Mary Branscombe, Author at TechRepublic

Mary Branscombe

Mary Branscombe is a freelance tech journalist. Mary has been a technology writer for nearly two decades, covering everything from early versions of Windows and Office to the first smartphones, the arrival of the web and most things inbetween.

Image: Getty/Drew Angerer

Software
Windows 10 and 11 in S Mode: What Is It, and Should You Use It?

Windows in S mode is a setting that prioritizes security and performance by allowing only apps from the Microsoft Store and restricting access to the command line, so it may not be for everyone.

Mary Branscombe
Published: September 12, 2023, 11:15 AM EDT Modified: October 11, 2023, 4:36 AM EDT Read More See more Software articles
Image: monticellllo/Adobe Stock

Security
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Gets More Multicloud

With Microsoft Defender for Cloud, cloud security posture management features are now available for Google Cloud Platform, as well as AWS and Azure.

Mary Branscombe
Published: August 15, 2023, 1:55 PM EDT Modified: August 15, 2023, 3:19 PM EDT Read More See more Security articles
Image: monticellllo/Adobe Stock

Security
How to Create a Custom Security & Threat Dashboard in Power BI

Want a custom security dashboard to bring together data from multiple places? Microsoft Power BI can do that and help you spot what's changing.

Mary Branscombe
Published: July 25, 2023, 7:17 AM EDT Modified: July 24, 2023, 5:22 PM EDT Read More See more Security articles
Image: monticellllo/Adobe Stock

Software
Dynamics 365 Business Central integration in Teams

You can see Business Central information in Teams even without a Business Central license, but you can do much more with full access.

Mary Branscombe
Published: June 9, 2023, 5:49 PM EDT Modified: June 9, 2023, 5:49 PM EDT Read More See more Software articles
Image: Kateryna/Adobe Stock

Software
How to have hybrid meetings by default in Microsoft Outlook

You can easily make all Outlook meetings online meetings, and it doesn't have to be Microsoft Teams.

Mary Branscombe
Published: June 9, 2023, 4:04 PM EDT Modified: June 12, 2023, 2:29 PM EDT Read More See more Software articles
Image: Dilok/Adobe Stock

Software
Should you migrate from Azure AD Connect to Cloud Sync?

Cloud Sync will eventually replace Azure AD Connect for using your on-prem Active Directory with the cloud. Here's what you need to know to plan for that.

Mary Branscombe
Published: June 2, 2023, 1:55 PM EDT Modified: June 2, 2023, 2:06 PM EDT Read More See more Software articles
Image: PhotoGranary/Adobe Stock

Security
Improve your app security on Azure

Application instance lock, Azure Virtual Network Manager and Network Watcher troubleshooting: tools for making the applications you run on Azure more secure.

Mary Branscombe
Published: June 2, 2023, 1:01 PM EDT Modified: June 2, 2023, 1:33 PM EDT Read More See more Security articles
Image: stnazkul/Adobe Stock

Big Data
Microsoft Dataverse: Going from Excel to new AI-powered tools

Improvements in the data store for Microsoft's low-code platform aim to help businesses build on their data. Learn more about Microsoft Dataverse.

Mary Branscombe
Published: May 23, 2023, 1:03 PM EDT Modified: May 24, 2023, 3:22 PM EDT Read More See more Big Data articles
Image: Microsoft

Artificial Intelligence
Bing AI Chat is now open to everyone, though still in preview

Persistent chat, images and video, a chat sidebar and the promise of third-party plugins make Bing Chat more useful but not perfect.

Mary Branscombe
Published: May 4, 2023, 6:48 PM EDT Modified: May 5, 2023, 2:29 PM EDT Read More See more Artificial Intelligence articles
Image: Pixabay

Software
Loop components make collaboration easier in Office and Microsoft 365 apps

Structured chunks of data you can share and update in multiple places are showing up in different Office applications. Here’s what you can do with these Loop components.

Mary Branscombe
Published: March 29, 2023, 3:45 PM EDT Modified: March 29, 2023, 3:45 PM EDT Read More See more Software articles