A walled-garden approach to apps for operating system is something we've become used to in the mobile world. Apple, in particular, has been incredibly successful in creating a closed-off eco-system that ensures it remains -- broadly speaking -- in control of what hits the App Store. With Windows 10, Microsoft is trying to blur the boundaries between mobile and non-mobile, and developers -- especially game developers -- are not happy.

Windows 10's Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is described by Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney as a "closed platform-within-a-platform". More than this, Sweeney says that it is the "most aggressive move Microsoft has ever made", warning that the company is trying to monopolize app distribution to the detriment of consumers and the entire PC industry. Writing for the Guardian, Sweeney bellows out a call to arms saying that UWP "can, should, must, and will die".

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Faster -- like bigger -- is better, right? Not necessarily. Windows 10 includes a feature called Fast Startup which certainly sounds enticing. Microsoft's description in the Control Panel says, "this helps start your PC faster after shutdown". Who wouldn't want a slice of that pie?

Enabled by default on most clean installations of Windows 10, Fast Startup essentially hibernates the Windows kernel and loaded drivers to help slash startup times. It all sounds great, but Fast Startup may not be quite as good as you think. Not only can it seriously mess up dual-boot systems, it may also interfere with the installation of updates, and could cause problems with encryption software.

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Computers and sports have historically been viewed as separate -- at least from a stereotypical point of view. It used to be perceived that there were jocks and nerds, and that computers were reserved for the latter. Over time, however, computers have gone so mainstream that they are ubiquitous in pretty much every sector. Hell, Microsoft's awesome Surface computers are seen on the sidelines of NFL games.

Today, Microsoft and the NCAA announce a partnership to further marry sports and computers with the Bing-powered March Madness basketball bracket experience. The NCAA is also releasing a new universal Windows 10 app! Sports fans -- and bracket gamblers -- should absolutely love the experiences created by this partnership.

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Windows 10 has been out for seven months now, and while it’s still not the perfect, most polished operating system there is, Microsoft has at least fixed a lot of the problems users originally encountered with it.

However, our original two guides to fixing Windows 10’s worst problems remain hugely popular, suggesting that users are still having issues and looking for workarounds to try. For that reason, we’ve decide to revisit the topic, with some new problems and solutions.

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While the Windows 10 Mobile roll out has yet to finally kick off, new preview builds are frequently released for users enrolled in the Windows Insider program. Microsoft is working on ironing out the kinks before unleashing its latest smartphone operating system, while trying to improve the user experience for those who have already purchased Windows 10 Mobile handsets.

And, now, early adopters are treated to Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 10586.122. This "cumulative update", which is offered in the Slow and Release Preview rings, adds support for new smartphones, a significant number of improvements to existing features and some bug fixes. Here's everything that you need to know about it.

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Microsoft's use of the Start menu to promote 'recommended apps' is nothing new, but recent builds of the operating system take things a step further. Install Windows 10 on a new computer, or create a new user account, and you'll find that a number of extra apps -- including Candy Crush Soda Saga, Flipboard, and Twitter -- appear in the Start menu.

Getting rid of these Start menu entries is simple enough, but the Microsoft Consumer Experience feature which is used to push the apps could be used to add links to more third party apps in future. Here's what you need to do to disable the Microsoft Consumer Experience and regain control of your computer.

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With the introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft said goodbye to Internet Explorer, the aging Netscape killer, and hello to Edge. While the company has been increasingly vigilant about security and the nightmares of IE 6 have slowly faded away, with a new browser comes with the potential for new problems.

Security researcher Mark Yason of IBM thinks he may have found a potential path to attack. Yason plans to demonstrate the flaw at the upcoming RSA USA 2016 conference.

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Microsoft hopes that within the first two to three years of availability, Windows 10 will power one billion devices worldwide. And, so far, things are looking good, as the new operating system can be found on over 200 million devices. But whether the software giant reaches its goal on time or not is irrelevant, because the new operating system will take over the PC market eventually, one way or another.

When looking at monthly stats and even Microsoft's own status updates on adoption it is way too easy to focus your attention on the figures themselves and lose sight of the bigger picture: as long as Windows 10's user base is growing, there is no stopping it. And that is what Microsoft wants, to have its new operating system "infecting" as many PCs and tablets as possible, so that it can finally take control of this market.

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I’ve seen a news story doing the rounds today, about Windows 10 removing some third-party user apps following a big update. It’s understandable that people this has happened to are upset, and obviously it's not something that you want your operating system to be doing.

But it’s also not a new phenomenon -- far from it.

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Standard query tools can often lack the flexibility required to deliver precise results which results in the need for further processing and adds to data traffic.

To address this problem ScaleOut Software is announcing a new computational query tool that combines Microsoft's LINQ query with the company's own data-parallel computing technology to offer more powerful and flexible query tools for grid-based applications. Available with ScaleOut Software's suite of in-memory data grid products, including ScaleOut StateServer and ScaleOut ComputeServer, computational query makes it easy for .NET developers and architects to harnesses the full power of the grid's data-parallel compute engine and dramatically accelerate query processing. It's available for use with Java on both Linux and Windows systems.

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In January, according to figures from NetMarketShare, Windows 10 managed to best Windows 8.1 in terms of usage share. In February, it overtook both flavors of the tiled OS -- Windows 8 and 8.1 combined.

That’s hardly surprising, as Windows 8.x is losing share at almost the same rate that Windows 10 is gaining it. In a month when Windows 10 became a recommended update, meaning on some machines the installation of the OS could start automatically, you might expect growth to be strong, but you’d be wrong.

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Windows 10 is a decent operating system, but there are a lot of niggles with it that I find frustrating, and I know I’m not alone in this. I’m not too worried about the new operating system "spying" on me, but there are plenty of other areas where, frankly, Microsoft could -- and should -- be doing better.

In the main, I find Windows 10 to still be rather half-baked. It’s very much a work in progress rather than a finished, and polished operating system. Fortunately if you take matters into your own hands, you can improve the OS in myriad ways and fix all of the issues that Microsoft can't, or won't.

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Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated and can be costly for businesses. Microsoft has recognized that it needs to offer stronger protection for its enterprise customers and is announcing a new service to help them detect, investigate, and respond to advanced attacks.

Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection adds a new post-breach layer of protection to the Windows 10 security stack. Using a mix of client technology built into Windows 10 and a cloud service, it will help detect threats that have made it past other defenses.

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The ARM-powered Raspberry Pi computers have a been a godsend to tinkerers, students, HTPC enthusiasts, and more. The inexpensive devices have proven quite useful for many projects, and continue to push the envelope on what can be achieved for little money. The $5 Raspberry Pi Zero, while very limited, is quite the feat of engineering.

For the most part, however, Raspberry Pi computers have largely been Linux affairs. While open source technologies shine on these devices, Microsoft has been embracing the hardware since this time last year with its Windows 10 IoT Core operating system. Earlier today, the newest revision of the hardware, Raspberry Pi 3, was announced. If you are a Windows fan, you may want to pick one up, as Microsoft announces a Preview of Windows 10 IoT core for the latest Pi. Can Microsoft's OS beat out Linux for Raspberry Pi 3 dominance?

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HoloLens is unquestionably one of the most exciting pieces of hardware being developed by Microsoft at the moment. The augmented reality system, or "untethered holographic computer" as the software giant refers to it, was first announced a year ago, but since then there’s been no word on when we can actually expect to see it.

Today, however, Microsoft announces a Development Edition which is now open for pre-orders, with shipping starting on March 30. This is the first step towards a consumer version.

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