Wayne Williams

happygift

Microsoft is giving away millions of free ebooks covering Windows 10, Office, Azure, and more

Microsoft’s annual ebook giveaway sees the company offering vast amounts of guides for free. These are high-quality titles covering pretty much every Microsoft product or service you care to think of.

There are millions of Microsoft ebooks up for grabs, and you can download as many -- or as few -- as you'd like (or all of them if you're feeling greedy), and they are available in a choice of formats -- PDF, MOBI, EPUB and DOC.

By Wayne Williams -
Windows-10 key

Microsoft releases Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Build 16241 to the Fast ring

As was expected, just after releasing the ISO files for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Build 16232 to all Windows Insiders, Microsoft has rolled out a brand new build just for those on the Fast ring.

Build 16241 comes with a sizeable number of improvements and fixes.

By Wayne Williams -
Mindfulness

Get 'Mindfulness at Work Essentials For Dummies' ($9.99 value) FREE for a limited time

Manage stress and boost your productivity at work using mindfulness.

Mindfulness at Work Essentials For Dummies explores the many benefits of utilizing mindfulness techniques in the workplace, offering managers, HR professionals and business people of all levels guidance on how mindfulness can help with the development of core business skills. Innovative companies like Google have made mindfulness in the workplace a hot topic -- and for good reason.

By Wayne Williams -
Networking for dummies

Get Networking For Dummies, 11th Edition ($15.99 value) FREE for a limited time

Need networking know-how, but don't know where to turn?

Whether you're a networking administrator or an everyday computer user looking to set up a network in your home or office, Networking For Dummies seamlessly gets you connected with the basics and gives you the knowledge to work out whatever kinks may come your way -- in no time. Inside you'll find step-by-step instructions on setting up and maintaining a network, and ensuring you're following best practices with storage and back-up procedures.

By Wayne Williams -
piratelady

Google Search currently recommending the best pirate sites

It used to be very easy to find pirated movies, music and software using Google Search, but the company has taken steps over the past few years to downgrade sites offering easy access to such material. You can still find that content of course, it’s just a lot harder than it used to be.

But despite this crackdown, Google has just introduced a new feature that makes it much easier to find the best Torrent sites.

By Wayne Williams -
Music band

Spotify denies creating and promoting 'fake artists' but the evidence is mounting

Last summer, industry website Music Business Worldwide ran a story claiming that Spotify was bulking up its platform with 'fake artists' created by producers under untraceable pseudonyms.

Culture publication Vulture brought the story to a wider audience a few days ago, prompting Spotify to finally release a statement vehemently denying the allegations, but here’s where it gets interesting.

By Wayne Williams -
Windows-10 key

Microsoft releases Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Build 16237 to the Fast ring

It’s a great time to be a Windows Insider at the moment, as the past two Windows 10 builds -- Build 16226 and 16232 -- are jam packed with new features and major improvements.

Build 16237 arrives today in time for the weekend, and like its predecessors, it offers a lot of changes, fixes, and additions.

By Wayne Williams -
Zombies run logo

How Zombies, Run! changes lives, and what's coming next [Q&A]

Running is a great way to get fit and lose weight, but it’s rarely fun. London-based developer Six to Start has changed all that with Zombies, Run!, the most popular smartphone fitness game in the world, which transforms a boring run into an action-packed journey through the zombie apocalypse.

I’m a big fan, having used it since the early days, as well as other Six to Start apps, including The Walk, and Racelink. I spoke with Adrian Hon, CEO of Six to Start, and he told me about the app’s early days, and what’s next for the company.

By Wayne Williams -
Profile settings

How to create and use separate user profiles in Kodi

Kodi is a very flexible media center that you can use to watch local media, or stream content via third-party add-ons.

If you share Kodi with other family members you can set up user profiles for each person who uses the software. This will let you all keep what you watch separate and you can control what content your children have access to.

By Wayne Williams -
Angry PC user

OneDrive users furious as Microsoft kills access to their external storage without warning

Microsoft has made a change to its cloud synchronization and storage service OneDrive that requires users to use NTFS formatted drives.

The change came out of the blue, with no announcement from Microsoft, meaning that anyone using a non-NTFS drive, such as an SD card, suddenly found themselves unable to use their OneDrive shares, and as you might expect they aren’t too happy about that.

By Wayne Williams -
New idea

Should Microsoft rethink its Windows 10 feature update plans?

Over on Ghacks, Martin Brinkmann posted his thoughts on Microsoft’s Windows 10 feature updates schedule. The software giant is committed to rolling out two major updates to Windows 10 every year. In April we had the Creators Update, and in a few months' time the Fall Creators Update will begin to roll out.

Martin asks if this rapid release schedule is such a wise idea, and he has a good point.

By Wayne Williams -
Matroska

How to remove subtitles from MKV videos

Matroska Multimedia Container -- or MKV as it’s more commonly known -- is a great format that supports most codecs and offers a lot of features. It can store numerous video, audio and subtitle tracks, in addition to any metadata.

If you have an MKV video with (non-hardcoded) subtitles, turning them on or off can be quite simple, if you’re watching the video in an app like VLC Media Player (just go into the Subtitle menu and access the options there). But these subtitles may play by default if viewed on a TV, for example, with no way of disabling them. Fortunately, there is an easy way to strip out these subtitles.

By Wayne Williams -
Timeline point

Microsoft drops Timeline from the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

One of the most hotly anticipated new features in the forthcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is Timeline.

Similar to how Apple's continuity feature works with macOS and iOS, Timeline will allow users to switch between Windows 10 devices and pick up where they left off. Perhaps most excitingly, it should even work on some Microsoft apps running on iOS and Android. Unfortunately, if you’re one of the many Windows 10 users eagerly awaiting its arrival, we’ve some bad news.

By Wayne Williams -
bored waiting

Most Windows 10 users still haven't been offered the Creators Update -- even owners of Surface devices

Microsoft says that in order for Windows 10 users to remain secure, "your device should be updated to the latest feature update."

The problem with this is that not everyone has been offered the latest feature update. Two months after it launched, the Creators Update continues to roll out at a glacial pace, meaning the majority of people running Windows 10 are still on the Anniversary Update, and that includes users of Microsoft’s own Surface range of devices.

By Wayne Williams -
Shocked

Windows 10's share grew by just 5 percent in a year

According to NetMarketShare’s figures, Windows 10’s share of the desktop operating system market remains pretty uninspiring, with growth much slower than you’d expect.

In fact in a year, the new OS has grown by just over 5 percent. In comparison, Windows 7 grew by 2 percent in the same time frame.

By Wayne Williams -
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