Wow! Microsoft releases action-packed Windows 10 Redstone 5 build with dark theme for File Explorer, acrylic in Sets, Cloud Clipboard, and more

Windows 10 dark theme shock

With Redstone 4 builds of Windows 10, the new features and changes came to users quite gradually. That’s certainly not the case with Redstone 5 releases. The latest build rolling out to Insiders on the Fast ring and Skip Ahead today is the perfect case in point.

Build 17666 (it's a beast of a build, so the number is apt) is chock full of exciting new features that you really won’t want to wait to get your hands on, including Cloud Clipboard, a dark theme for File Explorer, major improvements to Sets, the ability to search Bing in Notepad and much, much more.

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Microsoft to let Windows 10 users Alt-Tab between both apps and browser tabs

Pressing Alt-Tab on a keyboard

For many people, keyboard shortcuts are essential to using a computer, and over time they become hardwired into muscle memory. You've probably become used to the way Alt-Tab can be used to switch between running apps, but Microsoft plans to change the way this particular shortcut works.

At Build, the company revealed that the next Insider build of Windows 10 will not only let you Alt-Tab between running programs, but also browser tabs. It's something that's being introduced as part of Sets, and it's likely to divide opinion.

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Notepad on Microsoft Windows 10 gets Linux and Mac line endings support

penguin_linux_apple_windows

Notepad is a classic piece of software. It is the unsung hero of every Windows installation. If you want to jot down a quick note, it is a blank canvas awaiting your keystrokes. As a young man, I used Notepad to write my school papers. Microsoft Office was reserved for rich folks, and there was no LibreOffice -- or even Open Office -- yet. Even the no-frills Microsoft Works was priced out of my family's reach, but I digress.

As Microsoft turns its attention away from the wonderful Paint to focus on the terrible Photos and Paint 3D, you'd expect the company to forget about good ol' Notepad. Surprisingly, however, it hasn't. In fact, the Windows-maker today announces that Notepad on Windows 10 is getting both Linux and Mac line endings support. Wow -- this really is a new Microsoft...

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Microsoft announces Your Phone, an app to view your iPhone or Android device in Windows 10

Microsoft Your Phone

Having given up on its own mobile operating system, Microsoft has a greater interest in Android and iOS than ever before. Today at its Build 2018 developer conference, the company announces a new app called Your Phone.

The purpose of the app is to enable you to connect your computer to an iPhone or Android device and access the handset's contents without having to pick it up. As well as being able to view and respond to text messages from the comfort of your PC, you'll also be able to move files to and from your phone.

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How to fix the Feedback Frequency bug in Windows 10 April 2018 Update

Feedback frequency setting

The Windows 10 April 2018 Update has started to roll out to users around the world, and it has not been without its problems. One issue that some people have noticed is that the "Feedback frequency" setting cannot be changed.

Users are complaining that the setting has a new label reading "Windows Insider Program manages this option" -- regardless of whether the computer has been part of the Insider program or not. An update is available to address the problem, but it has to be installed manually.

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Compatible handsets will get Windows 10 Mobile April 2018 Update

Square Microsoft store logo

The Windows 10 April 2018 Update rollout to PCs around the world has already started, and Microsoft says that the update will also make its way to compatible Windows 10 Mobile devices.

The number of people who will actually end up receiving this update, however, is likely to be rather limited. Microsoft says that the availability of Windows 10 Mobile April 2018 Update will vary according to "manufacturer, model, country or region, mobile operator or service provider, hardware limitations" and -- ominously -- "other factors".

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Microsoft's Meltdown patch for Windows 10 has a 'fatal flaw'

Spectre and Meltdown 3D renders

If you've not updated to Windows 10 April 2018 Update but you have installed Microsoft's Meltdown patches from a few months ago, your computer is vulnerable to a "fatal flaw".

This is not the first time a patch for the Meltdown vulnerability has led to problems with Windows, but previously it was Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 that were affected. A security researcher found that Microsoft's patch for Windows 10 "undermined the mitigation", and while the problem has been fixed in the April 2018, the company is still working on backporting an updated patch for older versions of Windows 10.

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Best Windows 10 apps this week

stratus

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

The Windows 10 version 1803 update is out; since it has quite a large number of bugs and issues, you may find Wayne's tutorial on rolling back to the previous version of Windows useful.

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Microsoft is working on a fix for Chrome and Cortana freezes in Windows 10 April 2018 Update

Windows 10 box with bugs

Microsoft launched Windows 10 April 2018 Update this week, and if you rushed to install it you may well have noticed one or two issues. There have been complaints that various apps have been problematic since the update, but Chrome and Cortana seem to be causing the most problems.

Microsoft has confirmed that it is aware of issues with Chrome and "Hey Cortana" that can lead to Windows 10 April 2018 Update freezing. A patch is currently being worked on and should be released next week, but the company has a couple of suggestions for fixes you can try in the meantime.

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Microsoft releases Windows 10 Redstone 5 Build 17661 for Insiders on the Fast and Skip Ahead rings

Windows-10 key

Now that the Windows 10 April 2018 Update is done and rolling out to users, Microsoft can focus all of its energy on the next big feature update. Insiders who haven’t yet opted out of the program will, from today, start receiving updates from the Redstone 5 branch.

The first of these updates to be rolled out to Insiders on the Fast ring, as well as Skip Ahead, is Build 17661, and this introduces a number of big changes.

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How to rollback and uninstall the Windows 10 April 2018 Update

Happy PC user

The Windows 10 April 2018 Update is rolling out to users. If you install it and encounter major problems, as some users doubtless will, you might want to go back to your previous version, and wait until the update is a bit less buggy.

If you've been using Windows 10 for a while you’ll probably know how to do this, although the process may be slightly different to what you've been used to.

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How to use Windows 10's new Timeline feature

timeline

Your web browser remembers every page you visit, making it easy to return to a site you saw earlier. Timeline is a similar idea, but for the latest version of Windows 10.

It remembers all of the different tasks, apps and files you’ve been working on, across your various Windows devices. In future it will even work with Microsoft’s many iOS and Android apps, and maybe third-party apps too.

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Free up over 30GB of storage space by cleaning up after the Windows 10 April 2018 Update

Clean Win 10

Microsoft has just released another huge update to Windows 10. The April 2018 Update introduces lots of new features and general improvements, including Timeline, and Focus Assist, as well as some lesser known improvements.

Of course, a big update like this requires a big download, and the files that Microsoft places on your system don’t get removed afterwards. In other words, the April 2018 Update could be responsible for taking a massive bite out of your free hard drive space -- tens of gigabytes in fact. Fortunately it’s easy enough to reclaim this.

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Everything removed or deprecated in the Windows 10 April 2018 Update

crynerd

Microsoft has introduced a number of big new features in Windows 10 1803, the April 2018 Update, including Timeline, Focus Assist, and more.

With each new OS update, however, some existing features get dropped, or stop being actively developed. Here are all the features that have been removed or deprecated in this latest release.

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Windows 10 April 2018 -- what's new for IT pros?

Windows 10 superhero

As the keenly awaited Windows 10 April 2018 update (Windows 10 1803) begins its roll out, IT professionals will be interested to see what features it offers them.

Among the developments of interest to professionals is the Windows Autopilot feature which offers cloud powered device management. Using Intune, Autopilot now allows the device to be locked during provisioning until policies and settings for the device get provisioned, ensuring that by the time the user gets to the desktop, the device is secured and configured correctly.

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