Microsoft unveils first look at Windows 10

del.icio.us Tags: operating systems,technology,Windows 10

Nancy Blair, USA TODAY 2:35 p.m. EDT September 30, 2014

The Windows 10 logo. (Photo: Nancy Blair, USA TODAY)

SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft on Tuesday lifted the veil on the next version of Windows: Windows 10.

At an event in San Francisco focused on corporate users, Microsoft previewed early elements of the next generation of its iconic computer operating system.

It represents the first step in a whole new generation of Windows, said Microsoft executive Terry Myerson.

The company said it will focus on one Windows product family across devices. Its corporate users will find Windows 10 "familiar, compatible and productive," Myerson said.

Microsoft's Joe Belfiore gave a demo, focused on the core experience in how the PC "is evolving."

There are live tiles, familiar to Windows 8 users, but also elements familiar to Windows 7 users, which is far more widely deployed. The Start menu and taskbar are front and center.

The Start menu in Windows 10. (Photo: Microsoft)

Yes, the company is skipping the "Windows 9" moniker. Why skip "9"?

"When you see the product in its fullness I think you will agree with us that it is a more appropriate name," Myerson said.

Among other things, Belfiore said the company wants to focus on personalization, to make the Windows experience particular to individual users' tastes and preferences.

"We are trying to hit this balance in just the right way," Belfiore said.

Starting Wednesday, Microsoft is launching a Windows Insider program and will release a technical preview of Windows 10 for laptops and desktops, with other devices to follow.

Microsoft will start talking more about the consumer experience next year at the company's developer conference in the spring, Myerson said. It expects to launch Windows 10 "later in 2015."

Myerson emphasized that the insider program is for people who are comfortable "running pre-release software that will be of variable quality."

"We want to set expectations right," he said. "We are planning to share more than we ever have before...Windows 10 will be our most collaborative, open OS project ever."

Microsoft has been talking broadly about its Windows strategy for months. At its developer conference in April, CEO Satya Nadella and other Microsoft executives outlined ways in which it would make it easier for software developers to create applications that will work across all Microsoft devices – PCs, phones and tablets.

Ahead of the event, researcher Forrester said the pressure is on for Microsoft to address the needs of its business customers given the sluggish adoption of Windows 8.

"Only about 1 in 5 organizations is offering Windows 8 PCs to employees right now," Forrester analyst David Johnson said in a note.

Microsoft's last big Windows overhaul – 2012's tablet and touch-friendlyWindows 8 – was a dramatic departure from the familiar and well-received Windows 7 that preceded it. It left many consumers frustrated over the disappearance of the familiar Start button and desktop.

Windows 8 has since been updated to add features that make it more comfortable for people who prefer more traditional mouse-and-keyboard interactions.

Wall Street so far has embraced Nadella's big moves since being named CEO in February. The stock is up about 25 percent this year. It was at around $46 in mid-day trading Tuesday.

After the announcement, analyst Daniel Ives with research firm FBR said a unified Microsoft platform "is music to ears of CIOs worldwide." It could also open "massive opportunities" on the consumer front in coming years, he said.

In July, the company announced a massive layoff that would trim some 18,000 jobs, many aimed at its $7.2 billion Nokia acquisition. Earlier this year, it announced Office for iPad, a long overdue version of its bread-and-butter productivity software for Apple's popular tablet.

And just this month, Microsoft said it will acquire the studio that created the hit "sandbox" game Minecraft for $2.5 billion, a move that could help bolster both Xbox and the company's mobile ambitions.

Windows 9 leak shows multiple desktops, notifications, new Start menu, and more

del.icio.us Tags: Operating Systems,Technology,Windows 9

 

Jared Newman@onejarednewman

Jared Newman , PCWorld

Jared writes for PCWorld and TechHive from his remote outpost in Cincinnati.
More by Jared Newman

A batch of leaked screenshots from the next version of Windows show just how far Microsoft will go to win back desktop users.

The update, codenamed Threshold and possibly called Windows 9 or just plain Windows, takes some features from Windows 8 and grafts them onto the classic desktop. While we've known for some time that Windows 9 will have a pop-up Start menu and the ability to run modern apps in windowed mode, the new screenshots from Computer Base and WinFuture.de give even greater detail on how things will work.

