Category Archives: Windows 10

Windows 10 quick tips: 5 ways to speed up your PC

Try these methods to make your machine zippier and less prone to performance problems.

Want Windows 10 to run faster? We’ve got help. Take a few minutes to try out these tips, and your machine will be zippier and less prone to performance and system issues.

1. Disable programs that run on startup

One reason your Windows 10 PC may feel sluggish is you’ve got too many programs running in the background — programs that you may never use, or only rarely use. Stop them from running, and your PC will run more smoothly.

Start by launching the Task Manager: Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc or right-click the lower-right corner of your screen and select Task Manager. If the Task Manager launches as a compact app with no tabs, click “More details” at the bottom of your screen. The Task Manager will then appear in all of its full-tabbed glory. There’s plenty you can do with it, but we’re going to focus only on killing unnecessary programs that run at startup.

Click the Startup tab. You’ll see a list of the programs and services that launch when you start Windows. Included on the list is each program’s name as well as its publisher, whether it’s enabled to run on startup, and its “Startup impact,” which is how much it slows down Windows 10 when the system starts up.

To stop a program or service from launching at startup, right-click it and select “Disable.” This doesn’t disable the program entirely; it only prevents it from launching at startup — you can always run the application after launch. Also, if you later decide you want it to launch at startup, you can just return to this area of the Task Manager, right-click the application and select “Enable.”
task manager

You can use the Task Manager to help get information about programs that launch at startup and disable any you don’t need.

Many of the programs and services that run on startup may be familiar to you, like OneDrive or Evernote Clipper. But you may not recognize many of them. (Anyone who immediately knows what “bzbui.exe” is, please raise your hand. No fair Googling it first.)

The Task Manager helps you get information about unfamiliar programs. Right-click an item and select Properties for more information about it, including its location on your hard disk, whether it has a digital signature, and other information such as the version number, the file size and the last time it was modified.

You can also right-click the item and select “Open file location.” That opens File Explorer and takes it to the folder where the file is located, which may give you another clue about the program’s purpose.

Finally, and most helpfully, you can select “Search online” after you right-click. Bing will then launch with links to sites with information about the program or service.

If you’re really nervous about one of the listed applications, you can go to a site run by Reason Software called Should I Block It? and search for the file name. You’ll usually find very solid information about the program or service.

Now that you’ve selected all the programs that you want to disable at startup, the next time you restart your computer, the system will be a lot less concerned with unnecessary program.

2. Disable shadows, animations and visual effects
Windows 10 has some nice eye candy — shadows, animations and visual effects. On fast, newer PCs, these don’t usually affect system performance. But on slower and older PCs, they can exact a performance hit.

It’s easy to turn them off. In the Windows 10 search box type sysdm.cpl and press Enter. That launches the System Properties dialog box. Click the Advanced tab and click “Settings” in the Performance section. That brings you to the Performance Options dialog box. You’ll see a varied list of animations and special effects.

The Performance Options dialog box lets you turn off effects that might be slowing down Windows 10.

If you have time on your hands and love to tweak, you can turn individual ones on and off. These are the animations and special effects you’ll probably want to turn off, because they have the greatest effect on system performance:

Animate controls and elements inside windows
Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
Animations in the taskbar
Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show shadows under windows

However, it’s probably a lot easier to just select “Adjust for best performance” at the top of the screen and then click OK. Windows 10 will then turn off the effects that slow down your system.

3. Launch the Windows troubleshooter
Windows 10 has a very useful, little-known tool that can sniff out performance problems and solve them. To launch it, type troubleshooting into the search box, and click the “Troubleshooting Control Panel” icon that appears. Then click “Run maintenance tasks” in the System and Security section of the screen that appears. A screen titled “Troubleshoot and help prevent computer problems” will appear. Click Next.

The troubleshooter will find files and shortcuts you don’t use, identify any performance and other issues on your PC, report them to you and then fix them. Note that you may get a message that says, “Try troubleshooting as an administrator.” If you have administrative rights to the PC, click it and the troubleshooter will launch and do its work.
troubleshooter

Windows 10’s troubleshooter can perform maintenance and housecleaning tasks to help speed up your system.

4. Get help from the Performance Monitor

There’s a great tool in Windows 10 called the Performance Monitor that can, among other things, create a detailed performance report about your PC, detail any system and performance issues, and suggest fixes.

To get the report, type perfmon /report into your search box and press Enter. (Make sure there’s a space between “perfmon” and the slash mark.) The Resource and Performance Monitor launches and gathers information about your system. It will say that it will take 60 seconds, but I’ve found that it takes several minutes. When the Monitor finishes, it will launch an interactive report.

You’ll find a lot of extremely detailed information in the report, and it can take a lot of time to go through. Your best bet is to first look at the Warnings section, which details the biggest issues (if any) it found on your PC, such as problems with Windows, with drivers and so on. It also tells you how to fix each problem — for example, how to turn on a device that has been disabled.

It is also worthwhile to scroll down to the Resource Overview section, where you’ll find an analysis of how well your CPU, network, disk and memory are performing. Each result is color-coded, with green meaning no problems, yellow meaning potential issues, and red showing a problem.

Beyond that, the Resource Overview also reports performance metrics and explanatory details. For example, for the CPU, it might show green and a utilization of 21%, with the details, “Normal CPU load.” Or for Memory, it might show yellow, with 62% utilization and the details, “1520 MB is available.” Based on what you get, you might want to do something about your hardware — for example, add more memory.

5. Kill bloatware
Sometimes the biggest factor slowing down your PC isn’t Windows 10 itself, but bloatware or adware that takes up CPU and system resources. Adware and bloatware are particularly insidious because they may have been installed by your computer’s manufacturer. You’d be amazed at how much more quickly your Windows 10 PC can run if you get rid of it.

First, run a system scan to find adware and malware. If you’ve already installed a security suite such as Norton Security or McAfee LiveSafe, you can use that. You can also use Windows 10’s built in anti-malware app — just type Windows Defender in the search box, press Enter, and then click Scan Now. Windows Defender will look for malware and remove any it finds.

It’s a good idea to get a second opinion, though, so consider a free tool like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. The free version scans for malware and removes what it finds; the paid version offers always-on protection to stop infections in the first place.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a useful application that will scan for and fix Windows 10 PC problems.

Now you can check for bloatware and get rid of it. Several free programs will do this for you; your best bet is to run several of them, because no single one will find all the bloatware on your PC. Good choices are the PC Decrapifier, Should I Remove It? and SlimComputer.

For more details about removing bloatware, check out Computerworld’s article “Bloatware: What it is and how to get rid of it.”

Try just some of these tricks, and you’ll find that you’ve got a faster Windows 10 PC — and one that is less likely to have any reliability problems.

