My Apps 2023

pexels-mohi-syed-50614

I remain a low volume mobile app user. I very selectively install apps on my device. Less is definitely more for me.

To see what I was using at the beginning of last year check out the article:

My Apps – 2022

My daily driver when it comes to a phone is an iPhone 12 pro Max currently but I also have a Surface Duo 2 as a backup. The other device that I use apps on is my iPad mini.

My most used apps on mobile devices over the last year were:

Castro on iOS to listen to all my podcasts on iOS.

Lastpass password manager and authenticator for general password management. This may change after the recent security issues with Lastpass.

Microsoft Authenticator – I use this for a number of select web sites as well as Microsoft 365.

Car Play – Connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts as well as use Waze for navigation.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

OneDrive – This mobile app now not only allows me to manage my Microsoft 365 files but it also incorporates the more advanced Office Lens technology that scans and uploads, documents, whiteboards, etc.

Tripview – One of the few apps that I have happily paid for. I use this to let me know the Sydney train schedule to help me get around when I need to negotiate the ‘real world’. Although not much travel is happening at the moment, this app is super handy for negotiating local public transport.

Audible – If I can’t read my Kindle then I can normally always listen. This app allows me to listen to my audio books where ever I am. This and Castro on iOS are probably the most used applications on my devices.

Amazon Kindle – If I don’t have access to my Kindle then I can still read my books. In my case that will most likely be on my iPad. I also use the Kindle app on the iPad when the ebook has a lot of images that sometime don’t display well or are too small for the Kindle device.

The following as currently only iOS:

Rode Reporter – which I use for recording many of my presentations when I am out on the road, which ain’t so much these days but still a handy app to have.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, and Linkedin on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably To-Do, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device. On my Duo 2 I am also using Edge as the primary browser along with the new Edge Insider. I also have the Brave browser on my devices as I no longer use Chrome at all.

I’ve also added the Intune app to all my devices so they can be better managed.

I use the Signal messaging app for private conversations and groups that I am part of.

Some occasional ones I use include:

– Get Pocket

– Duolingo

– Duolingo Math

– Uber

– Amazon music

I use the normal personal apps for things like Internet banking and so on. I also use Coin Gecko for monitoring cryptocurrency.

One my iPad, which also serves as a personal entertainment device, I have the streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The above are my used apps across my various mobile devices. My aim to try and keep the apps standard across all the devices and as few as possible. I try and standardise on the Microsoft apps on all platforms and use these as much as possible. I certainly use a wide variety of apps on my devices by prefer the desktop versions if available.

Every business today is a software business

Following on from a post I wrote recently:

We all need to automate more

I’d like to continue my musing about the challenge of finding qualified staff, especially if you are a technology provider.

Traditionally, IT Providers have looked for staff that can perform a certain defined role in their business and that has kind of been where it ends. When that person leaves, they need to find a similar soul to replace them. There ain’t much leverage here if we are honest is there? Technology and technology businesses should be about leverage.

The main fault lies with the skill set that IT providers are recruiting for these days.

A very famous tech luminary wrote an article back in 2011 called:

Why software is eating the world

and if you haven’t read it, you should. You should also be mindful of that fact that it is now over ten years old! Given that context, I feel pretty confident in saying that EVERY business is in fact a software business today. Every business relies more on IT systems that it ever has and the core of IT systems is software NOT hardware or infrastructure. Problem is, most business don’t yet realise they ARE a software business!

So why is it that most IT businesses recruit people for old world hardware and infrastructure roles? Don’t they realise the world has well and truly been eaten now it is 2022? Perhaps a reason they can’t successfully recruit is what they consider ‘suitable’ candidates has moved on so much from such traditional roles to roles that embrace what modern technology is all about today. Software. Perhaps the reason people can’t be found is that no one wants those traditional roles anymore! Maybe?

