Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Join this Webcast with Mark Russinovich and Jeffrey Snover & learn how Azure Stack will help you drive app innovation by delivering the power of Azure in your datacenter. Experience the new potential of hybrid cloud computing and get your questions answered by the Azure Stack team.

Read the announcement here:

• WEBCAST: “Introducing Microsoft Azure Stack”
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/azure-stack/webcast/?wt.mc_id=WW_CE_AZS_OO_SCL_TW
• Add the February 3 webcast to your calendar
  https://azure.microsoft.com/files/IntroducingMicrosoftAzureStack.ics
• Download the Azure Stack Technical Preview
  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/azure-stack/try/

Are you a client/mobile technology IT professional with an interest in enterprise management, deployment & mobility? 

You may wanna start following Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Enterprise Client & Mobility, Brad Anderson.

• In the Cloud – Cloud Insights from Brad Anderson
• http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/
• https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/In-The-Cloud

What Brad’s been doing is producing blog posts infrequently, however also releasing audio podcasts that explain the post.  Here’s the last 3 posts/podcast tandems.

Navigating the Windows 10 Servicing Options

• BLOG POST: http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/archive/2016/01/06/navigating-the-windows-10-servicing-options.aspx
• VIDEO: https://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/in-the-cloud/navigating-the-windows-10-servicing-options

Best Practices for Deploying Windows 10

• BLOG POST:
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/archive/2015/08/18/deploying-windows-10-with-configmgr.aspx
• VIDEO: https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/In-The-Cloud/Best-Practices-for-Deploying-Windows-10

Best Practices for Managing Windows 10 with EMS & ConfigMgr
In this podcast, Brad speaks with Mark Florida (Principal Program Manager of ConfigMgr) about best practices for successfully managing Windows 10 with the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) and ConfigMgr.

• BLOG POST:
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/archive/2015/08/18/managing-windows-10-with-ems-amp-configmgr.aspx
• VIDEO:
  https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/In-The-Cloud/Best-Practices-for-Managing-Windows-10-with-EMS–ConfigMgr

Did you know you can run Windows Defender from a bootable USB stick to hard-to-remove malware?

We have a solution called Windows Defender Offline, which is a version of its antivirus that you can run from a USB drive to help you remove malicious code that is infecting Windows 10.

Windows Defender Offline helps protect your PC by scanning it to remove rootkits and other advanced malware that can’t always be detected by antimalware programs. If this type of malware is detected on your PC, you’ll be prompted in Microsoft Security Essentials or Windows Defender to download and run Windows Defender Offline.

For instructions on how to use Windows Defender Offline, visit:

• What is Windows Defender Offline?
  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline
• Windows Defender Offline FAQ:
  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/windows-defender-offline-faq
• Download Windows Defender Offline:
• Download the 32-bit version of Windows Defender Offline
• Download the 64-bit version of Windows Defender Offline

Hey, all you AD GPO policy jockeys… new tool for you to geek out on!

Policy Analyzer is a utility for analyzing and comparing sets of Group Policy Objects (GPOs). It can highlight when a set of Group Policies has redundant settings or internal inconsistencies, and can highlight the differences between versions or sets of Group Policies. It can also compare GPOs against current local policy settings and against local registry settings. And you can export its findings to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Policy Analyzer lets you treat a set of GPOs as a single unit.  This makes it easy to determine whether particular settings are duplicated across the GPOs or are set to conflicting values.  It also lets you capture a baseline and then compare it to a snapshot taken at a later time to identify changes anywhere across the set.

…

Read more on the tool announcement page:

• TOOL: Policy Analyzer
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/secguide/archive/2016/01/22/new-tool-policy-analyzer.aspx

The following communication has been issued with regard to the change in which we support Yammer environments:

I want to let you know that we are centralizing our Office 365 customer success efforts to Microsoft FastTrack. FastTrack is included as part of your Office 365 subscription and has evolved from being an onboarding program to being our customer success service. It is designed to help you realize business value faster with Office 365. FastTrack provides you access to best practices, tools and resources for success and offers assistance with onboarding, migration, and adoption planning.

A key part of FastTrack is having access to Microsoft experts who can help you onboard to Office 365 and help you get the most value out of Office 365. We have been expanding the FastTrack team to include customer success and adoption expertise and are now ready to begin transitioning your customer success engagement from your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to the FastTrack team.

Microsoft is committed to making this transition as smooth as possible and will continue investing in FastTrack to support your success with Office 365. I would appreciate the opportunity to tell you more about this transition, including the assistance, guidance and offers that are available to you as a customer through FastTrack.

In the meantime, you are welcome to visit the FastTrack web site at fasttrack.microsoft.com, and learn more about the service.

Microsoft Envision is bringing the most forward thinking minds in business and technology together. Whether you’re a business leader or decision maker, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear the latest business trends and discover solutions that can help you, your team and your business achieve more.

