Wayne Williams

Google’s annual developer conference kicks off at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California today, starting with a keynote which the search giant traditionally uses to make big announcements. Last year Google showcased Android "M" (which later became Marshmallow), Google Photos, Google Cardboard, and Android Pay.

So what does the Google I/O 2016 keynote have in store? During past Google I/O conferences Google has unveiled the next version of Android, and there’s every reason to expect we’ll see details regarding Android "N" this year, but that’s just for starters.

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While Microsoft is desperate to get as many users as possible on to Windows 10 before the free period expires at the end of July, it hasn’t entirely forgotten about its previous operating systems.

The software giant today announces it has created a convenience rollup package for Windows 7 that will bring that operating system up to the newest patched version without users having to install all previous updates one by one. It’s also making monthly update rollups available for that OS and Windows 8.1 (as well as Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2).

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I’ve been suffering with a shoulder impingement for a while, and seeing an osteopath to try and fix the problem. After today’s session, the osteopath tried to book me in for a new appointment, but the on-screen calendar was obscured by another appointment that had popped up -- this one for a Windows 10 upgrade. An upgrade that -- surprise, surprise -- the osteopath had neither asked for, nor wanted.

Not content with popping up at inconvenient times -- like during a live TV broadcast, for example -- Windows 10 upgrades are now being scheduled for a random date and time. You can cancel them but, like the best crapware, Microsoft has done its best to hide that option.

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The $5 Raspberry Pi is a great little computer, although it’s generally rather hard to get hold of as demand has easily outstripped supply, and manufacture was temporarily put on hold when focus switched to producing the new Raspberry Pi 3.

Today, however, the Raspberry Pi Zero is back in stock. There are roughly 30,000 new Zeros available to buy now, with thousands more being made every day. The diminutive device has also had a much-requested "missing" feature added.

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At the start of every month, NetMarketShare publishes the usage share for all of the desktop operating systems, including Windows 10. The operating system has been growing at a steady, if rather unexciting rate, gaining around 1 percentage point a month, including in April.

Despite Microsoft aggressively pushing Windows 10 onto as many systems as possible, the monthly trend shows growth is slowing. But hold on a minute! Microsoft today releases its own figures, and they show not only does the operating system have a much, much larger share than NetMarketShare reports, but growth is skyrocketing!

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There’s a big Anniversary Update coming to Windows 10 in July and, in preparation for that, Windows Insiders have been receiving regular new builds packed with new features and improvements.

If you aren’t part of the Insider Preview program, and you’re running the standard version of Windows, there’s a cumulative update available today that will update your OS build to 10586.318. Unfortunately, some people are reporting it’s causing serious slowdowns.

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Microsoft today stated that the free upgrade period for Windows 10 will end on July 29 and after that if you want the new OS, your options are to buy a new PC running it, or to purchase a copy for $119.

If you have no interest in Windows 10, and are happy to stay with Windows 7, or 8.1, the good news is the end of the free period will also mean no more nagging to upgrade to the new OS. Or it will reduce at least, as the software giant will be removing the 'Get Windows 10' app from systems.

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When Microsoft announced Windows 10 back in 2014, it confused people in a couple of ways. Firstly, everyone was expecting it to be called Windows 9, and, secondly, when Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice president of Operating Systems said the OS would be free for the "first year", which left pretty much everyone wondering what that actually meant.

Talk of "Windows as a service" had people thinking that Windows 10 might follow the same yearly subscription model as Office 365, but as we now know, that wasn’t the case. Windows 10 is currently a free upgrade to users of Windows 7 and 8.1, but that offer is drawing to a close.

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Microsoft has gone on record as saying it wants to get Windows 10 on a billion devices in 2-3 years. It’s made good headway so far, helped by making the new OS a free upgrade for users on Windows 7 and 8.1, and also by labeling it as a 'recommended' update so it automatically installs on some systems. Whether the user wants it or not.

A lot has been written about Microsoft’s aggressive promotional tactics, but they certainly seem to be paying off, as even though adoption has slowed lately, Windows 10 has found its way on to a lot of systems.

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Microsoft has made a change to an update for Windows 7 that can prevent certain systems from booting. While you might expect me to say, "good news, the software giant has fixed the problem", in fact what Microsoft has done is switch the update from "optional", to "recommended". So, on some systems, it will now install, and break Windows 7 automatically.

There is good news though, and that’s you can solve the problem and get your computer working again by (can you guess?) upgrading to Windows 10. Hooray!

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Last week a Windows 10 forced upgrade did its best to ruin a weather forecast on live television, and this week the new operating system started an update right in the middle of a gaming session being streamed live on Twitch.

During the stream of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, full-time pro-gamer Erik "fl0m" Flom was rudely interrupted as Windows 10 decided that mid-game -- in front of 130,000 or so followers -- would be the best time to start an update.

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I love my iPhone 6s, but the battery life often isn’t as good as I would like. On most days I can make it through to the late evening before the device requires charging, but occasionally it needs a bit of a boost before then. The Low Power mode built into iOS 9 comes in handy, but like most people I’d rather just have longer battery life.

While carrying around a power pack saves the day when I’m out and about and away from a charging point, it’s a bit of pain having to lug it around. This is where ThinCharge comes in handy -- it’s a battery pack built into a thin case.

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Microsoft Edge, the default web browser in Windows 10, has potential, but there’s still a long way to go until it can rival the likes of Firefox or Chrome.

Microsoft is working hard on improving the browser however, and recently introduced support for extensions, although there aren’t many to choose from at the moment. There are plans for an Adblock Plus extension in the future, but if you want to block ads in the browser now, there is a way of doing this.

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Last year, Microsoft announced plans to drop the free OneDrive storage amount from 15GB down to 5GB, and also discontinue the 15GB camera roll bonus.

Earlier this week we learned that the software giant will be putting this plan into action from July, which means if you’re currently using more than 5GB of storage you will either have to remove some files to get under the new limit, or upgrade to a paid plan. But hold on a minute. Before you do either, there is a third option which you can use to keep your free storage at 15GB.

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Ever since Microsoft made Windows 10 a recommended update there have been numerous reports of the new operating system installing itself without user consent, and without much warning.

Microsoft has always played down this behavior, but an example of how the OS pushes upgrades on unsuspecting users was earlier today shown live on TV during a weather forecast.

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