We've heard a lot about Windows 10X -- Microsoft's answer to Chrome OS -- and as we celebrated the arrival of 2021, the operating system leaked online. This has not only given people a chance to get a glimpse at what's to come -- and try it out for themselves -- but also to get the OS up and running on a variety of devices.

Indeed, one dedicated hacker has managed to get Windows 10X running on a Surface Pro 7. What's more, it all works pretty well.

Continue reading →

Linux-based systems are generally touted for their high levels of security, but this does not mean that they are completely immune to threats. Illustrating this, security firm Check Point Software has shared details of a series of attacks based on the FreakOut malware.

The company says that the aim of the malware appears to be the creation of an IRC botnet which could be used to launch DDoS attacks, run crypto miners, and more. Linux users running certain products are being warned to get their systems patched as soon as possible to avoid problems.

Continue reading →

The arrival of Apple's M1 chips opened up the possibility of running iPhone and iPad apps under macOS. Running natively in this way is reliant on developers making the necessary changes to their creations which can then be installed via the Mac App Store.

But, of course, not all developers are willing or able to make the necessary updates and so their apps have not been available in the App Store. However, many people have been side-stepping this obstacle by sideloading unsupported apps. Having noticed this activity, Apple has intervened and blocked such sideloading.

Continue reading →

There have been plenty of bugs in Windows 10 over the years. Just the other day, for instance, we wrote about one that could corrupt your hard drive. Now, details of a bug that causes Windows to crash have emerged -- and Microsoft does not seem to be in a rush to fix it.

The bug was discovered by the same security researcher who unearthed the NTFS flaw, Jonas Lykkegaard. He found that by visiting a certain path in Chrome, Windows 10 crashes with a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death). Despite Lykkegaard having gone public with details of the bug some months ago, Microsoft is still yet to produce a fix.

Continue reading →

The option to "Reset this PC" has long given users a quick and easy way to restore their computer to its factory settings. But ever since the release of Windows 10 version 1607, users have been complaining that the feature is not working, with the message "There was a problem when resetting your PC. No changes were made" being displayed.

Now Microsoft has finally got round to fixing the problem. The company has released the KB4598479 update as part of the first Patch Tuesday of 2021.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has announced that it is rolling out an important update relating to voice data collected during speech recognition. The changes give users more control over how their data is used, and comes in response to privacy concerns about the use of private data.

The update means that users will now be able to give or deny consent for Microsoft to manually transcribe the contents of voice clips for the purposes of improving the accuracy of speech recognition.

Continue reading →

A security researcher has revealed details of a strange bug that could result in an NTFS hard drive becoming corrupt in Windows 10, as well as the unsupported Windows XP. What makes the bug so serious and unusual is that it can be triggered without the user having to open a file.

The bug -- which has been shown to have been around for three years or so -- can cause a hard drive to be corrupted if a user simply views the contents of a folder that includes a specially crafted file. Although Microsoft is aware of the issue affecting the $i30 NTFS attribute, a fix has yet to be produced.

Continue reading →

It was a long time coming, but as 2020 came to an end, Adobe stopped supporting its much-maligned Flash Player. Now, nearly two weeks into 2021, the company is taking things a step further.

Users have already been advised to uninstall the software and, starting today, there is a new reason to do so besides helping to boost security. Today is the day that all Flash content is blocked, meaning there really is no point in having the obsolete tool installed.

Continue reading →

In the run-up to Inauguration Day, and in the wake of violent events at the Capitol last week, tensions are running high in the US. With numerous social media platforms having banned outgoing president Trump from using their services, Facebook has now announced that it is banning a phrase that has become strongly associated with right-wing conspiracy theories about election fraud.

Having already removed a group called Stop the Steal a couple of months ago, Facebook is now going to be removing all content that uses these words. The phrase "stop the steal" is effectively banned on both Facebook and Instagram, and the company says that it will be working around the clock to enforce its policies until after president-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.

Continue reading →

Windows Insiders who install the latest build of Windows 10 are being treated to a powerful new option in WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) -- the ability to run Linux commands when a distro starts up.

The new feature can be used to run things such as environment configuration scripts and more. This is an extremely versatile option that will be welcomed by power users, as well as anyone interested in taking their usage of Windows Subsystem for Linux to the next level.

Continue reading →

It is now around six months since Microsoft launched its own command line data recovery app. The Windows File Recovery Tool offers a way to get back deleted files, but it came in for some criticism for not being particularly easy to use.

This is something that Microsoft is now working to address, bringing a massively simplified approach to the app, greatly increasing ease of use and user friendliness.

Continue reading →

There are many reasons for wanting to grab text from an image files, and there are numerous tools that let you do just that. But if you're looking for a quick and easy way to convert an image into editable text, you might be surprised to find that Windows 10 offers a way to do it without the need for additional software.

More than just images, the operating system includes a great, secret way to grab any text you can see on your screen and convert it into an editable format. Here's what you need to know about optical character recognition (OCR) in Windows 10.

Continue reading →

Windows 10 has been with us for quite some time now, and while Microsoft has introduced various visual tweaks over the years, there has been nothing dramatic. But this could be about to change.

Rumors have been circulating about a planned visual refresh to the operating system which has the codename Sun Valley. Now Microsoft is planning to introduce a "sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows experiences" over the coming months.

Continue reading →

Just days ago, Microsoft pushed out PowerToys v0.29 as the last release of 2020 -- now it's time for the first release of 2021.

Skipping over versions 0.29.1 and 0.29.2, the company has unleashed PowerToys v0.29.3. So, what is there to look forward to in this first release of the new year?

Continue reading →

When Microsoft first released Windows 10, the company made a big deal about the fact that the operating system was available as a free upgrade for a limited time.

The free upgrade period -- supposedly -- came to an end some time ago, but actually it is still possible to jump from Windows 7 or Windows 8 to Windows 10 for free in 2021. Here's what you need to know about getting a free upgrade to Windows 10.

Continue reading →