Articles about Microsoft

One of the various things that puts people off upgrading to Windows 11 is that the operating system has very particular system requirements. For someone looking to upgrade from Windows 7, for instance, it is likely that their hardware will not make the grade. There is an answer, however, in the form of tiny11.

Coming from the same team that was behind tiny10 -- NTDEV -- tiny11 is a majorly stripped-back, bare-bones version of Windows 11 Pro that dramatically lowers the system requirements. The operating system needs just 8GB of disk space and 2GB of RAM, and it does not require TPM (Trusted Platform Module) support. This sounds great, but there are a few caveats to keep in mind.

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Apparently not content with irritating Windows 10 users with a rather deceptive invitation to upgrade to Windows 11, Microsoft is also causing annoyance by displaying an unskippable full-screen ad that essentially forces users to install Microsoft 365 Family.

Affected users report that the nag screen is blocking access to the desktop until they agree to start a free trial of Microsoft 365 Family (which most people are still referring to as Office 365). As part of agreeing to the trial, users are asked to provide payment details, and although no charges are made until the end of the trial period, the danger is that some people will forget to cancel and will end up paying.

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In the middle of last month, Microsoft released the KB5021751 update to help the company "identify the number of users running out-of-support (or soon to be out-of-support) versions of Office".

Privacy advocates voiced concern about the update, which Microsoft said "will run one time silently without installing anything on the user's device" because of worries about exactly what the slightly secretive check was doing. Now the company has updated support documentation for the KB5021751 update, insisting that there is nothing nefarious about it.

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Microsoft is, it seems, at it again. No stranger to irritating ads and nags, the company has been spotted pestering Windows 10 users with a full-screen prompt to upgrade to Windows 11 for free.

If the appearance of an unwanted nag screen was not enough, the upgrade prompt is also rather deceptive, appearing to give users just two choices -- install Windows 11 now, or schedule the installation. It is actually possible to back out of the upgrade, but Microsoft has made it less than obvious.

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Microsoft has updated the PowerToys utility collection, adding the first new module of 2023. Although there have been various updates for PowerToys over the last few months, and we've heard about upcoming new features such as Mouse Jump, it is a while since we've had new toys to play with.

But this changes with the release of PowerToys v0.67.0 which sees the addition of the quick access system tray launcher which we first heard about late last year. A new taskbar menu provides easy access to your favorite PowerToys tools and settings, without the need to navigate through the main app interface.

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Microsoft today stops selling Windows 10, instead redirecting would-be purchasers towards Windows 11. There are ways around this however.

For Windows 11 testers in the Dev Channel, Microsoft has released a new build, and this one is available for Arm64 devices. Last week’s flight (Build 25284) was blocked due to a known issue that resulted in devices getting stuck at the OS boot logo.

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As promised, Microsoft has officially stopped selling Windows 10 licenses, meaning it is no longer possible to buy product keys for the operating system from the company.

We have known about the deadline for buying Windows 10 directly from Microsoft for a little while, and the company has now updated its website so the pages for Window 10 Home and Pro redirect to the page for Windows 11. But if you're dead set on buying Windows 10, you're not completely out of luck.

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Microsoft has announced a public preview of a new feature of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint that makes it possible to isolate Linux devices.

The company explains that it is possible to isolate a Linux device using APIs, or via the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. The update means that in the event of a security breach it is now possible to cut off Linux devices from a network, just as it has been possible to do with Windows devices.

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Although Windows 11 has a lot to recommend it, it does feel rather unfinished, and it’s a situation which isn’t helped by a never-ending stream of problematic updates -- no wonder people are already talking about its potential successor, Windows 12.

But maybe we don’t need to make a full version leap just yet, perhaps the problems with the new OS could be solved with a bit of thought and attention.

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It is no secret that the updates released for Windows 11 have been rather more problematic than updates for previous versions of Windows. Microsoft has managed to earn itself an unenviable reputation for poor quality control, with update after update causing a wide range of issues over the past year and a half.

The problems with updates tend to rear their heads once they have been installed, but there is also an issue that is preventing people from installing updates in the first place. The recently released KB5022303 and KB5022360 updates are among those that fail to install, generating various unhelpful error codes including 0x800f0988 and 0x800f0831.

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Since consigning Internet Explorer to the trash can and adopting the Chromium engine, Microsoft has developed Edge quite rapidly and it has evolved into a browser that does a lot to make up for its predecessor.

And Microsoft is showing no signs of slowing down. The company is currently working away on a revamped version of Edge, code-named Phoenix. In addition to a more Windows 11-like look, there are some new features on the horizon, including the ability to split an Edge window into two tabs -- and you can even try this out in the preview builds of Edge right now to get a taste of what the future holds.

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Updates for Windows 11 have proved to be astonishingly problematic over the last year and a half. Just about every patch and update that has been released has ended up causing new issues that have had to be addressed with yet another update.

Considering the problems caused by Windows Update, it is interesting to see a new option Microsoft is working on at the moment. Hidden in the latest Insider builds of Windows 11 is a new addition to the Recovery tools in the System section of the Settings app: Fix problems using Windows Update.

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Ahead of a full, wider release next month, Microsoft has made available a preview version of the KB5022360 update for Windows 11.

This is a non-security update, but it does include -- in Microsoft's words -- "quality improvements". What this means in practice is that the update addresses a number of Windows 11 problems such as an issue with searchindexer.exe and another with firmware Trusted Platform Modules (TPM). It also introduces a change to the way .NET Framework update previews are installed.

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More than nine months before the end of support for Windows 11 21H2, Microsoft has started to forcibly upgrade users to Windows 11 22H2 -- or the Windows 11 2022 Update as it is also known.

While the upgrades may be unwanted, Microsoft is not being quiet about what it is doing. The company is using a security angle to try to win over those who may be unhappy with what is happening.

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It's an exciting day for Windows 11 Insiders in the Dev Channel as Build 25284 arrives with a selection of handy fixes and a brand new widget for the Messenger app.

Unfortunately, this new build won’t be made available for Arm64 devices due to a known issue that results in devices getting stuck at the OS boot logo.

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