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While almost every business has some type of backup processes in place for their important servers, many of these same companies have neglected endpoint backup. There’s no doubt that servers are more important as they provide a platform for the business-critical applications and services that the business relies on but they are not the only critical component.

The new Request Files feature in OneDrive for Business is great for users but comes with no admin controls. You can block the feature completely with a kludge and use Office 365 audit records to know when people are requesting files. However, Microsoft could make the feature so much better by extending some existing controls to make requesting files work better and more securely.

Microsoft adds a subset of existing Azure server security and auditing features to Azure Arc for organizations that need to manage workloads on different platforms and locations.

In a January 22 post, Microsoft announced a plan to boost Microsoft Search in Bing by including an extension to make Bing the search engine for Chrome for Office ProPlus users. Obviously no one outside Redmond thinks that this is a good idea as forcing users to embrace Bing is unlikely to be popular. But it might happen in mid-February when the next Monthly Channel update for Office ProPlus lands. Stay tuned for developments.

Hot on the heels of this month’s Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has published a security advisory for an Internet Explorer zero-day.

The OneDrive for Business Request Files feature is a quick and simple way for users to ask others to upload files to a target folder using a special sharing link. Request files is now available within Office 365. The process is straightforward and might even help to stop people sending some attachments around in email. No admin controls are available for Request files, which is a nagging concern that deserves some consideration.

Windows 7 gets its last regular Patch Tuesday security updates, Microsoft fixes a CryptoAPI vulnerability reported by the NSA, and Windows Server RDP also gets patched.

For the past couple of years, Microsoft has hosted Ignite in Orlando, Florida. But for 2020, the company is moving the event to a new location and it will also be earlier in the year.

Because it’s been a while, this edition of Short Takes looks at Microsoft’s new carbon-negative push, thanking the NSA for finding a serious Windows 10 flaw, Microsoft’s new Edge browser, a new Walkie-Talkie feature coming to Teams, and much, much more.

Everyone gets very excited about new Office 365 features, but how do we handle the dark side of change – deprecated features and functionality? The answer is that we probably don’t do such a good job of managing features out of tenants. Maybe it’s not the most exciting topic or work to do, but the simple fact is that deprecations happen and will continue to happen.

Most of the changes in Windows 10 version 2004, which is due to land in the first half of 2020, are under-the-hood. And the Windows 10 November 2019 Update got some of the changes that were in development as part of 20H1, like enhancements to search in File Explorer. This first article in a two-part series looks at the productivity improvements coming as part of Windows 10 version 2004.

Microsoft’s new Edge browser is here but it’s not coming to your environment just yet; the company is taking the slow road to pushing this update out to everyone.