Month: October 2024
SUMIF returning 0
Hi, I am using the sumif function on data that already has formulas within the cells (sum-range) which i think is tripping up the sumif formula and returning zero.
Example. I am trying to sum department heads. My formula is =SUMIF($E$2:$E$95,$E$102,J$2:J$95). E column being department J column being number of heads. The issue is the J column is already formulated to pull through when a person joined. If I manually override this column the sum works.
Is there any way around this so that the sumif formula looks for value in the cells rather than the formulas?
Hi, I am using the sumif function on data that already has formulas within the cells (sum-range) which i think is tripping up the sumif formula and returning zero. Example. I am trying to sum department heads. My formula is =SUMIF($E$2:$E$95,$E$102,J$2:J$95). E column being department J column being number of heads. The issue is the J column is already formulated to pull through when a person joined. If I manually override this column the sum works. Is there any way around this so that the sumif formula looks for value in the cells rather than the formulas? Read More
How do I wipe my hard drive before recycling on Windows 11 computer?
I’m looking to recycle my old hard drive, but I want to make sure all of my personal data is completely wiped clean before doing so. I’m using a Windows 11 computer, and I want to make sure I handle this correctly to avoid any chance of data recovery. I’ve heard there are different methods and tools available, but I’m not sure which one is the best for securely erasing the drive.
Can anyone guide me on the best way to thoroughly wipe hard drive before recycling on Windows 11? Thanks.
I’m looking to recycle my old hard drive, but I want to make sure all of my personal data is completely wiped clean before doing so. I’m using a Windows 11 computer, and I want to make sure I handle this correctly to avoid any chance of data recovery. I’ve heard there are different methods and tools available, but I’m not sure which one is the best for securely erasing the drive. Can anyone guide me on the best way to thoroughly wipe hard drive before recycling on Windows 11? Thanks. Read More
Third Party UI for MS sharepoint and MS Project integration
Hi,
I am looking for a method of linking MS Project Tasks / Activities with sharepoint folder information. For example, If I assign someone a task, I want there to a link in the task to the location of the sharepoint folder they should work in, and a link to the template files they need to do the task.
I would also like to save a library of “tasks” that can be added to any new project.
Is anyone aware of any features within Microsoft 365 or a third party software that can offer this functionality? Ideally with a customisable UI. I am looking into using a Front End App that uses webhooks with MAKE browser based automation but I wondered if there is a solution already existing?
Thanks Forum.
Hi, I am looking for a method of linking MS Project Tasks / Activities with sharepoint folder information. For example, If I assign someone a task, I want there to a link in the task to the location of the sharepoint folder they should work in, and a link to the template files they need to do the task. I would also like to save a library of “tasks” that can be added to any new project. Is anyone aware of any features within Microsoft 365 or a third party software that can offer this functionality? Ideally with a customisable UI. I am looking into using a Front End App that uses webhooks with MAKE browser based automation but I wondered if there is a solution already existing? Thanks Forum. Read More
Intune cause apps update error in personal google play store
i encountered some cases that intune might have been causing error when updating apps in the personal google play store. have you guys also encounter this kind of issue and any suggestion where do i look for in intune admin for troubleshooting?
Thanks
i encountered some cases that intune might have been causing error when updating apps in the personal google play store. have you guys also encounter this kind of issue and any suggestion where do i look for in intune admin for troubleshooting? Thanks Read More
How do I delete everything off my old hard drive on Windows PC?
I’m looking for guidance on how to completely delete everything off from old hard drive. I want to ensure that everything is removed permanently, as I’m planning to either dispose of the drive or repurpose it for a new project. I’m concerned about the possibility of sensitive information being recoverable if the drive isn’t properly wiped.
Additionally, I’m curious about any important considerations I should keep in mind before proceeding with the deletion process.
Thank you in advance for your help!
I’m looking for guidance on how to completely delete everything off from old hard drive. I want to ensure that everything is removed permanently, as I’m planning to either dispose of the drive or repurpose it for a new project. I’m concerned about the possibility of sensitive information being recoverable if the drive isn’t properly wiped. Additionally, I’m curious about any important considerations I should keep in mind before proceeding with the deletion process. Thank you in advance for your help! Read More
ONNX and NPU Acceleration for Speech on ARM
Introduction
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is a technique that enables machines to process and convert human spoken language to written text, and it is widely used in many areas today. However, low inference speed is one of the major challenges in automatic speech recognition. This project aims to investigate the different ways of accelerating inference for the Whisper model, leveraging Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX) format, with different Runtimes and specialised hardware accelerators like NPUs. This project is a part of the IXN (Industrial Exchange Network) program, which is a teaching framework offering master and undergraduate students opportunities to work with industry companies. This Project is supported by UCL CS, Microsoft, and Intel, supervised by Professor Dean Mohamedally from the UCL CS department, Mr. Lee Jonathan Stott, and Mr. Chris Noring from Microsoft. intel provides technical support with an Intel PC equipped with an AI accelerator NPU. This project lasts 3 months, from June 2024 to September 2024.
Project Overview
This project explores the benefits of ONNX and NPU accelerators in accelerating the inference of Whisper models and developing a local Whisper model leveraging these techniques for ARM-based systems. Objectives include investigating the end-to-end speech model – Whisper, and its variants; evaluating the performance of different approaches to using Whisper model; finding different ways of converting Whisper in PyTorch to the ONNX format; applying various optimisations techniques to the ONNX model; comparing the performance of PyTorch models and ONNX models; utilising NPU for inference and comparing its performance with other hardware devices; compiling ONNX model for ARM, testing its compatibility on ARM-based system to offer the model a more practical use in IoT or embedded devices such as phones or chatbots
Technical Details
The Whisper model was initially built and evaluated in PyTorch. To improve inference speed, the model was converted into ONNX format using tools like PyTorch’s torch.onnx.export, the Optimum library, and Microsoft’s Olive tool. These models were then optimized using graph optimizations and quantization techniques to reduce the model size and speed up inference.
