2016 was a very good year for Microsoft in terms of decision making. Here is a  list of five things the company got right.

Since its inception way back in the ancient epoch known as the 1970s, Microsoft has often been ridiculed for making mistakes. Whether it was for bad business strategies, poor products, or unscrupulous practices, Microsoft seemed to bring out the passionate ire in many people.

But what often gets overlooked is what Microsoft does right each year. And by just about any measurement, 2016 was a remarkable year for the company. Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft has changed its business strategy to reflect what it describes as a mobile-first, cloud-first business world. And in 2016, that strategy began show results.

Here, in no particular order, are five things Microsoft got right in 2016.

1. Windows 10 Anniversary Update

To mark the one-year anniversary of Windows 10, Microsoft released a large patch it dubbed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Okay, so Microsoft is not very clever in naming things. But the patch itself was well received. It included new security measures, new program features, Microsoft Edge browser extensions, and advanced support for digital pens, among many other enhancements. If you were already using Windows 10, the Anniversary Update was a must.

2. Surface Studio

While not its primary business, Microsoft has been developing some noteworthy pieces of hardware the past few years and in 2016, the company generated a large amount of buzz with the release of the Surface Studio. This elegant computer combines the best of the desktop, laptop, and tablet to create a unique and innovative platform perfect for artists, designers, and other creative people. With data visualization becoming ever more important, Microsoft may have invented the perfect tool for the big data generation.

3. Microsoft Office 365

I have been wondering aloud if it is a bit too much, but there can be no doubt that with the dozens of program and feature updates released in 2016, Microsoft Office 365 is the alpha and omega of productivity software. Rather than trying to name all of the new features, it would be best to concentrate on the underlying theme: collaboration. Whether it is Yammer, Skype for Business, or the intelligent cloud, Microsoft is concentrating on features necessary for success in a collaborative environment.

4. LinkedIn

In 2016, Microsoft made several acquisitions of both companies and their technologies. Perhaps the most high-profile of these acquisitions was LinkedIn. Despite all of its efforts to create a collaboration platform with Office 365, the one thing Microsoft needed was a social networking component. LinkedIn gives the company a jump start toward establishing a social networking presence that can compete with the likes of Twitter and Facebook. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft does with this acquisition.

5. IoT, AI, and machine learning

While we may live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world right now, the future may very well revolve around the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and machine learning. To its credit, Microsoft sees the potential of these technologies and has taken steps to get ahead of the curve. In terms of recent history, getting ahead of the curve is not something Microsoft has done very well, so it is difficult to know where the research will lead, but it should prove to be worth watching closely.

Despite what some people may tell you, Microsoft does do some things right. In fact, for the most part, the company does more things right than it does wrong. In 2016, Microsoft did many things right and consumers and businesses have been the beneficiaries. Let’s hope Microsoft can continue the trend in 2017.

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How to turn hibernation on and off:

When your PC goes to sleep, it enters a low-power state, ready to spring back into action when Windows detects a tap on the keyboard or determines that it’s time to run a scheduled task. If you’re planning to be away from the PC for a while, you might prefer to save the current state so that you can restore it quickly, without the chance that the computer will wake up on its own.

There’s an option that lets you save the contents of memory to a hibernation file and then shuts down the PC, so it uses no power at all. When you restart, Windows restores the system state from the hibernation file.

To enable or disable hibernation, open a Command Prompt window and enter the powercfg command with the -h switch. Type powercfg -h on to enable hibernation; substitute the word off to disable it.

Normally, the Hibernate option is hidden from the Shutdown menu. To make it visible, open Power Options in Control Panel and then click Choose What The Power Buttons Do. Under the Shutdown Settings heading, select the Hibernate checkbox to display it in the Power menu.

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Copyright © 2016 BigBeagle.com. All rights reserved.

As more consumers grow disenchanted with Apple, Microsoft has taken the opportunity to cash in on the growing popularity of Surface devices.

Microsoft claims that more people are switching to Surface devices from Macs than ever before. That’s a concept that would have been hard to picture when Microsoft first released the Microsoft Surface RT and Surface Pro in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The Surface RT suffered from a watered-down version of the new — and generally disliked — Windows 8 operating system and, while the Surface Pro featured the full desktop version, it came with hardware limitations and a high price tag.

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Exclusive offer from: BigBeagle.com  |  24/7 Support: 8885051532
Amit Shah — Customer Number: 57156051

BigBeagle is a reseller of GoDaddy and offers GoDaddy products at a discounted price. Don’t forget to visit our coupon page at http://bigbeagle.com/coupons for the latest and greatest promotions.

Save up to 10% on all new purchases of $40 or more and get everything you need. Hurry before the offer expires.

Use promo code rs117a2 in your cart when you order.