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70-697 Practice Test – Windows 10 Devices in 2016

Welcome to the free practice test for 70-697 – Configuring Windows Devices. This simulated multiple-choice test was handwritten for the benefit of other IT professionals including engineers, helpdesk and managers. It contains 15 random questions selected from a wide range of Windows 10 topics – all relevant to the 70-697 subject material.

The questions will help to compliment your study material, providing the opportunity to test what you’ve learnt and improve your chance of passing the exam first time. Remember, if you enjoy the questions and answers then please share this page with friends and work colleagues.

Background
The 70-697 Specialist exam was introduced in 2015 for the Windows 10 MCSE certification path. Unlike exams from the Windows 8 series which tended to focus on a core principle the 70-697 exam covers a wider range of topics.

Candidates should bear this in mind when studying for the exam as it will test your experience across a wider spectrum of subjects including cloud based Intune management, virtualization and apps.

Topics you need to know
The exam is an even split between each of the following high level topics:
Windows Store and cloud apps
Desktop and device deployment
Intune device management
Networking
Storage
Data access and protection
Remote access
Updates and Recovery

● Exam 70-697 Configuring Windows Devices is near completion, and should soon be available. Passing this exam will confer a Microsoft Specialist certification, and it serves as the “recommended prerequisite” for the MCSE: Enterprise Devices and Apps certification (in lieu of exams 70-687 Configuring Windows 8.1 and 70-688 Supporting Windows 8.1). – See more at: https:://www.certkingdom.com/Exam-70-697.php

You should be comfortable answering questions around the Windows Store and cloud apps, with an understanding of Microsoft Office 365 and the inner workings of Intune for sideloading apps to devices.

Several authentication mechanisms are available in Windows 10; certificates, Microsoft Passport, virtual smartcards, picture password, biometrics etc. You should be comfortable answering questions for each of these authentication types and any corresponding authorisation processes.

Many of the classic Windows configuration questions reappear, such as profiles and roaming with a focus on virtualization (Hyper-V) and mobile options such as Windows To Go and Wi-Fi Direct.

Networking and storage have their own subject areas which focus on classic networking principles such as name resolution and network adapters. On the storage side expect BitLocker to make an appearance in addition to classic questions on NTFS and data recovery.

Buzz Topics
Intune – provides mobile device management, mobile application management, and PC management capabilities from the cloud.
Hyper-V – software infrastructure and basic management tools that you can use to create and manage a virtualized computing environment.
BitLocker – a full disk encryption feature designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes.
Windows To Go – boot and run from USB mass storage devices such as USB flash drives and external hard disk drives

Azure RemoteApp – brings the functionality of the on-premises Microsoft RemoteApp program, backed by Remote Desktop Services, to Azure. Azure RemoteApp helps you provide secure, remote access to applications from many different user devices.

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Windows 10: Fact vs. fiction

With Win10 slated to drop July 29, we give you the straight dope on support, upgrades, and the state of the bits

It’s a few days before Windows 10 is officially slated to drop, and still, confusion abounds. Worse, many fallacies regarding Microsoft’s plans around upgrades and support for Win10 remain in circulation, despite efforts to dispel them.

Here at InfoWorld, we’ve been tracking Windows 10’s progress very closely, reporting the evolving technical details with each successive build in our popular “Where Windows 10 stands right now” report. We’ve also kept a close eye on the details beyond the bits, reporting on the common misconceptions around Windows 10 licensing, upgrade paths, and updates. If you haven’t already read that article, you may want to give it a gander. Many of the fallacies we pointed out six weeks ago are still as fallacious today — and you’ll hear them repeated as fact by people who should know better.

Here, with Windows 10 nearing the finish line, we once again cut through the fictions to give you the true dirt — and one juicy conjecture — about Windows 10, in hopes of helping you make the right decisions regarding Microsoft’s latest Windows release when it officially lands July 29.

Conjecture: Windows Insiders already have the “final” version of Windows 10

Give or take a few last-minute patches, members of the Windows Insider program may already have what will be the final version of Win10. Build 10240, with applied patches, has all the hallmarks of a first final “general availability” version.

If you’re in the Insider program, either Fast or Slow ring, and your computer’s been connected to the Internet recently, you’ve already upgraded, automatically, to the Windows 10 that’s likely headed out on July 29. No, I can’t prove it. But all the tea leaves point in that direction. Don’t be surprised if Terry Myerson announces on July 29 that Insiders are already running the “real” Windows 10 — and have been running it for a couple of weeks. Everyone else can get a feel for the likely “final” Windows 10, build 10240, by checking out our ongoing Windows 10 beta coverage at “Where Windows stands right now.”

Fact: Windows 10 has a 10-year support cycle

Like Windows Vista, Win7, and Win8 before it, Windows 10 has a 10-year support cycle. In fact, we’re getting a few extra months for free: According to the Windows Lifecycle fact sheet, mainstream support ends Oct. 13, 2020, and extended support ends Oct. 14, 2025. Of course, if your sound card manufacturer, say, stops supporting Windows 10, you’re out of luck.

ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: What if Windows went open source tomorrow?

I have no idea where Microsoft’s statement about covering Windows 10 “for the supported lifetime of the device” came from. It sounds like legalese that was used to waffle around the topic for seven frustrating months. Microsoft’s publication of the Lifecycle fact sheet shows that Windows 10 will be supported like any other version of Windows. (XP’s dates were a little different because of SP2.)

Fiction: The 10 years of support start from the day you buy or install Windows 10

There’s been absolutely nothing from Microsoft to support the claim that the Win10 support clock starts when you buy or install Windows 10, a claim that has been attributed to an industry analyst.

The new Windows 10 lifecycle and updating requirements look a lot like the old ones, except they’re accelerated a bit. In the past we had Service Packs, and people had a few months to get the Service Packs installed before they became a prerequisite for new patches. With Windows 8.1, we had the ill-fated Update 1: You had to install Update 1 before you could get new patches, and you only had a month (later extended) to get Update 1 working. The new Windows 10 method — requiring customers to install upgrades/fixes/patches sequentially, in set intervals — looks a whole lot like the old Win 8.1 Update 1 approach, although corporate customers in the Long Term Servicing Branch can delay indefinitely.

