Articles about Microsoft

Microsoft has acknowledged an issue with compatibility between Windows 11 and audio drivers from Intel.

Some versions of Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel SST) drivers are causing BSoDs, leading to Microsoft placing a compatibility hold on systems with affected hardware. This means that until the issue is addressed by either Microsoft or Intel, such systems will not be able to upgrade to Windows 11.

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While there are many people who are happy to stick with Windows 10 -- or even older versions of Windows -- there are plenty more who are eager to upgrade to Windows 11. Assuming your hardware makes the grade, there is some good news in this department.

Microsoft is speeding up the rollout of Windows 11, making it available to more people faster than it expected to do so. There are, of course, steps you can take to force the installation of the OS upgrade, but by increasing the pace of the rollout, the company is making things easier for people, helping to ensure that Windows 11 is on as many systems as possible.

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Feature updates for Windows are the updates which are supposed to be the most interesting. Rather than just improving security and fixing problems, they often include new features (hence the name) and are far more significant than regular monthly updates.

So significant are feature updates that they are considered to be new versions of Windows and for Windows 10, Microsoft has been releasing them twice a year -- in the spring and in the fall. But moving forward, after the release of Windows 10 November 2021 Update (21H2), Windows 10 will be brought in line with Windows 11, meaning feature updates will become annual events.

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You need a laptop, but don't know which to buy. Should you buy a Mac? Meh, those are good computers, but rather pricey -- the new notched screens are very ugly too. Chromebooks can be a great choice -- as long as your needs are fairly meager. Ultimately, many consumers are still wise to go with good ol' Windows. You know what? Windows 11 is shockingly good, so you should have no qualms about getting a computer with Microsoft's latest operating system.

Today, Dynabook (formerly Toshiba) launches not one, but two "Satellite Pro" laptops running Microsoft's excellent Windows 11 Pro. Called "C40-J" and "C50-J," the former has a 14-inch FHD screen, while the latter has a 15.6-inch FHD display. Both are designed with affordability in mind, but despite reasonable pricing, these thin and light laptops do not look like budget machines.

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If you’ve been waiting for the latest feature update for Windows 10 -- Windows 10 November 2021 Update (or 21H2) the wait may be over.

I say 'may' because although Microsoft is making the update available from today, it is taking its usual measured approach to the roll out, so you will likely have to wait a while to be offered it.

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Microsoft has tried for some years now to phase out Windows Media Player (WMP), replacing it with Groove Music and Microsoft Movies & TV for audio and video playback respectively.

Today though, it gives users what they really want -- an updated version of Media Player for Windows 11.

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Microsoft has released a slew of emergency updates for various editions of Windows Server following the discovery of an authentication issue caused by this month's Patch Tuesday updates.

The updates (KB5008601, KB5008602, KB5008603, KB5008604, KB5008605 and KB5008606) are available for Windows Server 2008 SP2 up to Windows Server 2019. Although these are emergency, out-of-band updates, system administrators will still need to manually download and install them on affected domain controllers as Microsoft is not making them available via Windows Update.

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Microsoft has just released the latest preview version of Windows Subsystem for Linux, bringing with it a lengthy changelog.

With the launch of Windows Subsystem for Linux Pre-release 0.50.2.0, Microsoft has introduced a new icon (featuring, of course, a penguin), but there's far more to this release than just this visual update. The latest version fixes various WSL issues, updates the Linux kernel, and includes numerous other changes and additions.

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Solid state drives continue to get faster, with PCIe 4.0 variants leading the pack nowadays. Of course, most PCs don't have PCIe 4.0 support, so these ultra-fast drives are reserved for enthusiasts and those with brand new computers. If you have such a cutting-edge PC, you will probably want to get a PCIe 4.0 SSD to maximize your performance. True, it is largely for bragging rights and benchmarks, but you might as well go for the best if the difference in price isn't totally obscene.

Today, KIOXIA unveils its latest solid state drive. Called "BG5," it uses PCIe 4.0 x4 to achieve up to 3,500 MB/s read and 2,900 MB/s write. Yeah, this DRAM-less SSD is actually a bit slow compared to other PCIe 4.0 drives, but it does have a very cool feature -- it is being offered in the M.2 2230 form factor. This means it will fit inside Microsoft's all-new Surface Pro 8.

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On Wednesday this week Microsoft rolled out a new build to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. That build added a new sharing option to the taskbar and also fixed a number of issues.

Today, in time for the weekend, the software giant rolls out a build that offers a long list of improvements for those in the Beta and Release Preview channels.

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Windows 11 is a great operating system, and if your computer is compatible, you should upgrade from Windows 10 immediately. It is an absolute joy to use, and I find it to be the prettiest version of Windows yet.

If you want to make it even prettier, today, Microsoft shares a beautiful new Windows 11 wallpaper from artist Kervin Brisseaux. The company says the background image "merges the updated design of Windows 11 with the magical, vibrant nature of the holidays." Oddly, Microsoft fails to disclose which holidays those actually are.

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Four-hundred-sixty-four in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps, games and extensions released for Windows 10 and 11 on the Microsoft Store and elsewhere in the past seven days.

Microsoft released an out-of-band patch for Windows 11 this week, which addresses application startup issues.

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It’s no secret that Microsoft wants people to use its Edge browser. It advertises it in Windows 10 and 11 and of course it’s the default in both of those operating systems too.

The Chromium version of Edge is very good, but plenty of users prefer a different browser, like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. You can use any browser in Windows, but Edge will still spring into life if you click on a link from within the operating system.

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Wednesday isn’t typically the most exciting day of the week, but if you’re a Windows Insider on the Dev Channel you’ll know this is the day when -- baring a few rare exceptions -- Microsoft rolls out a new flight for Windows 11.

Last week the software giant added the ability to mute calls via the taskbar, and today in Windows 11 Build 22499 it takes things a step further, adding the ability to share content from open app windows on the taskbar to Teams meeting calls.

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Microsoft has pushed out two releases that will delight developers. In addition to the performance-boosted .NET 6, there is also Visual Studio 2022 in its first 64-bit iteration.

Entering the 64-bit world means that Visual Studio is now capable of handling more complex projects easily, and the much-anticipated Hot Reload feature makes it possible to edit source code while apps are running and see immediate results. .NET 6 is a Long-Term Support release that introduces native support for Apple Arm64 Silicon in addition to improved Windows Arm64 support.

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