It's now a full year since Windows 10 was first, and to thank the Insiders who have been providing feedback to help shape the direction of the operating system, Microsoft has a couple of gifts and a little surprise.

As well as handing out an exclusive-to-Insiders wallpaper package and a Ninja Cat animated GIF, Microsoft has also awarded Insiders with a surprise badge that appears next to their profile in the Feedback Hub.

It's another couple of days until Windows 10 Anniversary Update rolls out to users, but Xbox One users now have something very exciting to download -- the Xbox Summer Update. Previously available as a preview, the latest system update sees the arrival of Cortana, background music and much more.

Major Nelson has announced that the rollout of the update starts this weekend, but there is no guarantee of when it will arrive on your Xbox One. If you're the impatient kind, you'll be pleased to hear that you can force the update to download and install it straight away!

Today, July 29, is the last day for users of Windows 7 and 8.1 to upgrade free of charge to Windows 10. If you don’t take up the offer in time, and you decide you do want to upgrade after all, the only option will be to buy a copy of the OS.

But hold on. That’s not entirely true. If you want Windows 10 after the deadline has expired, you’ll still be able to get it for free, legally, and doing so couldn’t be easier.

Today is the big day -- July 29, the last day when you can upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge. Actually, the cut-off point really depends on where you are in the world, but you have until 11:59 pm UTC-10. Timeanddate.com has a handy conversion to work out what this means for you.

It would be fair to say that there has been plenty of warning about the impending deadline, but there are still people who are putting things off. But really there is no reason not to upgrade; even if you decided you don’t want Windows 10, you can rollback, and you have the option of changing your mind further down the line without having to cough up for the upgrade.

If there are certain aspects of Windows 10 you don’t like you may be able to change them using a registry hack or adjusting settings in the Group Policy Editor. The Group Policy Editor is available in all professional editions of the operating system, but not Home.

It’s a great tool, and lets you bypass annoyances like Microsoft making Cortana 'unkillable'. Unfortunately, in the Anniversary Update Microsoft has restricted what policies are available to Windows 10 Professional users, and blocked the corresponding registry keys so you can’t make the changes that way either.

PDF is a great file format because it shows a document exactly how it’s intended to look. There’s no shortage of tools you can use to create your own PDFs, and if you have Microsoft Office installed you can even save documents and spreadsheets in that format via the Save As menu.

Windows 10 cleverly offers native PDF printing, so you can turn almost any document or image into a PDF without needing to install anything.

Microsoft’s aggressive campaign to get customers to upgrade to Windows 10 might have seen the new OS grow in popularity, but the company's approach has, understandably, upset a lot of users. The software giant employed some increasingly sneaky tricks to fool Windows 7 and 8.1 users into accepting an OS upgrade they didn’t want and, inevitably, some unhappy victims are now looking to sue.

The software giant has already paid out $10,000 to a Californian whose PC was ruined by a Windows 10 update, and several US Attorney-Generals are reported to be actively pursuing cases against Microsoft. But on top of that two new lawsuits seeking class-action status have surfaced.

Today -- the day before the free upgrade to Windows 10 expires, and just a few more days before the release of Windows 10 Anniversary Update -- Microsoft is tweaking the minimum system requirements for the operating system.

Specifically, hardware manufacturers will have to include TPM 2.0 in PCs, smartphones and tablets if they are to be considered Windows 10 compatible. TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) is an added hardware-based security layer that helps to protect user data,

Microsoft is on a mission to destroy Steam with Windows 10. At least that is what Tim Sweeney, co-founder of Epic Games believes. He says that Microsoft's love of UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps means that Win32 apps are gradually being driven to extinction.

In an interview with Edge magazine, Sweeney says that he predicts Microsoft will release patches for Windows 10 over the next few years that will render Steam "progressively worse and more broken".

A product listing that surfaced in January signaled that Xiaomi planned to introduce its first laptop this year, with leaked specs suggesting that we should expect a big and powerful laptop.

However, today's introduction of the Mi Notebook Air comes as a surprise, as the ultrabook actually comes in two vastly different versions instead, which are designed to appeal to a wider range of consumers. Here is what you need to know.

The "new" Microsoft led by folks like Satya Nadella, Dona Sarkar, and Panos Panay is very different than prior regimes. The company in its current form listens intently to users, while being increasingly transparent regarding Windows and other software.

One of the biggest examples of Microsoft's customer-first focus is the Windows Insider program. This allows any user to experience early builds of the operating system, while providing valuable feedback. Windows 10 is truly influenced by its own users. To celebrate the program, Microsoft ran a contest to design an official team t-shirt. Today, Dona Sarkar announces the finalists and opens up voting.

We’re only a few days away from the global roll out of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, and Microsoft is busy squashing the last few bugs before its prime-time release.

There are lots of changes in the update, including a more usable Start menu, Windows Ink, an updated Windows Defender, and an improved Cortana you can’t turn off. Wait, what?

A few months back, we took a look at the Chuwi Hi12, a low-cost tablet that we compared to the Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro. Now the company has released a slightly smaller -- and even cheaper -- model, the Chuwi Vi10 Plus.

With a 10.8-inch screen, the Chuwi Vi10 Plus is available in two variations. The first model comes with Android-based Remix OS 2.0 installed, while the second is a dual boot unit that has both Windows 10 and Remix OS 2.0 installed.

Microsoft continues to polish Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14393 in preparation for its big release as the Anniversary Update on 2 August.

The latest cumulative update (KB3176927) is available for both PC and Mobile, and bumps the Fast ring build up to 14393.5. As you would expect, this patch fixes a fair few problems, including some notable ones.

I’ve been very critical of the sneaky tricks Microsoft has been pulling to try to get users to upgrade to Windows 10. In my opinion, all that’s done is annoy a lot of customers, and tarnish the name of what is actually a very good operating system.

If you haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 10, and you’re on Windows 7 or 8.1, don’t let Microsoft’s stupid tactics turn you away from the new OS. There’s only a few days remaining to get Windows 10 for free, and you really should seize the opportunity -- even if you intend to stick with your current OS for a while longer. These are the reasons why I think you should upgrade: