Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

With the release of Windows 10 May 2020 Update, Microsoft not only introduced a range of new features and options, but also took some away. One thing that has changed with Windows 10 version 2004 is that Cortana is now a standalone app rather than an integral part of the operating system.

Not that you would necessarily notice, that is. Although the digital assistant is now separate from Windows itself, it still automatically runs at startup – it is possible, however, to disable Cortana and stop it from running in this way, or remove it completely.

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Last week, Microsoft started the staggered release of Windows 10 May 2020 Update, and many people are looking for ways to force the download before it is offered to them.

We already know that there are quite a few issues with the feature update, and Microsoft is also actively blocking the update for some people. Anyone for whom the update is blocked is being shown a message informing that that their  "device isn't quite ready" to receive the May 2020 Update.

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When Microsoft launched its Linux-style package manager WinGet, there were immediate comparison to the rival tool AppGet. While AppGet is an open source project, developer Keivan Beigi was unhappy that Microsoft had essentially copied much of his work, and failed to give him credit.

His accusations were not without basis, as he had met with a Microsoft manager to discuss "how we can make your life easier building appget". Now Microsoft has conceded that it did not credit the influence and work of Beigi, and has taken steps to remedy this.

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Donald Trump's war with Twitter looks likely to heat up after the social media site hid one of the president's tweets for "glorifying violence".

Tweeting about people in people in Minneapolis protesting about the killing of George Floyd by a police officer, Trump referred to the protestors as "thugs". He then went on to say "any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts" -- and it was this phrase which fell foul of Twitter rules.

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Microsoft just managed to release the Windows 10 May 2020 Update in May, and many people are eager to get their hands on it -- but not everyone is being offered it straight away.

For most people, a simple check of Windows Update will give them access to the update, but this is a staged rollout so it might take a while to appear for you. It is possible, however, to force your computer to download the Windows 10 May 2020 Update. Here's how to do it.

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Zoom has been one of the most used, yet most lambasted, contestants in the video conferencing arena during coronavirus-driven lockdown times, and much of the focus has been on privacy and security issues.

Having acknowledged that it had work to do, the company promised to take steps to improve its service and has issued numerous updates to its app in recent months. The release of Zoom 5.0 in April was a major step, and you only have days to upgrade or risk being cut off from the service completely.

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As predicted earlier today, Microsoft has now released Windows 10 May 2020 Update. This latest update has been available to developers for a little while, but the proposed general release that had been scheduled for the middle of this month had been postponed.

But now Microsoft has decided the update is ready for public consumption. Here's what you need to know, and how you can get hold of it.

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There have long been complaints from the right that online platforms censor conservative opinions because of a liberal bias. Now after being fact-checked by Twitter, Donald Trump has threatened to close down social media platforms.

In the last 24 hours, Twitter added a "Get the facts" link to a false claim made in a tweet by the president about mail-in votes. Clearly incensed, Trump tweeted that "we will strongly regulate, or close them down".

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Rich Turner, a senior program manager at Microsoft, has taken to Twitter to practically beg people to move away from Cmd to PowerShell. Why? Well Cmd is an ancient hangover from the days of MS-DOS, for a start!

He explains that Cmd is in maintenance mode, and only continues to exist for the purpose of backward compatibility. Stating "PowerShell is the future", he states categorically that the old command line interpreter "should not be used for interactive shell work".

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There has been speculation about just when Microsoft would release Windows 10 May 2020 Update / Windows 10 version 2004 / Windows 10 20H1 after a bug delayed the launch earlier this month.

Rumors generally agreed that the release date would be somewhere between May 26 and May 28, and it seems the correct date is actually smack in the middle -- May 27. While the update is, at time of writing, yet to start rolling out, an update to the Windows lifecycle page of the Microsoft site appears to reveal that today is the big day.

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Apple has released macOS Catalina 10.15.5 which includes a new battery health management feature to help improve the battery life of MacBooks.

Much like the feature that has been available in iOS for a little while now, battery health management helps to improve longevity by reducing the peak capacity of a battery. In addition to this, the latest update to Catalina also improves the appearance of Pro Display XDR monitors, and fixes various problems including issues in FaceTime and Reminders.

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Donald Trump has lashed out at Twitter, accusing the site of not only interfering in the 2020 presidential elections, but also of standing in the way of free speech.

The accusations came after the site added a fact-checking link to a tweet Trump posted suggesting that mail-in ballots in California would be "substantially fraudulent". Twitter added a "Get the facts about mail-in ballots" to a pair of his tweets, causing the president to react angrily. The site, did not, however, censor or delete the tweets.

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Spotify has announced that it is lifting the content cap that previously limited the number of songs, albums and podcasts that could be added to a library.

Until today is was only high-profile Spotify Rockstars who were able to store more than 10,000 items in their Spotify libraries, but now you'll no longer see the message "Epic collection my friend. There's no more room in Your Library. To save more, you'll need to remove some songs or albums" when you reach this number.

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We are now just days -- maybe just hours -- away from the release of Windows 10 May 2020 Update. Microsoft has been preparing for the launch of this feature update, also known as Windows 10 version 2004 and Windows 10 20H1, for some time now, but the launch appears imminent as information pages about it have now appeared on the company website.

Having already released the update to developers Microsoft has now published pages that detail both known issues and resolved issues. There are, apparently, neither known nor resolved issues, despite Microsoft having previously indicated that it would ship the update knowing it contains a bug.

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Earlier this month Microsoft released KB4556799, an update for Windows 10 that brought important changes to the operating system. But, as has become increasingly common of late, the update has also caused a range of problems for users, including breaking internet connections.

Microsoft has acknowledged that there have been reports of "various issues", and while the company says it has "not seen widespread issues reflected in telemetry", an investigation is underway, and a fix for connectivity problems will be released soon.

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