windows 10

Microsoft is to switch to updating Windows 10 once a year. It's good news both for those hoping to use it for years to come and for those who'd prefer Microsoft to stop making changes for the sake of it. When Windows 10 debuted, Microsoft adopted a ... policy of batching most non-security updates into two releases each year. The plan appeared to be that this schedule would effectively go on forever with Windows 10 being the last totally new "edition" of the system. That was been ditched with the release of Windows 11, leaving some question over future updates. Windows 10 ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed it is blocking third party tools designed to overcome several ways it pushes people towards the Edge browser. It affects tools such as EdgeDeflector which works on Windows 10 and 11. The tools take aim at the way Windows and ... some built-in Microsoft applications use links to web pages. Rather than simply linking to a page address, they start with "microsoft-edge://" and open automatically in the Edge browser. This overrides the user's chosen default browser for opening web link. Once Edge opens with the page in question, it also displays a request to set Edge as the ... (view more)

Microsoft has released its Windows 11 eligibility checker tool. It now gives more detail on why a computer might not be ready to run the new system. The app in question is officially titled "PC Health Check" though that's a little misleading as it ... doesn't relate to whether the computer is currently working OK or has any serious problems. Instead it checks whether the computer is eligible to run Windows 11. It's available using this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-11#pchealthcheck The original version a few months ago didn't give much detail other than whether the PC " ... (view more)

A recent Windows 10 update appears to have broken the Alt-Tab feature. Thankfully there's a simple fix that doesn't involve compromising security or performance. Holding down the Alt button and then hitting Tab is one of the more long-standing and ... useful Windows keyboard shortcuts. For those who've somehow missed out, it lets users quickly switch between open windows, including those not currently visible at the foreground. In later editions of Windows, including Windows 10, the shortcut displays a small image of every open windows showing its current content. That's useful when running two ... (view more)

Microsoft has dropped another strong hint that Windows 10 will be getting a sequel. It's now added an end date for the system. Rumors started getting louder last week that Windows 11 is on the cards. Those came partly from a Microsoft graphic that ... many took to be a not-so-hidden reference to 11 and partly from the wording some Microsoft executives used when promoting an upcoming media event. Now Microsoft has updated its support timetable documents to list Windows 10 Home and Pro as having a "retirement date" of 14 October 2025. That's the first time Microsoft has listed a date for Windows 10 ... (view more)

Microsoft is downplaying the floppy disk icon in Windows 10. It's part of an overhaul that will remove some design elements that have been in place since Windows 95. The changes will appear in the second big update to Windows 10 this year, ... officially called 21H2, codenamed Sun Valley. It sounds as if the update is largely going to be about appearance rather than functionality, which is either a welcome sign of leaving well alone or an indication of a lack of ambition and a fear of screwing things up, depending on your level of cynicism. As is normally the case with design refreshes, the aim ... (view more)

Windows 10X, a variant designed originally for dual-screen machines, may never appear according to new reports. The system had also been tipped as an alternative to Google's Chrome OS. Microsoft officially announced it was working on Windows 10X in ... October 2019. At that time, the idea was to produce a separate Windows variant that was designed for dual-screen devices. Such devices, sometimes called clamshells, serve a variety of purposes. Some are designed to fold back completely so that users can switch between using it as a laptop and using it more like a tablet. Microsoft appeared to ... (view more)

The upcoming twice-yearly "major" Windows 10 update looks like it lacks any major features. That could be good news for users who have come to fear such updates causing compatibility issues and software bugs. The spring feature update, currently ... codenamed 21H1, is one of the two big updates delivered each year. This time round it's really not that big in terms of content or impact. Arguably the best news is that the installation is not only optional but should be relatively quick and simple. That's because it's mainly an "enablement package" that simply activates code that's already been ... (view more)

Microsoft is trying a new method for releasing and managing Windows 10 updates. The aim is to reduce the number of bugs where an update doesn't install properly. The plan involves combining two types of updates: cumulative and servicing stack ... updates, which were previously released separately. The cumulative update contains new content and fixes for Windows. Cumulative refers to the way the updates are designed to be downloaded and installed in order, meaning each individual update can be a relatively small file size. Unfortunately, the cumulative updates are also part of the reason Windows ... (view more)

As many as 100 million PCs could still be running Windows 7 according to a newly-published estimate. That's despite Microsoft withdrawing support for the 11-year old system last year. The estimate comes from Ed Bott of ZDNet and is based on data ... published at analytics.usa.gov. That brings together site visitor data from most US government agencies. It means the figures will primarily represent visitors from the United States. (Source: zdnet.com ) Bott notes that across the agencies, 8.5 per cent of visitors in the past 90 days were running Windows 7 and 3.4 percent running Windows 8 or 8.1. ... (view more)