To further boost performance, the team explored various inference engines such as ONNX Runtime and OpenVINO, which significantly accelerated the model’s execution. The project also examined the use of NPUs, which, although not delivering the expected performance boost, still offered insights into future improvements.
Visuals and Media
The project included various visualizations and performance charts comparing the inference speeds of the Whisper models with different levels of optimisation across hardware accelerators (CPU, GPU, NPU) and inference engines (ONNX Runtime, OpenVINO). These visual aids were key to understanding the improvements and trade-offs in model performance across platforms.
Figure 1: Accuracy and speed of different Whisper checkpoints
Figure 2: Accuracy and speed of different invocation methods for Whisper-tiny
Figure 3: Average Inference Time per Sample per Second Across Acceleration Methods and
Datasets
Figure 4 : Inference time using CPU, GPU, and NPU on Song Clip dataset
Results and Outcomes
Figure1
As the model size increases from tiny to large, the inference time increases gradually with values of 0.98s, 1.37s, 5.15s, 17.12s, and 29.09s respectively while WER decreases with values of 6.78%, 4.39%, 3.49%, 2.43% and 2.22% in the same order.
Figure2
Among the four methods, the average inference time per sample for the Hugging Face API endpoint was the longest which was 1.82 seconds, while the other three took less than 1 second for inference: 0.91,0.78,0.97 seconds for using Pipeline, OpenAI Whisper library, and Hugging Face transformers library respectively. For accuracy, except the Hugging Face Transformers library which achieved the lowest word error rate of 6.78%, the other three methods produced slightly higher error rates, all around 7%.
Figure3
The project achieved a maximum 5x increase in inference speed for the Whisper model when using the ONNX format optimized with OpenVINO, compared to its PyTorch counterpart. The project demonstrated the feasibility of deploying these optimized models on ARM-based systems, opening doors to their use in IoT devices and real-time speech applications on edge devices.
Figure 4
The plot demonstrates the inference time of Whisper-tiny with different running device config-
urations, tested on the Song Clip dataset. CPU, GPU, and specialised hardware accelerator NPU
were used in this part of the study. The results were sorted in descending order from top to bottom, from the device configuration with the longest inference time to the device configuration with the shortest inference time. The inference time ranges from 1.371s to 0.182s, the configuration that has the fastest inference speed is CPU and the slowest one has setting MULTI: GPU, NPU. From the results, CPU outperforms NPU, and NPU outperforms GPU. Using MULTI or HETERO mode will have faster speed and less inference time than using GPU or NPU alone for certain configurations. For example, HETERO: CPU, NPU, HETERO: CPU, GPU and MULTI: GPU, NPU, CPU have less inference time than NPU and GPU. For the other three cases, results are similar, either CPU or MULTI: GPU, NPU, CPU has the shortest inference time while MULTI: GPU, NPU has the longest.
Lessons Learned
Several critical lessons emerged from this project:
ONNX format is a game changer: Converting models to ONNX significantly improves cross-platform compatibility and inference speed, making it easier to deploy on various devices.
NPUs need further exploration: While promising, NPUs didn’t deliver as much performance improvement as expected. However, this points toward the need for more refined optimization in future work.
Quantization requires careful management: Reducing the precision of model data helped speed up performance, but it also introduced a trade-off in accuracy. Future iterations will need to balance this more effectively.
Collaboration and Teamwork
This project’s success was a testament to the power of collaboration. The combination of academic expertise from UCL and industry knowledge from Microsoft ensured that the project stayed on track and met its goals. Team roles were clearly defined, which allowed for a smooth and productive workflow.
Future Development
The project has laid a solid foundation for further research and development. Several areas are ripe for future exploration:
NPU-specific optimisation: The team plans to explore more advanced methods to harness the full potential of NPUs.
Deployment on real ARM devices: While the models ran successfully in a Docker container, the next step is to deploy them on actual ARM-based devices, such as smartphones or IoT gadgets.
Multilingual testing: Thus far, the project has focused primarily on English speech. Expanding the model to other languages will open up new possibilities for global applications.
Conclusion
This project successfully demonstrated how cutting-edge tools and optimizations can significantly improve the performance of ASR systems. By leveraging ONNX, NPUs, and ARM-based platforms. The project’s outcomes highlight the importance of optimizing models for resource-constrained environments and provide a clear path forward for deploying advanced ASR models in the field.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
एयरटेल पेमेंट बैंक से पैसा कट जाए तो क्या करें?
एयरटेल पेमेंट बैंक से पैसे कट जाए तो क्या करें? ग्राहक सहायता टीम 8861 111 624 तक पहुंच सकते हैं और जितनी जल्दी हो सके अपनी शिकायत दर्ज कर सकते हैं।एयरटेल पेमेंट बैंक से पैसा कट जाए तो क्या करें?
एयरटेल पेमेंट बैंक से पैसे कट जाए तो क्या करें? ग्राहक सहायता टीम 8861 111 624 तक पहुंच सकते हैं और जितनी जल्दी हो सके अपनी शिकायत दर्ज कर सकते हैं।एयरटेल पेमेंट बैंक से पैसा कट जाए तो क्या करें? Read More
Microsoft Copilot in Azure – Securing Storage Accounts
The Woes of Storage Space and How Copilot in Azure Came to the Rescue
Anyone here ever had to frantically delete holiday photos to make room for a new app? Or maybe your phone prompted you to upgrade your cloud storage… again? Let’s imagine if a company ran out of storage for their backups and the end user created the storage account with the default settings. Watch to see how Copilot can help
Securing the Fort
Data security is sort of like the dental floss of the tech world. Not everyone uses it as they should, but we all know it’s crucially important.
Enter Copilot, Azure’s trusty sidekick. This isn’t your regular, run-of-the-mill AI assistant. It dives into the back end, wades through all the handlers, documentation, and settings, and pops out with the best recommendations to secure our blob storage.
