Items tagged with NASDAQ:MSFT
Microsoft ended official extended support for the Windows 7 operating system on January 14th, 2020... or did it? We devoted a lot of attention to covering this now-passed deadline, as Windows 7 is a decade-old operating system that should have been upgraded to Windows 10 (for free) by now for most consumers. As a last hurrah for Windows 7, Microsoft issued the operating systems final update, KB4534310, on January 14th, but it had a rather nasty side effect. As we reported, KB4534310, turned the desktop wallpaper black for some users. In other words, Windows 7 literally went out with a bang. Microsoft is now acknowledging the defect, writing, "After installing KB4534310,...
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For the most part, Microsoft will not be pushing out a critical patch to Windows 7 users to address a security flaw in Internet Explorer. Microsoft confirmed its plans in a statement, saying the only Windows 7 users who will received the security update are those who are paying for extended support, as businesses are welcome to do. Let's not feign surprise at the decision. Windows 7 enjoyed a nice, long run before it was finally retired last week, a decade and a half after it first released to the public. Microsoft provided plenty of warning leading up to last day of support, including nag screens urging hold outs to upgrade their PCs to Windows 10. The bug in question is a zero-day remote code...
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Microsoft has stunned gamers around the world who have an interest in simulation games or aviation with the tech Alphas that are currently available for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. The game uses photorealistic locations and has plenty of aircraft for fans to take to the skies. Microsoft has issued a new update and announced a change that allows participants in the Alpha to update their DX DIAG files. Microsoft says that starting on January 23rd, through February 6th, players will be able to update their machine specification information. To update the information, players will need to login to their account on FlightSimulator.com. They will then select their avatar/name in the upper right...
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Microsoft has unveiled an SDK that is for dual-screen devices, like the upcoming Surface Duo. The SDK is meant to allow devs to start getting their apps and software ready for the dual-screen devices that will be launching down the road. While the SDK for the Microsoft Surface Duo is available now, the preview SDK for Windows 10X will launch "in the coming weeks." Microsoft has also announced new web standards proposals that will enable dual-screen experiences for websites and PWAs on Android and Windows 10X. The new standards that the software giant is proposing will provide developers with the capabilities and tools needed to develop for dual-screen devices. The preview SDK for the Surface...
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Yesterday, we got a glimpse at the Xbox Series X from the front and the back including its port lineup. Today, we're getting a clearer glimpse at the hardware actually inside the gaming console; specifically, with relation to its storage system. We had previously heard rumors that the Xbox Series X would feature a Phison SSD controller, and that has been seemingly confirmed thanks to a LinkedIn profile. According to the software engineer's profile, the Xbox Series X makes use of the Phison PS5019-E19T, which is a DRAM-less SSD controller. It is PCIe 4.0 compliant controller that actually is a less performant counterpart to the familiar E16 controller. The E16...
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It's no secret that Google has the most popular search engine on the planet and the most popular browser with Chrome. Microsoft also has its widely popular Office 365 suite of software. Microsoft now wants all the people that use Office 365 ProPlus to change to using its Bing search engine. The software giant announced this week that it would be forcing users to install the "Microsoft Search in Bing" extension if they are using the Chrome browser for all Office 365 ProPlus customers. The extension will be forced on the users with the version 2002 rollout of Office 365 ProPlus. That rollout is set to start in February, and there will be a broader rollout in March. The first countries to be graced...
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Microsoft released its first PowerToys for Windows 10 last year, and like with previous Windows operating systems, they are individual utilities aimed at power users. This time around, there's a new utility on the way called PowerLauncher. PowerLauncher is described as a quick app launcher that is meant to supplant using commands like Win+R, Win+S or the Windows search bar. There are also other third-party alternatives that provide similar functionality like Launchy and Executor. Microsoft admittedly calls its built-in search function slow -- at least compared to the run prompt -- and that is often slow to launch a chosen app. That's where PowerLauncher steps in. Users...
