Articles about Microsoft

There are lots of ways that you can speed up Windows without performing pricey hardware upgrades, including disabling running processes and features. Windows comes with a handy, lesser-known feature which can boost your system performance by killing off annoying resource hogs you didn’t even know were running.

If you install a lot of software, you’re probably aware that many apps will automatically set themselves to run at login. This may be useful to you, but equally it could be a pain, and consume system resources without your permission, or even your knowledge. You can check to see what’s running using task manager, but there’s a way of being alerted automatically without having to lift a finger.

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Six-hundred-one in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Good news for Windows 10 users. Micro-patching service 0Patch will support the operating system at least until 2030 with security updates.

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Windows 10 continues to live on, although it is now a ripe old age. Despite the looming end-of-life for the operating system, Microsoft has surprised users by continuing to add new features and options.

This is not the case with the new KB5039299 update, however. This is a non-security update which, Microsoft proclaims, "includes quality improvements". This is a cute way of saying it's a boring bug fixer, but if you've been affected by those bugs, it's an important update.

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Microsoft has released a preview version of next month's KB5039302 update for Windows 11. Although there are no security fixes, the update addresses a number of problems such as distorted audio in Snipping Tool recording and issues with ejecting USB devices.

This update also sees the welcome return of the Show Desktop button in the taskbar and brings new TAR and 7-Zip creation options to the context menu of File Explorer. But there's much more too.

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What's the time? Well, it's time for yet another problematic update from Microsoft! The culprit on this occasion is the KB5039212 update from earlier this month, and it's especially worrying for the enterprise.

As it includes security fixes, this particular update is one that would have been installed automatically on many systems. But in addition to addressing security issues, the KB5039212 update also brought problems of its own; Microsoft has acknowledged a Windows 11 upgrade issue. Not for the first time, a fix is yet to be created.

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If you uninstalled the recently released KB5036979 update for Windows 10, you may have experienced unwanted Open With dialogs appearing. While first spotted in Outlook for Windows, Snip & Sketch, and Teams, the problem affects other apps as well.

While there is not yet a fix for this irritating, semi-random pop up, Microsoft has acknowledged the issue. The company is working on a patch for the bug, and offers up some insight and advice in the meantime.

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With the official launch of Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft has also unleashed Windows 11 24H2. This most recent update to Windows 11 has been a long time in the works, and there have been numerous preview builds available.

What is interesting is the way in which this launch is taking place. Copilot+ PC are now available with Windows 11 24H2 pre-installed, and it is also available to Insiders. The fact that systems have this version of the operating system installed means that development is complete (well, as complete as such work ever is), but the launch is dividing the Windows userbase into haves and have-nots -- in more ways than one.

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If you have been experiencing higher than normal CPU usage in Windows 11 recently, you are certainly not alone. There is good and bad news.

The good news is twofold. Firstly, the cause of the issue has been identified by Microsoft, and secondly, it only affects Insider builds of Windows 11. The bad news, however, is that there is no fix available, and no indication of when this may change.

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Five-hundred-and-ninety-nine in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft is changing the functionality of the controversial Recall AI feature to improve quality and security. It won't release the feature on June 18 to Copilot+ PCs, but plans to introduce it to the Windows Insider Platform first.

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Since it was first announced, the Recall feature for Copilot+ PC has been a major headache for Microsoft. The AI-powered feature has raised all manner of privacy concerns, and now the company has responded by putting the brakes on rolling it out.

Microsoft doesn't use words like "delay" or "postpone", of course. In an update to an earlier blog post about the rollout of the feature, the company now says: " We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security".

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Microsoft is busy introducing AI functionality across Windows 11. That's great, but a lot of users would prefer to see an operating system that’s more user-friendly and lets you customize it as you see fit.

The tech giant has a history of not necessarily following expected naming conventions -- whatever happened to Windows 9? -- so this look at an OS that’s Windows 13, not Windows 12, perhaps shouldn’t seem too outlandish.

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Somewhat out of the blue, Microsoft has announced that DirectAccess is to be deprecated. This feature is used by remote workers to access company networks, but it has been superseded and is now considered outdated.

As is so often the case with the deprecation of Windows features, there is currently no precise timeline for removal, but Microsoft is advising users to make the move to Always On VPN. The company has also provided detailed instructions for how to migrate from DirectAccess to Always On VPN.

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For those who need the show as well as the tell, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Microsoft 365 is the visual walkthrough to Microsoft’s latest suite of office products that will get you up-to-speed faster than any other resource on the market.

This book offers image- and screenshot-rich tutorials alongside step-by-step instructions so you can see what you need to do to make the most of Microsoft 365.

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When Microsoft announced the new Recall feature that is coming to Windows 11 later this year, privacy concerns were very quickly voiced by many.

In response to this, the company announced that Recall would not be enabled by default and would be made an opt-in feature. This PR move was made very publicly for maximum attention, but Microsoft has also withdrawn the build of Windows 11 which provided early access to Recall.

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The way Windows 11 interacts with mobile devices -- and, in turn, the way it lets users interact with them -- has been a little odd for some time. The Your Phone / Phone Link app showed that using Windows to use or browse your smartphone was really something of an afterthought for Microsoft.

Continuing the piecemeal approach to mobiles, it looks as though the company is finally about to give File Explorer the ability to browse smartphone contents. The option has been unearthed in Windows 11, although we don't yet know when it will be released properly.

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