The look of Windows has evolved over the years -- some would say at a largely glacial pace -- and with an incremental update to follow Windows 10 Creators Update we're in line for the latest change. Known as Project NEON, this is not a major overhaul of the Metro or MDL2 (Microsoft Design Language 2) look, but it introduces some new ideas in the form of Acrylic.

Some of the features of NEON can already be seen in the latest builds of apps such as Groove Music, and Connected Animations. Acrylic brings blurring effects to apps not only to create a sense of depth, but also to help improve focus and reduce distractions. Leaked images give us a pretty good idea of how things are going to look.

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Two-hundred-and-thirteen 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.

As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me via email instead.

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Last year we wrote about how Windows 10 ruined a live weather broadcast with an unwanted upgrade, and killed a live pro gaming stream with a badly timed update.

A few days into 2017, and Jackie Stokes, Director of Incident Response at Intel Security, has brightened our day with this image of Windows 10 updating on a fridge, captioned "I just wanted some water…"

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Ultra HD and 4K are all popular words these days. It's the latest in TV and everyone is jumping on board. It costs a bit of money, as it requires a new TV, something manufacturers have been looking for a way to push since HD became common and sales slowed down. 3D didn't work out so well, but 4K seems to be more popular.

Now Netflix, the popular streaming movie and TV show provider, as well as a purveyor of original content, is bringing it's 4K Ultra HD to Microsoft's latest operating system.

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If you need a Windows 10 laptop, you really can't go wrong with the Dell XPS 13 -- it has great specs and exceptional battery life. Heck, the company even sells a version pre-loaded with Ubuntu, making it a popular choice for Linux users too.

While you could configure the laptop with a touchscreen, there was no option for a convertible 2-in-1 version, sadly. This was particularly disappointing, since Windows 10 works wonderfully on both a laptop and a tablet. This is soon to change, apparently, as Dell has leaked a new version of the laptop -- seemingly by accident -- on its website.

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Happy New Year! 2016 was certainly an interesting one for Microsoft and Windows 10. The software giant hit more than a few low points during the year, and while the new operating system managed to gain decent market share off the back of an incredibly aggressive push, its growth came shuddering to a stop once the free upgrade period ended.

December should have been a great month for Windows 10, with people buying new PCs for the holidays, but actually it was a pretty lackluster month in which the new OS’s gains were minimal, and way less than those enjoyed by the aging Windows 7.

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Two-hundred-and-twelve 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.

Check out the best Windows 10 apps of 2016 and best Windows 10 games of 2016 listings in case you missed them.

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The other day I turned on my computer and was faced with the infamous Blue Screen of Death. This one was caused by a graphics error, and nothing too onerous, but I’ve had to troubleshoot numerous terrifying BSODs over the years.

The Blue Screen of Death is synonymous with big show-stopping problems, but Microsoft is currently toying with a different shade of terror -- green.

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One of the features Microsoft introduced with Windows 10 was mandatory updates. The software giant was obviously hoping this would keep users safe, but it’s proven to be a divisive move.

Pro users can defer updates, but Home users don’t have this luxury. There are numerous third-party tools available that give users greater control, but the forthcoming Creators Update will allow users to easily pause updates as and when required.

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Today Lenovo revealed its updated range of ThinkPad devices, showing that there is a lot to look forward to in 2017. All are kitted out with Kaby Lake CPUs, and some of the models feature Optane 3D drives.

This is not a minor line-up refresh -- there are a lot of devices included: ThinkPad X270, ThinkPad Yoga 370, ThinkPad T470, ThinkPad T470s, ThinkPad T470p, ThinkPad T570, ThinkPad 13, ThinkPad L470, ThinkPad L570, and ThinkPad X270. All models include Precision TouchPads, and a move to Windows 10 Signature Edition means there's no need to worry about bloat.

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Welcome to this special episode of best Windows 10 apps. This article looks back, and lists the best games released for Windows 10 in 2016.

I went through all "best of Windows apps" post of the year, cross-referenced the popularity of apps on Windows Store, and read user comments to create this list.

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If you want to download official themes for Microsoft’s operating system you can do so at the moment by going here, and choosing the theme you want from a selection of categories including Featured, Animals, Games, Movies, Places & Landscapes, and Panoramic. There are also 'Compatible with Windows 7' and 'Compatible with the new Windows' categories.

In Windows 10, you can also go to Settings > Personalization > Themes > Themes Settings, and click 'Get more themes online'. However, there’s now another way to get Windows 10 themes, and that’s from the Windows Store.

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Earlier in December, Microsoft warned Insiders that there would be no more new builds released this side of the New Year. Of course, this does not mean that a new build did not exist, and now build 14997 has leaked online.

Coming from the internal development branch (rs_onecoe_base, specifically), it's possible that build 14997 will never be officially released, but the leak does give a tantalizing glimpse of what we can expect. On the menu in this build of Windows 10 Creators Update is an updated version of Microsoft Edge, an improved OOBE and important tweaks to the Start menu.

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In its quest to get people to upgrade to Windows 10 while the new operating system was still free, Microsoft took a surprisingly aggressive approach, which got uglier, and uglier as the year went on.

The company’s dirty tricks included downloading Windows 10 files onto users computers without permission, making Windows 10 a "Recommend update", removing the "no thanks" button from the Get Windows 10 box, changing the behavior of the red corner x, and sneaking an advert for Windows 10 into a Windows 7 security patch. Now the company admits it did cross the line, but only at one point -- can you guess which?

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Two-hundred-and-ten 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.

Check out the best Windows 10 apps of 2016 listing in case you have missed it, as it highlights great apps for the operating system.

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