Not All Heroes Wear Capes
Copilot recommends disabling public network access and setting up private endpoints. With a couple of provided scripts (and a dash of technical magic), I’m able to add an extra layer of security to my blob storage.
A Happy Ending 😊
This tale is a testament to the power of Copilot in Azure, a dynamic duo that makes your everyday tasks that much easier in the Azure portal.
Don’t be shy, drop those thoughts in the comments, because remember, sharing is caring… unless it involves your storage keys. 😉
Until next time, keep your data secure and your clouds boundless.
Thanks
Amy Colyer
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Whats the best formula to display the same true, false reading
Hi all,
This is probably a simple formula, but for the life of me I haven’t been able to work it out.
I have developed an Issues Register based on issues submitted by staff within different departments. All issues are then assigned to a Category. I am trying to produce reports with graphs showing how many issues were raised (by year / by month / by category). However, some issues were raised numerous times, so my cell would list the number of entries for that issue, so it might be 1 or the actual number, lets say 6.
My spreadsheet has column headers in Row 1, and column sub-headings in Row 2. Actual issue entries start in Row 3. In Cell A3 is the date the issue was lodged, in Cell B3 is the issue description, in Cell C3 is the number of times 1 particular issue was raised. In Cell F3 I want to create a formula which shows the number of issues as a single entity value. This is for reporting purposes.
What am I trying to state in my formula: If B3 is “1”, then leave M3 as a 1, but if B3 is not a 1 then
change M3 to 1. So this issue is only ever counted as 1 individual entry.
I tried using a simple IF statement: =IF(B3=”1”,1,1) but that didnt seem to work.
I then put a static number of “1” into Cell G3 and tried using an IF GREATER than formula: =IF(C3>$G$3,”1”,”1”) but that also hasn’t seemed to work. I need “if C3 equals 1, put 1, or if C3 is greater than 1, put 1.
Hopefully this makes sense. Can anyone please shed some light on what I am doing wrong please.
Many thanks
Annie
Hi all, This is probably a simple formula, but for the life of me I haven’t been able to work it out. I have developed an Issues Register based on issues submitted by staff within different departments. All issues are then assigned to a Category. I am trying to produce reports with graphs showing how many issues were raised (by year / by month / by category). However, some issues were raised numerous times, so my cell would list the number of entries for that issue, so it might be 1 or the actual number, lets say 6. My spreadsheet has column headers in Row 1, and column sub-headings in Row 2. Actual issue entries start in Row 3. In Cell A3 is the date the issue was lodged, in Cell B3 is the issue description, in Cell C3 is the number of times 1 particular issue was raised. In Cell F3 I want to create a formula which shows the number of issues as a single entity value. This is for reporting purposes. What am I trying to state in my formula: If B3 is “1”, then leave M3 as a 1, but if B3 is not a 1 thenchange M3 to 1. So this issue is only ever counted as 1 individual entry. I tried using a simple IF statement: =IF(B3=”1”,1,1) but that didnt seem to work. I then put a static number of “1” into Cell G3 and tried using an IF GREATER than formula: =IF(C3>$G$3,”1”,”1”) but that also hasn’t seemed to work. I need “if C3 equals 1, put 1, or if C3 is greater than 1, put 1. Hopefully this makes sense. Can anyone please shed some light on what I am doing wrong please. Many thanksAnnie Read More
GitHub Copilot for Azure: 6 Must-Try Features
As developers, we are constantly seeking tools that streamline our workflows and boost productivity.
… Enter GitHub Copilot for Azure, now in Public Preview!
A new addition to your toolkit that seamlessly integrates with GitHub Copilot Chat in Visual Studio Code. Let’s break down some of the details
What is it?: You can think of it as your personal assistant for navigating the Azure cloud.
Pain Point Solved: Instead of switching between your IDE and the Azure portal many times to manage infrastructure and services, you can stay right in your IDE where you are working.
Pain Point Solved: Instead of opening the 10th browser tab of documentation for services, commands and arguments, you can stay right in your IDE where you are working.
How do I use it: Ask ‘@azure’ in GitHub Copilot Chat
In this blog, we will explore six must-try features of GitHub Copilot for Azure, showcasing how it can enhance your development experience and optimize your cloud projects. From discovering Azure services to querying AI models and planning migrations, these features will empower you to achieve more with less effort.
GitHub Copilot for Azure Feature No.1 – Discovering Azure Services and AI Templates
Dan is a developer, and he wants to deploy containers to Azure but doesn’t know where to start. Using GitHub Copilot for Azure in Visual Studio Code, he’s guided through the process of selecting an Azure service for containers, given commands that can be used to deploy sample solutions, and even provided with samples that include Azure AI features he’d like to integrate into his solution.
Check out the video below to see what prompts Dan used and the helpful responses returned by GitHub Copilot for Azure.
GitHub Copilot for Azure Feature No.2 – Deploying to Azure with Context
April developed a Django app in VS Code and plans to deploy it on Azure. Using GitHub Copilot for Azure, she found helpful documentation. She provided code context and prompts to the extension, which then gave necessary code changes and terminal commands to deploy the project on Azure.
Check out the video below to see what prompts April used and the helpful responses returned by GitHub Copilot for Azure.
GitHub Copilot for Azure Feature No.3 – Understanding and Managing Your Models in Azure AI
Bethany, an AI Engineer, wants to work with the latest AI models on Azure alongside her team. She investigates all available Azure AI Services, checks if GPT-4o models are already deployed in her team’s subscription for potential reuse in development and testing, and finally explores deploying a new GPT-4o mini model.
Check out the video below to see what prompts Bethany used and the helpful responses returned by GitHub Copilot for Azure.
GitHub Copilot for Azure Feature No.4 – Exploring Your Azure Resources
Amy, an Azure Administrator, manages her team’s subscriptions. She uses GitHub Copilot for Azure to explore her accessible subscriptions and deployed resource groups through natural language queries. She finds the Azure Resource Graph queries useful for immediate use or future reference.