When running in windowed mode, Windows Store apps will get a button in the top-left corner. Clicking the button brings up a list of functions that previously appeared in the Charms bar, including Search, Share, Play, Project and Settings. This menu lets users switch the app to full screen mode as well.

WinFuture.de

Microsoft is also adding a few new buttons to the desktop taskbar. A search button sits immediately to the right of the Start button, followed by a button for switching between multiple desktops. The latter feature, possibly called “virtual desktops,” will let users switch between several sets of desktop apps and layouts in nod to Ubuntu Linux's longstanding “Workspaces.”

WinFuture.de

Near the right side of the taskbar, users will find a new notifications button, with a pop-up menu that will presumably show messages from Windows Store apps.

The screenshots don't reveal any other major features, but they do give away a few more minor details. Despite rumors that the Charms bar is dead, the screenshots show that users can still bring up Charms by pointing to the upper-right corner, or bring up a recent apps list by pointing to the upper-left corner. Those options and others will be available through Taskbar and Start Menu Properties.

Of course, all of these details are subject to change as Microsoft hasn't even released a public beta yet. The leaks likely come from Microsoft partners, who according to Neowin started receiving Windows builds a few weeks ago. A public “Technical Preview” is expected to arrive later this month or early next month.

Via The Verge

Oops! Microsoft accidentally teases Windows 9 'coming soon' on social media

del.icio.us Tags: Windows 9,Operating Systems,technology

Brad Chacos@BradChacos

• Sep 2, 2014 6:12 AM

Brad Chacos Senior Writer, PCWorld

Brad Chacos spends the days jamming to Spotify, digging through desktop PCs and covering everything from BYOD tablets to DIY tesla coils.
More by Brad Chacos

Microsoft's internal censors seem to be sleeping on the job this year. In June, the Surface Pro 3 manual included several references to a small-screen Surface Mini despite the fact that a small-screen Surface Mini was never actually released. And now, as rumors of Windows 9 swirl, Microsoft China appears to have confirmed the impending reveal.

Posting to Weibo—a Chinese social media site—Microsoft China posed its followers a question: "Microsoft’s latest OS Windows 9 is coming soon, do you think the start menu at the left bottom will make a comeback?" (Translation courtesy of The Verge.)

Oops. And not just because Microsoft has already announced the return of the Start menu.

The post was accompanied by a screenshot of a Windows 9 logo mock-up by Shy Designs, seen above. Microsoft China appears to have quickly realized the error of its ways, as the Weibo message has since been removed, though not before Cnbeta noticed and first reported it.

Several reports from oft-reliable sources say Microsoft is prepared to announce Windows 9 in "technical preview" form at the end of September or early in October, just before Windows 7 PCs disappear from store shelves, though Microsoft itself has yet to confirm it. Leaks suggest Windows 9 will better let a PC be a PC and a tablet be a tablet, bringing several mouse-friendly changes to the desktop and possibly killing the desktop completely in tablets and phones powered by mobile ARM processors.

If Windows 9 is indeed incoming—and Microsoft China's slip-up suggests it is—we have some suggestions for features we'd want to see. But one of the most crucial improvements Microsoft needs to make ASAP has nothing to do with the core operating system itself: The company needs to clean up the Windows Store pronto if it ever hopes to make Metro apps viable on the desktop. Fortunately, Microsoft's already taking its first tentative steps towards fixing the mess.

Windows 8.1 + ModernMix

Stardock helps make our transition to the mobile future a lot easier

Paul Thurrott

Aug. 18, 2013

del.icio.us Tags: Windows 8.1,Windows RT,Operating Systems,installation,tips

Ever since Microsoft released the Windows 8.1 Preview back in June, readers have asked me whether Stardock’s useful utilities like ModernMix and Start8 will work with the new OS version. With the recent leak of a near final Windows 8.1 build, I decided to test ModernMix on my daily-use PC. And I think this is going to be a very useful transition tool indeed.

I think it’s fair to say that Windows 8 has presented a certain challenge to many if not most of the 1.5 billion Windows users worldwide. The cause is obvious: Windows 8 is a “touch-first” version of Windows that ships with its first-ever mobile environment, originally called Metro. And this new Metro environment was unceremoniously and awkwardly tacked onto the classic Windows desktop. The result is a disjointed experience that is optimized for neither touch nor mouse and keyboard.

