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Microsoft hasn’t forgotten about Windows 10, as a vital fix for game crashes finally arrives

July 26, 2023
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Windows 10 gamers have got a reason to celebrate with the latest preview update for the OS, which comes with an important fix for a nasty gaming-related crash, and other cures besides.

The problem with PC games is related to Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) errors popping up, either causing a crash, or even locking up the system in some more extreme cases.

As you may have seen, the fix for this was applied to Windows 11 in the Moment 3 update – it was first spotted in the preview of that patch which emerged late in June.

The good news for Windows 10 users is that the fix is in KB5028244 (build 19045.3271 for Windows 10 22H2), which again is a preview patch (an optional download). This means the full (polished) fix will be available in August’s cumulative update for Windows 10, and that’s only a couple of weeks away now.

In the release notes for the patch, Microsoft observes: “This update addresses an issue that might affect your computer when you are playing a game. Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) errors might occur.”

On top of this, there are fixes for a bug that prevents some VPN apps from making a successful connection, and a glitch that means when a PC comes back from sleep, certain display or audio devices go missing in action.

Furthermore, there’s the resolution of a problem with Windows 10 where a full-screen search can’t be closed (and prevents any further action from being taken with the Start menu), and a raft of other tweaks and fixes.

Analysis: A welcome fix, albeit slightly late

There are some important cures here, then, as those mentioned bugs are quite a pain for those affected.

PC gamers on Windows 10 – the vast majority still – were particularly miffed when Windows 11 got a solution for the TDR crashes in June, with Microsoft leaving them in the lurch. And with no mention of Windows 10 back at the time, some gamers were even talking about this being a reason to upgrade to Windows 11 – that’s how annoyed some folks are by this one.

As one Reddit user put it: “Windows 10 TDR errors have been the bane on [sic] my life.”

At any rate, the fix is now here, and hopefully it’ll prove effective on Windows 10. Of course, right now it’s still testing as an optional update, so you’ll have to manually grab the patch via Windows Update, and there may still be problems with it. That said, those affected by TDR crashes might be so keen to get rid of them that any risk of side effects elsewhere may seem a small price to pay.

Whatever the case, as mentioned, the full fix should be coming in the cumulative update for Windows 10 next month (assuming no problems are encountered in this final testing phase).

Clearly, Windows 11 has priority as Microsoft develops and tinkers with its desktop operating systems, but it feels an odd situation where two-thirds of gamers are still on Windows 10, and are getting the short end of the stick with fixes like this.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

March 24, 2022
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Apple's iCloud service passed its 10th birthday in 2021, and syncing photos and messages between my iPhone, iPad by now, makes me feel as if the service has been around as long as the original iPod.

I remember when the iPhone 4S debuted with iOS 5 and iCloud in 2011, and being able to take a photo, then see it on my iPad 2 soon after felt like magic. You could argue that we've had the same method for email for years, as your messages have synced between your devices for much longer than Apple's service.

But while we've seen huge advances in iPhones and iPads, even a chip transition of the Macs from Intel to Apple Silicon, iCloud's free tier has remained the same, offering just 5GB.

When you consider iPhones that can record in full 4K video, with one minute taking up 440MB, you'll already be needing to pay for a higher tier of iCloud storage once you record for ten minutes. With this in mind, this is what I'd like to see for the free tier going forward.

Match the tiers with iPad storage

Displaying the tiers of iCloud storage — (Image credit: TechRadar)

We need to look at how the paid tiers have changed over the years, while the 5GB free tier has remained the same. These three tiers arrived with iCloud in 2011:

10GB
20GB
50GB

2015 saw some changes to this:

200GB
1TB
2TB

In 2020, we saw the latest change to the tiers:

50GB
200GB
2TB

Across these changes, free with 5GB has remained the same. I've always been paying for the highest tier due to the number of photos and videos I both store and take on my devices, alongside keeping hundreds of files that were once on a OneDrive account, Microsoft's cloud storage service.

While the jump between 200GB and 2TB is baffling to me in how far apart they are, it's something I've come to accept, and it's the 2TB tier that I'm paying for each month.

But 5GB for a free tier is ridiculous in 2022. When I used to work at a phone store in a previous life, as soon as I discovered that there were so many photos that one customer had on their iPhone, I'd help set up an iCloud plan, mainly because they were adamant that they needed their photos to be on their new iPhone.

Setting this up would mean that the photos would be stored in the cloud, and a weekly backup of their iPhone content would be possible without facing the 5GB wall.