Fact: You can clean install the (pirate) Windows 10 build 10240 ISO right now and use it without entering a product key

Although it isn’t clear how long you’ll be able to continue to use it, the Windows 10 build 10240 ISO can be installed and used without a product key. Presumably, at some point in the future you’ll be able to feed it a new key (from, say, MSDN), or buy one and use it retroactively.
Fiction: You can get a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro from Win7 Home Basic/Premium, Win8.1 (“Home” or “Core”), or Win8.1 with Bing

A common misconception is that you can upgrade, for free, from Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, Windows 8.1 (commonly called “Home” or “Core”), or Windows 8.1 with Bing, to Windows 10 Pro. Nope, sorry — all of those will upgrade to Windows 10 Home. To get to Windows 10 Pro, you would then have to pay for an upgrade, from Win10 Home to Pro.

Fact: No product key is required to upgrade a “genuine” copy of Win7 SP1 or Win8.1 Update
According to Microsoft, if you upgrade a “genuine” copy of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update, come July 29 or later, Windows 10 won’t require a product key. Instead, keep Home and Pro versions separate — upgrade Home to Home, Pro to Pro. If you upgrade and perform a Reset (Start, Settings, Update & Security, Recovery, Reset this PC) you get a clean install of Windows 10 — again, per Microsoft. It’ll take a few months to be absolutely certain that a Reset performs an absolutely clean install, but at this point, it certainly looks that way.

Fiction: Windows 10 requires a Microsoft account to install, use, or manage

Another common misconception is that Microsoft requires users have a Microsoft account to install, use, or manage Windows 10. In fact, local accounts will work for any normal Windows 10 activity, although you need to provide a Microsoft account in the obvious places (for example, to get mail), with Cortana, and to sync Edge.

Fact: If your tablet runs Windows RT, you’re screwed

Microsoft has announced it will release a new version of Windows RT, called Windows RT 3, in September. If anybody’s expecting it to look anything like Windows 10, you’re sorely mistaken. If you bought the original Surface or Surface RT, you’re out of luck. Microsoft sold folks an obsolete bucket of bolts that, sad to say, deserves to die. Compare that with the Chromebook, which is still chugging along.

Fiction: Microsoft pulled Windows Media Player from Windows 10

One word here seems to be tripping up folks. What Microsoft has pulled is Windows Media Center, which is a horse of a completely different color. If you’re thinking of upgrading your Windows Media Center machine to Windows 10, you’re better off retiring it and buying something that actually works like a media center. WMP is still there, although I wonder why anybody would use it, with great free alternatives like VLC readily available.

Fiction: Windows 10 is a buggy mess
In my experience, Windows 10 build 10240 (and thus, presumably, the final version) is quite stable and reasonably fast, and it works very well. There are anomalies — taskbar icons disappear, some characters don’t show up, you can’t change the picture for the Lock Screen, lots of settings are undocumented — and entire waves of features aren’t built yet. But for day-to-day operation, Win10 works fine.

Fact: The current crop of “universal” apps is an electronic wasteland
Microsoft has built some outstanding universal apps on the WinRT foundation, including the Office trilogy, Edge, Cortana, and several lesser apps, such as the Mail/Calendar twins, Solitaire, OneNote, and the Store. But other software developers have, by and large, ignored the WinRT/universal shtick. You have to wonder why Microsoft itself wasn’t able to get a universal OneDrive or Skype app going in time for July 29. Even Rovio has given a pass on Angry Birds 2 for the universal platform. Some games are coming (such as Rise of the Tomb Raider), but don’t expect a big crop of apps for the universal side of Windows 10 (and, presumably, Windows 10 Mobile) any time soon.

Fiction: Microsoft wants to control us by forcing us to go to Windows 10
I hear variations on this theme all the time, and it’s tinfoil-hat hooey. Microsoft is shifting to a different way of making money with Windows. Along the way, it’s trying out a lot of moves to reinvigorate the aging cash cow. Total world domination isn’t one of the options. And, no, the company isn’t going to charge you rent for Windows 10, though it took seven months to say so, in writing.

Fiction: Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines will upgrade directly to Windows 10

Win7 and Win8 machines won’t quite upgrade directly to Win10. You need Windows 7 Service Pack 1, or Windows 8.1 Update 1, in order to perform the upgrade. If you don’t have Windows 7 SP1, Microsoft has official instructions that’ll get you there from Windows 7. If you’re still using Windows 8, follow these official instructions to get to Windows 8.1 Update. Technically, there’s a middle step on your way to Win10.

Fact: We have no idea what will happen when Microsoft releases a really bad patch for Windows 10

If there’s an Achilles’ heel in the grand Windows 10 scheme, it’s forced updates for Windows 10 Home users and Pro users not attached to update servers. As long as Microsoft rolls out good-enough-quality patches — as it’s done for the past three months — there’s little to fear. But if a real stinker ever gets pushed out, heaven only knows how, and how well, Microsoft will handle it.

Fact: You’d have to be stone-cold crazy to install Windows 10 on a production machine on July 29
There isn’t one, single killer app that you desperately need on July 29. Those in the know have mountains of questions, some of which won’t be answered until we see how Win10 really works and what Microsoft does to support it. If you want to play with Windows 10 on a test machine, knock yourself out. I will, too. But only a certified masochist would entrust a working PC to Windows 10, until it’s been pushed and shoved and taken round several blocks, multiple times.

You have until July 29, 2016, to take advantage of the free upgrade. There’s no rush. Microsoft won’t run out of bits.


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Windows 10 to run rings around customers

Microsoft talks up release cadence rings within the consumer-oriented Current Branch; promises at least one fast, one slower

Microsoft’s top operating system executive today confirmed that the two main Windows 10 update and upgrade “branches” will offer customers multiple “rings,” or tempos, that they can select to receive changes quickly or after they’ve been tested by others.

“We won’t be updating every Windows consumer device on the second Tuesday of the month,” said Terry Myerson, who leads the Windows and Device Group. “We’re going to let consumers opt into what we’re calling ‘rings.’ Some consumers just want to go first. And we have consumers that say, ‘I’m okay not being first.'”

Myerson spoke during the Monday keynote that opened Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Orlando, Fla.

Customers who want to opt in to a “fast” ring on the Current Branch — the Windows update track geared towards consumers running Windows 10 Home — will receive updates first, while those who adopt the “slow” ring will get slightly more stable and reliable code later. There may be other rings, but those were the two that Myerson mentioned.

The fast-slow ring approach debuted with the Windows Insider Program, the preview and testing deal that kicked off in October 2014.

While Myerson had said in May that the Current Branch for Business (CBB), the primary release track for Windows 10 Pro users, and one that Windows 10 Enterprise can also adopt, would feature rings he had not said the same about consumers’ CB. Computerworld and some analysts had assumed that the two tracks — CB and CBB — would each offer at least two rings when the new OS launched July 29.

“Once Windows 10 ships, rings won’t determine how many updates you get, but rather your place in the queue to get a new update,” explained Steve Kleynhans of Gartner in a recent interview. “As such, rings will be more about controlling the rate at which the updates flood out into market.”

