Microsoft

Microsoft has added links to Office web apps on Windows 10 computers without asking permission. It's more of an irritation than a damaging problem, but it's certainly safe to say some folks are irritated. The links appear to have been added by an ... automatic update, with some users reporting their computer restarted without warning and they lost some work that hadn't been saved. (Users can set Windows 10 to only restart automatically at set times such as during the night to stop this happening.) The links appear in the Start Menu alongside other apps as a single tile that contains several small ... (view more)

Microsoft is to warn Windows 10 users when an app will start up automatically when they start their computer. The move is designed to prevent the start up process being slowed down against the user's wishes. Users already have the ability to ... manually decide whether an app starts up automatically when they switch on their computer. The change is to the way apps are set when they are originally installed. Which apps should start up automatically is a balancing act. With some it's important to start up automatically for functionality purposes, such as having anti-malware software running right ... (view more)

Windows 10 users can once again disable Bing Internet results from showing up in the Windows search taskbar. Unfortunately, it involves editing the Registry rather than changing a settings menu. One of the "improvements" of Windows 10 is a combined ... search function. Users who type in a search through the Start menu will not only see results from the computer itself (for example, matching filenames) but also website results retrieved from Microsoft's Bing search engine. While theoretically this could be useful in some cases, some users find it frustrating or intrusive, particularly with the ... (view more)

Microsoft is releasing a new "buy it once" version of Office. It's a surprise follow-up to Office 2019 and is an alternative to the ongoing subscription of Office 365. Right now very little is known about the new product as it's only come to light ... through a single line in a blog post that's otherwise about business tools Microsoft Exchange. That line reads: "Microsoft Office will also see a new perpetual release for both Windows and Mac, in the second half of 2021." (Source: microsoft.com ) A perpetual release is another way of saying that users only have to pay once to purchase the software ... (view more)

Microsoft is testing a fix for a bug that could theoretically shorten the lifespan of some hard drives. The bug means Windows 10 was mistakenly running the defrag tool more frequently than designed. Defragging has long been available as a way to ... make hard drives run more efficiently. It deals with the problem that when a computer deletes a file, it leaves empty physical space behind on the drive. The next time it writes a new file it will look for the first available suitable sized space. Over time this can lead to wasted gaps on the physical drive. In turn, this means traditional hard drives ... (view more)

Microsoft is reportedly planning to only have one major update to Windows 10 next year. It could be a permanent switch and appears inspired by requests to have Microsoft spend more time testing updates before releasing it to the public. The idea ... with Windows 10, sometimes dubbed 'Software as a Service', was to ditch the old model of releasing a totally new version of Windows every few years. Instead, Microsoft has based updates around a mix of security updates (either monthly or as needed for the most serious problems), monthly tweaks and fixes, and then two major updates each year. New ... (view more)

Users who regularly cut and paste in Windows may appreciate a forthcoming improvement. Windows 10 is getting an enhanced clipboard that makes it easier to find items other than text. The clipboard feature isn't widely publicized, but is already ... useful before the update. While pressing CTRL + V pastes text, pressing the Windows key + V opens the clipboard. This lets users quickly access the last 25 things they pasted, something that's particularly useful when working on multiple documents or heavily editing. However, the clipboard only stores items once the user switches on permission for it ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed there will be no option to uninstall the Edge browser once the new version is on a Windows 10 computer. There is a workaround, but it's not worth the trouble for most users. The two versions of Edge are known by Microsoft as ... the "legacy version" and the "new version." The legacy version ran on Microsoft's own code, while the new version is based on Chromium, which is open source software that is also the basis of Google's Chrome browser. One big reason for the switch is to make it easier for both website and browser extension developers to make something that works ... (view more)

Microsoft wants to hear from users whose computers slowed down after a recent Windows 10 update. It was a particularly unfortunate issue, as the update cannot be uninstalled. You may remember we reported on the problem in late June. It was with an ... update titled KB4559309 that was designed to replace the original version of the built-in Edge browser with a new version that used similar code to Google Chrome. It still isn't clear what caused the problem, but some users reported a host of slowdowns affecting general computer use, web page loading and gaming. The problem didn't seem ... (view more)

Microsoft has unveiled the latest batch of changes coming to Windows 10. Most are usability improvements, though fans of the Control Panel might be concerned. The changes come in the latest release in the Windows Insider Dev Channel. That's ... recommend only for the most technically confident users and is the first place that new features and changes are tested by people outside of Microsoft itself. One change had already leaked, namely the appearance of the tiles in the Start menu. They will now be partially transparent and will reflect the user's choice of a light or dark theme, the idea being ... (view more)