Kurt Shintaku's Blog

After January 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates.  

Beginning January 12, 2016, the following operating systems and browser version combinations will be supported:

Windows Platform	Internet Explorer Version
Windows Vista SP2	Internet Explorer 9
Windows Server 2008 SP2	Internet Explorer 9
Windows 7 SP1	Internet Explorer 11
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1	Internet Explorer 11
Windows 8.1	Internet Explorer 11
Windows Server 2012	Internet Explorer 10
Windows Server 2012 R2	Internet Explorer 11

OFFICE 365 & INTERNET EXPLORER SUPPORT

• Office 365 Supports N and N-1 versions of browsers in Mainstream Support
  For the best experience using Office 365, we recommend that you always use the latest browsers, Office clients, and apps. We also recommend that you install software updates when they become available.

Office 365 is designed to work with the following software:

• The current or immediately previous version of Internet Explorer or Firefox, or the latest version of Chrome or Safari.
• Any version of Microsoft Office in mainstream support.

Although Microsoft does not recommend that you connect to Office 365 by using older browsers and clients, we provide limited support so long as that software is supported by its manufacturer.

USING ENTERPRISE MODE FOR INTERNET EXPLORER 11 (EMIE)

• To prepare enterprises for the January 12, 2016 date for IE 11 and Windows 10, Microsoft implemented Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer 11 (EMIE) to assist with backward compatibility and to provide a seamless end-user experience.  EMIE helps Enterprises transition to IE 11 and stay up-to-date regardless of which versions of Internet Explorer are running in your environment  – achieving ever green status with Microsoft Browsers.  IE 11 is the last version of Microsoft’s  Internet Explorer, Windows 10 builds upon IE 11 and EMIE in Windows 7 SP1 and 8.1 – and overtime -  transitions everyone to “Edge” – Microsoft’s next generation Modern Browser.  The expected browsing experience from the end user perspective is seamless – as swapping of compatibility modes is automatic and allows users to browse the web normally.   The original EMIE functionality provided in April, 2014 introduced compatibility for enterprises on Internet Explorer 8.  In November, EMIE was expanded to include  additional document mode capabilities for IE 10, 9, 8, 7, and 5.  EMIE will not fix every site, but should provide backward compatibility for most.

  Below is an example of a typical process (with links to documentation) followed by Enterprise IT to identify “broken sites”, determine which can be “viewed” with EMIE, those sites that must be remediate, and achieve seamless integrated browsing for their end-users with IE 11:

• As EMIE’s use (or not) is determined by IT, EMIE is turned off by default and may be turned on and centrally controlled by IT through Group Policies and Registry Settings.  (See, How to Turn on Enterprise Mode for IE 11 (EMIE))
• Develop testing strategy based on Internet Explorer versions within Enterprise.
  • If your enterprise primarily uses Internet Explorer 8, start testing using Enterprise Mode.
  • If your enterprise primarily uses Internet Explorer 9 or Internet Explorer 10, start testing using the various document modes
  • If your enterprise uses Internet Explorer 8 and other versions, use both Enterprise Mode and document modes to effectively move to Internet Explorer 11.
• Identify Sites that can be fixed with EMIE.

• Select representative users (i.e., Business Units, Task Workers, IT Pros, etc.)

• Turn on local user control – use the Let users turn on and use Enterprise Mode from the Tools menu setting, located in the Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Internet Explorer category path. After you turn this setting on, Test users can turn on Enterprise Mode locally, from the Internet Explorer Tools menu.

• Gather “local override “data from users by logging the information (including URL and mode selected by the end-user) to a centralized list.  For more information on logging/data collection, see Set up Enterprise Mode logging and data collection

