IT

What Is eDiscovery In Security And Compliance In Office 365?

The Security and Compliance area of Office 365 does a bunch of things around securing, managing and auditing the data your organisation has in Office 365, but one area that caught my interest was the eDiscovery options.

eDiscovery is just like email – an electronic version of something that used to be done manually. If you’ve watched shows like Suits, they will show people going through a discovery process by having a room full of boxes, and having to read through all the documents by hand to find whatever smoking gun they’re after.

The ‘e’ in eDiscovery just means that all the data is digitalised (either originally because it’s digital content such as emails or files from computers, or has been scanned to convert the contents from analog to digital) and more importantly, indexed and quickly searchable.

If you were searching for ‘murder’ in an eDiscovery system, you’d put the keyword you want (murder) and point it to the set of data to search against –  just like Windows PCs can index their local data for searching the contents quickly. All documents that contain the word ‘murder’ are presented and can be read through by someone, which makes the manual process of going through a room full of boxes a bit laughable.

This is exactly what Microsoft’s eDiscovery does, with the benefit of already having your existing Office 365 data indexed. This includes all your Exchange Online mailboxes, SharePoint Online sites and OneDrive for Business content.

Microsoft Mechanics have a great demo video on how this works for a keyword search:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyUpP8L_xQM

Of course the functionality of eDisccovery goes way beyond legal reasons, and the whole Security and Compliance solutions go far beyond the eDiscovery component.

You may also have content you want to search that’s not in Office 365 currently. PSTs can be uploaded then searched against in Exchange Online, or you can upload files to a library (SharePoint or OneDrive for Business) and search against them.

The space and compute power is something you don’t have to worry about (as long as you’ve got enough space in Office 365, which you can buy more of if needed) with this too.

There is a huge amount of documentation online about eDiscovery which will cover a lot of questions and scenarios you may have, but I think it’s best to find some test data and start playing around with it.

I’m learning the basics about eDiscovery myself, but if you’re looking to do a keyword search on a large amount of data, this is worth looking at – and assuming you have Office 365 already, shouldn’t cost you anything to use!

 

 

Lenovo Thinkpad E560 vs HP ProBook 450 G3

 

After looking for a budget but decent business laptop in Australia, I came across these two devices and thought it’d be worthwhile to compare.

The Lenovo ThinkPad E series is Lenovo’s entry level laptop type for business. If you don’t need super thin and super tough, but still want something that is customisable to your needs, these are great as entry level devices. The E560 is the latest 15.6″ model in the E series with an Intel CPU.

On the other hand, the HP ProBook 450 G3 is part of HP’s ProBook series, which is their version of the budget business laptops. I couldn’t work out what the G3 stood for after some research, if you know please share! :) The 450 G3 is also a 15.6″ laptop, customisable to the specifications you choose.

20160815_173054 (Custom)Back to Back – E560 & 450 G3

After getting my hands on both laptops, there were a lot of similarities. I’ll run through some comparisons below. Specs have been sourced from the Lenovo and HP websites.

20160815_173019 (Custom)Side by Side – E560 & 450 G3

Weight and Dimensions

E560
37.7cm x 25.5cm x 2.38~2.71cm
Starting at 2.30 kg

450 G3
37.8 x 26.43 x 2.38 to 2.48 cm (front to rear) (non-touch);
37.8 x 26.46 x 2.55 to 2.65 cm (front to rear) (touch)
Starting at 2.07kg

The HP is a bit lighter to start with, but without a scale and comparing the two build I had, they felt very similar. The HP seemed to have more weight at the back while the Lenovo was more centered. Alternatively, the Lenovo is slightly smaller in length and width, but height varies from shorter to taller depending on the E560 config. To me, all of these aren’t deciding factors between the two.

Winner – Too close to call

CPU

The processor options between the two are identical for the Skylake 6th generation ‘i series’ of Intel CPUs. i3, i5 and i7 are all choosable with the same variant on both models. The HP also has a Pentium processor option, but this is very low end and I personally wouldn’t consider this.

