Wayne Williams

A lot of people are more privacy aware than they have been in the past, and are wary of entrusting everything they search for to Google.

That’s where privacy-focused sites like DuckDuckGo come in. Its growth since it launched 8 years ago has been nothing short of staggering, with the number of searches skyrocketing since 2013, when Edward Snowden first revealed how the US government was spying on its people.

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Over time your hard drive can get clogged up with leftover junk, including temporary files, cookies, cached internet data and file fragments. You can remove this clutter manually, use a tool like CCleaner, or make use of the built-in Windows Disk Clean-up tool.

In the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft is introducing a new feature called Storage Sense which can automatically free up disk space. You don’t need to wait for the Creators Update to try it though.

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Microsoft is aiming for April for the Windows 10 Creators Update, so is rushing out new builds for Insiders to try. Last week we got not one but two new releases on the Fast ring -- Build 15002, which introduced a wealth of changes and new features, and Build 15007, which also introduced a fair amount of new functionality.

The latest release, Build 15014 fixes a ton of issues from the previous two builds, but also introduces some exciting new features.

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At the end of last week, Microsoft Germany published a post waving an early goodbye to Windows 7, and stating that the aging OS can "no longer keep up with the increased security requirements", and sticking with it could prove costly for users and businesses.

The software giant’s solution for Windows 7 users worried about security was, naturally, to switch to Windows 10. But, having faced an inevitable backlash from Windows 7 users and security experts, the company has pulled the post.

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The big difference between iOS and Android is when a new version of Apple’s mobile operating system arrives, it is pushed out to all compatible iPhones and iPads. When a new version of Google’s OS is released, there could be a considerable delay before it hits your Android phone, and -- depending on the make, model and carrier -- the chance that it might never do so.

If you have a Samsung phone and have been wondering when -- or indeed if -- you’re going to be getting an update to Android Nougat, the South Korean tech giant today details which devices will be getting the upgrade, and when.

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If you’re a Windows 10 user, you’ll be no stranger to Microsoft’s adverts which appear all throughout the operating system, including on the Start menu, and the Lock screen. As I wrote a week ago, Microsoft is planning on introducing even more adverts in the Creators Update.

The latest ad to appear is for one of Microsoft’s Chrome extensions, and it arrives -- appropriately enough -- above the Chrome icon on the taskbar. The browser doesn’t need to be open at the time.

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Anonymous has launched many different operations over the years, and declared war on a diverse number of foes, including The Church of Scientology, Islamic State, the Ku Klux Klan, and Donald Trump.

While the hacktivist collective will occasionally say crazy things -- it’s called for a new American revolution, and for mankind to conquer space -- it does often fight for good causes. Its latest operation is strictly for the birds. No, seriously.

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Last week was a bumper week for Windows 10 Insiders on the Fast ring. First Microsoft rolled out Build 15002, which introduced a wealth of changes and new features, and then a few days later it followed it up with Build 15007.

While 15007, for PC and Mobile, didn’t leave us quite as shaken and stirred as the previous build, it still had some interesting new additions -- and more than we originally knew. It also included some rather major problems which are only just now being acknowledged.

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Although Microsoft claims that Windows 10 is now more popular than Windows 7, analyst firm NetMarkShare’s monthly usage figures paint a very different picture. In December, for example, Windows 10 hit 24.36 percent globally, but it's dwarfed by Windows 7's 48.34 percent share.

It’s clear that Windows 7 is going to remain the number one desktop operating system for some time to come -- globally at least -- but Microsoft is desperate for those users to switch to Windows 10 and warns that Windows 7 support is coming to an end, and that the OS has outdated security and can’t keep up with today’s security needs.

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If you’re thinking of joining the Windows 10 Insider program, or you just want to do a clean install with an up to date version of Windows 10, the good news is Microsoft has released a new ISO image.

The image, for Build 15002, is available to all, and you can download it now. Build 15002 comes packed full of great new additions, including the ability to pause updates, new features for Edge, Cortana, Windows Ink and Windows Defender, smoother windows resizing, and more. If things go wrong you might even get to experience the new Green Screen of Death! (Hopefully not, but if you do then at least it will be a different color to curse at).

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A few days ago, Microsoft rolled out Build 15002 (for PC) to Insiders on the Fast ring. It introduced a wealth of new features for Edge, Windows Ink, and Cortana, as well as the ability to pause updates, a new Share experience, and much more.

You might expect Build 15007 to just be a bunch of fixes to shore things up and improve stability, but actually it also adds a selection of new features and improvements. Here's what's new.

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The forthcoming Creators Update for Windows 10 introduces a lot of new features, including something called Dynamic Lock.

This allows Windows 10 to detect when you’re away from your computer and automatically lock the device to prevent anyone accessing it in your absence. You don’t need to have Windows Hello configured to use it.

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Windows 10 has a reputation for spying on its users. So much so, that a number of privacy-based third-party programs (such as Ashampoo AntiSpy and Spybot Anti-Beacon) have sprung up to disable Windows 10’s numerous tracking features.

In September 2015, Microsoft's Terry Myerson defended how the company has handled privacy in Windows 10, saying in a blog post that "Trust is a core pillar of our More Personal Computing vision, and we know we have to earn it". Today, in a new blog post, he says much the same thing, but announces two new ways for users to take back control of their privacy. Does it go far enough?

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What, you thought that free upgrades to Windows 10 ended on July 29, 2016? That might be what Microsoft would like you to think, but actually you can upgrade to the new OS for free as easily now as you could before the 'official' free period ended.

There are a couple of ways to get Windows 10 for free, and if you haven’t already done so, then it’s worth doing as who knows when Microsoft will close these loopholes? Windows 10 is getting much, much better -- as evidenced by the latest Creators Update Insider Build -- and once you’ve upgraded you can always roll back your system to your current OS if you decide that Windows 10 really isn’t for you. Having performed the upgrade once, you’ll be able to reinstall Windows 10 for free at any point in the future.

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The holidays are over, and so it’s time for a new Windows 10 Insider Preview build to hit the Fast ring.

While we’ve been waiting for Microsoft to find a build that’s considered safe, and stable enough for testers to try, there have been a couple of leaked releases -- 14997 and 15002. Installing either of those was not without its risks, but the big news is if you’re a good Insider and have been waiting patiently for an official build, the wait is over. And boy, has Microsoft got a treat for us with this release.

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