Windows Insider participants have been placed on the slow ring by default, requiring users to reset an option to get on the faster cadence. It’s unknown whether the same slow-is-the-default setting will be used on the final edition’s CB and CBB tracks.

There are still unanswered questions about Windows 10’s update and upgrade pace, including the lag between fast and slow, but Microsoft has slowly been dribbling out details. There will be several tracks, including Insider — which will continue to serve the adventurous with previews — Current Branch, Current Branch for Business, and Long-term Service Branch (LTSB), a static channel that delivers only security patches and critical bug fixes. LTSB does not offer the feature and functionality, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) changes the others will receive three times annually.

The plethora of branches and rings, and their staggered releases — which will result in a 16-month active lifespan for any one build because of delayed deployment options for CBB users — has raised questions about fragmentation that could affect developers and support teams, or make management more complicated for corporate IT staffs.

Analysts, however, have largely discounted such concerns, saying that while Windows 10 will create some fragmentation, ultimately it will create a more uniform ecosystem than the current Windows scene.

“For customers and developers, it won’t be too different than targeting all the Windows versions and service packs that they have to today,” agreed Gary Chen, an analyst at IDC. “”There are really only four rings that matter, [the two each in] CB and CBB, and a business may only be concerned about CBB, so that’s effectively two rings to manage, not a big change from what they support today.”

Today, Myerson again denigrated what he dubbed “selective patching” to make a less-than-subtle pitch for adoption of CCB served by the new Windows Update for Business (WUB) service. “This introduces costs, complexities and delays,” Myerson said of selective patching and updating. “In today’s threat environment, that’s a problem.” WUB will deliver all update changes, eliminating the pick-a-patch practice used by many IT administrators for decades. (Shops on CBB may also use the traditional WSUS — Windows Server Update Services — to selectively deploy updates.)

Myerson also reiterated the strategy of Windows 10, which Microsoft has characterized as “Windows as a service,” by emphasizing the continual updates and upgrades that will reach customers. “We’re committed to continuous upgrades of [the] Windows device base,” he said.

While Myerson also used the phrase the supported lifetime of the device today in talking about updates, he did not define it. That phrase has been dissected since its first use in January because it will restrict the time that free updates and upgrades will be offered to Windows 10. Late last month, the Redmond, Wash. company said that device lives would range from two to four years.

In that disclosure — a footnote on a presentation outlining how Microsoft will defer some revenue from Windows 10 — Microsoft said the device lifetime would be calculated on “customer type,” hinting that it would separate consumer and business device owners, probably by sniffing out the edition of Windows 10 running on the device.

What still remains unclear is which devices will receive feature/functionality and UI/UX updates and upgrades for the minimum of two years, which get the maximum of four, and which are part of an in-between span.

 

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Windows 10: The 10 coolest features you should check out first

From Cortana to the fancy new Start menu, you won’t want to miss these Windows 10 features.

Burying the past
Let’s not beat around the bush: Windows 10 isn’t anywhere near finished, yet it’s already head-and-shoulders better than Windows 8.1, at least for traditional PC users. The fact that it banishes full-screen apps and the Metro Start screen to the aether, focusing instead on the tried-and-true desktop, should be reason enough to make PC purists smile.

These are the 10 coolest new features already available in the Windows 10 Preview. Want to try them for yourself? Here’s everything you need to know to give the Windows 10 Preview a whirl.

The Start menu
Windows 10 atones for one of Windows 8’s greatest sins by returning the Start menu to its rightful spot in the lower left-hand corner of the desktop. But rather than focusing on desktop apps alone, the Windows 10 Start Menu mixes in a dash of the Metro Start screen’s functionality, sprinkling Live Tiles of Windows 8-style apps next to shortcuts to more traditional PC software.

You can turn off that Live Tile functionality if you’d like, and even unpin all the Metro apps from the Start menu, returning it to purely desktop-focused glory. Or you can choose to have the Start menu expand to the full screen, and resize Metro apps to recreate a more Windows 8-like experience. The choice is yours.

Windowed Metro apps
As you might have caught on by now, those reviled Metro apps from Windows 8 haven’t been eradicated—but they have been molded to fit desktop sensibilities. In Windows 10, launching a Metro app on your PC opens it in a desktop window, rather than dumping you into a full-screen app. The windowed apps have a mouse-friendly toolbar of options across the top, and even alter their interface to best fit the size of the window. Nifty.

It’s not all roses—you can’t cut-and-paste text from a Metro app to a normal app, for instance, and Metro apps still tend to sport a sea of wasted space. But it’s a vast improvement over Windows 8.

Action Center notifications
Notifications are one of the coolest features of modern operating systems, with popups reminding you of all sorts of useful information—and Windows 10 has them, too.

As Cortana becomes more tightly integrated into Windows 10, expect to see the Action Center become a repository of useful information (rather than the somewhat barren wasteland that it is right now). As notifications slide into view, they’re archived here.

Cortana
Cortana, Microsoft’s clever digital assistant on Windows Phone 8.1, makes the jump to PCs with Windows 10, where she assumes control of the operating system’s search functions. Cortana will want to access your personal info, then use that info along with her Bing-powered cloud smarts to intelligently surface information you’re looking and perform other helpful tasks.

Cortana can help you find all sorts of online information via natural language queries you ask using text or voice commands. Cortana can also apply those natural language smarts to use search your hard drive, OneDrive, and business network for files that meet certain filters, like “Find me pictures from May.”

It’s deeply cool… though the initial Cortana build can be a bit flaky. She’s a lot smarter (and funnier) in Windows Phone 8.1; the Windows 10 version just needs a bit more time in the oven.

Project Spartan browser
Forget Internet Explorer. Well, don’t forget it entirely—it’s still tucked away in a corner of Windows 10 for legacy compatibility purposes. But the star of the Internet show in Microsoft’s new operating system is clearly Project Spartan, a brand-new browser built from the ground up for speed, slickness, and trawling the modern web.

Spartan uses Microsoft’s new Edge rendering engine—which isn’t being included in IE in Windows 10—and packs some nifty extras. Cortana pops up with supplementary information while you search the web, such as Yelp reviews and Bing Maps directions when you’re viewing a restaurant website. Digital inking tools let you easily mark up a website and share it with others. Finally, Spartan also includes an awesome clutter-stripping Reading View, and allows you to stash articles in the complementary Reading List app for later perusal.

Revamped Mail and Calendar apps
Windows 10 Preview build 10061 introduced overhauled Mail and Calendar apps that are vastly better than their Windows 8 counterparts. While the Windows 8 apps were pokey, the Windows 10 variants are speedy and responsive, and they manage to fit much more info on the screen while still being friendly to mice cursors and fat fingers alike. The new apps also dynamically shift their interfaces to fit nicely into windows of all shapes and sizes.