Winner – Both

RAM

Again, both laptops can go up to 16GB of DDR RAM. Interestingly, the Lenovo is DDR3 1600Mhz while the HP is DDR4 2133Mhz. This might sound major, but the performance difference between the two is negligible when benchmarked. Not a deciding factor between the two here, even though it’s nicer to have a newer technology :)

Winner – HP slightly

Storage

450 G3

  • 500 GB SATA (7200 rpm)
  • 500 GB up to 2 TB SATA (5400 rpm)
  • 128 GB up to 256 GB M.2 SATA TLC SSD
  • 500 GB SATA SSHD (5400 rpm)

E560

  • 500GB 7200 RPM HDD
  • 500GB 5400rpm Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD) with 8GB NAND flash memory
  • 1TB 5400 RPM HDD
  • 192GB SSD (although I could find a 256GB SSD option)

Yet again, we’re seeing similar options. I wouldn’t go past SSD, but you do pay a small premium for that. For an entry level business laptop 128GB is probably enough too, but the 256GB is a nice bit of extra room. The HP has the newer M.2 SATA style SSD, but again there is very little difference in that versus the SATA SSD contained in the Lenovo.

Winner – HP slightly

Display

450 G3

  • 15.6″ diagonal HD anti-glare flat LED-backlit (1366 x 768)
  • 15.6″ diagonal full HD anti-glare slim LED-backlit (1920 x 1080)
  • 15.6″ diagonal HD flat LED-backlit touch screen (1366 x 768)

E560

  • 15.6″ HD (1366 x 768) Anti-Glare, 220 nits
  • 15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, Anti-Glare, 250 nits

 

20160815_172738 (Custom)450 G3 & E560 displays

I couldn’t visibly tell a difference in quality between the two. The HP is the only one with a touch option, but you’ll pay for that benefit. If you need touch, then the 450 G3 is the only choice. Otherwise, I’d recommend either with a 1920 x 1080 resolution

Winner: Both, (HP if you need touchscreen)

Graphics

450 G3

  • Onboard Intel HD
  • AMD Radeon™ R7 M340 (1 or 2 GB DDR3 dedicated, switchable)

E560

  • Onboard Intel HD
  • AMD Radeon™ R7 M370 2 GB GDDR5

 

As the Intel HD graphics is part of the CPU, those are again identical between the two models. If you need more grunt though, the E560 has the clear advantage of a better discreet graphics card. Many businesses may not care about this, but if you’re doing modeling or other GPU intensive tasks, this could matter

Winner: Both, (Lenovo if you need a dedicated GPU)

Ports

450 G3

  • 2 USB 3.0
  • 2 USB 2.0
  • 1 HDMI
  • 1 headphone/microphone combo
  • 1 AC power
  • 1 RJ-45
  • 1 VGA
  • 1 multi-format digital media reader

E560

  • 3 x USB 3.0
  • 4-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)
  • Lenovo OneLink Docking Port
  • VGA
  • HDMI
  • Combo audio/microphone jack
  • Ethernet (RJ45)
  • Security keyhole

20160815_172940 (Custom)20160815_172925 (Custom)20160815_172909 (Custom)E560 on top of the 450 G3

Having lots of useful ports is important. The Lenovo has an extra USB 3 port at the cost of two USB 2.0 ports. Personally I’d rather the 3 x USB 3.0 but if you need a wired keyboard and mouse, then those would be better used on the HP’s two USB 2.0 ports, leaving two USB 3.0 free. The Lenovo having the Onelink Docking Port is good if you want a dock, otherwise on the HP you’d have to use one of the USB 3.0 ports for this.

Winner: Too close to call

Camera

450 G3

  • 720p HD webcam

E560

  • Integrated 720p HD Camera, with Dual MIC
  • 720p HD Intel® RealSense™ 3D Camera

The quality of the two cameras are the same, but the Lenovo has an optional Intel RealSense 3D Camera. The model I had was set up this way, which gives you Windows Hello sign in – look at the camera for a second and you’re logged in without touching the laptop. This is one of those features that you won’t be bothered about until you have it, then you’ll be annoyed when you use another computer missing the feature!

Winner: Lenovo (if you want to pay extra for RealSense)

Keyboard and Trackpad

 

20160815_172837 (Custom)HP ProBook 450 G3 Keyboard and Trackpad

20160815_172844 (Custom)Lenovo ThinkPad E560 Keyboard and Trackpad

These are more of a personal preference, but to me the Lenovo keyboard and trackpad were a lot nicer than the HP’s. The trackpad itself feels of higher quality, as do the keys. The HP does have an optional backlit keyboard though, so if you’re doing a lot of typing in the dark, that may trump the quality and feel of the Lenovo. The lenovo also has a pointing stick, and full arrow keys which you can see in the photos above.

