1 844.742.7448

Email Us

Remote Support

Contact

Posts tagged "Windows"

  1. Home
  2. Posts tagged Windows

Incoming Windows 11 Task Manager update could finally tempt you to upgrade
  • No Comments

Microsoft is planning to introduce some additional options into the current Task Manager, alongside other updates and new features planned for its Windows 11 operating system, at least according to a slew of leaks that have appeared in the last week.

A good batch of these can be credited to Twitter user Albacore, an established and typically reliable source for Windows leaks, who previously reported that 'Stickers' will be introduced for your desktop wallpaper, as well as changes rolling out to the current notification system. 

On top of this, it seems that the current Task Manager in Windows 11 will also get some additional features, including the ability to get dedicated information regarding “App health” and “Battery health”.  This information was discovered within the recent Dev Channel build 22543 by another well established Windows leaker, FireCubeStudios

See more

It seems that additional features could also be included when the update is released to the public. As Neowin points out in its own reporting, Microsoft developers have commented to state this isn't a final design, so we could also get options relating to Startup applications. 

This isn't the first time we heard that Microsoft may be looking to revamp the Task Manager from its previously dated state, with some alterations being introduced in build 22538, but with this being a work in progress, it could be a while until this is fully rolled out to the public.

Analysis: These tweaks are more important than ever

While they're nowhere near as important as actual performance-based improvements and patches being developed to fix ongoing issues, these planned updates to streamline the Windows 11 experience for everyday users shouldn't be overlooked. 

The vast majority of folks who use the Windows 11 operating system won't be experts or enthusiasts, so simplifying the more 'complex' areas of the OS will hopefully streamline the process of new users getting comfortable using it. This is especially so in the case of people who have avoided upgrading from Windows 10 despite having compatible hardware out of the fear of needing to relearn how to use their laptop or desktop PC.

There's still a lot to be resolved with the Windows 11 operating system before tech-savvy users are happy to make the upgrade, but with its new, modern look and general quality-of-life improvements, this is becoming a great choice for those with less experience using computers who don't want to be reliant on others to address issues they might face. 

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

You’ll want to install this Windows 11 update to speed up your PC
  • No Comments

If your Windows 11 PC is feeling slow, then you may want to make sure you download Microsoft’s latest update, known as Windows 11 KB5010386.

This patch was released as part of Microsoft’s big ‘Patch Tuesday’, a monthly event where the company releases a series of important updates for its software.

Included in the patches is KB5010386, which addresses a serious flaw in Windows 11 that caused the speeds of SSDs to drop – which in turn made affected PCs run slowly. While Microsoft has previously addressed this issue with the January 2022 cumulative update, as Windows Latest reports, some people have continued to suffer from this problem.

This new update aims to fix this issue once and for all, so it’s well worth downloading if your PC isn’t performing as fast as it should. The update is currently rolling out to Windows Insiders, who have signed up to test out early builds of Windows 11, but it’s also available to download directly as well.

Other patches

February’s Patch Tuesday also brought a cumulative update with security patches for 48 vulnerabilities. Again, this means making sure your version of Windows 10 or Windows 11 is updated to the very latest release.

There have been some more fixes to various errors in Windows 11 as well, to make it run more smoothly, including a fix for an error that prevented the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Modify operation from working correctly, as Windows Central points out.

This may be a bit of a niche issue, but as it comes with the security patches, it’s well worth installing anyway.

To make sure your PC is up to date, open the Start menu, type in ‘Update’ and click ‘Check for updates’. If any are found, click them to download and install.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Windows 11 is more popular with gamers, but there’s bad news for Intel in Steam survey
  • No Comments

Windows 11 is gaining some decent momentum with gamers, at least going by the latest stats from Steam, although Intel has slipped slightly compared to last month’s Steam survey.

The hardware and software survey for January 2022 showed that Windows 11 is now used in 13.56% of the gaming rigs evaluated for this report, which is up quite strongly on December’s figure of 10.15%.

That’s good news for Microsoft, of course, but the survey produced somewhat disappointing results for Intel on the hardware front.

In December’s stats, Intel actually witnessed an increase in its processor market share among Steam gamers to the tune of 0.82%, with Team Blue securing 69.27% in total.

That looked significant given how dominant rival AMD Ryzen processors have been in recent times, stealing a lot of turf from Intel in the desktop PC world – but the upward movement has ebbed for Team Blue, as it dropped slightly to 69.02% in January 2022, albeit that only represents the loss of a quarter of a percentage point.

