Microsoft OneNote is one of the best note-taking apps and for all the right reasons. And though it is jam-packed with useful features, it sorely lacks an important one the ability to annotate images. Wait, you can annotate images in OneNote. Yes, but the moment you move the image, annotations stay put and don't move with the image as they should.

OneNote has a glaring problem where the annotations are added as an overlay. They are not part of the image file itself. Hence, when you move the image, the annotations don't move, leading to several tweaks and a tedious note-taking experience.

Here are some solutions to fix that niggle until Microsoft releases an appropriate update.

Why not annotate the image before saving it to OneNote? Awesome Screenshot is a free screenshot extension for all Chromium-based browsers. That means it will work on Chrome, Edge, and Brave. You can clip an entire webpage, only the visible area of the page, take scrolling screenshots, or save images with just a few clicks.

After taking a screenshot, you will see many annotation options on a handy toolbar.

You can crop the image, add arrows and text, blur sensitive parts, highlight important areas, add emojis and few other shapes, add numbers to represent steps, and much more. There is also an option to create a video of what's happening on your screen.

There is support for a few selected cloud storage services, but OneDrive is not one of them. For now, you can save the image or webpage as a PDF file or image on your desktop or print it. You can then save it to OneNote easily. Want to make changes? Awesome Screenshot works with local images as well, and you can take a screenshot of the desktop too.

Awesome Screenshot is free to use, but connecting to cloud apps like Slack and Dropbox requires a subscription.

Download Awesome Screenshot Extension

Let's say that you have annotated an image, and it is stored securely inside a note in OneNote. For some reason, you need to move that image but can't unless the annotations were added before you added the image to note. Like we showed you in point 1 above. If annotations were added using OneNote tools, it wouldn't move with the image.

One way to solve this issue is to take a screenshot of the image with annotations on it and save it to desktop. You can do so with Awesome Screenshot extension or any other app. Delete the old image and then re-add the new one wherever you want after making the changes.

The annotation is the only problem that I have with OneNote. Everything else works just fine. I would recommend using Awesome Screenshot or some other annotating tool for images. Don't delete the original image after adding it to OneNote. Save it in a folder named OneNote Annotations. That way, in case you have to make further changes to the image, you can do so in the original image and replace it on OneNote instead of using the OneNote annotation tool.

Microsoft Edge used to offer a built-in annotating tool inside their browser, but not anymore. I hope Microsoft will add it to their new Edge Chromium browser. OneNote also offers its own Web Clipper browser extension, but you can only highlight text with it. No way to highlight or annotate images.

For now, you have the above options to annotate images in OneNote.

Next up:If you are not happy with OneNote or tend to work with images and annotations, try Evernote. Here is an in-depth comparison between OneNote and Evernote.

Last updated on 21 Mar, 2020

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How to Solve Annotations Not Moving With Images in Microsoft OneNote - Guiding Tech

NetApp is shuttering NKS on HCI and Cloud Volumes on HCI, with effect from April 20. In their place, the storage giant is readying some very cool things in the works for NetApp and Kubernetes where there is more value than NKS (NetApp Kubernetes Services) was and is, a source close to the company told us.

NetApp said yesterday via a customer communique it would simplify and unify Kubernetes services across ONTAP and other product lines. Both partners and customers have asked NetApp to adopt a distribution-agnostic approach to Kubernetes Our goal will be to make applications and associated data highly available, portable, and manageable across both on-premises and clouds through a software-defined set of data services.

Accordingly, to accelerate our Kubernetes strategy, we have decided to end availability of NetApp Kubernetes Service/NetApp Kubernetes Service on HCI and Cloud Volumes Service for On-Premises/Cloud Volumes on HCI.

A tech analyst, who asked not be named, said: My guess is NetApp will kill the HCI product in less than 12 months, probably citing market conditions due to COVID-19. Im sure something else is coming.

Sounds like the analyst has already had an early briefing under NDA. Meanwhile our source told us: NKS was proprietary and focused on the application layer and a competitor to [Red Hat] OpenShift Stay tuned. In a few weeks there will be an announcement that puts all of this into context.

