Wayne Williams

Microsoft is hard at work polishing the next big feature update for Windows 10, out in the fall. It released two new Redstone 5 builds last week -- Build 17733 (with Dark Theme for File Explorer) and Build 17735.

Today, the software giant pushes out Build 17738 to Windows Insiders on the Fast ring.

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Classic Shell was around for years before finding fame following Microsoft’s ill-conceived idea to make Windows 8 without a Start button or menu. It remained popular even after the Start menu made an official return in Windows 8.x and then Windows 10.

Development of Classic Shell was sadly ended in 2017, but not before the developer open sourced it. Classic Start arrived last month, picking up where Classic Shell left off, but potential copyright issues mean it is no more.

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Windows has been capable of displaying animated wallpaper for years, and when done right the effect is nothing less than stunning.

RainWallpaper, from Deviant Art, lets you browse a large collection of live wallpapers, sorted into categories like Featured, Landscape, Animi, Game, Space, HiTech, Pet and Animal, and Plants. You can download and apply any that take your fancy, or make your own in seconds.

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In addition to rolling out a new Windows 10 Redstone 5 build to Insiders on the Fast ring today, Microsoft has also pushed out a new Redstone 6 build (the feature update that follows the next one, and isn’t set to arrive until next spring) to those on the Skip Ahead ring.

Build 18214, on the 19H1 branch, catches up with where Redstone 5 is, and gives those bleeding edge users access to the new Your Phone app for Android and iOS.

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New Windows 10 Redstone 5 builds are coming thick and fast and now as Microsoft works hard to get the future feature update ready for release in the fall.

The software giant rolled out Build 17733, with a Dark Theme for File Explorer, just two days ago, and now Build 17735 arrives close behind.

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Archive.org is one of my favorite websites. It’s home to millions of free books, magazines, movies, software, music, games and websites, and you can spend hours there, discovering new (well, old), and amazing things.

Archive.org has been around for many years, but there remains the danger that its content could get removed, or the site get taken down as a result of copyright claims, censorship, DDoS attacks, and the like. For that reason, Archive.org has created a decentralized -- or distributed -- version of its site.

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We’re edging closer to the launch of the next big Windows 10 feature update, codenamed Redstone 5, and Microsoft is hard at work tidying things up, and rolling out new builds for Insiders to test.

The latest build to hit the Fast ring is Build 17733, which -- among other changes -- delivers the Dark Theme for File Explorer that was begun in Build 17666.

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Windows 10 has got over its early teething problems, and is now shaping up to be an excellent operating system. It might have taken a long while to get there, but the fact it’s about to overtake Windows 7 shows how far the new OS has come.

However, you only have to read one of our lively comments sections to realize there are plenty of people who still prefer Windows 7 and have no desire to switch to Windows 10.  Those people typically aren’t fans of Microsoft’s telemetry gathering, forced adverts, and unwanted features, and I get that. However, there is a way you can quickly lock down the new OS and make it -- dare I say -- more like an updated version of Windows 7.

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Piriform rolled out updates for CCleaner on a monthly basis, and this is something that has continued since Avast took over. The latest update, CCleaner 5.45, wasn’t at all well received due to a number of changes affecting privacy, and the company’s response to the matter proved to be unsatisfactory -- to say the least.

Now it seems that Avast has seen the light, and pulled the latest update. The current version available is 5.44. On its forums the company had this to say:

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Microsoft rolled out Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17728 to Insiders on the Fast ring three days ago, and at the same it teased its new Your Phone app.

This app allows iOS and Android users to sync content from their phones to a Windows 10 PC. Today, the software giant rolls out another new Insider build, and announces that Your Phone is now live.

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Yesterday I wrote about why people might want to skip the latest version of popular system cleaning tool CCleaner. This isn’t the first time that I, and other long-time users, have expressed dissatisfaction in how the program is evolving under Avast.

Following yesterday’s piece, the Avast-owned Piriform -- CCleaner’s maker -- contacted me to clarify the situation. This is what the company had to say.

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NetMarketShare reports on the state of the desktop operating system market on the first day of each month. Usually at least. It spent a few days auditing June’s figures last month, which caused a bit of a delay.

There’s no such lag for July’s figures though, which arrive on time and show Windows 10 continuing to cut into Windows 7's dominance.

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The Kodi Foundation is hard at work polishing up the next version of its hugely popular home theater software -- Kodi 18 'Leia'.

The updated software introduces a huge number of changes (you can view the full changelog here) and you can try it out now.

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A month ago, I wrote about how I felt Avast was ruining CCleaner, the excellent system cleaning software it took over when it acquired Piriform last year.

In Avast's short tenure, we've already seen CCleaner suffer from malware, bundled software, and pop-up ads. In my article headline I asked "what’s next?" Well, with a new version of CCleaner available to download, we now have the answer. Inevitably, it's not good.

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The second Windows 10 Redstone 5 Bug Bash is currently underway, but that hasn’t stopped Microsoft rolling out Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17728 (RS5) to Insiders in the Fast ring.

This new build introduces a number of changes, improvements and fixes, and Microsoft also used this new flight to detail the forthcoming Your Phone app which will soon allow iOS and Android users to sync content from their phones to a Windows 10 PC.

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