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RIP: The Edge is dead... as in the EdgeHTML layout code Microsoft on Thursday said it intends to use the open-source Chromium browser engine in the desktop version of its Edge browser, promising the two per cent of global internet users who favor Edge an improved web experience.Joe Belfiore, corporate veep of Windows, announced the plan, which was reported earlier this week. "Ultimately, we want to make the web experience better for many different audiences," he said. One of those audiences may be macOS users, who despite not clamoring for Edge should have access to Microsoft's browser at some point:...

But there's still a long way before Windows 7 can be laid to rest MICROSOFT could see Windows 10 finally catch up to evergreen Windows 7 by the new year if this months market share figures are anything to go by.The monthly numbers from Netmarketshare show 40.88 per cent of desktop users on Windows 7, with Windows 10 at 37.44 per cent, just 3.44 behind as we head into the busy period of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Santa's subsequent annual giveaway.Third place goes to the latest version of macOS, with version 10.13 on 6.08 per cent. Windows 8.1 is fourth...

When it was discovered earlier this month that the 1809 build of Windows 10 was deleting user files just because, Microsoft halted the update until the problem was fixed. Shame, then, that another not-as-bad-but-still-bad file overwriting bug has now reared its head. Over the weekend, several users on Reddit reported that Windows 10's in-built interface for compressed archive won't actually extract files properly. Instead, it just "fails silently", which is not something you want when it comes to data. Here's a concise explanation of the bug from user "Wazhai" on Reddit: The issue is that in 1809, overwriting files by...

Or at least uninstall some of the bits you really don't want Microsoft has announced that its customers will finally be able to remove more of the cruft that arrives with a Windows 10 installation. In 2019.While Slow and Release Preview ring Windows Insiders got to experience Redmond’s latest efforts to stabilise the troubled OS, Fast ring and Skippy testers got their hands on a fresh build of the 2019 version of Windows 10 (aka 19H1).Build 18262 has finally introduced the ability to uninstall some more of the preinstalled Windows 10 apps (also confusingly known as "inbox"), such as little-used...

Second Insider build with more fixes for 1809. Could third time be the charm? Microsoft’s efforts to recover from the Windows 10 October 2018 Update debacle continued last night as a fresh build of the troubled operating system was emitted to Windows Insiders.Build 17763.104 is the second release of the update to Insiders since the file-eating monster was unleashed on an unsuspecting public back on 2 October before being yanked back into its kennel.Microsoft reckoned it had fixed all the data loss issues in build 17763.17, which was released just over a week ago but clearly there was still some...

...Probably because Microsoft has accidentally disabled your audio Somebody got a little trigger happy with the big red Windows Update button last week as a broken Intel audio driver was unleashed on users “by mistake”.It has been a hellish couple of weeks for the Windows giant following the launch of the troubled October update for its flagship operating system. Not content with Display Audio issues, mysterious file deletions and borking HP computers thanks to a “known incompatibility” with drivers for an obscure bit of hardware (aka the “keyboard”), it seems audio is next in the firing line.Last week's Windows 10...

Day four exceeds all expectations as Microsoft steps back from brink Microsoft has taken the unprecedented step of pulling a Windows 10 release a mere four days after its arrival amid a clamour of users complaining about files not being where they had left them.Windows Insider supremo Dona Sarkar took to Twitter to announce that Windows fans would no longer be able to get their hands on the afflicted build. Redmond said the automatic rollout would also be paused until it works out just what in blue blazes is going on. #WindowsInsiders If you've run into the "missing files after...

Clicked Check For Updates? Welcome to the Release Preview ring Windows 10 October 2018 update is here, having skipped past the Release Preview phase, and can be downloaded now if you can’t wait for it to make an automatic appearance.Click to enlarge While many observers (us included) expected a release date for Windows 10 to be secreted among the hardware ejaculations during last night’s Surface announcement, having the thing actually smack users in the face like an octopus flung by a seal was unexpected.This is because the last build, 17763, had yet to make it from the Slow Ring, where...

StatCounter and NetMarketShare are the two primary OS market data sources. Both those sites paint a somewhat different picture regarding Windows 10’s and Windows 7’s market share for desktops and laptops. NetMarketShare highlights that Windows 7 still has the largest user base, but the latest StatCounter data shows that Windows 10 is pulling further ahead of Windows 7.StatCounter’s latest data for July 2018 shows that Windows 10 now has a 47.25% market share, which is just about its largest ever figure to date. Windows 7‘s percentage share has dropped from 39.63% to 39.06% on StatCounter’s graph. Thus, Win 10‘s...

On September 30, 2014, Microsoft announced Windows 10, thus changing the firm's operating system as we know it. Windows was going to be serviced, rather than being refreshed every few years. We've learned since then that this means biannual feature updates, along with monthly (sometimes more often) cumulative updates. Indeed, Microsoft was done competing with itself with new versions of Windows. On July 29, 2015, Windows 10 launched, and it was promised that there would never be a Windows 11. Here we are, exactly three years later, when we would normally see the next version of Microsoft's flagship OS. Since...

