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Hey! It’s Jack.
It’s been an extremely busy week on the service desk, due to a Draytek update that broke literally hundreds of thousands of broadband connections worldwide. I hope you weren’t affected, but if you were and haven’t got your internet working yet, check out the Favourite Finds section — I’ve included steps that has fixed the issue for our clients.
Anyway, onto the focus of this week’s edition. In a hybrid setup, most meetings happen online — and it’s easy for them to become messy, unfocused, or just a waste of time. But with a few simple tools and habits, you can make meetings clearer, shorter, and more productive.
This week, we’re looking at the best ways to use Microsoft 365 — especially Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive — to improve meetings and streamline collaboration.
In this edition of On The Pulse:
Using Teams, Outlook, and OneDrive to ensure more productive meetings
How to fix your Draytek router if you’re still having issues
Copilot’s new “deep reasoning” features
People and File Search — new Microsoft apps perfect for people who care about productivity and efficiency
Table of Contents
Let’s get started!
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🔍 FAVOURITE FINDS
📰 News
A number of ISPs, including AAISP and ICUK, have reported widespread disconnections among customers using DrayTek routers, due to what appears to be an attack exploiting known firmware vulnerabilities. The issue began on Saturday night (23 March) and continues to affect users, even those with patched devices. DrayTek hasn’t directly confirmed the cause but has issued advice: disable remote management and SSL VPN (via System Maintenance > Remote Management and VPN and Remote Access > Remote Access Control), update firmware, and reboot the router. ISPs are urging users to patch or replace affected routers, and disable VPN features as a workaround if needed. Frankly, while these routers are popular for small businesses and home offices, DrayTek’s vague response isn’t doing much to reassure users.
Microsoft is adding advanced “deep reasoning” AI tools to its 365 Copilot suite, including Researcher for multi-step research and Analyst for high-level data analysis using OpenAI’s models — features set to roll out from April. These upgrades promise to automate complex tasks across tools like Salesforce and Excel, with minimal coding required. While potentially a huge productivity boost for businesses, Microsoft will need to prove this isn’t just AI hype; if it delivers, it could make Copilot genuinely indispensable for knowledge workers.
🧐 Interesting
Microsoft is launching two new mini productivity apps — People and File Search— for Windows 11 users in the M365 Insiders Beta channel. People helps you quickly learn about colleagues through profile cards, org charts, and smart search by role or department, while File Search lets you find, preview, and share files without needing the exact name. These tools aim to reduce context-switching and boost efficiency by integrating tightly with Teams and OneDrive. It’s a smart move — simple but meaningful upgrades that could genuinely streamline daily workflows, especially in large organisations.