In essence, any modern role, especially in industries that provide technology services should include software as a core capability, most importantly, the ability to code. No, I am not saying that everyone needs to be a C sharp developer. What I am saying that our world today is built on code and it takes people who understand that and can speak that language to successfully support it. The past is about speed and feeds, aka hardware. That is now pretty much an arcane ancient language. Bandwidth is the principal commodity of the modern workplace not CPU speed or RAM.

A traditional IT provider should therefore be looking for DevOps people. Those that can do the IT operations, create users, reset passwords, etc as infrastructure types have done for years but also be comfortable with creating automation processes and scripting to reduce the precious amount of human capital that needs to be invest to achieve these aims.

Another benefit of employing DevOps types is that the code they develop can be leveraged across many customers, unlike their time. A typical infrastructure tech is limited to a fixed linear set of tasks between certain times in a day. Code however, can run constantly across multiple environments with minimal human interaction.

Still further, when a DevOps type leaves the organisation their code stays with the organisation, whereas when a traditional infrastructure technician leaves they leave no real value beyond their actual time in the business. That is not playing smart business in my books, that is simply trying to throw resources at a problem which you can never win, because you are always going to have to replace the resource at some point in time. That situation has taken many business this long to realise. Problem is, now they have, they are not well placed to deal with it. All they can do is scramble for more resources which are becoming scarcer everyday. In short, your staff are going to move on, that is a fact. You will need to replace them. Is your only solution simply to replace staff as they leave with similar candidates? That isn’t a game you can win because you’ll always be time poor when recruiting and never find an exact replacement, and even if you do, that replacement could resign immediately and you are again faced with the same dilemma. What’s the definition of insanity again?

I think another reason why so few people want to do traditional IT infrastructure work is that it is purely and simply ‘slog’ work. By this I mean that your reward for closing a trouble ticket is, guess what? Another trouble ticket and then another and then another at infinitum. If you want to disincentivise and burn people out, keep giving the same grinding work over and over again like trouble tickets. Most IT managers would hate that themselves yet they enforce it on their subordinates. To me, that is utter madness because you are treating people like machines and to my knowledge we should have all left that behind in the Victorian age!

An emphasis on code and software allows expression, it allows the human brain to to what it is good for. To create, to be imaginative and innovate. Most people entering the workplace are more digitally native than any previous generation. They have grown up with technology and the Internet. They don’t fear the technology but most businesses today still constrain their workers by time management methodologies rather than measuring them on result based outcomes. Most are more comfortable seeing workers put in the ‘hours’ (whether or not they are being efficient is irrelevant, as long as they are visibly burning time is the key) rather than providing incentives based on outcomes (like say adding value to a customers business). Again, pure and utter madness in our modern technology landscape.

Anyone today who as even a slight interest in IT is going to be into software and coding as they should be. In fact, EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE needs to learn how to code. It is the language of our age. This, as I said earlier, doesn’t mean you need to be a developer. What it does mean is that you have a greater array of tools you can use to solve problems for one piece of code can build on another and be shared with others thereby leveraging the initial input invested to create it.

Software is a problem solving tool that should be part of everyone’s professional skills. It ain’t hard. There is so much free stuff out their on the myriad of languages available to code in. BASIC, PowerShell, C++, Java, and so on, and so on. Just go to Youtube and you’ll find someone willing to teach you code. The more time you spend learning and implementing code, the better you’ll get at it. Coding is a skill, it ain’t a talent. Everyone who already codes at some point learnt how to code, they weren’t born with the ability to write quality Python out of the womb!

If your are selling your skills into today’s market, skill up on programming. Even knowing Excel macros is going to put you at least one step in front of your competition who can’t code. Because, if you can’t code you’ll be consigned to role where people take advantage of your time not you brain. In essence, you are trading your personal time for money and no matter what they pay you, that transaction is never enough as you’ll never get your time again.

So ask yourself the question, have I (and the business I may run) truly embraced the modern technology world that software has ‘eaten’ or are you living in the past hoping to trade time for money? Because if you are living in the past still, eventually the appetite of software will catch up with you and automate what you do faster, better and cheaper than you ever could. Where will that then leave you?

