Microsoft domain small business

The Microsoft team is focused on sharing resources to help you start, run, and grow your business. Business Insights and Ideas does not constitute professional tax or financial advice.

You should contact your own tax or financial professional to discuss your situation.. Business Tech. Microsoft Team. Small- and mid-sized businesses When it comes to choosing email server hosting for your small- or mid-sized business, you may be inclined to select one of the free services available. For instance: Unprofessional Image: When you communicate with clients or other organizations using an email address with a FreeEmailHost.

Credibility: Likewise, with email hosting services that allow you to use an email address that ends with a YourCompanyName. Hacking: Many free hosted email solutions lack important security measures necessary for conducting business safely.

In addition to exposing your company to hackers, without the right safeguards in place, these types of services can also leave everyone you communicate with vulnerable — which will ultimately impact your working relationships, and possibly your bottom line. Jumpstart your business with a crash course in Microsoft Empower your team to be productive every day, from virtually anywhere, with Microsoft To connect to a wireless network, your device must have a wireless network adapter.

Make sure that you get the same type of adapters as your wireless router. The type of adapter is marked on the package with a letter, such as G or A. Whenever possible, you should connect to a security-enabled wireless network. If you do connect to a network that's not secure, someone with the right tools can see everything that you do, including the websites you visit, the documents you work on, and the user names and passwords that you use. A firewall is hardware or software that helps protect your device from hackers or malicious software.

Running a firewall on each device on your network can help control the spread of malicious software on your network and help protect your devices when you use the Internet. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen if using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen and move the mouse pointer down.

If you want to use a USB flash drive to copy network settings to your device instead of typing a security key or passphrase, follow these steps:. A network adapter connects your device to a network. Make sure that you write the security key and keep it in a safe place. If you have a USB flash drive, you can also save your security key to the flash drive by following the instructions in the wizard. A workgroup is a group of devices that are connected to a home or small office network and share resources, such as printers and files.

When you set up a network, Windows automatically creates a workgroup and gives it a name. In a workgroup:. The Device Name for each device on the network must be unique, and the workgroup for all devices on the network must be the same. A hybrid network refers to any computer network that contains two or more communications standards such Ethernet A hybrid network relies on special hybrid routers, hubs, and switches to connect both wired and wireless computers and other network-enabled devices.

It enables the network to maximize the benefits of both these network types. In a wired computer network, all devices are connected by physical cables to a central access point. This access point can be a router, hub, or a switch.

The function of this access point is to share a network connection among several devices. All the devices are plugged into the access point using individual Ethernet CAT 5 cables. If the devices need to share an Internet connection as well, then the access point is plugged into a broadband Internet modem, either cable or DSL. In a standard wireless network, all networked devices communicate with a central wireless access point that broadcasts a signal. The devices themselves need to contain wireless modems or cards that conform with one or more Wi-Fi standards, either In this network configuration, all wireless devices can share files with each other over the network.

If they also want to share an Internet connection, then the wireless access point is plugged into a broadband Internet modem. A standard hybrid network uses a hybrid access point, a networking device that broadcasts a wireless signal and contains wired access ports.

The most common hybrid access point is a hybrid router. The typical hybrid router broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal using The hybrid router also has a port for connecting to a cable or DSL modem via an Ethernet cable. When shopping for a hybrid router, you might not see the word "hybrid" anywhere. After you determine which of your devices you want to connect with wires and which ones wirelessly, follow the procedures that are listed in Install a wired network , and Install a wireless network respectively to set up these parts of the hybrid network.

There are several different possible network configurations for a hybrid network. The most basic configuration has all the wired devices plugged into the Ethernet ports of the hybrid router, and the wireless devices connected to the router wirelessly. Then the wireless devices can communicate with the wired devices via the hybrid router. If you want to network more than four wired devices, you can string several routers together, both wired and wireless, in a daisy chain formation.

You'll need enough wired routers to handle all of the wired devices the number of devices divided by four. And you'll need enough wireless routers in the right physical locations to broadcast a Wi-Fi signal to every corner of the network. In this way, you can connect both computers and peripherals such as printers and fax machines and place them where it will easy to access them. When you need the maximum Internet and file-sharing speed for your work, you can plug into the network with an Ethernet cable.

If you need to show a streaming video to your colleague in the office hallway, you can access the network wirelessly. With the right planning, your small business can save money on CAT 5 cables and routers by maximizing the reach of the wireless network. And with the right encryption and password management in place, the wireless portion of the network can be as secure as the wired.

After you set up your network, you might want to add more sharing options for your work and devices. Some of these options are set automatically, while others can be set manually. In Windows 8. If certain sharing options don't turn on automatically, you can activate them manually. These manual activation options include:. Network discovery is a network setting that lets your device find other devices on the network and other devices find your device. Such functionality makes it easier to share files and printers.

Network sharing automatically adjusts security and other settings based on the type of network connected to your device. To check whether network sharing is enabled, follow the instructions. The first time you connect to a network, you'll be asked if you want to turn on sharing between devices and connect to network devices such as printers. Your answer automatically sets the appropriate firewall and security settings for the type of network. You can turn sharing on or off at any time.

To share a file or folder, follow the instructions for the version of Windows installed on your device. With password-protected sharing, people on your network can't access shared folders on other devices, including Public folders, unless they have a user name and password on the device for shared folders. The network map is a graphical view of the devices and devices on your network. The map shows how devices are connected and includes any problem areas.

It can be helpful for troubleshooting. For Windows 7, certain sharing options turn on automatically. For example, when you change your network location to Home or Work, network discovery is automatically turned on. Similarly, file sharing turns on automatically the first time you try to share a file or folder. There are three network discovery states:. Windows 7 automatically adjusts security and other settings based on the type of network connected to your device.

If you skip this step, then the first time that you connect to the network, you'll be asked to select your network location. Your company might need multiple domain names for different purposes.

For example, you might want to add a different spelling of your company name because customers are already using it and their communications have failed to reach you. If you chose to add DNS records yourself , select Next and you'll see a page with all the records that you need to add to your registrars website to set up your domain.

If the portal doesn't recognize your registrar, you can follow these general instructions. If you don't know the DNS hosting provider or domain registrar for your domain, see Find your domain registrar or DNS hosting provider. If you want to wait for later, either unselect all the services and click Continue , or in the previous domain connection step choose More Options and select Skip this for now. Domain Connect enabled registrars let you add your domain to Microsoft in a three-step process that takes minutes.

In the wizard, we'll just confirm that you own the domain, and then automatically set up your domain's records, so email comes to Microsoft and other Microsoft services, like Teams, work with your domain. After you finish setup, the MX record for your domain is updated to point to Microsoft and all email for your domain will start coming to Microsoft Make sure you've added users and set up mailboxes in Microsoft for everyone who gets email on your domain!