Articles about Windows 10

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

It is time to update the original Windows 10 release as Microsoft will stop updating it after March 26.

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Microsoft is not giving away too much about the sales figures for HoloLens but goes as far as saying it is "in thousands, not hundreds of thousands". With the augmented reality headset costing $3000, this is perhaps not surprising, and the company is quite happy to take the seemingly low sales figures in its stride.

Speaking at educational technology event the Bett Show in London on Thursday, Roger Walkden, Senior Director and Commercial Lead of HoloLens, acknowledged that the price tag was partly responsible for the small number of sales. Interestingly, though, Microsoft is not bothered by what could be seen as disappointing sales, despite the fact that the company seems to be betting big on HoloLens by adding headset settings in recent Windows 10 Insider builds.

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Windows 10 comes with a selection of decent stock apps, but if you don’t use some (or indeed all) of them, then really they serve no purpose other than to take up disk space.

Microsoft introduced the ability to remove unwanted stock apps in build 14936 for Windows Insiders, but now it’s taken back that option.

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I am a strong believer in the saying "you get what you pay for." It's been my experience that price is a reflection of quality (design, performance, build quality, customer support, you name it), so when I look at an affordable device I tend to lower my expectations. Case in point, before taking the Chuwi LapBook 14.1 out of the box, I thought it wouldn't be much better than the other Chinese laptop I reviewed, the Jumper Ezbook 2.

Why? Because it promises a lot of things for the money: a 14.1-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,080, 1.1GHz quad-core Intel "Apollo Lake" Celeron N3450 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, microSD card slot, microHDMI port, two USB ports, a webcam, a 9,000mAh battery, and Windows 10 Home for a retail price of $299.99. And, boy, was I proven wrong. The LapBook 14.1 punches far above its price tag would suggest.

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The last three Windows 10 Insider Preview builds have offered a wealth of new features, and the next build, which is expected in a day or so, won’t be any different.

This week’s update will include some big new additions for PC gamers, including Game Mode and Beam video game streaming.

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Earlier today, Microsoft pushed out a new update for Windows 10. Since updates are mandatory in the new OS, it’s likely you already have it installed.

So what does it do? Microsoft isn’t saying. There’s no detailed information on its purpose, and the vague descriptions that do exist are conflicting.

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Microsoft is no stranger to pissing people off, particularly when it comes to Windows 10. There have been endless cries about forced updates, complaints about ads, moaning about privacy, and now the CEO of Vivaldi has lashed out at the company for its anti-competitive practices with Microsoft Edge.

Jon von Tetzchner says that Microsoft has forgotten about the "actual real-life people that use technology in their daily lives." He takes particular umbrage at Windows 10's continued insistence of resetting the default browser to Edge.

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When extolling the virtues of Windows 10, Microsoft is keen to stress how much safer the new OS is.

The problem, of course, is that the weakest link in any security chain is pretty much always the user. Microsoft is introducing a new feature to Windows 10 that will make the OS more secure, and help users make better decisions.

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When it comes to buying computers for education, there are many routes a school can take. If your aim is to prepare children for the workforce, however, Windows is still the best option. After all, Microsoft software solutions are still the stars of the show in the enterprise.

Today, Acer announces an intriguing 11.6-inch convertible laptop aimed at education. The TravelMate Spin B1 is built to be rugged and fairly no-frills, while also having some solid features like stylus support for Windows Ink. It is shock resistant and has a spill-resistant keyboard by default -- perfect for children. It can double as a tablet too, thanks to the 360-degree hinge and touch screen.

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The Windows 10 Lock Screen offers an ever-changing display of top quality photos, but if you decide you like one in particular, there’s no easy way to keep it around.

Lock Screen Reflection is a tiny Windows 10 tool which can help fix this by automatically setting the current lock screen image as your desktop wallpaper.

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

Another week, another Insider Build. Build 15014 introduces an ebook store, and ebook reading capabilities in Microsoft Edge among other things.

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Over time your hard drive can get clogged up with leftover junk, including temporary files, cookies, cached internet data and file fragments. You can remove this clutter manually, use a tool like CCleaner, or make use of the built-in Windows Disk Clean-up tool.

In the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft is introducing a new feature called Storage Sense which can automatically free up disk space. You don’t need to wait for the Creators Update to try it though.

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Microsoft is aiming for April for the Windows 10 Creators Update, so is rushing out new builds for Insiders to try. Last week we got not one but two new releases on the Fast ring -- Build 15002, which introduced a wealth of changes and new features, and Build 15007, which also introduced a fair amount of new functionality.

The latest release, Build 15014 fixes a ton of issues from the previous two builds, but also introduces some exciting new features.

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At the end of last week, Microsoft Germany published a post waving an early goodbye to Windows 7, and stating that the aging OS can "no longer keep up with the increased security requirements", and sticking with it could prove costly for users and businesses.

The software giant’s solution for Windows 7 users worried about security was, naturally, to switch to Windows 10. But, having faced an inevitable backlash from Windows 7 users and security experts, the company has pulled the post.

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If you’re a Windows 10 user, you’ll be no stranger to Microsoft’s adverts which appear all throughout the operating system, including on the Start menu, and the Lock screen. As I wrote a week ago, Microsoft is planning on introducing even more adverts in the Creators Update.

The latest ad to appear is for one of Microsoft’s Chrome extensions, and it arrives -- appropriately enough -- above the Chrome icon on the taskbar. The browser doesn’t need to be open at the time.

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