If you own a business, you should looking for people who support this model. That is, those who are software aware. Those who can use software to solve problems better than anyone else. Allow them to unleash the true capabilities of the human mind rather than constraining them to a treadmill of endless problem tickets. We want creators, not biological robots to burn out and throw away. That means businesses need to create the environments to support this. Look around and ask yourself whether your business today truly supports that environment. I’d have a guess and say that it probably doesn’t. You better watch out then, the software tyrannosaurus rex now roams freely.

My Apps 2022

pexels-mohi-syed-50614

I remain a low volume mobile app user. I very selectively install apps on my device. Less is definitely more for me.

To see what I was using at the beginning of last year check out the article:

My Apps – 2021

My daily driver when it comes to a phone is an upgraded iPhone 12 pro Max currently but I also have a Surface Duo 2 as a backup. The other device that I use apps on is my iPad mini.

My most used apps on mobile devices over the last year were:

Castro on iOS to listen to all my podcasts on iOS.

Lastpass password manager and authenticator. for general password management.

Microsoft Authenticator – I use this for a number of select web sites as well as Microsoft 365.

Car Play – Connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts as well as use Waze for navigation.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

The following as currently only iOS:

Oak – For mindfulness, breathing and meditation.

Rode Reporter – which I use for recording many of my presentations when I am out on the road, which ain’t so much these days but still a handy app to have.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably To-Do, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device. On my Android I am also using Edge as the primary browser along with the new Edge Insider. I also have the Brave browser on my devices as do not use Chrome at all.

I’ve also added the Intune app to all my devices so they can be better managed.

Some occasional ones I use include:

– Get Pocket

– Duolingo

– Uber

– Amazon music

I use the normal personal apps for things like Internet banking and so on. I also use Blockfolio for monitoring cryptocurrency.

One my iPad, which also serves as a personal entertainment device, I have the streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The above are my used apps across my various mobile devices. My aim to try and keep the app standard across all the devices and as few as possible. I try and standardise as on the Microsoft apps on all platforms. I certainly use a wide variety of apps on my devices by prefer the desktop versions if available.

My software and services 2022

startup-photos

Here’s last year’s post for comparison:

My software and services – 2021

All my PC’s are running the latest version of Windows 10 (21H2) without any issues and none during the upgrade process either. I no longer run any Windows 10 Insider builds as I had trouble backing out of these when I needed to. I still have Office Insider builds happening in my environment. Most production machines I have are eligible for Windows 11 but none have been offered this upgrade as yet, however when it is I will be upgrading.

All Windows 10 Pro machines are directly joined to Azure AD and managed via Intune and Microsoft Endpoint Manager. Their configurations are based on the Windows MDM security baseline settings. All machines only use Windows Defender for security monitoring and management. Thanks to Microsoft E5 on my production tenant, I am also using Microsoft Defender For Endpoint at the back end for monitoring and investigation of endpoint threats.

The WD Sentinel DX4000 runs Windows Storage Server 2008 and is now effectively obsolete and only maintained for historical purposes and as an archive.

My two main tenants are an Office 365 E5 demo and Microsoft 365 production environments. A mix of Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise machines are all Azure AD joined to the Microsoft 365 production domain. The production Microsoft 365 tenant has Microsoft 365 Business for all users except myself. I have a Microsoft 365 E5 license on which I have configured all the services including integrated PSTN calling via Switch Connect.

I use Microsoft Sentinel to monitor threats across my environments via a single pane of glass.

I use the following major browsers:

– Edge – my primary browser across all my devices including iOS and Android. I have it locked down with baseline policies via Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

– Brave – I have become increasingly concerned about the surreptitious tracking that many sites perform, especially when it comes to social media sites. I therefore now do all my ‘random browsing’, searching and viewing of social media sites. I became aware of the extent of tracking when I was adjusting the security settings in Edge Insider and found the following:

Made me realise that I probably need to take this ‘do not track’ stuff more seriously!

