When King County employees do business with each other, the public and other external customers/clients, we are transparent. Part of that transparency is letting people know who we are. KCIT provides all King County the ability to use a personal photo for their Lync/Skype connection. A photo is helpful because it allows people to put a face with a name. It’s very helpful when you are meeting someone for the first time at a remote location or even in a crowded meeting. (We recognize there are certainly safety situations where we don’t… Read More

This is a follow-up to the August 3, 2016 Employee News Tech Tip “What is the difference between Office 2013 and Office 365?” Regarding the home version which employees can download from Microsoft at a discount: Do the two co-exist – the Office suite together with Office 365? Office 365 is a subscription plan. It means you get the latest Office products and regular upgrades as they come out. Alternatively, you can go out and buy a one-time purchase of MS Office. Then you get no upgrades. So for King County, you can… Read More

King County’s Self-Service Account Management (SAM) portal provides King County employees with a password management tool. It can be used to change your password (required every 90 days), reset a forgotten or expired password, or to unlock your account. Once you are enrolled you will be able to reset your password/unlock account via the King County Self Service Account Management portal (www.kingcounty.gov/sam) or via your Windows login screen using the “Reset Password/Unlock” link under your password box (see Windows GINA tab for more information). Read more at the KCIT Service Center

In July 2016 KCIT adopted a new method to alert King County employees to important service changes or issues. This is to streamline and make clear what is happening, when it’s happening, who it affects and what to do to adopt the change and move forward with work. When a change occurs, from an application update to a planned outage, the service team answers the five W’s – who, what, where, when and what to do. The information is written up in clear language then color-coded (red, yellow or green) to communicate the… Read More

Microsoft Office 2013 is a package of tools that help you do your work. They include Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, etc. We are all familiar with these tools because they have been around a long time and haven’t changed much. You can use any of these software applications on desktops, laptops and to even open documents on your phone. You can also download Office 2013 for Apple products like an iPad or a Mac. The software lives in an actual place on your device, like your desktop.    Office 365 is the avenue… Read More

Read about how to configure a mailbox for Outlook Anywhere. King County devices will be automatically configured for Outlook Anywhere. If you’d like to configure your personally owned device, follow the instructions in the link below on the King County IT Service Center website. Read more at the KCIT Service Center website

Everyone talks about “The Cloud” – where internet users can store files and access them from anywhere. Did you know King County employees have the exact same application available to them through Office 365? It’s easy to navigate and use. OneDrive is a great tool for uploading files to share with others (including photos), give others permission to edit and work on files at the same time, and get to your files from anywhere, on your computer, tablet or phone. Essentially, it’s an online locker that allows you to back up and share… Read More

If you are bored with PowerPoint and Prezi makes you nauseous, our Office 365 application has something in between and it’s really easy to use. It’s called Sway. You can find it in the upper left hand corner tile in Office 365. It’s free and there are no restrictions for county users. Once you log in (it’s automatic when you login into Office 365) you open Sway and it brings up easy plug and play instructions. Then hit Get Started and Create. Pull in videos, maps, photos and text. It’s drag and… Read More

This article will explain the difference between spam and phishing emails and what to do when you receive them. What is SPAM? Unsolicited email or undesired email (generally advertising a product or service). You do not need to report each junk or Spam email you receive in your mailbox. Just delete it! Things to Remember  1. Never respond to emails unless they’re from someone you know or something you’ve personally subscribed to – it just confirms your address is valid and you’ll keep getting more spam as valid emails are traded & sold amongst… Read More

If you have Skype for Business on your computer, what picture do you have loaded? Is it your son’s hedgehog? Or maybe a bright red flower? A Skype photo of the Skyped person makes conversations easier. In today’s Tech Tip, we show you how to change the audio, change the picture and create a Skype group for conversations.