Wayne Williams

Microsoft launched Windows XP 18 years ago today. Despite support ending for it back in 2014, the OS is still to be found on just under 3 percent of the world's PCs, according to NetMarketShare. Many people still look back fondly on it, and for good reason. It was a huge step up from the gray, bland Windows versions that proceeded it.

Although Microsoft does issue the very occasional update for XP, in the main it's now viewed as a relic from days gone by, and lacking many of the modern features we take for granted in Windows 10. But what if Microsoft updated it? To celebrate the operating system's big 18th birthday, we thought it would be fun to repost this story from a couple of months ago.

If you have private files that you want to be able to access when on the go, you could consider uploading them to the cloud, or carrying them around on a USB flash drive. The trouble with the former option is you’re entrusting your content to a third party, and in the case of the latter, you run the risk of losing the drive, allowing anyone who finds it to view your data. You could protect your files using software encryption, but it’s not 100 percent secure.

A much better, and far safer solution is to store your data on a hardware encrypted USB drive like the Aegis Fortress L3.

Earlier today, Google made a huge announcement, stating that it had achieved 'quantum supremacy', by building a quantum computer that "can perform a task no classical computer can".

Scientific journal Nature published the results of Google’s endeavors, in which the search giant explains that its Sycamore chip performed a computation in 200 seconds that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years, marking the start of a new computing era.

Microsoft is currently expected to begin rolling out the Windows 10 19H2 release -- the November 2019 Update -- on November 12.

In the meantime however, it’s busy working on the follow up, due out next May. The latest flight from the 20H1 branch doesn’t have any new features, but Build 19008 does include a number of useful fixes and improvements. These are:

The Internet Archive is a massive and incredibly useful resource that offers access to millions of books, games, software, audio and video files, and cached versions of websites via the recently updated Wayback Machine.

To use it, you need an internet connection, but that’s changing thanks to the creation of the new Offline Archive project.

According to the Internet Archive, the average webpage lasts just three months before being altered or deleted. To prevent this data being lost for good, the team’s Wayback Machine saves a copy of web pages across time, allowing visitors to see how a site has looked at various points in its history.

I’ve found the Wayback Machine to be an invaluable tool on numerous occasions, but it’s now getting even better.

If you need some help getting into the Halloween spirit, and a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks isn’t quite cutting it, perhaps transforming your Raspberry Pi into an illuminated pumpkin will do the trick.

The Pi Hut has created a programmable Halloween board that you plug into your Pi. The Halloween PumpkinPi (see what they did there?) is available in two variations.

It won’t be too long now until Microsoft begins to roll out Windows 10 19H2 -- the November 2019 Update -- but in the meantime it’s working hard on the next big feature update due out next May.

The latest flight from the 20H1 Branch released today, Build 19002, has one major improvement, and that concerns Bluetooth.

Five years ago, the Internet Archive added 2,400 playable DOS games to its site, including 90s classics like Duke Nukem 3D, Prince of Persia, Championship Manager, The Incredible Machine, Eye of the Beholder (and its sequels), Hexen, Sim City, and Wolfenstein 3D.

Over the years, a number of additional games have been added to the collection, but the Internet Archive has made what it says is its biggest update yet, introducing another 2,500 MS-DOS titles.

Amazon has been putting its voice assistant Alexa into as many devices as it can dream up, leaving Google trailing in its wake. Two years ago, the search giant announced its Amazon Echo Dot competitor, called the Home Mini, and today at its Made by Google ’19 event it debuted that device’s successor.

Nest Mini -- Google is rebranding its home hardware with the Nest name -- comes with an upgraded Google Assistant, and twice the bass. That’s not all though.

I live in a house with very thick walls and floors, so as a result, my Wi-Fi coverage always used to be extremely patchy. I tried various solutions over the years, including a number of range extenders, but eventually I cracked the issue by switching to Google Wifi, a smart networking system that creates a whole home wireless network.

Today, at its Made By Google ’19 event, the search giant unveils the successor to its mesh solution -- Nest Wifi.

At this year's Game Developers Conference in March, Google took the wraps off Stadia, a new, instant-play cloud-based gaming service.

With Stadia, games are "played" on Google’s servers, and streamed to compatible devices in the home, including smartphones, tablets, desktops, laptops, TVs and more. Google claims Stadia servers are capable of providing 4K, 60 frames-per-second performance.

Microsoft typically rolls out two feature updates a year for Windows 10, but changed its approach in 2019. Instead of two feature updates -- one in spring and the other in fall -- the software giant has opted to make the second release more of a service pack. It does have some new features, but it’s more about providing "quality enhancements".

This service pack update, codenamed 19H2, has finally been given an official name, and it’s available for testing too.

The Windows Insider program is currently looking for a new leader, but new Windows 10 builds from the 20H1 branch, due out next May, are continuing to roll out on a weekly basis.

Build 18999 makes the ability to move and resize Cortana’s window available to all Insiders, and calling is now available in the Your Phone app.

Windows Insiders provide feedback on new test builds of Windows 10, and Microsoft has frequently talked up the importance of the community in relation to the development and direction of its newest operating system. In reality, however, Insiders mostly just identify bugs for Microsoft to (maybe) fix.

In recent months there has been a lot of negativity surrounding the quality control of Windows 10, with updates breaking everything from printers to the Start menu.