Enter Windows 8.1. This very major update to Windows 8 (and RT) provides users with the OS that Microsoft should have shipped originally. Windows 8.1 includes major improvements to both the Metro and desktop environments, making this system a far better fit for those users that prefer either. It also eases the transition between the two, which is important because Windows will be moving further down that mobile path in future releases as the desktop is deemphasized and then made optional or removed.

Depending on your mindset, that future is either dystopian or utopian, but let’s not get bogged down in things we can’t change today. For now, we have Windows 8, imperfect as it is, and Windows 8.1, which finally offers some apps—like the improved Mail, Calendar and Xbox Music, among others—that are good enough that even desktop users should start paying attention. But doing so on traditional (non-touch) PCs is still a bit awkward, despite the useful advances in Windows 8.1

Enter Stardock. This Michigan-based firm has been around for over 20 years and been developing useful Windows-based utilities for years. With the advent of Windows 8, Stardock has stepped up to the plate and released a series of very useful products that help ease the transition to Windows 8 and make this less-than-optimal system work the way Windows users expect.

I’ve written about a few Stardock utilities in the recent past, including ModernMix (Windows 8 Tip: Run Metro Apps in Windows on the Desktop) and Start8 (Windows 8 Tip: Boot Directly to the Desktop with Start8) and recommend both highly. But now that I am using a near-final version of Windows 8.1, I find myself curious about using some of those new app versions at home, on my desktop set up (which is currently a jury-rigged Surface Pro docked to a large desktop display, keyboard, mouse and other peripherals, but is normally a tower PC). The thing is, these full-screen apps, good as they are, still don’t work well on such a PC configuration.

So I’ve been using ModernMix to see whether this utility can help cross that final divide between the future (mobile apps) and the present (my desktop PC with keyboard and mouse). And though there are a few bugs that I attribute to the pre-release nature of Windows 8.1, the answer is … yes. Most definitely.

New Windows 8.1 apps running in windows on the desktop

ModernMix provides what I think is a better “mix” (hence the name, presumably) of mobile apps and desktop. It lets you run Windows mobile apps (Mail, Calendar, Xbox Music, etc.) in windows on the Windows desktop, just like real desktop applications. This means they can float, be resized, be pinned to the taskbar, and so on.

What’s interesting is that ModernMix is so mature that it’s smart about how these apps work. I’ve pinned Xbox Music to the desktop, for example, and when I launch it from there it runs in a window as I want. But if I launch the app from the Start screen—which I might do when out and about in the world with the Surface, now used as a tablet—it will run normally, in full-screen mode. Which is also what I want.

This dual-mode use is why ModernMix is so useful as a transition tool. Yes, if you’re just going to use Metro apps on a desktop PC, you may simply want them to run in a window. But if you’re transitioning to this mobile future, not just through software but with a hybrid mobile device like a Surface, Lenovo Yoga, or whatever, you can have it both ways.

Choice is good. And while I applaud the changes Microsoft has made in Windows 8.1, some people will always believe that they’ll never go far enough. For those, and for any user that simply wants an easier transition from the desktop systems they’ve spent over 15 years using, ModernMix is a great (and, at $4.99, inexpensive) option.

You can download Modernmix from the Stardock web site.

Windows 8.1 Preview available for download 6/26/2013

del.icio.us Tags: Operating systems,Windows,installation

Microsoft is making Windows 8.1 public preview available for download from the app store on June 26th. But you just might want to reconsider hitting that download button just yet.
If you download and install the preview, when the final version releases, you will have to reinstall all of your apps on your device. So if you have a large number of apps installed, you may just want to wait for the final version to be released.
But there are some nice features being (re)introduced in Windows 8.1, like the return of the “start button”, boot to desktop, IE11, and Outlook for Windows RT. I have also heard a report from Mary Jo Foley, stating that a new version of Visual Studio will also be available as part of the Windows 8.1 upgrade.

Add a Wi-Fi hotspot to Windows 8 with Virtual Router Plus

del.icio.us Tags: Windows 8,WiFi,networking

Rick Broida@justrick

• Jun 7, 2013 12:49 PM
• print

Virtual Router Plus

Recently I spent a full week in a hotel, where I grudgingly paid for Wi-Fi so I could get some work done. Unfortunately, it was a per-device purchase: Only my laptop could get online. If I wanted Internet access on my phone (which had a weak indoor signal) and tablet (Wi-Fi only), I'd have to pay again. And again.

