Articles about Microsoft

For Windows 11 users who like to live on the edge, Microsoft has released a preview version of the KB5014019 update that will be made available to a wider audience when Patch Tuesday next rolls around.

This is an optional, non-security update, that not only addresses a number of problems that have emerged in the operating system, but also introduces Windows spotlight on the desktop which Microsoft says "brings the world to your desktop with new background pictures". There are also tweaks to Widgets, and improvements to the Family Safety verification experience.

Continue reading →

Among the plethora of announcements to come out of Build 2022, Microsoft had quite a bit of news relating to the Microsoft Store in Windows 11. With a sly dig at rivals, the company pointed out that developers are able to use their own in-app commerce engines and retain one hundred percent of revenue. But the announcements about what is new are far more noteworthy.

While developers and users alike will welcome full Microsoft Store support for Win32 apps, news about the arrival of Microsoft Store Ads is likely to prove more divisive. But this is not the end of the Store-related announcements.

Continue reading →

In addition to revealing that Windows 11 users can look forward to installing third-party widgets later this year, Microsoft also used Build 2022 to announce Project Volterra.

Project Volterra is a developer-focused device powered by a Snapdragon processor, which looks remarkably similar to a Mac Mini. Featuring an integrated neural processing unit, the developer device will provide, Microsoft devs, opportunities to explore various AI scenarios.

Continue reading →

At its Build 2022 event, Microsoft confirmed what we have heard rumored for some time -- that third-party widgets will soon be making their way to Windows 11.

Although the company has not given an exact date, it says that "later this year" it will be possible for developers to start building their own widgets. It is possible -- probable, even -- that this will be linked to the release of the Sun Valley 2 feature update for Windows 11 in the coming months.

Continue reading →

A new report into Microsoft vulnerabilities shows 2021 saw a 47 percent decrease in critical vulnerabilities, marking the lowest ever total since the report began.

The 2022 Microsoft Vulnerabilities Report from BeyondTrust also reveals that for the second year running, elevation of privilege was the #1 vulnerability category, accounting for 49 percent of all vulnerabilities.

Continue reading →

Microsoft certainly bet big on Windows 10 Mobile, even going so far as to buy phone giant Nokia in order to make its own handsets for it. While there was much to recommend the tiled mobile operating system, the combined might of iOS and Android proved too strong for the would-be rival. Windows 10 grew into a great operating system on PCs and tablets, but the company was forced to pull the plug on its mobile aspirations.

Windows 11 is slowly replacing Windows 10 (with the emphasis on 'slowly') but given the chance, would it fare any better on mobile than its predecessor did?

Continue reading →

Four-hundred-ninety-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.

Windows 11 reached broad deployment status this week; this means that Microsoft believes that the operating system is ready now for organizations and all devices that meet the operating system's requirements.

Continue reading →

Some seven-and-a-half months after the original release, Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 is now "designated for broad deployment".

We use the word "announced" fairly loosely here; the revelation was made in a status change on the release health page for Windows 11. It means that any computer that meets the minimum requirements will now be offered the upgrade, and it lays the groundwork for the rollout of Windows 11 22H2 in the coming months.

Continue reading →

The updates released for Windows in May have been incredibly problematic. The KB5013943 update has been causing various issues, one of which has forced Microsoft to push out emergency to fix things.

There are several out-of-band patches fixes available as the authentication issue they address affect various versions of Windows. In all, there are no fewer than eight patches available: KB5014986, KB5014987, KB5014990, KB5014991, KB5015013, KB5015018, KB5015019 and KB5015020.

Continue reading →

A while back, Microsoft announced that it would be using the Insider Dev Channel to trial new, more experimental ideas in Windows 11. In the latest insider flight, Build 25120, we see a good example of this.

Insiders will now see a new search bar on the desktop that they can use to search the web. This won’t be something that appeals to everyone -- especially as it uses Bing to return results -- but it’s easy enough to disable.

Continue reading →

The apps section of the Microsoft Store has been an embarrassment since day one, and even now -- despite Microsoft’s efforts to improve it -- it’s still a dumpster fire.

Perhaps most embarrassingly of all, if you went to the app store expecting to be able to download Microsoft Teams, you’ll have drawn a blank as it wasn’t there. Today though, that finally changes. Well, changes for some users anyway.

Continue reading →

Four-hundred-ninety 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.

The KB5013943 update for Windows 11 is causing application start issues on some devices. Affected users may want to check Sofia's article, as it contains a workaround.

Continue reading →

Following the release of this month's Patch Tuesday updates, Microsoft has issued a warning that installing the KB5013943 update can lead to authentication issues for various Windows services.

The update was released on May 10, and was meant to -- among other things -- fix an issue with screen flicker in Safe Mode. But in addition to causing error messages for some users, the KB5013943 update has also led to authentication failures Windows domain controllers.

Continue reading →

It’s Wednesday, so that usually (with occasional exceptions) means a new Windows 11 test build. Not today though, today Microsoft rolls out two new builds -- one for the Dev Channel (Build 25115) and one for the Beta Channel (Build 22621).

The Dev Channel flight comes with one new feature, but there is some bad news -- it won’t be offered to ARM64 PCs.

Continue reading →

Windows users currently have a choice of two (supported) operating systems -- Windows 10 or Windows 11. While Microsoft would prefer users to be running the latest OS, adoption of Windows 11 has slowed dramatically in recent months.

When Windows XP first arrived back in 2001 it really shook things up with its revolutionary design and playful color scheme. If you were wondering how it might look if it was released today, we have the answer.

Continue reading →