Check out the video below to see what prompts Amy used and the helpful responses returned by GitHub Copilot for Azure.
GitHub Copilot for Azure Feature No.5 – Planning a Migration to Azure
Gwen, a cloud engineer, needs to migrate a SQL Server from an on-premises environment to the cloud, prioritizing HIPAA compliance and limiting downtime. GitHub Copilot for Azure suggests a suitable Azure service and tools like Azure Database Migration Service. It creates a migration plan with links and documentation. After deployment, the extension provides details of the deployed instances for her code.
Check out the video below to see what prompts Gwen used and the helpful responses returned by GitHub Copilot for Azure.
GitHub Copilot for Azure Feature No.6 – Deploying to Azure Kubernetes Service
Dan needs to deploy a containerized application to Azure Kubernetes Service but needs to know how to get started creating a cluster. Using the GitHub Copilot for Azure and Azure Kubernetes Services extensions in VS Code, he’s able to create a new cluster without leaving the editor. Once the cluster is created, he can then use GitHub Copilot for Azure to help him deploy an app manifest.
Check out the video below to see what prompts Dan used and the helpful responses returned by GitHub Copilot for Azure.
You’ve now seen our must-try features of GitHub Copilot for Azure, now we want to hear from you! Download the extension in the VS Code marketplace and give it a spin: https://aka.ms/GetGitHubCopilotForAzure
To learn more about the new GitHub Copilot for Azure extension, check out the Streamline Your Azure Workflow: Introducing GitHub Copilot for Azure in VS Code blog post.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Configure File in Azure Static Web Apps
In Azure Static Web Apps (SWA), customizing settings is often necessary—for example, modifying headers for specific needs. Although settings can be configured through the staticwebapp.config.json file, its placement (i.e., location) depends on the particular context (such as no framework, pre-built framework, or a framework that will be built during deployment).
This tutorial will guide you through where to place staticwebapp.config.json in different scenarios, along with configuration for popular CI/CD tools like Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions.
We will use the Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header as a validation example to confirm that the configurations are working correctly.
TOC:
A No Framework SWA
A Pre-Built Framework SWA (Using MkDocs as an Example)
A Framework that Builds During Deployment (Using React as an Example)
Environment Variables in Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions
References
A No Framework SWA
This example uses GitHub for CI/CD. Here is the directory structure and configuration:
For this tutorial, we’ll customize the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header, as shown below:
{
“globalHeaders”: {
“Access-Control-Allow-Origin”: “*”
}
}
The working directory is set to the project root (/). When creating the SWA, specify the App location as /.
After creation, wait for the GitHub Actions workflow to complete. Once deployed, you can check the page and see the customized Access-Control-Allow-Origin in the response headers for all requests.
While this method is straightforward, most users, including ourselves, typically use a framework. Below, I’ll explain how to apply custom configurations with different framework structures.
A Pre-Built Framework SWA (Using MkDocs as an Example)
Some projects prefer building or compiling locally, then deploying the pre-built resources to SWA. Since each framework has its own directory structure, you can specify where SWA should look for the config file by adjusting the App location.
In this example, we’re using MkDocs as a framework. Here’s how the configuration process works:
Place the staticwebapp.config.json file in the project root, although this may be incorrect. After building the project, the compiled output in this example is located in my-project/site.
Specify App location as my-project/site when creating the SWA.
After deployment, check the response headers. If the custom Access-Control-Allow-Origin header is not present, it indicates that the configuration file is incorrectly placed.
Move staticwebapp.config.json to the correct folder (my-project/site in this example).
Then, redeploy via GitHub Actions. After redeployment, the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header should appear in the response headers.
A Framework that Builds During Deployment (Using React as an Example)
Some projects are built dynamically during the CI/CD process, creating the build folder only at that stage. In this case, we need to predefine the path to the compiled folder and dynamically copy the configuration file there.
Using React as an example, we know the build folder will be named build after compilation. Place staticwebapp.config.json in the project root initially and set App location to build.
During deployment, GitHub Actions might show an error about the missing build directory.
This is expected; we’ll resolve it by modifying the CI/CD workflow as follows.
In the .github/workflows directory, add these steps to the workflow (yml) file:
# Step to install dependencies and build the React app
– name: Install dependencies and build the app
run: |
npm install
npm run build
# Step to create the build folder if it does not exist
– name: Ensure build folder exists
run: mkdir -p build
# Step to copy staticwebapp.config.json to the build folder
– name: Copy staticwebapp.config.json to build folder
run: cp “${{ github.workspace }}/staticwebapp.config.json” “${{ github.workspace }}/build/staticwebapp.config.json”
These steps install dependencies and build the React app, check for the existence of the build folder, and copy the staticwebapp.config.json from the project root to the target directory.
After updating the workflow and redeploying, you should see the configuration applied successfully.
Environment Variables in Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions
The example above includes the ${{ github.workspace }} variable, which points to the project’s root directory in GitHub Actions. If you’re using Azure DevOps, replace this variable with $(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory).
References:
Configure Azure Static Web Apps | Microsoft Learn
Deploy Mkdocs page on Azure Web App – Microsoft Community Hub
Accessing contextual information about workflow runs – GitHub Docs
Predefined variables – Azure Pipelines | Microsoft Learn
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Populating data from one sheet to another – new formulas user
Hi
I have a Summary sheet, and I have a Daily counts sheet.
When entering the data into the summary sheet i want it to populate to the daily counts sheet that equals the same day.
Ie If the date (Summary Sheet D3) is the same as the date (Daily Counts D19:D200) the the data entered into the Qty column will populate into the respective columns in the daily counts sheet.
Hopefully this makes sense. My summary gets overwritten each day, but I want the daily to keep track.
