How to download the Windows 10 May 2019 Update and create your own installation USB flash drive or DVD
Windows 10 May 2019 Update is now rolling out to users with compatible systems.
If you can’t wait to try the new features, the good news is Microsoft has updated its Media Creation tool to include the update and you can use this to download Windows 10 now and create your own installation media on either a USB flash drive or DVD. This is particularly handy if you want to perform a clean install, or update multiple computers in quick succession.
Windows 10 May 2019 Update rolling out now -- Here's how to get it
After the mess that was the October 2018 Update, Microsoft has been a lot more cautious with the follow up, giving it an extended period of testing in the Release Preview ring.
Today, the software giant declares the May 2019 Update stable enough to begin making it available to non-Insiders, although it says it will still be taking a "measured and throttled" approach to availability.
The first Microsoft Edge preview build arrives for macOS -- this is why you should care
If you’re a Windows 10 user then you might be interested in -- or even excited for -- the next generation of Microsoft’s Edge browser which is being built around Chromium.
If you’re a Mac user, then you likely couldn’t care less about it. Still, Microsoft is hoping it can change your mind and today it introduces the first preview build for macOS.
Microsoft now lets you install Ubuntu Linux in Windows 10 using the Hyper-V Manager
Microsoft has been gradually hugging Linux closer to its heart, making it ever easier to install Linux-based operating systems within Windows 10. Now Ubuntu fans have a new option when it comes to installing their favorite distro.
It is now possible to install either Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or 19.04 using Windows 10's Hyper-V Manager -- the admin tool designed to make it easy to manage virtual machines.
MSN Messenger 2019 Edition is the messaging app you didn't know you needed
These days, if you want to chat with friends and family you probably do so through one of the many mobile messaging choices -- such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Snapchat.
Before mobile communications really took off, Microsoft’s cross-platform MSN Messenger (later rebranded Windows Live Messenger) was the chat tool. At its peak, some 330 million users a month were logging into the instant messaging client. MSN Messenger was discontinued in 2014, with Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype from eBay largely to blame for its demise, but if you’ve ever wondered what the chat tool might look like if it was revived today, then MSN Messenger 2019 Edition is the answer.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 20H1 Build 18898 with Task Manager improvements
The May 2019 Update is still undergoing testing in the Release Preview ring, but Microsoft is busy working on builds from the 20H1 branch, the feature update set to be released in the first half of next year.
We’re starting to see new features arriving on that branch, and today’s flight, Build 18898, adds a useful addition to the Task Manager.
Microsoft issues new patch for Windows XP to fight a dangerous 'wormable' vulnerability
Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP back into 2014, but took the 'highly unusual' step of releasing a patch for the ancient OS two years ago in a bid to fightback against the WannaCry ransomware, and then included XP in that June’s Patch Tuesday updates.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that that would be the very last time Microsoft patched XP, but no. The software giant has included Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (also no longer supported) in today’s Patch Tuesday fixes.
Privacy: Microsoft is tracking your search activity for Bing Maps
Everyone knows Google tracks its users. When you use a "free" service, such as the many the search giant offers, you essentially end up being the product. In other words, your personal data is the true cost. Unfortunately, Google is not the only company spying on its users. Microsoft is also guilty of this, especially with its overreaching telemetry in Windows 10.
That isn't Microsoft's only product that is anti-privacy, however. The company is now trying to spy with Office, and as you can imagine, its Bing search engine is tracking user activity too. Today, the Windows-maker openly brags about spying on your recent search activity by announcing a new "feature" for Bing Maps Autosuggest.
BTW I use Arch Linux... on Windows 10
Ahh, Arch Linux; the distribution with the most pretentious user base. If you aren't familiar with Arch, please know it is a very good operating system that is unnecessarily difficult to set up. As a result, the ones who are successful, and end up using the distro, are often quite full of themselves. Many Arch users seem to look down on those using a different distro, such as Ubuntu or Linux Mint. This is what has lead to the infamous "BTW I use Arch" meme. No, not all Arch users are insufferable, but many are. True story.
And now, thanks to Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux, you can (sort of) become a pretentious Arch user too -- all without leaving the comfort of Windows 10. That’s right, folks, you can now install Arch from the Microsoft Store. These are strange times we are living in, eh?
Privacy: Microsoft wants to (sneakily) collect more data from users via Office
Launch Word, Excel, PowerPoint or some other Microsoft Office app on your computer, and you'll be greeted by a dialog entitled "Your data, controlled by you". You'll then be invited to review your privacy settings to determine how much telemetry data Microsoft is able to collect through Office.
Earlier this month, Microsoft made reference to privacy and user feedback in its office suite, saying that "Office is built on trust". Now, the company is using a popup dialog to give users a chance to control the data they share; or, looked more cynically, to trick them into agreeing to share more data.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 20H1 Build 18895 -- fixes Your Phone app
Development is proceeding well on Windows 10 20H1, even though that feature update isn’t set to be released until the first half of next year.
Microsoft rolled out Build 18894 two days ago, with File Explorer and Accessibility improvements, and today it releases build 18895 with an important fix -- although this flight isn’t available to everyone.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 20H1 Build 18894 with File Explorer and Accessibility improvements
Windows 10 19H1 -- aka the May 2019 Update -- is currently undergoing testing in the Release Preview ring, with the aim being to start rolling it out to all by the end of the month.
In the meantime, the software giant is working on builds from the 20H1 branch, the feature update set to be released a whole year from now.
PowerToys are back! Microsoft reboots the utilities as an open source project for Windows 10
Microsoft is bringing back PowerToys for Windows 10 -- and this time it is open source. If the name doesn't mean anything to you, you probably weren't a Windows 95 user, but if this was your computing era, you'll remember tinkering with the likes of TweakUI, Send to X, QuickRes and numerous other delightful utilities.
Now the collection of utilities is back, rebooted for Windows 10 and due to be released as an open source project. At the moment, there are two tools being worked on -- Maximize to new desktop widget, and the Windows key shortcut guide -- but ten more are under consideration and due for release this summer.
Microsoft's core platform isn't software, it's trust
For the first time in a half-decade, I watched a Microsoft Build keynote this morning. Time gives fresh perspective, looking at where the company was compared to where it is today. Listening to CEO Satya Nadella and other Softies, I repeatedly found myself reminded of Isaac Asimov's three laws or Robotics and how they might realistically be applied in the 21st Century. The rules, whether wise or not, set to ensure that humans could safely interact with complex, thinking machines. In Asimov's science fiction stories, the laws were core components of the automaton's brain—baked in, so to speak, and thus inviolable. They were there by design; foundationally.
Behind all product design, there are principles. During the Steve Jobs era, simplicity was among Apple's main design ethics. As today's developer conference keynote reminds, Microsoft embraces something broader—design ethics that harken back to the company's founding objectives and others that share similar purpose as the robotic laws. On the latter point, Nadella repeatedly spoke about "trust" and "collective responsibility". These are fundamental principles of design, particularly as Artificial Intelligence usage expands and more corporate developers depend on cloud computing platforms like Azure.
Windows Terminal is a new Linux-inspired command line app for Windows 10
Microsoft’s developer conference Build 2019 is underway, and one of the things that the software giant announced today is a new app for command-line users.
The Windows Terminal is an update of the existing Command Prompt/PowerShell apps and is expected to arrive in the middle of June.
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