Windows 25 solves Windows 11's biggest problem -- download it now
For most people, the first thing that jumps out about Windows 11 is the centered taskbar and Start menu. It’s one of the most obvious changes Microsoft made to the new OS to differentiate it from Windows 10.
A change like that can be difficult to adjust to at first -- if you’ve been using Windows for years you’ll be used to everything being on the left. Windows 25 puts everything back where it belongs, and you can install it now.
Microsoft celebrates half a century with ugly, low effort wallpapers -- and we love it
2025 is a massive year for Microsoft as the company celebrates its 50th birthday. It's been (nearly) half a century since the tech behemoth, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, first came into existence on April 4, 1975, and to celebrate its golden jubilee, Microsoft has decided to mark the occasion with four new wallpapers for your phone, which it's shared on X.
The post reads:
This big Oreon 10 update might be the push you need to finally leave Microsoft Windows behind
If you’re thinking of leaving Windows 10 or 11 but aren’t quite sure if you’re ready to jump ship permanently, the good news is you can try some excellent alternative operating systems without commitment, using tools like VMware Player. One of our top recommendations is the stunning Oreon 10.
We declared it had "arrived to replace Microsoft Windows" when it launched last December, but since then the OS has received a number of improvements, and a new build has just been released that makes Oreon 10 an even more compelling alternative.
The internet's first .com was registered 40 years ago today -- six years before the launch of the web
In 1985, at a time when we were listening to the likes of Careless Whisper by George Michael and Material Girl by Madonna, and getting ready to go Back to the Future, Symbolics Computer Corporation was developing Lisp machines for use in early AI work. On March 15, 1985, 40 years ago today, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm registered what was to be the world’s first .com domain name, symbolics.com.
In those days, well before the launch of the World Wide Web in 1991, requests were submitted by fax or mail and approved manually by the Stanford Research Institute under the Defense Data Network contract. The symbolics.com registration marked the beginning of commercial web addresses and came more than a decade before .com domain names became widely used by businesses and individuals.
'It just works': AcreetionOS is the easy-to-use alternative to Windows 10/11 -- switch to it now
The developers behind AcreetionOS have a few questions for you. “Have you been wanting to switch away from Windows? Are you looking for something that just works?” If the answer to both of those is yes, their brand new operating system might be just what you’re after.
We’ve been using the Arch Linux based AcreetionOS for a few days now, and while the user interface could use a bit of polish (it’s still very new, so that’s understandable), it’s a solid OS that’s easy to use and, yes, it really does just work.
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Windows 20 is the upgrade Windows 11 should have been -- download it now
With Windows 11, Microsoft tried to make the new OS look different from Windows 10, mainly by centering the taskbar and Start menu. This wasn’t the most popular change for a lot of people.
As we’ve covered before, there are a good number of third-party tools that you can use to put the Start menu and taskbar back to how they were, as well as tweak other areas of the newest operating system, including improving icons and updating File Explorer.
Forget Windows 12, Windows 11 2025 Edition is the Microsoft operating system we need!
Every so often, we hear rumors about Microsoft’s next operating system, widely expected to be called Windows 12. The tech giant has been keeping quiet about its future plans, preferring instead to continue to update Windows 11, adding more AI features, and deprecating functionality it thinks we no longer need.
Although plenty of people still prefer Windows 10 to its successor, Windows 11 will be the only game in town in a matter of months when the older OS comes to its end of life later this year. Windows 11 isn’t bad -- far from it -- but it could be better, as evidenced by Windows 11 2025 Edition.
Windows Vista 2025 Edition fixes Windows 11's biggest problems -- download it now
For a lot of people, the biggest, most noticeable difference between Windows 10 and 11 is the centered taskbar and Start menu that Microsoft introduced to its latest operating system.
The software giant made the change to give Windows 11 a fresh, modern look and set it apart from its predecessor, but Windows has had a left-aligned taskbar and menu since Windows 95, and as the company proved when it gave us a tiled Start screen in Windows 8, change isn't always good -- or welcome.
It's possible to run Windows XP on an Apple TV -- and it works like a dream!
Windows XP hasn’t been supported by Microsoft for a decade now, but it’s in use in many places. According to the most recent figures from Statcounter, the ancient OS still holds 0.27 percent of the Windows market, placing it above Windows 8/8.1.
There is even a Linux version of XP that you can run if you want a hit of nostalgia, but don’t want to risk using an unsupported OS. You’ve no doubt seen Doom running on all sorts of hardware, and XP is similar in some respects. We’ve already seen it running on Apple’s Vision Pro, and now it appears that with a bit of creative thinking it’s possible to run Windows XP on an Apple TV.
Apple iPhone 16e brings flagship features at a budget price
Apple has announced the iPhone 16e (yes, not SE), the latest addition to its iPhone range. The Cupertino-based tech giant describes the new device as a more affordable option for users looking to experience what the iPhone 16 has to offer.
“iPhone 16e packs in the features our users love about the iPhone 16 lineup, including breakthrough battery life, fast performance powered by the latest-generation A18 chip, an innovative 2-in-1 camera system, and Apple Intelligence,” said Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing. “We’re so excited for iPhone 16e to complete the lineup as a powerful, more affordable option to bring the iPhone experience to even more people.”
Who needs Windows 11? FreeXP is a modern version of Microsoft's greatest OS, powered by Debian Linux
I appreciate calling Windows XP “Microsoft’s greatest OS” will elicit snorts of derision from a good number of you. That honor probably belongs to Windows 7, or maybe even Windows 10 (once Microsoft ironed out the many problems that plagued it from the start). But certainly, Windows XP was a classic, and a huge step up from the operating systems that preceded it.
If you miss XP but aren’t crazy enough to run an OS that (mostly) hasn’t had security updates in over a decade, FreeXP might be just what you’re looking for. It’s not XP, and it’s not from Microsoft, but it looks and feels just like it.
Winhance transforms Windows 11 (and Windows 10) into the bloat-free, faster operating system you always wanted
You can tell that people aren’t overjoyed with Windows 11 by the number of great third-party tools that have been developed to fix the OS. The most recent of these is Talon, which can debloat Windows 11 in just two mouse clicks, removing all the bundled junk that Microsoft has shoehorned into its OS, including Microsoft Edge, OneDrive, Copilot, and Clipchamp.
Winhance is another such tool, but it works differently and can be used to debloat and optimize Windows 11 -- and, perhaps just as importantly, keep it that way. Although it’s been designed for Windows 11, it will work just as well on a fully updated version of Windows 10 22H2.
No more bloat -- Talon completely fixes Microsoft Windows 11 in just two clicks [Updated]
Windows 11 is the OS Microsoft thinks you should have -- not the one you actually want. It's good, but it's also packed with a ton of features that you don’t need and will never use.
There are a number of great tools you can use to strip out unwanted features from the OS, making it faster and more lightweight, but they tend to be too complex or require an advanced degree of technical know-how to use properly.
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Wayne's Bio
Wayne Williams has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for over 30 years now. He’s written for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a fair few of them in his time also. If you like what you read, you can Buy Me a Coffee!
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