Analysis: Nothing too worrying for Intel, and serious momentum building for Microsoft

With the Intel figures, while the chip giant might be slightly disappointed that growth hasn’t continued – and that new Alder Lake CPUs aren’t sparking a continued upswing – it’s not a huge surprise.

This is only a very slight loss for Intel, after all, and in recent times, the figures for Team Blue have been rather up and down anyway (even before Alder Lake came out, we saw some decent upticks with Rocket Lake). Really, this is a pretty minimal downward dip, and could be put down to the typical margin of error that Valve’s survey is doubtless working with.

Windows 11’s progress is a more clearly defined growth spurt, and with an increase of 3.41% for January 2022, that’s almost double the gain Windows 11 witnessed from November to December (1.87%).

In short, there’s a clear suggestion that more and more gamers are making the move to Microsoft’s newest OS, despite the early bugs which we’ve written multiple reports about (mind you, some of these are now fixed up, and it’s not like Windows 10 doesn’t have bugs either).

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Windows 11 leak suggests Microsoft is making some big changes
  • No Comments

Windows 11 looks set to get some exciting new features in upcoming updates, with a leak emerging that apparently shows off Microsoft’s plans.

As Neowin reports, the leak comes courtesy of Albacore, a Twitter account that's well known for leaking Windows features. In a series of Tweets we were given a glimpse of what are claimed to be some of changes Microsoft is making to Windows 11.

The first is a new ‘Stickers’ feature for Windows 11. Users will be able to edit stickers and add them to the desktop. These stickers can be placed over your desktop wallpaper, and will apparently remain there if you change wallpapers – though Albacore suggests this feature won’t work if you use a slideshow as your background, or if you have multiple monitors.

It’s also not currently clear if these ‘Stickers’ will be purely decorative, or if they could offer some sort of functionality, such as displaying the date and time.

See more

More changes

Changes are also said to be coming to how notifications are shown in Windows 11. This appears to be an area where Microsoft struggles, as notifications in both Windows 10 and Windows 11 haven’t worked as well as many had hoped, with the notifications either being too distracting, or not distracting enough (and easily missed).

According to Albacore, there will be a new ‘Set priority notifications’ setting, which should hopefully give users more control over what notifications they get. Focus Assist, which is a quick setting for turning off or minimizing notifications, is also getting a new name – it’ll just be known as ‘Focus’.

There will also be new options for the ‘Focus’ setting, allowing you to hide badges on taskbar apps (and stop them flashing) and mute notifications. The aim of this mode is to minimize distractions so you can keep focused on the task at hand.

A new ‘Sustainability’ page is also being added to the Settings app. This will allow you to manage the power settings of your device so that it runs more efficiently, and there's also a link to information about how to safely recycle your device.

The page also has leaf-shape icons, and these look like the'll be used to give your device a rating for how energy-efficient it is.

See more

It also looks like some form of ‘tablet mode’ will come to Windows 11 that automatically hides the Taskbar when you use your device as a tablet (for example when using a 2-in-1 laptop in its tablet configuration).

It’s not clear when these new features will appear in Windows 11, if indeed they appear at all, but as some have been spotted in early builds it's possible that we could see them in Windows 11’s upcoming major update, known as Sun Valley 2, which is likely to come out in the second half of 2022.

Analysis: tweaks are welcome – but don’t forget the bigger stuff

Assuming this leak proves to be the real deal, these new features would broadly be welcome. While we’re not too sure how useful the Stickers feature will be, giving users more control over notifications, and information on how they can make their device run more efficiently, would certainly be great additions to Windows 11.

However, while it’s nice to get new features and performance tweaks, we don’t want Microsoft to take its eye off the bigger picture. There are still a few things it needs to iron out in Windows 11, including some vital missing features – such as the facility to drag and drop files onto apps pinned to the Taskbar – and we’d like Microsoft to prioritize addressing these issues, rather than worrying about cosmetic changes.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft could be on the verge of forcibly upgrading Windows 10 on your computer
  • No Comments

We have long been told about the importance of keeping Windows up to date, but in order to qualify for updates you need to be running a supported version of Windows. And for some people running older versions of Windows 10, the clock is ticking,

Specifically, it's Windows 10 20H2 that will be reaching end-of-life when May rolls around. The exact date in question is May 10, meaning that in three short months, anyone who is still running this particular version of Windows 10 will no longer qualify for support from Microsoft. And this is why Microsoft is planning to forcibly update people to a supported edition of the operating system.