Thanks in advance. 🙂
Hi I have a Summary sheet, and I have a Daily counts sheet. When entering the data into the summary sheet i want it to populate to the daily counts sheet that equals the same day. Ie If the date (Summary Sheet D3) is the same as the date (Daily Counts D19:D200) the the data entered into the Qty column will populate into the respective columns in the daily counts sheet. Hopefully this makes sense. My summary gets overwritten each day, but I want the daily to keep track. Thanks in advance. 🙂 Read More
How Can I Convert AZW to EPUB for My Ebooks on Windows?
Hi,
I bought a Kindle ebooks readers a couple of weeks and just found out the ebooks are saved in .azw format. Based on my research, AZW is Amazon’s proprietary format for Kindle devices, which may not be compatible with non-Kindle e-readers. On the other hand, EPUB is a widely accepted format compatible with most e-readers (like Kobo, Nook, etc.) and reading apps.
Is there an easy way to let me convert azw to epub on Windows PC so I can read the books on my PC and smartphone?
Hi, I bought a Kindle ebooks readers a couple of weeks and just found out the ebooks are saved in .azw format. Based on my research, AZW is Amazon’s proprietary format for Kindle devices, which may not be compatible with non-Kindle e-readers. On the other hand, EPUB is a widely accepted format compatible with most e-readers (like Kobo, Nook, etc.) and reading apps. Is there an easy way to let me convert azw to epub on Windows PC so I can read the books on my PC and smartphone? Read More
How to split c drive into multiple drives in Windows 11 or Windows 10?
Hi all,
I just made a mistake that installed Windows 11 on an SSD (512GB) with one partition. When I boot into the desktop, only C drive is available. This is not a good practice for managing files and apps efficiently on a PC. Usually, I tend to create 4 partitions for OS, apps, work and media files.
How can I split c drive into multiple drives without formatting in Windows 11 or Windows 10? I don’t want to format the SSD drive again and reinstall Windows 11 as it takes a lot of time.
Hi all, I just made a mistake that installed Windows 11 on an SSD (512GB) with one partition. When I boot into the desktop, only C drive is available. This is not a good practice for managing files and apps efficiently on a PC. Usually, I tend to create 4 partitions for OS, apps, work and media files. How can I split c drive into multiple drives without formatting in Windows 11 or Windows 10? I don’t want to format the SSD drive again and reinstall Windows 11 as it takes a lot of time. Read More
During forcing me to switch to new Outlook, Outlook lost my emails
The journal won’t send the confirm link and outlook(both the app and the webpage version) just refuses to display the email. It took me 5 tries to even get to this step due to outlook does not show those emails in search results when you press enter, and I had to move my mouse quickly to click it in the search bar dropdown. And this is as far as I can get.
What a joke.
The journal won’t send the confirm link and outlook(both the app and the webpage version) just refuses to display the email. It took me 5 tries to even get to this step due to outlook does not show those emails in search results when you press enter, and I had to move my mouse quickly to click it in the search bar dropdown. And this is as far as I can get. What a joke. Read More
How can I enter minutes and seconds without it being converted to a time.?
I want to enter actual number of minutes and seconds and not have it converted to a time. I will be entering actual durations of actions and need to be able to work with those.
I want to enter actual number of minutes and seconds and not have it converted to a time. I will be entering actual durations of actions and need to be able to work with those. Read More
Virtual Channel stop working after reconnect Virtual Desktop due to client power sleep and resume
Hi,
I am using Remote Desktop client for Windows (1.2.5800.0 x64 msi) to connect to Windows 365 Virtual Desktop to test a custom Virtual channel plugin, it works good on normal connection, able to read/write between client and Virtual Desktop, but it stop working after reconnect Virtual Desktop due to client power sleep and resume. Virtual channel plugin get a CHANNEL_EVENT_TERMINATED event and never come back.
Anyone has similar issue?
Hi,I am using Remote Desktop client for Windows (1.2.5800.0 x64 msi) to connect to Windows 365 Virtual Desktop to test a custom Virtual channel plugin, it works good on normal connection, able to read/write between client and Virtual Desktop, but it stop working after reconnect Virtual Desktop due to client power sleep and resume. Virtual channel plugin get a CHANNEL_EVENT_TERMINATED event and never come back.Anyone has similar issue? Read More
Microsoft Rilis Digital Defense Report 2024, Bagikan Perubahan Lanskap Ancaman Siber dan Peran AI
Read in English here.
Jakarta, 31 Oktober 2024 – Microsoft baru-baru ini merilis Digital Defense Report 2024, sebuah laporan tahunan yang memberikan perkembangan terbaru lanskap keamanan siber global. Laporan tersebut menyoroti tiga perubahan signifikan dalam karakteristik ancaman dan serangan siber yang terjadi di berbagai negara. Mulai dari yang berkaitan dengan ransomware, fraud, hingga identity and social engineering. Bersamaan dengan perubahan tersebut, Microsoft juga menggarisbawahi sejumlah praktik keamanan siber yang perlu dilakukan, termasuk bagaimana memperkuat keamanan siber di era baru kecerdasan buatan (AI).
Panji Wasmana, National Technology Officer Microsoft Indonesia mengatakan, “Keamanan siber adalah sebuah team sport di mana semua orang, tidak hanya tim IT, mengambil peranan penting di dalamnya. Sebagai bagian dari kerja sama tim ini, setiap individu perlu memiliki pemahaman dan menjalankan praktik keamanan siber yang mumpuni. Misalnya, dengan menerapkan prinsip-prinsip Zero Trust seperti selalu lakukan verifikasi secara eksplisit, berikan akses terhadap data/perangkat hanya kepada orang yang benar-benar memerlukan, dan selalu asumsikan terjadinya breach. Tidak lupa, implementasikan passkey, sebuah metode autentikasi dengan kunci digital pribadi yang dilindungi oleh data biometrik (seperti wajah dan sidik jari) atau pin, yang lebih aman daripada password.”
