Wayne Williams

Microsoft famously declared that Windows 10 would be running on 1 billion devices in two to three years’ time -- meaning by late summer 2018.

It was a bold claim, but given the OS was free, and available for PCs, tablets, and smartphones, eminently possible. But despite Microsoft’s efforts -- pulling every dirty trick in the book, and then some, to con users into upgrading -- it seems as if the new OS is going to take a while longer to hit that milestone, and blame is being laid squarely at Windows 10 Mobile’s dreadful performance.

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The Windows 10 Anniversary Update is due on August 2, and Microsoft is hard at work getting it ready for release.

The software giant has pushed out two new builds to Fast ring insiders in quick succession already, and today we get yet another one -- the third in a week. Microsoft may be sprinting to the finish line now, but there is still work to be done.

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PCs can go wrong in all sorts of ways, and the problems can manifest themselves in the form of slowdowns, freezes, or worse. Occasionally, you might encounter a blue screen of death (BSOD), accompanied by a usually pretty cryptic message outlining the cause of the crash.

In the soon-to-be released Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft has given the blue screen a makeover, introducing QR codes to make it easier for anyone to troubleshoot the problems they encounter. It’s a helpful change, but Panda Security warns it could actually be a godsend to cybercriminals, and result in users having personal details stolen, and smartphones getting infected with drive-by malware.

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The hacktivist collective Anonymous has launched a new operation which is designed to fight back against police brutality in the United States.

Inspired by recent events, which have seen innocent civilians murdered by police officers, and police officers murdered in retaliation, #OpBlackFlare is Anonymous’s intriguing -- and peaceful -- response to the situation.

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The Windows 10 Anniversary Update edges ever-nearer to release, and the new Insider builds are coming thick and fast. We even had a surprise weekend build last week.

Even though new Insider chief Dona Sarkar is away at the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), she still found time to announce a new build, and as you might expect so close to the official release this one mostly focuses on fixing problems and improving reliability.

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Ever since Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be free "for the first year", and also referred to the new OS "as a service", there has been speculation that the software giant would start charging a monthly fee for Windows 10, much as it does for Office 365.

Two weeks ago, a mention of Windows 10 subscriptions appeared in an Insider Preview build, suggesting that changes to the operating system’s model were on their way. Today, Microsoft reveals all by announcing new subscription service offerings for Windows 10 and its Surface line of tablets.

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In an effort to get as many people as possible to upgrade to Windows 10 before the free period runs out, Microsoft has resorted to all sorts of sneaky and unbecoming tricks, including reversing the meaning of the corner X, so that closing the nag screen actually agrees the upgrade.

Naturally, that and other similar moves (including removing the X from the box), made a lot of people very angry, and could result in Microsoft facing legal action across numerous states.

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The last thing you want to see on your smartphone is a 'low battery warning' when you’re nowhere in range of a charging point. If you’ve had the foresight to bring a battery pack with you, you can juice up your device on the go, but that does mean remembering to carry a charged pack with you at all times, which is far from convenient.

ThinCharge from ChargeTech is a thin, lightweight battery case for iPhone 6/6s that solves the problem of a low battery entirely. I have one on my iPhone 6s, and it’s saved the day more times than I care to remember.

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With the Fourth of July out of the way, it’s back to normal for the Windows team who have just rolled out a new build of Windows 10 for Insiders on the Fast ring.

We’re closing in on the release date for the Anniversary Update, so as you’d expect this new release, Build 14383, mostly focuses on fixing a load of bugs, but there are some other bigger changes to be aware of, including the removal of the desktop watermark from this build.

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Although Avast and AVG both offer paid security tools, they are best known for their free antivirus software.

Some people confuse the two firms because of the similarity of what they do, and the fact their names begin with the same letters, they were founded at around the same time, and originated in the Czech Republic, but that confusion soon won’t be an issue as today Avast announces it is set to acquire AVG.

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June and July are big months for Windows 10 upgrades as this should be when users who have yet to switch to the new OS scramble to do so before the free offer comes to an end on July 29.

The last minute rush, combined with Microsoft’s aggressive push -- including, of course, tricking unwitting users into upgrading -- should have made June a particularly bumper month for Windows 10 growth, but actually it dropped off a little compared with May.

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Hacktivist collective Anonymous targets all sorts of people and organizations. Past and on-going operations have focused on Islamic State, white supremacists, the Church of Scientology, Ku Klux Klan, and Donald Trump.

Whatever your view on Anonymous, the group certainly likes to pick fights with high profile foes. The latest organization to have the Anonymous spotlight shone on its affairs is the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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When Microsoft first announced that Windows 10 would be free, it rather mangled the message by adding "for the first year" to the end of the statement. That immediately suggested that the operating system would be headed for a subscription model, just like Office 365. The software giant eventually clarified the situation, but the fear that one day Microsoft would start charging a yearly fee for its OS never quite went away in some people’s minds.

And now it looks as if those fears are set to be reignited, as a file found in the latest Windows Insider preview, Build 14376, hints that Windows 10 subscriptions are going to be a real thing.

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Just under two months ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 was on 300 million devices. That’s a sizeable number, achieved in around nine months.

Today, in officially announcing the launch date of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft says the number of devices running the OS has jumped to over 350 million.

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Yesterday, Microsoft accidentally leaked the news that the eagerly awaited Windows 10 Anniversary Update is now set to arrive on August 2, and today the software giant confirms the news, along with details of what to expect from the update.

If you’re a Windows Insider, or have been following news of the various Insider Preview builds, you’ll know there’s a lot of new features and improvements in the update.

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