NetApp said in its communique that it is shifting focus on Kubernetes and is increasing overall investment in the technology. NetApps goal is to transform our converged and hyperconverged storage platforms, including NetApp HCI, to a software-defined architecture, and become a leading on-premises hybrid cloud platform capable of automating infrastructure for Kubernetes.

NetApps hyperconverged storage platform is Elements HCI, based on Solidfire. The converged storage platform is FlexPod and FlexPod SF, with Solidfire storage. The platforms are reference architectures that use Cisco servers and networking products.

Chris Evans, a prominent data storage architect, told us the capability of the NKS technology isnt in question, but rather the direction of travel suggested by a move to workload automation.As a storage and data management company, does it make sense for NetApp to become a workload orchestration company or one that makes use of workload management tools to help manage data?

He thinks the latter path is more appropriate: I hope we see NetApp retain the NKS capability as part of the Fabric Orchestrator strategy to manage data movement and migration, rather than as a standalone tool.But the cost and effort of shadowing Kubernetes development has clearly been assessed as not worth the cost.

Evans was more intrigued by the move away from Cloud Volumes Service on premises and HCI.This move seems to detract from a hybrid data strategy of agnostic storage in many locations.It may be that customers simply werent ready or didnt need this capability and are happy with on-premises ONTAP appliances.

NKS is a SaaS offering that enables customers to build Kubernetes clusters on-premises (NetApp HCI and FlexPod) or in the public cloud (AWS, Azure and GCP). A provisioning process creates load balancers, builds virtual instances and deploys and configures Kubernetes on each server in the cluster. The user can then create cloud-native projects using Kubernetes and a kubectl configuration file.

Cloud Volumes is a way of making file services in the public cloud, usable, for example, by containerised applications. Cloud Volumes ONTAP is the ONTAP storage service running in AWS and Azure and there is a Cloud Volumes service for GCP.

Continue reading here:
NetApp cans Kubernetes and Cloud Volumes services on HCI. But what is waiting in the wings? - Blocks and Files

Decentralization benefits the cloud in many ways, and our first customers are already seeing how it improves security, privacy, and resiliency, while also lowering costs, Ben Golub formerly of Docker, now executive chairman of Storj has said.

Storj Labs is a blockchain-based cloud service and what else could it be, too, based on that promise, at this point in time while a service describing itself as open-source and operating on 19 million gigabytes capacity, on thousands of nodes across the planet, with currently some 3,000 users.

There had been a simpler, though not necessarily a gentler time in the history of the web when the digitally connected world featured decentralized data storage. By default. Its true: you had some data, you stored it on your server rig you had your decentralized data storage.

Whats happened since, though, is that either much of the world outgrew the idea of data stored on-site or, that much of the world fell hard for one of the most powerful marketing buzzwords to ever hit the tech namely, Cloud Computing.

(It was probably a perfect storm of both circumstances. But thats just an educated guess.)

Meanwhile, the promise of cloud storage has always been one of less pain while somehow more gain. But transitioning your data from on-site that you control, to trusting all of it to another entity, their technological, legal, and ethical capabilities, whims, and allegiances increasingly even geo-political in nature all thats starting to feel like a real problem.

Given the nature of the thing and the stakes around it, its interesting to see startups cropping up trying to compete in the case of Storj, trying to provide the usefulness of cloud storage, while decoupling it from the Big Tech hive mind.

Meanwhile, decentralized cloud storage has grown to produce some global behemoths like Amazon Web Services (AWS), and even managed to rescue from certain demise one tech dinosaur Microsoft that its fair to say survived only thanks to a pretty hard pivot to Azure Cloud. Other giants like Google have ever since been trying to get a piece of that immensely lucrative pie.

Storj Labss pitch is focused not only on reliability behind the technical model but also, of being around half the price of AWS.

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Storj announces new decentralized, cheaper alternative to AWS - Reclaim The Net

Theres nothing worse than losing sensitive files, either through accidental deletion or drive failure, so its critical to be familiar with the best data recovery software if you need to backup important information or recover it after loss or damage. And there are more options than ever when it comes to hard drive data recovery - some paid, some free.

