Free Republic

Microsoft's update for version 1607 doesn't fix two widespread problems with Windows 10 Anniversary Update, and it breaks PowerShell DSC operations Yesterday afternoon, Microsoft released KB 3176934 for those PCs running Windows 10 Anniversary Update. It's the fifth cumulative update for version 1607 (three were released before the product rolled out on Aug. 2) and brings the build number up to 14393.82. You can see the long list of official changes -- primarily bug fixes -- on the Windows 10 update history page. Anniversary Update customers also received an update to the "servicing stack" -- the subsystem within Windows 10...

Microsoft is coy about it in places, and estimates vary. (The time to make a Windows 10 recovery drive is before your PC dies. Grab a USB drive—you might need a big one!—and we'll show you how it's done...) Attila Balaton bought an 8GB USB key to create a Windows 10 Recovery Drive only to find out 16GB was required. Mea culpa: Answer Line was partly to blame, as my former colleague wrote that Microsoft suggests “at least a 4GB USB key.” It’s not his fault, though, as on this support page Microsoft says in order to create a Windows...

The Windows 10 Anniversary Update for PCs started rolling out more than two weeks ago. While many have been happy with the new features and improvements it brings, thousands of others are reportedly experiencing critical issues, that are rendering their machines unresponsive. The news of the OS causing system freezes broke out a couple of days after the rollout of the Anniversary Update began, and now a new report suggests that the update has caused another frustrating issue for users around the globe. Brad Sams on Thurrott.com reports that the Windows 10 Anniversary Update broke millions of webcams. He states...

We're a long way from the Start Menu now First, it scrapped the classic Start Menu and gave us Tiles. Now Microsoft has confirmed it really is working on yet another radical user interface update – one that will allow you to use your desktop Windows 10 PC with virtual reality headsets. The feature, due to arrive next year, is dubbed the Windows Holographic Shell. It is designed to work on any normal PC, not just high-end graphics rigs; the emphasis is on the fact that anyone with a half decent machine can use the new UI. The Holographic Shell...

Starting in October, patches will be cumulative and Win7/8.1 customers will effectively cede control of their PCs to Microsoft Windows 7 and 8.1 have had a good run, but that's about to come to a close. According to new guidelines, Microsoft will start rolling out Windows 7 and 8.1 (as well as Server 2008 R2, 2012, and 2012 R2) patches in undifferentiated monthly blobs. The patches will be cumulative, which eliminates the need to exercise judgment in selecting the patches you want. At the same time, though, the new approach severely hampers your ability to recover from bad patches --...

Windows 10 and the amount of data it collects via the Windows Store could prompt users to switch to Mac according to a new survey.The study conducted by OnePoll on behalf of security and privacy advice and comparison website Comparitech.com finds that 61 percent of the US public who regularly use Windows would at least consider switching to Mac. In the UK the figure is even higher at 67 percent, with 15 percent saying they would definitely consider swapping. Only 33 percent in the UK and 39 percent in the US say that they would not contemplate switching operating...

Microsoft is facing more legal trouble over its handling of Windows 10 upgrades. Microsoft is facing two more lawsuits over the company’s questionable Windows 10 upgrade tactics. Both suits are seeking class-action status. The first suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florida. It alleges that Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrade prompts “violated laws governing unsolicited electronic advertisements,” as reported by The Seattle Times. The suit also says Microsoft’s tactics are against the Federal Trade Commission’s rules on deceptive and unfair practices. The second suit was filed in June in Haifa, Israel alleging that Microsoft installed Windows 10 on users’...

France: Windows 10 collects 'excessive personal data', issues Microsoft with formal warning After accusations that Windows 10 collects too much data about users, France's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) has order Microsoft to comply with the French Data Protection Act within three months. The company has been ordered to "stop collecting excessive data and tracking browsing by users without their consent". In addition to this, the chair of CNIL has notified Microsoft that it needs to take "satisfactory measures to ensure the security and confidentiality of user data". The notice comes after numerous complaints about Windows 10, and a series...

Microsoft has turned on a new set of Windows Tips that warn Windows 10 users that Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is draining their laptop’s battery. The solution, according to the notification, is to use Microsoft Edge. We reached out to Microsoft for clarification. “Microsoft Edge was designed exclusively for Windows 10 with features and functionality that enhance the browsing experience such as Cortana, easy sharing, reading, and researching,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. “These Windows Tips notifications were created to provide people with quick, easy information that can help them enhance their Windows 10 experience, including information that can...

All that nagware hasn't worked When Windows 10 launched, Microsoft claimed it would have the new operating system on a billion devices by mid-2018. That isn't going to happen, however, Redmond has now admitted. For the past year, Microsoft has offered the new OS as a free upgrade for both desktop and mobile users (provided the phone can handle it in the latter case), and has been pushing it for Internet of Things makers. However, so far the OS is only on 350 million monthly active devices, and Redmond says it needs more time to hit ten figures. "We're pleased...

