It's now less than a year until Windows 7 goes out of mainstream support; after January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs running Windows 7 -- unless you want to pay extra, of course.This is a big issue for many companies: while Windows 7 is long in the tooth (it went on sale back in October 2009), it's much loved -- at least, as much as a PC operating system can be loved -- and is still widely used. Indeed, even though Windows 10 has been around late 2015, it's only in the last month or so that general usage of Windows 10 has finally overtaken Windows 7. According to Microsoft there are 1.5 billion devices running Windows, with more than 700 million running Windows 10. But that means there are hundreds of millions of devices running Windows 7, with that support deadline looming. Microsoft is certainly keen for businesses to upgrade, touting the security of Windows 10 over Windows 7 as a good reason to make the move. It's also keen … [Read more...] about Windows 7 versus Windows 10: Here comes the final showdown
Windows 7 computer browser service
Microsoft Azure: Everything you need to know about Redmond’s cloud service
Microsoft Azure is a broad, ever-expanding set of cloud-based computing services that are available to businesses, developers, government agencies, and anyone who wants to build an app or run an enterprise on the internet without having to manage hardware. It has been the fastest-growing business segment for Microsoft in recent years and will probably overtake Windows in terms of revenue within two or three years. Azure is a strong second among cloud providers, well behind Amazon Web Services but well ahead of any other competition.Also: Top cloud providers 2018: How AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, Oracle, Alibaba stack upMicrosoft announced Azure in 2008. It made its public debut two years later, in February 2010, as Windows Azure and was rebranded as Microsoft Azure in 2014. The name change wasn't just a branding move, however. Instead, it was a reflection that the scope of Azure cloud services had gone far beyond just Windows-based offerings. By late … [Read more...] about Microsoft Azure: Everything you need to know about Redmond’s cloud service
How to do a clean installation of Windows 10
On Windows 10, a clean installation is the best option to remove everything from the hard drive and start from scratch when your device is having performance and other issues. Using this process, you can quickly resolve startup and shut down problems as well as memory usage and apps issues. In addition, you can quickly get rid of viruses and other types of malware, fix system corruption and improve battery life. If you're upgrading from a previous version, a clean installation is also a good method to install the new version. Although there are several ways to upgrade, they usually don't work correctly, and they may bring unwanted settings, files, and apps to the new installation. It's also a useful choice to start fresh with a copy of Windows 10 on a new hard drive that you just replaced, or to set up a new device that came pre-installed with a lot of bloatware. In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to properly prepare and perform a clean installation, whether … [Read more...] about How to do a clean installation of Windows 10
Project Stream: Everything we know about Google’s game streaming service
Imagine your friend invests in a new GPU to upgrade their already expensive gaming PC so they can play the latest blockbuster video game. Now imagine you open the Chrome browser, and then open a new tab to play the very same video game. While your friends computer kicks into high gear, fans blistering, your computer (perhaps even a Chromebook) stays cool and quiet, because all you’re doing is streaming. That’s the idea of Google’s Project Stream cloud gaming service.Rather than needing high-end hardware, Project Stream allows you to use whatever computer you have around to play video games. Google handles all the heavy lifting on its own servers, which can process the game at high resolutions and frame rates, encode it into a stream, and deliver the stream to you over the internet.It may sound almost too good to be true, and only time will tell if it is. Right now, the Project Stream service is in Beta. And, while it's not perfect, it gets the job done, and … [Read more...] about Project Stream: Everything we know about Google’s game streaming service
Get Rid of Windows 10 Ads, Office Offers and Other Annoyances
Microsoft started to sneak advertisements into the Windows platform with Windows 8 and they’ve only crept up further in Windows 10. You may recall, millions of users received Windows 10 as a free upgrade at launch, making the promos more forgiving. From so-called suggested apps in the Start menu, to nagging taskbar notifications and lock screen ads, enough is enough. Thankfully it's easy to shut down most of these annoyances if you know where to look. We published this guide when Windows 10 was newly released, we've since revised all content so it's current with the latest OS updates. Disable lock screen ads, or bypass the lock screen To get rid of lock screen ads you'll need to disable Windows Spotlight, which is the default option for the lock screen background and displays different images as you log into the operating system. It also suggests Windows 10 features you may have not tried yet, throwing the occasional ad in the mix. To turn off Windows Spotlight head to Settings … [Read more...] about Get Rid of Windows 10 Ads, Office Offers and Other Annoyances