Articles about Microsoft

If you've been looking for a way to customize the look of your computer, Microsoft has just released two free Theme Packs for Windows 10.

The Forest Camo and Arctic Camo theme packs have been designed to match special editions of the Microsoft Bluetooth mouse, but they can be downloaded for free regardless of whether you own this device. It's not all that often that you get something for free, so when it happens, grab whatever's on offer!

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File under "color us surprised": the KB5001391 update that Microsoft released for Windows 10 recently has been well-received by users.

Feedback about the update shows that people who have installed KB5001391 are happy not only with the fact that it adds News and Interests to the taskbar, but also that it seems to be stable and problem free. Some users are even finding that their system is performing better after installing this particular update.

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With the release of Windows 10 Build 21370 yesterday, Microsoft gave us a glimpse of the direction in which it is taking the operating system in the coming months. As ever, the Insider build includes a number of enhancements, and chief among the improvements this time are changes to Bluetooth audio.

Perhaps the most exciting change is the arrival of support for Bluetooth AAC, delivering higher quality wireless audio streaming. There's also an important fix for an issue that has plagued people using wireless phones.

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The development of PowerToys continues, and this widely appreciated labor of love is gradually gaining more and more utilities. The latest instalment in the tool's story sees Microsoft releasing PowerToys v.0.37.0.

For now, this is primarily a bug fixing and improvement-introducing release, and some important changes have been made to some of the individual utilities. As of this release, PowerToys now requires at least Windows 10 version 1903 (because of future adoption of WinUI 3). While this requirement will not represent much of an issue for many people, the fact that the eagerly anticipated Video Conference Mute is missing is a disappointment.

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Yesterday, Microsoft announced that the Windows 10 May 2021 Update (21H1) was being prepared for release, with Windows Insiders in the Release Preview ring the first to be offered it.

Today, the software giant rolls out a new build to Insiders in the Dev Channel.

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Working with multiple monitors is great -- in theory. The extra space is obviously useful, as is the ability to use different screens to group together related apps, documents and windows.

Sadly, Windows 10's implementation of multi-monitor support is a little flawed, particularly when using DisplayPort. Many people with two or more screens will have experienced a problem that sees app windows being randomly rearranged, particularly after a system wakes from sleep. But this should be coming to an end as Microsoft is finally addressing the issue.

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Microsoft has released a new "C" preview update for Windows 10 ahead of May's Patch Tuesday. With the optional KB5001391 update, anyone running Windows 10 2004 and Windows 10 20H2 can get the new News and Interests feature in the taskbar.

While there are no security fixes in this update, it is still well worth installing -- not just because of the new taskbar feature, but also because of the number of performance, stability and other non-security issues it addresses.

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Windows 10 Insiders have been testing out the May 2021 Update for a while now, but it won’t be long before the update gets made available to non-Insiders.

Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc says that Build 19043.928 is the final build for the May 2021 Update. It will be firstly offered to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel although they will need to request it.

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Microsoft has launched a new preview version of Winget Windows 10. Taking inspiration from AppGet, Winget is a Linux-style package manager that allows for command line control of software.

With the latest release, Winget 0.3, Microsoft has added a number of new features to the tool, including the ability to use it to uninstall software. While this is unlikely to tempt the majority of people away from using Settings or the Control Panel, it is extremely handy for anyone looking to uninstall software using scripts.

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Earlier today, Amazon revealed its all-new Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 10 Plus tablets. Both are more powerful than their predecessors, but priced from just $149. If you’re in the market for a low cost Android tablet, then they are definitely worth your consideration.

You can also pick up either device as part of the new Fire HD 10 Productivity Bundle which includes a 12-month Microsoft 365 Personal subscription and comes with premium Office apps, and 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. You don’t need to buy a new tablet though as the Microsoft Office and OneNote apps are now available to install through the Amazon Appstore.

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Microsoft has big plans in store for Windows 10 with its upcoming Sun Valley overhaul. There are many interesting visual changes on the horizon in Windows 10 21H2, including the introduction of rounded corners and floating menus -- and, possibly, a floating Start menu too.

So far, however, the new aesthetic that the arrival of Sun Valley will bring has been limited to design mockups. But now this changes. Experimental flags in the latest builds of Windows 10 gives us our first exciting glimpse of what's to come -- and you can (with a little effort) enable the floating menus for yourself.

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Looking to find the password for a Wi-Fi connection? There are various reasons you might want to retrieve the password for a wireless network you have already connected to, but it may not be obviously how to go about it in Windows 10.

Your router may have its security details helpfully printed on a sticker on the back, but this is not necessarily very accessible when you need to get the password for a new laptop or other device. Thankfully, there is a way to view saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10, helping to make life a little easier.

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Microsoft has acknowledged that "a small subset of users have reported lower than expected performance in games" after installing one of two recent Windows 10 updates, and issued a rare type of fix.

Gamers complained about dropped framerates and poor performance after installing the KB5001330 update, and the same report came from those who installed the preview version of the same update, KB5000842. Now the company is using a fairly uncommon Known Issue Rollback (KIR) to resolve the problems, just after NVIDIA issued advice of its own to affected gamers.

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The issues caused by updates for Windows 10 have been varied and plentiful. With each new batch of updates, anyone willing to install them finds they are playing an unwitting game of Russian roulette; the patch may fix some problems, but the chances are that they will introduce new ones as well.

This month's KB5001330 update -- just like the non-security preview version from the previous month, KB5000842 -- was just the latest in a long line of bug-riddled updates. This time the plethora of problems includes a performance hit for a number of games and to help with this, NVIDIA has a simple (if slightly controversial) solution.

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Any changes that Microsoft brings to Windows 10 have a tendency to be rather polarizing, and the latest addition of News and Interests to the taskbar is no different.

While on the face of it, the ability to keep updated with the latest news headlines, see up-to-date weather forecasts, track stock prices and more from the taskbar may seem useful, it's certainly not of interest to everyone. So, if the feature has rolled out to you and you don't like it, here's how to disable News and Interests in the taskbar.

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