2 Technical

Do you know exactly where your business data physically lives? When you sign up for a cloud service like Microsoft 365, your emails and files are stored in a massive data center. But that data center could be in Sydney, Dublin, or North Virginia. For many businesses, this matters legally. If you deal with regulated industries—like finance, health, or government contracts—you are often required by law to keep your client data within your own country's borders. If your Microsoft "Tenant" was set up years ago, or if you signed up using a default setting, your data might be sitting in a different legal jurisdiction. It is worth checking your "Data Location" in the Microsoft admin center to ensure you aren't accidentally breaking compliance laws. #compliance #dataresidency #Microsoft365 #digitalsovereignty

Does your AI start to hallucinate when you feed it large amounts of text or big documents? This happens because of something called "Context Window", which is the limit on how much information the model can process at one time. To stop this from happening, keep these 5 things in mind: 1. Think of the context window as a moving spotlight. As you add more text to the chat, the spotlight moves forward, and everything behind it falls into darkness. 2. AI counts "tokens" (chunks of characters), not words. A complex spreadsheet with lots of numbers and symbols uses up the context window much faster than simple paragraphs of text. 3. While free versions struggle with long threads, "Pro" or "Team" subscriptions usually unlock significantly larger context windows, allowing the AI to analyze hundreds of files at once without crashing. 4. Even if a model can accept a massive document, its reasoning often gets worse as the context fills up. It is safer to break huge tasks into smaller, focused prompts. 5. Hidden formatting in PDFs or code snippets counts toward your limit. Pasting clean, plain text gives the AI more "brain space" to focus on your actual content. This should make it easier for you to use AI without having to deal with hallucinations.

We have all been in a webinar or Zoom call where the presenter shows a slide with a great quote or a long URL. You scramble to write it down or take a screenshot before they change the slide and usually miss half of it. If you use Microsoft PowerToys, you don't have to type anything. Use the "Text Extractor" tool to draw a quick box around the text on the shared screen. It reads the pixels, converts them into real text, and copies it to your clipboard. You can paste the notes directly into your own document without missing a beat of the presentation. It's one of those tiny tools that feels like magic every time you use it. #officetips #workflow #microsofttips

There are still people in 2026 who save their passwords in a browser. It's super convenient (one click), but it's also a very bad idea from a cybersecurity perspective. If you leave your laptop unlocked to grab a coffee, anyone walking past can open your browser settings and view your saved passwords in plain text. If they get into your email, they can reset the passwords for every other account you own. If a malicious script infects your computer, it can instantly scan your browser files and extract every username and password stored there. It's just not worth the risk when you can use a dedicated Password Manager for a few ££££ pounds a month. You'll get an extra step in your login process, but your credentials will be much safer behind a master key or biometrics, even when your computer is unlocked. #cybersecurity #passwords #businesssecurity

Don't click on links in spam emails. Not even on "unsubscribe", because it often makes the problem worse. Scammers send millions of emails blindly, not knowing which addresses are real. When you click a link in the email they sent (the unsubscribe link included), you send a signal back that says: "This email address is active, and a human is reading it." Instead of unsubscribing you from their list, they move your address from their "Maybe" list to their "Premium Target" list. Your email ends up being sold to other scammers and receiving ten times more junk. If you signed up for a retailer's newsletter, unsubscribing is fine. But if it's random spam you never asked for, do not click the link. Mark it as "Junk" and let your filter handle the rest. #cybersecurity #spam #emailtips

How do you stop an employee from accidentally emailing your confidential client list to their personal Gmail? This is a common data leak, but Microsoft 365 has a feature to stop it called Sensitivity Labels. Think of them as tags you apply to your company's data, like "Public," "Internal," or "Confidential." Once you have these tags in place, you can set rules for how those files are handled. For example, you can create a rule that says: "If a file is marked Confidential, it cannot be sent to anyone outside our company." If an employee tries to email that file to a Gmail address, Outlook will block it and warn them. This creates a safety net for your data. It also helps with AI tools like Copilot. If a document is labeled "Confidential," you can prevent Copilot from summarizing it or showing it to employees who shouldn't have access. It takes some work to set up the rules in the backend, but labeling your data is the best way to make sure it stays safe. #DataSecurity #Microsoft365 #BusinessTips

If you're thinking about turning on Microsoft Copilot, you need to check your file permissions first. Copilot is powerful because it reads your company data in OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams to give you answers. That is also the risk. If a user can open a file, Copilot can read it. This becomes a problem if your permissions are disorganized. You might have an old payroll spreadsheet that was shared with "Everyone" years ago. You forgot it exists, but Copilot will find it instantly. If an employee asks Copilot "How much do people get paid?", and that file is accessible, the AI will show them the data. Before you turn it on, look at your files: - Ensure HR and Finance folders are restricted to the right people. - Remove old files with "Company-wide" sharing links. - Use Microsoft's "Sensitivity Labels" (like Confidential) so Copilot knows what it can and cannot touch.

Big thanks to Shekinah Mission Plymouth IPS Employment Team 🙌 Chuffed we could get 3 laptops that might of ended in landfill into the hands of people who’ll use them for CVs, job apps and fresh starts. Shoutout to Esme Curtis for the pickup and the brilliant 2 Technical crew for making it happen. Small kit, big impact. 💙 #TechForGood #Community #Employability #Plymouth

I probably use this keyboard shortcut more than any other. You know when you are in the zone, cleaning up your browser tabs, and you accidentally close the one you needed? It breaks your flow completely because now you have to dig through the "History" menu to find it again. You don't need to do that. Next time it happens, just hit Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows (if you are on a Mac, it’s Cmd + Shift + T). It immediately brings back the last tab you closed. The cool part is that it has a memory. If you closed three tabs by mistake, just keep hitting the shortcut. It will reopen them one by one in the reverse order that you closed them. #productivity #keyboardshorcut #windows

Smishing attacks are getting more realistic. If you don't know what smishing is, it's basically phishing, but through text messages. The goal is to get your login info or credit card numbers. It used to be easy to spot these, but scammers have upgraded their tactics: 🤓 - They use your real name so the message feels personal. The links look real. 🔒 - They often use HTTPS, so the little padlock icon doesn't guarantee a site is safe anymore. 🏖️- They time the texts to match real events like tax season or holiday deliveries. 📞- Some even try to get you to download a fake app or call a bogus support number. The best thing to do is never click a link in a text message, even if it looks urgent. If you are worried about an account, just open your official bank app or type the website in yourself. If there is an actual problem, the alert will be there. #cybersecurity #smishing #bankscam