Microsoft drops password expiration policies from Windows 10 1903 security baseline
In new draft security baseline documentation, Microsoft has scrapped the policy that requires users to change their passwords on a regular basis.
The new security settings apply to Windows 10 version 1903 and Windows Server version 1903, and the change sees Microsoft conceding that its policy of forcing periodic password changes is "an ancient and obsolete mitigation of very low value". The company has a series of suggestions for how to better improve password security.
Microsoft will block the Windows 10 May 2019 Update if you have a USB drive or SD card connected
If you have external storage attached to your computer, you may well find that you're unable to install the Windows 10 May 2019 Update when it is released next month.
Out of an apparent abundance of precaution, Microsoft is opting to block the installation of the update if a computer has an external USB drive or SD card plugged in. The block is being introduced because of fears that drive letters might be inappropriately reassigned during the installation.
SteelSeries launches Arctis 9X Xbox One headset with 20 hours of battery life
The original Xbox One, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X are great video game consoles. Hell, they really aren't even just gaming machines, but full media devices, designed to be the focal point of your media consumption. They don't only play games, but movies, TV shows, music, and more. With the exception of the puzzling "All-Digital" variant, they all play Blu-ray discs too.
With all of that said, gaming is the primary function of any Xbox, and these days, that largely means playing multiplayer titles online. Don't get me wrong, offline play has its place, but it is far more fun to compete against other humans. One of the most fun aspects of online multiplayer is using a headset to speak with either teammates or opponents.
Microsoft decides to keep Paint in Windows 10... for now
For all of its simplicity and limitations, there are still a lot of people who -- for some reason best known to themselves -- love Microsoft Paint.
As such, when it was announced a while back that Microsoft intended to strip the utility from Windows 10 and replace it with Paint 3D -- an altogether different beast -- there was a collective wailing and gnashing of teeth. But now it seems that Paint has been given a stay of execution.
Microsoft displays warning messages in Windows 7 about the impending end of support
Windows 7 users have started to report the appearance of a pop-up message from Microsoft informing them that support for the operating system is coming to an end.
While this will not come as a surprise to everyone, not all Windows 7 users will be aware that Microsoft is on the verge of dropping the ageing OS. We have already seen pop-ups encouraging users to update to Windows 10 but now Microsoft is turning up the pressure, telling Windows 7 users: "After 10 years, support for Windows 7 is nearing the end".
Microsoft may have abandoned Sets in Windows 10 -- what now for app tabs?
In what will come as something of a disappointment to many, Microsoft seems to have decided to abandon the Sets feature of Windows 10. This highly-anticipated feature was to bring tabs to apps, making it easier to work with multiple instances of the same program.
In the middle of last year, though, Microsoft removed Sets from Insider builds of Windows 10, promising that the feature would return in a future build. But a tweet from senior program manager Rich Turner suggests that Sets is no more... although that might not mean that app tabs are completely off the agenda.
Chromium-based Microsoft Edge pretends to be different browsers by switching user agent
The new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge has generated a good deal of attention, and an intriguing feature of the browser has been noticed that makes it all the more interesting.
It has been noted that Edge switches between user agents depending on the sites visited, effectively pretending to be a different web browser. This enables Edge to take advantage of web sites features designed for a specific browser.
Bosque is Microsoft's new open source, TypeScript-inspired programming language
If you're thinking of learning a programming language, there are certainly plenty to choose from -- and Microsoft has just added a new one for you to consider. Inspired partly by TypeScript and partly by Node.js, Bosque is an open source language which tries to keep things simple.
Microsoft says that one of the main aims with Bosque is to create code that is simple for both humans and machines to read, eliminating "accidental complexity".
Micropatch now available for Internet Explorer security hole
A few days ago, a security vulnerability in Internet Explorer came to light. A flaw in the handling of certain files can be exploited by hackers to steal files from users, and -- most worrying -- it doesn't matter whether the victim is an Internet Explorer user or not.
Microsoft is yet to create a fix for the vulnerability, so someone else has stepped up to the plate. Specialists from ACROS Security have create a micropatch for Windows 10 that addresses the issue, once again beating Microsoft in securing people's computers.
Microsoft announces great value Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
As well as revealing the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition yesterday, Microsoft also has another treat in store for gamers -- the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Just as there had been rumors about the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition ahead of the announcement, there had also been talk about this new combined subscription. Due to launch at an undisclosed time later this year after beta testing, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate combines the existing Game Pass with Xbox Live Gold, all for $14.99 per month.
Microsoft revives TechNet and MSDN blogs
After a wave of apparently unexpected complaints, Microsoft has announced that it is to restore the TechNet and MSDN blogs it recently started to retire.
The company warns that this is not something that's going to happen overnight -- there is a lot of content to re-activate -- but the announcement is great news for anyone who has found the blogs to be invaluable sources of information.
Microsoft announces stupidly named Xbox One S All-Digital Edition -- a neutered game console no sane person should want
Download-only gaming for home consoles is certainly the future. It is definitely not the present, however. I can envision all next-generation game consoles being produced without any optical drive or card slot, but to do that with a current-gen system would be asinine. And so, Microsoft has done it.
Yes, the worst kept secret in the video game community is officially announced today. As the leaks suggested, Microsoft unveiled the "Xbox One S All-Digital Edition." What does "all-digital" mean? Well, apparently, the Windows-maker thought optical discs were analog, as this branding simply means the Blu-ray drive has been removed. Yeah, the name sort of makes no sense. In other words, Microsoft hopes you will be crazy enough to buy download-only games at the tail end of the Xbox One's life. You won't fall for that trickery, will you?
Internet Explorer flaw leaves Windows users vulnerable to hackers -- even those who don't use the browser
A zero-day exploit found in Internet Explorer means hackers could steal files from Windows users. What's particularly interesting about this security flaw is that you don't even need to be an Internet Explorer user to be vulnerable.
A security researcher has revealed details of an unpatched exploit in the way IE handles MHT files, and the problem affects Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012 R2. It leaves users vulnerable not only to having their files stolen by hackers, but also means they could be spied upon.
Microsoft email hack was worse than first thought -- some users' messages were accessed
Over the weekend we reported that hackers gained access to Microsoft's web-based email services for a period of three months. Microsoft tried to calm users' concerns by saying that only "your e-mail address, folder names, the subject lines of e-mails, and the names of other e-mail addresses you communicate with" had been accessed. But for some people, things were rather worse.
It transpires that some users have been sent a notification from Microsoft informing them that hackers were able to access the content of emails.
Leaked: Microsoft's Xbox One S All Digital console
The future of the Xbox console certainly appears to be a disc-less one. German website WinFuture has obtained images and details of the console which could be officially revealed in the coming days.
The name has already been spotted on packaging, so we can be fairly sure that it is the final name. As the moniker suggests, the Xbox One S All Digital eschews discs in favor of game downloads -- the packaging itself proclaims "disc-free gaming". The box also reveals some details about the hardware specs of the Xbox One S All Digital.
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