As Windows 7 hurtles towards its end of life date (January 14 2020), it looks like Microsoft is beginning to strip features from the ageing operating system, and it has now removed a key feature from Windows 7’s Windows Media Player.According to a support document that Microsoft quietly updated a few days ago, “you may be unable to view information (metadata) such as the title, genre, and artist for songs, and the director, actors, cover art, and TV guide for movies in Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player.”This move also affects the Windows Media Center app found in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.So, it looks like when you import music or videos into Windows Media Player in Windows 7, titles, artist names and other information won’t be downloaded. This is a major blow to the usefulness of the app, in our view.Why?Microsoft looked at customer feedback and usage data regarding the feature and decided to discontinue it, so it probably means not many … [Read more...] about Windows 7’s Windows Media Player app is about to get worse
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Windows 10 to eat even more disk space as ‘reserved storage’ for updates
The saga of Windows 10 updates continues. Following on from the disaster of the October 2018 update which failed on some machines and the controversy of opting some unknowing users into beta testing, the newest version of updates will require more of your computer’s storage space than before. According to a blog post by Microsoft program manager Jesse Rajwan, the next major update of Windows 10 will change the way in which the operating system manages disk space so that updates will always be able to occur automatically. The new system will set aside some disk space as “reserved storage” to be used by updates as well as apps, temporary files, and system caches. The concern is particularly on the disk space required for installing updates, as the blog post says that “when it’s time for an update, the temporary unneeded OS files in the reserved storage will be deleted and update will use the full reserve area. This will enable most PCs to download and … [Read more...] about Windows 10 to eat even more disk space as ‘reserved storage’ for updates
I tried, failed and finally managed to set up HDR on Windows 10
The best flavor of HDR on Windows 10 is 4K (3,840 x 2,160), 60 fps RGB (4:4:4) video with 10 bits (1 billion) colors. To get that to work requires a more expensive PC and definitely a more expensive 10-bit monitor. For the latter, you can cheat a bit by using an 8-bit monitor that dithers colors to 10-bit, also known as frame-rate conversion. For my testing, I had both a true 10-bit and 8-bit + FRC display.Intel notes that 7th-generation Kaby Lake CPUs with integrated HD graphics are its first to support HDR. Any CPUs from that generation or later should allow for playback of HDR content, including YouTube videos, Netflix and Blu-Ray movies. However, your laptop or desktop PC also needs the appropriate BIOS and other hardware.To do any kind of gaming in HDR, you'll need discrete graphics. NVIDIA started supporting HDR with its 900-series Maxwell GPUs, with the least costly option being the GeForce GTX 960. Considering how HDR can tax your system, however, you'd be best off with a more … [Read more...] about I tried, failed and finally managed to set up HDR on Windows 10
Microsoft’s Chrome OS competitor Windows Lite could ditch live tiles, streamline Start menu
Forward-looking: Rumors that Microsoft has been developing a simplified and locked down version of Windows for budget devices have been surfacing for a while now. First, the name “Windows Lite” was spotted in a Windows 10 SDK, and then reporter Brad Sams claimed he’d discussed it with Microsoft employees. Now it seems that in addition to structural changes, Windows Lite will also get an aesthetic change that includes dropping live tiles. According to sources that spoke with Windows Central, Windows Lite will feature a static app launcher in place of Windows 10’s Start menu, much like Chrome OS, Android and iOS. This means that Windows Lite will likely drop support of Live Tiles, a current Windows 10 feature that lets apps stream information in the place of its icon, like live weather information or how much unread email you have. Microsoft apparently has two reasons for cutting the feature: first, no one was using it. Very few users open the start menu to look … [Read more...] about Microsoft’s Chrome OS competitor Windows Lite could ditch live tiles, streamline Start menu
Dell, Acer add new Chromebooks, Windows laptops to education offerings
Following on HP's announcement this week of new education Chromebooks, rivals Dell and Acer have launched new Chromebooks for schoolkids as well. Just to make sure they leave no stone unturned in the burgeoning market segment, the two companies are each introducing a new Windows-based educational laptop as well. The slew of new education Chromebooks are timed to correspond with the Bett education technology event going on in London.this week. Like HP, Acer's new offerings include Intel and AMD processors -- AMD chips having just started showing up in Chromebooks at the recent CES event -- while Dell chooses to stick with Intel inside. All three manufacturers have embraced the idea of making their educational portables rugged enough to deal with the messy. clumsy hands of schoolchildren, as the new systems tout compliance with military levels of durability. Such touches include spill-resistant keyboards, drop protection, and in the case of Acer Chromebook Spin 512 and Dell … [Read more...] about Dell, Acer add new Chromebooks, Windows laptops to education offerings