Microsoft hasn't been terribly impressive lately when it comes to Windows 10 updates. In fact, it's fair to say that they've been a complete mess. Just recently, they've issued updates that have deleted user files and caused crashes after creating incompatibilities with keyboard drivers. Now, (courtesy of the most recent Windows 10 update), many users are reporting that they've got no sound due to corrupted or incompatible audio drivers. The company has made hasty corrections to their … Read more
New Windows 10 Update Pulled For Unintended Data Deletion
Microsoft is having problems, and those problems are spilling out onto the company's massive user base. In a highly unusual move, the company pulled its latest Windows 10 update after receiving numerous complaints from users about missing files. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time the company has had problems with updates to their OS. Back in April, the company delayed a planned update because at the last minute, Blue Screen of Death issues were discovered. In another instance, they … Read more
Windows 10 Adoption Continues To Grow
Windows 10 is far and away the fastest growing version of the OS in the company's history. It recently hit an installation base of a staggering 700 million devices after about three years on the market. Note that these installation figures include installs not just on PCs, but also on Surface Hubs, Xbox, HoloLenses and smartphones. Unfortunately, as impressive as that number is, it falls well short of Microsoft's original estimate of a billion installs in three years. The smaller than … Read more
Cortana May Have Flaw Allowing Unauthorized System Access
Researchers at McAfee have demonstrated a method that hackers could use to perform an end-run around Cortana and access data, run malicious code, or even change a locked computer's password. In this case, however, the emphasis is on the word "could." The researchers readily admit that this attack is high risk, has never been seen in the wild, and has little possibility of going undetected for a variety of reasons. Even so, the research is disturbing and does point to a valid weakness that … Read more
Automatic Mobile Picture Sync Coming To Windows 10
Microsoft has made numerous ventures into the smartphone ecosystem, but so far, they've only been met with limited success. This time, they're trying something a little different. Instead of making their own Windows-based phones, they've created a "Your Phone" app that syncs your phone with your PC. The app is still in testing and is slated to be released sometime in October. At present, while there are two versions (Android and iOS), the Android version is currently more limited than … Read more
Microsoft Working On Delay Feature For Windows 10 Update Installs
If you've used Windows 10 for any length of time, you've probably had this happen to you. You're right in the middle of working on something important, and all of a sudden, your OS decides it would be a great time to install some updates! In response to user complaints, Microsoft introduced a "snooze" feature that allowed users to delay the installation of upgrades. However, this sparked as many complaints as it silenced, because unfortunately, it causes more frequent device reboots. Now, … Read more
Turn Cortana Off At Lock Screen To Avoid Potential Hack
Do you use Cortana? It's a handy virtual assistant (like Siri) built into Windows 10. Unfortunately, as useful as she is, there's a problem. Even if you don't use Cortana yourself, take heed: Microsoft has recently issued a security update based on findings by McAfee researchers. It turns out that Cortana can be "summoned" from the lock screen of your PC and used to execute attacks by tricking the ever-helpful Cortana into indexing files from a USB drive, then executing them. To … Read more
Microsoft Ending Forum Support For Older Operating Systems
Big changes are coming from Microsoft starting in July (exact date unknown), and it has potentially dire implications if you're using some of the company's older technology. Microsoft announced that in July, they'll no longer provide forum-based support for a wide range of products and software, including: Microsoft Band Zune Surface Pro Surface Pro 2 Surface RT Surface 2 Microsoft Security Essentials Internet Explorer 10 Office 2010 Office 2013 Windows … Read more
Passwords May Be Dead Soon If Microsoft Gets Its Way
Karanbir Singh (a program manager at Microsoft) is on a mission: Kill the password. As he said in a recent blog post: "Nobody likes passwords. They are inconvenient, insecure, and expensive. In fact, we dislike them so much that we've been busy at work trying to create a world without them--a world without passwords." The company's stated goal is to make it possible that an end user will never have to bother with passwords on a day to day basis and would instead provide credentials … Read more
Having Chrome Issues Since The Latest Windows 10 Update?
Microsoft has been having some "issues" of late. It's April Windows 10 rollout had to be delayed on account of some mysterious BSOD ("Blue Screen of Death") issues. This month's rollout is plagued by similar problems, trading the BSOD issues for problems with both "Hey Cortana" and Google's Chrome browser. The problem is that when you try to navigate the web using Chrome with the latest Windows 10 update, the entire system will inexplicably hang. The company is hoping to have a fix ready … Read more