The Mail app adds swipe gesture controls so you can quickly sort your inbox with just a few swipes—and what each swipe does is user-configurable, too. But more important for practicality, the revamped apps include key functionality that was missing in their Windows 8 predecessors: POP email support in the Windows 10 Mail app, and Google Calendar support in Calendar.

Virtual desktops
The poor man’s multimonitor setup allows you to go back and forth between either apps or “desktops” of apps, organized how you like them. (You can either ALT-TAB through the apps themselves or else hit Windows + CTRL+ either the left or arrow to move between virtual desktops, and right-click and app to move it between virtual desktops, too.)

Either way, virtual desktops mean that you instantly know where things are.

Xbox App
The new app should feel deeply familiar to Xbox One fans: The center point is your Activity Feed, which is populated by your Xbox Live Friends’ activities, such as unlocking an achievement or launching a Twitch stream. The right side of the app lists your friends; selecting one offers options to view their game clips, invite them to a party, send an IM, and more. You can also view your own achievements, manage your profile, and more all right within the app. Eventually, you’ll be able to stream your Xbox One games to a Windows 10 PC or tablet.

We can’t help but shake the feeling that this app is more beneficial to console gamers who happen to have a PC than to true PC gamers. But it’s a very handy tool indeed if you fall into the former camp.

Continuum
Yes, Windows 10 is vastly improved on PCs, but Microsoft didn’t forget about touchscreen users. As of Build 9926, Windows 10 includes a handy “Continuum” feature that dynamically switches the interface between the PC-friendly desktop and a Windows 8-like mode that’s better suited for fingers (pictured above), depending on how you’re using the device.

Windows tablets will default to the latter; PCs to the former. And hybrids will intelligently switch between the two modes depending on whether you have a keyboard attached. In tablet mode, the Start menu expands to fit the full screen, as do Metro apps. If you’d like to force a switch, the new Action Center has a dedicated “Tablet Mode” button that you can enable or disable at will.

Settings are solidified, while Charms vanish
One of the odder design decisions within Windows 8 was the separation of Settings into two buckets, one each for the Desktop and Modern/Metro interfaces. With Windows 10, that goes away. Now, there is one Settings menu, available from the Start button. As a bonus, the somewhat annoying Charms menu has vanished. Hurray!


 

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Update: Microsoft quietly seeds consumer PCs with Windows 10 upgrade ‘nag’ campaign

Automatic update delivered to most Windows 7 and 8.1 consumer devices illustrates aggressive marketing intent
Microsoft has seeded most consumer Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs with an automatic update that will pitch the free Windows 10 upgrade to customers.

According to Myce.com, a March 27 non-security update aimed at Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows 8.1 Update — the latter, the April 2014 refresh — lays the foundation for a Windows 10 marketing and upgrade campaign. The update, identified by Microsoft as KB3035583, has been offered as “Recommended,” meaning that it will be automatically downloaded and installed on PCs where Windows Update has been left with its default settings intact.

Microsoft was typically terse in the accompanying documentation for KB3035583, saying only that it introduced “additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available to the user.”

Myce.com, however, rooted through the folder that the update added to Windows’ SYSTEM32 folder and found files that spelled out a multi-step process that will alert users at several milestones that Microsoft triggers.

Computerworld confirmed that the update deposited the folder and associated files onto a Windows 7 SP1 system.

One of the files Myce.com called out, “config.xml,” hinted at how the Redmond, Wash. company will offer Windows 10’s free upgrade.

The first phrase, marked as “None,” disables all features of the update. But the second, tagged as “AnticipationUX,” switches on a tray icon — one of the ways Windows provides notifications to users — and what was listed as “Advertisement.” Myce.com interpreted the latter as some kind of display pitching the upcoming Windows 10, perhaps a stand-alone banner in Windows 7 and a special tile on the Windows 8.1 Start screen.

A third phrase, “Reservation,” turns on what the .xml code identified as “ReservationPage,” likely another banner or tile that lets the user “reserve” a copy of the upgrade as part of Microsoft’s marketing push.

Later steps labeled “RTM” and “GA” referred to Microsoft-speak for important development milestones, including Release to Manufacturing (RTM) and General Availability (GA). The former pegs code ready to ship to computer and device makers, while the latter signals a finished product suitable for distribution to users.

The upgrade won’t be triggered until GA, according to the .xml file’s contents.

Presumably, the messages shown in the tray icon — and when displayed, the ad banner or tile — will change at each phase, with the contents drawn from a URL specified by Microsoft in the .xml file.

Not surprisingly, the Enterprise editions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 — those are sold only to large customers with volume licensing agreements — will not display the Windows 10 upgrade pitches. That’s consistent with what Microsoft has said previously, that the Windows Enterprise SKUs will not be eligible for the free upgrade. By refusing to show the alerts and ads to Windows Enterprise users, Microsoft avoids ticking off IT administrators, who will, by all accounts, stick with Windows 7 for the next several years before migrating to Windows 10 as the former nears its January 2020 retirement.

Although Microsoft has often prepped existing versions of Windows for upcoming updates with behind-the-scenes code, the extent of the messaging generated by the .xml file issued on March 27 would be a change from past practices. That fits with Microsoft’s professed goal of getting as many as possible onto Windows 10, a position best illustrated by the unprecedented free upgrade.

Users will face a long line of nagging messages that will be impossible to ignore. Add to that the fact Microsoft set KB3035583 as Recommended — by default Windows Update treats those the same as critical security fixes tagged “Important” — and it’s clear Microsoft will be aggressive in pushing Windows 10.

Those who don’t want to see the Windows 10 marketing push on their machines can uninstall KB3035583 from the Windows Update panel. But because the .xml file was pegged as “version 1.0,” there’s a good chance more such updates will follow.


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20 hot user ideas for Windows 10.

Vox populi: Windows Feedback means you can prod Microsoft to change Windows 10 — but you must vote now

Top 20 Windows 10 Feedback suggestions
The Windows 10 Feedback mechanism offers a unique way for you to change the course of Windows development. While Microsoft’s made only a few, very minor changes to the Win10 Technical Preview in response to feedback, the time to get your vote in is right now, while the dev team goes into an intense six-to-eight-week full-court press.

The following list aggregates feedback items that many Windows “Insiders” feel are most important, with a bit of cheering from the mouse-and-keyboard peanut gallery, and vetting from yours truly. If you want to see these changes in the shipping version of Windows 10, speak now or forever hold the pieces.

Let’s not let the tragedy of Windows 8 be repeated on our watch!