64GB free storage for all

But it's time for a change. This is what I'd like to see in the future for all the tiers:

Free: 64GB
500GB
1TB
2TB
5TB

The free tier should match the lowest amount of storage that's available on Apple's products – in this case it's the iPhone SE (2022) and the iPad Air (2022), both offering 64GB as an option.

It's not great to see these as storage options in 2022 regardless, but increasing the free tier could help with this. Backups would be possible with these devices, and you could store a good amount of photos and videos.

Our Deputy Phones Editor, Tom Bedford spoke to me about how he still constantly sees the 'iCloud storage is getting full' on the free tier he has with his iPad, and he's primarily a Windows and Android user.

5GB in 2022 makes no sense anymore – let's see a tier that matches the lowest storage option on Apple's devices, to help remove any anxiety about needing to free up iCloud space to create a successful backup.

And as a bonus, the paid tiers should see more choice – start at a tier for the users like me who have multiple Apple devices, to those who are content creators for the 5TB tier, who want to store hundreds of gigabytes on their iCloud Drive.

In this scenario, everyone wins. Apple can afford to allow users on a free tier of 64GB storage, especially with its services growing in revenue every year. iCloud has become a useful service for many, but mainly on the paid tier, and that needs to change so that it can benefit all of its users.

Our pick of the best cloud storage services in 2022

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

March 24, 2022
No Comments

Apple's iCloud service passed its 10th birthday in 2021, and syncing photos and messages between my iPhone, iPad by now, makes me feel as if the service has been around as long as the original iPod.

But while we've seen huge advances in iPhones and iPads, even a chip transition of the Macs from Intel to Apple Silicon, iCloud's free tier has remained the same, offering just 5GB.

Match the tiers with iPad storage

We need to look at how the paid tiers have changed over the years, while the 5GB free tier has remained the same. These three tiers arrived with iCloud in 2011:

10GB
20GB
50GB

2015 saw some changes to this:

200GB
1TB
2TB

In 2020, we saw the latest change to the tiers:

50GB
200GB
2TB

While the jump between 200GB and 2TB is baffling to me in how far apart they are, it's something I've come to accept, and it's the 2TB tier that I'm paying for each month.

Setting this up would mean that the photos would be stored in the cloud, and a weekly backup of their iPhone content would be possible without facing the 5GB wall.

64GB free storage for all

But it's time for a change. This is what I'd like to see in the future for all the tiers:

Free: 64GB
500GB
1TB
2TB
5TB

The free tier should match the lowest amount of storage that's available on Apple's products – in this case it's the iPhone SE (2022) and the iPad Air (2022), both offering 64GB as an option.

Our pick of the best cloud storage services in 2022

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

February 16, 2022
No Comments

While Microsoft has understandably been giving Windows 11 a lot of attention lately (including launching a new update that brings Android apps to PC), it has also published an update for the older Windows 10 operating system as well.

As Windows Latest reports, Windows 10 KB5010415 is now available as an optional update. This means you won’t automatically get it, but if you open up Windows Update, you should see it waiting for you under ‘Optional Updates’.

It’s worth checking out, as it brings fixes for several Windows 10 problems (which will later be included in cumulative updates in March and April), so if your PC isn’t running well, this update could fix it.

It also includes a fix for people trying to upgrade to Windows 11, but who find the process failing when checking the TPM status of the PC.

However, as this is an optional update, if your PC is running fine as it is, you can feel free to ignore it for now, rather than risk adding new issues to your PC – something Windows 10 updates have been responsible for in the past, unfortunately.

New features

This Windows 10 update also brings new features to the operating system as well. For a start, you can now share cookies between Microsoft Edge Internet Explorer mode and Microsoft Edge. This could be handy for web developers, or anyone who uses online services that still work with Internet Explorer.

Microsoft has also added the ability to add and remove NVMe storage without having to turn off your PC (known as hot swapping). Again, this is a feature that likely won’t appeal to most users, but enterprise and power users may find it very useful.

Windows 10's grave — (Image credit: Anna Kucherova / Shutterstock / Microsoft)

Analysis: Still going strong

While this may not be the most exciting update ever, especially when compared to Windows 11’s latest release which adds some genuinely game-changing features, it’s still good to see Microsoft continuing to update and support Windows 10.

After all, Windows 10 remains the most-used version of Windows at the moment, and while Microsoft may be keen to get people to upgrade to Windows 11, it still needs to look after people who continue to use Windows 10, either by choice or because their PCs aren’t compatible.

Windows 10 will continue to be supported until October 14, 2025, and we hope Microsoft continues to release updates for the operating system until then.