For months Microsoft has been describing Windows 10 “as a service” and now we know why. Microsoft is going to introduce a monthly subscription fee for Windows 10 usage… That cost will be $7 per user per month but the good news is it only applies to enterprises, for now. The new pricing tier will be called “Windows 10 Enterprise E3” and it means Windows has finally joined Office 365 and Azure as a subscription service. Of course the big question is now: How does this new subscription pricing affect the millions of consumers who upgraded to Windows 10 on...

Microsoft's bold claims about Edge turn out to be true. If you want to watch true 1080p content on Netflix over your PC, you need to use Microsoft’s Edge browser. On Wednesday, Microsoft claimed that its Edge browser was the only one of the big four browsers—which also includes Chrome, Firefox, and Opera—to offer 1080p resolution while playing Netflix content. A quick test of all four browsers by PCWorld proved this claim to be true, with the other three browsers capped at 720p. Why this matters: Microsoft’s been busy trying to rehabilitate the reputation of Edge, which suffered after the...

Microsoft says Windows 10 is fresh yet familiar, which is a nice way of saying it's a do-over for people who didn't like Windows 8. But what an impressive do-over it is. In fact, Windows 10 surpasses Apple's upcoming OS X El Capitan in some key areas, like multitasking and personal assistance. It's not that El Capitan isn't a worthy upgrade for Mac owners; it finally offers split-screen capability, along with revamped apps and performance improvements. Windows 10 offers PC users just a bit more. After using both the near-final version of Windows 10 and the public beta of El...

Microsoft has released build 14383 of Windows 10 Anniversary, for both PC and mobile, in preparation for its public launch on August 2nd 2016. Most "Insider" builds feature a watermark on the desktop, showing the version and build number, but that has gone in this build. "This is because we’re beginning to check in final code," said engineer Donar Sarkar in the announcement blog post, though we are promised more builds before release day. There are a bunch of fixes in this build but they are minor, as you would expect at this point in the release cycle. "We fixed...

Lenovo, and possibly other PC vendors, is exposed to a UEFI bug that can be exploited to disable firmware write-protection. If the claims made by Dmytro Oleksiuk at Github are correct, an attacker can “disable flash write protection and infect platform firmware, disable Secure Boot, [and] bypass Virtual Secure Mode (Credential Guard, etc.) on Windows 10 Enterprise.” The reason Oleksiuk believes other vendors are also vulnerable is that the buggy code is inherited from Intel. He writes that the SystemSmmRuntimeRt was copied from Intel reference code.

A researcher has discovered a new low-level zero-day exploit that overrides the protection for the firmware code in Lenovo ThinkPads and other laptops, bypassing hardware and Windows security features. Last week, Dmytro Oleksiuk, also known as cr4sh, released the code for his ThnkPwn proof of concept on Github, showing how it can be used to exploit a flaw in the unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) driver for privilege escalation. This lets attackers remove the write protection for system flash memory, and allows them to run arbitrary code with full access to the entire victim system. Lenovo had not received advance...

As the Windows 10 free upgrade period draws to a close, Microsoft is stepping up its operating system's nagware to full-screen takeovers. The Redmond software giant confirmed today it will start showing dark blue screens urging people to install the latest version of Windows. The full-screen ads will pop up on Windows 7 and 8.1 desktops from now until July 30, when the free upgrade period ends. "This notification is a reminder that the Window 10 free upgrade offer ends on July 29, 2016. Microsoft recommends that you upgrade to Windows 10 before the offer expires," Microsoft said. "You can...

Microsoft has been forced to change the red "x" notification on its Windows 10 upgrade prompts after users reacted angrily to the misleading button. Microsoft dispensed with the historical function of the red "x" in the upgrade prompts to instead use it as authorisation for the upgrade process; clicking the button meant users gave their consent for the upgrade to take place. But backlash from users over the perceived trickery has pushed Microsoft to pledge to modify the button back to its original function. Now, clicking the "x" will dismiss the upgrade prompt and won't initiate the Windows 10 download,...

A few days after Microsoft released Windows 10 to the public last year, Teri Goldstein's computer started trying to download and install the new operating system. The update, which she says she didn't authorize, failed. Instead, the computer she uses to run her Sausalito, California, travel-agency business slowed to a crawl. It would crash, she says, and be unusable for days at a time. "I had never heard of Windows 10," Goldstein said. "Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update." When outreach to Microsoft's customer support didn't fix the issue, Goldstein took the software giant to court, seeking...

This summer, one year after the initial launch of Windows 10, Microsoft will release its first major update: the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. It will be delivered in the usual way -- via Windows Update -- and will install automatically on its own. However, if you're curious (or apprehensive) about the upcoming update, you don't have to wait until the final release date to check it out. Microsoft has been releasing public preview builds, each one a little bit closer to the final version. Anyone can get and install those builds by first becoming part of Microsoft's Windows Insider Program,...