Articles about Microsoft

Last week, Microsoft released Build 18950 to Insiders on the Fast ring, and it’s fair to say it wasn’t the most exciting of releases with the headline addition covering Japanese IME improvements.

Today’s new flight, Build 18956, is much more interesting with a redesigned Network Status page, notification settings improvements, and Calculator and Cortana app updates.

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Microsoft continues with the development of Edge, and a new leak gives Mac users a chance to see what the company is doing with the web browser for their preferred operating system.

Renowned leaker WalkingCat has provided a download link to an unreleased beta version of the Mac build of Microsoft Edge. As it's a beta that hasn't been released to official channels, there are possible stability issues, but it serves as a chance to try out the latest Chromium-base version of Edge for Mac.

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Windows 10 S mode is proving problematic for some people, with a number of users complaining that they are unable to get their computers out of the limited mode.

A number of laptops -- including the Surface Go and Surface Laptop -- come pre-configured to run in Windows 10 S mode, preventing users from changing their search engine in Edge, or from installing software from outside of the Microsoft Store. It is supposed to be possible to exit S mode, but the option has been broken for a number of days.

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Microsoft released two Windows 10 20H1 builds to Insiders last week --18947, which was pushed out accidentally to all Insiders and sported an ugly revamped Start menu without Live titles, and 18945, which rolled out as expected and came with welcome improvements to Cortana, Windows Subsystem for Linux, and File Explorer.

Today we’re back to how things usually run, with a new build for Insiders on the Fast ring.

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As Microsoft continue to push Teams, the company has announced that Skype for Business Online will be retired in 2021.

While this is far from surprising, this is the first time a date has been mentioned so users can prepare to transition away. With the retirement date set at July 31, 2021, users have two years to get ready for a move to Teams.

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AdDuplex monitors the state of adoption for the various Windows 10 versions. Its figures for June showed the October 2018 Update (1809) was only on 30 percent of systems (down from 31.3 percent in May), while the May 2019 Update (1903) was to be found on 6.3 percent of devices in the same time frame.

The monitoring firm has just released its figures for July and they show that the May 2019 Update has made its way on to more systems, but at a very cautious pace.

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For Windows 10 users looking to install a Linux-based operating system within Windows, WSL -- Windows Subsystem for Linux -- was a blessing from Redmond. And things are just getting better and better.

The latest Insider build of Windows 10, Windows 10 20H1 build 18945 includes Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) with a couple of key enhancements. Not only are you now able to gain localhost access to network resources, you can also make use of your preferred Linux kernel.

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Earlier in the week, Microsoft rolled out a new Windows 10 build on the 20H1 branch. Build 18947 arrived with a new retro Start menu without Live tiles, and a GIF search feature. There was just one problem -- it was released by accident.

Today the software giant rolls out Build 18945, and this one is intended for installation. It comes with a new Cortana experience, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Improvements, and an updated File Explorer.

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Anyone using Office 365's webmail component to send emails is unwittingly sharing their IP address with the people they communicate with.

The web-based Outlook 365 inserts the sender's IP address into the header of an email, which makes it stand apart from other webmail services such as Gmail -- and even Microsoft's own Outlook.com. While the injected IP address serves something of a purpose, it's also a privacy and security risk that many users may not be aware of.

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Yesterday, Microsoft accidentally released Build 18947 to all Windows Insiders. The build wasn’t intended for a wide release, and today the software giant reveals how it came to be released, and more importantly, what you need to do to avoid installing it.

If you have already installed the build, with its new ugly Start menu, you can easily remove it.

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Microsoft has unintentionally released Windows 10 Build 18947 to all Insiders, including those on the Slow and Release Preview rings. It was originally believed it was only rolling out to 32-bit devices, but that appears not to be the case.  This build hasn’t undergone proper testing, so could cause problems if installed.

Microsoft says it is "looking into" the leak, but in the meantime, if you’re an Insider and you don’t want this build, be sure to reject it when it turns up. However, the new build, which was apparently meant for internal Xbox development, does have an interesting new feature that could tempt you into installing it -- a Start menu without Live Tiles.

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Windows 7 support comes to an end six months from now, although businesses will be able to pay for Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) for a further three years -- at a ratcheted cost. Windows Enterprise customers can expect to pay $25 per device for the updates, rising to $100 in the third year. For Windows 7 Professional, the starting figure is $50 per device, rising to $200.

Aware that time is running out, many enterprises have already moved to Windows 10, but a large number remain significantly behind in completing the migration process, according to new findings from endpoint management and security company 1E.

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A security researcher has revealed that the SmartScreen feature of Microsoft Edge is sharing full URLs of pages visited with the Windows-maker. Also shared are users' account IDs, raising concerns about privacy-invading tracking of browsing history.

SmartScreen is a security feature that Microsoft uses to identify phishing and malware websites, but the lack of obfuscation or anonymization of URLs shared with the company opens ups the potential for invasions of privacy and the revealing of sensitive information.

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Microsoft has come to an agreement with the US Justice Department and the SEC because of employee misconduct in Hungary. The company was to face a probe over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In agreeing to pay this money, Microsoft is neither really admitting guilt nor denying the claims made against it, and company President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith has written to all employees saying: "There is no room for compromise when it comes to ethical business practices".

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Microsoft is investing $1 billion in a multi-year partnership with OpenAI-- a company co-founded by Elon Musk three years ago.

The partnership will see Microsoft and OpenAI working together to build new Azure AI supercomputing technologies. Microsoft says that it will focus on building a platform to create new AI technologies and deliver on the promise of artificial general intelligence (AGI).

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