– Firefox – I now only use this on my Surface Pro X because Brave doesn’t offer an ARM version.

I have now cranked Edge up to the maximum security level but wanted to isolate the most likely tracking culprits into another browser that was security focused. After some evaluation, I have chosen Brave to be this browser. This is now where I do all the stuff that is more likely to be tracked and now hopefully blocked or at least minimised. I have also set this browser up to use Duck Duck Go as the default search engine, otherwise I use Bing for my production Edge browser. I have completely eliminated Google Chrome off all my machines without any issues and recommend those who are becoming more concerned about their privacy, like me, do the same.

Services like SharePoint Online and OneDrive I use regularly both in the demo and production tenant. I have the OneDrive sync client installed, running and connected to various locations on my production and demo tenants. I can now sync across all my different tenants as well as my consumer OneDrive storage. We have come a long way with the sync client!

I regularly use Microsoft Teams which is now my main messaging application. All the CIAOPS Patron resources like the intranet, team, etc all reside in the Office 365 E5 demo tenant but I connect to it on my desktop normally via an Azure B2B guest account from my production tenant. Thus, I can admin the Patron resources in a browser if need be but I get the same experience on my desktop as any Patron would. Handy to know what works and doesn’t work with Microsoft Teams guest access. Thanks to Microsoft E5 and Switch Connect, I also have Teams connected as a phone.

I use Lastpass to keep my passwords and private information secure. It allows me to do things like generate and store unique passwords for each website that I sign up for. It is also available across all browsers on my machine (including Microsoft Edge). I also now also use Lastpass to store secure notes.

The extensions I run in all my browsers are:

– LastPass

– GetPocket

I use Microsoft Power Automate for automation as well as Azure Functions.

For my email newsletters I use Mailchimp.

My preferred public social networks for business, in order are:

1. Twitter

2. Linkedin

3. Facebook

I consume a lot of content from YouTube both for business and personal interest. I also also use YouTube extensively for my publicly available training video training.

Microsoft Office desktop software is still part of my everyday workday via applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. I use the desktop version of Outlook on my Surface Pro 7 which lives on my desk but I only use Outlook Web App on my travelling Surface Pro 6 device. I could happily not use Outlook on the desktop any more I believe but I still use so I understand the experience for most users. However, I do see the day when Outlook on the desktop begins to lose its appeal.

One of the things I have added to my desktop version of Outlook is a digital certificate that signs every email that I now send. This helps the receiver confirm that the message they have received is in fact from me and that it hasn’t been altered in any way. There are some issues when people attempt to reply to these emails from a mobile device but I believe a fix from Microsoft is coming..

The key application from the suite for me is OneNote. OneNote is my go to Swiss Army knife for just about everything digital. I use it to capture all sort of data. I even use it as a diary as I have detailed previous here:

One of the ways I use OneNote

The reason OneNote is key is because:

1. Just about everything I put in there us searchable

2. It is freely available across all platforms.

3. All my information is synced and accessible on all devices.

4. It is available on the web or offline if needed.

There are now two version of OneNote, the Windows store OneNote and OneNote 2016. I am a big user of OneNote on my iPad mini with the Apple pencil. This combination has allowed me to totally eliminate my paper notebooks for things such as journaling.

I use Pure Text to easily paste information, especially to and from OneNote as only text.

I am now a big Microsoft To-Do user. I use it to keep many tasks and items that I need to follow up. I love how it is available on all my devices and syncs across them all as well.

I use Windows terminal now for things like PowerShell execution and Microsoft Whiteboard for demonstrations and training.

Microsoft PowerToys allows me to customise my desktop layouts using FancyZones.

Another key service I use everyday along with Office 365 and OneNote is Azure. Typically, I use it for running up virtual machines that I test various things with but I also use it to backup my local data as well as that of other members of my family using Azure Backup.

