Articles about Microsoft

In 2012, Microsoft introduced Windows 8, an operating system conceived as a response to the rise of mobile computing and the increasing popularity of tablets and smartphones. The aim was to provide a unified operating system that would offer a seamless experience across devices, with a focus on touch-based interactions.

It flopped badly, and will forever be remembered as an ambitious but flawed attempt to redefine the user experience in the age of portable computing. But what if it was simply ahead of its time? If you’ve wondered what the tiled OS might look like if it was released today, Windows 8 2023 Edition is the answer.

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Microsoft has issued a new patch release for PowerToys to fix a range of bugs in the suite of utilities.

The release of PowerToys v0.69.1 comes mere days after the last update which was rather more significant. Just a week ago we were treated to the arrival of a new module in the shape of Registry Preview, and this latest release fixes problems with this and other utilities.

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For anyone looking to run Android apps and game within Windows 11, Windows Subsystem for Android is a fabulous, and free, alternative to the various emulators that are available. In a new update to the compatibility layer, Microsoft has added support for picture-in-picture mode.

P-in-P is only available in apps that explicitly support it -- the update to Windows Subsystem for Android does not add it to other apps -- and it is something that will serve as an aid to multi-tasking.

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Having just added a registry editing tool to PowerToys, Microsoft is now working on the practically inevitable -- adding ChatGPT support to the utility collection.

This will not take the form of a dedicated new module, rather it will be a plugin. Specifically PowerToys' AI-driven ChatGPT functionality will come courtesy of a PowerToys Run plugin that is currently in development. It is a move that neatly integrates the power of ChatGPT into Windows 10 and Windows 11.

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Microsoft has released the cumulative KB5025239 update for Windows 11 22H2, bringing with it not only security and bug fixes, but also general improvements and new features.

Among the highlights are the addition of the new Windows Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) as a Windows inbox feature. This update also adds new notifications about Microsoft account to the Start menu, improves Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and provides easy access to the Bing chat experience in Microsoft Edge via the taskbar.

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Microsoft may be an American company, but make no mistake, the Windows-maker will happily accept money from consumers in any country. And so, today, Microsoft announces its popular PC Game Pass service is expanding to 40 new countries, opening up the platform to millions of additional gamers around the world.

The service will now be available in new countries including Albania, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Guatemala, Iceland, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Malta, Oman, Panama, Peru, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Tunisia, Ukraine, and more.

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Microsoft is not shy about introducing controversial changes to its software, even if feedback forces it to reverse course further down the line. Windows 11 has seen a huge number of modifications, not all of which have proved popular, and a proposed change to the functionality of a key in Windows 11 is likely to be a divisive move.

The key in question the Print Screen (or Prt Scr and numerous other variations) which currently takes a screenshot and copies it to the clipboard. But in the latest builds of Windows 11, pressing the key does something different by default.

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Microsoft made a significant investment in Windows 10 Mobile, including acquiring Nokia to produce its own handsets. Despite the strengths of the tiled mobile operating system, it was unable to compete with the dominant iOS and Android platforms. While Windows 10 became a successful operating system for PCs and tablets, Microsoft was eventually abandon its mobile ambitions

As Windows 11 gradually replaces Windows 10, the question remains whether it would perform better than its predecessor in the mobile space.

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Use Windows 11 for long enough, and you will almost certainly encounter an app that becomes unresponsive. And when an app freezes, you're likely to find that it misbehaves to the point that it is not possible to close it in the usual way.

When this happens, you may well fire up Task Manager, locate the troublesome app or process in the list and terminate it. But to help optimize this unnecessarily lengthy process, Microsoft is introducing a new End Task option that can be accessed from the Windows 11 taskbar.

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If you’re running a modern version of Windows, you'll either be on Windows 10 or Windows 11. For a while though, Microsoft was working on Windows 10X, a version of the OS designed for modern PCs.

Windows 10X was built from scratch on top of "Windows Core OS" and aimed to do away with legacy features and offer a simplified Windows experience. It was cancelled in 2021, although leaked builds did give us an idea of how it would look and what it would offer.

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Microsoft has started the rollout of Edge Image Creator to all users. Continuing its love affair with all things related to artificial intelligence, the company's in-browser AI image generator is powered by OpenAI's DALL-E.

Rolling out the tool to Edge comes just a few weeks after Microsoft announced the launch of Bing Image Creator in the preview version of the browser and the new Bing. It means that everyone running the desktop version of Edge will have access to Image Creator.

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Microsoft has acknowledged that changes to the Quick Access Toolbar in Office were "disruptive and slowed […] workflow. Having used the Microsoft 365 Visual Refresh to hide the QAT toolbar by default and move various commonly used button, the company has listened to user feedback ad reversed its changes.

Among the complaints that ultimately forced Microsoft to perform the U-turn were criticism of the decision to relocate the Undo and Redo buttons. In announcing the about-face, the company does not really admit to making a misstep, merely that the previous change "wasn't quite right".

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If you are having trouble sending and receiving email via your Outlook.com account, you are not alone. Problems have started to surface following a recent policy change by Microsoft that means email attachments now eat into OneDrive storage limits -- as we reported previously.

Microsoft started to roll out the change at the beginning of February, but it seems that the pace of the rollout has increased as more and more users are hitting their storage limits and experiencing problems with their emails.

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As well as a new Windows 11 build for Insiders on the bleeding edge Canary Channel, Microsoft has rolled out a new flight for testers on the Dev Channel.

New features here include a change to how urgent and important notifications are handled when 'do not disturb' is turned on -- users will have the option to click a 'view notification' button.

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Windows Insiders have been made to wait all week for a new Windows 11 build, but arriving in time for the weekend comes a new flight on the experimental Canary Channel.

Build 25336, which is also available for Insiders with Arm64 devices, comes with a couple of changes and improvements.

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