Lanskap Ancaman Siber dan Tindakan yang Perlu Dilakukan
Agar dapat memperkuat keamanan siber secara menyeluruh, penting untuk memahami berbagai tipe ancaman siber yang paling umum terjadi. Berikut adalah beberapa lanskap ancaman siber yang perlu diwaspadai beserta actionable insights untuk masing-masing ancamannya, sebagaimana dirangkum dari Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024[1]:
Ransomware: Ancaman serius yang semakin banyak terjadi akibat pemberian akses terhadap unmanaged device. Ransomware merupakan sejenis program jahat atau malware, yang mengancam korban dengan menghancurkan atau memblokir akses ke data atau sistem penting hingga tebusan dibayar. Lanskap terbaru menunjukkan bahwa human-operated ransomware, jenis serangan ransomware di mana penjahat siber secara aktif menyusup ke infrastruktur teknologi & informasi organisasi untuk menyebarkan ransomware, meningkat 2,75x year over year. Pada lebih dari 90% kasus di mana serangan masuk ke tahap tebusan, penyerang memanfaatkan perangkat tak terkelola (unmanaged devices) yang ada di jaringan organisasi untuk mendapatkan akses awal (initial access), atau untuk melakukan enkripsi terhadap aset organisasi dari jarak jauh (remote encryption). Teknik initial access yang paling banyak ditemukan mencakup social engineering seperti phishing melalui email, SMS, dan suara. Laporan menunjukkan bahwa serangan ransomware yang mencapai tahap enkripsi berhasil turun tiga kali lipat dalam dua tahun terakhir, salah satunya berkat kemampuan automatic attack disruption. Meski demikian, setiap individu dan organisasi tetap perlu waspada karena para penyerang terus berinovasi dengan model serangan siber baru.
Pembelajaran: Kelola perangkat yang digunakan oleh setiap individu di dalam organisasi, atau hilangkan akses terhadap perangkat tak terkelola yang ada di jaringan organisasi.
Phishing menggunakan kode QR: Bentuk fraud siber yang meningkat pesat. Insiden yang berkaitan dengan penipuan digital atau fraud terus meningkat secara global, baik dari sisi jumlah maupun tingkat kecanggihan. Ada yang berupa financial fraud seperti investment scams, impersonation seperti menggunakan nama organisasi resmi tetapi dengan mengganti huruf “O” menjadi angka “0”, ataupun phishing – serangan siber yang bertujuan mencuri atau merusak data sensitif dengan menipu orang agar mengungkapkan informasi pribadi. Menurut TrendMicro, serangan phishing meningkat sebanyak 58% pada tahun 2023, dengan dampak keuangan diperkirakan mencapai USD3,5 miliar pada tahun 2024. Bahkan, phishing kini juga banyak dilakukan melalui kode QR. Pelaku ancaman akan mengirim pesan phishing berisi kode QR; meminta penerima pesan untuk memindai kode tersebut, dan mengarahkan mereka ke laman palsu yang bisa menyerap identitas atau data yang bersifat privasi dan rahasia. Sepanjang Oktober 2023-Maret 2024, teknologi deteksi gambar di Microsoft Defender for Office 365 telah mencegah serangan phishing kode QR, menyebabkan email phishing yang menggunakan teknik serangan ini turun 94%.
Pembelajaran: a) Gunakan pembuat kode QR code yang terpercaya ketika harus membuat kode QR, b) Cek elemen mencurigakan di dalam kode QR seperti kesalahan ejaan atau logo yang salah, c) Jangan unduh aplikasi pemindai kode QR tersendiri karena mobile phone sudah memiliki teknologi tersebut, d) Selalu verifikasi URL yang dibuka oleh kode QR, dan e) Gunakan antivirus software serta family safety apps untuk mendeteksi malware sebagai bentuk pertahanan awal terhadap phishing maupun virus.
Serangan identitas dan social engineering: ancaman nyata bagi identitas pribadi. Serupa dengan tahun-tahun sebelumnya, serangan berbasis kata sandi (password) masih menjadi bentuk serangan identitas yang paling banyak terjadi. Data dari Microsoft Entra menunjukkan, terdapat lebih dari 600 juta serangan terhadap identitas setiap harinya, dengan 99% di antaranya menyerang password Di sisi lain, Microsoft telah memblokir 7.000 serangan kata sandi setiap detiknya dalam kurun waktu setahun terakhir. Para pelaku kejahatan siber pun terus memperbarui serangan mereka, misalnya dengan AiTM Phishing Attack (Adversary-in-the-Middle), sebuah teknik serangan phishing di mana penyerang menempatkan diri mereka di antara pengguna dan layanan otentikasi yang sah. Tujuannya mengakses akun pengguna tanpa perlu memasukkan kata sandi atau melewati otentikasi multifaktor (MFA) yang mungkin diaktifkan.
Pembelajaran: Ganti password dengan passwordless authentication methods seperti passkeys. Tidak seperti password yang menggunakan informasi rahasia yang rentan atau informasi pribadi yang dapat dikenali, passkey menggunakan kunci privat yang disimpan dengan aman di perangkat pengguna. Kunci ini hanya berfungsi pada situs web atau aplikasi tempat pengguna membuatnya, dan hanya dapat diakses jika pengguna yang sama membukanya dengan biometrik atau PIN mereka.
AI dan Pengaruhnya terhadap Ancaman Siber
Di tengah era transformasi AI, setiap individu dihadapkan dengan berbagai kemajuan yang menjanjikan, sekaligus tantangan yang menakutkan seperti penargetan canggih yang didukung AI. Di sini, mengetahui tanda awal ancaman siber merupakan suatu keunggulan, dan kolaborasi antara pemerintah dengan pelaku industri menjadi kunci pertahanan siber di era AI.
Wawasan awal menemukan bahwa AI tengah membentuk kembali lanskap keamanan siber, membekali para cyber defender dengan berbagai alat yang ampuh untuk mendeteksi dan menangkal berbagai ancaman yang terus berkembang, dengan ketepatan yang semakin tinggi. Di tengah keterbatasan jumlah tenaga kerja di bidang keamanan siber[2], AI dapat mengurangi beban kerja, mempercepat identifikasi dan penanganan sebuah breach—yang tanpa AI rata-rata memakan waktu 277 hari.
Sejumlah area utama pemanfaatan AI dalam operasional keamanan siber misalnya:
Menyortir permintaan dan tiket: Menggunakan model bahasa besar (LLM) untuk memutuskan bagaimana merespons permintaan dan tiket berdasarkan cara penanganan sebelumnya. Penggunaan LLM dalam skenario ini menghemat sekitar 20 jam per orang per minggu untuk salah satu tim respons internal Microsoft.
Memperkuat penilaian risiko: Memanfaatkan pengetahuan organisasi yang tidak terstruktur dan preseden historis untuk memperkaya faktor-faktor yang menentukan risiko.
Belajar dari pengalaman sebelumnya: Menggunakan LLM untuk mengolah data terkait insiden, pelanggaran, dan peristiwa sebelumnya untuk menemukan pembelajaran berharga yang membantu organisasi mendapatkan pandangan komprehensif tentang hal-hal yang sebelumnya pernah terjadi.
Kolaborasi untuk Mengamankan Dunia Siber Bersama
Dalam memperkuat postur keamanan siber, diperlukan ekosistem dan tata kelola digital yang aman, untuk melindungi setiap data yang tercatat dalam jaringan luas. Guna mendukung terwujudnya keamanan digital yang kokoh, Microsoft pada November 2023 memperkenalkan Secure Future Initiative (SFI) untuk memajukan pelindungan keamanan siber bagi Microsoft, pelanggan, dan industri.
Sejak inisiatif tersebut dijalankan, Microsoft telah menunjuk 13 Deputy Chief Information Security Officers (Deputy CISO) yang bertanggung jawab untuk mempelopori SFI di seluruh perusahaan, memobilisasi 34.000 engineer untuk mengintegrasikan keamanan ke dalam struktur pekerjaan mereka (menjadikannya upaya rekayasa keamanan siber terbesar dalam sejarah), meluncurkan Security Skilling Academy untuk membantu melatih semua karyawan tentang keamanan siber, dan menerapkan keamanan sebagai ukuran kinerja untuk semua karyawan.
Berikut adalah prinsip-prinsip SFI Microsoft yang dapat menjadi referensi:
Secure by design. Memastikan bahwa keamanan merupakan unsur utama dalam merancang setiap produk dan layanan yang dikembangkan. Misalnya, dengan menambahkan fitur-fitur keamanan sejak tahap ideasi produk dan layanan.
Secure by default. Memastikan bahwa setiap fitur keamanan utama telah diaktifkan secara otomatis untuk mengurangi risiko bagi pengguna. Dengan kata lain, menciptakan ekosistem digital yang tahan akan serangan siber.
Secure operations. Memastikan pengawasan dan pembaruan keamanan yang berkelanjutan guna menjauhkan serangan-serangan siber. Misalnya, dengan secara berkala mengecek ancaman serta kerentanan.
-Selesai-
[1]Data dalam laporan ini mencakup periode dari Juli 2023 hingga Juni 2024. Sumber data berasal dari berbagai layanan Microsoft seperti Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, dan Microsoft Entra ID (sebelumnya Azure AD). Microsoft menganalisis sekitar 78 triliun sinyal keamanan per hari menggunakan analitik data canggih dan algoritma AI. Laporan ini juga didukung oleh lebih dari 15.000 mitra dengan keahlian khusus dalam keamanan siber.
[2]Menurut The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2), setiap tahunnya kesenjangan jumlah pekerja keamanan siber (yang diperlukan vs yang ada) meningkat sebesar 12,6%.
Microsoft Releases Digital Defense Report 2024, Unveiling the Changing Cyber Threat Landscape and the Role of AI
Jakarta, 31 October 2024 – Microsoft recently releases Digital Defense Report 2024, an annual report that unveils the latest developments in the global cybersecurity landscape. This report highlighted three significant changes in threat and cyber attack characteristics in various countries, including those related to ransomware, fraud, as well as identity and social engineering. With those changes, Microsoft underlines several cybersecurity practices that need to be adopted, including how to strengthen cybersecurity in the new era of artificial intelligence (AI).
Panji Wasmana, National Technology Officer Microsoft Indonesia, said, “Cybersecurity is a team sport where everyone, not just the IT team, plays an essential role. As part of this teamwork, every individual should understand and implement robust cybersecurity practices. For example, by implementing Zero Trust principles, such as always verifying explicitly, granting data/device access only to those who truly need it, and always assuming there’s a breach. Additionally, we can use passkeys, a method of authentication that employs private digital keys protected by biometric data (such as facial recognition and fingerprints) or a PIN, which is more secure than a password.”
Navigating Cyber Threats: Essential Actions for Protection
To strengthen overall cybersecurity, it’s important to understand the various types of common cyber threats. Here is an overview of the cyber threat landscape to watch out for, along with actionable insights for each threat, as summarized from the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024*:
Ransomware: A severe and increasingly common threat, often occurring due to access granted to unmanaged devices. Ransomware is a type of malicious software, or malware, that threatens to destroy or block access to critical data or systems until a ransom is paid. The latest trends reveal a rise in human-operated ransomware, where cybercriminals actively infiltrate an organization’s technology and information infrastructure to deploy ransomware, with incidents increasing by 2,75x year over year. In over 90% of cases where the attack reaches the ransom stage, attackers use an unmanaged device in the organization’s network to gain initial access or remotely encrypt organizational assets. The most common initial access techniques include social engineering, such as phishing via email, SMS, and voice. The report shows that ransomware attacks that reach the encryption stage have tripled in the last two years, partly due to advancements in automatic attack disruption capabilities. However, individuals and organizations must remain vigilant as attackers continue to innovate with new cyberattack models.
