Articles about Microsoft

Windows 11 is here! It’s shiny, it’s new, it’s streamlined, it’s -- er -- missing some favorite features. If you’ve discovered that the new Start menu is more stop than start, and yearn for something old and familiar, then the good news is that there are options -- both paid-for and free -- to fill the gap.

Chief among these comes from renowned Windows developer Stardock. It’s just officially released Start11 v1.0. The bad news is that it’s no longer free to use now it's out of beta, but you can at least give it a trial run before deciding if $5.99 is a fair price to pay for it.

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It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for Microsoft to deliver another new build to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Windows 11 Build 22494 fixes a lot of bugs, but also introduces some known issues. The biggest addition to this build is the ability to mute and unmute the microphone directly from the taskbar during a Microsoft Teams call.

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The cat’s out of the bag. Windows 11 is here, more than six years after the release of its predecessor, Windows 10.

Microsoft has promised Windows 11 will be "the most secure Windows operating system yet" which, if true, will come as a relief for those plagued by ransomware and malware attacks.

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An odd problem has been found in Windows 11 that sees dozens, scores, hundreds or even thousands of empty folders being created in a directory of the System32 folder.

The fact that the folders are empty means that there is no danger of hard disks filling up, but it's a bizarre bug that has many Windows users scratching their heads. If you're affected by the issue, you'll find that your drive is littered with large numbers of folders with names ending in .tmp.

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Computer users from a certain era may remember with fondness, Clippy. The animated paperclip was an assistant in Microsoft Office, on hand to answer questions, and popping to life every now and then with hints and tips.

While some celebrated its death when the character was dropped, there were also many that mourned its passing. For anyone who falls into the second category, there is good news: Clippy is back!

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The seemingly never-ending stream of printer problems caused by Windows updates shows no sign of abating.

Following the Patch Tuesday releases a couple of weeks ago, Microsoft has added warnings of known issues to the support pages for the KB5006674 and KB5006670 updates. Printer-related errors including 0x000006e4 (RPC_S_CANNOT_SUPPORT), 0x0000007c (ERROR_INVALID_LEVEL), and  0x00000709 (ERROR_INVALID_PRINTER_NAME) are among those the company says users may experience.

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Linux users have been able to use Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge browser for a while now, but in Dev Build and beta versions.

Today though the software giant has updated its Edge repository to add a new stable version of the browser, so if you’re running a Linux OS and want to try out Edge alongside your existing browser you can.

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A new release cycle has started for the PowerToys collection of utilities. Kicking off with PowerToys v0.49, Microsoft promises that this and the upcoming batch of releases include "exciting new updates".

And things get off to a great start with the arrival of not only the Video Conference Mute tool in the stable build, but also a brand-new utility -- Find My Mouse. There are also numerous fixes and improvements as a well as a UI update for PowerRename.

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Samsung hasn't just announced one new Windows 11 laptop, but three of them. A trio of notebooks running Microsoft's latest desktop operating system? How exciting!

Two of these computers are traditional 15.6-inch LED 1080p laptops; one of that pair (Galaxy Book) has a touch-screen display, while the other (Galaxy Book Odyssey) does not. The third model (Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G), is a convertible with a 13.3-inch FHD AMOLED touch-screen that features 5G wireless connectivity.

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It’s Wednesday, so that (usually) means Microsoft has a new Windows 11 build for Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Build 22489 comes with the standard long list of changes, improvements, fixes, and known issues, but it also introduces with a new settings page for your Microsoft account that displays all of the information related to it that you are likely to need.

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Microsoft is giving Windows 10 users a taste of Windows 11 by giving them access to the new and updated Store app and the new features it has to offer.

In addition to a whole new look, the new version of the Microsoft Store includes support for Win32 apps as well as Disney+ movies. For now, it is a limited number of users who will have access to the updated store, but it won't be long before everyone with Windows 10 will be able to use it.

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It's three weeks since Windows 11 started to roll out, and now Microsoft is starting its push to encourage people who can upgrade to do just that.

Part of this drive is delivering the PC Health Check app to Windows 10 machine, giving users a quick way to check whether they can upgrade to Windows 11 or not. The app is being pushed out as part of the KB5005463 update and the rollout is likely to irritate as the automatic update essentially forces the Windows 11 compatibility checker onto people.

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One of the headline features of Windows 11 that Microsoft promoted ahead of launch is Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) -- in short, support for Android apps. It is only a few days since the feature was made available, but there are numerous limitations. In addition to only being available to Windows Insiders participating in the Beta Channel in the US, users are forced to obtain their apps from the Amazon App Store.

In the real world, of course, practically no one uses the Amazon App Store; Google Play is where the action (and a full quota of apps) is to be found. Now, someone has managed to hack something together that makes it possible to access Google Play and install Android apps from this store in Windows 11. You will need, among other things, access to Ubuntu or another Linux distro.

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When Microsoft announced plans to remove Hot Reload from the upcoming release of .NET 6 there was outcry. Developers have been able to use to feature to edit he source code of a running app, seeing immediate effects and saving huge amounts of time.

After being battered with complaints, particularly from the open-source community, Microsoft has reversed its decision and the functionality will be re-enabled ahead of general availability of .NET 6.

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Development of PowerShell continues apace, and Microsoft has just pushed out a new release candidate with a fairly lengthy changelog.

PowerShell 7.2.0 RC1 is available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and over the coming days and weeks it will undergoing further testing and refinement before it is marked as being a final release. The release candidate includes various changes and fixes including using a newer version of .NET and addressing an RPM packaging issue.

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