Items tagged with Windows 8.1
Many Windows 10 users have already had Microsoft's latest version of its Edge browser pushed out via a software update. Now users of older versions of Windows will get the same treatment, whether they want the Edge browser or not. Microsoft is currently pushing the new Chromium Edge browser to users on Windows 7 SP1 or later and Windows 8.1 and later that are on Home, Professional, Ultimate, Starter, or Core editions. The good news for network administrators in large organizations is that Microsoft promises any of those editions that are running on Active Directory or Azure Active Directory domain will be excluded from the automatic update. Microsoft very much wants all Windows users, no matter...
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The April Patch Tuesday update, which landed on April 9 for Windows systems, is still wreaking havoc on numerous systems. As we've previously reported, the KB4493472 has been especially problematic for antivirus programs -- Sophos Endpoint Protection was among the first to encounter problems, while Avira and Avast were other victims. We're now learning that McAfee software has also been affected by the Patch Tuesday updates. In this case, two software programs have been identified by Microsoft and McAfee as currently being incompatible: McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) Threat Prevention 10.x and McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention (Host IPS) 8.0. According to Microsoft's updated release...
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Starting in July, Microsoft's forum staff will no longer provide technical support or answers to questions for several of its products and services, including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, one of the company's forum moderators announced. This applies to questions posted in Microsoft's Community forums. In essence, this is another move to encourage users who are getting by with legacy products to upgrade, and specifically to Windows 10. "There will be no proactive reviews, monitoring, answering or answer marking of questions. The forums will still be moderated by Microsoft agents to ensure participants can engage in a safe and positive environment," the moderator said. Moderation is still needed...
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Today is Patch Tuesday, which means that Microsoft is pushing out a slew updates for its wide portfolio of software products. First and foremost, the company is issuing another round of updates to address the Spectre and Meltdown processor vulnerabilities that rocked the computing world back at the start of 2018. Microsoft announced that it will be expanding its Meltdown mitigation solutions to x86 version of both the legacy Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 operating systems. With this latest round of updates, all of Microsoft's [currently supported] operating systems are hardened against any known Meltdown threats. In addition, Microsoft has expanded its catalog of Intel-validated microcode updates...
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When we look back at Windows operating systems over the past decade or so, it's commonly understood that Windows Vista was loathed, Windows 7 was seen as a return to Windows 2000's glory days (and is still popular to this day), while Window 8.x was greeted with a collective "meh". Windows 8 was first released in late October 2012, and was followed by Windows 8.1 (essentially a service pack) in October 2013. If you have made the transition from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and have stuck with the operating system instead of upgrading to Windows 10, the time has come to reevaluate your decision. Mainstream Support for Windows 8.1 ended yesterday, January 9th 2018. With Mainstream Support, customers...
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It hasn’t exactly been a sterling month with regards to security for Microsoft. The company was rocked by WannaCry, a ransomware outbreak that spread across the globe. Now we’re learning of a new vulnerability that revolves around a hidden Windows metadata file called $MFT. $MFT is used by the NTFS filesystem, and resides in the root directory of Windows operating systems. Accessing it is a big no-no as far as Windows is concerned, and will result in the operating putting a permanent lock on the file. This locking behavior is exactly what happens in the case of the exploit initially discovered by Aladdin RD security researchers earlier this week. A specially crafted website (looking to...
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Microsoft made headlines early last year when it announced that users of Intel Skylake (and newer) processors, would need to run Windows 10, as support would be dropped on older versions of Windows. After that initial announcement, there wasn't much additional news related to the story. That is until last fall, when Redmond's most notable company told us that it was backtracking on the idea. That was a relief to many users, but unfortunately, it was only a temporary one. It didn't take long for another issue to arise, when it was revealed that those restrictions would go into effect with Intel's Kaby Lake and AMD's Ryzen processors. And today, Microsoft has finally dropped the hammer....
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Turn out the lights, the party's over. An end of an era has officially come to a close as Microsoft stops sales of Windows 7 Professional, the last version of Windows 7 that it continued providing to OEM system builders a full two years after ceasing sales of the Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate SKUs. Same goes for Windows 8.1—Microsoft has stopped selling new licenses. As of October 31, 2016, both products reached their "end of sales" date for PCs that come with Windows preinstalled. What that means is that OEMs are not able to purchase additional Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 licenses to pre-load either legacy OS on a system. However, OEMs are allowed to use whatever licenses they might...
