Items tagged with Windows 10
Microsoft Windows 10 users are finally receiving the October 2020 Update, and it brings some UI freshening and new features. The Windows 10 Start Menu is finally getting a new look with updated icons and transparent logos. Microsoft Edge is also getting some new features to streamline usage across the Windows experience. Microsoft is calling the update to the Start Menu “A refreshing Start,” and it certainly feels that way. Icons and tiles got a uniform, transparent background that “creates a beautiful stage for the redesigned app icons like Calculator, Mail, and Calendar.” This redesign works in both light and dark themes, and if you want some color, you toggle it in...
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The release of Windows 10 during the summer of 2015 introduced "Windows as a Service" to the masses. Instead of launching new standalone Windows operating systems every few years or so, Microsoft has made continual updates to Windows 10 that has seen its scope and capabilities expand greatly over the past 5 years. That expansion of features continues with the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20236, which is just now reaching the Dev Channel. With it, Microsoft is making a key update to how you access and change the refresh rate on your monitor. These days, you can go out and purchase standalone displays (or laptops) with 120Hz, 144Hz, 240Hz, or even 360Hz panels. With Build 20236,...
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In Windows 10, apps can automatically add themselves to the auto-start list, so they open up when you login to your desktop. The list of auto-start apps can oftentimes become incredibly long, and when many apps are opening, it can drag down a computer's performance. Users have always been able to modify this list, but apps could still silently be added until the most recent Windows 10 21H1 preview builds arrived for testers. As its name implies, Windows 10 21H1 will be the next major feature update from Microsoft that will land during the first half of 2021. Testers have been trying out new builds for quite some time, and Microsoft is working on polishing things up so that it can be ready for...
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Microsoft has rolled out a new build of Windows 10 to Insiders within the Dev Channel (Build 20231), and it brings a number of critical changes, most prominently where it pertains to the OOBE (Out Of Box Experience). There are also a number of other goodies thrown in for good measure, so let get down to the nitty gritty. For starters, Microsoft is trying to give its customers a more customized experience when installing Windows 10. No single Windows 10 installation is going to be optimal for every user, so Microsoft has come up with six different presets that will configure the install accordingly based on what most users that fall under each preset would need. Those presets are: Gaming...
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Always-connected Windows 10 PCs powered by Arm processors have plenty of potential as nice portable workstations with other-worldly battery life. Every time we've tested one of these machines, starting with the Surface Pro X, we've come away impressed with battery life while maintaining adequate performance for most tasks. The issue, however, has been one of app compatibility. These machines simply can't run 64-bit x86 applications, but Microsoft is set to change that for Windows 10 Insiders starting next month. Microsoft's Chief Product Officer for Windows, Panos Panay, announced in a post on the Windows Experience blog that Arm-powered Windows 10 PCs will get a shot of x64 emulation....
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There is still about a week and a half to go before Microsoft pushes out this month's Patch Tuesday update (on October 12, the second Tuesday of this month). But if you want to shore up Windows 10 with a bunch of fixes ahead of time, Microsoft has made available its optional KB4577063 cumulative update in preview form, and it is jam packed with fixes and improvements. Some of them are smaller in nature. For example, after updating, users still running Internet Explorer 11 will see a notification alerting them support for Adobe Flash is coming to an in December. A few of the other highlights include... Updates an issue that causes games that use spatial audio to stop working Reduces distortions...
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Instead of potentially and needlessly thrashing your solid state drive, Microsoft is testing an update to Windows 10 that would add storage health monitoring, allowing it to check your high-speed SSD for signs of impending failure. Ideally, this would give you time to back up your data before it goes kaput, if the drive is about to check itself into the digital graveyard. The new feature is accessible to users in the Windows Insider program, with preview build 20226 in the Dev channel, or what was previously called the Fast ring. Microsoft revamped its Windows Insider program in June, replacing the Ring system with a Dev channel (intended for "highly technical users"), Beta channel (for "early...