Hey, wait a minute, doesn't Windows let you set up a Wi-Fi hotspot to share its connection with other devices? It did, in Windows 7; it doesn't in Windows 8. Actually, the capability is still there, but enabling it requires some serious command-line tinkering.

Fortunately, I found Virtual Router Plus, a free utility that adds Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities to Windows 8. It works, but with a few important caveats.

First, be really careful during setup. The price of "free" here is that the installer comes packed with junk ware. It's easy enough to bypass if you pay attention, but potentially troublesome if you don't.

On the first screen, choose Custom Installation, then uncheck the box below it. When you click Next, a pop-up will appear; click Cancel. Click Next again, then clear yet another checkbox. Now you're good to go with a clean install.

When you run the program, it'll pop open a help page in your browser, which you may need to verify whether you have the required device drivers. But skip that for now; instead, try using the utility.

To do so, give your network a name (i.e. SSID), then enter a password (to keep freeloaders out). Finally, choose the connection you want to share (which is probably whatever appears as the default). Now click Start Virtual Router Plus.

After a few moments, you should be able to detect your new network from your phone, tablet, or even another PC. But don't worry: your laptop will retain its own Internet connectivity at the same time.

As I noted before, the utility worked as advertised, but it did create one problem: I could no longer connect to the various virtual private networks (VPNs) I use. Your mileage may vary, and if you don't work with VPNs, you're golden. As for me, I unfortunately had no choice but to uninstall the utility to regain access.

Want something that's a little more reliable and comes with technical support? Check out Connectify Hotspot. It's not free, but it may be more hassle-free.

How to activate Windows Defender in Windows 8

 

del.icio.us Tags: Windows 8,Windows Defender

Brad Chacos@BradChacos

Like every new Windows release, Windows 8 is more secure than the operating systems that came before it. That's due in large part to three major enhancements: An increased emphasis on UEFI Secure Boot optimizations, the extension of the SmartScreen Filter across the operating system, and the default inclusion of a more robust version of Windows Defender, which now protects against all kinds of malware—not just spyware.

Windows Defender's increased scope doesn't sit well with computer manufacturers, however. OEMs make beaucoup bucks by installing those trial versions of McAfee, Norton and other security suites you'll find bundled on boxed PCs. Windows Defender's default installation threatens that gravy train.

Microsoft tossed its partners a bone by allowing OEMs to deactivate Windows Defender in order to ship boxed PCs with alternative security solutions installed. That's all well and good from a "variety is the spice of life" perspective, but one side-effect that isn't so hot is what happens when you fail to register that third-party security software: Windows 8 doesn't automatically reactivate Windows Defender by default. In other words, your pretty new prepackaged PC is wide open and vulnerable to all the nasties of the 'Net.

Fortunately, activating Windows Defender is a snap. Here's how to do it.

Activate Windows Defender in Windows 8

Windows Defender isn't subtle about being deactivated.

First, head to the modern-style Start screen and type "Windows Defender" to have Windows search for the program, then click on the Windows Defender icon when it appears in the results. A Windows Defender window will appear on the classic desktop. If Microsoft's security software is disabled, you'll seen a lot of scary red tones alongside an "At risk" warning and an image of a computer screen with a big X on it. Subtle, eh?

Next, click on the Settings tab at the top of the window. Make sure "Real-time protection" is selected in the left pane, then check the box next to "Turn on real-time protection (recommended)." Finally, click Save Changes at the bottom of the Window.

How you want your Settings tab to look!

You'll know it worked when the terrifying red "At risk" bar at the top of the Windows turns a much more soothing shade of green and switches to "PC Status: Protected."

Check for leaks

You're not quite done yet. Now it's time to make sure your PC is actually malware-free! Click the Update tab, then click on the big Update button in the middle of the Window to download the latest malware definitions Microsoft has on file.

Next, open the Home tab and select the "Full" radio button in the Scan Options list. All you have to do now is click Scan Now, then sit back and wait while Windows Defender checks the nooks and crannies of your PC for any hidden baddies. Grab a cup of coffee; it may take some time. While you're waiting, we recommend checking out your Windows 8 antivirus options.

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit–$139 @ Newegg

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,operating systems

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How to dual boot Windows 8 Developer Preview with Windows 7