Get event details

Hear from business leaders like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and a broad slate of third-party visionaries as they share perspectives on the evolving tech and business landscape. Explore the hot topics that are impacting your industry – including IoT, big data and analytics, cybersecurity, productivity, mobility and more. See how other companies like yours are transforming themselves and revolutionizing the way they compete. You’ll come away inspired and empowered to take your business to the next level.

Gain crucial insights: Attend sessions that merge thought leadership with tech expertise. Learn what’s next, what’s trending, and how to capitalize.

Discover new solutions: Explore successful strategies, disruptive technologies, and next-level thinking can help you reinvent your role.

Build connections: Connect with innovators, experts, colleagues and visionaries. Build professional relationships that will last for years.

The people who are shaping the future of business will be in New Orleans in April. We look forward to seeing you there.

DATE:
April 4-6, 2016

LOCATION:
New Orleans, LA

REGISTRATION:
https://www.microsoft.com/en/envision

Join your peers in April. Be part of the conversation today.

Follow us on: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

We’ve all accidentally dismissed reminders in Outlook when they appear.  Many times it’s a result of “hitting the “Dismiss All” button in they Reminder dialog box.

In case you didn’t know, you can reenable the Reminders you accidentally dismissed.

REENABLING REMINDERS
If it’s just one or two reminders that you know about, you can open the originating meeting or appointment for the reminder.  In the ribbon, you will see a Reminder field.  (See snapshot to the right)

If you dismissed the reminder then the Reminder field will say None. Change it to a new interval and then click Save & Close. The Reminder should be reenabled.

FINDING DISMISSED REMINDERS
Sometimes however, you might dismiss a lot of reminders and not know what you just dismissed.  (This can happen when you “Dismiss All” and watch 15 reminders disappear from the Reminder dialog box before you get the chance to read any of them)

Outlook Tips has a solution for this involving searching for modified:[date] in order to find any calendar objects that were recently changed by your dismissal of their reminders.  

• Tip 209: Finding Dismissed Reminders
  http://www.outlook-tips.net/tips/tip-209-finding-dismissed-reminders/

We have a lot of digital posters for our products that people can download and print.

If you’d like to take a look at what we offer, check out the links below to the poster libraries for their respective products.

• Azure Infographics
  http://aka.ms/azposters
• Azure Architectural Blueprints
  http://aka.ms/azblueprints 
• Windows Server
  http://aka.ms/serverposters
• System Center
  http://aka.ms/scposters
• SQL Server
  http://aka.ms/sqlposters

We also have an app that makes it easy for Windows 8.1/10 users to view all the posters (and download them) from one single location.

• PosterPedia App
  http://aka.ms/posterpedia

New eBook from Josh Blalock, UC Architect from Deloitte.

This FREE e-book is intended to be a reference, or "handbook", for various topics regarding the planning and implementation of various Hybrid Skype for Business environments. From supported topologies, to step-by-step instructions for configuring Cloud PBX with On-Premises PSTN Connectivity, this e-book is intended to provide an authoritative foundation and single point of reference for all things related to deploying a Hybrid Skype for Business environment.

Grab the 84 page, 2.7MB eBook here:

• DOWNLOAD: Skype for Business Hybrid Handbook, Version 1.2 (.PDF)
  https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Skype-for-Business-Hybrid-9218205e

Well, that was fast.  SharePoint Server 2016 and Project Server 2016 Release Candidate is now out.  Here’s the announcement:

Building on our announcement of SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 in November, we’re pleased to announce the availability of SharePoint Server 2016 Release Candidate (RC). SharePoint Server 2016 RC is mostly feature complete and represents an important milestone for customers and partners looking to deploy and evaluate SharePoint Server 2016 before general availability in Spring 2016.

Over 5,000 customers have downloaded the SharePoint Server 2016 previews to date, which, through customer feedback, has resulted in a high-quality Release Candidate.

SharePoint Server 2016 is our most reliable, scalable, secure and high-performant server release ever. With built-in Hybrid Cloud capabilities, it is the premier choice for organizations who are looking to take advantage of the latest innovations in Microsoft Cloud offerings while also maintaining critical content or custom applications on-premises. SharePoint Server 2016 will help organizations unlock breakthrough performance and resiliency as well as quickly build solutions and extend data across on-premises and Office 365 with the confidence that their data will be safe and secure.

…

Read more at the blog for an overview of the new advances:

• BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT: SharePoint Server 2016 and Project Server 2016 Release Candidate available
  https://blogs.office.com/2016/01/20/sharepoint-server-2016-and-project-server-2016-release-candidate-available/
• DOWNLOAD: SharePoint Server 2016 Release Candidate Patch
  (Note: SPS2016 RC is a patch over the existing SPS2016 Beta 2)
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50737
• SUPPORT: SharePoint Server 2016 Forums
  https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-us/home?forum=SP2016
• FEEDBACK: SharePoint User Voice Feedback site
  http://sharepoint.uservoice.com/