Articles about Microsoft

Microsoft releases Windows 10 20H1 Build 18936 with passwordless sign-ins

Even though the next major feature update for Windows 10 isn’t due for a year, Microsoft is rolling out weekly new builds for it.

Windows 10 20H1 Build 18936 offers a number of new features, including the ability to go passwordless on your device, and create calendar events directly from the taskbar.

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Windows 1.11 and Windows Throwback now available to download

Last week Windows’ social accounts caused some excitement and confusion by announcing the arrival of Windows 1.0.

I correctly guessed that it was part of a Stranger Things tie-in because the newly launched season 3 of Netflix’s supernatural drama is set in 1985, the same year that Microsoft launched Windows 1.0. A new Windows 1.11 app briefly appeared over the weekend before being withdrawn, and it’s now back up and available for anyone to download. And that's not all.

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Microsoft releases public preview of Desktop Analytics to help with Windows 10 update readiness checks

Angled Microsoft logo

Microsoft has released a public preview of cloud-connected service Desktop Analytics.

Designed to help system administrators to keep Windows 10 devices up to date, Desktop Analytics integrates with System Center Configuration Manager. It allows for the quick and easy creation of app inventories to make compatibility checks simpler.

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Hands on with Windows 1.11, the Stranger Things tie-in you didn't know you needed (minor spoilers)

This week Microsoft has been teasing users across the web with a series of Windows 1.0 announcements. That operating system originally came out in 1985, and the latest season of Netflix’s Stranger Things is set in the same year, so there was never any doubt that the teasers and the show were linked in some way. But how?

On Friday Microsoft revealed we’d know the answer on Monday, but we now know exactly what’s coming -- Windows 1.11.

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Microsoft's Windows 1.0/Stranger Things tie-in just got stranger

Microsoft has been running an amusing series of tweets on its Windows social accounts. It announced Windows 1.0 back on July 1, and then followed up it across the week with additional Windows 1.0 images and videos.

While some people, and some news sites, were seemingly confused by the move, it was clear from the start for a lot of us that it was a Stranger Things 3 tie in, seeing as the new season is set in 1985, the same year that Windows 1.0 arrived. But although each new tweet has made the link clearer, today’s one also includes an intriguing twist.

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Microsoft releases Windows 10 20H1 Build 18932 with notification improvements

When it’s not crowing about the cutting edge abilities of Windows 1.0, Microsoft is busy working on the next big feature update for Windows 10, due out next year.

Today it rolls out Build 18932 which introduces some eye control improvements, and refined notification settings, among other changes.

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Microsoft launches Threat and Vulnerability Management for enterprises

Microsoft building logo

Scheduled vulnerability scanning can leave blind spots between scans leaving organizations vulnerable.

In response to this problem, Microsoft has partnered with a number of enterprise customers to create a new Threat and Vulnerability Management solution as a built-in feature of Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection.

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Microsoft announces Windows 1.0

The new season of Stranger Things starts on Netflix this Thursday -- July 4th -- and is being described by reviewers as a return to form, great news for anyone who felt a bit let down by season 2.

The new season is set in 1985, a year which gave us the Live Aid concerts, New Coke, Calvin and Hobbes, Back to the Future, and the first version of Microsoft Windows.

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YAWN! Windows 10 19H2 is shaping up to be a dull release

Bored kid

It is looking as though the next "feature update" for Windows 10 -- known as 19H2 to Insiders -- will be a little light on, er, features. In really, it seems as though Microsoft is treating the next big update very much like a service pack release.

The news comes from Microsoft as the company sets out its plans for "evolving Windows 10 servicing and quality". In short, if you were looking forward to exciting new things to try out later this year, it might be a good idea to recalibrate your expectations.

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Windows 10 is not creating registry backups -- and is lying about it

Windows 10 boxes

Towards the latter end of last year, it was noticed that Windows 10 was no longer creating backups of the registry. It was assumed to be a bug as the scheduled task that was used to create the backup still existed, and it was also indicated that the task had been a success.

This was a lie. No registry backup was created, meaning potentially millions of users were left without a reliable way of rolling back the registry to an earlier time. Now Microsoft has explained what's going on, and says that the lack of registry backups is intentional.

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Windows XP pops Cherry at Glasto

When you’re performing live at one of the biggest music festivals in the world, it’s probably not advisable to trust your background visuals to an old laptop running Windows XP.

This is a lesson that Neneh Cherry learned to her cost at this weekend’s Glastonbury when the laptop generating images on the rear video screen decided to reboot unexpectedly during a performance of her hit 7 Seconds.

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Only a tiny fraction of Windows 10 users are running the May 2019 Update

The latest Windows 10 feature release, the May 2019 Update, is slowly making its way to users, but after the mess that was the October 2018 Update, Microsoft is keeping a close eye on proceedings.

As a result, it means the rollout is happening at an incredibly glacial pace. In fact, it's occurring at roughly the same rate as its predecessor, which isn't good news.

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Warning: In just a few days, the ebooks you've purchased from Microsoft will vanish

ARGH!

It's a little while since Microsoft announced that is dropping the Books category from the Microsoft Store, but a serious deadline is now looming.

If you have bought books or downloaded free books from the Store, you only have a few more days to read them -- so if there are any you haven't finished, you'd better start reading quickly! While no specific date has been announced, Microsoft warns that you'll only be able to read your books "until early July 2019".

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Microsoft notifies users whose systems are 'not quite ready' for Windows 10 May 2019 Update

Timeout

The Windows 10 May 2019 Update (that is, Windows 10 version 1903) has caused problems for a number of people, and there are various issues that stand in the way of getting hold of the upgrade.

Rather than pushing out a problematic update to systems that it knows will not have a great experience, Microsoft has made a couple of decisions. Not only is the company blocking updates for computers with known compatibility issues, it is also starting to notify users that this is what's happening.

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Millions of Microsoft Excel users vulnerable to remote DDE attack as new exploit is discovered

Security researchers from Mimecast Threat Center have discovered an Excel exploit that could leave 120 million users vulnerable to attack.

The security flaw means that it is possible to use Excel's Power Query tool to dynamically launch a remote Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) attack on a spreadsheet and actively control the payload. The researchers also found that Power Query could be used to embed malicious code in a data source and spread malware.

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