I swear I did not change a setting, but I’ve started experiencing the following behaviour with the Outlook client in Windows 11, that replaced the Mail app:

• Click on the ellipse (three dots … ) in an email, next to the forward, reply buttons
• Select Report then either Report Junk or Report Phishing
• Immediately receive a copy of the message headers as a new email to my Inbox, from myself, with the subject # Questionable URLs detected in message: None and a copy of the message as an attachment.

It’s likely this was a system change with a Microsoft Defender update and not related to the Outlook client at all, but here’s how to turn off those replies:

One of the best purchases I ever made was the Microsoft Surface Dial – it pays for itself every time I need to edit videos on my Windows computer in Camtasia Studio. The Surface Dial is a handy interface device for Windows even without the on-screen capability you get with devices like the Surface Studio.

Here’s how I configure it and what the editing experience looks like.

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 11, Camtasia 2021 and earlier

My role at Microsoft has always been primarily a remote role, from home. But as travel has? decreased, the amount of time I spend on video has dramatically increased, and that’s not just from meetings. Many technical presentations are pre-recorded (and moderated live when aired), or delivered live to camera, and I also record short promotional videos which are usually scripted for training content or events.

Here’s a walkthrough of the setup I’m currently using, to get results like this:

The COVID-19 epidemic has seen the world go into lockdown and in-person events be cancelled. Many organisers have looked at online options to deliver events, whether they are industry tech meetups or conference, or school and universities etc. For many speakers, this has meant quickly learning a new skill ? presenting remotely!

It?s important to appreciate that this IS a different skill to presenting in front of a room full of people, on a stage with bright lights and a lapel mic. So lets look at some of those differences and tips for delivering a great talk online.

The public face of a Cloud Advocacy role looks a lot like planes and conference venues. So in the midst of the COVID-19 virus, what exactly does my role look like?

With rest, I regain my perspective.

I had a big lead-up to taking some time off. Then that turned out to be a little more stressful than we had planned. But I got to spend some dedicated time with the people I love the most, where I didn’t have to check emails. Bliss.

I beat myself up for failing to complete a task and having to hand it over. There might even be an entire blog post in that itself. Just as I’d tell anyone else that it’s ok to ask for help, I had to ask for help. When I set the bar high for being a person who will do what she has said she will do – personal circumstances meant I didn’t. The result – it got taken over and handled, because I am supported.

In a society where busy & activity & noise & public is normal, progress is made in the quiet.

I’m currently working at two speeds:

1) See an opportunity and act on it.

2) See an opportunity and plan it. Research it. Consult on it. Amass a jumble of thoughts. Discard some. Sharpen the focus. Document the challenges, the approaches and the solutions.

As someone driven by the satisfaction of less items in my Inbox, less things on my to do list, speed 1 is so much more satisfying. But I’m enjoying the details of speed 2. The digging in. Respecting bigger things enough to give them more of my time.

The timing of this tweet made me smile. I had recently returned from 8 nights away in paradise (Khao Lak, Thailand) at an adults only resort with the love of my life. I hadn’t checked Outlook or Microsoft Teams once. I was in a pretty good position to comment on how to be someone in tech who was good at vacation.

OK let’s not mention how long it has been since I’ve blogged. Just sit back and enjoy my website refresh and let’s move on ….

Amongst the craziness of my life now I’m full-time at Microsoft, I tweet the occasional #CloudAdvocateLife moment to give you some insight into the highs and lows of my day. Here I can expand a little more on the work I’ve been doing and how I maintain my work/life balance and my mental health. Today, let me catch you up on how the Cloud Advocate role has unfolded so far.

When I started in tech, the world was MS-DOS based, with Windows 3.11 for Workgroups if you were lucky. Word Perfect ruled the typing pool and dot matrix line printers sang in the background. There was no plug and play. There was config.sys and autoexec.bat. Token ring and IPX/SPX.

I promise I won’t tell you to get off my lawn.

And then, our tech world changed. Windows NT brought with it the registry. TCP/IP. Ethernet. Active Directory. So many new things to learn that fundamentally changed our technology infrastructure.