Wayne Williams

The Internet Archive is a fantastic resource for old software. It’s home to large collections of Windows 3.1 programs, classic DOS games, Amiga games, arcade games, vintage console games, and more.

Now the site is hosting a collection of old Apple Macintosh programs that you can run in your browser.

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The Creators Update is still rolling out to users globally, but Microsoft is hard at work on the next big update to Windows 10, codenamed Redstone 3.

Today it rolls out the second PC build to Insiders on the Fast ring, which includes some changes to OneCore, the core that Windows 10 shares across devices. But that's not all.

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Windows 10's growth seems to have stalled for the moment, despite the software giant's best (and worst) efforts to get consumers and businesses to upgrade.

I spoke to Charles Cho, senior Microsoft architect at PCM, Inc., about why this is, and why Microsoft is so desperate to get users to upgrade. He had some interesting insights on the update conundrum.

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When Microsoft introduced Windows 7 back in 2009, the software giant didn’t need to persuade customers to upgrade -- they leapt at the chance. Back then, upgrading to the latest and greatest version of Windows was a no brainer.

Fast forward to today, and Microsoft is in a very different position. Windows 10 is a huge improvement over its predecessor, Windows 8.x, and yet it’s struggling to gain market share. Figures from NetMarketShare, and Microsoft itself show adoption of the new OS has stalled. That’s got to be hugely frustrating for Microsoft, especially when you consider the number of tricks it has pulled to force users to upgrade.

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If you want to rip and copy any DVD disc, ISO image, or DVD folders to hard drive, computer, mobile device or digital formats, then WinX DVD Ripper Platinum is the perfect tool for the job.

It usually retails for $59.95, but for a limited time BetaNews readers can get it entirely free.

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An embedded system is a device with a computer inside that doesn't look like a computer. Washing machines, televisions, printers, cars, aircraft, and robots are all controlled by a computer of some sort, and in some cases, more than one. As these devices become more complex, and as our expectations of the things that we can do with them expand, the need for a powerful operating system to control them grows.

The Linux: Embedded Development ebook from Packt Publishing will tell you everything you need to know to leverage the power of Linux to develop captivating and powerful embedded Linux projects. It usually retails for $63 but for a limited time you can get it entirely free.

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Amazon has been talking about using drones as a way to deliver parcels to customers for some time, but Hermes has a more down to earth solution it’s about to start trialing in London -- self driving robots.

In partnership with Starship Technologies, the courier firm will soon trial a number of parcel collections in the London borough of Southwark. This follows on from a successful pilot project which saw Hermes Germany test parcel delivery by robot in the Ottensen, Volksdorf and Grindel suburbs of Hamburg.

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The Windows 10 Creators Update is rolling out to users from today. If you install it and encounter major problems, as some users have, you might want to go back to your previous version, and wait until the update is a bit less buggy.

If you been using Windows 10 for a while, you’ll probably know how to do this, although the process has changed slightly this time around.

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Microsoft has just released its biggest update to Windows 10 yet. The Creators Update introduces lots of new features and general improvements, including new privacy and security options, Paint 3D, Night Light, Game Mode, Dynamic Lock, and more.

However, a big update like this requires a big download, and the files that Microsoft places on your system don’t get removed afterwards. In other words, the Creators Update could be responsible for taking a massive bite out of your free hard drive space -- tens of gigabytes in fact. Fortunately it’s easy enough to reclaim this.

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It should come as no surprise that some users -- myself included -- have experienced a problem with the new Windows 10 Creators Update changing existing app default choices back to Microsoft’s own bundled apps.

This, after all, was a problem that we saw previously after both the November and Anniversary Update rollouts.

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Windows 10 Creators Update is rolling out to all from today, but Microsoft is already working on the next big iteration of the new OS, codenamed Redstone 3.

Last week, the software giant pushed out the first build from the Redstone 3 branch, Build 16170, and while on the surface this doesn’t seem very exciting there’s a hidden menu in Settings which you can unlock.

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Windows 10 Creators Update is slowly rolling out to all users but the process may take a while. You can hurry it along, by following the instructions here, or there's another even better way.

If you can’t wait to try the new features, the good news is Microsoft has updated its Media Creation tool to include the update and you can use this to download Windows 10 now and create your own installation media on either a USB flash drive or DVD. This is particularly handy if you want to perform a clean install, or update multiple computers in quick succession.

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According to NetMarketShare, Windows Vista's usage share is now down to just 0.72 percent of the desktop OS market. In the real world, that's still quite a large number of people using Vista -- around 10 million or so -- although significantly fewer than those using XP. The ancient OS, which Microsoft stopped supporting in 2014, currently has 7.44 percent share, making it the third most popular version of Windows after 7 and 10. Yes, it's more popular than Windows 8.1 which has 6.66 percent share -- go figure.

Today, April 11 2017, is the day when Microsoft kills its extended support for Windows Vista. If you're still using that OS -- which was never very good even when it was new -- now is the time to really think about making the switch to a more modern operating system, such as Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (which now receives extended support only), Windows 8.1, or Windows 10. We all know which OS Microsoft would like you to choose.

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If you run into major problems in Windows 10, sometimes the easiest solution is reset the system. You can do this by going to Settings > 'Update & security' and clicking on Recovery. From here, click the 'Get started' button under Reset this PC and pick an option -- you can choose to 'Keep my files', or 'Remove everything' and the tool will reinstall Windows for you, hopefully fixing your problems.

However, there’s a new, even better solution to be found in Windows Defender, called Fresh Start.

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According to NetMarketShare, Windows 10's usage share growth has stalled recently. It lost some share in February, and made only very minor gains in March. The analyst firm’s numbers seem to suggest that Windows 10 has run out of steam.

But that’s usage numbers -- people using Windows regularly on a monthly basis -- which isn’t quite the same as market share. If you want to know just how well Windows 10 is doing in that respect, Microsoft’s Windows Trends page has the figures you want, and they’re currently showing the new OS losing share to Windows 7.

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