It's been three months and 16% have their heels firmly planted [Dayglored note: Ya gotta admit, The Register comes up with some really catchy pics.] The charge of the Windows 10 April 2018 Update continued into July with 84 per cent of lucky, lucky users seeing their desktops upgraded, according to AdDuplex.The rate at which the code was flung at PCs slowed a little, which was inevitable considering June's impressive (or alarming, depending on your point of view) 78 per cent penetration of the Windows 10 install-base.In the absence of official numbers from Microsoft (other than a cheery "it's going...

[Microsoft] Claims it’s the least complaint-generating Windows ever Microsoft’s decided that Windows 10 version 1803, aka the April Update, is now fit for consumption by business users or indeed anyone or anything capable of running Windows 10.The company’s declared the updated OS is now “fully available for all compatible devices running Windows 10 worldwide”, including business PCs. Redmond’s advice comes after over 250 million users installed the OS and gave it a thrashing. Those efforts produced data that Microsoft said shows a twenty per “reduction in system stability issues” and the same reduction “in operating system and driver stability issues.”The...

So how did that April 2018 Update go for you then? Champion of consumer rights and closer of customer email services Which? has taken a hobnailed boot to Microsoft's beleaguered Windows 10 operating system with research that will make for unpleasant reading at Redmond.A latest survey of more than 1,100 UK users comes after Which? gave Microsoft a kicking back in 2016. One thousand members of the online comparison service got in touch back then to complain about Windows 10 updates, and nearly two years on – things do not appear to have moved on much.In the survey, conducted in...

Got the latest update on Windows 10, eliminated the Home Group and ALL networking capability. Trying to force me to use the Cloud. Uh, NO. My stuff is NOT going to be on the cloud. Use Sneakernet first. Any 3rd party inexpensive networking software or work-arounds that can solve a small office computing networking issue?

[Dayglored note: This problem report involves AVAST! antivirus breaking the April Update. AVAST personnel deny the claim...] Apps fingered in vanishing desktop snafu Updated The troubled Windows 10 April 2018 update is facing another issue, with some users losing access to their desktop after installing the new code.The problem, which first appeared in a posting on a Microsoft support forum on 14 May, has gained a bit of traction over the last two days with users taking to social media as they go through the three stages of installing this update: frustration, fury and despair.The affected users report that after...

So happy for you, Microsoft, \r\n Windows Notepad users, rejoice! Microsoft's text editing app, which has been shipping with Windows since version 1.0 in 1985, has finally been taught how to handle line endings in text files created on Linux, Unix, Mac OS, and macOS devices."This has been a major annoyance for developers, IT Pros, administrators, and end users throughout the community," Microsoft acknowledged in a blog post today, without touching on why the issue was allowed to fester for more than three decades.Notepad's line feed limitations may not inspire the same level of partisan bickering as the tabs vs....

Redmond, Google and Intel are desperately hunting for a fix Microsoft says it's looking into reports that apps including "Hey Cortana" and Google Chrome hang or freeze for those who have installed the recent Windows 10 April 2018 Update.The company suggests trying the Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + B to wake the screen or, for laptop users, opening and closing device lid, in an attempt to resolve the issue.It's not immediately clear where the bug is hiding but developers from Microsoft, Google, and Intel are looking into it.In a Chromium bug report thread – Chromium being the...

Or dance on their graves, whatever flips your pancake The Windows 10 April Update has begun seeping out from beneath the Redmond bathroom door. As an antidote to the excitement of the new, let us take a moment to mourn the passing of the old.First on Microsoft's roll of honour was Groove Music Pass. The music service, which was loved by a niche of users, got a Spotify-shaped knife through the heart back in 2017. With the April 2018 Update, Microsoft has formalised the arrangement. The Groove app will now only play music on a PC or stream from OneDrive....

(This is the photo that came with the article.) Chinese whispers suggest a big Patch Tuesday download Windows 10 Springwatch is headed for a fourth week, with the troubled update rumoured to have a name and possibly a release date.Having been pulled at the last minute due to "reliability issues" causing an unusually high number of Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors, the update has gone missing in action.A week after Windows fans expected to get their new toys, Microsoft emitted an updated version with an incremented build number – 17134. This made its way through the Windows Insider Programme,...

Microsoft Windows Insider chief 'fesses up to potential blue-screen inducing glitch Windows 10 Springwatch – as it shall henceforth be known – has entered its second week and Microsoft has dropped the first clue as to what caused the delay: bugs.Though Microsoft has never actually confirmed a release date or name for the elusive Windows 10 Spring Creators Update (aka version 1803), many expected it to arrive on April 10's Patch Tuesday, with build 17133 hitting the Release Preview ring of the Windows Insider programme.But nothing happened, until now.Supremo of the Windows Insider programme, Dona Sarkar, dropped a hint last...