If you aren’t already running Windows 10, it’s easy to use Microsoft’s ISO file to install the latest version, Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9879. Get with the system and get your opinion heard!

Windows 10 Feedback: How to be heard
When you are officially signed up for the Insider Program and have the latest version of Windows 10 Technical Preview installed, go into the Windows Feedback application by clicking Start, then choosing the Windows Feedback tile on the right side of the Start menu.

Take a few minutes to orient yourself in the Windows Feedback app. In particular, note how you can add a Me Too to any of the existing feedback items. That’s the key. If you find a suggestion that rings your chimes, give it a Me Too. If you have a suggestion that’s slightly different from one you see, write up the details as a New Feedback — but don’t forget to add your Me Too vote to the original item. Microsoft counts Me Toos.

Section: Apps/OneDrive

1. Tester’s Feedback: Not at all pleased with the changes to how OneDrive interacts with this latest build (9879). In the OneDrive folder ONLY the synced stuff shows up. Things that are online only have to be gotten to by going to the website. Not good imo.

You can see the problem in this screenshot. On the left, in File Explorer, my OneDrivePictures folder has a folder called Camera Roll and a handful of individual files. On the right, if I log in to OneDrive, there are two folders — including an extra one called Photos. The file called Photos isn’t synced, so it doesn’t show up in File Explorer. In fact, if you looked at your OneDrive folder with File Explorer in build 9879, you’d have no way of knowing the Photos folder existed — applications can’t get to it, Windows searches won’t find anything in it, you can’t save to it.

It’s a controversial move that, in my opinion, makes Windows 10 and OneDrive considerably less useful than they should be. Computerworld’s Gregg Keizer has an excellent synopsis of the controversy. Peter Bright at Ars Technica posted a more conciliatory analysis, and Microsoft has responded. I, for one, think that CITEworld contributor Mary Branscombe hit the nail on the head with her original post, which garnered 7,100 votes, then was pulled by Microsoft.

You can’t vote for Mary Branscombe’s original. But you can, if so inclined, vote for its proxy, listed above.

Section: Apps/All Other Apps

2. Tester’s Feedback: We need a new Windows Media player. Most people install other players like mpc and vlc because of the lack of codec support and features. WMP should have a playlist that can be detached as a separate window. The playlist should support auto save in case you’ve added new files to it but the player was closed unexpectedly…

3. Tester’s Feedback: Don’t preload so many junk apps: Travel, Games, News etc. If people want an app for it, they’ll go to the Windows Store to get it. Not including them will also make the OS be smaller and configure faster.

I get that Microsoft wants to sell Xboxes, games, music, videos, and the like. I don’t get how that translates into poorly behaved Windows apps that I’m forced to install but will never use.

Looks like Windows 10 will be able to play FLAC and MKV files — only 10 years late and 10 cents short.

I give a Me Too to both suggestions — with a twist. Some inside scuttlebutt says Windows Media Player may be dropped in Win10, or at the very least, it won’t be improved. Good riddance, sez I. Hey, Microsoft, why not include a copy of VLC with Win10, kill WMP, and make Xbox Music and Xbox Video optional?

Section: Apps/App behavior on multi-monitor

4. Tester’s Feedback: Add the ability to set other desktops to another monitor. This will provide users with Multi-display setups to have more multitasking functionality when combining the power of Multiple desktops and Other displays.

I’m surprised this wasn’t in the design spec from day one.

Although the user interface for assigning desktops to monitors might be challenging (context menu on each of the thumbnails?), the ability to set up a desktop, then send it to a different monitor would be a godsend for many multi-mon-munchkins.

Section: File Explorer/File Association

5. Tester’s Feedback: Give us an option to unassociate file types! If someone, for example, associates by mistake a system file type to a 3rd party program, then all files of the same type will appear to open with that program.

6. Tester’s Feedback: Don’t check “Use this app for all .xyz files” by default. This drives me nuts. I use Open With to open a file with a different program in a one-off scenario. I constantly have to uncheck it.

The two problems go hand in hand. Advanced Windows users frequently open a file with a one-off program and forget to uncheck the box. That leads to the situation where you want to get rid of the association.

I’ve seen people royally mess up their machines by assigning an unusual program (say, Notepad) to a critical filename extension (for example, .dll). Try diagnosing that one.

Section: File Explorer/File Picker

7. Tester’s Feedback: Tabbed browsing! We use it daily with our Web browser. Our file browser needs it built in, so I don’t have to keep using third-party programs.

(There’s a similar item in the section File Explorer/Ribbon and context menus)

Meet Clover, the best-known third-party program to add tabs to the Windows 8 (File) Explorer. Clover has a very simple user interface: Exactly as you would drag and drop websites to create browser tabs, you can drag and drop locations inside Windows Explorer up to the top, to turn them into tabs.

Click on the tab, and Windows Explorer navigates to the location: easy, intuitive, effective.

This screenshot shows Clover working perfectly well with the Windows 10 Tech Preview build 9879 File Explorer. The tabs across the top are the ones I chose to speed up navigating. Why can’t Windows 10’s built-in File Explorer do the same thing?

Section: File Explorer/Libraries

8. Tester’s Feedback: I would like the option to open file explorer to “This PC” instead of “Home” or the ability to add drives to the Frequent folders under “Home.”

9. Tester’s Feedback: Windows + E should take you to This PC, not Home. Or give the option to include This PC to my Favorites.

10. Tester’s Feedback: The home folder should be customizable.

Windows 7 opened Windows Explorer to your Libraries. Windows 8 doesn’t play well with Libraries, so Microsoft changed Windows Explorer to open in a made-up place called “This PC,” which includes the primary folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos), Devices and Drives, and Network Locations. In Windows 10 build 9879, File Explorer (different name, same app) opens to a new made-up place called “Home,” which, as of this build, lists Frequent folders and Recent files.

There doesn’t appear to be any way to modify the contents of the “Home” location, so you’re stuck with Frequent folders and Recent files. Clearly, Microsoft hasn’t thought this through very well.

Section: Windows Installation and Setup/First sign-in Start screen layout or app registration

11. Tester’s Feedback: Please add the ability to register a local user account without logging into the Microsoft online account.

12. Tester’s Feedback: You can sign in with a standard account, but the need to select “create a new account” under “sign in with Microsoft account” is misleading, having the “Make a local account” under it would be better.

13. Tester’s Feedback: I don’t like being forced to use Microsoft accounts as my Windows account, so I had to go through hustle of providing fake Outlook account to force install process option where I can create local account.

Similar Feedback under Windows Installation and Setup/Out-of-box-experience and under Windows Installation and Setup/Windows installation, Personalization and Ease of Access/User accounts, and several others.

