Wayne Williams

Usage share monitoring service StatCounter saw Windows 10 overtake Windows 7 back in February, and its latest figures put the new operating system on 50.07 percent, well ahead of Windows 7 on 37.2 percent.

Rival monitoring service NetMarketShare disagrees however. While Windows 10 gained significant share in August, at Windows 7’s expense, the latest figures, for September, show a reversal of fortune.

Continue reading →

Taking a leaf out of the Lumen Database, unofficial Kodi add-on provider TVAddons has been maintaining a list of blacklisted Kodi Addons in a regular transparency report.

This blacklist is not the result of DMCA takedown notices, but rather is compiled based on Kodi addons that were submitted to its index but judged not to meet the company’s own verification standards.

Continue reading →

The Windows 10 October 2018 Update is expected to arrive as early as next week, but for those people who are already looking forward to the following feature update, out next spring, Microsoft has a new build for you.

Build 18247, on the 19H1 branch, isn't the most exciting Skip Ahead build you'll ever encounter, as it doesn't contain any new features.

Continue reading →

There are a number of Linux distros available for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), including Ubuntu, openSUSE Leap 42, Debian GNU/Linux, and Kali Linux.

However, these distros tend to lack development tools and contain unnecessary packages, such as systemd. WLinux is a new, open source Linux distribution based on Debian stable that has been specially optimized for WSL.

Continue reading →

Amazon’s surprise hardware event in Seattle today revealed a lot of new Alexa-powered devices, but it’s the Fire TV Recast that will be of most interest to a lot of users.

It’s a new companion DVR that lets you watch, record, and replay free over-the-air TV programming on the Fire TV, Echo Show, and on compatible Fire tablet, iOS, and Android devices.

Continue reading →

At its surprise reveal today, Amazon took the wraps off an Alexa-powered microwave, a smart plug, and a whole host of other devices.

It also announced updates to its Echo Dot, Echo Plus and Echo Show products, with improved audio and the nicer, fabric look Amazon introduced to the Echo last year.

Continue reading →

At its surprise event today, Amazon revealed a new smart plug which lets you control home appliances with Alexa.

It doesn’t actually come with an Echo -- or microphones -- built in, but that’s to be expected given it will sell for just $25 (which is pretty much on par with other similar products).

Continue reading →

Amazon hosted a surprise event today in Seattle where it took the wraps of a whole raft of Echo products.

One of the weirdest devices it revealed is an Alexa-powered microwave with a built-in Dash button that will allow you to order popcorn should you run out -- prefect for movie night!

Continue reading →

Three days ago, Microsoft rolled out Windows 10 Build 17760 to Windows Insiders. This build for the forthcoming October 2018 Update (aka Redstone 5) was the first with "no known issues”, showing how close we're getting to the actual release.

Since then, however, the company has found and fixed a number of additional problems, and encountered a couple more which will be addressed in a subsequent build.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is introducing a number of new features in Windows 10 1809, aka the October 2018 Update, including a dark theme for File Explorer, a new screenshot tool, and clipboard, search, Notepad, and Edge improvements. Sadly what promised to be the big new feature, Sets, hasn't made it into the OS this time around.

With each new Windows 10 update, some existing features get dropped, or stop being actively developed. Here are all the features that have been removed or deprecated in this forthcoming release.

Continue reading →

It’s fair to say CCleaner has lost a lot of fans since Avast took over Piriform last year. We’ve seen problems with malware, bundled software, and pop-up ads, and then most recently Avast made a number of unwelcome privacy changes to the popular system cleaner, and removed the ability to quit the software.

It eventually pulled the most recent problematic update, and released a replacement, CCleaner 5.46, without the privacy issues, but it turns out that this release has problems of its own.

Continue reading →

If you own an iPhone (5s or newer), or an iPad, you can now officially update it to iOS 12, the latest and greatest version of Apple’s mobile operating system.

iOS 12 offers performance improvements, new AR experiences, Memoji, Screen Time, and Siri Shortcuts for apps, to name just a few of the new additions.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is in the final stages of polishing up the next feature update for Windows 10. Insiders who were annoyed that the operating system interfered with the installation of Chrome and Firefox no longer need to worry as Microsoft has turned off this particular annoyance.

If you play Tencent games, you’ll be pleased to know that Microsoft now says the October 2018 Update will be fully compatible with them.

Continue reading →

Yesterday I revealed how Microsoft was interrupting attempts to install Firefox or Chrome on Insider builds of Windows 10 with an advert for its own browser, Edge.

This boneheaded move, designed to get people to try Edge for more than just downloading another browser, was rightly met with fury here and across the internet, and Microsoft has now pulled the "advert", claiming it was just a test. But a test for what? To see how far it can push users?

Continue reading →

Yesterday, Apple took the wraps off three new iPhones -- the XS, XS Max, and the XR. These are attractive, powerful smartphones, with a premium price to match.

If you have the money to buy one, you’ll also perhaps need to factor in the cost of AppleCare, Apple’s insurance policy, which includes up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage (although you’ll still need to pay an excess charge for each repair). If you decide not to go for AppleCare and you break the screen, or damage the phone in another way, then the cost of an official repair will leave you stunned.

Continue reading →