Articles about Microsoft

If you bought a computer with Windows 10 pre-installed, the chances are that it came with Windows 10 Home Edition. While this is fine for day-to-day stuff, it does -- fairly obviously -- lacks many of the feature of Windows 10 Pro.

Many people are drawn to the idea of Windows 10 Professional but are put off by one thing. Price. But what about it Windows 10 Pro was significantly cheaper? We have a special offer that means you could save 65 percent off the usual selling price -- and then you can get a free upgrade to Windows 11 later!

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There is huge interest in Windows 11, in particular finding out if a computer can be upgraded to the latest version of Windows when it is released in the coming months. Microsoft has released its own PC Health Check app that reveals whether a computer can run Windows 11, but it is not overly informative -- even though it has been updated to provide more information.

But PC Health Check is not the only tool for checking if you can upgrade to Windows 11 or not. Another option is WhyNotWin11, which helps you to determine if you hardware is up to the task, including checking what TPM version your system has.

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If you're a fan of utilities, you've very probably installed PowerToys for Windows 10. Long an essential software collection for older versions of the operating system, Microsoft gave the beloved tools a reboot for Windows 10 a couple of years ago, and it has gained an enthusiastic following.

And this is not surprising; the utility collection includes some incredible tools, and there's the promise of more great additions in the future. But it's not just us users who think PowerToys is great, the developers behind Windows 11 also appear to be fans. So much so that they decided to steal a few ideas from PowerToys and integrate them into Windows 11.

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Since Microsoft officially announced Windows 11 earlier this week, there has been a huge amount of interest from people eager to find out whether their computer is capable of running the operating system. The TPM (Trusted Platform Modules) requirement in particular has caused much confusion.

Microsoft released the Windows PC Health Check tool to allow people to check to see if their computer is compatible with Windows 11. While it is fair to say that it did indeed let reveal whether a system Windows 11 compatible or not, it did not give much more than a "yes" or "no". Now the tool has been updated to provide more helpful information, so if your computer fails the Window 11 compatibility test, you will know why.

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With Windows 10, Microsoft has been releasing two "feature updates" per year -- but with Windows 11, this release schedule is changing.In a move that will be welcomed by system administrators around the world, Microsoft will only be pushing out one big update per year.

While some people will mourn the loss of twice-yearly additions to the operating system, it will make life much easier for anyone managing large numbers of computers who is concerned about down time and problems. But this is not the only news about Windows 11's updates.

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Microsoft has officially announced Windows 11, the dust has settled, and the excitement has died down a little. Now it's time to look at what we know is going to be included in the latest version of the operating system, rather than guessing and speculating as we have had to do up to now. And when we do this, there various reasons to be disappointed.

We always knew -- or at least suspected -- that Windows 11 was not going to be a major change from Windows 10. It has already been dismissed by some as being little more than a theme pack or service pack, but there are new features. One of the things that generated quite some interest is support for Android apps, but hearts then sank after learning that rather than Google Play, apps will need to come from the Amazon app store. But there is some great news...

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The big reveal has been made: Windows 11 is coming later in the year, and it’ll be a free upgrade. So if you’ve been putting off the move to Windows 10, relax: you can buy or upgrade now, then upgrade again when the new OS becomes available.

Windows 11 offers more than a simple facelift over Windows 10 -- although at first glance you might think that many of the features announced yesterday amount to little more than windows dressing.

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The taskbar has been a feature of Windows for many years now, and it is almost as iconic as the Start button. Traditionally it is placed at the bottom of the screen, but there has always been the option to move it to the top or sides if preferred. Not so with Windows 11.

Although the majority of people leave the taskbar where it is, the prevalence of widescreen and ultra-widescreen monitors has meant that it makes more and more sense to move it to the side to make better use of space. With Windows 11, however, Microsoft has taken the decision to lock the taskbar in place at the bottom of the screen.

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Following Microsoft's big event yesterday, PC users around the world are asking themselves "will my computer run Window 11?". Although many people have installed the leaked version of the operating system, most will be waiting for the official release later in the year.

Microsoft has already shared details of the minimum system requirements for Windows 11, but this is not information that everyone finds useful; many have been baffled by the TPM (Trusted Platform Modules) requirement, for instance. People are looking for a straight "yes" or "no" answer rather than having to check hardware specs. So, if you're wondering whether or not you need to buy a new PC to be able to enjoy everything that Windows 11 has to offer, here's how you can check right now using a special tool from Microsoft.

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If you didn’t watch today's full Windows 11 reveal -- because you didn’t have the time, opportunity or inclination -- then you can catch up on what’s new here.

Of course, as they say, a picture paints a thousand words, and a video is even better when it comes to conveying information.

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Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 11 officially today, and as well as revealing the new OS will be a free upgrade from Windows 10, it also announced that it will be issuing the first test builds to Windows Insiders shortly.

If you’re already a Windows Insider that’s great news (if you’re not you can sign up here), but Windows 11 has updated hardware requirements and there may be other roadblocks that prevent you from testing out the new OS.

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Although some people will view the newly announced Windows 11 as Windows 10.5, the truth is it’s a big change for Microsoft’s operating system.

Although Windows 11 will debut lots of new features, including widgets, Teams Chat and Android app support, some of the features and functionality you’re used to in Windows 10 may well be coming to an end. These are the key features that will be impacted.

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During its grand reveal of Windows 11 earlier today, Microsoft stressed that the new OS will run faster, and upgrades will be smaller and happen in the background.

If you’ve found Windows 10 to be a little sluggish at times, that might sound like great news to you, but Microsoft has updated the base hardware requirements for the new OS, so if your system is getting on a bit it may not be able to run it.

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Although the Windows 11 announcement introduced lots of new and exciting features coming to the new OS later in the year, perhaps the most jaw dropping was native support for Android apps.

Users will be able to find and download Android apps directly through the new and improved Microsoft Store, but you won’t be able to grab your favorites through Google Play as it isn’t supported.

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Today Microsoft took the wraps off what we can expect from its new operating system and it’s a lot. You can see what’s coming here.

The first builds of the new Windows 11 will begin making their way to Windows Insiders from next week, although it will be a while until we see the makings of a finished OS as general availability isn't expected until the end of the year. What we also learned from the announcement is the cost of the OS and the upgrade options.

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