• For sites that cannot be viewed via EMIE, determine alternative remediation.
• For sites that can be viewed via EMIE, use tool-based management for site lists (list of sites to be viewed via EMIE).
• These tools provides the ability to capture individual website domains and domain paths and specify if the site renders using a modified browser configuration that’s designed to avoid the common compatibility problems.
• Corporate IT controls which sites and paths are rendered in Enterprise Mode via a centrally-managed XML list or group of lists. For example, www.contoso.com/travel can be set to use Enterprise Mode, while www.contoso.com/erp may be set to use modern “Edge” standards mode.
• For overview, see Fix web compatibility issues using document modes and the Enterprise Mode site list
• For more information on managing EMIE Site Lists, see Enterprise Mode Site List Manager
• For more information on schema guidance (example, how to accomplish similar functionality to “wildcards” within the site list without using wildcards), see Schema Guidance for Enterprise Mode for IE (EMIE)
• For more information on  creating and using a site list, see Add multiple sites to the Enterprise Mode site list using a file and Enterprise Mode Site List Manager
• For more information on IE 11 compatibility and document modes, see Document modes and compatibility with Internet Explorer 11

Windows 10 as everyone knows by now will be generally available (GA) on July 29, 2015.

Here’s two resources:

• Windows 10: Enterprise Features & Core Experience for Businesses – Video
• Windows 10 – What’s new – Windows 10 Enterprise Insider Preview is an early look at some of the features and functionality in store for Windows 10, the next version of the Windows client operating system. This page offers resources to help you explore Insider Preview, assess the compatibility of your applications, and test the in-place upgrade process.

You may have seen this logo (see photo to the right) appear on people’s profile pictures/avatars on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

It’s quite easy using the Twibbon tool online.  The tool will pull your photo from one of these services and add the DO <Windows> 10 bug to the bottom or top of the photo and allow you to resize the photo.  Then automatically upload it back into various social network services of your choice.

Try it out at:

• TOOL: Twibbon “Windows 10” Bug
  http://wndw.ms/GAkoYW

For those of you not completely clear on what Windows 10 offers to consumers, here’s a couple wallpapers that highlight the features & functions most important to consumer users.

They are divided into 4 categories:

• Feels familiar & better than ever
• The most personal and natural experience
• Work across all of your devices
• Be more productive

Download the wallpapers here:

• DOWNLOAD: “Why Windows 10 for Consumers” wallpaper (BLUE)
  http://1drv.ms/1DH0BZ1
• DOWNLOAD: “Why Windows 10 for Consumers” wallpaper (WHITE)
  http://1drv.ms/1DH0DQD

Do you have an Xbox Live account?  Did you know you can look up your reputation?

If you go to the Enforcement web page while you’re logged in to your Xbox Live account’s Microsoft Account, you can see:

• Reputation Level
• Reputation over Time (last 6 months)
• Feedback that you’ve received
• Feedback filed by you

Visit the Reputation Web Page to see what reputation & feedback your Xbox Live Account has gotten.

• Xbox Live Reputation Level Web Page
  https://enforcement.xbox.com/Home/Reputation

In case you missed it, customers with Enterprise CAL on Software Assurance will be getting Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics at no additional charge.

So yes, if you have the Enterprise CAL today and it’s on Software Assurance, you’ll be able to take advantage of ATA as soon as it is released.

• Using the Enterprise Mobility Suite to Protect Your Organization with Identity-driven Security
  (http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/archive/
  2015/07/22/using-the-enterprise-mobility-suite-to-protect-your-organization-with-identity-driven-security.aspx?wt.mc_id=WW_CE_EM_OO_SCL_TW)
  “ATA will be available for customers to purchase standalone, as well as part of EMS and the Enterprise Client Access License (ECAL) in August 2015. More information is available at www.Microsoft.com/ATA and in our blog post here.”

The purchasing page for ATA, describes the licensing vehicles for this a swell:

• Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics Purchasing
  (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/advanced-threat-analytics/Purchasing.aspx)
  “You can purchase Advanced Threat Analytics either stand-alone with a Client Management License or through one of the following Microsoft licensing suites:
  • Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) Suite
  • Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS)
  • Enterprise Cloud Suite (ECS)”

We’re happy to announce the release of our newest free ebook, Microsoft Azure Essentials: Azure Web Apps for Developers (9781509300594), by Rick Rainey. This is the fourth ebook in Microsoft Press’s free Microsoft Azure Essentials series.

• DOWNLOAD: Free MS Press ebook, “Microsoft Azure Essentials: Azure Web Apps for Developers”
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2015/06/09/free-ebook-microsoft-azure-essentials-azure-web-apps-for-developers.aspx

If you’re looking for ways to monitor Office 365 to be proactive about your knowledge of how the services is doing, if parts are going down for maintenance or something like that, check out my previous post on the dashboard.

