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One in five Windows-powered devices steered to a host of U.S. government websites in March ran Windows 10, according to preliminary data. For the first time, Windows 10 accounted for more than one-fifth of the visits to sites tracked by the Digital Analytics Program (DAP), which mines traffic to more than 4,000 websites on over 400 different domains maintained by U.S. government agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service and the National Weather Service. The bulk of the visits to DAP websites originate in the U.S. Through Thursday, Windows 10 recorded 20.2% of visits in March by Windows PCs, smartphones...

Being notoriously strict about censorship, China makes it difficult for companies to launch their products there. It’s a major stumbling block for businesses that want to take a stab at the largest market in the world.Often, companies will have to bend to suit the requirements of China’s government and that’s exactly what Microsoft has done. Ralph Haupter, Microsoft’s CEO for the Greater China region has revealed that the company’s made a Chinese government-approved version of Windows 10. Partnering with a state-run technology and defense company, CETC, Microsoft created its specialized version of Windows, officially called Zhuangongban, to comply with...

Note: I've posted numerous threads on the "Get Windows 10" nagware situation, and almost passed this one up -- but it's far and away the best I've seen, most complete, and most likely to be accurate. So have at it... - dayglored Subtitle: Here's how to nuke this persistent menace Microsoft uses techniques similar to aggressive malware to promote its “Get Windows 10” offer. As many readers have discovered, the persistent and constantly changing methods Microsoft uses to continually reintroduce its “Get Windows 10” tool, or GWX, onto computers means it’s extremely difficult to avoid. Windows users who decline to...

It feels like Microsoft has been dangling the "Windows will come to Xbox" carrot for the longest time, but now it appears the company isn't too far away from actually delivering. Speaking with Business Insider at GDC 2016, Xbox product manager Jason Ronald revealed that the company will begin opening its PC and gaming ecosystems to over the course of the year, with Windows 10 apps coming to the Xbox One in the summer. Microsoft's plan is to merge the Xbox Store and Windows Store, which will host apps that can be run on a smartphone, tablet, PC or console....

Matt WeinbergerMarch 15, 2016Microsoft's aggressive campaign to get customers to Windows 10 is raising some eyebrows, with scattered reports that some people's PCs are automatically upgrading from Windows 7 — without their explicit permission. For instance, in a post titled "My PC Upgraded To Windows 10 Without Asking, Then Immediately Broke," Kotaku's Patrick Klepek shares the story of how, last week, his Windows 7 PC installed the Windows 10 update automatically overnight. "Maybe I forgot to push back the upgrade schedule, maybe I accidentally scheduled it by clicking the wrong button. Whatever the case, I definitely did not intend to...

Some Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users have begun to howl over Microsoft's practice of automatically upgrading their PCs to Windows 10, saying that they were never given a chance to decline the upgrade before it installed itself. That was contrary to how Microsoft has described its aggressive strategy of pushing Windows 10 to devices running older versions of its operating system. strategy chess How creating an alumni strategy closes the skills gap Smart companies are looking to their past employees to help drive future success and are actively READ NOW It stuck to that today. "Customers continue to be...

As Microsoft auto-upgrades more PCs to Windows 10, some users are complaining that they weren’t adequately notified. Reports of unwanted Windows 10 upgrades have been circulating for the past few days on Reddit and Twitter, after the last Patch Tuesday. These users say they never approved or initiated the upgrade, and were dragged away from their Windows 7 (or perhaps Windows 8) installs anyway. This is all part of Microsoft’s plan, of course. Last October, the company announced that it would reclassify Windows 10 as a “Recommended” update from older versions starting in early 2016, at which point many more...

A number of Windows 7 users were taken by surprise this weekend when their operating systems started to automatically upgrade to Windows 10, causing hardware and software issues for some. Problems reported by users included hardware drivers no longer working after the upgrade, software incompatibilites, and users getting large bills for using several gigabytes of cellular data. Microsoft copped flak last September for quietly downloading Windows 10 components onto users' computers in preparation for a later upgrade, taking up storage space and eating into data caps. The company has since published instructions for users who want to opt out of...

If Microsoft's documentation is correct, installing Patch Tuesday's KB 3139929 security update for Internet Explorer also installs a new Windows 10 ad-generating routine called KB 3146449. Many people -- present company included -- feel that putting an ad generator inside a security patch crosses way over the line. In fact, you have to ask yourself if there are any lines any more. Microsoft lays it all out in black and white in its inimitable, most obfuscatory way. This month's MS16-023 security patch for Internet Explorer, KB 3139929, says: This security update resolves several reported vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The most...

In just 6 months, Windows 10 has reached 13 percent market share, gaining a percentage point every month, recorded bt Net Applications. Windows 10 is up and running on 12.82 percent of computers, reports Net Applications. That the feat has been achieved in just six months of its existence makes it all the more impressive.Windows 10 adoption rate has also been steady so far, having grown from 11.85 percent in January and 9.96 percent in December. This makes for a gain of a percentage point for every month.With that many PCs running Windows 10, the latest version of Windows is...

