Windows 10 Creators Update will offer users 'more choice and control' -- and fewer update reboots

Choice

Windows 10 Creators Update is expected to launch in April, and will deliver a wealth of new features and improvements. While a lot of the focus is on 3D creation, gaming enhancements, and security, Microsoft has also made a lot of welcome changes to the user experience.

Michael Fortin, CVP of Windows and Devices Group Core Quality, reveals today that the Creators Update will give users much greater control over privacy, security, and updates.

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Microsoft donated more than $650 million in cash, software, and services to nonprofits in 2016

Cloud money

When a company earns huge amounts of profits, there is a lot that it can do with them, such as expand the business, spend lavishly, or just sit on stacks of money. There is something much more noble that can be done, however -- it can donate some of its bounty to people and organizations in need.

Microsoft is a company that has historically been very generous with its money, something likely inspired by the philanthropic actions of its founder Bill Gates; at least partially. Even more impressive is the company's Employee Giving program, where Microsoft matches donations of both time and money that is given by its workers. 2016 was yet another successful giving year for the Windows-maker, as it donated more than $650 million in cash, time, software, and services to nonprofit organizations. A good portion of that was from its employees.

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Latest Windows 10 Creators Update build has secret settings for pausing and deferring updates

timeout

One of the most requested Windows 10 features to find its way into the forthcoming Creators Update is the ability to pause updates. That means if Microsoft pushes out a bad update, you don’t have to simply accept it any more.

The Creators Update will let you pause updates for up to 35 days, but there’s an option that gives you much greater control over what -- and when -- updates get installed. The intriguing thing is, this isn't visible to everyone, and even if you manage to get to see it, it may suddenly vanish the moment you look away. Here's what it does, and how to enable it.

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Why security will always be a people problem

Security

We've heard the phrase, "users are the weakest link," more than we can count. Building a more resilient cyber security strategy means flipping the model on its head and making people part of the solution. Instead of starting with a technology-based strategy, Absolute discusses how and why organizations can take a people-first security strategy.

Paul Proctor, chief of research for risk and security at Gartner was quoted as saying: "we are facing a cultural disconnect [...] executives believe that IT risk and security is a technical problem." Of course, that’s wrong. Deep down, we know it’s wrong. Security, is, and always will be, a people problem. At least until the robots fully take over. Until then, though, we have to come to grips with the simple fact that with the way security is typically deployed in enterprises today, users will continue to click on things they shouldn’t, visit sites they shouldn’t, or make other uninformed or careless choices leading to breaches, incidents, or loss in availability of systems and data.

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New security offering to guard against account take overs

credential hacker

Data breaches caused by account take overs (ATOs) are a growing problem, partly due to people reusing passwords so that when a high profile breach -- such as the recent one at Yahoo -- occurs other accounts are put at risk.

User behavior specialist Sift Science is taking on this threat and expanding into the cyber security market with a new tool to detect ATOs.

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Digital transformation must be a priority in a cloud-first world

digital transformation

As the UK enters an uncertain economic future, the issue of falling productivity is once again center stage. Since the 2008 financial crisis, studies measuring how much output is produced per hour or worker have been constant disappointments when compared to the country’s global counterparts. According to the latest reports from the Office of National Statistics, UK productivity rose by 0.4 percent between July and September 2016. However, this figure is still far below the 2.1 percent average being achieved before 2008.

In response, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced plans to launch a national industrial strategy aimed at creating a prosperous post-Brexit Britain through the development of STEM skills investments in science and innovation, and infrastructure upgrades across every sector and in every corner of the country. With this plan the UK government has sent a clear signal: organizations of every size and within every industry must prioritize digital transformation if they are to succeed in a cloud-first world.

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Informatica uses behavioral analytics to spot and protect high risk data

steal_data_malware

With increasing amounts of sensitive data stored in the cloud and accessed on mobile devices, protecting that information presents a major challenge.

Data management specialist Informatica is adding to its Secure@Source platform with behavioral analytics to detect high risk data and ensure it's properly protected.

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Windows 10 Creators Update Build 15042 ISO images available now

Happy Man Excited Laptop

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 15042, is available to all, and you can download it now. This build rolled out to Insiders on the Fast ring last Friday. It's not the very latest release -- that would be Build 15046, which Microsoft released yesterday -- but it includes a lot of important bug fixes, and some welcome additions to Edge and Cortana.

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Database-as-a-service platform introduces encryption-at-rest

cloud encryption

While storing data in the cloud is undoubtedly convenient it also introduces risks and encryption is increasingly seen as a way of helping combat them.

Database-as-a-service company mLab is introducing encryption-at-rest as an opt-in data security measure for customers of its most popular plans, at no additional cost.

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Desktop Dimmer takes Electron-based RAM-hogging to a whole new level

DesktopDimmer.200.175

We’ve always been fans of ultra-lightweight programs, anything which measures its RAM requirements in kilobytes rather than megabytes. Other people see that as old school, and in some ways they have a point. If your PC has 16GB of RAM, do you really care whether a program uses 500KB or 5MB?

That view is partly why Electron apps are now so popular. They’re great for cross-platform development, building native applications with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, so it doesn’t really matter that you’re running a copy of Chromium in the background… Right?

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Facebook ramps up its suicide prevention tools and Messenger chat support

facebook-suicide

Facebook is updating the tools it offers to help try to prevent suicide. Aimed both at those thinking of suicide, and friends and family who are concerned about loved ones, the revamped support tools make use of artificial intelligence and real people to offer help when it is needed most.

This is not the first we have heard about suicide prevention tools from Facebook, and the latest announcement sees the social network taking its "unique position" even more seriously, seeing it as a way to offer help and a means of intervention. It comes after a number of suicides have been streamed via Facebook Live.

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Bad news for Microsoft as Windows 10 loses market share -- again

Bad news

According to NetMarketShare, in January, Windows 10 hit a big milestone. The new OS managed to grow by nearly one percentage point, to give it over 25 percent of the market. That’s pretty good going.

However, in February, Windows 10 went back into reverse gear, losing share, and not for the first time.

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Google integrates Keep into Docs and welcomes it to the G Suite fold

google-keep-docs

Google Keep may not be something that is used by a huge number of people, but that could be about to change. Google is finally doing something that should have happened from the start -- bringing Keep to G Suite to allow for integration with Docs.

The company has taken the decision to boost its notetaking app to a key member of its cloud app lineup.  Google says that as well as being a G Suite core service when used within a domain, Keep notes can also be accessed from within Google Docs.

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Why the cloud needs a new approach to security

cloud security

With more and more organizations moving their operations to the cloud, old approaches to security are put under strain and struggle to cope with the new way of working.

Network security specialist Observable Networks has put together an infographic looking at the current state of cybersecurity and how old approaches don’t adapt to the cloud.

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Enterprises with heavy mobile use are more profitable

Business mobile devices

There’s a new research report that says companies whose employees use mobile devices for multiple things are more productive than those with limited usage. It was commissioned by Synchronoss and conducted by Sapio Research.

The report says that 38 percent of enterprises use mobility solutions for basic tools like email and calendar. Such enterprises are 15 percent less productive and almost a third (29 percent) less profitable than those with more advanced mobile capabilities.

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