It does not matter whether you have the Home or Professional version of Windows 10 20H2 installed, as both editions reach the end of support on May 10. The information has been publicly available for some time on Microsoft's product lifecycle page, so this is not coming out of the blue.

For anyone who is keen to stick with Windows 10 rather than jumping to Windows 11, there's no need to panic. Microsoft is not going to force you onto the very latest version of Windows if you are happy to stick with an older version. 

But to eliminate the need to produce individual updates for a huge number of Windows 10 editions, Microsoft limits support to the most recent releases and encourages people to install the so-called Feature Updates to ensure the ongoing delivery of security fixes and other patches.

And it is with this in mind that in order to avoid there being huge numbers of supported – and potentially insecure – system out there, Microsoft is not only encouraging users to update to Windows 10 21H2, it is automatically upgrading machines.

Update to get updates

Anyone who is running Windows 10 version 2004 or later can manually check for updates and have 21H2 downloaded and installed for them, but Microsoft is also using machine learning to roll out the update to 20H2 machines due to the approaching end-of-life.

Microsoft explains more on the Release health page: “Windows 10, version 21H2 is available for users with select devices running Windows 10, versions 2004 and higher who manually seek to “Check for updates” via Windows Update. Devices currently on Windows 10, version 2004 or newer will have a fast installation experience because the update will install like a monthly update. 

We also started the first phase in our rollout for machine learning (ML) training, targeting devices on Windows 10, version 20H2 that are approaching end of servicing to update automatically to Windows 10, version 21H2. We will continue to train our machine learning model through all phases to intelligently rollout new versions of Windows 10, and deliver a smooth update experience.”

While exceptions have been made in the past and Microsoft has released updates for unsupported versions of Windows, running a supported version is the only way to guarantee receipt of updates. 

Although it would, technically be possible to update to Windows 10 21H1, this edition reaches end of support in December, which will roll around surprisingly quickly. So while some people may resent Microsoft taking control of updates and pushing out 21H2, it is a move that makes complete sense as this edition will enjoy support until mid-2023.

Via Windows Central

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft shares some good Windows 11 news we’ve all been waiting for
  • No Comments

If you were worried that you’d have to wait a while before Windows 11 gets any major new features, then Microsoft has just shared some good news, which means the new operating system will get updated and improved far more regularly than first thought.

Microsoft had initially said that it would be only releasing a single annual feature update for Windows 11 each year, which led some people to worry that they would have to wait 12 months for new features to come to their PCs.

However, as ZDNet has discovered, in a new blog post about the Windows Insider program, Microsoft states that: “We will deliver updates to features and experiences in builds from the Dev and Beta Channels by releasing Feature, Web, and Online Service Experience Packs on top of these builds too.”

This means there will be three ‘Experience Pack’ updates alongside the annual feature updates. Rather than bringing a range of features, bug fixes and security upgrades across the whole of the Windows 11 operating system, as a major feature update does, these new Experience Packs will focus on adding or expanding features for particular aspects of the operating system.

So, Online Service Experience Packs will focus on adding features related to how Windows 11 manages online services and accounts – such as changing or improving the ‘Your Microsoft Account’ settings page.

Web Experience Packs will add features to do with browsing the internet, as well as features within Windows 11 that use the internet to bring you news and information. ZDNet spoke to Microsoft, which clarified that “the Web Experience Pack is updated through the Microsoft Store (while the Feature Experience Packs and Online Service Packs will be updated through Windows Update). The Web Experience Pack will allow Microsoft to update things like the Widgets experience in Windows 11.”

Finally, Feature Experience Packs will contain more broader features, such as updates to legacy apps to make them feel more modern.

Analysis: Keep the improvements coming

These new Experience Packs will be released independently of the annual major operating system updates, and this is good news for several reasons.

As we mentioned earlier, it means that you don’t have to wait a year for new features to be added. While in our Windows 11 review we said there’s a lot to like about the new operating system, it’s still not perfect. By having a regular new features coming to the operating system, Windows 11 will continue to evolve, while feeling fresh and exciting.

There’s another benefit as well. Microsoft’s move to single annual major updates for Windows 11 (and Windows 10, which is getting the same treatment) is a welcome move in many respects. It should reduce the number of times a user gets bugged to download, install and restart their PC. It’s also no secret that Microsoft has having some pretty major issues with recent Windows 10 updates. By focusing on a single update, there’s a hope that Microsoft will be able to ensure these updates are much better built and tested, hopefully reducing any potential problems.

