Microsoft has gone to great lengths to improve their Teams app by adding new and improved features since businesses have moved to remote working one year ago. Microsoft's next step in developing a more robust videoconferencing service comes by adding PowerPoint Live to Teams.
Before this update drops, Teams meeting participants can only display their presentations by capturing their screen. But with the addition of PowerPoint Live, presenters can stream their presentations directly through the meeting app. Not only does this streamline presentations, but it allows speakers to "read the room" within the meeting and more easily view the meeting's chat for questions or comments.
The presenter needs to open the PowerPoint deck they want to show and then click on the Present in Teams button to use this feature. The feature is limited to Microsoft's customers with an Office 365 E3/A3, Office 365 E5/A5, or Microsoft 365 for Government license.
To aid Microsoft blogger Lishan Yu has released an article on the feature to help ease users in with a tutorial on the anticipated update. Yu also states that PowerPoint Live will first come to Teams in the beta channel version 2104 (Build 13926.20000) and later.
To read Lishan Yu's tutorial, Click Here.
To learn more about PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams, Click Here.
Following news on Microsoft Exchange server attacks, now Microsoft Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death has made a resurgence when printing under certain conditions in recent March updates.
After downloading last Tuesday's 03/09 KB500802 patch, you might receive an APC_INDEX_MISMATCH error with a blue screen when attempting to print to certain printers in some apps.
The platformed affected by this issue include:
Microsoft has identified that this impacts a subset of Type 3 printer devices.
To learn what Type your printer driver is, follow these steps:
Microsoft provides a workaround to mitigate the problem with this video. The Command Prompt commands from the video are as follows (you will need to replace KX driver for Universal printing with the name of your printer, as explained in the video):
To learn more about the issue, click this link for the official documentation.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-10-20h2#1570msgdesc
Late Thursday Microsoft issued a warning of another threat to Microsoft Exchange (Outlook). Microsoft discovered a new family of ransomeware known as DearCry being used to direct attacks on un-patched on-premise Exchange Servers. In response Microsoft released an update today that serves as a temporary measure to help protect users from vulnerable machines. This is the second attack in just 10-days against Microsoft after initially discovering a foreign state sponsored hacking group was able to breach on-premise Exchange Servers via zero-day vulnerabilities. As of March 10th it was reported that up to 125,000 Exchange Servers remain vulnerable to the initial attack.
Microsoft Windows has begun releasing updates in hopes of fixing a bug that bluescreened computers when using specific printers. The first fix released on Monday, March 15th, resulted in users reporting in printers spitting out blank pages or with missing graphics. Microsoft released a second patch on Thursday, March 18th, with users saying, for the most part, that it's fixed the issue and they can print again without bluescreening.
If you haven't already, you can get this update simply by going to Settings > Update 7 Security > Windows Update. You can manually download it from the Microsoft Update Catalog website or see Microsoft's Documentation instructions on how to update your Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).
Release Date: 3/18/2021
Highlights
IMPORTANT As part of the end of support for Adobe Flash, KB4577586 is now available as an optional update from Windows Update (WU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). Installing KB4577586 will remove Adobe Flash Player permanently from your Windows device. Once installed, you cannot uninstall KB4577586. For more details about Microsoft’s plans, see Update on Adobe Flash Player End of Support.
This bug initially came from the March 9th, 2021 update, KB5000802, and was previously covered on the Nims Associates website. For more information on the bug and its updates, click here.
This week Microsoft announced an exploit in public facing on-premise versions of Exchange server (Outlook) after discovering it was breached by Chinese state-sponsored hackers. The hackers were able to access Exchange through un-realized vulnerabilities. According to researches at Volexcity, the hack appears to have started as early as January 6. The foreign hackers gained access by using stolen passwords or applied zero-day vulnerabilities to mask themselves as a person with legitimate access.
Read more: Microsoft Issues Critical Updates for Exchange after Foreign State Sponsored Hack