Best Protection From Malware: OneDrive for Business

Files Restore, a new OneDrive for Business feature that was announced last year at Ignite, will provide end users the best protection from malware in case of file corruption or deletion.

Richard Hay, Senior Content Producer

January 23, 2018

4 Slides
Cloud Files and Sharing
Microsoft

Thanks to the ever-present, ever-evolving threat of malware, it is more important than ever to keep a backup of your important files and data. And here's a new wrinkle: With cloud storage options that typically sync file changes between devices and your cloud storage provider, the risk of a malware infected file propagating to other systems can be a valid concern.

A new feature that began rolling out this week on OneDrive for Business looks to offer the best protection from malware for most end users.

Files Restore, a new OneDrive for Business feature that was initially announced last year at Microsoft Ignite, now puts the power of recovering from corrupted or deleted cloud-based files in the hands of the end user.

According to Microsoft’s Stephen Rose, Files Restore is a full self-service restoration option that provides administrators and users the ability to restore files from any moment in the past 30 days. That means you can go back to just one second earlier than when a file might have been corrupted or accidentally removed and regain full access to that file.

Before this new feature can be fully at your users' disposal, there are a couple of key items that need to be turned on by OneDrive for Business administrators. Files Restore uses the file version history and the Recycle Bin to recover files. Just for clarity these are the settings for the users' OneDrive For Business portal on the web and not a local machine's file system version history and Recycle Bin. Although you can revert back to a previous version of a file using its versions history, if the site Recycle Bin is turned off, deleted files will not be accessible for restoration. However, as I mentioned earlier, if either of these settings is turned off at the administrator level, the full Files Restore functionality will not be available.

Something else to be aware of with Files Restore: Documents can only be restored by their original owner. So if a user has been invited to collaborate on a document, he or she cannot be restore it. The original owner must do so through his or her OneDrive for Business storage portal. However, as a source at Microsoft confirmed for me after this announcement, a user who has edit permissions on that file can use the File Versioning option to restore any previous version of that file from the previous 30 days from within their own OneDrive for Business storage.

Now let’s get down to how users would use this feature once it is rolled out to the organization. Check out this associated gallery for screenshots of the four steps required to use Files Restore and enjoy what could be the best protection from malware that is right at your fingertips.

About the Author

Richard Hay

Senior Content Producer, IT Pro Today (Informa Tech)

I served for 29 plus years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer in November 2011. My work background in the Navy was telecommunications related so my hobby of computers fit well with what I did for the Navy. I consider myself a tech geek and enjoy most things in that arena.

My first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then I used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and WindowsObserver.com is the result of the work I have done on that site since 1995.

In January 2010 my community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when I received my first Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for the Windows Operating System. Since then I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP each subsequent year since that initial award. I am also a member of the inaugural group of Windows Insider MVPs which began in 2016.

I previously hosted the Observed Tech PODCAST for 10 years and 317 episodes and now host a new podcast called Faith, Tech, and Space. 

I began contributing to Penton Technology websites in January 2015 and in April 2017 I was hired as the Senior Content Producer for Penton Technology which is now Informa Tech. In that role, I contribute to ITPro Today and cover operating systems, enterprise technology, and productivity.

https://twitter.com/winobs

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