However, if Microsoft kept all of its updates to a single download once per year, that could lead to very large and complex updates. By separating features to their own updates, this will reduce the size of the annual update.

Adding new features to an operating system is also fraught with complexities, and this is where issues sometimes arise. If a new feature is added that doesn’t work as expected – or ends up breaking other parts of the operating system – it should hopefully be easier for Microsoft to identify and fix if it’s part of a smaller Experience Pack update, rather than causing issues in a major annual update (which will also inevitably lead to bad PR).

So, this is good news from Microsoft regarding Windows 11. Hopefully the days of major issues after updating Windows are behind us.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Is Windows finally awesome?
  • No Comments

Windows finally feels awesome and it's mostly thanks to Windows 11 — but also the result of a decades-long journey that's had more than its share of wrong turns. 

That's it, that's my point. Okay, maybe there's more to it than that.

Recently one of my children asked me if they should upgrade their laptop to Windows 11. Without hesitation, I answered, “Yes, that's what it's built for.” What I meant is that their less-than-year-old ASUS laptop is designed to take advantage of the best Microsoft has to offer. Upon reflection, though, I realized that rarely have I ever answered that question with such assurance.

A long road

Over the decades, Microsoft has built, torn down, and rebuilt Windows multiple times. Sometimes the changes are so extreme that I hesitate to recommend an upgrade. Windows 8, for instance, was a wrong-headed excursion into gesture-based computing. Tiles stampeded across the touch-centric interface, and the beloved Startup button vaporized. Why?

Windows 10 was a welcome return to classic Windows design principles and stability, and Windows 11 is more of a big swing for Microsoft. With its centered interface design and refashioning of some of Window's most iconic elements like the File Manager, Photos, and Notepad, it's just the kind of upgrade that might normally lead to frantic hand-waving as I warn family and friends off from an unfamiliar platform.

Yet, even before my child asked about Windows, I found myself looking at my wife's new Windows 10 PC in our shared home office, wondering if I should update it, too. When my wife asked me about the update, I told her, yes, I should probably do that soon.

Later I thought, “Have I lost my mind? What if she hates the new interface?”

Honestly, I don't think she will. Despite a significant interface overhaul and a slightly bumpy start (surprise incompatibilities with legacy hardware, system slowdowns, lost volume controls, spotty Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections), this has been one of the smoothest Windows updates in recent memory.

This may be due, in part, to Microsoft's relatively quick action on these persistent bugs, the work it's doing to improve even the way we update Windows, and clarity on why things go wrong.

By the numbers

According to Microsoft, there are now over 1 billion people currently running Windows 10. What's less clear is how quickly people are switching to Windows 11, which officially launched late last year.

A quick, non-scientific poll on Twitter, run across both my and TechRadar's Twitter accounts, makes clear that Windows 11 uptake is strong. Sure, more than half of all respondents are still running Windows 10 (a shocking 4.4% said they're running Windows XP but I think they might be kidding — I hope). The 35% already running Windows 11 is eye-opening.

The fact that so many people would choose to trust Microsoft and install (or buy new systems running) this still-new operating system is a testament to the relationship Windows 10 helped build between Microsoft and its customers.

Windows 10 has been a solid if unremarkable platform that, in my experience, has worked reliably for years. At a system level, it's been more reliable and secure than most Windows iterations before it. It's a platform that can run, without a reboot, for days on end. Even without third-party security software, Windows 10 and 11 are better at beating back software threats than ever before (though they could still do more to protect users from socially engineered phishing attempts and ransomware attacks).

Clean and simple-r

Windows 11 leaves most of the subsystem intact and focuses on a cleaner, more focused interface with a more 21st century look across almost every element, including some that haven't been touched for years.

Despite all that, there's work left to do. It's frustrating that you can still dig down to the Device Manager, Registry Editor, and Microsoft Management Console and, like stepping into a time machine, see interfaces that have barely changed since 2001 — especially for those of us who know where to look for these things.

For most Windows users, though, they're seeing what Microsoft wants to present and being pleasantly steered by a new interface model that puts your controls dead center (I'm less of a widget fan – but those are hidden off-screen, so who cares?). What's more impressive is that Microsoft does this without making you miss the classic lefthand corner start menu.

Between all of this and the Edge browser (which I recommend to all my family and friends), this feels like Windows' moment, a time when it's ready to be its best self and enjoy a nice clean run of wide-scale adoption.

