Articles about Microsoft

If you were hoping to get your hands on a Surface Neo or try out Windows 10X this year on a dual-screen device, you will be disappointed to hear that Microsoft has apparently delayed things until 2021.

While Microsoft has not made an official announcement to this effect, insiders say that not only will Microsoft not be releasing the highly anticipated Surface Neo before the end of 2020, the company will also not allow any other dual-screen devices running Windows 10X to ship.

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It’s been two weeks since Microsoft last rolled out a new Windows 10 Insider build to users on the Fast ring.

Today that drought ends though as Built 19603 arrives, bringing with it some new features, including a welcome addition for Linux lovers, and storage management improvements.

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Microsoft's embracing of Linux continues, and the company's latest project sees it trying to improve the security and integrity of systems. The Windows-maker has launched a Linux Security Module (LSM) called Integrity Policy Enforcement (IPE).

The kernel add-on gives administrators the option of configuring policies that can enforce integrity requirements across an entire system. It is possible to create a list of binaries that are permitted to run, and specify attributes that need to be checked before execution is allowed.

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It is no secret that Microsoft is working on a redesigned Start Menu for the company's Windows 10 operating system. While it is not clear yet if features such as Live Tiles are here to stay, it is certain that one of the upcoming feature updates for Windows 10 will introduce a Start Menu redesign.

Microsoft showed off a clip on the official Microsoft Design Twitter account that highlights the evolution of the Windows 10 Start Menu from the very beginning. Most interesting from a user perspective is that the company provides a glimpse of the redesigned Start Menu that it plans to introduce in a coming feature update for Windows 10.

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Video conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype have been the center of attention in recent weeks because of companies' increased reliance on them during coronavirus lockdowns. Zoom has been in the headlines for many of the wrong reasons, however, and Microsoft is keen to ensure it doesn't get tarred with the same brush.

The company had made a series of commitments about its Teams software, promising users that their virtual conversations are private and secure.

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It's only a week since Microsoft released PowerToys v0.16.0 which included four new utilities. Now there's another update available which brings a number of bug fixes, but also something of a surprise.

This is a very minor increase in version numbering, so you'd be right not to expect anything too exciting. However, the addition of telemetry to one of the utilities is something users will want to be aware of.

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While there has been a good deal of controversy about Zoom lately, the video conferencing service remains incredibly popular. This is at least in part because of its ease of use, and the fact that it can be used without having to create an account.

Well aware that the privacy and security issues that have plagued Zoom have left many people considering alternatives, Microsoft has issued a timely reminder about the Meet Now option in Skype. This feature makes it possible to use Skype without having to install any software, or even sign up for an account.

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Google Chrome is still the leader of the pack, but there's a different rival tailing it. New figures show that Microsoft Edge is now the second most used browser in the world, pushing Firefox down into third place.

The silver medal now belongs to the Chromium-based version of Edge on the desktop which has seen a great increase in popularity, even though it has only been available for a matter of months.

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The developers of one of the most popular torrent clients, qBittorrent, warn users not to install the Microsoft Store version of the application.

The warning, which is displayed on the release notes page on the official qBittorrent website, informs users that the Microsoft Store version is not created by the team nor officially licensed or sanctioned by the original development team. In addition, the Microsoft Store release is not free but needs to be purchased.

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Since Microsoft first announced PowerToys for Windows 10, there was great excitement about the return of the collection of utilities. The company has been drip-feeding us new features over the last few months, and now PowerToys v0.16.0 has landed, bringing with it no fewer than four new tools.

The most interesting new arrivals are the Image Resizer Window Shell extension which provides easy access to image resizing options from the context menu, and Window Walker which is a text-based Alt-Tab alternative.

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After installing February's KB4535996 update, some Windows 10 users started to experience VPN problems. Microsoft promised to release an off-schedule update for the issue which was causing connectivity issues. Now the company has made good on that promise.

In all, there are four different updates available. You need to install the correct one according to the version of Windows 10 you are running.

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Websites are, on the whole, vertical experiences, whereas laptop screens and desktop monitors are, in most cases, horizontal ones. Despite the relatively limited amount of vertical space available, browsers tend to further reduce this by placing tabs, menus, toolbars and more at the top of the screen. But Microsoft is ready to try something different.

The company has announced a number of new features that are coming to the new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge. Among these features are vertical tabs which make more efficient use of screen space.

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Over the weekend, Microsoft post an article on its Azure blog announcing that there had been an astronomical 775 percent surge in the use of its cloud services. Despite the massive increase in traffic, the company added, uptime was good. But the blog post wasn't entirely correct.

Since we published a story about the claims, Microsoft has contacted us to say that it had not been "was not as clear as they intended to be with the previous statement". The company has provided updated stats explaining what it meant to say -- and it's rather different.

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Microsoft has done a spot of rebranding today, replacing Office 365 with Microsoft 365, and introducing personal and family subscriptions.

This builds on the foundation of Office 365, but improves on it and adds some useful consumer focused apps and features.

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Some people are obsessed with keeping up to date with breaking news, and this is something that's true of more and more people given the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic.

Microsoft has a solution available for news addicts in the form of the News Bar beta. This free app adds a news ticker to the top or bottom of your screen, or you can use a side-panel at either edge of the screen. You have a choice between a text or image-based version in all cases, and you'll be shown headlines from thousands of trusted sources. It can display stocks too.

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