Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft PC Manager feels like CCleaner's little brother

Microsoft PC Manager is available officially now. Microsoft launched the free tool back in 2022 as a preview. The app, developed by Microsoft China, promises to give PCs a performance boost when needed.

Besides that, it includes some useful and some not-so-useful PC management options and tools.

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X (Twitter) alternative BlueSky opens sign-ups for everyone

Bluesky butterfly logo

If you always wanted to sign-up for the X (Twitter) alternative BlueSky but never managed to get your hands on an invite code, you will be glad to hear that these codes are no longer required to create an account.

The social media service, which managed to grow to over 3 million users already, is now available for everyone. The number of users pales in comparison to the 130 million that Meta's Threads managed to accumulate, but it is more than Mastadon's 1.8 million.

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Get Copilot Pro says Microsoft in latest Windows 11 ads push

Many Windows users have access to Microsoft Copilot, a built-in AI tool. This tool is free to use. Microsoft created Copilot Pro as an optional subscription-based service. Available for $20 per user and month, Copilot Pro promises "priority access to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo during peak times". A subscription delivers answers, content, and generated AI images faster, according to Microsoft's description of the service.

Subscribers get two additional benefits. Designer, which allows users to use AI to generate images, gets 100 boosts per day. Boosts prioritize requests so that results are returned faster. Designer still works without boosts, but it may take longer to generate and return image creations to the user.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-eighty in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

The Windows 11 Canary build number made a jump this week to version 27547. It is not an unusual step and not a Windows 12 confirmation. This month, Microsoft will release Moment 5 update for Windows 11 to the release preview.

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Microsoft buffs native archive support in latest Windows 11 build

Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system will soon support additional compression options and archive formats natively.

Microsoft announced the release of Windows 11 build 26040 to the Canary Channel earlier today. It is a big build that introduces several changes and new features.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-nine in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Windows 12 might not be released this year. The latest rumors suggest that Microsoft will release the feature update Windows 11 version 24H2 instead. This update will be a larger update with a focus on AI.

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HP CEO explains why the company is bricking third-party ink printers

Printer owners have several options when it comes to supplying their printers with ink. The two main choices are to buy first-party or third-party printer ink. The former is official, the latter less expensive. Both options work well, provided that manufacturers do not manipulate printers to block support for third-party ink cartridges.

Printer manufacturers like HP have a vested interest that customers purchase first-party printer ink or, even better, subscribe to printing plans. HP CEO Enrique Lores confirmed to CNBC Television that HP loses money with each printer sold and that the company makes money with printer ink sales and subscriptions.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-eight in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Windows 10 is still the leading version of Windows when you compare usage. Microsoft published a video this week that it says helps users switch to Windows 11. It is doubtful that it is going to convince Windows 10 users to make the move, as it is relatively short and without meaningful arguments.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-seven in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft plans to remove the WordPad application from future versions of its Windows 11 operating system. While WordPad is going away, Microsoft is working on adding AI to the plain text editor Notepad.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-six in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Future Windows PC keyboards may have a dedicated Copilot key. First keyboards with a key will become available in late February. A tap on the key launches Copilot. It is unclear if additional shortcuts will be supported.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-five in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

The next, and maybe final Moment update for Windows 11 could land in February. It may introduce the long-awaited options to remove Edge, Bing Search and other components in the European Economic Area.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-four in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft released a troubleshooting tool to fix a printing issue that identified non-HP printers as HP printers. The tool corrects the issue when run.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-three in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Windows Copilot is now also available for Windows 10. Microsoft released cumulative update KB5033372 this week that introduces the AI-powered tool on Windows 10 systems.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-two in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Windows 10's official support will run out in October 2025. Microsoft confirmed that customers will be able to extend support beyond that month for a price.

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Best Windows apps this week

Five-hundred-and-seventy-one in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft is testing new features all the time. Windows 11 users may soon get more out of their device's battery thanks to the new Energy Saver tool that is currently in development. Another change moves the Copilot button from its center position on the taskbar to the very right of it.

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