• Office 365 Service Health Dashboard
  https://kurtsh.com/2014/07/08/info-office-365-service-health-dashboard/

Recently, our Office 365 Technology Specialist, Chandler Bootchk, passed on the following to me to add to our fun:

• Office 365 Service Health RSS Notifications
  Wanna subscribe to service notifications via RSS?  Here’s the feed URL:
  http://rss.servicehealth.microsoftonline.com/feed/en-US/63B577856C034F947F561249C145A48F/pqt52y/gk1n7d/c8mfak/n-dbvo/x9duf_/r3f9z6/ab5tly
• Office 365 Admin App 
  The Office 365 Admin app empowers you, the Office 365 IT administrator to stay connected with your Office 365 environment on the go. You can now manage your users including resetting their passwords. In addition, you can also read the latest messages from Message Center, the central location for Office 365 service communications and view any active service support requests. A new dashboard allows you to quickly view service health status and more. For increased security, the Office 365 Admin app supports Windows Azure Directory Multi-Factor Authentication and the option to set a unique application-specific PIN code. IMPORTANT: You need to have an active Office 365 subscription with administrator user rights to use this app.
• iPhone
  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/office-365-admin/id761397963?mt=8
• Android
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ms.office365admin
• Windows Phone
  https://www.microsoft.com/store/phoneappid/76f9b288-37bc-4d75-8164-16d1df0447a2

We’ve all seen clickbait, i.e. content blatantly written to attract readers simply by writing  inflammatory opinions or incorrect facts simply to attract views for the site’s advertisers.

Have you ever asked yourself, “How to I write about the illegitimacy of this article/post without referring/linking back to the page and otherwise rewarding the writer by attracting more hits?”

The answer is to use an “archived page” of the article/post.  An “archived page” is a replica of the page that is referable by a link & even completely downloadable in a ZIP file.

For example, let’s say you consider the following URL to be the clickbait post you want to reference but not actually send people to:

• https://kurtsh.com/2015/07/23/post-your-top-10-questions-about-office-2016-for-mac-answered/

You might instead refer people to the following Archived Page instead.  It provides the same content, but no clickthrough revenue for the writer/site:

• https://archive.is/3tT12

ARCHIVING PAGES
The way you do this is by following this procedure:

1. Go to http://archive.is
2. Enter the URL you wish to archive under the field, “My url is alive and I want to archive its content”  It will process the URL then send you to a new shortcut to an archive.is page.
3. Use the new URL for future reference to the clickbait.

CREATING A FAVORITE TO ARCHIVE YOUR CURRENT PAGE IN A SINGLE CLICK
An alternative way of doing this is to create a Favorite/Bookmark that will allow you to automatically archive ANY PAGE you’re currently visiting.  This is the easiest way to

Simply create a Favorite with the following URL string:

• javascript:void(open(‘https://archive.is/?run=1&url=’+encodeURIComponent(document.location)))

Now, whenever you hit a page you consider clickbait, simply hit this Archive Favorite and you’ll have a referable URL that won’t reward the author with clicks.

The Office team released a killer post regarding Office 2016 for Macintosh, entitled, “Your top 10 questions about Office 2016 for Mac answered”.

It addresses the following questions:

1. Where do I get Office 2016 for Mac?
2. When will Office 2016 for Mac be available for people and businesses who don’t want a subscription?
3. When will the Office 2016 for Mac preview stop working?
4. Can I use Office 2016 for Mac and Office for Mac 2011 on the same Mac?
5. When will Skype for Business and OneDrive for Business for Mac be available?
6. I have a technical problem. Where do I go?
7. How can I request a new feature?
8. I’m having problems with Outlook connectivity and reliability. What’s happening?
9. What are your plans for Visual Basic support?
10. When will Office 2016 for Mac be available in Arabic, Hebrew and other right-to-left languages? What about other languages?

Read the answers here:

• POST: “Your top 10 questions about Office 2016 for Mac answered”
  https://blogs.office.com/2015/07/22/your-top-10-questions-about-office-2016-for-mac-answered/