Holy cow, Microsoft makes it really hard to recommend its products lately. Windows 10 was a great way to wash the disgusting Windows 8 taste from consumers' mouths -- initially, at least. Unfortunately, the discovered privacy issues frightened many folks, causing them to delay upgrading.

The latest build has a wonderfully refreshed Start Menu, making me think that the company was back on track. Nope; I was wrong. Today, Microsoft announces an anti-competitive bombshell -- it is blocking all third party browsers and search engines from Cortana. Prefer using Chrome and Google? Tough luck. Firefox and Yahoo? Sorry. Microsoft just can't stop pulling boners, it seems.

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With the new big update to Windows 10 just around the corner, Microsoft is pulling out all the stops to make sure that developers have access to the tools they need to take advantage of the new features. Windows 10 Anniversary Update is due for release in July and ahead of the big day Microsoft has released a new SDK.

Having open-sourced the Xamarin iOS, Android and Mac SDKs, the launch of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update SDK Preview gives developers a chance to make sure their code works ahead of the update rollout. It is compatible with Build 14332 (and newer) of Windows 10 Insider Preview and includes an important selection of bug fixes.

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What the hell is going on with quality control these days? It seems like every new PC I buy or test has something wrong with it right out of the box. Whether it’s a strange hardware failure, a bizarro software glitch, or something less easily definable, the new machine will undoubtedly go belly up in some fashion within the first six months.

Take Dell’s Inspiron 13, for example. In my quest to find a replacement for my HP Envy x2 (abandoned by Microsoft/Intel/HP) and, later, my Surface 3 (destroyed in an incident involving a moving vehicle, alcohol, and an undomesticated pet monkey), I took one of the company’s 7000 series 2-in-1s home for a weekend of testing and evaluation.

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The Snooper's Charter -- or the Investigatory Powers Bill -- is a highly controversial piece of legislation the UK government is trying to bring into force to allow for the bulk collection of data, NSA-style. Outside of government, it is widely regarded as a massive invasion of privacy, and the human rights group Liberty is just one of the organizations that is very vocally opposed to it.

The bill will require ISPs to record customers' browsing histories for an entire year, and will permit the government to remotely hack phones and computers, as well as requiring tech companies to provide backdoor access to encrypted data. To highlight what is at stake, Liberty is running a No #SnoopersCharter campaign, and has released a video that attacks the notion of 'if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear' head on.

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A new poll from Kensington, which produces computer accessories, has found that IT professionals feel undervalued and overworked in their organizations.

Enterprises are under increasing strain to keep pace with the digital world and 32 percent of the IT decision makers that participated in the poll were frustrated that they were not provided with enough time to increase employee productivity and well-being through the use of technology.

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The tablet market has seen better days. In the first quarter of 2016 shipments totaled just 39.6 million units, which represents a 14.7 percent decline year-over-year. However, while the market is shrinking there is a category of slates which is gaining more interest from consumers.

That category is made up of so-called detachable tablets. Microsoft basically created it with the original Surface and Surface Pro four years ago, but now it is Apple which is reaping the benefits of its rival's efforts with the iPad Pro line. In fact, this is the second straight quarter when iPad Pro obliterates the Surface line.

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In the grand scheme of things, Chrome OS is hardly a major player from a desktop market share perspective -- for now. With that said, the Linux-based operating system has captured the hearts and minds of many consumers. It has matured quite a bit too, becoming a viable Windows alternative for home users. Actually, it is a great choice for some businesses too -- depending on needs, of course.

Today, Google announces the latest business-focused laptop running its desktop operating system -- the HP Chromebook 13. Not only is this Chrome OS laptop powerful, affordable, and beautiful, but very secure too. It can be argued that it is safer than a Windows notebook.

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The UK government is exploring the potential use of blockchain technology to aid it in dealing with the managing and distribution of grants.

This technology first gained notoriety through its use in the bitcoin currency. Now many governments and financial institutions are interested in using blockchain as a decentralized ledger which can be verified and shared by a network of computers. It can also be used to store data and can keep track of how assets are exchanged.

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EaseUS has shipped EaseUS Partition Master 11, adding hard drive clean and speedup tools to the regular partition-managing mix.

Both the Free and Professional editions gain a "Cleanup and Optimization" module, which could free up some valuable space before repartitioning. The "Junk File Cleaner" checks for leftover system and application files, as well as selectively wiping your web history.

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Digital wallets make payments easier, but you still need a separate app or card to take advantage of loyalty schemes or coupon offers.

London-based mobile consultancy and messaging provider Veoo is launching a new mobile wallet that brings everything together by harnessing current Apple Wallet and Android Pay functionality, but also letting marketers engage with their customers.

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BYOD is becoming increasingly popular across all industries, but it's the financial sector that's leading the way according to a new report.

The findings come from data protection company Bitglass which surveyed more than 800 cybersecurity professionals across five major industries, including financial services, technology, healthcare, government and education.

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In order to hasten the transition from its traditional retail products to its cloud based products, Microsoft has just announced that it will be offering one year of free technical support to Azure users.

From May 1, 2016 through to June 30, 2017 users who purchase Azure Services under an Enterprise Agreement (EA) will receive a year of free support from the company.

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A new survey of office workers in the UK shows that a majority suffer stress in meetings when struggling with tasks like sharing screens and finding the right cables in order to give presentations.

The study by visualization specialist Barco finds that for 93 percent, this meeting stress has serious knock-on effect on every aspect of their work. Presentations were of a poorer quality, time was wasted, deadlines were missed, and for 12 percent, it even resulted in lost promotions and lost business.

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Apple had been hoping that the FBI would come clean about how it managed to gain access to the San Bernardino iPhone, but that's just not going to happen. The agency managed to crack the iPhone 5C at the center of the case after getting help from a third party rather than Apple.

But now the FBI has confirmed that it doesn't really know how the cracking tool works. Or, more precisely, it did not buy the rights to the technical details of the tool. After a very public battle with Apple, the FBI ultimately resorted to getting help from elsewhere, and there had been fears that the method would be classified -- now it seems it will remain secret simply because the FBI doesn't understand the tool it used.

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UK’s citizens are getting more diligent when it comes to patching and updating their Windows-operated computers, new survey by Flexera Software’s Secunia Reports team says. QuickTime users, on the other hand, aren't as vigilant.

According to the team’s Country Reports, the number of unpatched Microsoft Windows operating systems is on the decline. At the end of the first quarter of 2016, the number sits at 6.1 percent, where last year at this same time, it was at 11.5 percent.

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