Winner: Lenovo

Wrap up

There were some other features I didn’t mention, such as both having a DVD drive – but this doesn’t help you choose between the two. The Lenovo is most customisable online where each option was a tickable addon, clearly showing the cost when purchasing. HP seemed to be more clunky, where I could only find a single model for sale that couldn’t be customised. Speaking to them online or contacting them may be a way to get the particular features you want.

Due to this, I couldn’t spec both up the way I’d want and give a price comparison. Here’s the optional specifications I’d pick which both models support, which should be best bang for buck:

Processor : Intel Core i5-6200U Processor (3MB Cache, up to 2.80GHz)
Operating System : Windows 10 Professional 64
Hard Drive : 256 GB Solid State Drive, SATA3 OPAL2.0 – Capable
Display : 15.6 FHD (1920×1080) IPS Non-Touch
Memory : 8GB PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3L (1 DIMM)
Graphics : Intel HD Onboard

Of course, the dedicated AMD GPU would be nice, and depending on price I’d add one on too.

If you haven’t guessed by now, there’s no clear winner. I’d be choosing on price primarily, and if it happened to be the same, the above information will hopefully help you pick one over the other, depending which little extras you want. Both are solid laptops, and with the right specifications neither would be a regrettable purchase.

 

I was also asked this on Twitter about the comparison of the two laptops:

 

 

My answer on this is the same, both would be a great fit and I’d choose on price. The laptop can be connected to your TV via HDMI, and a remote connected via USB dongle to control something like Kodi.

If you have any questions or comments, please write below!

Important Azure and Office 365 URLs for Admins

I keep forgetting some of the main URLs I need for Microsoft’s online cloud based services. Instead of going direct to where I want, I log into one point I know and follow the bouncing ball to get to my destination – hardly efficient.

Instead, here’s my list of important Azure and Office 365 URLs to get where you want. The ones that require your domain as part of the URL aren’t hotlinks.

Office 365
Office 365 Admin Portal https://portal.office.com/adminportal/home?switchtomodern=true#
Office 365 Admin Portal (old) https://portal.office.com/Admin/Default.aspx?switchtoclassic=true#
Office 365 Portal with specific internal domain https://login.microsoftonline.com/?whr=yourdomain.com (modify to your own domain on the end)
Office 365 Apps https://portal.office.com/myapps

Azure
Azure AD and Old Portal https://manage.windowsazure.com
Azure AD and Old Portal to a specific domain https://manage.windowsazure.com/yourdomain.com (modify to your own domain on the end)
Azure New Portal https://portal.azure.com/

Intune
Intune Admin Portal https://manage.microsoft.com/MicrosoftIntune/

Skype For Business Online
Skype For Business Admin Portal https://adminau1.online.lync.com/lscp/ (possibly Australia only?)

Exchange Online
Exchange Admin Center https://outlook.office365.com/ecp/

Apps
Power BI https://app.powerbi.com
Exchange Online Mailbox https://outlook.office365.com/
Yammer https://www.yammer.com/office365
SharePoint Online https://yourdomain.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/sharepoint.aspx
Planner https://tasks.office.com
Office Online (Word, Excel etc) https://office.live.com
Sway https://www.sway.com/
Security and Compliance https://protection.office.com
Office Store https://portal.office.com/store

 

Microsoft have a list of all Office 365 URLs and IPs too, but that’s for you to configure your firewall preemptively rather than an Office 365/Azure Admin.

If you have any adds or changes, please let me know!

 

Update 7th September 2016

Microsoft have put up a giant list of links to all the Azure bits and pieces, check it out!

Opening QDF Files

I had the problem of trying to open some .QDF files.

A google revealed they were most likely Quicken files, but had little luck going down that path.

Eventually I found out they were Reckon files. The QDF extension was a bit confusing, until I read this. In Australia, Quicken was localised by another company who it seems have parted ways. This resulted in Reckon being the Australian ‘version’ of Quicken.

Intuit owns Quicken, as well as QuickBooks. They have an online version too, descriptively called QuickBooks Online.

The result of all this was that I had Reckon files, with a .QDF extension – but an export of the files were also provided, and they had a .RKN file extension instead.