In this Paragon Backup and Recovery review, well discuss some of the programs central features and help you decide if its a good option for you or your business. In short: While its features dont quite match up with the top premium competition, Paragon Backup and Recovery is still an excellent free option.

Paragon Backup and Recovery Community Edition is a free download for both Mac and Windows, and what well focus on in this review. Hard Disk Manager, Paragons premium recovery program, offers more features at multiple price points starting at $99.

If you do want to invest in Paragons Hard Disk Manager Workstation, the license is available for as little as $99. However, users are limited to a desktop operating system and can only use one PC at a time. The Server license starts at $499 with simultaneous access on one PC or server, while Technician starts at $599 and runs on a subscription model with simultaneous access on one device. Finally, Site plans start at $899 and can be used simultaneously on multiple devices.

Although Paragon Backup and Recovery can be overwhelming for new users, it offers extremely robust functionality for a free application. Users can adjust backup preferences using numerous criteria including the type of backup, frequency, and retention. Theres also an option to develop scenario-based backups based on your specific needs.

As backup storage accumulates, users can determine which files should be deleted. If your OS is no longer operable,you can boot from a USB drive for a full restoration within the Windows Preinstallation Environment. Mac users can restore from a backup through Recovery mode.

Keep in mind that some features, like copying and partitioning disks, are limited to Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Business. These tools are visible in Backup and Recovery despite being locked behind a paid license.

After installation, you have immediate access to Paragon Backup and Recoverys entire range of features. While this gives you a high degree of control over your backups, it can make the program more confusing at firstthere isnt a tutorial or introduction for new users. Clicking the Help button only leads to a PDF of the applications manual.

Free users have access to two tabs: My Backups and Operations. To create a new backup, start by selecting the source and target drives. Youll have a chance to adjust your preferences before starting the backup.

In our tests, Paragon Backup and Recovery took roughly 15 minutes to back up 4.61GB, plus around two more minutes of preparation. A check backup data validity message appeared frequently, although Paragon successfully backed up the files fine.

Its easy to set up a bootable USB drive as Backup and Recovery walks you through each step of the process. Regular backups help avoid the need to recover lost or corrupted files as other versions of your files are kept safely elsewhere.

Paragon Backup and Recovery has relatively low system requirements and should work well on any computer running Windows 7 or newer, although its worth noting that as Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft, you probably should have upgraded your OS by now. Unfortunately, Mac users can currently only access the program on macOS 10.15. We didnt encounter any major performance issues while using the application, but the backup took slightly longer than expected. Once the data is backed up, Backup and Recovery makes it simple to import it back to the original location.

With Backup and Recovery, its easy to manage your data at a glance and create a consistent backup schedule. The automatic backup tool enables you to copy an entire disk or just specific files.

Configuring a bootable USB drive streamlines the process of recovering from a damaged OS. In short, you should be able to respond to any issues and quickly get your system back to normal.

The application itself is just 189 MB for 64-bit Windows 10, making it a quick download on most connections. Its clean interface and thorough customization options offer robust functionality without sacrificing ease of use.

Paragon provides several informative support resources for Backup and Recovery users. The Knowledge Base acts as a starting point for any problems with the application. This section contains troubleshooting guides on crashes, installation, activation, and other common issues.

Furthermore, the Paragon blog offers long-form articles covering different functions and tips for using the platform. While theres a dedicated support forum, its no longer active. Finally, registered users can submit tickets directly to Paragon for one-on-one support.

Paragon Backup and Recovery is missing a few key features, including online backups and an active support forum. That said, it contains most of the tools you need to store data and consistently update your backups, and it outperforms many other free hard drive recovery programs. You can also use Paragon to prepare a WinPE bootable environment as an ISO image or through a USB drive, making it easy to recover data after experiencing problems with your operating system.

Additionally, Paragon Backup and Recovery is extremely easy to use and accessible to people who arent familiar with the process of backing up files. On the other hand, some users may prefer to pay for a premium service that offers cloud storage and other critical functions.

At the end of the day, Paragon is competing more with other free and affordable backup tools than with true data recovery solutions. CrashPlan, which enables you to back up an unlimited amount of data to the cloud, physical hard drives, or both, costs just $10 per computer per month. While it wont help you boot a crashed operating system, CrashPlan does offer much more control over file versioning than Backup and Recovery.