Microsoft is still stacking the deck, trying hard to get you to use your Microsoft account as a Windows logon. If you don’t want to use a Microsoft account (or convert a current email account into a Microsoft account) to log onto Windows, when you create the local Windows account (see screenshot) you have to click “Sign in without a Microsoft account (not recommended),” then at the bottom of the next screen click “Local Account.”

Microsoft’s playing Google’s game. When you use a Microsoft Account to log on to Windows, Microsoft can keep track of where and when you’re logging in, correlate your user ID with your IP address (and thus your Bing searches and visited URLs in IE), and track all of your local searches.

If you think Local Accounts are for power users only, ask yourself this: If a typical Windows customer understood that using a Microsoft account let Microsoft track them and their searches, what would their reaction be? I don’t know about you, but my Aunt Mergatroid would be aghast.

Section: Network/Network and sharing center

14. Tester’s Feedback: There should be a more intuitive way to change the type (private vs public) of a network.

As it stands in build 9879, the only way I’ve found to change a network from public to private, or vice versa, requires you to “Forget” the network. The only way to do that, as best I can tell, is to bring up the Network pane on the right — click Start, PC Settings, Networks, Manage, and at the bottom click Open Network Flyout (see screenshot). Then right-click on the connection you want to change, and choose “Forget this network.”

Then you have to reconnect to the network, this time specifying either private or public.

Yeah, I think that needs to be more intuitive.

Section: Search/Windows Search

15. Tester’s Feedback: The Windows Search button on the taskbar is weird. Is it supposed to be its own app? If so, why whenever you click a link does it go to IE? This is very strange to me. If this is the case, why even have it? I could just fire up IE and do the same thing. Seems redundant.

16. Tester’s Feedback: Windows Search result brings search results from the Web which personally is a terrible idea. If I want to search the Web, I will start IE or any other browser and search against Google or Bing or Yahoo search engine.

Microsoft uses Windows Search’s extended Web searching — “Smart Search” — to sell ads and to add to its Bing hit count. I talked about it a year ago, when Microsoft first introduced the “feature” into what would become Windows 8.1 Update 1.

In a nutshell, unless you turn it off, Microsoft can track every search you make on your machine — and feed you ads based on your search terms. I’m not talking about Web searches. I’m talking about simple searches for documents, or photos, or music. If you use a Microsoft account and leave Windows Search enabled, Microsoft can amass an enormous amount of information, solely from the way you use your machine on your data.

In Windows 8.1 you can turn it off (or set it off during installation), although it’s enabled by default. In Windows 10, I don’t see any way to turn it off.

Scroogled? Bah! Microsoft snoops around, too — and it brags to its advertisers about how effective Windows snooping can be.

Section: Windows Update and Recovery/Backup and restore

17. Tester’s Feedback: You should return Windows 7 style backup.

18. Tester’s Feedback: Bring back scheduled increment Windows image backups. File history is great, but it’s not enough.

19. Tester’s Feedback: Make System Restore easier to find! Ever since Windows 8 you’ve hidden the classic system restore (where you have automatic restore points) inside “Recovery” so you can push Refresh and Reset PC to the front… Make it accessible again for non-computer-savvy users!

Many more Feedback items, in multiple Feedback sections, are in the same vein.

Microsoft buried the Windows Backup tools in Windows 8, tore some of them out of Windows 8.1, and they sure as shootin’ aren’t coming back in Windows 10. The goal, I’m told, is to present a Chromebook-style backup capability: You don’t need to back up anything on your computer because it’s in the cloud. To that I say, balderdash. If I want Chromebook backup, I’ll use a Chromebook. (In fact, I do, but that’s another story.)

Windows 10 doesn’t create daily restore points (see screenshot). If there’s a way to bring back Windows 7’s full-system backup, I can’t find it (the Win 8.1 trick of searching for “Windows 7 File Recovery” doesn’t work). With OneDrive hitting the skids (see previous slide), backing up to OneDrive is harder than ever.

I doubt that Microsoft will bring back Windows 7 backup/recovery, but I can always hope.

Section: Windows Update and Recovery/Restore, refresh and reset

20. Tester’s Feedback: Allow holding down Shift or F8 or possibly even the Windows key at boot to get the Advanced Boot Options screen. This will make getting into safe mode and other recovery options easier to access before Windows boots.

Booting into Safe Mode in Windows 10 (like Win8 before it) is a convoluted process with a chicken-and-egg element. If you want to get into Safe Mode (or System Restore, Image Recovery, Startup Repair), you have to go into PC Settings, Update and Recovery, Recovery, then click Restart Now at the bottom (see screenshot).

For the 1.5 billion people who’ve been exposed to F8 on boot, perhaps by proxy or vicariously, that’s a big change. It also means Windows has to be working before you can boot into Safe Mode.

Windows 10 Feedback: Speak up now

That’s my take on the best of the Windows 10 Feedback items.

I didn’t include items that have been suggested a million times and ignored by Microsoft (for example, creating a clipboard manager that stores multiple items, or showing filename extensions by default). I also didn’t include feedback that’s surely already on the dev list (such as dragging an open app from one desktop to another, different themes on different desktops, putting an icon marker on shared folders, bringing back the network icon in the notification area), nor did I include obvious bugs. I skipped over UI suggestions, many of which are fine, but all of which fall into the de gustibus bucket (except for bringing back Aero Glass which, to my uneducated eye, is more like a Holy Grail).

Did I miss one of your favorites? Sound off in the comments! Let’s get these design screwups fixed by the time Win10 ships.

Fer heaven’s sake, quitcherbitchin, sign up, and tell Microsoft how to make Windows 10 better!

 

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Windows 10 to be free upgrade for many during its first year

Four months after pitching Windows 10 to businesses, Microsoft is focusing on consumers at an event where CEO Satya Nadella and other officials are pledging that the new OS offers individuals significant advances over Windows 8, its problematic predecessor.

“Today is a monumental day for Windows,” Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Operating Systems group, said at Wednesday’s event, being held at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters and available vialive webcast.

The first big news: Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to current users of Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 7 during its first year of availability.

However, Myerson said “this so much more than a free one-time upgrade.” Once installed, Windows 10 will be kept continually “current” throughout the lifecycle of the device. As the OS is treated more as an Internet service, asking what version of the OS someone has installed becomes irrelevant, he said.

As Microsoft has stated previously, Myerson reiterated that, unlike previous iterations of the OS, Windows 10 will deliver a consistent yet tailored product family across all types of computing devices, from screenless, embedded IoT sensors to all-in-one computers with gigantic displays. The Windows 10 family will also include versions for smartphones, tablets, wearables, hybrid tablet-laptops, TVs, PCs and the Xbox gaming console.

