Articles about Windows 10

Microsoft has released a new version of its PowerToys utilities collection for Windows 10, bringing improvements to FancyZones and PowerToys Run. The latest update also includes numerous bug fixes.

Included among the new arrivals in PowerToys 0.31.1 are a new dark mode option and an enhanced interface for FancyZones.

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The next big update for Windows 10 is going to be Windows 10 21H1 -- although it should also have a slightly snappier name when it is released. But while previous xxH1 updates have reached users in May, this year it is looking like it could be a little later than expected.

Although Microsoft has said little official about the Windows 10 21H1 release, a developer writing on the Chromium Gerrit appears to have let something slip.

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Waiting for Microsoft to issue patches for bugs that have been discovered in its software can mean having to be very patient -- some updates just seem to take forever to appear. More than this, the bug fixes can introduce new problems of their own, so it's little wonder that third-party patching services such as 0patch have grown in popularity.

And once again, 0patch has managed to beat Microsoft in releasing a patch for a serious vulnerability. The company's latest patch addresses a local privilege escalation 0day in Windows Installer, and it's available well ahead of Microsoft's official fix.

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

Microsoft published a workaround for the Conexant ISST audio driver issue in Windows 10 this week. There is also a third-party patch for the drive-corrupting Windows 10 issue.

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Last week, Microsoft rolled out Windows 10 Build 21296 to Insiders on the Dev Channel, introducing improvements to the clipboard history and Storage Spaces, as well as a number of fixes and improvements.

Today, Windows 10 Build 21301 arrives on the Dev Channel and brings with it improvements to the touch keyboard design.

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A couple of week ago, we reported about a critical NTFS vulnerability that left hard drives open to corruption in Windows 10. Security researcher Jonas Lykkegaard revealed that opening a folder with a specially crafted name could wipe out the contents of a drive in an instant.

Microsoft is yet to produce a fix for the problem, but that doesn't mean no one else has. Third party patch-makers such as 0patch have already made names for themselves stepping in to produce updates either for unsupported versions of Windows, or simply beating Microsoft to the punch. Now it is the turn of developers from OSR who have released an unofficial workaround patch for the NTFS flaw.

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Installing updates in Windows 10 can be something of a gamble -- will the latest patches make things better or worse? For people with Conexant ISST audio drivers, there have been numerous issues in Windows 10 May 2020 Update (or Windows 10 version 2004).

Users trying to update these drivers found that the update process would fail or produce errors during or after setup. Having worked with Synaptics, Microsoft has identified a compatibility issue and also provided details of a workaround.

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Windows 10 includes various tools to keep you safe, including the likes of Windows Defender and Sandbox. For the most part, these are useful tools that helps to keep your computer protected, but you may well find that some are more irritating than helpful.

One such irritant is SmartScreen, which is used by Windows 10 to block the installation of malicious software. At least that's the theory. In practice, the tool tends to just get in the way and slow you down when you try to install a new app. Here's how to disable SmartScreen.

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We might only be three weeks into 2021, but Microsoft has already issued a number of patches for Windows 10 -- and now it's time for another one. If you have been experiencing unexpected restarts in Windows 10, or crashes when using BitLocker, there's a new update for you to install.

Microsoft has released the KB4598298 update to fix a number of issues including BitLocker-related crashes, and restarts caused by exception code 0xc0000005 (Access Violation) in LSASS.exe. Before you rush to grab the update, however, it's worth noting that there is a known issue relating to system and user certificates that you should be aware of.

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

Microsoft fixed the "Reset this PC" bug that some users were experiencing ever since the release of Windows 10 version 1607.

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For the previous two Windows 10 Dev Channel Insider builds Microsoft has focused mainly on the 'news and interests' feed it's adding to the taskbar. Today's flight, Build 21296, also for the Dev Channel, moves away from that.

The two big changes and improvements here are to the clipboard history, and Storage Spaces.

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We've heard a lot about Windows 10X -- Microsoft's answer to Chrome OS -- and as we celebrated the arrival of 2021, the operating system leaked online. This has not only given people a chance to get a glimpse at what's to come -- and try it out for themselves -- but also to get the OS up and running on a variety of devices.

Indeed, one dedicated hacker has managed to get Windows 10X running on a Surface Pro 7. What's more, it all works pretty well.

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There have been plenty of bugs in Windows 10 over the years. Just the other day, for instance, we wrote about one that could corrupt your hard drive. Now, details of a bug that causes Windows to crash have emerged -- and Microsoft does not seem to be in a rush to fix it.

The bug was discovered by the same security researcher who unearthed the NTFS flaw, Jonas Lykkegaard. He found that by visiting a certain path in Chrome, Windows 10 crashes with a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death). Despite Lykkegaard having gone public with details of the bug some months ago, Microsoft is still yet to produce a fix.

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The option to "Reset this PC" has long given users a quick and easy way to restore their computer to its factory settings. But ever since the release of Windows 10 version 1607, users have been complaining that the feature is not working, with the message "There was a problem when resetting your PC. No changes were made" being displayed.

Now Microsoft has finally got round to fixing the problem. The company has released the KB4598479 update as part of the first Patch Tuesday of 2021.

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A security researcher has revealed details of a strange bug that could result in an NTFS hard drive becoming corrupt in Windows 10, as well as the unsupported Windows XP. What makes the bug so serious and unusual is that it can be triggered without the user having to open a file.

The bug -- which has been shown to have been around for three years or so -- can cause a hard drive to be corrupted if a user simply views the contents of a folder that includes a specially crafted file. Although Microsoft is aware of the issue affecting the $i30 NTFS attribute, a fix has yet to be produced.

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