Month: October 2021

Customizing the Taskbar on Windows 11 devices

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This week is a follow-up on last weeks post about customizing the Start menu layout on Windows 11 devices. This week, however, is focused on customizing the Taskbar layout on Windows 11 devices. Customizing the Taskbar layout enables organizations to create a standardized layout for their users. With the arrival of Windows 11, the configuration options for customizing the Taskbar layout have changed. Especially from a setting-by-setting perspective the options are now rather limited. This post does a quick breakdown of the Taskbar layout in Windows 11 and the different configurations that are available, per section. That breakdown is followed with a zoom-in on the actual configuration for creating the standardized layout. This post ends with showing the user experience with a customized Taskbar layout. …

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Customizing the Start menu layout on Windows 11 devices

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This week is all about customizing the Start menu layout on Windows 11. Customizing the Start menu layout enables organizations to create a standardized layout for theirs users by pinning apps, removing default apps, ordering apps and more. The configuration of such a standardized layout has changed from Windows 10 to Windows 11. To create a standardized layout for Windows 11, the IT administrator must use a JSON-file. In previous versions of Windows, that required a XML-file. That configuration change, justifies an explanation about the Start menu layout in Windows 11 and the different configuration options. This post breaks down the new Start menu layout in Windows 11 and the different configuration options that are available, per section. That breakdown is followed with a zoom-in …

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Simplifying targetting groups of apps with app protection policies

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This week is all about the simplification in targetting groups of apps with app protection policies and a followup on my tweet of last week. That tweet provided a quick peak at the new targetting options of app protection policies for Android and iOS/iPadOS devices. The great thing about that simplification is that app protection policies can now be targeted at different categories (or groups) of apps. Those categories of apps are All apps, All Microsoft apps and Core Microsoft apps, and are dynamically updated to include the appropriate apps. That dynamic update will make sure that the already created app protection policies are automatically updated with the latest apps that are available for the different categories and will also make sure that newly created …

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Controlling devices connected to Windows devices

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This week is all about device control. Device control is often referred to as a feature of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and is focused on preventing data leakage. That is achieved by limiting the devices that can be connected to a Windows device. The idea is also pretty straight forward: control which devices can connect to a Windows device. That can be achieved by looking at the hardware device installation, at the removable storage and at the bluetooth connections. Besides that it’s even possible to get creative with printers. Most of these settings – with exception of the printer settings – are configurable via the endpoint security options, but most settings are actually configured via different CSPs on the Windows device. This post will walk …

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