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For the past several weeks, Microsoft has been investigating why a specific Windows 10 update was slowing some PCs down to a crawl. Apparently it has finally found the issue. It also has released a new update (KB4576754) to replace the problematic (KB4559309) one that was being forced onto some PCs. The main purpose of KB4559309 was to replace the old version of Microsoft's Edge browser with the retooled version that is based on Chromium, the same platform that powers Google's own Chrome browser. If you have not used Edge since Microsoft rebuilt it, you might be in for a surprise—it is actually pretty good. Whether Microsoft should have adopted Chromium is a different subject entirely,...
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If you are the type of person that simply needs to be on the bleeding edge of software releases, then we’ve got some good news for you today. Microsoft has announced that its next big update for Windows 10 is ready for release. We are of course talking about the Windows 10 October 2020 Update (Build 19042.508), which has previously been referred to as version Windows 10 20H2. The October 2020 Update will not bring any major feature updates to Windows 10 – that normally comes with “H1” updates, but it should be viewed primarily as a maintenance release to fix outstanding issues and improve overall stability. In order to get the October 2020 Update, you...
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Lenovo devices are tussling with Windows 10 and it is leading to many “blue screen of death” issues for ThinkPad devices manufactured in 2019 and 2020. Microsoft and Lenovo are working to solve the issue, but in the meantime, both companies have put out a workaround. According to Microsoft, if a Lenovo ThinkPad device received the Windows Update for KB4568831 Preview (OS Build 19041.423), you may encounter a stop error or blue screen of death (BSOD). This is caused by processes accessing peripheral component interconnect device configurations incorrectly. If Enhanced Windows Biometric Security is enabled in the UEFI of Lenovo ThinkPad devices made in 2019 or 2020, this error occurs....
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Back in early August, Microsoft and Samsung announced a partnership that expanded Your Phone functionality for Galaxy devices. Most importantly, the two announced that Samsung Galaxy devices would be able to leverage the Your Phone app to run Android apps directly in Windows 10. The only problem with the early announcement was that the Your Phone app only initially supported the new Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. In the weeks that followed, Microsoft slowly added support for additional Galaxy devices. However, Microsoft just announced today that it has rolled out the ability to run Android apps in Windows 10 to all supported Galaxy devices. The company does...
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A new Windows 10 Insider update approaches, huzzah! In Windows 10 Insider Update 20211, Windows is adding a search feature within the default apps menu in settings as well as the ability to access Linux files and filesystems. When setting default apps, there could be a wide number of files you can change settings for. Scrolling through that massive list would be incredibly annoying, so Windows 10 is adding a search bar in the Default Apps menu in Settings. Previously, they improved performance in this settings menu, so they wanted to make some more fixes and additions. Additionally, it seems that this feature possibly came as a suggestion in feedback, so for the Windows Insiders among us, continue...
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Remember how we told you that a bug in Windows 10's built-in drive optimization tool could be crippling your solid state drive (SSD)? Well, good news folks—the latest cumulative update (this month's Patch Tuesday roll out) fixes the problem, and even if you rely on a mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) instead of an SSD, you should prioritize applying it. We are talking about KB4571756. Microsoft's related support article is a little vague, with the following bits listed as highlights... Updates to improve security when using input devices (such as a mouse, keyboard, or pen) Updates to improve security when Windows performs basic operations Updates for storing and managing files Updates to...
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Just last month, dissidents of Microsoft Edge wished to get rid of the browser and sought workarounds for its removal. Now, Microsoft has updated their explanation on why it cannot be regularly uninstalled. Back in June, the Chromium-flavored Microsoft Edge began its rollout to Windows users through Windows updates. This struck a nerve with some people, so a movement to uninstall Edge began. When that happened, Microsoft released a note stating that because it was part of a Windows update, it could not be removed. Even though that was said, users still found a way to remove the browser and ignored the note. Now, Microsoft has updated what they have to say on the matter: Why can't I uninstall...
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Imagine this—you're having a good day, your PC is running smoothly, and you decide to install a custom Windows 10 theme, but then all of a sudden things go wrong. Very wrong. As in, you find out your Microsoft account has been compromised, but how can that be? Well, it might have been that custom Windows theme you downloaded and installed. Like practically everything else software related, Windows themes can be vectors for remote miscreants to essentially hack your digital well being. Or to be a bit more specific, security researcher Jimmy Bayne (@bohops on Twitter) warns that custom Windows themes can be leveraged to conduct a so-called 'Pass-the-Hash' attack. "Using a Windows .theme file,...