*Some limitations apply. Applicable to new purchases only. Enter promo code into shopping cart to see full details. Minimum purchase of $40 required. Offer expires Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at midnight (Mountain Time).

Copyright © 2016 BigBeagle.com. All rights reserved.

Wipe a disk clean:

If you’re planning to dispose of a PC by giving it away, selling it, or discarding it, your top priority should be making sure that no personal information is left on the device. The same is true if you’re recycling a hard disk drive or USB flash drive.

The first step with a PC is to reinstall Windows, using the option to delete the existing partitions on the device and then do a clean install. For a secondary disk, you can use the Format command to erase any existing content. But that still leaves the possibility that some data will still be available in the erased space, where a determined spy could recover it using a disk utility.

The solution? Encrypt the disk before formatting it. Without a recovery key, any recovered data will be unreadable. The easiest way to accomplish this on the system drive is to open an elevated command prompt and run the following command:

cipher /w:c:

If you’re working with a secondary disk, substitute the drive letter for that drive.

The /w switch stands for wipe, and the result is the effective obliteration of every bit of data in unused disk space, leaving existing files untouched.

Have questions?

For More Tips & Info from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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The Windows 10 Anniversary Update that was released to Home users in the summer is now available under the Current Branch for Business servicing option.

The Windows 10 Anniversary Update that was released to Home users in the summer is now available for widespread enterprise deployments.

The Anniversary release, version 1607, has been designated as available to Windows 10 machines that receive updates under the Current Branch for Business (CBB) servicing option.

Apart from the Home version of Windows 10, most other flavors of the OS can be set to receive updates under the CBB. A PC on the CBB path will be updated about four months after the Home version of Windows 10, allowing additional time to validate an update’s quality and application compatibility.

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Now that Apple’s introduced the first major update to its MacBook Pro lineup in years, it’s time to square off the best of the best in Mac and PC laptops to see who currently prevails in this age-old rivalry. 

The contenders

The newest Surface Book is a top-of-the-line model with a Core i7-6600U, a GeForce GTX 965M, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The updated product line varies from $2,400 to $3,300 (our model) in price. All three net you a 6th-gen Skylake dual-core Core i7 chip, and all three get you the same Performance Base with a GeForce GTX 965M. The only differences are in the size of the SSD and how much RAM you get. Only the SSD would affect performance significantly.

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Microsoft’s massive $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn finally closed, and CEO Satya Nadella explained how the companies will begin working together.

Microsoft’s $26.2 billion purchase of professional networking site LinkedIn officially came to a close on Thursday, after the deal was approved by regulators. Following the close, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella penned a blog post on LinkedIn detailing how the website would begin integrating with Microsoft’s products.

For starters, LinkedIn identity and network capabilities will be coming to Microsoft Outlook, and to the Office suite in general, the post stated. Additionally, LinkedIn notifications will be available to users in the Windows action center as well.

Since LinkedIn is known as a digital CV of sorts, Microsoft will enable LinkedIn members who draft a résumé in Word to directly update their LinkedIn profile page, and more easily search for and apply to relevant job postings, the post said.

One of the potentially troubling integrations is “extending the reach of Sponsored Content across Microsoft properties,” as Nadella wrote on his blog. Whether that means that users will begin seeing ads in their Office apps remains to be seen, but it sets the stage for a potentially tricky user experience.

Enterprise LinkedIn Lookup will soon be powered by Active Directory and Office 365, which could make it easier for employees to connect with one another. Nadella’s blog post also noted that LinkedIn Learning will be made available across the Office 365 and Windows ecosystem, giving Microsoft shops access to new forms of training and continued learning that could prove valuable to their employees.

Additionally, Nadella wrote that the two companies would begin developing a business news desk across their existing ecosystem of content, and for MSN.com. Sales Navigator and Dynamics 365 will also be integrated in hopes of improving social selling capabilities.

Since the acquisition was first announced, it’s been fairly clear that data was the driving force behind the deal. The two companies had non-overlapping, complementary data graphs, and these integrations show just the first steps that Microsoft is taking to leverage LinkedIn’s data, along with its own, to build out a more holistic ecosystem of business technologies and services.

Current LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner will continue to lead the company after the acquisition, and theNew York Times reported that roughly 10,000 LinkedIn employees will join Microsoft.

The 3 big takeaways for readers

1. Microsoft closed its $26.2 billion acquisition of social networking site LinkedIn on Thursday, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella outlining how the two companies will merge.
2. LinkedIn features and services will be coming to Outlook, Office 365, Dynamics 365, and even MSN.com, with LinkedIn search getting a boost from Active Directory.
3. The deal has always been about data, and the integrations are just the start of how the two companies will merge their individual data graphs.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.