Windows 10 editions revealed!
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!
Microsoft Match from Staples will find the perfect Windows device for you
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.
Windows Media Center is dead -- Microsoft promises DVD alternative for Windows 10
When Microsoft released Windows XP Media Center Edition in 2002, I remember being awestruck. It was as if I was looking into the future; surely everyone in the world would eventually have giant towers next to their televisions running Windows. The reality? Not so much. The operating system only shipped with pre-built machines that were quite costly. Ultimately, it became freely available for most of the common Vista and Windows 7 versions, but was put on life support with Windows 8, where it was a paid add-on. Digital TV ultimately killed much interest, as adding PCI-e tuner cards and CableCARDs were a huge pain in the butt (the rear-end pain was often caused by Cable TV providers).
Fast forward to 2015 and we are on the verge of a new version of Microsoft's operating system, Windows 10, and many people have been wondering about the status of Media Center. Well, I am happy to say it is dead. The clunky bolt-on will not be available anymore. Why am I happy? Storing tons of content locally and playing it back is a dead concept; people need to move on. Hell, nowadays I would guess it is used mostly by pirates with massive hard drives. The future (and the present, really) is streaming both movies and music from the Internet. If you are a Luddite that depends on Windows Media Center for watching DVDs, you will be happy to know that an alternative is coming to Windows 10.
Blame the dollar: PC prices rise, as features fall
Gartner predicts that currency devaluation will compel major computer manufacturers to reverse a longstanding trend. "PC vendors selling to Europe and Japan, where local currencies have fallen up to 20 percent since the start of 2015, have little choice than to raise prices to preserve profits" -- by as much as 10 percent, Ranjit Atwal, Gartner Research director, says in a statement earlier today.
Higher prices mean more consumers will do with leaner configurations, and many businesses will push back upgrades. All the while, PC makers will give customers less for more money. Atwal anticipates fewer features in new computers in affected markets and increased sales emphasis in "regions least affected by these currency effects".
How to create a bootable Windows 10, Windows 8.x or Windows 7 USB flash drive
If you want to install Windows from scratch, you have two choices -- you can install the OS from a CD/DVD or from a USB flash drive. The latter is the better option, especially as optical drives are becoming something of a rarity these days.
The process of creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows 7, 8.1 or 10, is quick and easy. Here’s how to do it.
Google Chrome on Windows XP support extends until the end of 2015
Believe it or not, a year has passed since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP. And even though the 13 year-old operating system no longer receives security updates -- at least not officially -- it is still being used by roughly 17 percent of Windows users. For some companies it is reason enough to continue to support Windows XP today, even though its maker has long left it for dead. And Google is one of them.
Six months after Windows XP support ended, Google announced that its Chrome browser would continue to be supported on the OS with "regular updates and security patches until at least April 2015". That was done in order to give its users more time to finish migrating to a newer Windows release, one that would, hopefully, be officially supported by Microsoft for many more years to come. Obviously, that hasn't gone as expected. But instead of pulling the plug, Google is now giving Chrome users on Windows XP another reprieve.
Logitech's crowdsourced PX57 video game available now for Windows, OS X and iOS
When Logitech announced that it was crowdsourcing a video game using Reddit, I was dubious to say the least. I knew the company could pull it off, but I was fearful that anonymous Internet users would ruin the "Together We Game" experiment.
Luckily, my fears were unfounded, as not only has the game been released, it is actually very fun and normal. In other words, the Internet did not spoil the game. Best of all, the tower defense game is free and available for Windows, OS X and iOS. Will you download PX57?
Windows remains vulnerable to serious 18-year-old SMB security flaw
A serious security hole leaves millions of Windows users open to attack, making it possible to extract encrypted credentials from a target machine. Researchers at Cylance say the problem affects "any Windows PC, tablet or server" (including Windows 10) and is a slight progression of the Redirect to SMB attack discovered by Aaron Spangler way back in 1997.
Redirect to SMB is essentially a man-in-the-middle attack which involves taking control of a network connection. As the name suggests, victims are then redirected to a malicious SMB server which can extract usernames, domains and passwords. Cylance also reports that software from companies such as Adobe, Oracle and Symantec -- including security and antivirus tools -- are affected.
Easily set windows as always on top with PinMe!
If a Windows application needs to be accessible at any time -- a desktop calculator, perhaps -- then it’ll sometimes be possible to set it as always on top, ensuring its window stays on top of any others.
Not every application has that feature, unfortunately, but there’s another way. PinMe! can set any window as always on top in a couple of clicks.
Spelr is a spell checker for any Windows program
There’s a common view online which says that spelling doesn’t really matter, mistakes are no big deal, and anyone who says otherwise is An Evil Grammar Nazi Who Can Safely Be Ignored.
There’s a fragment of truth in that, at least in some situations, but if you want to get your point across effectively in an email, a forum post or anywhere else, it’s still best to avoid distractions like spelling mistakes.
Windows 'could' go open-source, but is that a good idea? [Update]
Today, a Wired article proposes that Microsoft could open-source Windows, quoting Azure chief technology officer Mark Russinovich who says "it's definitely possible". Well sure, anything is possible, I suppose. But it's certainly not probable.
A Microsoft spokesperson tells me the company has "not made any open-source policy or business model changes for Windows". Still, if nothing else, it does provoke thought. The ultimate question, for me, and hopefully you, is does it make sense? Is an open-source Windows a good idea?
Microsoft will no longer enable Do Not Track by default
Do Not Track will not be enabled by default in future versions of Microsoft web browsers, the company says. The decision comes in response to the latest draft of the World Wide Web Consortium's DNT standard which states "in the absence of user choice, there is no tracking preference expressed".
Microsoft is concerned that if the setting is enabled by default in Internet Explorer or Project Spartan, sites would have a loophole permitting them to ignore a DNT signal. In the future users will need to manually enable the feature, and Microsoft says that clear information will be provided about how to do this.
Microsoft releases Windows 10 Technical Preview 10049 with Project Spartan
Microsoft has promised a summer release for the RTM build of Windows 10. For fans of the operating system, this is great news. Unfortunately, this means the company has its work cut out for it. Don't get me wrong, version 10 is shaping up nicely, but it is far from perfect in its current state. In order to make the summer deadline, much more testing will be needed; both internally and with the Windows Insider program.
Today, Microsoft releases a new build of Windows 10 Technical Preview, with the number designation of 10049. The highlight, however, is the inclusion of Project Spartan. Yes, the web browser of the future is included in a public build for the first time. This folks, is what we have been waiting for.
Fake Puush update steals passwords from Windows users
Screenshot-sharing app Puush has inadvertently infected Windows users with malware. Over the weekend, the Puush server was breached and a fake, malware-infected program update was put in place. This means that anyone updating to version r94 of the software is infected.
The malware tries to grab passwords from infected systems, and was noticed after users complained on Twitter that the latest update had been flagged up by BitDefender. As a precautionary measure, the update server has been taken offline, and a clean update has been made available as a standalone download.
Multi-purpose backdoor Trojan threatens Windows systems
New variants of malware come and go with depressing regularity, but some have capabilities that offer more cause for concern than others.
The latest piece of scary software comes from researchers at security company Doctor Web who have uncovered a new Trojan dubbed BackDoor.Yebot that's capable of carrying out a wide range of destructive actions on an infected machine.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.