If you want to view these files, Reckon provides 60 day trial software that seems to have no limitations, available here. Note that if one version prompts saying you need to purchase addins, try a different version instead. I had better success with Reckon Accounts Home & Business 2016 with the particular files I was working on.

Also, if you get stuck then you could try some of Inuit’s free conversion utilities from older Quicken files to newer Quicken files, which can also be read by Quickbooks.

Credit to Reckon’s support who explained some of this to me!

I hope this helps anyone trying to open .QDF files or .RKN files, particularly if you’re from Australia!

ALPAKA 7ven Messenger Bag Review

I’ve generally been a backpack person. Decent quality backpacks have held what I needed, and it helped that my biennial trip to a Microsoft conference resulted in a new backpack each time.

Recently though, I was introduced to the ALPAKA 7ven Messenger Bag. I’ve been given a pre-production sample to use… which I really wasn’t sure if I’d like it or not based on the style of bag with my backpack history, but was happy to at least try it.

20160816_171245ALPAKA 7ven Messenger Bag

ALPAKA have just launched their Kickstarter for this bag too, which makes this review rather timely. They have a lot more photos and technical information about the bag there too – if you’re curious, have a look at their campaign.

Anyway, back to my experience. The bag turned up a month or so ago, and I’d already watched some videos on it’s features (again, check out the Kickstarter for those) and was getting rather interested in how it all worked.

The first thing I wanted to play with – and needed to get past anyway, were the magnetised latches. I hadn’t seen these in real life before, and wondered how they worked. Through some impressive engineering the latches go straight in and ‘click’, but will only come out if you slide them sideways:

20160816171725Fancy German-Designed Magnetic Latches

There are three of these clips on the front, and the middle one took me a minute to work out how to do it – not that it’s tricky, I just didn’t realise it was another of these clips! I was already impressed by the engineering on a simple clip, and continued to explore how the bag works:

20160816_171401Open Bag

The left and right clips had two different ‘clip slots’ they could go into, depending how you wanted to close the bag. There’s compartments all over the place, and a velcro laptop protector strip that can either be tucked inside the bag, or onto the front. You can see above the entire front pouch has the slightly fluffy material that velcro sticks to – it’s also softer than what you’d normally expect from velcro fluff.

There’s leather bits such as the handle and some of the corners, and the bag itself is waterproof too. I found that even though this is a pre-production sample, the quality was very high and after a month of constant use, there’s no visible wear and tear on anything… and I’m generally throwing the bag down whenever I reach my destination.

Of the bag’s three holding styles (suitcase, over one shoulder, messenger) I found the messenger mode to be the best for me. Here’s a picture of myself awkwardly posing for a selfie, wearing the bag:

20160715_173428Strap padding is removable but it has a picture of an alpaka on it.

It was actually really comfortable in this mode, which I wasn’t expecting at all comparing to a backpack. There’s an option to pull out another strap and clip it across for extra stability, but I found I didn’t need to do this for normal walking – but I can see it useful if you had to jog/run/bike somewhere, and it’s another magnetised clip that’s easy to attach and remove. Also there’s a small zip in the front to store something for easy access – not big enough for a mobile phone, but a bus ticket or credit card will fit fine.

One of the other big impressions the bag left on me was the thoughtfulness that went into the design. Most straps have a strap management solution and are adjustable, so you can size the straps to your requirements, but also slide the strap holders in place or tuck extra cables away, meaning you don’t have a bunch of straps dangling off your bag.

Size wise, I first saw the bag and wondered how much it could hold, and if it could hold a decent sized laptop. Here’s the bag behind a Lenovo ThinkPad P50 – a 15.6″ laptop:

20160720_192304Laptop Out

and here it is inside the 7ven Messenger Bag:

20160818_103953Laptop In

It passed the ‘will a big laptop fit?’ test rather well.

Since mucking around with the bag, I’ve been using it every day for work. It’s easy to flick over the head and walk around, and is better balanced than having a backpack over 1 arm – I’ve found I walk better when using it.

I also didn’t think I’d be that interested in a bag, but this bag certainly proved that wrong. I’ve shown it in person to several people who have all liked it; it looks smart, while being very practical.

I’m very happy that ALPAKA sent me this to keep – if you want your own, you’d better get onto the Kickstarter!

20160816172403