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They say with great power comes great responsibility, and you would think Windows Defender would be incredibly responsible -- at least when it comes to security. As it turns out, however, that Windows Defender shared its “great power” in allowing its command line utility to download potentially malicious files to a Windows PC. Windows Defender, the basic malware protection on any modern Windows PC, also comes packed with another handy feature: a command line interface. The “MpCmdRun.exe” (Microsoft Protection CMD) allows for utilization of security features through command line. Users could scan, trace, and tinker with a variety of commands. Now, in an update to Windows...
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There is a cumulative update available for Windows 10 that is packed to the rafters with bug fixes and various improvements, and most people are probably unaware it exists. That's because it is currently only available as an optional update, in preview form. These same fixes should be included in the upcoming Patch Tuesday update, though some users may want consider installing it right away. We are talking about KB4571744 for Windows 10 version 2004. One of the fixes it contains has to do with the drive optimization bug that could cause Windows to run an optimization routine on hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) way more often than is necessary. "Addresses an issue that causes...
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Microsoft is still working to stomp out some bugs in the May 2020 Update for Windows 10, some of which are still preventing it from arriving on certain PCs. Be that as it made, work continues on future builds and features. As such, Microsoft is rolling out its Windows 10 preview build 20206 to Windows Insider who are subscribed to the Dev channel. In case you missed it, Microsoft retooled its Windows Insider program this summer. It got of the "Rings" and replaced them with "Channels," with the Dev channel being intended for highly technical users. This is where members of the Windows Insider program can get their mitts on the newest features at their earliest point in development. One thing to...
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We have heard time and again how both next-generation game consoles will finally leverage solid state drive (SSD) storage to vastly improve game loads and virtually eliminate in-game transitions, but what about the PC space? After all, SSDs have been available to PC gamers for quite some time now. Well, good news—Microsoft is bringing its DirectStorage application programming interface (API) to Windows PCs, and with it comes the promise to "revolutionize PC gaming." This is exactly what we hoped would happen. As it applies to the Xbox Series X, Microsoft has made a big deal about the system's Velocity Architecture, which paves the way for hyper-fast I/O performance. The Xbox Series X is...
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It's been a little over three months since Microsoft began pushing out the May 2020 Update for Windows 10, and there are still some PCs that are being blocked from receiving it. Notably, if you own a laptop with integrated LTE connectivity, you might be out of luck for the time being, as Microsoft works to resolve a compatibility issue. The issue manifests itself when waking certain LTE-enabled laptops from sleep or hibernation. Microsoft outlined the problem in a support document, saying that when this happens, certain WWAN LET modems indicate a lack of Internet connectivity in the Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) in the notification area, and therefore might not be able to connect...
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Microsoft really wants you to upgrade Windows 10 to the latest version, delivered via the May 2020 Update. So much, in fact, that is once again pushing out its KB4023057 update, which takes a series of measures to prep your PC for the upgrade, some of which you might wish to avoid. Like resetting your network settings and blasting away certain registry keys, for example. To be fair, keeping Windows 10 fully updated is the best course of action for most people, as it ensures you have access to all of the features and security protections available. And with Microsoft playing it somewhat conservative with rolling out the May 2020 Update, for a lot of people KB4023057 could be a good thing—you...
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If users want to be on the cutting edge of updates for Windows 10, the Insider Update track is where you need to be. The updates typically are just being tested before a full roll out happens, and a new update to the insider ring has us intrigued. It appears that Windows 10 will be introducing a feature called Archive Apps to reduce the number of unused apps on your storage devices. Typically, if you need an app for a one-off thing, it may sit on your storage device taking up space until you remember to get rid of it. Now, Microsoft looks to help with this pesky little issue by sending apps into the abyss when you do not use them for a while. Twitter user @cadenzza_ took a screenshot of the settings...
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