Tips: Monitor the devices each individual uses within the organization or eliminate access to unmanaged devices in the organization’s network.
Phishing Using QR Code: A Rapidly Increasing Cyberfraud. Incident related to digital fraud continues to increase globally, both in terms of number and sophistication. Some are financial fraud like investment scams, impersonation such as using an official organization name but changing the letter “O” into the number “0”, or phishing. This cyberattack aims to steal or damage sensitive data by tricking people into revealing their private information. According to TrendMicro, phishing attacks increase to 58% by 2023, with financial damages estimated to be up to USD3,5 billion in 2024. In addition, phishing is now practiced through QR codes. Threat actors will send a phishing message containing a QR code, ask the recipient to scan that code, and redirect them to a fake page that can absorb identity or private and confidential data. From October 2023 to March 2024, image detection technology in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 prevented QR code phishing attacks, causing phishing emails using this technique to drop 94%.
Tips: a) Use a trusted QR code generator when making a QR code, b) Check for suspicious elements in the QR code, such as misspellings or wrong logos, c) Do not download a separate QR code scanner application because mobile phones already have this technology, d) Always verify the URL opened by the QR code, e) Use antivirus software and family safety apps to detect malware as an initial defense against phishing and viruses.
Identity Attack and Social Engineering: A Real Threat for Private Information. Similar to previous years, password-based attacks are still the most common attacks that occur. Data from Microsoft Entra shows there are more than 600 million identity attacks every day, with 99% among them attacking user passwords. On the other hand, Microsoft has blocked 7,000 password-based attacks every second in the last year. Cybercriminals constantly update their attacks, such as AiTM Phishing Attack (Adversary-in-the-Middle), a phishing attack technique in which attackers place themselves among the user and a legitimate authentication service. The goal is to access the user accounts without entering a password or bypassing any authentication multifactor (MFA) that may be enabled.
Tips: Replace passwords with passwordless authentication methods such as passkeys. Unlike passwords that use vulnerable confidential information or recognizable personal information, passkeys use a private key securely stored on the user’s device. This key only works on the website or app where the user created it and can only be accessed if the same user unlocks it with their biometrics or PIN.
AI And Its Impact on Cyber Threat
In the midst of AI transformation, individuals are faced with promising advancements, as well as daunting challenges such as advanced AI-powered targeting. Knowing the early signs of cyber threats is an advantage, and collaboration between the government and industry players is key to cyber defense in the AI era.
Early insights found that AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape, equipping cyber defenders with powerful tools to detect and counter evolving threats with increasing precision. At a time when cybersecurity is understaffed**, AI can reduce the workload, speeding up the identification and handling of a breach—which, without AI, can take an average of 277 days.
Some critical areas of AI utilization in cybersecurity operations include:
Sorting requests and tickets: Using a large language model (LLM) to decide how to respond to requests and tickets based on how they were handled previously. The use of LLM in this scenario saved about 20 hours per person per week for one of Microsoft’s internal response teams.
Strengthening risk assessment: Leveraging unstructured organizational knowledge and historical precedents to enrich the factors that determine risk.
Learning from previous experience: Using LLM to process data related to previous incidents, breaches, and events to discover valuable learnings that help organizations gain a comprehensive view of things that have previously happened.
Collaboration to Secure the Cyber World Together
Strengthening our cybersecurity requires a secure ecosystem and digital governance to protect every data recorded in the vast network. To support robust digital security, Microsoft on November 2023 introduced the Secure Future Initiative (SFI) to advance cybersecurity for Microsoft, its customers, and the industry.
Since the initiative was launched, Microsoft has appointed 13 Deputy Chief Information Security Officers (Deputy CISO) responsible for spearheading the SFI across the company, mobilizing 34,000 engineers to integrate security into their work structures (making it the largest cybersecurity effort in history), launched the Security Skilling Academy to help train all employees about cybersecurity, and implemented security as a performance measure for all employees.
Here are the principles of SFI Microsoft that can be used as a reference:
Security by design. Ensuring that security is the main element in designing every product and service developed. For example, by adding security features since the product ideation and service.
Secure by default. Ensuring that every main security feature is activated automatically to reduce users’ risk. In other words, creating digital ecosystems resilient to cyberattacks.
Secure operations. Ensuring continuous security monitoring and renewal to keep cyberattacks at bay, for example, by checking threats and vulnerabilities regularly.
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* The data in this report covers the period from July 2023 to June 2024. Data sources are from various Microsoft services such as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). Microsoft analyzes approximately 78 trillion security signals per day using advanced data analytics and AI algorithms. The report is also supported by more than 15,000 partners with specialized expertise in cybersecurity.
** According to The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2), every year the gap in the number of cybersecurity workers (required vs. available) increases by 12.6%.
When was the RFC 4191 RIO support added to Windows?
I’m finishing up a writeup: https://github.com/dxdxdt/gists/blob/master/writeups/ipv6/rfc4191/rfc4191.md
I’m finishing up the OS support table. I tested and confirmed that Windows 11 accepts RIO and adds the prefix to the routing table. I know Windows started IPv6 support since XP, but RFC 4191 was added to the standard later on.
Just wondering when exactly the RIO support has been added. Couldn’t find anything on search engines. I don’t think it’s something that devs write on the release notes.
I’m finishing up a writeup: https://github.com/dxdxdt/gists/blob/master/writeups/ipv6/rfc4191/rfc4191.md I’m finishing up the OS support table. I tested and confirmed that Windows 11 accepts RIO and adds the prefix to the routing table. I know Windows started IPv6 support since XP, but RFC 4191 was added to the standard later on. Just wondering when exactly the RIO support has been added. Couldn’t find anything on search engines. I don’t think it’s something that devs write on the release notes. Read More