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A recent security update appears to be messing with some Windows 7 PCs by replacing the custom background image with an all-black wallpaper. The timing of the mishap comes on the heels of Windows 7 officially entering retirement, leading to speculation that Microsoft is petty towards people who refuse to upgrade their OS to Windows 10. That is not necessarily what is happening, though. Reports of the black wallpaper issue are popping up in various places on the web, including over at Reddit and on Microsoft's own support forum. "My PC just restarted after 7 support ended and my background is black. Even if I set a new background, it’s still black. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it...
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We still have around 10 months longer to wait until Microsoft launches its next-generation Xbox Series X to retail. Be that as it may, it's difficult to keep anything a secret from the internet, and if some newly leaked photos are any indication of the Xbox Series X's final design, then we know what the port selection will look like. This has been a point of intrigue, in light of rendered images of the upcoming console seemingly revealing the rear ports when lighting the image. However, Microsoft was quick to correct the speculation, saying it purchased a the renders from TurboSquid and they were not an accurate representation of the shipping console. That all occurred during CES 2020. Fast forward...
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Microsoft is coming under fire for a breach in customer privacy after it was revealed that the records of 250 million customers were exposed late last year. The data leak was initially reported on by security firm Comparitech, which found the information spread across five Elasticsearch servers. According to Comparitech, all five servers contained identical information from the 250 million customer records. The scope of the data unearthed was vast, covering a time period spanning from 2005 through December 2019. And what's even more unsettling is that this information was publicly indexed, meaning that anyone could access the information. Information that was exposed included customer email addresses,...
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Back in December, Microsoft came under fire for what many called "deceptive" ads within its Mail and Calendar apps for Windows 10 that promoted Outlook for smartphones. Users took issue not only with the fact that they were seeing ads in a product that they had already paid for -- Windows 10 -- and the fact that there was no way to remove them. Today, we're learning that Microsoft's penchant for ads is switching to focus on an unloved and relatively obscure member of the apps included by default with Windows 10: WordPad. WordPad lives within this kind of weird "no man's land" between the no frills plain text editor that is Notepad, and a more full-featured document processor like Microsoft...
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Microsoft has quite a compelling device on its hands with the Surface Pro X. It's a thin and light 2-in-1 convertible that boasts amazing battery life (13 hours of VLC video looping in our tests) thanks in part to its Microsoft SQ1 ARM SoC that’s based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx. Despite the ARM processor, the Surface Pro X provides the full Windows 10 experience and for the most part has good compatibility with legacy x86-32 apps. Throw in a brilliant PixelSense display and fanless design, and you have a lightweight workhorse for those that have a daily workload that isn't overly CPU intensive. One big knock against the Surface Pro X -- by some -- has been its price...
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Google Chrome may be the most popular browser out there, but Windows 10 users know that it can be a resource hog. This lack of regard for efficiency is particularly evident when running Chrome on a Windows 10 notebook that is on battery power. Microsoft may have a solution that will end the power and resource-hogging that Chrome is known for. Last summer, Microsoft noted that it may be possible to reduce Chrome's battery use by eliminating the unnecessary disk caching when watching videos. The caching of video during playback keeps the disk in an active state and consumes power. Microsoft has a second commit that shows it plans to add a check to verify if the device is running on battery. The...
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Microsoft has issued a security bulletin warning Internet Explorer users of a zero day vulnerability that is actively being exploited in the wild, and unfortunately there is no patch available at this time. Microsoft is working on a fix, though the company hinted it may not arrive until the next Patch Tuesday roll out, which is still three weeks away (February 11, 2020). It's been a bit of a tough week for Microsoft, in terms of major vulnerabilities rearing their ugly heads. As part of last week's Patch Tuesday roll out, Microsoft issued a fix for a major Windows cryptographic security flaw discovered by the US National Security Agency (NSA). Incidentally, it was the first time the NSA reported...
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