croom new

TotalCareIT™ Blog

TotalCareIT™ has been serving the Melbourne area since 2001, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Internet Explorer is Dead, Long Live Microsoft Edge?

Internet Explorer is Dead, Long Live Microsoft Edge?

Goodbyes are always painful, but we suspect that this one for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer will be more on the bittersweet side of things. Long a staple in the web browsing world, Internet Explorer has largely been removed from devices running Windows 10 and Windows 11. Let’s take a moment to discuss the approach Microsoft is using to slowly phase Internet Explorer out of the web browsing space.

Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Maneuvering Around Microsoft Teams

Tip of the Week: Maneuvering Around Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a video communication and collaboration platform that your organization can use to great success, but it helps to have a couple of pointers so you can make the most out of the software. Here are five ways you can maximize the value you get out of your Microsoft Teams software.

Continue reading

Using Your Voice to Type in Microsoft Word

Using Your Voice to Type in Microsoft Word

Typing on your keyboard is something that you do every day, but sometimes you just don’t want to do it. You can give your hands a break and use Microsoft Word’s dictation feature; this lets you use your voice to write in the software. Let’s go over how you might use the feature on a desktop, web browser, or mobile device.

Continue reading

Microsoft is Sending Mixed Signals About Remote Work

Microsoft is Sending Mixed Signals About Remote Work

Have your opinions of remote work changed at all over the past year and a half, or do you still want your employees to return to the office in full force? Many major companies, despite initially advocating for remote work, are sending mixed signals on the topic, including Microsoft. What can we learn from the experiences of these companies?

Continue reading

Everything You Need to Know About Windows 8.1 End of Life

Everything You Need to Know About Windows 8.1 End of Life

With Microsoft announcing that the Windows 11 release is right around the corner, most users will be looking to upgrade to hardware that supports it. This is a topic for another day. As we approach the Windows 11 launch, Microsoft is gearing up to retire one of its most controversial (and ultimately innovative) operating systems to date, Windows 8.1. Today, we thought we’d talk a little bit about the mixed bag Windows 8.1 is and how it will be important to move off of the software by January 2023.

Continue reading

Is Your PC Ready for Windows 11?

Is Your PC Ready for Windows 11?

Microsoft has officially unveiled Windows 11, the latest in its line of PC operating systems, as well as detailed its system requirements. Will your business be upgrading to Windows 11 when the time comes? We think a lot of it will depend on its current IT infrastructure and whether or not you meet the minimum requirements right out the gate. Let’s dive into the details and what you need to know about Windows 11.

Continue reading

A Major Update to Windows 10 Is On the Horizon

A Major Update to Windows 10 Is On the Horizon

Back in 2015, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows, meaning that we should not expect Windows 11 anytime soon. Still, a major update to the Windows 10 operating system has been confirmed to be on its way. What’s coming with this next update to Windows 10, and what does it mean for your business?

Continue reading

Be Sure to Update Your Microsoft Passwords

Be Sure to Update Your Microsoft Passwords

The new year is upon us and after the debacle that 2020 was, it is extremely welcome. If you are like us, you have a new set of goals that you’ve created for yourself and are probably looking to improve your professional and personal well-being. One way to do that is to ensure that your accounts are secure. Today, we will be going through how to update your password with Microsoft.

Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Activate Microsoft’s Two-Step Verification

318593015_2A_two_step_authentication_400

Nowadays a lot of accounts give you the option to set up two-step authorization; and, most of the time you probably should. The security and privacy benefits that your business can gain are substantial. Today, we’ll describe how to enable what Microsoft calls two-step verification. 

Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Useful OneDrive Features

199701107_Storage_data_backup_cloud_data

Microsoft has a well-developed reputation for creating software that enables users to achieve their work objectives, especially in the business setting. Here, we’re diving into a few capabilities of one such software title, OneDrive, to review some of the features that a user might want to take advantage of.