If you do need the ability to recover deleted files or pull data from a broken hard drive, check out OnTrack EasyRecovery. Whereas Paragon and CrashPlan act as preventative measures by creating backup copies of your data, OnTrack can help you recover data when theres no backup available. The downside is that OnTrack costs significantly more than using Paragon or CrashPlan ahead of time.

To see how Paragon Backup and Recovery performs against other data recovery software, read our Best data recovery software buying guide.

Read the rest here:
Paragon Backup and Recovery review - TechRadar India

Its been a week since the Canadian and U.S. governments moved from urging to pressuring organizations to make employees work from home rather than offices.

The sudden turn caught many firms off guard. Now, says a vendor, IT departments are coming to grips with the security ramifications of necessarily quick decisions.

Operationally, organizations had to follow management directives, said Greg Young, vice-president of cybersecurity at Trend Micro. The situation is a little different now. Now they are starting to wrestle with the security implications how to manage that, he said.

Its not a problem for the small number of employees who already use IT-supplied and managed laptops, tablets and smartphones. But it is for a larger workforce using personal devices whose level of security is unknown to IT. This is particularly worrisome as theres evidence threat actors are increasing their phishing attacks.

If they havent done so already, Young said, IT and infosec leaders should be sending home workers instructions on how to improve the security of personal devices used to connect to corporate assets as well as reminders.

Firms seeing a leap in remote access solution sales

First, if needed, make them download and install anti-malware security software for all internet-connected devices. This software may be covered by the existing enterprise licences. Employees must be told to make sure their operating systems, applications and hardware like routers have the latest security patches. That may include buying or leasing routers for staff working from home who have old devices that cant be upgraded. Staff have to be encouraged to make passwords on personal devices secure, including changing factory-set administration passwords.

If employees have to download sensitive corporate documents, have them confirm that their version of Windows supports full-disc encryption and encourage employees to enable it. Another strategy is giving staff enterprise-level cloud storage accounts, such as the corporate version of DropBox, which have security controls. Too often, Young said, staff use dodgy or free online storage with no controls. IT may already have licences for the enterprise-level services.

How IT leaders can prepare for COVID-19 challenges

While many malls, arenas, restaurants and other public places are closed in North America, staff still need to be reminded not to use public WiFi on devices that will connect to corporate assets.

Finally, send employees a refresher on security awareness, emphasizing the risks of downloading unfamiliar applications and clicking on attachments. Weve seen false COVID tracking websites distributing malware and [malicious] telework vouchers, Young said.

Internally, Young said, IT and infosec leaders should quickly evaluate the need to add cloud-based security to clamp down on the expected increase in threats from devices used by home workers. This includes secure gateway-as-a-service, sometimes called a cloud access security broker (CASB) to help better protect endpoints. In the corporate environment, we take that for granted. Data going out from the office goes through a secure gateway where bad URLs or known malware sites are blocked and attachments are opened in a sandbox. Working at home employees arent equipped that way unless they also have a secure gateway.

Gateway as a service is offered by IBM, BlackBerry, Citrix, Zscaler and others for access control and data encryption.

Another category of control to be considered is cloud-based mobile/enterprise device management from vendors such as BlackBerry, SOTI, MobileIron and others, which will block access to corporate assets to unsecure endpoints. This will be valuable, Young said, because the number of lost devices used by the new remotely-working employees will increase. Mobile device management applications allow devices to be remotely wiped, as well as enforce device encryption.

Some experts say adding network segmentation should be considered for environments that dont already have it. However, network changes at a time when IT staff may be stressed with other work may not be a good idea, warned Young.

Employees may have concerns that their personal surfing on personal devices may come under corporate surveillance, Young said. This can be alleviated by IT telling staff how to turn off secure gateways, for example, or simply telling staff that such activity wont be tracked.

Young also said that because of the increased security risks from home workers IT teams will have to step up network monitoring.

Whats important, he concluded, is that IT provide reasonable security measures. Try to make it easier for people to be secure. Humans will always try to evade [complex] mechanisms.

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Now that more employees are working from home because of COVID-19, time for IT to toughen controls - IT World Canada