Wayne Williams

Today, as you’ll know, marks the end of support for Windows 7, and Microsoft is -- predictably -- keen to get as many people as possible to switch to its new operating system.

However, on a day when the software giant has had to issue a fix for a flaw in Windows 10 that the NSA says threatens the foundations on which the Internet operates, there’s something more than a little embarrassing about Microsoft boasting how its new OS "makes you and your organization more productive and secure than ever".

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Earlier today we wrote about a major vulnerability affecting Windows 10 and Server 2016 which was uncovered by the NSA who duly reported it to Microsoft.

At the time details on the vulnerability were scarce, but now that Microsoft has issued a fix for it as part of its Patch Tuesday updates, the NSA has revealed its worrying findings.

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The US National Security Agency (NSA) has discovered a major flaw in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 that could potentially expose users to "significant breaches or surveillance", according to the Washington Post.

In the past, the NSA might have simply weaponized the vulnerability, as it did by creating hacking tool EternalBlue, but this time around the organization instead chose to report the flaw to Microsoft, and a fix is expected to be issued as part of today’s Patch Tuesday updates.

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Windows 10 is a very good operating system, but despite Microsoft initially offering it as a free upgrade, many users were reluctant to switch from Windows 7, and it’s easy to understand why. A lot of Windows 10’s big changes -- the Microsoft Store, bundled third-party apps, live tiles in the Start menu, Cortana, Bing integration, and so on -- simply weren't that appealing to users of previous versions of Windows.

Windows 7 still offers everything that most people would want from an OS, but over a decade on from its debut it now looks and feels quite dated compared to its successor, and of course tomorrow it reaches its end of life as well, leaving people little option but to switch. However, if the aging OS had a modern makeover, could it win back many of those people who have moved on to Windows 10 or a Linux alternative? I suspect so. Take a look at this superb modern re-imagining of Windows 7 and make up your own mind.

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Microsoft has a long and illustrious/checkered history (delete as applicable), and if you’ve worked with computers over the years you’ll have used many of the company’s ever-evolving software and hardware.

In a new video, Microsoft takes us through time, starting on April 26 1983 and going right through to today, showcasing just how much things have changed over the years.

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The holidays are nothing but a distant memory now, and so it’s back to business as usual for Microsoft which has just released its first new Windows 10 build of 2020.

Fast ring Insiders are now receiving builds from future versions of the operating system, and new Build 19541 introduces some minor improvements.

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Many organizations have been affected by recent cyber events. At the current rate of hacking, it has become more important than ever to pentest your environment in order to ensure advanced-level security.

Kali Linux -- An Ethical Hacker's Cookbook from Packt Publishing is packed with practical recipes that will get you off to a strong start by introducing you to the installation and configuration of Kali Linux, which will help you to perform your tests.

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Apple has a reputation for producing stylish and elegantly designed hardware and software products. Microsoft, well, not so much.

Windows 10 under Microsoft’s control isn’t a bad looking operating system, but even after all these years it still doesn’t feel quite finished, with elements of the old design cropping up in various places. If you’ve ever wondered what Windows 10 would look like if Apple was developing it, we have the answer.

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Adverts in Windows 10 are not a new thing. Microsoft has a history of sneaking them into any spare real estate in its operating system and included apps. In the past we’ve seen them crop up in the Start menu, in the taskbar, in the Action Center, in File Explorer, in the Ink Workspace, on the Lock Screen, in the Share tool, and in the Windows Store. It’s even currently running full screen ads for Windows 10 inside Windows 7 as the aging operating system reaches its end of life.

Microsoft prefers to call the ads it dots around its OS "suggestions" but that doesn’t make them any less annoying for users. And now the company has added a new ad to the Windows Mail and Calendar apps, and made them impossible to remove.

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Now that Microsoft is nearly finished with the next big feature update of Windows 10 (2004), due out next year, Insiders on the Fast ring are starting to receive new builds from the active RS_PRERELEASE development branch.

In a bid to make things less confusing, Microsoft has dropped the Skip Ahead ring, and Fast ring insiders will now receive the freshest builds, with features not linked to a specific Windows 10 release.

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Bing is a godawful search engine. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but on the few occasions when I do use it -- when writing about the new Chromium version of Edge for example -- I find the results it returns are rubbish. In a blind usage test I can instantly spot the difference between it and Google just by the quality -- or lack of -- of the results.

In what it describes as a bid to bring "convenient, fast web results directly to the search bar in Windows" Microsoft has baked (yet more) Bing searches into Windows 10, including a brand new visual search.

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Microsoft is putting the finishing touches to the next big feature update for Windows 10, with the focus now firmly on identifying and fixing problems.

Build 19041.1 is rolling out to Insiders on the Fast and Slow rings and includes a number of changes and improvements.

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Last Month, Microsoft introduced a new feature to Windows 10 that makes it quicker and easier to get answers and results from the web.

The Quick Searches feature, which is found in Search Home, was originally only available to EN-US users, but has now been expanded to a number of other territories and languages.

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While most Raspberry Pi owners opt for Raspbian as their operating system, the tiny barebones board can run a number of other Linux distros, including Ubuntu.

There was a major problem with the previous Ubuntu images though -- a kernel bug prevented USB ports from working on the 4GB RAM model of the Raspberry Pi 4. A temporary workaround was proposed, but Canonical has finally fixed the flaw, and made updated 32 and 64-bit images of Ubuntu available for the Raspberry Pi 2, 3 and 4, which you can download now.

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We’ve already had one new Insider build for Windows 10 20H1 this week, Build 19035, but arriving in time for the weekend comes a second one.

Build 19037.1 is available for both Fast and Slow rings, and fixes a couple of additional issues.

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