When Microsoft acquired GitHub two years ago, it was clear that some things would change along the line. Microsoft lifted the private repository creation limit one year ago and worked for the last 18 months on making core GitHub features available for free for everyone, according to a new announcement.

GitHub CEO Nat Friedman announced the change yesterday on the official company blog.

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Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday security updates are always important, but the ones released this week are particularly important. Not only do the fixes address numerous zero-day vulnerabilities, but the security flaws they fix were being actively exploited.

In all, Microsoft has plugged 113 CVE-numbered vulnerabilities this month. 17 of these are marked as being critical, and 96 as important.

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Having already extended the end of service date for Windows 10 version 1709 because of coronavirus, Microsoft has now announced that it is doing the same for Windows 10 version 1809.

Just as with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the October 2018 Update will now be supported for an extra six months. Previously due to reach end of service on May 12, 2020, the Home, Pro, Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, IoT Core and Server editions of the operating system will now be supported until November 10 this year.

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Three-hundred-and-eighty-one in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 on the Microsoft Store in the past seven days.

Microsoft showed off the new start menu of the company's Windows 10 operating system on Twitter recently. The company announced this week that the Surface Neo and dual-screen Windows 10X devices are delayed until 2021.

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Coronavirus, or COVID-19 as it is also known, is playing havoc with the world. Worldwide there are over 1.5 million cases and just under 100,000 deaths to date. Although measures are in place, it's going to be a rough ride for some time to come.

Not helping is the disinformation that is being used to scam the people who have the virus or are afraid of it. Most are existing scams repurposed for a new fear.

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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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