My favorite Windows 10 device of 2016 was the Huawei MateBook. Much like the Surface Pro, it is a tablet that can become a laptop with an optional keyboard purchase. While it was less powerful than Microsoft's offering, it was also less expensive. For basic needs, such as web surfing and word processing it was an absolutely fabulous value. Despite the meager internal specs, Huawei made the device feel premium with a beautiful outward design and the addition of USB-C (something no Surface has).

Last month, Huawei announced that it would expand the MateBook line beyond a single tablet to a total of three distinct machines -- MateBook X, MateBook E, and MateBook D. The "E" variant is the successor to the aforementioned tablet (which now comes with the keyboard), while the X and D are traditional 13 and 15.6-inch laptops, respectively. Sadly, exact availability and pricing for the USA was unknown. Today this changes, as Huawei not only reveals cost and pre-order date, but configuration options too.

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We’re back on the weekly release schedule, and after two jam-packed exciting new builds you might be forgiven for thinking the latest big Insider release would be a little light on new features and… you’d be wrong.

Build 16232 introduces some of the new security features which will be coming to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, including Exploit Protection, and Controlled folder access in Windows Defender Antivirus. It also introduces improvements for Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG).

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Windows Insiders on the Fast ring have received two major new builds recently, but as always it’s been much quieter for those on the Slow ring.

However, a new build is on its way, and in preparation for that, Microsoft has a released cumulative update KB4022716 to those on the Slow ring. Insider chief Dona Sarkar also reveals Insiders won’t get the forthcoming new build automatically.

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With Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft is going all-in on security. When the next major update to Windows 10 is released later in the year, it will include Windows Defender Exploit Guard  which sees EMET (Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit) becoming a native part of the operating system.

Microsoft says that it is raising the bar for security, and this is part of the "end-to-end security features" the company has announced. Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) will benefit from a centralized management system as Microsoft aims to "make life harder for the bad guys."

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Ask Microsoft which browser offers the best battery life on Windows 10 and it will not hesitate to tell you that Microsoft Edge is the best. And it has the test results to prove it: on a Surface Book, for instance, Microsoft Edge lasts a couple of hours longer than Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, which is remarkable.

But, and there is a but, an independent test disputes Microsoft's claim. YouTuber Linus Tech Tips has pitted Microsoft Edge against Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera and discovered that it does not deliver as strong a performance as Microsoft claims.

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WPD is a freeware tool for exploring, understanding and tweaking Windows 10 privacy settings. We’ve seen many of these -- we’ll bet you have, too -- but the program does have some unusual extras which help it stand out from the crowd.

The interface is up-to-date, for instance. The developer hasn’t got it right in every area, but the program does look like it was written for Windows 10.

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During Build 2017, Microsoft delighted open source enthusiasts with a surprise announcement -- Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, and SUSE) was coming to the Windows Store. If you were running Windows 10 (not including the crippled "S" version) you would soon be able to install a Linux distribution directly from the official software store. Exactly when these distros would become available was unknown, sadly.

Ubuntu and Fedora are still not yet in the Windows Store, but starting today, both SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and openSUSE Leap 42 are -- sort of. You see, while they are technically in the store, you must be a Windows Insider running Windows 10 build 16190.0 or higher to install. If you are like me and you aren't running an Insider build because you prefer a stable experience, you are out of luck for now. Sigh.

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Microsoft has confirmed reports that some Windows 10 source code has leaked. The Register claims that 32TB of internal builds as well as large sections of source code were uploaded to betaarchive.com. While the scale of the leak is not yet known, Microsoft says that the files in question are "a portion of the source code [...] used by OEMs and partners."

The files leaked on Beta Archive are part of Microsoft's Shared Source Kit, and it's not clear that the leak is quite as big a deal as first thought -- or as some reports are making out. Nevertheless, any form of leak is bad news for Microsoft.

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With Windows 10 S Microsoft has made the bold claim that this locked down version of its operating system is immune to all known ransomware. This may well be true, but that's certainly not to say that Windows 10 S is completely secure. Lock up your Surface Laptop!

An investigation carried out by ZDNet found that Windows 10 S -- despite only supporting the installation of apps from the Windows Store -- is vulnerable to that old security nightmare: Word macros. The problem comes about because the macros have full access to the Windows API, opening up a potential attack vector.

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Windows 10’s File History feature automatically backs up your files to another drive and lets you restore them if the originals get lost, damaged, or deleted. It’s saved my bacon on more than one occasion and I wouldn’t be without it.

However, starting with the accidental Insider Build 16212 released earlier this month, the feature disappeared, and was still missing in Build 16215 which followed a week later.

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Last month Microsoft gave us a glimpse of its upcoming Whiteboard app -- now the app has leaked online. This means that we have the opportunity to not only see what Microsoft has in store for inking in Windows 10, but we can also get hands on with it.

The tool is part of Microsoft's recent education focus, and it gives students and tutors the chance to collaborate on an interactive whiteboard. Features include automatic shape completion (draw a square freehand, and it will be converted into a geometric square), equation support, and angle calculation.

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On Wednesday, Microsoft rolled out Build 16226 for Windows Insiders on the Fast ring. While this Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build is a little buggier than most, it’s also jam-packed full of new features and improvements, including Edge tweaks, new Emoji, OneDrive Files On-Demand, a new Currency Converter function in Calculator, and updates to Storage Sense and Touch Keyboard.

It turns out there are also some other big improvements that we weren’t initially aware of, and more known issues to watch out for, including one that prevents the new build from installing correctly.

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Two-hundred-and-thirty-six 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.

Microsoft released another Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build this week. It introduced a lot of new features, but also has been causing major issues for some users.

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If you’re a Windows Insider, you know that the test versions of Windows 10 that Microsoft rolls out to you on a regular basis aren’t going to be entirely stable and problem free. Especially if you’re on the Fast ring.

But the latest release, Build 16226, which Microsoft pushed out yesterday, seems buggier than most (albeit not as problematic as Build 16212 which got released by accident three weeks ago).

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Two weeks ago, Microsoft released Build 16215 to Windows 10 Insiders on the Fast ring. This introduced a wealth of new features including major UI improvements to Start and Action Center, and updates to the Edge browser, Cortana, My People, Night Light, and more.

Today, the software giant rolls out Build 16226 and this one is similarly jam-packed with new features and improvements.

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