windows 10

Microsoft has agreed to change the way it handles rival security products in Windows. The changes follow a formal complaint that's now been withdrawn by Kaspersky Labs . Kaspersky had twice made official protests over Windows 10. The first was to ... Russian anti-monopoly regulators and led to Microsoft changing the wording on a message encouraging users to remove third-party software in favor of Windows Defender. A follow-up complaint to the European Commission covered several points including Microsoft making it difficult for security firms to tell users when their licensed had expired; not ... (view more)

The next Windows 10 update will make shutting down or restarting a computer a smoother process. It will also make it slightly easier to switch back and forth between a phone and a computer. The changes are in the latest test build of the Windows 10 ... "Fall Creator's Update." That's the next twice-yearly update to Windows 10 that adds new features rather than simply fixing security and performance bugs. Normally in Windows, if you restart the computer (or it's automatically restarted by an update), you need to re-enter your login details. The same thing happens if you shut ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sean S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I own three Windows 10 PC's at home - my own PC, my wife's laptop and my son's laptop. Each laptop is set up to access my main PC using network shared folders (I have the same user names and ... passwords also set up on my main machine to create a password protected share). Recently my wife tried to access a shared folder on my PC but now receives an error 'the password of this user has expired'. The same day I also received an error message on my Windows 10 login screen that 'the password for this account has expired' and I need to reset it. Is ... (view more)

Microsoft says it won't deliver new Windows 10 features to some computers. However, it's vowed to give the affected machines security patches for six years, a major extension on its original policy. Last week it was discovered that as many as 10 ... million computers running an Intel processor named 'Clover Trail' did not get the latest major update to Windows 10 - something Microsoft said was a compatibility issue. Applying the update could have made system text and icons unreadable. Most of the affected machines were combined "2-in-1" models that worked as both laptops ... (view more)

Some computers only a few years old are reporting that they not longer support Windows 10. It's a badly-worded blunder for now, but could be the sign of a major security problem down the line. The problem is occurring when some computers try to ... install the Creators Update, the most recent widely-distributed major update to Windows 10. The message received is worded: "Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC. Uninstall this app now because it isn't compatible with Windows 10." (Source: pcworld.com ) That's an extremely confusing and misleading message in several ways ... (view more)

Microsoft is adding a new feature to Windows 10 that could make it harder for ransomware to lock up files. It could be useful, but is certainly not a complete defense. The feature, called "Controlled Folder Access," is part of the Windows Defender ... security tool and is already being tested by users who've volunteered for advanced access to Windows 10 updates. The idea is that specific folders can be protected which means that only specified applications or programs can create, alter or delete files in those folders. This includes encrypting the files, which is the key tactic ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Howard N. writes: " Dear Dennis, In regard to the WannaCry Internet worm which can infect all Windows PCs that have not yet been patched using Windows Updates - how can I make sure that my Windows Update is operating properly, and ... that I am receiving my updates automatically? I enjoy your newsletter - please keep it up and have a nice day! " My response: Generally speaking: you should be able to go to the "Windows Update" service within Windows, and it should tell you when updates were last received. If you haven't received any updates for a while - or if you have your ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 and I have installed RDP Wrapper (per your previous article). This allows more than one person to use the same Windows computer via remote desktop - this is very convenient if ... you have a 'server' computer and want to use it for multiple purposes. I have a question: I would like to be able to hide the remote desktop user accounts I want to use on the server from being displayed on the Windows 10 login screen. Do you know how I can do this? " My response: It is possible to hide user accounts from the Windows 7, 8 and 10 ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded my motherboard and CPU to the Intel Core i7 7700k processor which is very fast! I loaded Windows 7 onto the machine and everything was working great - that is, until I went to ... check for Windows Updates and I received the error: ' Unsupported Hardware / Your PC uses a processor that is designed for the latest version of Windows. Because the processor is not supported together with the Windows version that you are currently using, your system will miss important security updates.' Is there any way to prevent this 'unsupported ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Samir R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently did a clean install of Windows 10 on my machine and now my numlock on the keyboard keeps shutting off during bootup, even though I have numlock enabled in the computer's BIOS. When I was ... running Windows 8 (which I later upgraded to Windows 10), I did a registry hack to keep the numlock enabled after Windows is loaded. Can you help? " My response: I've had this issue before. I had to do a bit of digging and testing to make sure the registry hack you're referring to is compatible with Windows 10, but I managed to find the answer. I' ... (view more)