PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

pfSensebox.Havingtwodevices
doingNATisn’tgoingtoworkfor
me.AlthoughIhavenoincoming
routesontothe networkatall,for
obvioussecurityreasons, I doneed
tohaveworkingVPNtunnelsfor
connectionswhenI’mawayfrom
thecorenetwork.
Attheendoftheday,the core
networkswitcheswillworkfine
eveniftheyareusedina dumb
fashion. Accesspoints canbe
upgradedtoa fewNetgearWi-Fi 6
devices,andthe pfSensecanstayin
place.Butthat’snottheholisticand
fullymanagedplatformthatI was
expectingandhopingtoreceive.I’m
followingupontheseissueswith
Ubiquiti andwillreportback.

Windows 365 CloudPCs
Duetopressureofwork,I haven’thad
muchtimetoplaywithmyniceshiny
newcloudWindows 1 0 desktop
solution.Butbeinnodoubt,itworks
andisverycleverandcomprehensive.
A couple of randomthoughts.
Youcan’tactuallyshutdownthe
VM,onlydisconnectfromit.It’s
possibletodoa hardresetonit,
though,whichI suspectwillwipeit
andserve up a freshone.
MicrosoftOfficeworks verywell,
asyouwouldexpect,withstrong
performanceifyouconsiderspeed
andresponsivenessatthecloudVM
endoftheconnection.Thespeedyou
seeina browser on yourlaptopwill
dependsignificantlyonthequalityof
thatconnectiontotheMicrosoftdata
centre,andI’vehadtimeswhereit
wasjustasfastasrunninga local
Windows 10 laptoponmydesk.

Here,atafriend’s

houseinLiverpool,

ona40Mbits/sec

ADSLlineandover

a VPNconnection

backtothelabin

Huntingdon,theperformanceis

quiteusable.(Sittingina carina

layby,connectedovera dodgy 3 G

or4Gphoneconnection,the

experiencemightbelesspleasurable,

butnone of thatisMicrosoft’sfault.)

Ithasseentheprintersonmylocal

network,andthere’sa tooltoupload

anddownloadfilesfromtheremote

VM.This hasbeena littleunstable,

butMicrosoftlabelsitasbeingin

beta.OneDriveis,ofcourse, fully

implemented, so if you’rea OneDrive

fiend,theneverythingyouhaveis

automaticallythereforyouinthe

virtualmachine.

Overall,I’mimpressed.It’snot

exactlycheap,buthowmuchyou

spendwilldependon

yourchoice of VM size

andcapability(seeour

reviewonp 73 formore

detailsonthis–Ed).I’m

unconvincedthatI will

continueto useWindows

365 CloudPCsoverthe

longerterm,butthatis

muchmoreaboutmy

workingmethodsthan

anythingintrinsic to the

platform.Forsomeuse

cases,itwillbeideal.

Itwillbeinteresting

seehowwell,andhow

quickly,theWindows 11

upgradehappens.And

alsotoseeMicrosoft’s

emergingplansfor

deployingthistechnology

tohomeandSMEusers.

I canseeusecasesfor

both,whichcouldbe

reallycompelling.

MSsecuritylibrary

Thisis a goodresource:

microsoft.com/en-us/

security/content-library.

It’sa libraryoftools and

articlesrelatedtosecurity

information andevent

management,alongwith

extendeddetectionand

response tools,providedby

Microsoftacrossitsvarious

cloudtechnologies.Itallows

youtosearchby

product,topicor job

role,and thenfind

explanations that

mighthelpgetyouto

theresolutionyou

want.Pulling

togetherthissortof

resourceisvaluable;

you’reusingthe

rosoftplatform,

s worthhavinga

ookat when youget

thatproverbialspare moment.

AlsonotethatpricesforMicrosoft

365 aregoingup.Thefulldetails can

befoundatpcpro.link/ 326 mic, but

canbesummarised thus: expectto

payaround10%more.Andthese

increaseswilladdup,especiallyona

largerestate.Microsoftisjustifying

thisby tellingusaboutallthenew

features andcapabilitiesthatithas

putin,whichisfinebutmightnotbe

ofactualusetome.

Theblogpoststates: “OnMarch1,

2022,wewillupdateourlistpricing

forthefollowingcommercial

products:Microsoft 365 Business

Basic(from$5to$6peruser),

Microsoft 365 BusinessPremium

ABOVEWindows 365

isfast,cleverand

comprehensive

BELOWTheMicrosoft

SecurityLibraryisan

invaluableresource