Wayne Williams

Having confirmed that Windows 10 S is going to become a "mode" in future versions of Windows 10, rather than a standalone product, Microsoft has revealed more about its future plans for the soon-to-be ex-operating system.

While Windows 10 S, in its current form, has been perceived by many as a flop, Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President, Windows, says, "we’ve received great feedback from customers and partners on Windows 10 S. Customers love the security, faster boot time, better battery life and consistent performance over time." Although he would say that.

While Microsoft is busy putting the finishing touches to the Windows 10 Spring Update, codenamed Redstone 4, work is well underway on its successor, due around October time.

Windows Insiders who opted to "skip ahead" can try out early Redstone 5 builds, and today Microsoft releases Build 17618 on that branch. Usually at this stage in development there’s nothing much to get excited about, but that’s not the case here.

It was reported last month that Microsoft was planning to transition its education-focused Windows 10 S from a separate operating system into a "mode" in existing versions of Windows 10.

It was a move that surprised no one. Windows 10 S is a locked down version of Windows 10 that can only run UWP apps from the Microsoft Store, and while that makes it more secure, it also significantly limits what can be done with the OS.

New builds for the next big feature update of Windows 10 are coming thick and fast. Build 17112 was released last Friday, and today Build 17115 makes its way on to the Fast ring.

Builds rolled out this close to official launch tend to just be about fixing bugs and adding polish, but 17115 actually makes a big change to the privacy screen settings layout.

Kodi continues to be in the news, often for all the wrong reasons. The media center software is synonymous with piracy, even though you need to install third-party add-ons to use it for illegal streaming purposes.

Today, however, there’s good news for Kodi users -- the team behind the software releases the first version of Kodi 18 (Leia), the next generation of its media center software, and you can download the brand new build now.

Three days ago, Microsoft rolled out Build 17110 for Windows 10 Insiders on the Fast ring. It offered a number of improvements, and also came with an unexpected annoyance -- the Microsoft Store was missing for some users.

Today, Microsoft rolls out a surprise new update -- Build 17112. It has a number of fixes, but not for the Store issue unfortunately. It also introduces a couple of new problems.

The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities affected millions of processors around the world, and the "fixes" that followed compounded the problems with reports of the patches bricking AMD PCs, and Ubuntu systems, and causing major slowdowns. Intel even told customers to stop installing the patches due to 'unpredictable' reboot issues.

In a new blog post, Microsoft provides an update on the state of the situation, and has some good news for Windows 1o users.

Shortly after Microsoft released the latest Windows 10 preview build to Insiders on the Fast ring, reports started coming in that the Store was missing for a number of users.

The problem wasn’t one of those listed in the known issues, and Microsoft announced that it was investigating. If you’re on the new build and the Store is missing for you, there is now a workaround you can try.

While NetMarketShare has Windows 10 stumbling backwards in February, StatCounter shows the opposite. Rather than the new OS losing share, the Irish analyst firm has Windows 10 shooting upwards, past Windows 7.

That’s good news for Microsoft as it would have been rather embarrassing if Windows 7 had reclaimed the crown after only one month.

Depending on which analyst firm you believe, Windows 10 either finally overtook Windows 7 in January (StatCounter), or it simply narrowed the gap a little more (NetMarketShare).

If you were expecting NetMarketShare’s latest figures to show Windows 10 besting Windows 7 there as well this month, you are in for a nasty surprise as its numbers for February have the OS slipping into reverse gear and actually losing share.

Amazon is a company that isn’t afraid to take risks, and try new things. Some of its ideas -- like the Echo -- paid off handsomely, while other gambles, like the Amazon Fire Phone, failed miserably.

Amazon is also happy to splash the cash to expand its reach, buying Whole Foods in 2017, and Ring this week. But where can Amazon go next? LendEDU ran a poll of 1,000 American consumers who had purchased something from Amazon in the last 30 days, and asked them whether they’d be interested in using an Amazon-created cryptocurrency for purchases, or banking with the retail giant. The results may surprise you.

We’re pretty much on the home straight for the next big feature update of Windows 10.

Rumored to be called the Spring Creators Update, the final release on the Redstone 4 branch will introduce a lot of new features and improvements to Microsoft’s newest OS. Today's Insider build polishes things up and adds some improvements for enterprise customers.

Public Cloud is a massive business for tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently the clear leader, with 62 percent share, followed by Microsoft Azure, on 20 percent, and Google on just 12 percent.

However, Google has scored an important win over Microsoft, replacing its rival as the cloud infrastructure service Apple relies on for its own iCloud services.

We’re edging ever closer to the release of the next big Windows 10 feature update. Rumored to be called the Spring Creators Update, it includes a number of high profile new features and improvements.

Last week, Microsoft rolled out two new Insider builds -- one for those on the Fast ring, and another for those who opted to Skip Ahead (the first in the Redstone 5 branch). Today, the software giant delivers a build just for those on the Fast ring.

If you grew up in the UK in the 1980s, you’re probably familiar with the Acorn Computers brand. The company produced a number of popular microcomputers, such as the Acorn Electron and the Acorn Archimedes. It’s best known as the maker of the BBC Micro -- the education focused computer found in many schools across the country (and which was the inspiration for the Raspberry Pi).

Brand nostalgia is a big thing right now, with modern versions of old computers -- like the ZX Spectrum and C64 -- making their way on to the market. If you were an Acorn devotee back in the day, the good news is there’s a new smartphone for you, arriving in time to commemorate the brand’s 40th anniversary. The bad news is it isn’t a great smartphone, or even a custom built one.