For developers, there will be a common development platform, whether they’re building enterprise software or games, and a single application store to purchase, distribute and update the apps.

Joe Belfiore, the vice president of the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, followed Myerson on stage, and showed the Cortana voice-activated digital assistant working for the first time on a Windows 10 PC, using a pre-release build of the OS that will be released to testers in the coming months.

There are currently about 1.7 million [m] people signed up with the Insider program to test Windows 10 before it ships commercially, which is expected to happen by mid-year.

Since the release of Windows 8 in 2012, Microsoft has been in a persistent damage-control mode regarding the OS, so it’s hoping to turn over a new leaf with Windows 10 and close the chapter on its predecessor. With Windows 8, Microsoft misread the market and botched the product’s user interface, leaving a trail of many unhappy customers.

Windows 8 horrified critics with its radically different default Modern UI, which was optimized for touchscreen tablets, and with its alternate traditional desktop, which was included to run legacy Windows 7 applications but lacked key familiar features like the Start button and menu.

Users also complained that the process of toggling between the Modern interface and the traditional desktop was clunky and erratic. Microsoft addressed some of the biggest complaints in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update, but it never fully fixed the problem.

To drive the point home that it has listened to the criticism, Microsoft decided to skip a number for the next major edition of Windows, jumping from Windows 8 to Windows 10, which the company has described as “a whole new generation” of the OS that delivers what consumers and enterprises “demand and what we will deliver.”


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Windows 10 revealed: Microsoft’s next OS fuses Windows 7 and 8

At a press event on Tuesday, Microsoft launched the next version of Windows: Not Windows One, not Windows 9, but Windows 10, which combines the reborn Start menu with Windows 8’s colorful live tiles and adjusts its behavior depending on how you’re using your device.

Windows 10 will officially launch in the middle of next year, but you’ll have a chance to try it out before that via a new Windows Insider program, launching Wednesday. The platform’s most vocal fans will have a chance to download the technical preview before it launches next year.

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore showing off Windows 10’s reborn, revamped Start Menu.

Microsoft executives unveiled the new OS at a small press event in San Francisco, where the company tried to position the Windows 10 OS as a “natural step forward” for both Windows and Windows Phone, which will also be renamed Windows 10.

Windows 10 will be designed for the enterprise, Terry Myerson executive vice president of Microsoft’s OS group, said. It will have a “familiar” interface, whether it be for Windows 7 or Windows 8. “They will find all the tools they’re used to finding, with all the apps and tools they’re used to today,” he said.

Windows 10 will be compatible with all the familiar management systems, including mobile device management. MDM tools will manage not just mobile devices, but PCs, phones, tablets, and even embedded devices inpart of the Internet of Things, Myerson said. Enterprise customers will be able to manage their own app stores, so that ther employees get the right apps for them. As Windows 8 did, data security will be a priority, he said.

“Windows 10 will be our greatest enterprise platform ever,” Myerson said.
Windows 10 revealed

Joe Belfiore, who runs part of the OS team focused on the PC experience, showed off the new OS, which he called a “very early build.” Yes, the new build has the Stat menu, combining the icon-driven menu from Windows 7, plus the added Live Tiles to the right.

Belfiore used the analogy of a Tesla to describe how Windows 7 users would feel when they upgraded—something that Microsoft desperately wants them to do: a supercharged OS, but one that will feel familiar.

One of the things that Microsoft wants to ensure is that Windows 10 is personalized results, including search results, Belfiore said.

Windows 8 had a universal app platform, with a common Windows Store that handle updates independently. Belfiore said that Microsoft wanted all those Windows 7 uses to get all the benefits of Windows 8 apps. Apps will be shown in the Live Tiles, with no real indication whether they are “classic” apps or modern, Windows 8 apps. Apps can be “snapped,” like Windows 8. Users will also not have to leave the Windows desktop to use modern apps, as expected.

Multitasking will also be a priority, with a stated goal being able to “empower” novice users, Belfiore said. On the taskbar there will be a “task view” where users can switch back and forth between different environments—whether it be 32-bit Windows 7 apps or modern apps. And yes, they will include virtual desktops, with the ability to switch back and forth between virtual environments. A “snap assist” feature will allow users to select similar windows to snap alongside other apps. And up to four apps or windows can be snapped to the four corners of the desktop, Belfiore said.

Even more advanced uses will be able to take advantage of new keyboard shortcuts, with the ability to ALT-TAB between desktops. “It’s a nice forward enhancement to make those people more productive,” Belfiore said.

Microsoft even improved the command line interface, with an improved keyboard interface. (You can use Crtl+V to paste now!)
Touch when you need it

Belfiore wrapped up by talking about touch: “We’re not giving up on touch,” he said. But he did say that that massive numbers of users were familiar with the touchless Windows 7 interface, while supporting those who have jumped to Windows 8.

So that means that the Charms experience will be revamped. When you swipe right on Windows 10, the Charms bar is still there. But Belfiore said that the Charms experience would change. When people swipe in from the left, Windows 10, you’ll get a task view. “I’m using touch in a way that accelerates my use of a PC,” Belfiore said.
windows10 continuum start screen

Microsoft is also working on a revamped UI that isn’t is in Windows 10, yet. For two-in-on devices, a “Continuum” mode will adjust the UI depending on whether or not the mouse and keyboard is present. When a keyboard is disconnected, the Windows 8-style Start menu appears and a back button is available so that users can easily back out to a prior command. Menus grow larger. Bu when a mouse and keyboard is connected, the desktop mode reappears, Windows apps return to desktop windows, and the Start page disappears.

Now, Microsoft needs to take the next step: pitching enterprise customers, Myerson said. And that’s critical for Windows’ future, analysts said. Expect more details on the consumer flavors of Windows 10 early next year, more application details at BUILD, and then a launch of Windows 10 near the middle of next year.

“For businesses, I think there are some businesses who have picked it up and they are really early adopters, but in general, the sense—when we engage with customers, we’re not hearing a lot of reception out there,” Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, said in advance of the briefing. “We’re hearing a lot of businesses even before whatever that thing comes out tomorrow, before that came out, businesses were saying, we’re going to hang out on Windows 7, it’s stable, it does what we need to do.”

Starting Wednesday, Microsoft will launch a Windows Insider program, distributing the technical preview of Windows 10, Myerson said. Through Window Insiders we’re inviting our more vocal Windows fans” to help refine the Windows experience, executives said. Users wil be able to sign up at preview.windows.com, he said, where they will be able to hold private discussions with Windows engineers and give feedback.

“Windows 10 will be our most open, collaborative OS project ever,” Myerson said.

 


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