Continue reading

Office 365 Offers More Than You May Think

Office 365 Offers More Than You May Think

Businesses should value organization, collaboration, and usability. There are few tools greater than what Microsoft has offered for nearly the last 30 years to fulfill these values. Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and so many more great tools are available to your business. Today we thought we would go over what other useful tools are available through Microsoft, and how your business can utilize each of them. 

Continue reading

What’s New in Office 2019

What’s New in Office 2019

Microsoft Office is the most utilized productivity suite in the world; and, there are several reasons why. One of the most cited is that they routinely update the applications with new and innovative features. Office 2019 has been out for just under a year and today, we’ll talk about the biggest improvements Microsoft has made within their signature productivity suite. 

Continue reading

Why Microsoft 365 is a Solid Option for Businesses

Why Microsoft 365 is a Solid Option for Businesses

Microsoft 365 has been on the market for a while now, and we thought it would be a good time to go into the different tiers of the platform to give you an idea of what it is, why it is useful, and how your business fits into the latest cloud platform offered by Microsoft. Let’s start with what it is.

Continue reading

SQL Server 2008 R2 Has Reached the End of the Line

SQL Server 2008 R2 Has Reached the End of the Line

Technology doesn’t last forever, and this is especially true for software solutions. Granted, software is a little easier to upgrade than hardware, as they can be administered patches and updates remotely, but what happens after that support ends? Well, it turns out that the widely used Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 will both be reaching their end of support date soon, meaning businesses will need a plan in place to overcome these challenges.

Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Formatting Shortcuts for Excel

Tip of the Week: Formatting Shortcuts for Excel

Microsoft Excel has a lot of moving parts… assuming you know how to move them, of course. For this week’s tip, we’re going over a few shortcuts to help you make the best use of some of these parts.

Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Match Word to Your Style

MW_style_400

Microsoft Word’s massive cache of options and its relative ease of use are two of its defining characteristics. This presents organizations and users alike with a large set of different ways they can set up the word processor. Today, we will take you through Word, providing tips on how to change these settings so that you can get the most out of it.

Continue reading

Understanding the Importance of .Net Framework

Understanding the Importance of .Net Framework

If you’re a habitual user of the Microsoft Windows operating system, there’s a relatively good chance that you’ve been prompted to install something called “.NET framework.” Pronounced “dot-net,” this framework is most commonly used for Windows. In this blog, we’ll go over what a software framework is and is for, as well as examine what makes .NET stand out.

Continue reading

3 SharePoint Considerations Businesses Should Have

3 SharePoint Considerations Businesses Should Have

Businesses are always looking for a way to make their projects more successful. While many organizations have found success by integrating Microsoft SharePoint project collaboration software, some have found it to be a giant headache to manage, or even completely unnecessary. No matter where your business falls on this spectrum, there are some best practices in utilizing SharePoint to get the most out of the platform. Here are three considerations your team should make when you settle on SharePoint for project collaboration.

Continue reading

Tip of the Week: 3 More Useful Microsoft Word Features

Tip of the Week: 3 More Useful Microsoft Word Features

Microsoft Word has long since established itself as the primary word processing software in the business world, but even some power users don’t necessarily know about all of the hidden features that exist in it. Here are three of the best Word capabilities that you’ll be sure to use next time you’re in a pinch.

Continue reading

Tip of the Week: Did You Know About These Windows Features?

Tip of the Week: Did You Know About These Windows Features?

Does your business use Windows 10? If so, there are all sorts of hidden tips and tricks that can help you gain even more value from your workstations that are running Windows 10. Here are a few of these secrets and how they can help your staff save time.

Continue reading

Newsletter Signup

Mobile? Grab this Article!

Qr Code

Latest Blog Entry

Cyber insurance is a type of insurance that protects businesses from financial losses that can result from a cyberattack. While it’s an essential tool for businesses of all sizes, there are some facts you should be aware of before purchasing a policy. Just because you have c...