my nerves the past few weeks.

Somehow, I got on the Republicans’ spam list. I assume one of their tactics is to annoy folks like me. Which, I guess, means they’re successful. I’m annoyed. They’re averaging about 10-15 texts per day! Now, my phone’s spam filters are working pretty darn well, and somewhere around 90% of spam messages are caught. On My Phone! For some daft reason, Microsoft opted for ALL messages on the phone to be synced. Why did they think that syncing spam messages was a good idea? Ugh!

Rubbing salt in the wound, as I was researching if there was any way to fix this (some setting I’d missed, perhaps?), I found several complaints about this issue…going back to 2023! So, it’s been a known issue, but not a priority to fix? Sigh…

Google opted to win this battle. I discovered that Google has their own app, Google Messages for Web. Google was able to build their app so that spam caught by their filters stays filtered. Huzzah! So, this pleases me greatly. Now if Google’s app let me delete these messages from the computer, it would be perfect. Oh well…

I’m lobbying for spammers to be deported. Not likely, in this case. But one can hope.

Microsoft Security Issue

Carl Setzer2 Comments
woman in black hoodie holding a bank card

Over the past few days, I’ve been receiving multiple emails from Microsoft’s Account Team with single-use codes. At first, I assumed that my son or wife was trying to access the account. And the folks at Microsoft added the text “If you didn’t request this code, you can safely ignore this email. Someone else might have typed your email address by mistake.” But I started to get concerned as the number of these messages increased and no one said “hey dad, I can’t get in the Office”. Finally, I decided it was time to figure out what was going on.

So, I first logged into my Microsoft account (account.microsoft.com) and went to the security panel. From there I opened “View My Activity”.

What I saw alarmed me. There multiple attempts to log in from places like Vietnam and Guyana.

Now, I was pretty confident in my account’s security. I update my password regularly and use a strong password. And when I looked at the “session activity” it states that “incorrect password entered”. Which seems pretty solid. I’m pretty sure that an old password has been leaked from a data breach and is in some list available on the dark web.

But I think it’s not adequate. Exploring further, I realize that I had not yet enabled two-factor authentication, nor connected it to my authentication app. So, I fixed that promptly. I firmly believe everyone really should do these steps for all their account. Do you know where to do that? I thought I’d help out by adding the steps.

One enables that from the Advanced security panel.

I encourage all of you to make sure your security settings are using the most up-to-date protocols:

  • Multifactor authenication
  • Authentication Apps
  • Pass Keys

Also, I opted to sign out of EVERY app. Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain, but I don’t want to have my information compromised. I like that I can do that from the control panel.

Anyway, we really can’t be too safe on today’s internet, can’t we?

Have you seen a spike in Microsoft Single Use Code emails that are not from you? Let me know in the comments.

A MS Word Student Tool

Carl Setzer

As someone who’s used Word for decades, I rarely find surprises. Yet, sometimes I do. Now, it’s important to note that I’m currently studying web application development at Edmonds College, I’m writing far more than I have in years. And it’s the first time in, god, I don’t know how long, I have written in an academic style. Blogging (both professionally and personally) and creating plenty of text-based content helped keep my writing chops solid. However, there are always new tools to explore.  Today I discovered “Read Aloud” under the “Review” tab.

MS Word Read-Aloud Tool
MS Word Read-Aloud Tool

A great editorial tool. Having my essay read out loud showed nicely several flow issues and a couple of grammatical glitches. Nothing that would’ve failed the paper, but I value quality and, well, those items don’t show quality. So, thanks Office Team, for another useful tool that I hadn’t hear of.

Exploring The Microsoft Surface

Carl Setzer

I’ve had a Surface for several months now. Only recently have I explored this thing in greater depth.

Just discovered the hand writing input option. which I’m using right now. It’s pretty good, in my opinion.There are some things it’s taking me a bit to get used to. One: the way it processes when I get to the end of entry line. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to catch up. On the other side, every so often it will start to process my entry mid-word.  Things often get weird. Every so often it will let me keep adding letters. Other times it just stops and gets funky. Probably my learning curve.

Have you spent any time on one of these? What did you think? I actually rather like it. We’ll see. I plan to explore it more.

Dropbox Supports Multiple Editors In The Same Document

Carl Setzer

This won’t be news for many of you, and I’ve known about it for some time. However, I received a question about this so I thought it was time to dive in a bit deeper.

Multiple users can edit Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, etc. They both need to access the document through the Dropbox website, though. And they’ll be editing via the Microsoft Office online tool. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to link Dropbox and Office Online.
To re-link a Dropbox account to an Office Mobile app:
  1. Open the Office Mobile app.
  2. Tap the folder icon.
  3. Tap Add a place.
  4. Tap Dropbox.
  5. Tap Allow next to the Dropbox account listed (if you’re already signed in to the Dropbox app). Or, to link a new Dropbox account, tap Use a different account.