Smooth sailing until Windows 12.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Microsoft could finally fix Windows 11 update annoyances
  • No Comments

Microsoft has announced in its latest Windows 11 Insider preview build that it's starting to test Update Stack Packages to deliver improvements outside of (or prior to) major updates, hopefully minimizing any disruption or installation issues caused by larger, singular updates.

On the official Windows Insider Blog, Microsoft states that “We are beginning to test a new process for delivering new update improvements to our customers outside of major OS updates with Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel starting with Build 22478.”

“Through the Update Stack Package, we can deliver improvements to the update experience prior to the PC taking a monthly or Feature Update. The Update Stack Package will help ensure that your PC has the highest likelihood of successfully installing new updates with the best and least disruptive experience available.”

As reported by Windows Latest, it isn't apparent how these Update Stack Packages will work outside of just being automatically installed outside the typical preview, but it seems that they will be used to improve stability alongside larger, monthly updates. This could mean that smaller updates are delivered to systems prior to a larger OS update to prevent the slew of issues that users have been reporting post-update installation.

For now, this is being tested within the preview builds and is being restricted to a small set of update-related improvements, though it's likely that this will roll out to general users if it proves successful.

If these Stack Updates are automatically installed then you might not even notice that they've appeared on your system, especially if they're just to patch an existing issue, though you'll be able to find the stack packages in 'Windows Update' under your Windows 11 Settings page if you want to check on what's been installed onto your system.

Analysis: You're not losing any freedom

If this has made you uneasy, rest assured that Microsoft isn't getting any additional access to your system and the updates should be along the same lines as what has already been fed to consumers, albeit in stages to keep systems stable.

Still, Microsoft is also rolling out additional improvements within this update that should put your mind at ease, including updating the Setting app to include more options for managing Windows Updates, just as you would usually find in Control Panel. Right now, if you wanted to roll back to a previous build you can head into the 'Windows Update' section of the Settings and click 'Uninstall Updates'.

Admittedly, this feature isn't as comprehensive as the Control Panel, but Microsoft has promised additional improvements in future releases, so we could regain most of the same update permissions seen in Windows 10 in an upcoming update.

Given there is plenty of transparency regarding what is being included in these smaller updates, it's unlikely you need to concern yourself that Microsoft has nefarious intentions. Instead, this could make the process of updating much less daunting as it might reduce the chances of your system being impacted, such as with the recent Windows 10 Printer debacle.

Given Windows 11 was released back in October 2021, there's now been a few months of it being in use outside of Insider testing channels. Early adoption hesitancy of new software is understandable, but Microsoft seems to have found its rhythm with Windows 11, making this the ideal time to start looking to update if you've been putting it off.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More

Ditch the Microsoft Teams icon from the taskbar to speed up Windows 11
  • No Comments

There is a lot to take in if you've moved to Windows 11 from Windows 10, with many of the major changes visible in the taskbar. Yes, there is the repositioned Start button and the centered shortcuts, but there are plenty of other changes too. Just look to the right-hand side of the taskbar, and you'll notice all manner of changes since previous versions of Windows.

As Microsoft has tried to encourage people away from using the likes of Slack and Zoom, the company has been pushing its own Microsoft Teams app. A seemingly innocuous addition to the taskbar has been a shortcut to Teams, and while you may resent giving up space to the icon if you're not a user of the app, there are more reasons to hide the icon than simply saving space in your taskbar.

You might be surprised to learn that so long as the Microsoft Teams icon is housed in the Windows 11 taskbar, it is firing up processes in the background. These Microsoft Edge WebView2 processes are associated with the browser rendering engine, and they use up system resources that could be put to better use.

Drain on resources

The same is true of the Widgets icon that sits in the taskbar but, as developer Michael Niehaus points out, there is key difference between the two icons. While Widgets only launches processes when the icon is clicked, the mere presence of the Teams icon is enough to use up many megabytes of RAM.

If you're not using Teams, you might want to consider simply uninstalling the app. But to avoid the problem of having to reinstall it should you find you need it further down the line, there is an alternative – just hide the icon. This simple act is enough to prevent Teams from gobbling up resources in the background.

If you try right-clicking the Teams icon to delete it, you'll notice that no context menu appears. To remove the icon you will instead have to head to Windows 11's Settings app and go to Personalization > Taskbar, before moving the 'Chats' toggle to the 'Off' position.  

Via Ars Technica

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

Read More