Articles about Windows

Social integration is a key aspect of Microsoft's vision for its most prominent consumer-facing products. For instance, on Outlook.com you can have a Skype conversation, on Skype you can chat with Facebook friends, and on Windows Phone you can see your contacts' social updates, like tweets, in People hub. This is one of my favorite things about the software giant's products. It is also a standout feature that its rivals are not yet offering.

A core component is Facebook integration, which is present in Windows and Windows Phone, as well as Office 365, OneDrive and Outlook.com. But, thanks to an update to Facebook's Graph API, integration with the most-popular social network is going away in all currently-supported products.

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Wow. What a wicked week it is for Microsoft platforms. As May closed, Insider Preview Build 10130 dropped, followed by a preorder page for OEM versions. Then came the big reveal just five days ago: Windows 10 will be available on July 29th. System requirements are out now, though. On June 3rd, the company showed off devices designed for the operating system. A day later, Office 2016 Preview updated with new features, many tapping cloud services. Yesterday, Build 10135 release notes leaked.

Fitting with the "beta" in BetaNews, it's time to pose the big question for those of you daring enough to grab Windows 10 now ahead of next's month's big release. Most of the BN writing team runs the operating system. I'm late to the upgrade party but will join the gang later today or tomorrow. Meanwhile, I ask: What do you like about Windows 10? If you must: What don't you like -- and, related, what do you still want?

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Windows users who want to access another device via SSH (Secure Shell) have to rely on third-party tools to get the job done, as there is no built-in support for it in the popular operating system. Azure CTO Mark Russinovich has revealed that he uses PuTTY for such tasks, which is also the SSH tool of choice for plenty of other folks, myself included.

As such, the fact that SSH support is one of the most popular feature requests that the PowerShell team has received should not surprise any Windows power users. And since Microsoft is actively trying to cater to its users' needs, it just announced that it is currently working on making the much-requested feature a reality.

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After months of not really doing much, Windows 8.x finally gained a decent amount of usage share in May, according to web analytics firm NetMarketShare.

This gain came at the expense of Windows 7 and Windows XP, which both lost share, resulting in Windows 8.x leapfrogging XP for the first time in six months. The last time the tiled OS was more popular than XP was in December 2014. At the time a run of usage gains lead me to predict it was on course to break the 20 percent barrier. Yeah, talk about being overly optimistic.

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At its developer conference I/O 2015, Google today unveiled Android M, the latest iteration to its mobile operating system. The update brings with it a handful of interesting features and other improvements. The full-fledged version of Android M will roll-out sometime later this year, but for those who want a sneak peek a developer preview version of Android M for select Nexus devices is out now. Here’s how you can install it on your smartphone or tablet.

Android M comes with a number of interesting features including Chrome custom view, built-in fingerprint scanning feature, and permission manager. The company says that with the new update it is going back to the basics -- offering bug fixes and performance improvements to the users. For instance, Android M-powered devices will have twice as much battery life compared to Lollipop-powered devices, the company claims.

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Security company Secunia has released its latest quarterly Vulnerability Update covering the period from February to April 2015.

It looks at the top 20 products with the most vulnerabilities each month and finds that there have been a total of 1,691 new vulnerabilities appearing in the top 20 over the three month period.

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If you like the idea of trying out the next version of Windows before it is officially launched, Microsoft has made the Windows 10 Technical Preview available for everyone to use. There are various ways to get the preview installed on your computer, but since the release of build 9926, it is possible to upgrade your current Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation to Windows 10 using Windows Update.

This is a much simpler option than downloading the ISO image, but it is an upgrade route that almost encourages people to install the preview build on their everyday computer -- don’t forget that this is not a finished product! We've already looked at how to install Windows 10 in a virtual machine, but if you have a spare machine running Windows 7 or 8, using it as a test bed for Windows 10 just got a whole lot easier.

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Gmail might be the most popular email service in the world, but even the biggest players fall sometimes, and once that happens, the little guys will be there to cheer.

Server outages and crashes have happened before, and even though Gmail is generally seen as a solid, well-built and stable product, it too can crash, leaving you without all those precious emails you’ve been saving.

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Cloud storage service Dropbox has turned its Windows and Windows Phone apps into a single universal app, giving users a consistent experience across smartphones, PCs and tablets that are running Microsoft's tiled operating systems.

The latest version of Dropbox bridges the gap between the Windows and Windows Phone versions of the app, sharing most of the code, also gaining a number of new features in the transition to universal app status. The most important changes are aimed at the Windows Phone-toting crowd. Some are long-overdue, being mentioned in my initial coverage of the Windows Phone client in mid-January.

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According to research by IDC the number of enterprise applications optimized for mobile is set to quadruple by next year as businesses seek to improve workflow across the organization.

Adaptive enterprise file services specialist Egnyte is unveiling its new enterprise mobile suite that's optimized for business users. It allows them to seamlessly access, manage and share online and offline data from both cloud and on-premises storage.

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Back in the 90's, I got my first computer. I was not alone in this regard; at the time, Windows-based computers exploded in popularity thanks to the Internet. These machines were hardly inexpensive, often costing several thousand dollars. This was at a time when a thousand dollars was much more valuable than today.

The funny thing is, beyond using AOL to talk to strangers, we home users did not know what the heck to do with these expensive machines. Before you bought it, you would envision all of the magical things you will do, but ultimately, it was often used for one thing -- solitaire. Yes, many consumers justified their purchases by playing Microsoft Solitaire for hours on end. Hell, even in the corporate world, employees would play the game instead of getting work done; it was gloriously unproductive. Today, the game turns 25.

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For all you Windows enthusiasts out there who appreciated the Dell Chromebox, a miniature computer from the manufacturer, but wished that it ran Windows instead, your wish has finally come true. The American technology giant has launched the Inspiron Micro Desktop which shares the same design language as the Dell Chromebox, but runs on Windows. It will set you back by at least $179.

As for the specifications, the Inspiron Micro Desktop packs in 2 gigs of RAM alongside 32GB of storage, which can be expanded via external SD card or an external hard drive. There's an Ethernet port, one HDMI outlet, SD card reader and a DisplayPort. Regarding USB, it comes equipped with one 3.0 port and three 2.0 ports. It also supports Wi-Fi for connectivity.

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Google is extending its block on unofficial Chrome extensions to the developer channel and Mac users. The move is a continuation of the decision taken last year that forced people using the stable and beta channels of the Windows version of the browser to stick with official extensions.

It is a decision which aims to stop people from installing malicious add-ons; Google has previously been criticized for failing to clear out junk quickly enough. With immediate effect, those on the developer channel will have to install extensions from the Store, and the policy will be applied to the Mac version of Chrome in a few weeks. All is not lost for anyone who wants to install unofficial extensions, though.

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A common complaint of both Windows promoters and detractors is the overwhelming number of versions, or editions, on the market. The sheer number of SKUs can be maddening, and quite frankly, confusing for consumers.

Many people -- myself included -- had hoped Microsoft would do away with all of the editions, and only have one. Admittedly, having one edition was a pipe-dream, but with all the good moves the company is making lately, I thought two or three editions was realistic. Unfortunately, Microsoft has announced the upcoming editions of Windows 10 and there are a lot. In fact, the number of editions have increased from Windows 8!

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Computers can feel like magic. Not only can they do boring things such as business calculations, but they can do social things too, such as match people together for dating. Hell, many people end up marrying someone they meet through dating websites.

If computers can successfully match two humans romantically, what if they could also match humans to the perfect computer? Thanks to Microsoft Match from Staples, they can. By answering some questions about your needs and wants, this new tool from Staples will tell you which Windows device to buy.

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