Azure desktop backup

I have also now implemented an Azure site to site VPN as well as Azure SMB File storage to start moving my data into. I use Microsoft Sentinel to monitor all my services and machines in one single console and tell me about any incidents.

There is just so much that can be done with Azure and I pretty much use it everyday.

I still have a copy of some private data in Truecrypt but that is only as a backup. Nearly all of my data now lives in Microsoft 365 protected with things like Windows Information Protection and other Microsoft information protection options. All my Windows 10 machines run with full disk encryption thanks to Bitlocker, but stuff like financial and customer data live inside Microsoft 365..

In the last year I implemented Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) to provide application control to improve security in my environment.

To capture my desktop for my online training academy or my YouTube channel I use Camtasia. I use SnagIt to capture screen shots and add highlights and emphasis to these. Snagit allows me to capture complete screens or specific areas quickly and easily.

I use Microsoft Teams to record my podcasts, which I then produce with Camtasia. These are uploaded to Podbean where they syndicated across various network.

To compose and publish blog articles I use Open Live Writer. My blog lives on WordPress.com.

My web site and Battlefields site live on Squarespace.

The majority of images I get, like the one at the top of this article, I get from Pexels. Pickit is also another great option.

For improved meeting management productivity I use Microsoft FindTime.

Having recently purchased a Duo 2 device I have it connected to my Surface Pro 7 using the Microsoft Your Phone app.

I use Visual Studio Code in which I do most of my PowerShell editing and publishing. The end result typically is my GitHub repository where you will find a range of scripts and other resources that I maintain regular. With Visual Studio Code I can edit publish and sync all my machines and my GitHub repository no matter where I am. Very handy.

Here are also a few of the other items I use regularly that are not for business:

Amazon Prime Video – only place to the latest The Grand Tour action. I also liked the Jack Ryan series and well as the Gymkana Files but most of this viewing is now on my iPad mini.

NetFlix – Seen a lot of great stuff this give all the time in lock down but most of this viewing is now on my iPad mini.

XBox Live Gold – access to all the online Xbox goodness.

Duolingo – language learning, Japanese and Italian at the moment but most of this access is now on my iPad mini.

I try and keep my production machines as ‘clean’ and free of unused software as possible. I ensure that they are updated regularly. Any software testing that I need to do is typically done on a virtual machine in Azure.

So there you have it, the major software and services that I use regularly. I continue to search out additional software that will improve my productivity. If you use something that you’ve found really handy, please let me know and I always keen to explore what works for others.

Need to Know podcast–Episode 265

I’m joined by MVP Dr Neil Roodyn all about software development and why it’s important to incorporate it into your business and you career. Dr Neil shares a wide variety of insights and suggestions around how you can start building your programming muscles.

I’ll also cover off the latest Microsoft Cloud news after Ignite and get you right up to date. Listen and enjoy this episode.

This episode was recorded using Microsoft Teams and produced with Camtasia 2020.

Brought to you by www.ciaopspatron.com

Take a listen and let us know what you think – feedback@needtoknow.cloud

You can listen directly to this episode at:

https://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-265-dr-neil-roodyn/

Subscribe via iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

The podcast is also available on Stitcher at:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

Don’t forget to give the show a rating as well as send us any feedback or suggestions you may have for the show

Resources

External Teams channels + more

Teams Webinars

The philosophy and practice of our hybrid workplace

The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready?

SharePoint’s 20th birthday

What’s New in Microsoft Endpoint Manager – 2103 (March) Edition

Best practices for migrating to SharePoint and OneDrive

CIAOPS Best practices links on Github

New in Microsoft 365 Business Premium: Antivirus management and Universal Print

Introducing Microsoft Whiteboard for Android and Whiteboard for Microsoft Teams channels and chat

Need to Know podcast–Episode 264

In this episode I have chat with Microsoft Partner ISV manager Adam Lang how partners can leverage software development with Microsoft to get applications out to businesses. News from the Microsoft Cloud is a little slow just prior to Microsoft Ignite. Stay tuned to upcoming episodes for all the latest news from that event.