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If you don't give a flying flip about Windows 10 but need a new PC, time is running out to purchase a system that's still rocking Windows 7. Same goes for Windows 8.1, though if you're not a fan of Windows 10, you're probably not real keen on Windows 8.1 either. In any event, big name OEMs (Original Equipment Manufactures) will no longer be allowed to sell Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 machines once November rolls around.October 31, 2016 is what Microsoft refers to as the "End of sales" date for both legacy operating systems that come pre-installed on systems. So beginning November 1, the only version of Windows that retailers and bulk OEMs such as Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, and HP will be allowed to...
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Microsoft set off a nuclear blast in the PC enthusiast community this past January when it announced that it would cut off support for Intel Skylake-based machines running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on July 17th, 2017. This was ostensibly a move to force more users to upgrade to Windows 10, or else face the possibility of losing access to security updates. The folks in Redmond, Washington justified the move at the time, citing the “advanced” age of the operating systems. Microsoft did, however, give some of its top OEM partners a reprieve, exempting select machines from its banhammer. Needless to say, reaction from enthusiasts came swiftly and viciously. Microsoft backpedaled a bit two...
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Microsoft caused a huge uproar in January when it announced that Skylake systems running “legacy” Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 operating systems would no longer be supported come July 17th, 2017. In its ever-increasing campaign to migrate as many customers as possible over to Windows 10, Microsoft also said that it would only provide critical security updates to these affected customers “if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices.” Microsoft did, however, create an exemption (meaning full support from Microsoft including critical updates) for its valued hardware partners and provided a list of Skylake-based systems from Dell, Hewlett-Packard...
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The day of reckoning has arrived for everyday Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users around the globe. Microsoft’s free Windows 10 operating system is getting bumped to first class, moving from an Optional update to a Recommended update via Windows Update. The move to “Recommended” status means that a lot more people will initiate the Windows 10 installer when they go through the routine process of keeping their Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 installations up-to-date. And for the uninitiated, they’ll probably just keep clicking “Next” and “OK” until they find themselves staring at the Windows 10 welcome screen. Obviously, Microsoft is hoping that this is the case, as any new install will pad its numbers on...
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Microsoft is just getting started when it comes to spreading the love with its Windows 10 operating system. Within a month of launching during the summer of 2015, Windows 10 was installed on over 75 million PCs. During the company’s blockbuster October hardware event, the company announced that Windows 10 had surpassed the 110 million mark. And just last month, Microsoft revealed that Windows 10 installations have topped 200 million. The rather frantic pace of Windows 10 upgrades is now having an effect on legacy Windows operating systems, with the latest victims being Windows 8.1 and Windows XP according to Net Applications. Windows 10 had just 9.96 percent of the Windows OS market back in December,...
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Microsoft caused a lot of confusion and anger in the enthusiast community when it was announced that customers running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on Skylake hardware would no longer be officially supported after July 17th, 2017. That means critical security updates will no longer be delivered to these systems, and even if they are provided, Microsoft will do so only “if the update does not risk the reliability or compatibility of the Windows 7/8.1 platform on other devices.” Although it wasn’t entirely clear at the time (because we couldn’t fathom that Microsoft would take this drastic of an action mid-stream), if you’re running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 with on a Skylake-based computer, you’ve...
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In case you didn’t already know, there’s a clear distinction between Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 when it comes to product support from Microsoft. Windows 8 was released to consumers on October 26th, 2012, while Windows 8.1’s wide release took place on October 17th, 2013. But since Microsoft see Windows 8.1 as a service pack for Windows 8, those inexplicably still running the latter will be in for a rude awakening next week. That’s because on January 12th, Microsoft will no longer push out security updates for Windows 8, leaving those customers out in the cold. In Microsoft’s eyes, Windows 8.1 is a free and logical service pack for Windows 8, and mainstream support for that operating system will...
