Microsoft

Microsoft has announced several new features for its Office applications. They include a new research tool and improved spell check facilities in MS Word. The new features will be rolled out automatically to users of the online Office 365, rather ... than having users download and install the updates or upgrade to a new edition. (Source: office.com ) Microsoft Word has two major changes, dubbed Researcher and Editor. The Researcher tool is for exploring online information without leaving the document editing window, while the Editor tool enhances and simplifies spell check and grammar. Tool Only ... (view more)

The Windows 10 "Anniversary Update" is out this week and those who've already tried it are generally impressed. However, it doesn't seem like enough to push skeptics over the edge. The update is scheduled to start rolling out next Tuesday, two days ... after the deadline to get a free upgrade to Windows 10, which is July 29, 2016. It's arguably the biggest set of updates since the system debuted last summer. There's only one significant feature that's completely new, named Windows Ink. It's designed mainly for use with stylus and pens on touchscreen devices. ... (view more)

A research firm believes the free Windows 10 upgrade offer may have had a significant effect on new PC sales. It's part of an apparent pattern of users holding on to their old computers for longer. Speaking to The Register, Ranjit Atwal of Gartner ... said the company surveyed people who had taken advantage of the upgrade. It found that one in five of those questioned had decided against plans to get a new computer after trying out the new system on their existing machines. Atwal claims Microsoft did not expect that figure to be so high. (Source: theregister.co.uk ) In some ways the trend ... (view more)

Microsoft is giving Windows 10 one last push before the free upgrade offer ends on July 29 for Windows 7 and 8 users. It comes through a full-screen pop-up message that could well irritate those who have chosen to give the new system a miss. The new ... message will appear for some, but not all users who have yet to upgrade. It takes up the full screen and is white text on a blue background. That's a curious choice, as that color scheme is traditionally associated with the Blue Screen of Death , particularly in full-screen use. (Source: theverge.com ) Upgrade Message Includes Apology The ... (view more)

Microsoft says it will backtrack on one of the most controversial elements of its campaign to push users towards Windows 10. It will no longer interpret clicking a close window button (the "X") as authorizing an installation of the new operating ... system. Since launching the system last year , Microsoft has been slowly ramping up its efforts to get people installing Windows 10. It's moved from the original position of having user actively seek out the system through a "pre-registration" tool to eventually reaching the point when Windows 10 was considered a recommended ... (view more)

Microsoft has agreed to pay $10,000 to a woman who says her computer was wrecked by an unwanted Windows 10 upgrade. The terms of the payment means there's no guarantee others in the same situation would prevail in court. Teri Goldstein says her ... computer automatically downloaded and attempted to install Windows 10 just days after it was released last July. If that's the case, that timeline certainly suggests some form of technical mistake as its only in recent months that Microsoft has stepped up its program of pushing the system out as an automatic update to many users. Broken ... (view more)

Microsoft claims its Edge browser uses far less battery power on laptops than rivals such as Google Chrome. The claims come as it publishes details of further tweaks to the browser's power demands. To back up its claims, Microsoft has released the ... results of tests it carried out using its own Surface Book computer, along with data gathered remotely from Windows 10 computers. As with any such non-independent tests, it's always worth remembering that not only could the setup of the tests be designed in a way that favors Microsoft, but there's no way of knowing that Microsoft hasn ... (view more)

Microsoft has agreed to buy business networking site LinkedIn for $26 billion. Analysts are less than certain about what it plans to do with the site. For those not familiar, LinkedIn works a little like Facebook but is designed primarily for ... business rather than personal contacts. It has a reported 100 million active users that access the site at least once a month. That compares to reports of 1.65 billion active users for Facebook. One of the most popular uses is to find potential clients or employers through mutual contacts. It's also possible to "endorse" a contact for ... (view more)

Windows 10 will officially require more memory to run on many computers this summer. It's only a minor change but is the first time the official specifications for Windows have significantly increased in the past seven years. The biggest of the ... changes is the minimum memory specification for 32-bit computers, which is doubling from 1GB to 2GB. The specification for 64-bit machines was already 2GB and will remain unchanged. The change doesn't mean machines with 1GB of RAM will stop working. Instead, it means computer manufacturers will now have to include at least 2GB of RAM to be ... (view more)

Microsoft's attempts to get all users running Windows 10 has taken yet another step further. It's now rolling out a sneaky way of getting users to "consent" to the update. As we've previously covered, Windows 10 is now classed as a "Recommended ... update" which means it will download and attempt to install on all Windows computers where the user hasn't actively changed the update settings from their default. After that reclassification, some users started seeing a pop-up message saying that Windows 10 was ready to install and the scheduled upgrade time. The ... (view more)