Windows Ten started downloading automatically. I simply unplugged the computer and restarted in safe mode. How do I get rid of this bastard system update. Specifically purchased new Windows 7 Pro machine and do not want to update EVER! How do I shut off this auto update. Not computer savvy BTW

The March roll-up update for Windows 10 appears to be causing headaches for users, some of whom have been left with computers that don't boot up after the patch has been applied. Microsoft issued the update on March 2 Australian time and users who installed it via Windows Update soon after started complaining of problems. Some experienced extremely long start-up times, with their devices taking over an hour to reach the user account login prompt. Others said they were forced to boot from USB thumb drives with an earlier installation version of Windows 10 and attempt startup repair. Also reported...

Redmond plans pre-loaded WinPi for thing-makers Microsoft has announced a cut Windows 10 IoT Core for the Raspberry Pi 3. The new Insider Preview of Windows 10 IoT Core, yours for the downloading here, supports the new Pi. Windows 10 IoT Core is a long way short of full Windows comparable to Windows Embedded rather than efforts like Windows 8.1 with Bing intended to run on very cheap hardware. So don't go getting excited about the chance to cook up a fleet of very cheap Raspberry Pi PC replacements. Some may, however, be excited that Microsoft says it's signed up...

Microsoft PC users be alert. I was notified Tuesday of an important Windows 7 update. It turned out it was an update to install the Windows 10 upgrade app on Windows 7 (and maybe 8 and 8.1) machines, KB 3035583. I thought it might have been the earlier upgrade from last fall, but it was released February 23, 2013 with some file updates from February 17. I have a sticky note on my monitor with this MS update number (and some others) and when I receive notice of Windows updates I check the list. In this instance, I immediately hid...

Microsoft keeps shouting about the millions of users that have switched to Windows 10, and soon the company will have another 4 million to bray about. The US Department of Defense is the latest big name to give Windows 10 the seal of approval apparently unconcerned with the privacy and telemetry issues that have put off others. 4 million enterprise upgrades for Windows 10 is a real feather in the cap for Microsoft, and the aim is to get each system running the latest version of the operating system inside a year. The DoD has also announced that it is...

Feburary 14, 2016 Paul_Behan Don’t Keep Your Personal Or Financial Data On A Windows 10 Machine! Well not if you want to keep it private. Like many people I was surprised at the Edward Snowden revelations a few years ago. Nothing has seemed to change and in many cases things have got worse. Some corporations are in partnership with government agencies in regard to collection of data.(snip) According to this an article, (1) even after turning off all the tracking options on a computer, the researcher left the computer on overnight and tracked the traffic. He was surprised to find...

Windows 10 Worst Secret Spins Out Of Control - Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2016/02/09/windows-10-data-tracking-spying-levels/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix#1b42bfac7aa9 Back in November Microsoft confirmed Windows 10’s worst kept secret: its extensive telemetry (or ‘spying’ as it has been labelled) cannot be stopped. What no-one realised until now, however, is just how staggering the extent of this tracking really is…  Blowing the lid on it this week is Voat user CheesusCrust whose extensive investigation found  *Windows 10 contacts Microsoft to report data thousands of times per day.  And the kicker?  *This happens after choosing a custom Windows 10 installation and disabling all three pages of tracking options which are...

And rather better than a US$35 tablet, if you need a Windows 10 machine lurking around Among the many bizarre and stupid mistakes Microsoft made with Windows 8.x was the decision to require screens to have resolution of at least 1024 x 768. That decision meant that hordes of Netbooks, the very small laptops popular in the late noughties, had no obvious upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 8.x. Back in November 2013 I therefore tried to figure out how to extend the life of my own Netbook. Along the way I confirmed that Windows 8 was indeed a...

It may have taken awhile, but the market is finally showing Windows 10 some love. Six months after its debut, the latest Microsoft operating system has climbed its way up to the number two spot among desktop environments, according to data from Net Market Share. With 11.85 percent of the market, Windows 10 has finally surpassed third place Windows XP, which still holds 11.42 percent of the desktop market. Neither Windows 10 nor XP comes close to the most popular operating system in the world, which remains Windows 7 with a whopping 52.47 percent of the desktop market. Microsoft ended...

"Like many of you, I am concerned about the telemetry, spying and other surveillance features, known or unknown, of Windows 10. It has concerned me enough to push me to Linux Mint as my main operating system. Even so, I wanted to better understand Windows 10, but internet search results for a decent windows 10 traffic analysis leave a lot to be desired. As such, I decided to do my own investigating on what, exactly, Windows 10 is doing traffic-wise, and post the results. For this analysis, I wanted to simply analyse the network traffic of Windows 10 on a...