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LG tossed another budget Windows smartphone into the mix today. Those of us who would like to see LG work its magic on a high-end Windows phone will have to keep waiting, but frugal shoppers should check it out. The phone is a mere $120 without a contract on Verizon’s website. You can also buy the phone for $5 per month on Verizon’s EDGE plan, which works out to $120 over two years. Or, you sign the papers for a two-year contract up front, in which case you’ll pay just $19.99 for the phone – and an additional $350 if you break the contract. Your $120 buys you smartphone with a 4.5-inch display at a resolution of 854x480. The Lancet’s guts include just 1GB of RAM and a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon...
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Microsoft ended support for Windows XP a year ago, but that hasn't stopped nearly two out of every 10 Windows users from clinging to the legacy operating system, according to data collected by Net Applications. What's even more interesting about Windows XP's 16.94 percent of the desktop PC market is that it once again has eclipsed the number of Windows 8 and 8.1 users combined.Here's the deal -- based on Net Application's numbers, Windows 8.1 ended March with a 10.55 percent share of the desktop PC market while Windows 8 crossed over in April with a 3.52 percent share. Between the to, that works out to a 14.07 percent share of the market, which is 2.87 percent less than Windows XP, a 14-year-old...
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The reports were true, and it looks as though Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 is about to get a new baby brother. After Microsoft quietly discontinued the Surface 2 earlier this year, we were eager to see what Microsoft had in store for its successor. Some thought that maybe Microsoft would just leave the entry-level Windows tablet market to third-party OEMs, but as we are seeing today, that is clearly not the case. So we present to you the Surface 3, a tablet that will slot in under its Surface Pro 3 both in size an in performance. The dominant feature of the Surface 3 is of course its 10.8-inch 1920x1280 display that now features a 3:2 ratio compared to 16:9 for the Surface 3. Under the hood, an...
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Having built itself up to be the world's top supplier of PCs, Lenovo's long-term strategy is to continue leading the PC market while also making a strong run at mobile. In the short-term, that means the release of three new consumer tablets, including a pair of A Series Android slates, the Lenovo TAB 2 A8 and A10-70, and a Windows tablet, the IdeaPad MIIX 300.In a nutshell, the new A Series Android tablets are designed to deliver entertainment on 8-inch and 10.1-inch displays with high-speed LTE connectivity and Dolby Atmos technology, while the 8-inch IdeaPad MIIX 300 brings Windows users a productivity tool in a pocket-sized form factor.Moving beyond the Cliff Notes, we'll start with the TAB...
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Lenovo's Thinkpad 540 is a beast, but you didn't need us to tell you that. This professional-caliber laptop is probably more powerful than your average desktop PC. And if its price doesn't tip you off to the fact that this laptop is sporting some serious hardware—$1,600 for Lenovo's "ready to ship" iteration of the laptop; starting at $1,400 for the customize-it-yourself iteration—then the system's spec sheet will surely give it away. When loaded up with the high-end hardware inside our the system, the Thinkpad 540 inches past $2,500, easily.Yet, for all of this laptop's internal goodness, which includes a speedy Haswell processor and an eye-opening discrete...
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Microsoft isn’t too happy about Google’s recent disclosure of an exploit within Windows 8.1. The exploit, which is local-only, allows a non-administrator to escalate his or her privileges in order to gain administrator rights. Google discovered the vulnerability as a part of its Project Zero program, and gave Microsoft 90 days — a timeframe that Google itself has instituted — to patch the bug. Things started unraveling earlier this month when Microsoft failed to release a patch before its 90 days were up. Google took matters into its own hands and published the exploit for all to see. At the time, Microsoft was rather cordial, issuing the following statement: We are working to release a security...
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Windows 8.1 with Bing, an operating system that Microsoft provides for free to OEMs under strict guidelines, has enabled a new wave of low-cost desktops, laptops, and tablets to flood the market. Intel is the latest to embrace Windows 8.1 with Bing, and will preinstall the operating system on a tiny PC that looks not much bigger than the Roku Streaming Stick or Amazon Fire TV Stick that you may have dangling from your TV’s HDMI port. The Intel Compute Stick manages to pack some relatively decent specs into a tiny package that fits in the palm of your hand. It is powered by a quad-core Atom Z3735F processor with 2GB of RAM and comes configured with 32GB of storage, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n, a USB...
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