This episode was recorded using Microsoft Teams and produced with Camtasia 2020.

Brought to you by www.ciaopspatron.com

Take a listen and let us know what you think – feedback@needtoknow.cloud

You can listen directly to this episode at:

https://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-264-adam-lang/

Subscribe via iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

The podcast is also available on Stitcher at:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

Don’t forget to give the show a rating as well as send us any feedback or suggestions you may have for the show.

Resources

Adam Lang – adamlang@microsoft.com

@directorcia

Microsoft Ignite

Microsoft Viva

The vision behind Viva: a new experience for employee engagement

Start a conversation with your personal productivity assistant in Outlook with Cortana

Turning the page on Solorigate and opening the next chapter for the security community

Enhance productivity in Microsoft Teams with pop out apps and tabs

Preview Microsoft Endpoint Manager’s settings catalog to more easily customize and manage policy

Basic Authentication and Exchange Online – February 2021 Update

Email overrides are not best practice

Microsoft 365 Mailbox capacities and sizes

My Apps 2021

I am still not a big app user. I am very careful and selective about what I install on my device. Less is definitely more for me.

To see what I was using at the beginning of last year check out the article:

My Apps – 2020

My daily driver when it comes to a phone is an iPhone currently but I also have a Google Pixel as a backup. The other device that I use apps on is my iPad mini.

My most used apps on mobile devices over the last year were:

Castro on iOS to listen to all my podcasts on iOS.

Lastpass password manager and authenticator. for general password management.

Microsoft Authenticator – I use this for a number of select web sites as well as Microsoft 365.

Car Play – Connects to my daily drive to provide the ability to listen to podcasts as well as use Waze for navigation. Gotta say that it isn’t nearly as good as Android auto in my experience. However, since I’m spending an extended time in the Apple ecosystem I’ll be stick with this.

OneNote – is a must on every device I own. Syncs all my notes to every device. Allows me to not only truly have my information everywhere I am but also capture information quickly and easily.

The following as currently only iOS:

Oak – For mindfulness, breathing and meditation.

Zero – For fasting.

Rode Reporter – which I use for recording many of my presentations when I am out on the road, which ain’t so much these days but still a handy app to have.

Of course I have all the social media apps, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook on my devices.

I also have all the Microsoft/Office 365 apps. The ones I use the most are probably To-Do, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Yammer, although Word and Excel also get used regularly. Just about every Microsoft Office 365 service has an app that you should have on your mobile device. On my Android I am also using Edge as the primary browser along with the new Edge Insider. I also have the Brave browser on my devices as do not use Chrome at all.

I’ve also added the Intune app to all my devices so they can be better managed.

I use the Microsoft Next Lock Screen on my Android device.

Some occasional ones I use include:

– Get Pocket

– Duolingo

– Uber

– Amazon music

I use the normal personal apps for things like Internet banking and so on. I also use Blockfolio for monitoring cryptocurrency. For casual entertainment and general interest I also have Minecraft Earth installed but really don’t use it much.

One my iPad, which also serves as a personal entertainment device, I have the streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The above are my used apps across my various mobile devices. My aim to try and keep the app standard across all the devices and as few as possible. I try and standardise as much as possible to use the Microsoft apps on all platforms. I certainly use a wide variety of apps on my devices by prefer the desktop versions if available simply because my finger are too fat and my patience too short to be productive for long stints on mobile devices. My kingdom, my kingdom for a full keyboard and screen I cry.

My software and services 2021

startup-photos

Here’s last year’s post for comparison:

My software and services – 2020

All my PC’s are running the latest version of Windows 10 (20H2) without any issues and none during the upgrade process either. I do have Windows 10 and Office Insider builds happening on an original Surface PC as a testbed. All Windows 10 Pro machines are directly joined to Azure AD and managed via Intune and Microsoft Endpoint Manager. Their configurations are based on the Windows MDM security baseline settings. All machines run Windows Defender is a far better option in my experience. Thanks to Microsoft E5 on my production tenant, I am also using Microsoft Defender For EndPoint at the back end for monitoring and investigation of endpoint threats.

The WD Sentinel DX4000 runs Windows Storage Server 2008 and replacement is now in full swing thanks to the NBN finally arriving late last year. I have site to site VPN to Azure to allow data to be easily moved across my different infrastructure.

I use Azure Sentinel to monitor threats across my environments via a single pane of glass.

I use the following major browsers:

– Edge – my primary browser across all my devices including iOS and Android. I have it locked down with baseline policies via Microsoft Endpoint Manager.

Made me realise that I probably need to take this ‘do not track’ stuff more seriously!

– Firefox – I now only use this on my Surface Pro X because Brave doesn’t offer an ARM version.

I used to have Microsoft Teams which is now my main messaging application. All the CIAOPS Patron resources like the intranet, team, etc all reside in the Office 365 E5 demo tenant but I connect to it on my desktop normally via an Azure B2B guest account from my production tenant. Thus, I can admin the Patron resources in a browser if need be but I get the same experience on my desktop as any Patron would. Handy to know what works and doesn’t work with Microsoft Teams guest access. Thanks to Microsoft E5 and Switch Connect, I also have Teams connected as a phone.

The extensions I run in all my browsers are:

– LastPass

– GetPocket

I use Microsoft Power Automate for automation as well as Azure Functions.

For my email newsletters I use Mailchimp.

My preferred public social networks for business, in order are:

1. Twitter

2. Linkedin

3. Facebook

I consume a lot of content from YouTube both for business and personal interest. I also also use YouTube extensively for my publicly available training video training.

One of the ways I use OneNote

The reason OneNote is key is because:

1. Just about everything I put in there us searchable

2. It is freely available across all platforms.

3. All my information is synced and accessible on all devices.

4. It is available on the web or offline if needed.

I use Pure Text to easily paste information, especially to and from OneNote as only text.

I am now a big Microsoft To-Do user. I use it to keep many tasks and items that I need to follow up. I love how it is available on all my devices and syncs across them all as well.

I use Windows terminal now for things like PowerShell execution and Microsoft Whiteboard for demonstrations and training.

Azure desktop backup

I have also now implemented an Azure site to site VPN as well as Azure SMB File storage to start moving my data into. I use Azure Sentinel to monitor all my services and machines in one single console and tell me about any incidents.

There is just so much that can be done with Azure and I pretty much use it everyday.

For a subset of my local data that I wish to remain secure I use Truecrypt to create encrypted volumes. All my Windows 10 machines run with full disk encryption thanks to Bitlocker, but stuff like financial and customer data I keep inside Truecrypt volumes for that extra layer of security. I understand that Truecrypt is no longer maintained and may have some very minor security flaws, but for how and why I use it, it is more than adequate.

Production data is also protected using Windows Information Protection which provides yet a further level of protection and extends that to all devices including mobile devices like phones and tablets,

I use Microsoft Teams to record my podcasts, which I then produce with Camtasia. These are uploaded to Podbean where they syndicated across various network.

To compose and publish blog articles I use Open Live Writer. My blog lives on WordPress.com.

My web site and Battlefields site live on Squarespace.

The majority of images I get, like the one at the top of this article, I get from Pexels. Pickit is also another great option.

For improved meeting management productivity I use Microsoft FindTime.

Here are also a few of the other items I use regularly that are not for business:

Amazon Prime Video – only place to the latest The Grand Tour action. I also liked the Jack Ryan series and well as the Gymkana Files but most of this viewing is now on my iPad mini.

NetFlix – Seen a lot of great stuff this give all the time in lock down but most of this viewing is now on my iPad mini.

XBox Live Gold – access to all the online Xbox goodness.

Duolingo – language learning, Japanese and Italian at the moment but most of this access is now on my iPad mini.